SOLLEN Mens Automatic Watch Review: a solid everyday dress watch that looks pricier than it is

I’ve been wearing this SOLLEN automatic watch pretty much every day for a bit now, swapping it in place of my usual Seiko 5 and a cheap quartz dress watch. I didn’t expect much given it’s a Chinese brand I’d never heard of, but I wanted to see if, for around the £90–£110 range, it was actually usable as a daily watch and not just something that looks good in photos.

Out of the box, it feels like a “real” watch, not a toy. It has some weight, the bracelet isn’t rattly like the ultra-budget stuff, and the dial doesn’t scream knock-off of a famous brand. It’s clearly trying to be a clean, dressy piece with a bit of personality thanks to the blue dial and the orbit-style markers. I wore it to work, a dinner, and just doing errands, so it’s had a decent mix of use.

My focus was simple: does it keep decent time, is it comfortable, does it look OK on the wrist, and does anything annoy me after a few days. I don’t baby my watches, so it’s had its fair share of bumps against desks, door frames, and the usual daily abuse. I also paid attention to the automatic movement: how often I needed to reset it, and whether the power reserve felt too short for a casual wearer.

Long story short: it’s not perfect, but for the price bracket it sits in, it’s actually pretty solid. There are some compromises, especially if you’re picky about bracelets and movements, but if you just want a decent-looking automatic for work or going out, it does the job without feeling cheap or fake.

Price-wise, this watch seems to float around £90 to £110 depending on discounts. At that level, you’re competing with entry-level Japanese automatics (some Seiko 5, Orient models), plus a ton of fashion quartz watches from brands that spend more on marketing than on the movement. In that context, this SOLLEN is actually pretty decent value if you specifically want an automatic with a dressy look.

What you’re paying for here is mainly the design, the stainless steel construction, and the automatic movement. You don’t get sapphire glass, you don’t get a known movement brand, and you don’t get serious water resistance. But you do get a watch that looks more expensive than it is, that feels solid on the wrist, and that doesn’t need a battery. If you compare it to a similarly priced quartz fashion watch, I’d personally take this, because at least there’s some mechanical interest and it doesn’t feel like a disposable accessory.

On the downside, for a bit more money you can sometimes find discounted Seiko or Orient models with better-known movements and, in some cases, better lume or finishing. So if you’re a watch geek and you care a lot about brand heritage and movement specs, you might feel this is just “okay” value and prefer to save up a little more. But if you just want a good-looking automatic that you can wear to work and don’t care about brand prestige, this hits a nice middle ground.

Overall, I’d rate the value as good. Not a crazy bargain, but fair for what you get. If you catch it closer to £90 than £110, it becomes an even easier buy. At the higher end of that range, I’d at least look around at what Seiko, Orient, and Citizen offer, but this SOLLEN still holds its own on looks and general build quality.

The design is probably the strongest point of this watch. On the wrist, the 42 mm case with 14 mm thickness looks like a modern dress watch that leans slightly sporty. It’s not super slim, so if you’re used to ultra-thin quartz watches, this will feel beefier. Personally, I like that it has some presence. It sits flat enough under a shirt cuff, but you definitely feel it more than a slim dress piece.

The blue dial is actually well done for the price. The concentric circles from the center outwards catch the light nicely and give it a bit of texture without looking flashy. The Arabic numerals are clear, and the little “planet with orbit” detail next to each one is a nice touch that gives it some character. It’s not just a generic clone of a big brand; it has its own thing going on. The date window at 3 o’clock is simple and readable, nothing fancy, but practical.

On the bezel and case, everything is pretty standard stainless steel with polished and brushed areas. The polished parts will pick up fingerprints, but that’s normal. The bracelet design is also classic: three-link style, mostly brushed with some polished accents. It looks in line with the rest of the watch and doesn’t feel out of place. You can wear this with a shirt and blazer easily, but it also doesn’t look weird with jeans and a T-shirt. I wore it to the office and then straight out to dinner, and it didn’t feel like I needed to change watches.

