Review the AliExpress elephant in the Room
What is AliExpress? Think of an on line flea market as a poor man’s Amazon. No brick and mortar just a store front for vendors. Vacuum cleaners to watches to sex toys, you can find it all on AliExpress but let’s talk watches. Preface, I don’t have a horse in this race nor do I have any affiliation with AliExpress or it’s vendors. Out of curiosity I have purchased several watches, bands, even a fishing tackle box (more on that later) from them and here is my experience.
I became intrigued by their watch offerings having watched several YouTube reviews, specifically by hosts that were not getting paid to pitch their wares. And overwhelmingly they were positive. But wait? A watch with all those features, sapphire, automatic, 316L steel, AR coating, SuperLume for under $200? No way! Way.
So how did it go for me? I purchased from the staples, Pagani Design, Cadisen, Tandorio, Addiesdive, Heimdallr. And I look at it like they are all the same Chinese factory which they may be. Now if you’re the collector that pulls out the magnifier on a new watch and bitches there is a speck of dust on the hour hand, stop right here. But in my experience all the watches I’ve received from AliExpress have been exactly as described with no issues. Bezel misaligned by .2 mm? Maybe but I don’t care and you get what you pay for. And sometimes more.
In 8 months every watch runs great, no issues, they just do what was advertised. Do I feel good or satisfied buying homage watches from Communist China? Hell no. But in this “Me first” world you really can’t go wrong dipping into this pool. When Seiko starting selling their movements to anybody with a checkbook the game changed. And the shopping and delivery process.
It may take several weeks to receive your order but AliExpress does constantly update you via tracking information. But what if I want to return an item, that has to be a nightmare! Nope. That tackle box I bought? They sent the wrong one, the small one and I ordered and paid for the large one. And how did AliExpress handle my inquiry through their app? Refunded me that day and told me to keep what they sent. But I’ve never had to return a watch. Be smart, check the vendors reviews, how many watches they’ve sold, % of satisfied customers and go ahead and jump into this pool of the underbelly Chinese watch market. Just take your watch off first.
Review the AliExpress elephant in the Room
Yes
No
- Price
- Options
- Value
- Chinese
- Homage
- Unoriginal designs
I think Alli express is a great place get grab deals if you can wait for the item to arrive and not in a rush. In fact in terms of modifying parts sometimes AE was the only place that had what I was looking for all together. The tools required to work on watches is also an excellent place to shop from offordable just get you started pack of tool to better quality.
Awesome post! 🤩
Thank you for sharing this with us 🙌🏾
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Here’s the really scary part. I purchased a quartz Chrono from AliExpress for $19 to give to a neighbor’s kid, no branding nothing, just the specs. And this shows up. What?
Regular AliExpress customer. Only ever had one issue and the customer service was really good.
Can't say the same for Amazon as a Prime customer I've received unreliable deliveries, never arriving on the day they are supposed to, and try talking to a human being to complain? Actually just try and find a way to easily complain, it's hidden really well!
Ultimately a lot of the stuff sold on Amazon comes from China and can be sourced a lot cheaper on AliExpress. Just takes a bit longer to arrive.
When I couldn’t decide on a field or flieger I decided the fill the gap (for the short term, I told myself) with an oddball Tandorio that wasn’t really anything style-wise. I like it far more than I expected to. I treat is mostly as a beater but it’s a better timepiece than I expected.
And the site DHGate, that’s a whole other ballgame, everything on that Chinese site is a fake, from the Nike shoes to the Rolex Daytonas. And they ain’t hiding it, but I’m not sure of copyright laws as it pertains to how they can advertise. Example, on their site you see an ad for a watch that is an obvious homage or replica of an Omega Aquaterra. No where is Omega on the face, band, case back etc. and they don’t do homages. But look at the customer reviews of the watch and the accompanying photos. Omega all over that watch, everywhere you’d find Omega on the genuine, that is what you get when you order and I’m betting you don’t have to ask for it.
Another thing to consider, if you are not sure if the high dollar watch you are thinking of purchasing will suit you, be a good fit, be all you hope it to be, just drop a hundred on an AliExpress homage and wear it a few weeks to help you decide. The weight, dimensions, wearability and legibility will be as close to the genuine as you can get. Better to blow $120 to realize that watch is not for you then $8,500.00