Keep it up. I bought one of the HMT watches based on your review. I was intruiged by your review. What do you think of the Chines Small TANK watched that come with an automatic movement.
@@fishman1955 that's nice to hear, how do you like your hmt? I don't know what is the Chinese small tank watch, I tried googeling it but found nothing.
I had such good luck with Frankenwatches that they seemed to have evolved into a parallel collection to my assortment of GS, Omegas, Tissot and Longines. Those are for the office and boardroom. My Frankies are for the weekend and for when I am feeling whimsical. They are just so darn cute. I have two Seikos and three Oris which I am positive never existed as originals. LOL. But they are awesome! And, like everyone says, at 19 bucks, who cares if they crap out. Plus, when one of my Frankenseikos did crap out, my jeweller was able to replace the mechanism and thus made it a legit performer... They are wonderful and inexpensive accessories!
It may have been said but HMT stands for Hindustan Machine Tools. Pandit Nehru sent an envoy of people to Japan to find out about watch making from Citizen. They bought parts and machine tools and took them back to India. So the in house movements are basically an early Citizen hand winding movement. I have several which are working including an automatic. For me the HMTs are the best. My worst experiences have been with Favre Leuba of which I've had three that failed in a short space of time. Also the Citizen and Seiko Franken-watches have been poor. HMT seem to perform the best and it is was said of the company that it kept India running on time. I have the Pilot, the Sona, the Rajat, the Janata (beautiful watch) in varying numbers. The Sona is the most inexpensive and beautiful dress watch with a vintage feel that you are unlikely to get elsewhere or that cheap. You have to remember that wearing one of these is about the aesthetic not to mither about accuracy. If you want to know the exact time look at your phone (or download an atomic watch app). Feel free to put me right or fill in any gaps. Thank you Aviv. 👍🙏🏻
I am an Indian and watching the videos on RU-vid I got to know that our ई mechanical hand wind hmt watches are still so popular out side India. This was the first Indian wrist watch company established in 1961. It is a matter of pride for any Indian.
The HMT range are all pretty watches for the price, I got one and I'm pretty impressed by the dial. I stick to the HMT brand as I feel it's more likely to have the proper movement inside. HMT are also are one of the few watch companies to have their own in-house movement still
Be careful of buying these Mumbai Specials, they are like potato chips...you can't have just one. I've purchased three of these and they all work great and look great once you change out the strap. I wear them on NATO straps. With all that being said, I wouldn't pay for than $30 for one.
First Mumbai I have seen,that azure blue is hard to beat. Very readable hands.Thin cases are in ,band compliments.Price is irrelevant if it pleases u! Very nice piece and review.Enlightning ,Bro stay safe.
HMT was set up in India with initial collaboration with Citizen. After that HMT progressed on its own & made many millions of different models for decades. They were known for accuracy & performance.....!
How is this watch now, is it working fine . I heard many people saying that buying franken watches is very risky because there is a very high chance of getting cheated . The buyer could also get a faulty watch which would be inconsistent or these watches could even have a damaged movement. Is the watch running consistently.
I've bought & sold literally dozens of HMT watches & they represent great value. My only complaint with buying indian refurbished watches are with the winding stems !! Usually on Seiko 5's the stems are too long & the crown hardly ever sits flush to the case. Not really an issue as you can trim the stems down, but it wouldnt hurt to pay a little more attention to detail. The 17j hmt mechanical movement is a little agricultural by design, but very reliable
Hi bought an Oris like yours, they use the same cases and glass. Can you tell me were i can source new front glass as mine has cracked. Thx fir your help.
Hi, thanks for watching. First you need to measure the size of the crystal you need. There are some good videos on RU-vid explaining exactly hoe to do that. After you've got the measurement, go on eBay and search for "acrylic watch crystal" and find a domed one that fits your measurement. Good luck!
I actually don't have a problem with these, I mean if you love watches but you're on a very tight budget what better way to Keep an old mechanical watch alive & as long as you go in with your eyes open knowing you could get a piece of junk or a rather nice watch that works ok. & it's never about the price you pay for a watch or the name on the dial it's all about the smiles per $£€¥ so if you enjoy it just wear it!! Great video Aviv. 👍
I'm not a collector nor have any great knowledge, but I have a couple of these "Mumbai Specials" as you say. And HMT I fell for knowing nothing about HMT at the time but loved the bright yellow colour and the fact it had arabic or hindu characters,, as well as two tressa and a fortis, purchased at different times, I love them all excellent value I thought even after learning their frankenstein nature, around £15 inclusive of shipping can not be grumbled about. Admittedly one was a dud and arrive over wound, but it's the chance you take
Nice pickup. I do agree these Frankenwatches can be hit or miss. Got lucky with a Franken Seiko 5 that I am very happy with, but have also heard some horror stories. I don't have a moral problem with these watches, but my only concern is the lack of transparency about what they are made of and especially when dealers try to push them off as legit watches (IE Oris, etc.). Also the movements are always a big mystery. Overall, I really like the look of the HMT you picked up and the dimensions are spot-on for my preferences. Enjoy it!
Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment! I bought 3 of those Seiko 5's, 1 died after 2 minutes and the other 2 are fine. I'm enjoying the hmt much more!
@@MyAffordableWatchCollection Shame that they died. Part of the problem is also they're so cheap, it's usually not even cost-efficient to ship them back for a refund. The shipping itself would cost nearly as much as the watch. Anyway, really glad you're enjoying your HMT. Have a good one.
