2671 Posted November 17, 2006 Report Share Posted November 17, 2006 What does that say? Top 3 characters: Station West Road Bottom 4 characters: Wrist Watch Mar-ket (Market in Chinese consists of two words) In fact I am going there by the end of the month in the hunt of 6263 case for my project. Never been there, should be fun... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bklm1234 Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 I'm back in the Bay Area on Sunday. I was carrying 7 watches with me. I did worry a bit about customs. Luckily, they didn't stop me for an inspection at all. That's kind of my experience - I was never stopped for an inspection, ever (I travel twice a year at least). One common theme among the dealers is swiss movements have gone up in price and down in supply. The price of a rolex rep has gone up from roughly RMB$450 a few months ago to RMB$700 now. To share some info I posted on RWI for those who want to plan a trip there: The watch market is west of GuangZhou Rail Station. It is within walking distance from that train station or subway station (the train and subway stations are connected). Assuming you go to GuangZhou from ShenZhen, you take the GuangZhou East Station train. The reason for taking that train instead of the one that directly goes to GuangZhou Rail Station is there are a lot more and faster trains (only takes 1 hour) going to GuangZhou East Station. After arriving at GuangZhou East Station, I recommend you take a cab directly to the watch market. It only costs RMB$30-35. If you are brave, you can take the subway to save RMB$25-30 but I don't recommend it the first time going there. You can take the subway going back from GuangZhou Rail Station to GuangZhou East Station esp. when in the evening when cabs are hard to catch. Your map is perfect for that purpose. If you somehow take a train directly to GuangZhou Rail Station or arrive there by subway, don't try to take a cab to the watch market because it's too close and cabbies won't take you. Just ask around. Everybody knows where it is. The watch market has many complexes adjacent to one another. The main ones are the south and the new south watch trade buildings. Address in English: GuangZhou Shi, ZhanXi Road, NanFang Watch Trade, and New NanFang Watch Trade Address in Chinese: 广州市，站西路，南方表行，and 新南方表行 Recommended stalls: E125 at New NanFang Watch Trade to get IWC GST Chrono for RMB$1100, Planet Ocean for RMB$700, Franck Muller Casablanca for RMB$700; B76 at NanFang Watch Trade to get 6497 skeleton for RMB$400. Recommended repairman: Mr. Lin, Wen Rong (林文荣), phone: 3159-6255 (when calling from GuangZhou), add 020 prefix when calling from anywhere else in China, add 86-020 prefix when calling from outside of China. He is located in another building: GuangZhou Shi, ZhanXi Road, North Street No. 6, Dong Fang Watch City, stall E8 （广州市，站西路北街6号，东方表城，E8档）. He charges RMB$50 to service 2836 type movements, RMB$100 for 7750. Don't let him overcharge you. People in China tend to charge you more if you don't know the street prices. You can watch him service the watch which is a joy. Do plan on staying a night or 2 there because some watches are on order meaning you have to wait a day to get them. You can go to a sauna to stay the night. They charge RMB$300-400 for a 2-hour massage and you can stay overnight for free. I went to one called TianQuan Sauna (天泉) which is very close to the watch market. It charges RMB$328 for a 90 minute massage. Beautiful facilities, include ping pong (RMB$10/hr), billiard (RMB$50/hr), free Internet, free drinks and fruits, RMB$8 for buffet, RMB$58 for 45 minute foot massage. Mind you the 90 min massage includes HJ. If you are not into it, ask for a clean massage, same price though. Saunas in China is a phenomenon. You feel like a king. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bklm1234 Posted November 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 (edited) regarding questions on service: the $6 service in GZ is primitive in equipment. The guy works out of a hole. His work bench is no wider than 3 ft with a pile of watches, parts, and tools on it occupying much of the bench space already. There's no ultra-sonic cleaner. He washes all the parts in alcohol (I think) in a small soy sauce dish. The only hi-tech machine which looks like 30 years old is the caliberator. Watching him do his thing gives up back much confidence. The guy works non-stop because there are simply so many jobs for him. I don't have a doubt about his skills. He seems honest. When I gave him a rep supposedly to have a brand new ETA to service, he opened the watch and said no need because it's brand new swiss movement. quality of reps: I have a feeling our forum dealers have the best and first allotment priority from the factory because they might be the biggest high-end rep dealers, dealing with the most serious, demanding rep customers. When I was there, I could hardly see a good sub. You would think it's such a common seller. And then I couldn't find an explorer II in stock, many dealers said wait a day for them to order or make one for me. When I asked for a adjustable hand GMT, nobody had it. It gives me a good feeling buying from Andrew, Eddie, or even Paul. I feel they have the best stuff esp. Rolex. GZ might be cheaper but you might not find what you want and it's so far away. All in all, GZ is fun for us rep nuts. There's good stuff if you dig deep. And then there's cheap service, you can swap out a movement, change the crystal, change a date wheel, etc. But buying reps on a regular basis, our dealers are still the best. Edited November 21, 2006 by bklm1234 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonton2000 Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Mind you the 90 min massage includes HJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leeroy697 Posted November 21, 2006 Report Share Posted November 21, 2006 Man I would like to see some pics of all those reps layed out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seraphe Posted November 28, 2006 Report Share Posted November 28, 2006 Do they sell parts like Sub dial/inserts, hands for 2836-2 or quality bracelet straps etc? And you mentioned you got IWC GST Ti... What about GST SS? Do they have those? Same priced at $140 or perhaps lower? As I have already mentioned in RWI, I'm planning for a trip to Guangzhou in late December, so I'm already building my list of watches and stuffs to buy... I wonder if it helps to drive the prices lower if I speak mandarin... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mums-mums Posted November 28, 2006 Report Share Posted November 28, 2006 ...................................... I wonder if it helps to drive the prices lower if I speak mandarin... ................... Better try Cantonese. Or Orange. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bklm1234 Posted November 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2006 Do they sell parts like Sub dial/inserts, hands for 2836-2 or quality bracelet straps etc? And you mentioned you got IWC GST Ti... What about GST SS? Do they have those? Same priced at $140 or perhaps lower? As I have already mentioned in RWI, I'm planning for a trip to Guangzhou in late December, so I'm already building my list of watches and stuffs to buy... I wonder if it helps to drive the prices lower if I speak mandarin... For parts, ask around. I was able to get ETA sub hands, a complete Explorer I without a movement inside, crystals. Read the same thread at RWI. I have all the stall numbers and the watchsmith's info. Yes, the guy I got the Ti GST has SS version too. Same price. Speak Mandarin at all times if possible. If they think you're not from China, they ask for more, sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bklm1234 Posted November 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2006 here they are (not the best pics. PM me if you want better ones. I'll do it by request). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bklm1234 Posted November 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2006 My brother lives in Thailand and I visited him recently. It took me a while to get to grips with how cheap labour costs were. My Seiko was serviced and had parts replaced for about $20-$25, and that's in the fancy Seiko building. My concern was getting the 5 different grades of swiss oils ETA insists on. the watchsmith in GZ told me he uses 2 diff kinds. so doesn't sound like he follows ETA standards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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