Most brands had a price hike in the past year. However, Raymond Weil isn’t a super popular brand and you can usually get good discounts on them. Don’t pay MSRP.
blacksunshineaz
Tissot makes good watches and I own four of them. I do like the Gentleman but I won’t be buying one as it’s too similar to the T-Tempo COSC that I already own which is a more expensive model. It’s the only automatic of the four and I recently had it serviced and went through the AD. It has a different movement than the Gentleman, but I do own a Mido with the same Powermatic 80 movement and have owned it for almost two years now. I think the Gentleman is a great choice, regardless of either you go with quartz or the automatic movement. If you are concerned it may be too big for your wrist you should find a retailer where you can try it on first.
I can’t complain, I got my Ocean Star from an AD for $465. It’s the only Mido in my collection but I wouldn’t be against buying another Mido in the future.
I own one of these watches and purchased it from a seller from Ukraine on Etsy a couple of years ago. I didn’t know much about it but fell in love with the look after reading an article about Russian watches that included this model.
When the watch arrived I noticed that the crown was bent so I sent it back to the seller, who said he’d have his guy “make a new one”. When I got it back it was in perfect condition and worked well. The crown was different than the first one, and looks like the one pictured above. I have no allusions that the watch is 100% authentic. I’ve heard many people say that the dials are reproductions. The watch itself might be new old-stock from the 1980’s but I doubt it. I’ve never opened the case up to see the movement so I don’t know how old it is. Being that the watch wasn’t expensive I don’t really care about its authenticity, it’s just a fun watch.
I had been looking at the Longines Dolce Vita and Oris Rectangular online. The dealers near me don’t stock those models as rectangular watches don’t sell well. If I was willing to put down a non-refundable deposit, they could order them but it would likely take many weeks. That’s a no-go for me as I am not about to commit to purchasing a watch I’ve never seen in person.
Therefore, I bought a couple of cheap “refurbished” Seikos on eBay from sellers in India. I was well aware of the “Mumbai special” terminology but I figured it would be worth a shot to see if I could pull off a rectangular or tonneau shaped dial, the size of the case and the colors of the dials. I figured these were throw away watches no matter what. The quality was appalling, as you might expect but it did help me come to the conclusion that rectangular watches aren’t my thing. Of course I might change my mind if I see the Longies or Oris in person someday.