I will start by saying this – No matter which side of the fence you’re on about this piece: the Glycine Combat Sub Vintage is a hell of a lot of watch for your money. The Combat Sub line offers a seemingly endless variety of dials, colors, and straps. If you don’t like this one, you’re sure to find another that tickles your fancy. Just take a look on eBay right now, if you don’t believe me. There are black PVD versions, ones with leather straps, dials with arabic numerals, and two-tone versions – and that’s just on the first page!

The version we are looking at today is the Glycine Combat Sub Vintage, model GLO261. This model features a wonderfully textured black dial, with yellow printed baton indices. The dial features arabic numerals at the 3,6, and 9, and an inverted triangle at 12. It also features a color-matched date wheel (thankfully!) at the 4:00 position. The bezel action is solid, 60-click, and unidirectional. The insert is not lumed, but there is a nice lume pip inside the red inverted triangle. This watch comes stock with a respectable oyster-style bracelet, with solid end links, and a nice scissor clasp. The finishing on this watch is very “tooly”, without a polished surface to be found. The bracelet, case, and crown are all brushed 316L. While I would have liked to see maybe a bit of polish on the midcase, I understand the “tool watch” motif.

The movement is a GL224 , (what I understand to be an SW-200, just branded for Glycine), and beats away at a nice 28,800 bph, or 4hz. It does give the nice gilt second hand that famed swiss sweep. WR is 200m, meaning you could dive with this, if you wanted. With the base specs out of the way, lets get to the elephant in the room. This watch skirts the lines of homage in a way you will either be comfortable with, or you won’t. Just take a look at a Tudor Black Bay 58, and you will see many of the same design cues -very similar dial, nearly identical bezel inserts, the gilt handset, and I’m sure there’s more.

To some folks, these similarities are too much to forgive. If you don’t fall into that camp, however, it’s a great opportunity to scratch the itch for a BB58, at a fraction (and I do mean fraction) of the price: Typically between $350-$400 USD. After all this info – Have I answered the question I posed in the title? Is the Glycine Combat Sub Vintage an alternative to the BB58? To me: At this point in my journey, the answer is yes. Despite what could be considered to be a derivative design, I’m prepared to forgive it. As stated, I think the dial looks gorgeous. I’m a sucker for gilt hands and feaux-tina. In conclusion – If you’re OK with a bit of Tudor DNA in your watch, this is a solid package for the price.