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pollux.cc

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Posts posted by pollux.cc

  1. Guangzhou watch market Do's and Dont's - post your experience

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Interesting post,though i would save my trip to China for viewing chicks,not watches. But hey,both can be done online... 8)

    Some online dealers have a delivery guarantee so no worries there,but i'm sure being in GZ,it would be interesting to check out the watch market at the source.

    a local chick was the reason why I suddenly had no time nor interest in the reps and the GZ market altogether. Just right after I had established my contacts and was aiming for a lot more watches sigh

    so beware of conflicting goals. :p

    as for ordering online, even if there are guarantees, theres still risk involved and if problems occur they too can be quite unnerving at the least

  12. Guangzhou watch market Do's and Dont's - post your experience

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Very interesting thread. If you are not into the thrill of the hunt is there really any reason to buy over there versus in the comfort of your own home? I have always wondered about it convinced that I would screw it up and get home with a busted watch and no way to exchange it. I had also heard that the higher end factories are very restrictive of what is allowed to stay in country - but that may be a myth.

    I'm assuming that - if you're not long-term or regularly in China - the opportunity cost of time will be relatively high to you. Lack of abilty to communicate and being generally unacustomed to this environment raises your costs even higher.

    It's fine if you're casually shopping. But it will not likely get your specific high quality rep you want. But then again if you're a serious headcase like many here you might as well fly to GZ just to do that.

    Personally, I would take retailing on the GZ market over online shopping any day. Besides being able to physically inspect the goods, most importantly I'm afraid of customs risk. And since I'm there at least once a year I can avoid that.

    edit: ok obviously most orders to europe are sent via CN-UK-your destination

    Ive actually never ordered online. I fear for a complete loss + possible fine if my parcel is inspected. According to a documentary I've seen, every single air parcel to Germany is to be opened and inspected - no exceptions. Well in reality, some seem to slip through. From my personal experience, MOST packages I receive will have been inspected. I just find it too risky.

  16. Guangzhou watch market Do's and Dont's - post your experience

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hey guys,

    after skimming through earlier posts, I thought I'd open another thread on buying watches in China in general and especially on the wholesale market in GZ. Hope everyone can benefit a little from our experience.

    I thought of some Do's and Dont's and I'll end my post with a write-up of my experience that i posted on another forum already

    Do's:

    do your research beforehand about make and build, also prices online (it's not so much about the savings but the fun of finding your watch)

    set yourself a price/piece limit or a goal

    use photos to show and compare. Smartphone or Laptop does come in handy

    haggling is more prominent in typical tourist stalls. At the wholesale-market, haggling is not so common, but still possible

    if buying cheapos:

    haggle hard! starting prices are often astronomous. you can pretend to walk away if you're not interested

    if buying quality reps:

    ask them if they can get you the good stuff. quality reps are never on display, they'll have to fetch it for you or take you to another place

    express sincere interest! Only then will they show you the good stuff or fetch it for you, but do tell that you're buying only if the price is right

    bring a loupe or buy one, there are enough around at the GZ market

    be prepared to pay in cash (obviously)

    be careful and watch your stuff! Sometimes they will take you to different locations, from my experience its safe. I like to pick my watches and then go to the ATM after i know how much i need.

    have them hand their business card. you might not find their stall again, so you can ask for directions or call

    bring a chinese friend

    dont...

    show disrespect to the seller or his products

    cause a scene

    expect you can get a quality rep for the price of an apple just because youre nearer at the source.

    if they fetch the stuff for you and it isn't right, tell them politely but assertively (dont let them mistake it for haggling)

    buy out of guilt for their time

    waste your own and their time

    Chinese pronounciation for brands can be quite tricky. e. g. TAG HEUER is written 豪雅 (hao2 ya3) and only distinctly resemble "Heuer" in sound. If you want good reps, you will have to ask specifically. If you're really into it, look up the brand names you're interested in. Use google or nciku.com (major brands are listed there)

    vocabulary & names:

    will edit this another time if enough people show interest :) you might help me with a list of what you wanna say

    location in Guangzhou:

    广州站西钟表城 Guangzhou West-Station Watch City (actually just next to the central station. Take the sub to central station to avoid traffic)

