Very happy someone at long last made this video. So many so called watch reviewers on RU-vid look down their very long noses at the homage brands on Alie. They compare Rolex with Steeldive when looking at the submariner and come to the conclusion that the homage is not of comparable quality and refinement. Duh!!, really? like we don't buy the homage because we expect the same quality, we buy the homage because unlike the watch reviewer, we can"t afford to pay $5,000 for the real one, snobs don't get that! Thankfully you do! Thanks Wes, keep up the good work.
I've been buying a lot of the low budget watches off of Ali, and Temu lately just to see the quality. I have to admit that the quality has gone up. I remember way back when they would literally fall apart in your hands just holding them. Even the cheapest ones today are a higher quality then they used to be. But I'm old enough to remember when people looked at Seiko as cheap Japanese junk. When they first came out No one wanted to be caught dead wearing a Japanese watch. Take advantage of this time because the days coming where you won't see these cheap prices any longer.
I'm a little scared of buying from Temu but have now bought three pieces from AliExpress and been very satisfied. Two of these were Paganis, both with sapphire crystal and Seiko's brilliant VH31 movement; neither an homage! A brand that I had never heard of until I bought their brilliantly made, reliable and third of my VH31 equipped watches; the MWC military watch. I wondered why the company didn't use a name based on an acronym of their name in their native German, rather than an initialism such as their brand name in English. Then it struck me: "MUG" or "MILITÄRISCHE UHREN GESELLCCHAFT" might not have the same international appeal as the same products carrying MWC on their dial. The native name (I'm not typing that again, Android made it too complicated to attach an umlaut to the first A in the name😅) made a difference in my decision whether to purchase. Then I realised that MWC is quite similar to another watch manufacturer's name. There truly is nothing new under the sun! 😁
There are a ton of crazy names in the traditional microbrand space as well -tuseno, studio underdog etc. and let’s not pretend names like Mido or Yema or Shinola sound wonderful either! lol
My favorite name is LIGE, which is actually an acronym for Legend Immortality Gorgeous Extraordinary! I couldn't stop laughing when I figured it out. I thought it was just a motto, but then I realized it's their actual name!
Tandorrio: Great watch value. I have 4. Pagani Design: Awesome quality for the money. I have 17. Benyar: Entry level sister brand of above: I have 2. LIGE: Shockingly good at the entry level price. I have 1. FeelNever: A LIGE higher end brand. Incredible build quality. I have 1. Terami: Another LIGE higher end brand. As good as well reviewed competitors. I have 1. Poedegar: Affordable homages that are surprisingly well executed. I have a Panerai homage. AddiesDive: Exceptional value and build quality. I have 2. Seestern: Lives up to reviews, Exceeded my expectations! I have the Sub600T. San Martin: Lives up to its reputation for workmanship, quality details. I have their new JiangHun War Drum. Stunning! It's all about quality of execution, design, thus excellent value. I've been a Watch Nerd for 55 years. Owned numerous Swiss watches in the past. Today, I indulge my Watch itch with high value, excellently designed and made watches. Getting the most bang for your buck!
I bought two years ago a watch from 'Swiss Watch Company' called Ark. A marvellous little gem of a watch with great value for money. I adore that quartz watch. Some people were complaining about the branding in a review of the Ark. They didn't like the logo and neither the name of the brand. I mentioned that day in a comment that it would have been great if, on the company's web site, they would explain the meaning of their brand name and the logo. No justification. Just some explanations that could have been inserted in the section 'About us' or elsewhere. It would have been a plus value for the company as well as for potential buyers. A win-win situation. I think all the watch companies should do so including watch's brands on AliExpress, private micro-brands and even best known watch companies. I even think that only the logo or the name shoud be on the dial. The name should be written on the back of the watch. Thank you Wes for your interesting insights in this neat video. It will remain in your Greatest Hits videos. Voilà ! Froggy 008 has spoken. Wrebbit ! Never forget to have fun with your watches folks !
I tend to agree with you. I’m not a brand snob by any means. I have a good sized watch collection of various brands from relatively expensive to very cheap. I have worn them all. Not once have I had someone get close enough to read the name on the dial.
