This is an ordinary digital watch dressed as a G Shock, but - as ordinary digital watches go, this one's pretty good. Especially for £9.99 including delivery from Amazon (£4 more than that now).
All the usual functions and a nice crisp, high contrast display (although the angle I captured it at here doesn't show that. I was trying to avoid a reflection from a light source). Comfy, as well.
Ok, the £48 Addiesdive sterile Flieger has arrived, and it's a doozy!
I decided to go sterile as in the evening I need as cleaner look as possible for tired eyes. I tend to wear my Cronos Explorer homage (fantastic quality!) come evening as it's super crisp and very light.
So, the cheapy pilot; essentially a homage of the IWC Mk XVI, same size too. Here it is on the bracelet, which whilst not in the league of IWC, or Eddie's Speedbird (and seriously, it wouldn't be for this money), it's actually better than many Seiko offerings on watches several times the price. Very nicely made, albeit slightly rattly.
I'm a bracelets chap, and this is perfectly wearable on its bracelet...
So I had a dig in the "box of many horological wonders" to see what straps I had knocking about the place. I found three that are very suitable. The first is a Pavel black leather rallye strap which I acquired somewhere and somehow down the line, and obviously decided to hang on to. Looks very swank, probably ideal for a casual dress piece like this...
Next was the turn of a plain grey NATO, again acquisition courtesy of the non-stop stream of watch stuff that passes through my hands. Quite nice, but a bit dull on this...
And finally, a grey/black/white five-stripe affair NATO. I have to say that I love this NATO strap, and I love the contrast. On this cheapy piece it looks really lovely. You may have a differing opinion on it, but I think it works best on this strap...
And finally, it's a Chinese watch, so lume is apocalyptically good!
£48 and a few pennies with a voucher, delivered within a couple of days from Amazon.
Amazing value for money Rob! The striped NATO looks best in my opinion, makes you kind of question the whole brand chasing thing.
Cheers..
Jase
Bought this Moonwatch-sized look-alike (42mm diameter, 20mm lug width, 47mm lug to lug length) from Ali Express for around £75 incl carriage. Perhaps the branding steps over the line for many, and whilst it does have a vk63 movement it’s obviously not made by Seiko.
It was too much of a lie for me so I returned it.
So the bracelet arrived for my “tank”. Really good quality for £14
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That looks rather nice sir.
No thank you.
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
Apologies, off topic.
Has anyone come across somethng similar to the following on AliExpress (or elsewhere at the cheap-as-chips pricepoint)?
The CWC is lovely, but they seem to be asking for far too many beer tokens. And given that the watch is still in stock, I guess I'm not the only person who thinks that...
Cheers!
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These aren't exact copies but have a similar 2 subdial design. The first watch from Baltany was very well reviewed
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This just arrived and I'm rather impressed for.....£63!?! It shouldn't be bragging about 'deep sea hunting' at 100m WR, however the dial texture is lovely and the case size is wonderful.
Anyone tried any of the Pierre Paulin offerings from Ali Express? They’ve some very attractive classic dress watches with sector dials.
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I originally heard of them on the Rob & The Regulator Podcast and they gave them some very complimentary comments on build quality and smoothness of the winding mechanism. Will probably try the salmon dial once it’s back in stock. The big plus for me is the 38mm size, which seems to have become less and less common and is a personal sweet spot.
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This was over £100, but not by much. It's a Cronos. The ILW branding is some sort of tie-in with the 'I Love Watches' YouTube channel, I think.
OK, here goes.
These are all from Vietnamese selling platform, Lazada.
All are imported from China.
Shipping is not included in the price, and it usually ranges from 30p to £1
“Seamaster” £8:22
“Offshore” £12:18
“RM” £4:98
“EXPll” £8:84
“Daytona” £13:11
“Pepsi” £3:27
“Yachtmaster” £6:67
“Nautilus” £6:60
“Aquanaut” £7:82
Looks great, I own a Cronos Sub homage and the quality is outstanding for the price point...this 36mm is definitely a head turner, would you say that Cronos have the got the proportions pretty much correct inline with the watch that it is paying homage to (if you can say that).
