My first Aliexpress watch, and I'm liking it! What's your experience?

Nice pickup!

Bought a Seagull 1963 from them. Other than the wait for the package to arrive, all went well. Would order from them again.

Im wondering, did you guys pay import taxes upon arrival on these, or does it go through customs unnoticed? 

Thanks! My experience on Ali buying straps and this watch have been pretty good too, at least up to this point. Enjoy your Seagull! 

No import taxes on my transaction. I don’t know how that works at all. maybe my watch just came in below a value threshold (it was about $170USD)?

I bought mine during a clearance sale of the warehouse from my home country, so it was not shipped from abroad. 

I’ve ordered five or six watches from China and have not yet had to pay duties or taxes. The watches ranged in price from $60 to $250 USD and I live in Canada. 

Lovely watch! San Martin is really coming out with some interesting, original designs. 

I’ve ordered half-a-dozen watches from AliExpress and China and am generally happy with my purchases. The most expensive was around $250 USD and the least expensive $60USD. They’ve been mechanical, quartz and mecaquartz watches from San Martin, Bern, Steeldive and a Pagani Design. 

I find the AliExpress watches tend to punch above their weight and I enjoy  hunting around the site for interesting watches. I don’t mind taking a chance buying a watch unseen that does not cost too much money. 

Thank you! You are right, when a watch is gonna offer you impressive specs for a really affordable price (and if you like the design) it's easy to take a chance to try it out. Btw, you have some really cool pieces on WRUW, congrats! 

I purchased a San Martin BB36 as my first Aliexpress watch, from what I've seen San Martin is the best of the best on that site. Homage and quality wise, San Martin seems to be really good, I've enjoyed my piece.

I worked with Glenn from San Martin to build my custom bronze 62MAS and it turned out great! 

That is a cool watch 👌😎. What did a custom dial cost you?

My first experience was buying a 36mm SN021-G Explorer look alike because I wanted another simple 3 hands watch and I was honestly curious about all the fuss around San Martin.

That experience was positive enough to make me purchase the 37mm 62MAS SN007-G-X when San Martin launched it and it's a very good watch. Not just "good enough for the price" but very good, period.

Both watches are powered with a PT5000 movement, which is basically an ETA/Sellita clone. It has a rougher feel when winding them manually but otherwise it's just fine.

At this point, they are practically the only vendor from which I'll buy on AliExpress. Nothing wrong with the others. But their value and QC is remarkable. I recently purchased a BB58 snoo4 homage, and it wears fantastic! It killed my desire for the original, especially since I couldn't stand the rivets. 

I also got another original design, explorer like, but everyone copies that design. The quality is awesome 👍. 

I'll be doing reviews on those watches soon!

How did you contact them? I never know to try through AliExpress or the other "official" site. 

My 39mm San Martin Type-A Flieger has stood the test of time and still finds it's way on my wrist on a regular basis.

Other than San Martin I would strongly encourage looking at Baltany as well. Great looking homages to long gone references such as 1930's Rolex cushion cases, 1940's bubble backs etc.

That's coming along very nicely! Developing it's own character. 

Amazing price for a custom dial, wow

I think I got it during a sale too so the whole thing was under USD 200 🤯 

I have two Chinese made Rdunae Seiko "clomages" that are just great. They are sold on AliEx, but I purchased them through WRWatches, who I would highly recommend. For some reason, I'm scared to pull the trigger on purchasing anything from AliEx, but mainly because I haven't quite figured out how to navigate their mobile website. I need to sit down in front of a real computer and see if it's any easier. 

Congrats! I have several of the Pagani Design homages from Ali Express and enjoy them. I have heard many good things about San Martin - several YT reviewers rave about the quality and finishing of San Martin watches.

My experience is that you get what you pay for. What I mean by that, is that homage watches can be produced at a lower price, because it is easier to have higher production volumes with an established design that is likely to sell well. Taking a peek at the volume discounts at the wholesale site (Alibaba) makes that quite obvious. It would be very hard to produce something new and unique at the same price. In turn you will get something relatively high quality for the price if you are comfortable with a homage.