There are loads of Soviet watches on eBay, but again, you can't really know what you pay for untill it's in your hands. I bought a brand new Komandirskie with a 24 hours dial and it's perfect, and a vintage Chaika that doesn't even keep time.
@@MyAffordableWatchCollection My watch guy wasn't impressed with them. Don't buy those he said being a Swiss vintage high jewels kind of guy. The one I really liked had a baby blue background on white with the tanks and Cyrillic. The actual watch didn't have the baby blue. It works fine so I'm not bitching to him.
I bought an HMT Refurbished and I like it I serviced it after it came and I have had no problems it’s a work horse movement and honestly I bought it because HMT has a history with its purpose in India. Now my watch my not be Original but I bought it for me Not no one eles and I wear it, it keeps very good time after I adjusted it. Great watch in my opinion.
This is an awesome video! I am just learning about these watches and am going to land a few. Like you said - for the money it is a risk worth taking. If I get a dud, I can always take it back to Bombay and get it sorted.
I just bought a citizen for £18 and the warranty is for 6 months. I will be interested to know if it survives further than 6 months. The ebay pictures show the issues so my expectations are curtailed. But what a bargain.
Hey decent looking pilot! Good gamble! I'm not scared of the frankenwatch! Lovely color blue on the dial and pattern👍👍👍 I prefer the blue over the silver..... The domed crystal is great nice distortion on the angle view......looks great on the wrist!
Love the sporty dial, and great strap combos. It’s been awhile since I purchased an HMT. Must be pretty common that they have one listing for multiple watches. I remember one seller had same movement picture for all his HMTs.
Most of the time the bad feedback is because people don't know what to expect when buying these watches. They are surprised when they realize it's not functioning like a brand new watch.
It’s always awesome when you find treasure on ebay 😄 I think you can clean off the dirt with a cotton swab and a drop of polywatch Can you also make a video on tips on how to find the Mumbai Specials and what are the watchouts to look for?
I just looked on ebay...OH MY!!! Think I will buy a couple to play with. Thanks!!! The same model and colour watch in your video is $19.65 Canadian ($14.95 US) shipped.
What are the shipping costs for these? Ebay may be problematic in my country. Btw. when are you going to make a watchband/watchstrap special? I want to know where this thing is from.
The shipping was free, but I guess it depends to which country you want to ship. I am planning on making a straps video, but I'm still waiting for some straps to arrive. This specific black one I got with my Seagull 1963.
@@MyAffordableWatchCollection I ordered two watches from two different sellers. Let's see. I just realized I never actually asked you which seller you got yours from though. Also, yours didn't have a gasket, right?
Seriously, I bought 5 of them, 2 have not arrived after three months, one was total crap, one was pretty nice and one was good besides some CA glue around the crystal! The one that was crap literally came with crap on it, I shit you not.
Not true to the pilot aesthetic in size. Such watches run large. My Citizen Avion is 42 mm then again its scaled down to a more wearable size from the World War II era 55 mm fliegers!
I bought two frankenwatches from India. Both were bad watches. One had a bad balance wheel. The other just kept bad time. In less than a day they were off by 3 or 4 minutes. I will never buy another. Whoever is putting these watches together does not care one way or another if they work or not.
I have bought about 15 of these over the years - it's definitely a gamble, and I'd say that probably 70% of them have some kind of issues. For the price I think they're a lot of fun, but you need to be aware of what you are getting yourself into..
@@MyAffordableWatchCollection I have taken this a step further. I know that you are familiar with Citizen caliber 1800? This caliber is the original watch design that made the HMT 0231 possible. I bought a watch in fairly good condition with a 21 jewel caliber 1800 inside. These watches were made from 1962 to 1975. I havent received it yet. But, the movement is a step up from the HMT 0231. This is because it has more parashock protected jewels. I bought a couple of other old Caliber 1802 movements as well which have date dials but the movement itself is identical. I also have several HMT 0231 frankenstein watches which can also be parts donors. So I will be having a good time fairly soon taking these watches apart, finding out what is wrong with them etc. The HMT 0231 is a tiny bit more basic than Citizen but is the same movement. I do not have access to HMT products but I do have access to Citizen vintage watches and they aren't expensive and are not in demand in the US or where I live. Manual wind watches are a luxury item from the past. I just happen to love manual wind watches. I am glad you are helping to keep the tradition of manual wind mechanical watches alive like I am.
There funny watches. I know I paid too much 30.00 but it’s the Oris 17 Jewels. The same FHF 96 movement it keeps okay time, leather strap is worth more then the watch. It’s interesting because how many of these discontinued movements does India have? I will wear it till the watch craps out but I learned my lesson lol😅. But at 30.00 who cares it wasn’t over hundred like some on Etsy.
Hey man I'm from India you can join some indian hmt groups and there are some decent sellers who sell fantastic watches it's better than buying stuff off ebay
@@MyAffordableWatchCollection be careful but take as many reviews and opinions from present members before going for a purchase, after being Indian I have also almost been fooled so do be careful
@@MyAffordableWatchCollection there is a group called HMT watches, has 5.8k members, you can find me on it as well, admins name is Mr ganesh if I am not mistaken
It’s a shame that these franken-watches are sold to many none the wiser. The movements inside are filthy. The cases are often generic and horrible. In fact, the next video after this is from My Retro Watches “What’s inside a Mumbai Special Watch?” And the seiko 5 is in the exact same poorly made, horrible quality case.