Brand name matters, especially when you are trying to grow a company. It's also a way to make your brand easy to remember. If it's random spelled letters like parnspre it's just hard to search and even pronounce
The question remains: how do they afford to produce such pieces for such low prices? I feel very uneasy about the ethical side of Chinese watches. The brand names are not the issue for me.
@weswatches - question: Where would you separate between a pilot and a field type, or would you distinguish at all? It seems a bit fluid, and in the UK the W10 and predecessors (all the way to WW2 and Dirty Dozen) all had almost identical dials, and were issued to all branches, whether ground pounder, commando, Navy, or pilot. The WW2 German "Fliegeruhren" were mainly standing out with their sized of up to over way 50mm (2in) and totally clean dials, while logos were printed on UK and US military watches of diminutive 34mm to 36mm. If I time travelled, I think I could sneak in my 34mm Casio MQ24 as a milspec trophy-watch and likely most would not even notice it
I agree there are some weird and funny names among them but at the end of fhe day the watches are cheap and meant to be a bit of fun anyway, so I've embraced the whole thing and don't bother about it any more. One exception is Mysterious Code, that to me is a cool name and I'm definitely looking forward to throwing one on my wrist, if only I could decide which one I like best...
I agree 100% on sterile dials, they look wrong. I think if you have an open mind, you can develop your own attachment to these new brand names, San Martin and Baltany have produced so many great watches that I have seen reviewed, I actually wanted to own them because of the brand name, yes the quality and specs of the watches I bought made them great value, but I saw the branding as positive. Tandorio I quite like being a curry fan and it is easily pronounceable 👍. It is the unpronounceable ones that put me off, and sometime huge ugly logos like steel/Addiesdive. Interesting video thanks 😁
I don't have much issues with the manes per si, but with the logo and fonts used, for example, OLEVS that besides use big font has a exaggerated logo that ruin the watch dial. I have a old Universal Genevè in what is almost need use a magnificent glass for read the name and see the logo.
Hey Wes I think u hit the nail on the head . Up to $20 ish bucks if the watch looks good & quality is ok then we buy it for fun & it's no big deal . When your paying $50 plus bucks & this is a watch that you'll be wearing more often & a more serious purchase you don't want to have some wierd name on your wrist . I would prefer they just used a logo or even some initials - obviously they don't do any marketing research on western markets . A bit silly really as they are really limiting their market . Cheers
I love that green Parnsrpe watch. I think it looks great, and with the specs is unbeatable. I have a Tandorio all stainless, sapphire, NH35 etc that I paid around AU$80 for. I changed out the strap to a different silicone strap that cost me $8 and it looks great! Aside from the silly brand names there are some awesome watches coming out of China these days. Nice vid 👍
I own a few pagani ive no problem with that , a couple of berny ones with the logo shield other with the berny on dial must say the shield is better. I think if they went the san martin logo road they would all do better. The great thing about the berny brand is the st2130 movement at a great price. Over time i also think as your other comment says that Chinese watches will eventually hit seiko levels and swiss levels of perception. Once the branding is better lol
I totally love my Tandorio watches, AND the name looks right, so I ordered WITH the logo I really have no clue, why Jody hates it so much, and I am not reminded of Tandoor curry dishes, but "Tondorio" looks Italian to me, and could be (but is not, who cares?) There are some that look very odd, like a badly misspelled ... something, so if you don't like it, there is often a no-logo version for a clean face in at least one of typically several stores that sell the brand. Some watches look more authentic without logo, like homages to German WW2 Fliegers, which by spec were clean, and others always had the manufacturer logo, even official military issues by Allied WW2 forces, like "The Dirty Dozen" predecessors to the later W10, which also had the Smiths, Hamilton, and CWC logos.
