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Any Horologists with us? Watch lovers?


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5 hours ago, ghostwriter said:

not much of an enthusiast but I own following atm. Looking forward to get a smart-watch in the future.

1. Festina Racing - Swiss made

2. Casio - Basic Japanese one. Bought as a reminder for my first salary

 

 

Try not to confuse Festina with Certina. Festina is a zombie brand with questionable repute and quality. Certina on the other hand, is proper Swiss.

A zombie brand is a brand that had died sometime in the past (mainly due to competition from the Japanese) but got reincarnated by shrewd businessmen who only see the value in the name. Other zombie brands include Omax, Hanowa, Mondia, Lucien Piccard...

In fact, even brands like A Lange and Sohne and Baume et Mercier were resurrected from death. However, they were done with class and their products are still good quality.

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3 hours ago, Crosswind said:

Try not to confuse Festina with Certina. Festina is a zombie brand with questionable repute and quality. Certina on the other hand, is proper Swiss.

A zombie brand is a brand that had died sometime in the past (mainly due to competition from the Japanese) but got reincarnated by shrewd businessmen who only see the value in the name. Other zombie brands include Omax, Hanowa, Mondia, Lucien Piccard...

In fact, even brands like A Lange and Sohne and Baume et Mercier were resurrected from death. However, they were done with class and their products are still good quality.

re-checked. mine is Festina. First time I heard about the term Zombie brand. Like I said, I'm not a proper enthusiast hence the lack of knowledge in the subject. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. so my urge to get a proper swiss made watch still continues..

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7 hours ago, john cooper said:

Unsure what happened to Timex, they use to be a good name in the watch industry, may be now under the "Zombie" category?? ?

 

Timex is still good. They are a proper watch company but targets the low end of the market just like Casio. I think they are part-owned by Tata but that doesn't matter. 

FYI your Frederique Constant is a Citizen on the inside :D but do remember that Citizen is also a reputed watch manufacturer and they also own Bulova. Citizen 8210 movement is the most widely used automatic watch movement in the world (though I doubt whether your watch has an 8210 on the inside. Most likely its a Ronda).  So you have a proper watch in your hands.

5 hours ago, ghostwriter said:

re-checked. mine is Festina. First time I heard about the term Zombie brand. Like I said, I'm not a proper enthusiast hence the lack of knowledge in the subject. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. so my urge to get a proper swiss made watch still continues..

Here's my little experience with a zombie brand. Faithfully recorded here, but in summary:

I bought a Hanowa from a fairly reputed seller on eBay (in fact, I bought two at the same time). One was a world timer. The Hanowa was the only 'Swiss' world timer from the recent years which had COLOMBO (instead of Delhi or Dhaka) as a seperate time zone. That's why I bought it in the first place

One of the watches (the world timer) had a spelling mistake on the bezel - LOS ANGELES was printed as LOS ANGEIES. At first I suspected it was a fake so I asked the guys from Watchuseek to authenticate. They too, were under the impression that it was a fake.

In any case, I e-mailed Hanowa to check. Hanowa's manufacturer came up with a hilarious response. This was it:

<Quote>

We are the manufacturer of this Swiss Military/Hanowa watch, style 6-4131 and called REVENGE DUAL TIME.

The first launch of this watch was with mineral crystal. In a later stage, on request of most customers, a sapphire crystal was added but there was no such writing on dial.

Only recently, 1 or 1.5 years ago, the supplier of components was changed and the new manufacturer unfortunately did not copy the original 100%. In addition there happened a writing mistake in the wording LOS ANGELES as shown and explained by you. We still have watches on stock looking exactly as your picture even with SAPPHIRE printed in de Dual Time area.

This means, that your watch is an original Swiss Military/Hanowa watch but with a small mistake. I am sorry that you have an "imperfect" watch but I hope that it gives a lot of pleasure to you anyway.

</Quote>

In other words, they knew about the spelling mistake (which was a significant QC problem) but were still selling the watches!!!!

Now I stay away from zombies. 

