Alibaba and the 40 customizations (or not)
One day I was browsing on AliBaba (instead of AliExpress) and saw this watch - that was customizable. Cool, I thought, do it, I thought. Due to some weirdo nonsense on AliBaba that order would not go through, because AliBaba standard shipping method was not available to Carisen, yet that only became apparent after sale. [Never had such nonsense on AliExpress.]
Anyway, I repeated my order (or so I thought), with the correct shipping in place. Sadly, that repeat failed to include a repeat of the customization (that was me not paying attention), and so I ended up with the uncustomized thing you see in the pic.
I had never heard of Carisen before. They seem to have two websites (carisen.com and carisenwatch.com) with not entirely consistent info about this watch. One gives a price on request, one asks for £359 while on AliBaba it is £79.
Regarding the customization, this works (when it does) differently from, say, customizing a SanMartin on AliExpress. On AliBaba, when you order the customization option, a picture editor opens and you do the customization there and then. With SanMartin, you get instead into an email conversation with their watch designers, most likely just giving them the text and they do the rest. That does not mean that there is no customer support for Carisen if there is an issue. There is, they called me. On my phone. Multiples times.
UK-based German expat. Likes cheap watches. Not bothered about brands.
Nice story. Is that watch huge or do you have a small wrist or BOTH?
Nice story. Is that watch huge or do you have a small wrist or BOTH?
Both, it's 42mm diameter, 48.5mm lug to lug. It looks large because of the design, but the lug-to-lug keeps it comfy. My wrist (left arm) is 17cm, so fairly small, and 42mm is at the end of my wearable range.