[Skeptic]

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After reading this thread, I decided to peruse the seller's wares, and well I went a tad overboard.

Warning to others - I made the mistake of looking at the auctions first. Bad mistake! Some of the seller's Buy-It-Now listings are the same price OR LESS than the starting bids of the auctions once S&H is factored into the equation. He's all over the map with respect to free shipping, $4.99 shipping, and $9.99 shipping, with some watches being offered a multiple of methods, so look for the same watch throughout his inventory before bidding or buying. I think I may have cost myself a few bux by not initially doing so.

18 watches for a total of $269.71 shipped = $14.98 shipped on average. That's a worst-case scenario, assuming the seller will not discount combined shipping. I have a message into the seller, as his listings do state a 10% combined shipping discount; I'm hoping for more since I bought so many.

EDIT: Seller's combined invoice knocked $30 off. Yeah, the shipping costs are silly and you know that's where they're making the majority of the money, but it's not like realistically they could make money selling the watches for $0.01 each anyway. That brings the net cost per watch down to $13.32 including shipping.


So, for less than the price of today's Invicta OTV, I'll get 18 watches... most likely built better, and definitely better customer service. :%

[Well, ok, probably not built better, but definitely better CS. How could it possibly be any worse?]

Most of the watches are 40-44mm, with the exception of a couple of the non-skeleton watches, which stray up to about 48mm, so fans of dinner plates probably won't be interested.

At any rate, here are the 18 watches I bought (links to currently active listings if anyone is so inclined):


http://cgi.ebay.com/Silver-Steel-Hollow-Rome-Skeleton-Mechanical-Mens-Watch_W0QQitemZ320485094240QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item4a9e667360

http://cgi.ebay.com/Luxury-Mechanical-Skeleton-Black-Leather-Mens-Watch-NEW_W0QQitemZ220552723614QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item3359f77c9e

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mens-Golden-Skeleton-Mechanical-Watch-Leather-Band-Box_W0QQitemZ220552731438QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item3359f79b2e

http://cgi.ebay.com/Fashion-Skeleton-Golden-Mechanical-Leather-Mens-Watch_W0QQitemZ320485084141QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item4a9e664bed

http://cgi.ebay.com/Blue-Hand-Crystal-Skeleton-Leather-Men-Mechanical-Watch_W0QQitemZ320485303324QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item4a9e69a41c

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Men-Black-Metal-Day-Date-Hand-Light-Automatic-Watch_W0QQitemZ220553256779QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item3359ff9f4b

http://cgi.ebay.com/Men-Self-Wind-Watch-TOURBILLON-Really-Black-Leather-NEW_W0QQitemZ220553201697QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item3359fec821

No longer listed.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Black-Steel-6-Hands-Light-Russian-Automatic-Mens-Watch_W0QQitemZ320485282145QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item4a9e695161

http://cgi.ebay.com/MENS-WHITE-STEEL-ARMY-DIAL-DECORATION-QUARTZ-WATCH-GIFT_W0QQitemZ320475810548QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item4a9dd8caf4

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ROSE-GOLD-STEEL-SKELETON-CASE-HAND-LIGHT-MENS-WATCH_W0QQitemZ220552684321QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item3359f6e321

http://cgi.ebay.com/Men-Black-Steel-Army-Quartz-Wrist-Watch-Blue-Glass-OULM_W0QQitemZ320484465823QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item4a9e5cdc9f

http://cgi.ebay.com/MENS-STAINLESS-STEEL-ARMY-CHRONOGRAPH-WATCH-YELLOW-NEW_W0QQitemZ320484322009QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item4a9e5aaad9

http://cgi.ebay.com/Mens-Silver-Steel-Hand-Light-Day-Date-3ATM-WF-Watch-NEW_W0QQitemZ220542973086QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item335962b49e

http://cgi.ebay.com/Elegant-Mens-White-Wrist-Watch-Moon-Phase-24H-Automatic_W0QQitemZ220546055647QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item335991bddf

http://cgi.ebay.com/GOLDEN-METAL-MEN-AUTO-WATCH-DATE-WEEK-6-HANDS-LIGHT-NEW_W0QQitemZ320474174811QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item4a9dbfd55b

http://cgi.ebay.com/Men-Automatic-Watch-Silver-Metal-Calendar-Hand-Light-US_W0QQitemZ220543323594QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item3359680dca

http://cgi.ebay.com/Classic-Gold-TOURBILLON-CRYSTAL-12-24Hr-Mens-Auto-Watch_W0QQitemZ220546781537QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item33599cd161

 

[Watchguru58]

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WOW!!! You did have a good time on that site. Congrats on all the new purchases. Hopefully the shipping thing gets worked out.

 

[toecutter]

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Holy Smokes!

You can open your own store.



Way to go.

 

[CurrentTime]

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Very cool! That should keep you entertained for some time! :c

Some of those would keep me mesmerized while telling time. :lol


Congrats on your new timepieces, and ENJOY!

 

[WatchYaThink]

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Wow ... somebody's been on a shopping spree!! Looks like a great selection of pieces you picked up for very little money .... congrats!!