    Here's a short report I wrote, sorry for any redundance:

    Thankfully I travel to Guangzhou on a yearly basis and so it didn't take long until I was combing through the wholesale Watch centers next to the Guangzhou central station, armed only with my laptop and my iphone with detailed photos to show and to compare. I did have extra trouble to find suppliers for the real gems at first (you know, no one keeps the good stuff there in case there's a "raid" and they wouldn't even admit they had that stuff). Their customers are mostly chinese with a few asian and african buyers (Im ethnic chinese). I do not recall encountering a single "white devil" and I did frequent those places quite a bit.

    The sellers in the centers buy from their distributor nearby. They do occasionally have some what we would call "beginner watches" behind the corner, but normally thats as good as it gets. If you want to have the gems, you will have to explicitly ask for the best they can get. They must be "borrowed" from the distributor since they can not afford to stock ceramic HBBs and theres usually little demand for good fakes and they for sure wouldn't risk storing them behind their counter, so unless you call them up beforehand chances are you will have to make the same tour again another day. If you don't speak chinese... well all sellers have catalogues with pictures, but it'd be better to bring a chinese friend.

    For example, I had them show me a lot of TAG carreras (all had imperfections, they were quite good overall, but the best i had seen i had to order first and wait for them to call me when they had the stock) while only few could get a ceramic HBB Tempus to show.

    The TAG had a slightly misaligned bezel and a misaligned index around the 5 o clock dial. They sent it to a watchmaker (i.e. watch repairman) and had it fixed. Same with the HBB Tempus ceramic. The movement had blue screws, i had them exchanged for metal ones and I also had them replace the saw-toothed rotor with a smooth one. Unfortunately it wasn't until i got home that i realized the watchmaker had only replaced the easily accessible visible ones, leaving 3 blue ones which are hardly visible at first because theyre obstructed by the mvmt. I could have gone back but it didnt bother me so much as to wait another hour or so to have them change it. My point is, you have to be very patient and invest a lot of time. Although I wouldnt have wanted to wait anyways, I still failed to spot that there was 1 visible screw left because I grew impatient.

    Prices generally vary greatly from the distributor, many sellers have the same watches but they are often not made by the same factory. Usually I couldn't haggle considerably, but it might be different if you come there as a "foreign devil" tongue.gif Prices are considerably lower than the usual HK around the corner "shhh, want rolex?"-run 5 blocks through a maze- shop whose prices may easily be higher than those of the best online traders here. Still, if it's just about the money, and you're buying only one watch, the money you'd save buying there alone doesnt justify the time invested at all. But a RWG enthusiast would have his fun there i guess

    • Like 1

  17. Looking for tips for street-shop shopping

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Hey,

    first of all, have a nice trip. I'd like to contribute a little of my experience in this field. If you happen to go to Guangzhou, it's the rep mekka nowadays. The watch wholesalecenters are just behind the central station. If you shop shops, keep a lookout for shady people with calatogues or pictures in their hands. Most likely though, they will approach you if you are a westener. It does help if you're wearing a nice gen or rep watch yourself. Also very helpful is to have pics with you since communication will be difficult. Chinese pronounciation for brands can be quite tricky. e. g. TAG HEUER is written 豪雅 (hao2 ya3) and only distinctly resemble "Heuer" in sound. If you want good reps, you will have to ask specifically.

    Do's:

    use photos to show and compare

    if buying cheapos:

    haggle hard! you can pretend to walk away if you're not interested

    if buying quality reps:

    ask them if they can get you the good stuff. quality reps are never on display, they'll have to fetch it for you or take you to another place

    express sincere interest, have them fetch it for you, but say youre buying only if the price is right

    ask for their business card if they seem resourceful

    dont's:

    show disrespect to the seller or his products

    dont cause a scene

    if they fetch the stuff for you and it isn't right, tell them polite but assertively

    buy out of guilt for their time

    waste your and their time

    Here's a snippet from my write-up about the GZ watch market on a different forum:

    Thankfully I travel to Guangzhou on a yearly basis and so it didn't take long until I was combing through the wholesale Watch centers next to the Guangzhou central station, armed only with my laptop and my iphone with detailed photos to show and to compare. I did have extra trouble to find suppliers for the real gems at first (you know, no one keeps the good stuff there in case there's a "raid" and they wouldn't even admit they had that stuff). Their customers are mostly chinese with a few asian and african buyers (Im ethnic chinese). I do not recall encountering a single "white devil" and I did frequent those places quite a bit.

