Update - 8 hour layover in Bangkok

[Usil]

Well, I am back from a week busines trip in Jakarta. I had asked the group about the possibility of visiting a Bangkok watch area as when I came home I had an 8 hour layover in Bangkok airport. Several said to head to MBK center but most said time might be an issue.

Here is the end of the story. I traveled back with a fellow worker who happened to live in Bangkok. She offered to take me into Bangkok (I had not prodded her on this) and said no problem on time. So, I took her up on it. We headed to MBK center and arrived in about an hour. Traffic is a mess and for someone who suggested a motorcycle taxi from the airport – you had to be kidding.

I headed to the 3rd floor as others had indicated. The center is a multi level extravaganza of shops and specialty stores and it was packed. There were watch stores but not as many as I had expected but I did not look all over the place because of time.

Interestingly, there were real watch stores close to rep watch stores on the same floor. This was weird. The first shop I saw had nothing but crap out. I asked about PAMs, Breits and IWC. They brought out some large envelopes with these brands in them and I looked them over. More crap. These watches would give REPS a bad name. All of the PAMs were so bad there is no way I would have bought one and placed it beside my great reps at home. It would have been embarrassing.

I went to a few more stores and more of the same. I found one that looked a little better and time was running out so I bought 2 breits and a A. Lange & Sohne. Total expenditure for them was 5000 Baht or about 130 USD. I probably could have done a lot better but time was passing quickly.

We headed back to the airport and I spent the rest of the time in the Thai business class lounge. I had plenty of time – about 4 hours. As there was nothing else to do, I was sitting in a corner, took out each watch and examined it more closely. One of the Breit bands fell apart, the A. Lange & Sohne had the automatic rotor loose in the case and 2 small screws from the back fell out and became lost as I was just looking at the watch. All total, I would have gotten more satisfaction giving the money away to the poor. What a waste of time and effort in an incredible hot and sticky weather.

There is a moral to this story. This gave me significant insight into the great deals and treatment we get from our trusted rep dealers here in the forums. They provide us with tremendously good looking reps, good quality and interactive communications as well as good service – all from the comfort of our computer rooms. I did not know how lucky I was till I tried this myself.

Was the trip wasted? No, the lesson made me appreciate our trusty dealers even more and I got to experience down town Bangkok instead of just the airport. If anyone is thinking about doing this I hope you think twice and don’t waste your time.

Oh, and I am just recovering from the diarrhea.

Usil

[BilboBaggins]

Thanks for the info Usil,

I guess you have just increased the respect for our dealers...sorry it was at your own expense.

Hope the D clears up!

Jon

[Quarks]

I am sorry to hear about your experience.

I have got my 63 and 196 from MBK and they are the best lasting watches among the lot that I have. I got mine from the 3rd floor. We scouted for watches and once we spotted these shops, my bro demanded the peeps to bring out the best there is and from there, we continued to negotiate and examine the watches for hours before getting at least 5 to 6 pams. And so far, all have been running great. Just my experience.

Ah well, hope you get better.

[cornerstone]

Glad you made the effort though! Rushing is the difficult bit, but the adventure is the fun bit!

I've been to this area of Bangkok before - all the talk of your plans made me hunger for another visit!

You're right though. You've got to be canny on the street and in the markets - suffice it to say that they always saw you coming - and they're great at what they do (fleece you). This applies in a lot of stores in the Far East, not just when buying reps (tailors, electrical stores, 'antiques' - any tourist trap). The dealers take that crap on your behalf!

[sssurfer]

Usil,

sorry for the two types of [censored] you got.

[hookoo]

Sounds like a great experiance anyway. Were the watches you mainly had seen, comparable to silixwatch?

[Usil]

If I had stayed home and bought my watches from silixwatch I would have added three more nice watches to my hoard instead of the crap to my scrap bin.

I did ask fro their best quality watches and told them what I was seeing was not very good but I did not see any quality watch brought out.

Usil

[Viennawatch]

Usil, unfortunately your short time biased your opinion. I was in Thailand for 3 months in the summer of 2005 and for 2 weeks in Bangkok a half a month ago. Anyways, yes the reps that they have at MBK under the counter are crap. Almost all are crap, unfortunately you didn't have time because you could have gotten quite a lot of the same quality Panerai and Breitlings we get here on RWG.

The reason why they only have [censored] on display is because they know the average person buying a rep will not know the difference. If he can get something close enough to looking like the original, he can show it off to his friends who dont know a thing about watches and the damage is done.

