By Brent Robillard
A Reborn Classic with Two Personalities
There are watches that revisit the past, and then there are watches that reinterpret it. The Seagull 1963 ICON II belongs firmly in the latter camp. It arrives not as a tribute piece or a museum-grade recreation, but as a continuation—a design lineage carried forward seventy years from the Tianjin Factory’s historic pilot’s chronograph of 1955.
That original watch marked the nation’s first aviator’s chronograph, built on the bones of the Venus 175 and assembled under the banner of the newly formed Tianjin Watch Factory. It was rugged, purposeful, and deceptively elegant at the same time. The ICON II doesn’t try to replicate the patina of memory; instead, it gives the past room to breathe in a modern context.
And crucially, it splits the legacy into two characters. The watch featured here is the Blue Steel variant.
My first look at the Seagull 1963 Collection came in 2023 during the release of their 60th Anniversary Edition. Other than the bronze case, that watch was quite a faithful recreation of the original. Fast forward to 2025, and Seagull 1963 gave us the First Edition of the Icon. That watch included a moonphase complication, but otherwise provided many of the design cues we see replicated in the Icon II—including the dial colour and case material found in the Green Bronze.
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Key Features of the Seagull 1963 Icon II
Two Personalities, One Movement
The Green Bronze version is a living document—a watch that will begin life bright and clean, only to transform slowly with every season on the wrist. CuSn8 bronze is one of those alloys that tells on you. It records sweat, temperature, the oils of your skin, every moment of summer humidity and winter dryness. In twenty years, no two Green Bronze owners will have the same shade.
The Blue Steel model could not be more different. Where bronze embraces change, polished 316L stainless steel rejects it. The case is all brilliance and hard edges, reflecting light like wet ink. Its lines stay crisp. Its sheen stays high. If the bronze model is about memory, the Steel Edition is about clarity.
What anchors both editions is the movement: the Seagull ST1901, visible through a sapphire exhibition caseback. This is the direct descendant of the famed Venus 175, a hand-wound, column-wheel chronograph calibre whose DNA has shaped Chinese mechanical watchmaking for nearly three generations. The ICON II elevates that architecture with a blue swan-neck regulator, blued screws, and crisp circular graining that catches the light as cleanly as the case exterior.
Through the sapphire window, there is no mistaking the lineage—this is mechanical history, beating at 21,600 bph, updated yet unmistakably rooted in 1955.
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Dial Work: Shaped by Light and Time
The model you’re looking at here—the Blue Steel Edition—expresses itself through light rather than colour saturation. The sunburst dial runs from deep navy into nearly-black indigo, depending on the angle. It reveals itself anew with each turn of the wrist.
The cream sand-textured subdials are a beautiful contrast—and one of the bigger changes from the Icon I—subtle in tone but full of depth, giving the watch a warmth the original 1963 never had. The brushed hands and applied baton markers, filled with Super-LumiNova, carry the design into the evening hours without leaning on vintage-tinted lume or faux patina.
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Then there’s the boxed sapphire crystal—tall enough to distort the edges of the dial in a decidedly vintage way, but strong enough to take modern knocks. The way it bends the light at the perimeter gives the ICON II a softness in profile that plays beautifully against the polished case.
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Wearing Experience
One of the most striking upgrades is the way this watch wears. At 40 mm with a 46 mm lug-to-lug, the ICON II sounds compact on paper. But the profile tells the real story.
The case has been subtly re-engineered: slimmer lines, smoother transitions, and a slightly thicker domed sapphire crystal that visually compresses the mid-case. Every surface is fully polished, which normally risks glare or visual bulk, but here, it makes the case feel like a single sculpted form.
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Small details elevate the experience: polished pinhole caps on every hand, tighter tolerances around the chronograph pushers, crisp transitions around the bezel. Even the movement feels improved in hand-winding, with a cleaner tactile resistance and smoother column-wheel engagement.
The supplied blue calfskin strap with Zermatt lining is supple right out of the box. It’s comfortable, understated, and well-matched to the dial’s cool tonality. Quick-release bars are an expected but welcome modern touch.
Seagull also packs the ICON II in a collector’s archive-style box, complete with warranty QR code and individual watch tag for this numbered series.
Specs
| Case | Stainless Steel/Bronze 40mm Diameter 46mm Lug to Lug 12.7mm Thickness Display Case Back 100m Water Resistance |
| Dial & Crystal | Sapphire Crystal Sunburst Dial Applied Markers Pencil Hands Super-LumiNova |
| Movement | ST1901 Blue Swan Neck Regulator 21 Jewels 21 600vph 48-Hour Power reserve |
| Strap | Blue Leather/Green Leather |
Seagull 1963 Icon II
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Final Thoughts
The Seagull 1963 ICON II succeeds because it doesn’t try to erase history or lock it in amber. Instead, it recognizes that the 1963 wasn’t just a watch—it was a beginning.
By refining the proportions, elevating the finishing, improving the movement presentation, and offering two distinct personalities (Bronze for the romantics, Steel for the purists), Seagull has created something that stands on its own rather than leaning entirely on nostalgia.
But what I like best about these watches—or any of the watches released by Seagull 1963—is the value they represent. If there is a hook that will catch the unsuspecting future watch enthusiast, it has to be the calibre ST1901. What other watch collection offers a column wheel chronograph movement as lovely as this one and then adds to that the history and the provenance of the Tianjin Watch Factory story?
If you are looking to break into watch collecting and wish to do so on a budget, you can’t do much better than a Seagull 1963. It ticks a lot of boxes. And these new Icon II releases offer just as much as any other in the Seagull 1963 line up.
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Pricing & Availablity
The new Seagull 1963 Icon II retails for $825 CAD and is available directly from the brand website. Order by December 10th for a Christmas delivery!
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About the Author
Brent Robillard is a writer, educator, craftsman, and watch enthusiast. He is the author of four novels. You can follow him on Instagram.
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