Mumbai special/ Franken watches

Not with a 10 foot poll.

For newbies who bought one without knowing-lesson( hopefully)

learned.

My introduction to these was accidental… I bought an Enicar many, many moons ago (> 10 years), and the seller said that it broke as he was posting it (that old chestnut), and if I would like another one he had that he had yet to put up for sale. It was not a lot of money, and I thought, sure… looked similar.

When it arrived it had the air of the uncanny valley, and so having had a variety of different diving expeditions I came across a few of the same watches that had similar oddities, and yes, some of these came from India. I did buy an HMT once - didn’t keep it for long. I also bought one of those Fortis watches with the painted card dials for £10 just to see what would arrive… turns out, exactly what was shown. It still works, but I don’t wear it. I’m certainly not going to try and charge a hefty amount and claim it’s rare (I see you).

Here is the thing - I’m not going to say anything smart or shitty, these sort of watches are very prevalent on a certain marketplace, and they seemingly have their place. I would argue that the Citizen-esque Parashock movement is slightly more robust than any Oris pin-pallet from the 70s, and a fair bit more serviceable, so actually makes a little more sense from an horological perspective. Someone also is making these - fair enough its volume, but they have functional 17J mechanical movements and whilst they are not the greatest quality, they can act as an interesting gateway. Your mileage may vary.

I bought a HMT years ago that I knew was a re-dial. I hope that it actually was a HMT. I gave it away eventually. It was cheap and fun and I didn't take it seriously.

If you prowl auction sites you see the traps: brightly colored Omega from South Korea, Jump Hour Zodiac from Pakistan, repainted Sturmanskie from Ukraine, and all of the Sandoz, Oris, Seiko, Fortis, and Favre Leuba from India. These traps are inexpensive. The real money losses are to be found from European sellers.

Nothing to be embarrassed about, they are just (cheap) watches.

I’ve seen on eBay but figured out pretty quickly (with advice from Crunchers.) I was curious about a “Seiko 5” when I learned about Mumbai Specials. If it ships from India, be extra cautious.

I have seen some Camy which look vintage but with a careful reading they do state a vintage movement in new cases/dials. Essentially a reproduction. At least, if you read carefully, you know what those are.

Yeah I fell for that too early on. Never again.

That’s me

I’ve yet to see omega on there mostly seiko oris hmt some orient and even a few Tissot

It's almost a right of passage. "You must pass through the gates of India before reaching the promised lands of Japan and Switzerland."

I bought a Seiko 5 off eBay (one of my first purchases). Always wondered if I’ve been had lol

Same here I bought this about 3 years ago and it still runs

I bought one of those and accidentally smashed the crystal the first day I had it! It was tragic... Looks good.