Like yourself I have a Stowa type A.
I bought the Laco Aachen B when it was a ridiculously cheap iirc £120 deal that someone PSA'd on here.
Very happy with both
Hi,
I have a casual interest in watches, more low end, I like the military aspect but I don’t like cluttered faces.
My only ‘proper’ watch is a Stowa Flieger Model A which I wear as my daily watch. Took me a while to choose the Stowa and even longer to choose between the Model A and Model B. Love the watch but somewhat wishing I had chosen the Model B - but I suspect that I would now be wishing for the Model A had I gone for the B :)
That’s got me thinking “what about both”.
Although I am very pleased with my Stowa, I don’t want to buy another as that would be two near identical watches, so I’ve been looking at the Laco.
I did consider the Laco originally, but went for the Stowa because of the more contemporary, luxury finish, although I liked the more authentic look of the Laco I wasn’t sure how it would look in real life whereas it was clear that the Stowa could pass as a dress watch if needed.
So onto the Laco. I’m fine with the price but still a little uncertain whether I will like how it looks - as far as I can tell, living in the UK, I have to “buy blind” because I’m not aware of any shops that stock them - I’d really prefer to see one before I buy.
It is the Laco Paderborn that I am considering.
Would be interested in any advice and suggestions that you could share.
Last edited by nheather; 25th October 2023 at 09:01.
Like yourself I have a Stowa type A.
I bought the Laco Aachen B when it was a ridiculously cheap iirc £120 deal that someone PSA'd on here.
Very happy with both
Last edited by magpie215; 25th October 2023 at 09:36.
The typical TZ approach would be to buy one, try it, and if you bond then happy days, but if you don't then flip it.
I appreciate that you will need a post count boost - but you can be working on that in the bonding/not-bonding period.
If you want to see my Laco Flieger in the fleshish, join in on our Virtual Get-together tomorrow night - see my post dedicated to this honourable cause.
I think they sell on Amazon if you are worried about sending them back
Thanks, had a look at Amazon, not convinced that returns will be that simple because it is actually dealing with Amazon EU so there are imports/exports involved.
Besides that, if I were to buy new then I would consider going with the movement upgrade which is not an option with Amazon.
But regarding the upgrade, I know very little about watches so I simply look at the table on the Laco website
and conclude that the ‘top grade’ looks better.
But is that the case, is it better, and if so, is it €130 better?
As for flipping, do these ‘low end’ watches flip. I’ve seen that the higher end, more desirable watches flip well and can be considered an investment but I’ve never considered my Stowa (or this Laco if I do buy it) an investment, I would expect to receive significantly less than I paid if I did choose to sell them.
I think Jura and First Class watches are UK based dealers
You could try them and return it if it’s not for you?
There used to be a shop in Covent Garden that sold them a few years back not sure if it’s still there. It was a strange shop selling mostly tat to tourists but they sold Laco for some reason.
Two dealers in the UK according to their website, both a goodly hike from W.Sussex:
CV8 1HD Warwickshire First Class Watches Limited 9 Warwick Road
WarwickshireTel: +44 1926 298499
info@firstclasswatches.co.ukDE4 3AT Derbyshire C W Sellors Ltd Crown Square, Matlock
DerbyshireTel: +44 (0)1335 453 454
matlock@cwsellors.com
I owned the Laco Leipzig which is the manual wind version of the Paderborn. I currently have two Stowa fliegers and have owned a three others in the past.
The Laco was a nice watch but I found it very thick and bulky on my 7.25" wrist, especially compared to the Stowa flieger. It was also, for its large size, surprisingly light.
I liked the overall quality - the dial/handset and finish on the case were great - but sold it due to the size. I considered the new Laco Pro and planned on getting one until I discovered that Laco charges buyers in the USA, Canada and HK 27% more than they charge the rest of the world. I can afford the extra money but it bugs me enough that I won't purchase another Laco that costs me substantially more than it does a buyer a couple of hours away in Mexico.
The photos are of the Laco I sold and the two Stowas I currently own.
I had a Laco Paderborn some years back; a really nice watch but it wasn’t the right shape for my wrist. The (authentically flat) lugs stick out at right angles to the case and I found that made it feel much more bulky than the numbers suggest. I much preferred the shape of my Stowa B-Uhr.
Of course Laco use different cases for different models - might just be something to bear in mind.
One of mine, love them.
Sent from my SM-A546B using Tapatalk
And another.
Sent from my SM-A546B using Tapatalk
I've had a few. Well made and nicely finished. Even the base movements are ok aside from the lack of hacking.
Well worth the minuscule amount of cash they cost.