Pagani Design PD-1761 Review

Less than 24 hours after it was delivered, this watch has become the last watch I will ever buy from AliExpress.

It's not that there's anything particularly wrong with this watch if judged on its own merits as a watch, but we all know that we're buying these things because they are supposed to look like something else, and this one really doesn't.

As the meme goes, "Son, I am disappoint". I'm actually disappointed in so many ways that I'm done with buying any future homages from AliExpress ever again.

But first the good points. The colour of the blue dial is nice, the specs are good (sapphire, 316L, yadda yadda), and the clasp is really solid with no play whatsoever.

That's it really, as everything else I have to say is a negative.

The main problem, and I mostly knew this going in, is the weird way that Pagani Design have created the first link. On the larger models of the real Tissot PRX, a lot of people moaned because the link caused a gap between the watch and the wrist. Unfortunately, Pagani Design have gone the other way and designed a new link to redress the balance to some extent, but also make the larger size fit little puny wrists (as owned by the majority of YouTubers) better.

You can't change the bracelet to a real Tissot PRX bracelet or strap, or any third-party versions either. If you don't like this bracelet, you're stuck with it unless Pagani Design ever create one specifically for this watch, and to be honest, they probably won't. These watches have been sold for "cheap as chips" in the recent Anniversary Sale because they just aren't right. Even Specht & Sohne make a closer "homage". Hell, even Skmei make a closer PRX homage but in a poorer quality case!

On a more normal and healthy human being with an average 7.25" wrist or above, this bracelet design with an angled first link causes the next link to drop down vertically and subsequent links to flare out round the wrist. I'm not sure if I've captured this perfectly in my pictures, but it looks odd and annoys me. It doesn't actually feel uncomfortable, but it looks wrong.

My other gripes are that the seconds hand is too thin and barely visible when you activate the stopwatch, and, of course, with this having a Seiko VK63 movement inside which has a date complication, there's no good reason why this PD-1761 shouldn't have a date window like the real Tissot PRX.

Did they do this to avoid being sued? Or have they fallen for the "it creates more symmetry on the dial without the date window" nonsense? If a complication exists, it should be used. Same goes for all those military-inspired field watches with the rotors removed from the automatic movements to make them "thinner" and "less likely to be overwound by noobs". Give me a break!

The ghost date position is negligible since this is a "set and forget" quartz deal anyway, and once the crown is screwed down, there's no need to fiddle with it again except for leap years and daylight savings time (which is a stupid thing that should be abolished as far as I'm concerned).

Forget the lume, the original has bad lume too, and forget that this is a £30 quartz "homage" watch compared to a ridiculously overpriced and top heavy £2000 automatic chronograph, it's like Pagani Design went out of their way to make a horrible '70s-style watch even more horrible.

At first, I was okay about how much different this is from the real Tissot PRX. You get what you pay for, after all. But it's only luck that I have just the right sized wrist to wear this without trouble from the lack of micro adjustment, and considering that this watch is designed to make people think they are getting a bargain (which arguably they are), it's not really a bargain Tissot PRX but more cheap Chinese junk which may even end up in my bin before the end of the week.

I don't recommend this watch.