Another reason why they only have crap under the glass is because if there is a once in a while police raid on replicas. (Which I have been told happens.) Cops only confiscate the crappy watches, while the good quality reps are hidden in storage. I got my cousin and my friend both a PAM 111 and PAM 183 each. You might not recognise me as a prominent member on this forum, but I am, you could say an RWG veteran, some other prominent members can confirm that. I was more present in the old RWG though. Nevermind though, let me tell you I KNOW a fake PAM from a real one and I know a good quality rep from a shitty quality one. And the two that I bought from MBK on the 3rd floor-in fact the guys name was Na-were good quality, in fact the same quality of PAM I would get from any dealer here. The PAM 111 I bought from Paul a year ago is actually not as good as the new PAM 111 I got for my cousin and friends, because it had the swan neck regulator, whereas mine from Paul didnt (UNITAS 6497).

When Na first showed me the PAM 183 from under the counter. I realized immediately it was a piece of junk. I turned it around and realized it was an automatic. totally wrong. I told him, look... "I want the one that is like the original." Thats all i had to say.. He asked for my phone number, I gave it to him and told me he would call me in 1 to 2 hours and that I should come back then.. I had agreed on a price if it was exactly like the original. The new PAM 183 with that wavy bluish decorated back and we said 9000 if it was correct... Anyways while he went off to get it, I went to the internet cafe to get some pics of the original with the movement and stuff...

I got called. I came back down with the pics and I looked at the watch first. It was pretty much dead on, with the stuff we get here, only the movement was the older version of rep movement. Just the plain UNITAS 6497. I showed him the pics then and told him I wanted this one, that is the original.. He told me that he doesnt have it, but he wants that I buy it cause he want all the way to get it.. He seemed quite insisting on my buying it. So I told him I will not take it, unless he sells it to me for a discount. And I told him 6500 or I walk away.. He was hesitant, but he eventually agreed.

So I can understand that without time and much knowledge of MBK watchdealings.. Its understandable how you came to your conclusion. No hard feelings, just telling you what you could have had with more time.

I am sure many other members who go to Bangkok quite often can tell you the same. I have only had good experiences.

Hope you get to go back to Bangkok soon and try again!

good luck!

Regards,

Viennawatch

[Usil]

I know my time limit restricted me from finding a decent rep. My report was just my experiance for one hour and I did not draw any conclusions but just gave a report on my experiance and reflections for those here in the group. I still feel it is our good fortune we have of dealing with trusted dealers who can provide us with good watches for a lot less effort.

I had asked to see better quality watches so it would not make sence that they would not show these to me since they would make more money for them. I have no idea why this produiced no results as I had a Thai friend with me explaining in Thai what I wanted. I consider it a luck of the draw not to see any good quality watches for my hour experience.

Usil

[Guest leonado]

Sounds like you missed all the good stuff due to time constraints...

The key to finding the good stuff is time, perseverance and a little bit of luck.

When I first set out to find reps in Thailand I bought the crap from the street vendors for tripple what it was worth. On my 5th visit I found the top stuff by asking around and hitting each and every shop! MBK has literally 1000s of shops but less than 5 that carry the quality that we are satisfied with. I have been to MBK over 50 times now but I still discover new things every time in addition to the few shops where I have been buying for years...

L

Edited May 1, 2006 by leonado

[cwai02]

That's why I didn't bother to visit ladies market when I was in Hong Kong; and I don't bother to go to chinatown even though I am in NYC.

Our dealers have the best reps at a reasonable price.

[insane]

I also found some nice watches at MBW in november last year, but none of them on display :-)

But you really have to spend a lot of time looking, and then haggling.. I prefer the dealers here.. At least you can get a refund or the watch fixed if something goes wrong.

[Viennawatch]

Hey Usil, no hard feelings, I understand. I also agree we are lucky to have RWG! But for all you MBKers. The best luck I have had with good quality reps in MBK was also on the 3rd floor. On the left or right side, whichever way you are walking.. anyways on one side the middle path is wider and they have class counters, the first 3 to 4 sell watches and the others sell fake perfumes, creams, vitamin pills etc... If you go to 3rd or 2nd watch seller from the end and ask for a guy called "Na," he can get you some good stuff.. I checked out a navitimer and a bunch of PAMS, all good quality, just like here... Rolex and Omega, I am generally paranoid about since they are the most repped watches..So I prefer to get those here on the forum.... anyways good luck an all your next visits!

Viennawatch