The more recent releases from Long Island Watch have been more original designs rather than the Seiko "mods". I have a couple of islanders and I absolutely love them. Regardless of the dial, you know what makes me buy them over the Seikos? 1. Sapphire crystals on even the cheapest of the watches.  2. Solid link, decently made bracelets, that I don't have to immediately replace following the purchase of the watch.  3. Marc is a stand-up guy and a real crowd-pleaser. If you make a recommendation, other than shitting on his logo choice, he'll typically try and move things around the provide the best product to his customers.  This is not always the case with most watch brands, especially Seiko, who has proved for years that they don't really care about consumer feedback.. at all..  4. The value or bang-for-buck for what you're getting is definitely worth the purchase if you're on the fence.  I'm not like an islander cultist or anything, but they're well made and good for the money, and if you like the style and available color options, pull the trigger, you won't regret it, but as with every watch and every brand, they're not for everyone.

Just when I thought I was going to be able to avoid the islander field watches because they didn't have bracelets.. Marc goes and does it again.. always pleasing the crowds!

I heard the horror stories and decided to buy a Yema Superman Bronze when they went on sale. Low and behold, about 2 weeks into owning it, the date wheel seized and would no longer turn over automatically, and would have to be changed manually every day. I did however have a wonderful experience with their customer service. So I believe that it may depend on who you get on their side as to whether or not your experience will be good. I reached out and sent in pics of the stuck date wheel. They sent me the label and arranged the pickup for me to send it back to France via DHL and promised it would be fixed and returned within 6 weeks. It arrived back in the allotted timeframe and I have not had any issues with it since. I will not recommend the brand to others based on the experiences many have had, but I also won't take any action against them. I feel that not recommending them is enough, based on the experience I had with the company. Especially since the movement in the Superman Bronze is their "new" "in-house" movement, so I sort of expected some there to be an issue eventually.

I'm not sure if you saw, but he released a follow-up live stream to that video where he went even more mental about how people were calling him out for being a little harsh and missing the point of the watch. He goes on to criticize the way they call the watch an SKX Sports Style GMT series, which means he's allowed to think they're calling it an SKX, even though it literally has a serial number of SSK.. not SKX, and how if they wanted to say it was an SKX-Style watch, they should have used a hyphen on their official website, rather than the way it is written. He just makes excuses for kind of being a dick about things and it's obnoxious.. He missed the point that it used the same case design, handset, and overall look.. while adding a 4th hand and GMT function, changing the dive bezel to a 24-hr friction bezel, and removing the unnecessary water resistance since you wouldn't be diving with the damn watch.. I bought one as soon as they dropped for a friend, and unboxed it when it got delivered before sending it off to him. To be honest, it was beautiful. Was the quality the best for close to $500, no.. much better offerings in finishing, bracelets, etc.. in the microbrand world, but I knew what I was buying. An affordable office GMT for <$500 with a movement that is going to make it's way into those microbrands in the near future!

Wanted to go so bad! I looked all over for affordable tickets to make it out there, but was unable to find any! Next time for sure!

Thanks @HenryWilson ! It was a gift from my fiancé on our first christmas together. I don't wear it often, as I'm not entirely sure of its durability in real world application, but I like to get the movement going every once in a while!

I also got the Havana Salmon! Absolutely love it. Thought about selling when the prices skyrocketed, but decided to hold on to it instead.