 

mn12x3.jpg

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Not really an enthusiast of the fine pieces but I love me a good G-Shock:

Currently own

GA100 (Grey casing with Cyan handles)

DW Series {I think} (Watch is about 25 years old, belonged to my father replaced the battery for the first time a couple of years ago)

AW-591ML (With the radium handles)

Edific EFV-570D (Cyan Handles, bought "because you can't wear G-Shocks for a long sleeved shirt" - Mother)

Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 Classic - Smartwatch that eventually made me not wear anything else

Probably would've bought more but found a great distraction for the money afterwards (Car)

Edited by MaleCortana
Added a smartwatch
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7 hours ago, Crosswind said:

Timex is still good. They are a proper watch company but targets the low end of the market just like Casio. I think they are part-owned by Tata but that doesn't matter. 

FYI your Frederique Constant is a Citizen on the inside :D but do remember that Citizen is also a reputed watch manufacturer and they also own Bulova. Citizen 8210 movement is the most widely used automatic watch movement in the world (though I doubt whether your watch has an 8210 on the inside. Most likely its a Ronda).  So you have a proper watch in your hands.

Here's my little experience with a zombie brand. Faithfully recorded here, but in summary:

I bought a Hanowa from a fairly reputed seller on eBay (in fact, I bought two at the same time). One was a world timer. The Hanowa was the only 'Swiss' world timer from the recent years which had COLOMBO (instead of Delhi or Dhaka) as a seperate time zone. That's why I bought it in the first place

One of the watches (the world timer) had a spelling mistake on the bezel - LOS ANGELES was printed as LOS ANGEIES. At first I suspected it was a fake so I asked the guys from Watchuseek to authenticate. They too, were under the impression that it was a fake.

In any case, I e-mailed Hanowa to check. Hanowa's manufacturer came up with a hilarious response. This was it:

<Quote>

We are the manufacturer of this Swiss Military/Hanowa watch, style 6-4131 and called REVENGE DUAL TIME.

The first launch of this watch was with mineral crystal. In a later stage, on request of most customers, a sapphire crystal was added but there was no such writing on dial.

Only recently, 1 or 1.5 years ago, the supplier of components was changed and the new manufacturer unfortunately did not copy the original 100%. In addition there happened a writing mistake in the wording LOS ANGELES as shown and explained by you. We still have watches on stock looking exactly as your picture even with SAPPHIRE printed in de Dual Time area.

This means, that your watch is an original Swiss Military/Hanowa watch but with a small mistake. I am sorry that you have an "imperfect" watch but I hope that it gives a lot of pleasure to you anyway.

</Quote>

In other words, they knew about the spelling mistake (which was a significant QC problem) but were still selling the watches!!!!

Now I stay away from zombies. 

 

mn12x3.jpg

Fascinating stuff @Crosswind - you're like a Sri Lankan reincarnation of the infamous "WatchSnob" from AskMen!???

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On 10/15/2020 at 6:28 AM, ghostwriter said:

re-checked. mine is Festina. First time I heard about the term Zombie brand. Like I said, I'm not a proper enthusiast hence the lack of knowledge in the subject. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. so my urge to get a proper swiss made watch still continues..

We have lots of Zombie brands now. Watches, Pianos and cars MG/ Bogward

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On 10/15/2020 at 3:48 PM, Devinda_Z said:

Fascinating stuff @Crosswind - you're like a Sri Lankan reincarnation of the infamous "WatchSnob" from AskMen!???

 

On 10/15/2020 at 10:00 PM, john cooper said:

@Crosswind you seems like the go to person for watch's 

Will consult you before my next watch for sure, 

Does any one in SL got a Patek watch?

To be honest, all my knowledge about watches came from watchuseek.com

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On 2/20/2020 at 11:44 PM, MasterDon said:

I have a few watches.Mostly inherited from my late father, but I've added my share..

  • 1978 Seiko 6138-0040 'Bullhead' 
  • Omega Seamaster Professional
  • Omega Speedmaster Michael Schumacher Special Edition
  • Rolex Day-Date 41 Platinum
  • Tissot PRS516 Extreme
  • Casio  GMW B5000D 35th Anniversary Full Metal
  • Frederique Constant dress watch
  • 2001 Rolex Daytona 116520
  • Cartier Tank
  • Poljot Automatic
  • Vostok Kommandirskie manual wind

This list needs to be updated. I sold the Frederique Constant and Cartier.

Added a Speedmaster 311.30.42.30.01.006 aka 'the moonwatch' aka 'sapphire sandwich'

Also got a 2000s Datejust 16234 with WG bezel and diamond hour marker dial.

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