Circa 1980s Liaoning 孔雀 "Kongque" {Peacock} Brand

You are killing it with all your ”never seen in my life” watches. With a risc of ”popoing in the blue cabinet” to ask a ”legend” (swedish non understandable expression), what is the ”best bargain” to be found for Chinese watches? That is if you are looking for vintage, domestic market, watch with heritage but still looks contemporary if I could express myself understandable.

This is an interesting watch! I know that Chinese watches get somewhat disparaged in watch circles, so it is nice to see all your posts showing the amazing watch history in China, although Sea Gull and especially the 1963 get quite a bit of respect. I love my small seconds Sea Gull Business watch.

I would be curious to know what you think of watches made by companies like Starking, Pagani Designs, Steeldive, and other companies on AliExpress. I realize that there is a wide range of quality and not much originality on AliExpress, but I have purchased several Starking and Pagani Designs watches myself, and have had good experiences with them.

I have always liked watches with a day/night wheel, ever since my parents gave me a Jules Jurgenson watch that had the sun and moon complication on it. I currently have an Orient Sun and Moon in silver and black that really pops.

@WatchYourIntruder, the following is opinion, not advice :-) I'm just saying what I think and would do. 

Although there are some good vintage Chinese mechanical watches on Ebay, there are many I don't fully trust as "left the factory like that" pieces, too--so be careful on Ebay, and feel free to ask me in a PM about anything you're interested in. I will give an opinion.

That stated, I think searching Taobao https://world.taobao.com/ is the best source for westerners looking for legitimate vintage Chinese mechanical (vcm) watches at good (market fair) prices--but there's a learning curve to using it. 

For folks outside of China, you're best off using one of the many good Taobao agents. They middle the deals, for a small percentage. I use Taobaofocus as my agent, but there are plenty of others.

If you do decide to use Taobao, you can search by cutting and pasting from the translations I provide, here: https://www.amchpr.com/termstranslations.html 

There are many good VCM brands, and prices can be better looking away from the best known, but for starters  look at these brands (use translations): 

Sea-Gull, Shanghai, and Beijing are worthwhile, but best known and most sought after by newcomers.

My own favourite vintage targets these days are Liaoning, Hongqi, Taihang, Zhufeng, Zhongshan, Suzhou, Baoshihua, Dongfeng, Jilin, Meihualu and 51. 

Accompany the brand name with 手表 (wristwatch) when searching. On Taobao, once you enter an initial search, you;ll see a tab labelled "二手. That's "second hand" and where you want to be 😉

(There's a known issue for some areas where people can see the listing on Taobao's main page, and search results pages--but the listings themselves--with the bigger and better photos--won't open up. PM me if you run in to that.)

Hope that helps!

Waow! You really are a gem! Thank you for going an extra mile to help!❤🤝

I can't really speak to those brands since I have no first hand knowledge.

I can speak to Addiesdive (and by reputation, Steeldive is argued to be even better) because I own one (sterile dial, great daily wear watch) and Merkur, because I own one: very happy with their very respectful homage of classic 60s Chinese watches. 

I did visit the Starking booth at the China Watch and Clock Fair in Shenzhen and was very impressed with a series of tourbillons they put out.

My suggestion is always the same: check around for reviews of sellers, and buy the seller, not the watch.

As to quality. the quality of Chinese watches ranges from from flashy (and not-so-flashy) junk to first rate, with everything in between, with some real strong contenders in the affordable and microbrand ranges. 

Thanks Ron, for another beautiful watch.

I get more from you posts than I can from binge watching you tube videos.

Looking for the "blush" emoticon 😀

Haven't seen this one previously. I like it, very much. 
 

Have a single VCM, a gift from a friend, Zhongshan and I treasure it. 

Have owned two Starkings and one GUANQIN. For the money, great watches.