Parnis PA6038 Review

Parnis has a bit of a reputation as a brand that only makes identical copies of other designs. That is not an impression I get from their current catalogue, which has plenty of original designs - at least as far as I can tell.

Amongst these is the PA6038, a dress watch available in 36mm and 38mm size, in various dial design and strap options. One particular listing on AliExpress gives you 20 options, searching for the reference number found me 12 listings, and this is not even complete, because not all mention the reference number. Prices vary between approximaly £95 and £120. The sheer number of listings/options suggests that this is a very popular model, but the usual suspects of youtube reviewers seem to have largely ignored it, presumably because its design is so simple and does not look like a Rolex or Seiko or...

I was persuaded to buy this by how gorgeous it looked in the rendered image

I fully expected that real life would not live up to this (and another couple of Parnis models I purchased indeed did not), but it actually pretty much does - it oozes unpretentious elegance.

Specifications: 38mm dial (36 also available), sapphire crystal, 20mm lug width, leather strap and buckle are both Parnis-branded, 50m water-resistant, screw-down crown, hacking, can be hand-wound. Movement: Miyota 821A.

The strap wears very comfortably, but it is the one part of the watch where I noticed QC issues: the stitching was a tad uneven, one stitch on my strap has become loose after a few months. My strap comes with a buckle, but I noticed that in a more recent listing on Ali the straps came with a butterfly clasp, so this may just be a recent upgrade.

For many people the date at the 4:30 position would seem weird, but when having your left hand at a natural angle in front of you lines the date window neatly with your line of sight.  I had several Chinese watches where the date window is hard to read and too far back, but this one is just fine. There is a women's version of this watch with date at 3o'clock.