The San Martin Type 1 Homage Review

Have not seen many reviews or posts on this watch so I thought I put in my thoughts.

For any fans of the Benrus Type 1/2 looks this may be a watch to consider. Really great sandblast finish gives a great military vibe. It wears really well with the turned down lugs and for me it has a perfect lug to lug for my wrist size with 49.8mm lug to lug. It is a bit bigger and thicker then some other of the same homages you can find at 14.4 mm thick and a diameter at the largest with 44mm due to the asymmetrical shape but it wears like a 40mm watch.

Talking about the shape/sculpting it is done really nice. It has a great mix of angled and curved shapes to the case making it a fun watch to look at. Even though it is matte and not much bling, it still catches they eye just due to the geometry. The finishing is simple and hard to mess up with sandblasting, but it still has that San Martin premium feel that they are known for in the homage world.

My favorite part is actually the bezel insert. Fans of San Martin may know that the first generation of this watch came with a glossy ceramic 12 hour insert. The glossy insert really did not do this watch any good. Really killed the vibe that a type 1 homage is supposed to have being a military diver type watch. In my opinion it would have been even better with a matte aluminum insert. But they did listen to feedback given and they came out with a version with a matte ceramic insert! The matte insert really helps pull the look together. Still 12 hour insert and lines up perfectly. The action is nice and clicky and is the same quality that San Martin us know for with their divers. It’s the small details like the matte insert that I enjoy most personally.

I do believe they could have gone a step further with the bezel and make a bi-directional friction bezel with no audible clicks. This would have been a great detail as the original watch this is a homage of was bi-directional and did not click. This is because they did not want to have a watch that could give away their position it used in the field due to loud clicks! Bi-directional because it is a 12 hour bezel so it was used also to keep another time zone if needed.

I do hope they come out with a type 2 homage with the pilot/field style dial.

Another great detail are the hands. The first version came with milsub Style sword hands, which worked kinda, but not my favorite. The new version comes with the pencil style hands that is more in line with a type 1 homage.

The price is around $140 usd on average and is a watch they always put on sale.