If I compare it to similarly priced fashion watches (Fossil, Hugo Boss, that sort of thing), I’d say this SOLLEN looks at least as good, if not a bit cleaner because it doesn’t have random logos and fake sub-dials all over the place. The only thing to keep in mind: if you have a very small wrist, 42 mm with this thickness might feel a bit large and chunky. On my medium wrist, it looked fine, but I wouldn’t go bigger.

With a 42 mm diameter and 14 mm thickness, I expected this to feel a bit like a brick on the wrist, especially since I usually wear slimmer watches to the office. In practice, it’s actually more comfortable than it looks. The curved lugs help the watch sit well on the wrist, and the weight is balanced. It’s not ultra-light, but it doesn’t feel like a dumbbell either. After an hour or two, I mostly forgot it was there, which is what I want from a daily watch.

The bracelet comfort depends a lot on getting the sizing right. Out of the box, it was too loose for me, so I removed a couple of links. Once adjusted, it sat nicely without sliding around. The links move freely enough that it wraps around the wrist instead of sitting like a rigid cuff. No hair-pulling issues for me, which is something cheaper bracelets often struggle with. The inside finishing isn’t razor smooth, but it didn’t dig into my skin or cause irritation, even after a full workday at a desk and some walking around.

The deployment clasp with safety is also fine in daily use. It locks with a reassuring click, and the extra safety latch means it won’t just pop open if you snag it on something. The downside is that micro-adjustments are limited, so if you’re between sizes, you might end up with it slightly looser or tighter than ideal. For me, I managed to find a good fit with the link removal, but if your wrist is very small or very large, you might need to play around a bit more.

In terms of daily comfort: I wore it during typing, driving, and walking, and it never felt like it was in the way. It’s not a sports watch, so I wouldn’t pick this for workouts or anything sweaty, but for office, going out, and general city life, it’s perfectly fine. If you’re used to super light quartz watches, you’ll notice the difference at first, but you get used to it quickly.

On paper, the materials are pretty standard for this price range: stainless steel case and bracelet, mineral glass crystal, and a basic automatic movement (no brand name on the movement, so assume generic Chinese automatic). No sapphire crystal, no high-end finishing, but that’s expected at under roughly £120. The important thing is how it feels in hand and on the wrist.

The stainless steel case feels solid, with no sharp edges or weird machining marks. I ran my fingers along the lugs and case edges, and nothing felt rough. The finishing is not luxury-level, but it’s clean enough that you don’t think about it when wearing it. The caseback is also steel, and you don’t get a display back here, which might disappoint some people who like to see the movement. Personally, I don’t mind: on cheaper automatics, the movement often looks a bit rough anyway.

The mineral glass is scratch-resistant to a point, but obviously not on the same level as sapphire. After regular use banging into desks and doorframes for a while, mine didn’t pick up any visible scratches, so for normal office and daily use it seems fine. If you’re very rough on your watches, eventually you’ll mark it, but that’s just how mineral glass is. On the plus side, there’s no weird distortion on the dial, and reflections are manageable, even under strong light.

The bracelet is also stainless steel and feels better than the really cheap folded-link ones you see on bargain watches. It has some weight and doesn’t rattle too much. It’s not super high-end, but it also doesn’t feel like tin. The deployment clasp with safety clicks in securely and never popped open on me, even when I was carrying bags or bending my wrist a lot. Overall, materials are what you’d expect: nothing premium, but nothing that screams corner-cutting either. For the price, I’d call the build quality pretty solid.

Durability-wise, I tried not to baby it. It’s been knocked into a few doorframes, scraped lightly on a desk edge, and worn under a jacket zipper. So far, the case and bracelet haven’t picked up any major visible marks, just the usual tiny hairlines you get on polished steel. The mineral glass has held up well too; I don’t see scratches yet, which is a good sign. Obviously, this is after regular urban use, not construction-site abuse, but for office and casual wear, it feels solid enough.

The bracelet links haven’t loosened or started to rattle more over time, which is something I’ve seen on cheaper watches. The clasp still snaps shut firmly and hasn’t shown any tendency to open by accident. The pins in the bracelet seem secure; I haven’t had any link pop out or feel wobbly. As with any bracelet watch, I’d still avoid violent impacts, but for normal use, I don’t see any big red flags in terms of build quality.

