The Under £200ish Watch and occasional Opera Thread! Vol2

[Composer62]

CharlesdeGaulle said:

Barchettaman said:

‘This spring I will be mostly wearing’….

Apologies for the Fast Show reference but this Pagani Design is top of the list for me at the moment.

No complaints particularly for the £36 or whatever it was I paid from AliExpress.

Seiko smooth sweep quartz movement (VK31?)
Sapphire
Lovely bracelet
38mm
Screw down crown and caseback (not that I would trust the 100m WR rating)
Nicely finished mix of brushed and polished finishes on the case
Milled lower clasp, pressed engraved upper
Sintered finish (very nicely done)

And of course the ‘on-trend’ Tiffany Blue dial. As anyone who seen my photos can confirm, fashion is enormously important to me

I've got one of those and am very pleased with it. Real bargain.

Me too One of the best bargains I've picked up.

[defblade]

Barchettaman said:

Pebbles167 said:

I've managed to amass a collection of Ali Express specials that I've owned for a month or two.

I’ve realised I'll just never wear them so wondering weather to sell them, but the obsessive collector in me has reservations.

Edited by Pebbles167 on Saturday 13th April 18:05

Sell them on here: there’s a ‘for sale’ section at the top of the sub-forum.

I’ve sold loads of stuff (including a couple on here) that I didn’t wear, it seems daft to have watches sat in a watch box that won’t get worn. Recognize that tastes change over time and pass stuff on to a new owner that’ll give the ‘piece some wrist time, in good health’ etc etc

Don't worry, he's already shifted 2 of them

[Barchettaman]

Composer62 said:

Me too One of the best bargains I've picked up.

Incoming:



Bracelet unsized and unworn; watch hardly worn. £60. I’ll put it to one side until Putin is defeated.




Obviously above thread budget but at a cool grand off RRP (£700 vs. £1700) I succumbed. Bracelet sized, watch unworn.

Outgoing:



Liked it a LOT but prefer a slimmer dive watch…. Not sure quite how that adds up to buying a 15mm automatic chronograph but hey ho. Sold at a small profit.

[RSTurboPaul]

Deefor62 said:

Well the parts were just under thread budget, but I had to pay for it to be put together at a local watchmaker as that sort of thing is well beyond my capabilities and eyesight. Quite chuffed with the result.

That is ace

[Deefor62]

RSTurboPaul said:

That is ace

Thanks for your comment. Must admit it was fun scouring the internet to source the various parts. Just wish I had the confidence and eyesight required to put watches together myself.

[21st Century Man]

A bit out of thread budget but I think it just about fits in here. I've just got this for my wife, 34mm, fits my wrist too.

[Pebbles167]

Those cocktail times are nice, thought they were all bigger than that though.

[21st Century Man]

This is the ladies, 34mm, it actually seems quite big for a ladies though, I could happily wear it. The mens are 40.5mm.

[the_kato]

Arrived from eBay this morning. £172

[Geertsen]

the_kato said:

Arrived from eBay this morning. £172

I’ve not heard of those before. Really interesting! I’ve just spent a while looking on their website.

[the_kato]

Geertsen said:

I’ve not heard of those before. Really interesting! I’ve just spent a while looking on their website.

3rd one I’ve owned. Had two of the Model 1’s before and would buy more. Owner is called Charlie and he’s a nice chap

[Geertsen]

the_kato said:

Geertsen said:

I’ve not heard of those before. Really interesting! I’ve just spent a while looking on their website.

3rd one I’ve owned. Had two of the Model 1’s before and would buy more. Owner is called Charlie and he’s a nice chap

Funny you should say that, the Model 1 is the one I like the look of! Lovely dial in green.

[the_kato]

Geertsen said:

Funny you should say that, the Model 1 is the one I like the look of! Lovely dial in green.

They’re discontinued now but occasionally pop up on eBay. I had a white one and the green with the orange seconds hand. I was lovely, shouldn’t have sold it.

[carlo996]

[Pebbles167]

I think those Casio Lineage watches look great, solar too. It's what I'm asking the Mrs for for my birthday later this year.

The digital adds to the appeal which is odd for me since i don't generally like digital watches.

[r159]

g4ry13 said:

r159 said:

blue_haddock said:

i keep uhm'ing and ahh'ing on a PRX quartz. Can get a quartz one for not much more than thread budget, and i actually prefer the quartz sunburst dial to the auto waffle dial. Would get it on a rubber strap but still keep thinking its still a bit too dressy.

I keep looking at them too, then wonder where it would fit in my collection/when I’d wear it (not that has stopped me in the past)

I picked up a mint dial on a discount for £250.

It seems pretty decent. Might do a strap change at some point.

Just joined the mint prx club, was a toss up between that and a Certina multi-8 but fancied something a bit more fun. Went with the 40, 35 wouldn’t go over my hand.

[Pebbles167]

I bought a Cestrian field series watch recently, well made, good looking and I thought it a great deal at around £140.



On the strength of this, I then ordered one of their master series models for around the same price.



Looked fantastic in the press images, but when I opened it and saw the dial I was greeted with this.



The lume dots on the indices look awful. I think the watch could do without them anyway, but at least they looked neat. But they are actually all over the place, showing some pretty poor QC.




I'm not really one for returning things, but I have to say I'm considering it. At sub £200 maybe I'm being too critical? The dial looks great otherwise, but the £20-£50 Ali Express models show far greater attention to detail which seems nuts.

Thoughts?

Edited by Pebbles167 on Wednesday 17th April 16:09

[zedx19]

100% would be sending that back, regardless of the cost, blue one looks lovely though!

[21st Century Man]

That's not acceptable imo, especially with the reference picture, there's no comparison with the quality and placement of those lume dots. Return.

[Bobberoo]

Agree, 100% send it back, tell them why too!!!