So far so good on keeping time. Didn't keep close track of the clock when I set it, just looked at my phone and went for it.
I've also seen reviews of DOA SOKI's, but I went for it anyway after reading the post on watchuseek linked here many pages ago where he checked various cheapos against a meter and found it to be one of the best.
Edit: Seems to have kept perfect time and plenty of wind overnight, so I think I managed another winner.
My Shenhua gamble is apparently lost somewhere in the USPS system in Ann Arbor. It arrived at the local station, got checked in, and put on a truck, but now nobody knows where it is.
It never got checked as delivered (because our building is closed on Saturday), but it apparently never got checked back in at the post office location.
You don't need to understand the inner workings of the IWC Ingenieur Constant-Force Tourbillon Watch ($TBA) — but it doesn't hurt. It features a patented constant-force mechanism that guarantees extreme precision, as well as two barrels to supply the added torque necessary to drive the tourbillon. Other, more easily understood features include a 96-hour power reserve, a platinum and ceramic case, and a moon phase module that shows the moon phase for both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, as well as a countdown display showing the phases until the next full moon.
The color palette isn't my cup of tea, but I find that IWC's design language is definitely my cup of tea. Maybe not that watch, but I really dig the tourbillon's cage and bridge, and I love their Portugese line.
Speaking of enormous power reserves:
Beijing Watch Factory makes the TB03-2 tourbillon movement with EIGHT DAYS of power reserve. For those of us with mortal wealth, the PTS Resources Z2015 uses a double-barreled mainspring setup to achieve 80 hours of reserve.
K&S arrived today. Very well put-together watch. A little weak on the polishing of the links in the band, but completely forgivable since they're not the cheapass folded links.
Date and day of week (1-7), and 24h dials all work perfectly. Nice easy winding at the crown, and the auto-wind weight seems quite a bit heftier than on the Soki.
Love the bracelet there. What's the caseback like?
Open like most of the other auto-mechanicals out there. Whoever makes the K&S brand does a good job at cleaning up the workings, the weight has a nice pattern and brand on it. Much higher-end looking than its pricetag would lead one to believe.
In other news, the power reserve on the SOKI is pretty beefy. It's been sitting in the box since the K&S arrived yesterday and it's still ticking away more than 24 hours later, right on time.
I got a call from the Post Office on Saturday afternoon. My Shenhua gamble had fallen between two false bottoms in one of the sorting bins.
Arrived today. From what I can tell from the gear placement and the shape/size of the auto-winder, it appears to use a similar movement as the Soki I got last week (with the addition of two fake dials (a 24h and a day-of-week), lol). That's a pretty good sign, as that watch has been keeping time excellently and has a pretty decent power-reserve.
At first glance, nobody would notice that the additional dials are for decoration.
Even though it's a folded-link band, they did a really good job on it. The overall look and weight is quite nice.
But with non-functional secondary dials, this one will probably go back out on theBay later this week.
My new Vostok Amphibia finally made it here from Moscow. I love it!! I put on a Nato band I got from Sectime. This is absolutely my new favorite watch.
lol, wow. That's a Winner-brand. So yeah, if you are good at sniping a close-to-ending one on ebay, $15 or even less is about right.
I've thought about custom-building watches using off-the-shelf Chinese parts, but the research part is proving more daunting than I originally thought.
But that's actually picking, assembling, and fitting the parts. Not trolling eBay for wholesale lots and reselling them as something I made myself, heh.
I gave up searching eBay and started browsing watches from space. This one looks nice, but I can't tell exactly how big the face is. Maybe 2, 3 meters?
A watch that's proud to be Chinese! You probably already know this, but by learning the Chinese days of the week you learn the characters for 1 thru 6. (Sunday OTOH uses either day/sun日 or sky/heaven天.)
Still waiting to receive my Raketa with the months in Russian, which I'll have to learn.
I suspected it might be numbers, as the characters for the day window in this watch only changed in the last position. One line, two lines, three lines, four lines and so on. I could only assume it was something like "First day," beginning with Monday.
This watch uses 日 for Sunday.
//EDIT: I generally only own watches that are proud to be Chinese, but I do have a few Germasians in my midst that are at least honest about the origins of their movement. That's as shady as I'll go.
Ordered the Sea Gull M182SK ! I couldn't resist it any more, I did get a Seiko and Invicta back from the police but that's all. Time to rebuild the collection with some different styles then when I was in my early 20's
There is a few Invicta models that sport good movements My 1 Invicta I own is a grand Diver with a Citizen / Miyota Automatic movement and keeps amazing time, Of course now that I am rebuilding my collection that will probably be my only Invicta
Comments
I've also seen reviews of DOA SOKI's, but I went for it anyway after reading the post on watchuseek linked here many pages ago where he checked various cheapos against a meter and found it to be one of the best.
Edit: Seems to have kept perfect time and plenty of wind overnight, so I think I managed another winner.
It never got checked as delivered (because our building is closed on Saturday), but it apparently never got checked back in at the post office location.
Speaking of enormous power reserves:
Beijing Watch Factory makes the TB03-2 tourbillon movement with EIGHT DAYS of power reserve. For those of us with mortal wealth, the PTS Resources Z2015 uses a double-barreled mainspring setup to achieve 80 hours of reserve.
Date and day of week (1-7), and 24h dials all work perfectly. Nice easy winding at the crown, and the auto-wind weight seems quite a bit heftier than on the Soki.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/113261456539286394780/posts/XCWAGnjBptt
In other news, the power reserve on the SOKI is pretty beefy. It's been sitting in the box since the K&S arrived yesterday and it's still ticking away more than 24 hours later, right on time.
I got a call from the Post Office on Saturday afternoon. My Shenhua gamble had fallen between two false bottoms in one of the sorting bins.
Arrived today. From what I can tell from the gear placement and the shape/size of the auto-winder, it appears to use a similar movement as the Soki I got last week (with the addition of two fake dials (a 24h and a day-of-week), lol). That's a pretty good sign, as that watch has been keeping time excellently and has a pretty decent power-reserve.
At first glance, nobody would notice that the additional dials are for decoration.
Even though it's a folded-link band, they did a really good job on it. The overall look and weight is quite nice.
But with non-functional secondary dials, this one will probably go back out on theBay later this week.
.
(Man, watches are hard to photograph)
Saw this in my news feed today.
I've thought about custom-building watches using off-the-shelf Chinese parts, but the research part is proving more daunting than I originally thought.
But that's actually picking, assembling, and fitting the parts. Not trolling eBay for wholesale lots and reselling them as something I made myself, heh.
Still waiting to receive my Raketa with the months in Russian, which I'll have to learn.
This watch uses 日 for Sunday.
//EDIT: I generally only own watches that are proud to be Chinese, but I do have a few Germasians in my midst that are at least honest about the origins of their movement. That's as shady as I'll go.
There is a few Invicta models that sport good movements My 1 Invicta I own is a grand Diver with a Citizen / Miyota Automatic movement and keeps amazing time, Of course now that I am rebuilding my collection that will probably be my only Invicta