Shanglin 上林 SS1

Shanglin SS1

Shanglin brand watches are mysterious. It is possible they were made by one of the watch factories in Shanghai that cased imported movements before the introduction of completely China-made watches in the 1950s. The factory may have continued until at least the 1970s using whatever movements were available. This example has an extremely unusual two-tone slow-beat SS1 dating to November 1971. The English language text on the (uncommon for an SS1 watch) colour dial is puzzling, as China didn't export watches until 1973.