About water resistance: it’s rated 30 meters (3 ATM), which basically means splash-proof, not swim-proof. I washed my hands with it on, got it splashed while rinsing dishes, and wore it in light rain, and it was totally fine. But I wouldn’t shower, swim, or do anything where it’s fully submerged for long. 30 m on a dress watch is really just peace of mind for accidental splashes. If you’re the type who never takes your watch off, even in the pool, this is not the right model for you.

Given the price and the specs, I’d say durability is decent. It’s not a beater watch you can abuse without thinking, but it’s more than capable of handling everyday business and casual wear. If you use it for what it’s designed for—office, going out, daily errands—it should hold up fine. Just respect the water limits and don’t expect tank-like toughness.

The heart of this watch is the automatic movement. It’s a self-winding mechanical, which means no battery but you do need to wear it regularly. The brand recommends manually winding it about 20 turns the first time, which I did. After that, just wearing it 6–8 hours a day is supposed to keep it running. In my use, that’s roughly accurate: if I wore it all day and then left it off overnight, it was still running fine the next morning. If I left it off for more than a day, it would stop and I had to reset the time and date, which is normal for this type of movement.

Timekeeping is always the big question on cheaper automatics. I tracked it roughly over a few days compared to my phone. I was seeing a drift of around +15 to +25 seconds per day, which is decent for this price range. It’s not chronometer-level accuracy, but for a casual watch, I find that acceptable. You’ll probably want to correct the time every week or so if you’re picky. If you’re used to quartz precision, you’ll notice the difference, but that’s just how these movements are.

The luminous hands and dots are also worth mentioning. They use a light-absorbing material, so you need to expose the watch to strong light first. After wearing it under indoor lighting and stepping into a dark room, the lume was visible but not crazy bright. If I gave it a blast with a phone flashlight, it glowed more strongly and was easy to read in the dark for a while. After a few hours, it fades, which is pretty standard. It’s good enough to check the time in a dark bedroom or cinema, but don’t expect the kind of brightness you get on a serious dive watch.

Overall performance: it does what it’s supposed to do. It keeps time reasonably well for an automatic in this price bracket, the self-winding works fine as long as you actually wear it, and the lume is practical but not special. If you accept the quirks of mechanical watches (drift, need to reset after a couple of days off the wrist), you’ll be fine with it. If you want perfect accuracy and set-and-forget behavior, you’re better off with a quartz watch.

The presentation is straightforward. You get the watch in a simple box, nothing fancy, but it’s decent enough if you plan to give it as a gift. No luxury experience here, but honestly I prefer that to some over-the-top box that goes straight in a drawer. Inside, it’s the watch, basic paperwork, and that’s pretty much it. No tools for the bracelet, no extra straps, just the essentials.

The watch itself is the main point, and first impression on the wrist is that it looks more expensive than the listing price. The 42 mm case with the blue dial and silver bracelet has that typical business/dress vibe. It doesn’t scream “fashion brand” or have random fake complications all over the dial, which I appreciate. The dial is clean: Arabic numerals, those little planet/orbit details, date window at 3 o’clock, and luminous dots around the dial.

In terms of how it’s positioned, this is clearly sold as a “luxury business” style watch, but in reality it sits more in the “good mid-range dress watch” category. It’s not on the level of a Swiss automatic, obviously, but it doesn’t feel like a £30 throwaway either. I’d say it’s closer to entry-level Japanese automatics in overall feel, at least at first contact. The paperwork is basic but clear enough: they actually explain how to wind it, how to set the date, and remind you about the 30 m water resistance limit (hand washing and rain, nothing more).

So, presentation: simple but fine. If you’re buying this for yourself, you won’t care. If you’re buying it as a gift, the box and general look are good enough that it doesn’t look cheap when someone opens it. Just don’t expect some premium unboxing experience or lots of extras. It’s all centered on the watch, which, to be fair, is what matters most here.