@@shahan1465 On the watch, the logo graphics look more prominent than the name. The logo looks like a typical classic straight and edgy somewhat pre-brutalist and elegant Art-Deco design, that would fit in with any classic surroundings with pioneer aviation, open cab British racing cars, or an evening with Monsieur Poirot discussing his latest murder case! I now have the Tandorio 39mm "dive pilot" (Flieger) and the 36mm Hamilton/tonneau W10 homage, and they are both awesome and came with really nice straps! The NH35A is date-blind on both, and runs wonderful, and was already very good with the W10. That one I regulated to speed up a few seconds, so instead of (-)7 secs/day, it is now +7 or so. Letting it run down at night, it slows down a bit, and ends up being almost spot on, and needs correction maybe once a week? The Flieger is unbelievably well adjusted and regulated out of the mail package, almost as good as a quartz, and I dare not touch it on the inside! These NH35A license-copies are perfectly good, have a good reputation for robust longevity and reliability, and I also have 2 Invicta Pro Divers with them. I wanted one good watch without batteries for several reasons, and now I have 4 of them, all around 45 to 70 dollars, all stainless steel, 2 with comfortable solid link bands, 2 with excellent suede leather or nylon straps. UNBELIEVABLE!
I got My Tandorio field with the sterile dial but my Cadisen 62mas is fine with the name and the quality of both of them is great. I wouldn’t get the Tandorio wet because of the Herman test Gary did to some of there watches but I have enough dive watches so I’m covered!
He already debunked his own claim ages ago.. and I've got no issues with my Tandorio divers, had them in showers at the gym, in the rain. Perfectly fine☝️
Good video Wes, I am over most of the names now, I have bought Berny, Tandorio, Addiesdive, Pagani, Onola, even Mini Focus 😀 The only person to note the brand on the dial is usually me. It's all about value for money at the end of day. Snobs are gonna be snobs. Thanks
There was a RU-vid reviewer who made a similar video like this, and said he would never review watches from those difficult-to-pronounce brand names just because he was annoyed by them. However, he was completely okay saying "Komatsu" or "Zaratsu", which seemed a bit odd to me.
Great point about names. I think Tandorio is great. Sounds Spanish like a bull fighter. Rolex for example sounds like roladex which is an address catalogue. In the 70's there was a dive watch called Arsa. Haha.
Agreed, Tandorio also has a nice logo - a nice modern, symmetrical "T" that makes me think of "Time". It's all subjective, I find Rolex logo to be too "try-hard" and tacky (a crown? Really?) and the name while nice, sounds a little bit like a dog's name (I like it still). But we all hear "Rolex" and think "Money". As long as these names don't mean anything silly (reminds me of people tatooing random japanese/chinese words) or sound like something silly in english, it's fine.
As I mentioned in your previous video, Pagani Design, San Martin, Steeldive all fine, I draw the line at utter stupidity like Parnspre that clearly have no meaning and are stupidly arranged letters that actually mean nothing.
I bought a Berny watch from Amazon for a reasonable £9.99. The piece itself is fine, but a friend pointed out to me that the name harks back to the steakhouses from the seventies & eighties! by this reasoning,I think that Wimpy is to Berny (I know, it's actually "Berni") as Lorus is to Seiko. I'd best let it lie at that, my future ex husband doesn't like the idea that not only do I collect watches, but also that we girlies wear large, chunky watches intended for men. Jealousy I should think, 'cos I won't let him borrow my Planet Ocean..... or my clothes but that's an issue for Dear Dierdre, not a watch channel!
San Martin used to be 'LJM', after the initials of the Chinese founder. Good move to rebrand the name. Unfortunately many of these Chinese brand owners didn't want to, or didn't bother doing some research into brand names that are acceptable globally. Maybe they also face real copyright issues in brand names. Imagine now, if an AliExpress watch is called 'Studio Underdog'. Would people be happy or agreeable with it, being a Chinese company and not a 'British brand'?
they should put only the logo on the dial and the name on the back. But I guess they think their brand names are cool. Tandorio sounds ok to me but Berny doesn't, so I don't wanna see it. These chinese microbrands came a long way and maybe the next step in their evolution is to cleanup their branding.
I admit i wear my pagani less than i would if it didn't have that name which it stole from the sports car maker. I actually like the skmei (SKMEEEE!) name and logo. It fits a fun and cheap watch and makes me laugh.
Also...stupid logo's on Addies and Steeldive. I don't want a cartoon on my watch. The Chicoms would sell a lot more if they hired a Western marketing person.
mostly i dont care abt the name. european or american or asian names are not native to me. but at rare occaisions i do care. like the latest Gigididi. commmmoooonnnnn 🤦♂
