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madhat

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Touche
31A52144-3F84-47C0-90CB-38726F2B382D.jpeg
 

Omega Male

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Great watch but the mustard corduroy suit is probably still getting the bulk of the attention!
 

Thin White Duke

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Just wanted to say thanks to all who chipped in with advice and comments when I was asking about duties.
The final story is I bought this watch off chrono24 (first time buyer through them). The whole deal would have been smooth I’m sure if it was a US seller. The seller had to declare the stated purchase price ($4500) to get the shipment insured with DHL. Thus my first completion of the duties form I followed the advice from here and weighted it mostly on the movement with a total of $1400 ($1000 movement, $100 strap, $300 case). This was rejected as I had to match the declared value. I re-sent the form just moving movement value up from $1000 to $4000 thus a total of $4400. This was rejected again as in the interim currency has fluctuated and the stated value was now $4360.70 so I had to readjust my figures to match this obscure total. Lo and behold this was accepted! The total I had to pay to release the shipment was $96 which I suppose isn’t too much if I’m daft enough to splurge $4500 on a watch in the first place (the value when new was $6800 and this is a numbered LE of 285 so not easy to come by and I always liked it back to when it was released in 2016). Of the $96 some of that may be ‘admin fees’ I need to find the email with the receipt breakdown.

I post all the above in case it’s useful to anyone else to read of a real world anecdote as to how much to expect to pay for import duties when dealing with watches from abroad. Unless I come across a holy grail I’ll be unlikely to endure this ball ache again!
As for the watch itself, it’s a gorgeous (IMO) white dial Bremont OTUSA Americas Cup with titanium case.

0BA9E272-6E86-4C71-8032-D2815C982286.jpeg



Bremont doesn’t seem to get a lot of love on here.

I became interested in this brand several years ago when I read an article about Britain being an original pioneer in the watch making business a long time ago but having been almost totally eclipsed by Swiss / German / Japanese brands more recently. Despite that that there were / are a few British brands (Christopher Ward) but it’s a bit sneaky to call some of them ‘British’ when they seem to largely use Swiss movements.
Case in point Bremont. After some research I found that one reason they lack a certain level of credibility / admiration among watch aficionados is that they use fairly basic Swiss movements but put them in a case in London to earn a ‘made in England’ merit badge, and pump up their prices to around $5k which seems like a fair enough reason for some people to give them a swerve.

Along with wanting to support my Anglophile tendencies I do generally like a lot of their designs and their standard font, but on most of their models there always seems to be at least one feature I didn’t like which prevented me from getting fully on board. (Ugly sword hands, four o clock date windows, weird heavy shrouds, ugly and oversized chrono pushers. two o clock crown positions, etc), but when this one came out about five years ago I really took a liking to it. After some patient searching I finally bagged this one in ‘as new’ condition but much less than the original RRP of $6800. It’s in barely used condition, all papers, pouches, extras etc. Seller knocked the price down to 4500, plus shipping tax snd insurance another $140 and import duties $96 so close to $2k off the original price. Authenticity confirmed. Whatever basic movement it started with, it’s had significant upgrades to add the fifteen minute countdown features. I’m not a yachtsman and I can’t think of another scenario in which I would need a fifteen minute countdown, but I don’t race cars and don’t have a use for a tach scale either and this hasn’t stopped me from getting a daytona and seeking out a Moonwatch speedy one day!
Anyway I love this - bright white dial with red and blue accents, lightweight despite the size as it’s titanium, rubber strap, easily readable hands, fonts etc and at what for me was a decent price. Now to track down that Moonwatch!
327CE8F6-9A02-492B-BB48-CA0B1990030D.jpeg
 

Newcomer

Stylish Dinosaur
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I prefer the original with dark dial.

That’s fair. I’m just a sucker for off white anything, and light neutrals (in fairness, I almost exclusively wear whites, creams, beiges, and tans).
 

Keith T

TWAT Master.
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Just wanted to say thanks to all who chipped in with advice and comments when I was asking about duties.
The final story is I bought this watch off chrono24 (first time buyer through them). The whole deal would have been smooth I’m sure if it was a US seller. The seller had to declare the stated purchase price ($4500) to get the shipment insured with DHL. Thus my first completion of the duties form I followed the advice from here and weighted it mostly on the movement with a total of $1400 ($1000 movement, $100 strap, $300 case). This was rejected as I had to match the declared value. I re-sent the form just moving movement value up from $1000 to $4000 thus a total of $4400. This was rejected again as in the interim currency has fluctuated and the stated value was now $4360.70 so I had to readjust my figures to match this obscure total. Lo and behold this was accepted! The total I had to pay to release the shipment was $96 which I suppose isn’t too much if I’m daft enough to splurge $4500 on a watch in the first place (the value when new was $6800 and this is a numbered LE of 285 so not easy to come by and I always liked it back to when it was released in 2016). Of the $96 some of that may be ‘admin fees’ I need to find the email with the receipt breakdown.

I post all the above in case it’s useful to anyone else to read of a real world anecdote as to how much to expect to pay for import duties when dealing with watches from abroad. Unless I come across a holy grail I’ll be unlikely to endure this ball ache again!
As for the watch itself, it’s a gorgeous (IMO) white dial Bremont OTUSA Americas Cup with titanium case.

View attachment 1676381


Bremont doesn’t seem to get a lot of love on here.

I became interested in this brand several years ago when I read an article about Britain being an original pioneer in the watch making business a long time ago but having been almost totally eclipsed by Swiss / German / Japanese brands more recently. Despite that that there were / are a few British brands (Christopher Ward) but it’s a bit sneaky to call some of them ‘British’ when they seem to largely use Swiss movements.
Case in point Bremont. After some research I found that one reason they lack a certain level of credibility / admiration among watch aficionados is that they use fairly basic Swiss movements but put them in a case in London to earn a ‘made in England’ merit badge, and pump up their prices to around $5k which seems like a fair enough reason for some people to give them a swerve.

Along with wanting to support my Anglophile tendencies I do generally like a lot of their designs and their standard font, but on most of their models there always seems to be at least one feature I didn’t like which prevented me from getting fully on board. (Ugly sword hands, four o clock date windows, weird heavy shrouds, ugly and oversized chrono pushers. two o clock crown positions, etc), but when this one came out about five years ago I really took a liking to it. After some patient searching I finally bagged this one in ‘as new’ condition but much less than the original RRP of $6800. It’s in barely used condition, all papers, pouches, extras etc. Seller knocked the price down to 4500, plus shipping tax snd insurance another $140 and import duties $96 so close to $2k off the original price. Authenticity confirmed. Whatever basic movement it started with, it’s had significant upgrades to add the fifteen minute countdown features. I’m not a yachtsman and I can’t think of another scenario in which I would need a fifteen minute countdown, but I don’t race cars and don’t have a use for a tach scale either and this hasn’t stopped me from getting a daytona and seeking out a Moonwatch speedy one day!
Anyway I love this - bright white dial with red and blue accents, lightweight despite the size as it’s titanium, rubber strap, easily readable hands, fonts etc and at what for me was a decent price. Now to track down that Moonwatch! View attachment 1676382

Congrats on this pickup @Thin White Duke, especially after all the acquisition troubles. Wear it in good health :)

You're right, Bremont probably doesn't get much love here, but a buddy of mine recently got one of their GMTs and he seems really smitten with it.

And I think I saw somewhere that they had opened (or were about to open) a new manufacturing site in the UK? The brand definitely has grown on me.
 

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