    The sellers in the centers buy from their distributor nearby. They do occasionally have some what we would call "beginner watches" behind the corner, but normally thats as good as it gets. If you want to have the gems, you will have to explicitly ask for the best they can get. They must be "borrowed" from the distributor since they can not afford to stock ceramic HBBs and theres usually little demand for good fakes and they for sure wouldn't risk storing them behind their counter, so unless you call them up beforehand chances are you will have to make the same tour again another day. If you don't speak chinese... well all sellers have catalogues with pictures, but it'd be better to bring a chinese friend.

    edit: thread on buying in china

  22. Tempus flaws... how should it really be? should I replace the parts?

    in Other Brands Area

    Posted

    by the way, this is a write-up about the experiences I made at the Guangzhou watch market, posted on another forum:

    Thankfully I travel to Guangzhou on a yearly basis and so it didn't take long until I was combing through the wholesale Watch centers next to the Guangzhou central station, armed only with my laptop and my iphone with detailed photos to show and to compare. I did have extra trouble to find suppliers for the real gems at first (you know, no one keeps the good stuff there in case there's a "raid" and they wouldn't even admit they had that stuff). Their customers are mostly chinese with a few asian and african buyers (Im ethnic chinese). I do not recall encountering a single "white devil" and I did frequent those places quite a bit.

    The sellers in the centers buy from their distributor nearby. They do occasionally have some what we would call "beginner watches" behind the corner, but normally thats as good as it gets. If you want to have the gems, you will have to explicitly ask for the best they can get. They must be "borrowed" from the distributor since they can not afford to stock ceramic HBBs and theres usually little demand for good fakes and they for sure wouldn't risk storing them behind their counter, so unless you call them up beforehand chances are you will have to make the same tour again another day. If you don't speak chinese... well all sellers have catalogues with pictures, but it'd be better to bring a chinese friend.

    For example, I had them show me a lot of TAG carreras (all had imperfections, they were quite good overall, but the best i had seen i had to order first and wait for them to call me when they had the stock) while only few could get a ceramic HBB Tempus to show.

    The TAG had a slightly misaligned bezel and a misaligned index around the 5 o clock dial. They sent it to a watchmaker (i.e. watch repairman) and had it fixed. Same with the HBB Tempus ceramic. The tempus was all black, so I had them exchange the black screws and pins for uncolored ones. The movement had blue screws, i had them exchanged for metal ones as well. Unfortunately it wasn't until i got home that i realized the watchmaker had only replaced the easily accessible visible ones, leaving 3 blue ones which are hardly visible at first because theyre obstructed by the mvmt. I could have gone back but it didnt bother me so much as to wait another hour or so to have them change it.

    Prices generally vary greatly from the distributor, many sellers have the same watches but they are often not made by the same factory. Usually I couldn't haggle considerably, but it might be different if you come there as a "foreign devil" tongue.gif Prices are considerably lower than the usual HK around the corner "shhh, want rolex?"-run 5 blocks through a maze- shop whose prices may easily be higher than those of the best online traders here. Still, if it's just about the money, and you're buying only one watch, the money you'd save buying there alone doesnt justify the time invested at all. But a RWG enthusiast would have his fun there i guess

    Im going there again in a few months, so I came back to RWG so im prepared in time tongue.gif I had my eyes set on a new Portugueser but I fear the MVMT of DEATH issue STILL hasnt been solved yet.

  24. Thoughts on an IWC buckle?

    in The IWC Area

    Posted

    isn't there a 'new' buckle and an 'old' one? i think ive seen this old school type on reps as well but yours does look good... cant tell though i chickened out on my 3714 portugueser purchase at the very last moment... cant decide on which IWC to get, im just drawn to the death trap but oh well at least im not the only one :D

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