It definitely helps to buy from actual brands on AliExpress, as the quality is definitely a step up from generic offerings. Anybody who mods will certainly see recurring components in these offerings, which makes sense, as it improves quality and controls cost.

I personally like brands like Baltany and their retro designs, even if just means that a less common dial or crown were used. (Yet even these small variations are almost immediately reflected in the price.)

It's a watch that I'll never experience in person so can't really comment on its quality. But I would always pay more for a product from more friendly parts of the world than from China.

If I can get it from a UK based company or USA yes I will give it a go. Otherwise I'm not interested in any AliExpress stuff.

Agreed. The design cost has been carried by the original brands. But then I look at all the "legit" micro brands, and see the same homages. Designs have now been copied so many times and for so many years, it's hard to get worked up about it /shrug. 

That is certainly the case, especially since mechanical watches have become collectibles, meaning that they function is no longer the primary driver if their design. But @Uhrologe just had a nice thread about inexpensive German watches. You can definitely tell the influencens of these watches, but even though inexpensive, they are not blatant copies. (Not that German minimalism is everyone's cup of tea.)

I do however agree that the copying of designs goes way beyond AliExpress brands.

I would argue that the copying goes all the way to the top of Swiss brands. Let's not forget, the Swiss got their start by ripping off designs from English and American pocket watches. They went as far as the Chinese fakes, stealing branding and names. 

Now they steal from themselves, releasing homages to their own past designs. Since they own the designs, it's legal. But they are copying nonetheless. 

You should definitely check them out, especially during a clearance sale or some similar sale like I did with mine. Very impressive quality for the price 👌🏻

I believe that copying of whole designs is not nearly as blatant in the higher tiers, because both as a brand and as a company these manufacturers are simply able to afford design, with all the hits and misses that occur on the way to a good design. Or take large companies like Seiko, Citizen, or the Swatch group, that can easily take a scattergun approach to design, and then mass produce what resonates.

Smaller companies cannot take these risks. If a microbrand has a couple if designs that do not work, it might be the end of the company.

Of course, manufacturers will copy their own designs, but it is almost impossible to establish a brand identity without.

I would argue the opposite.  I'm so bored of the major brands and their copy cat designs.  It's with micro brands that I see creating more innovative designs and taking larger risks. I bought a watch from Relio, which is clearly trying their best to create their own design language. Or Straton, who are racing inspired but create some really funky looks. This is why I shop micro; their designs are simply more creative.  No, it's major brands especially Rolex that copy their old design over and over again. Rolex has been making homages of their own watches for decades. Same with VC. They are living off their traditions. 

Brands like Rolex or VC are making very similar styled watches because they have literally no choice, as certain designs have become synonymous with the brand. What Tudor does is certainly not earth-shattering, but I would call it a gradual and well-accepted change. And therein lies the key: These watches sell, meaning that the watch-buying public may be even more conservative than the manufacturer, which is probably a why the Milgauss dropped below MSRP. 

But let's be frank: Watches are at this point an anachronism, meaning that there is no real innvovation in this space. This is part of the overall shift towards the luxury segment from what used to be a relatively simple consumer product 30 years ago. And therein lies the rub: This is likely not long-term sustainable. Therefore I would applaud the Moonswatch that brings watches to people who otherwise wouldn't wear or collect them, any of the Japanese manufacturers pushing their off-brands in Asia, or even simple marketing campaigns like the Tissot PRX, even if the mall-shopper buys it as retro-bling. 

Do microbrands factor into this? Not really. They exist mostly to please collectors, but do relatively little to promote watches as a whole outside of the bubble that is the collecting community. In other words, I may not be a Rolex fan, but I'm glad for every sports promotion or philanthropic event they sponsor, just like I find Ryan Gosling holding his Carrera into the camera a little odd, yet I'm very happy that he does.

I recommend Escapement Time. I have several of theirs and they are amazing, not so much an Ali brand as a microbrand that sells on Aliexpress, if that makes sense. This 5157 homage is exquisite. Perfect for laundry day LOL