 

[woody606]

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:c:cGreat shopping extravaganza!!! Congrats and thank you for showing me why this watch community is called "WatchFreeks:lolAm I the only one seeing alot of similarities on these watches(except for the lefty) with another brand we're all familiar withk??? Once again great score and enjoy:b:c:c

 

[WATCHURSELF]

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OK so like we need contact info for your wife/kids/parents etc

it looks like you need an INTERVENTION!!! LOL

DAYUM BRO!!! you went a "LITTLE" crazy???

nice choices!!!

 

[DenFromNM]

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WOW very nice haul... Can we say Skele????LOL

 

[djpop]

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Some very nice looking pieces at great pricing.

 

[BlackStorm]

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Nice grabs. Congrats!

 

[Skeptic]

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Update: the watches arrived at my office on Friday afternoon, but I was out for the day so I couldn't look at them until today.

My only prior experience buying watches from China had been through http://www.dealextreme.com and that had been a bit of a crapshoot. The watches were horribly packed (just in bubble bags, thrown in a large bubble bag) and the shipping was slow, as was the email correspondence.

This experience, on the other hand, was MUCH better.

My email correspondence with the seller was very fast, with all questions answered quickly. The watches were ordered on Feb. 7 and here by Feb. 12. The parcel was sent by DHL.

Unlike the purchase with DealExtreme, the watches were VERY well packaged. Each watch was in a small plastic bag, then wrapped in layers of bubble wrap, then placed in a gift box (cheap cardboard box with a red lid and green bottom, with a layer of velvet padding on the bottom; but each watch was individually boxed) and then another wrapping of bubble wrap around each gift box.

The quartz watches were each accompanied by 2 spare batteries. A very nice touch!

The only downside was that on a few of the watches the subdials are strictly decorative, not functional. To be expected I suppose, given the price point, and in retrospect, had I paid close attention to the photos, I would have realized this.

In future, I think I'll get confirmation before ordering as to functions versus decoration.

Some of the dialwork is haphazard and spotty, again, not unexpected in a $13 watch. The bracelets, as expected, are chintzy.

Most of these watch straps and bands are designed for small-to-medium sized wrists. I have an 8.25-inch wrist and most of these will fit me, but I'll be on the last hole of the bands. Bigger than 8.25 need not apply.

All in all I'm quite pleased. There are quite a few of these that I will have no qualms at all about wearing, assuming they keep decent time.

 

[Watchguru58]

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Skeptic wrote:

Update: the watches arrived at my office on Friday afternoon, but I was out for the day so I couldn't look at them until today.

My only prior experience buying watches from China had been through http://www.dealextreme.com and that had been a bit of a crapshoot. The watches were horribly packed (just in bubble bags, thrown in a large bubble bag) and the shipping was slow, as was the email correspondence.

This experience, on the other hand, was MUCH better.

My email correspondence with the seller was very fast, with all questions answered quickly. The watches were ordered on Feb. 7 and here by Feb. 12. The parcel was sent by DHL.

Unlike the purchase with DealExtreme, the watches were VERY well packaged. Each watch was in a small plastic bag, then wrapped in layers of bubble wrap, then placed in a gift box (cheap cardboard box with a red lid and green bottom, with a layer of velvet padding on the bottom; but each watch was individually boxed) and then another wrapping of bubble wrap around each gift box.

The quartz watches were each accompanied by 2 spare batteries. A very nice touch!

The only downside was that on a few of the watches the subdials are strictly decorative, not functional. To be expected I suppose, given the price point, and in retrospect, had I paid close attention to the photos, I would have realized this.

In future, I think I'll get confirmation before ordering as to functions versus decoration.

Some of the dialwork is haphazard and spotty, again, not unexpected in a $13 watch. The bracelets, as expected, are chintzy.

Most of these watch straps and bands are designed for small-to-medium sized wrists. I have an 8.25-inch wrist and most of these will fit me, but I'll be on the last hole of the bands. Bigger than 8.25 need not apply.

All in all I'm quite pleased. There are quite a few of these that I will have no qualms at all about wearing, assuming they keep decent time.

Great review. You never know what your going to get from China, but I'm glad it worked out for the most part. Congrats!! and enjoy all of them.

 

[Watch_Bonkers]

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I'm no expert, but, IMHO, that "Tourbillon Really" is an interesting timepiece!

FYI, 'Wilon' is in Thailand and their .PDF lists the retail on that watch (LR Below) as "2250 Baht" which is roughly $67.

______________________________________

FWIW, I'm STILL trying to figure out if that "Tourbillon Really" is REALLY a tourbillon, but I rather doubt it ...
not because of the price of the watch, but the fact that's it's an automatic! IF it were a HW, I'd be in a quandary
for sure!

 

[Skeptic]

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Neither of the watches are true tourbillons. They are open heart watches done in a "tourbillon style".

Any time you see any watch that has a crossbar attaching the supposed tourbillon to the dial of the watch (or any other part), it is not a true flying tourbillon.

A flying tourbillon will appear as if the tourbillon cage is floating or suspended, like this one I have: