Poor man's watch thread

[mackmittonz]



I am sorry but who in their right mind would tell you to just buy a new watch instead of servicing a Blue Spark? First of all, the watch can't be more than 4 years old. In other words, a modern movement with parts that shouldn't be hard to find. Second, it's a classic modern Seiko watch if there ever was one. I would have done the same as you.

It was one of those jewelry stores that thought the only watch worth anything was Rolex. Gotta love the educated sales people.

 

[peteyyytran]

Wow! I definitely thought poor man's we were thinking 100 and below. Looks like you guys have some awesome pick ups for decent price! A bit too high for a low baller like me, what are your opinions on any of these? Too cheap? I hear great things about Timex Weekenders and Seiko 5's. A friend has them and i think they look great. Maybe one of these since I had ordered one for a friend for his bday but haven't gotten to see him wear it yet.

http://bit.ly/SFGrI6

 

[Gonzo]



Wow! I definitely thought poor man's we were thinking 100 and below.

My personal arbitrary definition is anything under $350. Under $100 is a bit limiting really.

 

[atila]

Replacement battery on Eco Drive will run you around $50-$70 just FYI.

 

[jischwar]

My personal arbitrary definition is anything under $350. Under $100 is a bit limiting really.

If you look at the first posts in the thread, $1k watches were being posted.

 

[Sam Hober]



Replacement battery on Eco Drive will run you around $50-$70 just FYI.

Thank you - good to know.

Do you know how long they last?

And is it easy to just drop them in?

 

[Bort99]

Say you're dead-set on finding a Seiko SVCS013 Blue Spark—aside from Watchuseek, Timezone and eBay, anywhere else to look?

 

[Hayward]

Yahoo! Japan auctions? Can you read Japanese?

Have you taken a look at the Seiko SARB models, or Orient Star? Orient was making some really cool ones for a while.

 

[Bort99]

Thanks, good suggestions. Some of those SARB models are really nice, especially the 031 and I'll have to give that one some thought. Same goes for the Orient Star line, but I haven't found one there that's really to my taste.

I can't read Japanese, unfortunately. It occurred to me to try searching Sekaimon a while ago and this is what came up:






I imagine that the dog is saying, "You really don't know what you're doing, do you?" I see that there are proxy and translation websites that claim to let you bid on these sites in English, but it seems like they require a deposit to open an account and generally seem a little janky—search seems imprecise and I can't imagine it's easy to set up saved searches.

 

[adamk77]

This was just delivered to me this morning. A brand called Rodina, a Nomos homage. I really wanted a Stowa Antea 390 but $800 isn't a poor man's watch for me I got it from Taobao using a Taobao agent (first time). I'm very happy with it. I got it for $130 (watch was $90, Taobao agent fee $10, shipping $30). It's a self-winding mechanical, and the movement is Seagull ST17.

 

[ZirconiumZephyr]

This came today, dappered recommendation. Just love the blue hands!

 

[djwoblely]



This was just delivered to me this morning. A brand called Rodina, a Nomos homage. I really wanted a Stowa Antea 390 but $800 isn't a poor man's watch for me I got it from Taobao using a Taobao agent (first time). I'm very happy with it. I got it for $130 (watch was $90, Taobao agent fee $10, shipping $30). It's a self-winding mechanical, and the movement is Seagull ST17.

That watch is pretty clean!!
Can you explain how you acquired this? Googled taobao and its in Chinese.

 

[Pieceofsand]

 

[888star1]

Here's a poor mans watch

Hey, does anyone know the exact model of this fine specimen?

Thanks in advance

 

[adamk77]



That watch is pretty clean!!
Can you explain how you acquired this? Googled taobao and its in Chinese.

You cant buy it directly from Taobao. You need to use someone called a Taobao agent to buy the watch for you and then ship it to you. They charge you a small fee. I used the agent at this link http://www.taobao-buying-agent.com/

What you do is, you give the agent the link to the watch you want (that you found on Taobao). Taobao is in Chinese though, so you have to use Google translate. You should be able to find this watch from this link here (use Google translate): http://s.taobao.com/search?q=%BA%A3%C5%B8%D4%AD%D7%B0m187S&initiative_id=staobaoz_20121017

It's rather involved, but I was able to get the watch for around $130 (watch $90, agent fee $10, shipping $30). The entire process took 2 weeks.