Just came back from it. If you ask for the pricing on a watch: If they offer a discount, they'll mention it. The event was such a blur with so many brands that I couldn't keep track of who offered a discount and who didn't.

If you feel uncomfortable with homages, but want to explore Chinese brands, go for ones based on old military designs. Dirty dozen, flieger type A/B, etc. Those are based on designs and specs released by the various governments, and multiple well respected manufacturers like Bulova and Hamilton delivered nearly identical watches for said specs since the beginning. No manufacturer can claim ownership of those basic designs, so it's really hard to call any modern iteration of it an homage.

I just bought my first Chinese watch, a San Martin flieger type B, the one with the coin edge bezel and onion crown. It's my first flieger and my first AliExpress purchase, and I am really impressed with it. It does have a few small issues, but the quality I got for ~$130 is phenomenal. Like most here, I follow JOMW for guidance on models within the Chinese scene, and I'm happy with my purchase.

It's mechanical art, outfit accessory, a way to tell the time, a link to the past, all of those things and more.

Technology is how, art is why. A watch is both.

I find that what size is too big or too small really depends on what my eye is used to. I used to wear 42mm to 44mm, and now wear 36mm to 40mm. I once bought a 30mm dive watch for my wife, but then decided to wear it around the house for a few days for fun. My eyes adjusted and the 30mm seemed normal. I then put on a 40mm watch and the 40mm seemed comically large. It took me a day or so to readjust to such a "large" watch :P.

Honestly, I wish more watchmakers would make their small watches unisex, or remove gender branding entirely. The anti pattern of "If it's for women, make it sparkly and make it pink" sucks for all genders.

Gotta go with Nivada. Even though I don't like chronographs without a 12+ hour totalizer, I like that Nivada has both quartz and manual wind options.

The Vario Empire looks fantastic, but Melbourne has many of the different types of watches covered. Melbourne sells a field-ish watch, a dressy watch with a sector dial (which looks phenomenal), and a dive-ish watch (only 100m water resistance 😕). Though I wish Melbourne's diver was a 200m watch, and I wish they were sub 40mm, I do like that they have more offerings than Vario.

If I could get a Lorier and a Straton I'd rather have the Lorier. But I can't get a Lorier, so I'll vote for Straton.