I just got one of these after your post (from amazon) and I am impressed with the quality.
Would anyone who has one of these have a spare link and pin knocking about that they are not using ? The bracelet is just a tad snug for my gorilla.
Regards
Brian
Edit:
I cant fault this for the price even double the price. Really impressed and less than 2sec per day loss. Good spot OP !!
Last edited by Brian; 19th June 2023 at 09:10.
Smidge over £100... I picked this up in the recent Ali sale for £135. Very pleased with it! Wolbrook/SeaQ vibes.
NH35, sapphire, display case back, and they even threw in a fabric strap too.
Last edited by ctafield; 20th June 2023 at 17:35.
And here it is! Arrived earlier. Quick first impressions are that it’s very good for £142.83. I’m happy
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That looks like a lot of watch for the money!
There’s a lovely Hrudland ‘IWC’ style chronograph on SC at the moment. Looks to be a proper bargain ;)
Looks like another Seestern I also ordered has cleared customs and is coming today. One of their "titanium divers". Ah who are they kidding it's a Pelagos clommage! I have high hopes, though it definitely doesn't fit the £100 remit of this thread :D Happy to post a photo or two when it arrives if anyone's interested though.
Have looked it more than once, but my eyes don't get on with chronos anymore unfortunately :( I dunno why, but I quite like the name Hruodland. Total gibberish, but still.
A fair way off £100 but amazing value for what you get. This arrived yesterday. On a rubber strap for now as I need to size the bracelet and one of the screws was being stubborn. Other than that first impressions are very positive.
Also have the blue FXD style coming too.
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Looks great. Mine did turn up this morning and I've not long finished sizing it. Screws were a bit stiff on mine too but got there in the end. Wouldn't mind a smidge more AR but can't have everything
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Some say the bezel is too thick, but I don't see it myself. It wears beautifully and looks nicely balanced to my eyes. The bracelet is a complete work of art; I've had watches at ten times the price that don't come close to the quality of this one.
- - - Updated - - -
You may have one of mine mate. I'll PM you.
Well this is definitely helping with my GO SeaQ yearning (it’s why I got it!) And honestly for the money it’s amazing how good it is. Definitely a bargain. I’m not a metal strap fan (at all, regardless of quality) so I’ve put it on a Strap Tailor Nato which I think works well…
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A nice little take on the Longines marine nationale. May have snuck ina touch over the 100gpb but worth it as far as I'm concerned.
After much deliberation I pulled the trigger a short while ago and these two arrived this morning
Initial observations: OP41 Homage is superb. Japanese NH34 movement. Came with a small screwdriver for removing links from bracelet. It winds up nicely, very smooth. Love the colour of the dial. Bracelet is an Oyster copy not from an OP. So it has the safety clasp and comfort extension similar to an Explorer but is Sub proportions. Price? A gobsmacking £65 delivered inc taxes
The GMT is also a fantastic watch for the money also way under a ton at £70. However I was hoping for a proper Traveller GMT. This is an Office GMT. Bezel is nice and positive with 120 clicks, Ceramic Insert is really good. Cyclops is a bit meh tbh.
I’ve left the stickers on for now as I may move it on as I do want a proper Traveller GMT, going to think about it for a day or so.
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Hi Nige - could you post a link to where you picked these up please, for that price you can’t go wrong!
Thanks in advance.
Sure! Both came from AliExpress. Pagani Design Official Store was the seller. First time I’ve used AliExpress and I did a fair bit of searching before actually ordering them. There are loads of watches and many are subtly different which adds a layer of complication
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When you have the AliExpress app installed and you're playing games to earn coins, then you know you've hit rock bottom Anyway, gotta go play Merge Boss...
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