Received my first homage watch on Thursday 20 January 2010 from Getat.
Watch was ordered and paid on 24 December 2009 and the shipment was stuck in HK post office for some times due to some issue. Communication via email was ok but reply often delay by 2-3 days, he is trying his best to answer all my quiries.
The spec:-
Movement: Asian Unitas 6497 manual winding
Case: 47mm without crown 316L polished steel with doom plexiglass, California sandwich dial.

This homage watch is base on Pam3646 and Pam249.
For more history and story, please refer to this link (great blog by the way):-
Jake's Rolex Watch Blog

Following are my simple review and impression.

Outter box


Inner box secured by bubble wrap (+1)


Simple watch case with bubble wrap and plastic to protect the watch (+1)


The watch, look good? Read on,


Back view (6497 or 6498 movement?)


My finding,
1. The most importantly thing is accuracy test. I do not have professional training (like William Hung ) and any tools to measure. As a simple measurement, I set the watch same time with my Astro decoder's time and wait for it to run for an hour.
The watch is running approximately +4 minutes faster I thought the movement need some times to 'break-in' or 'run-in'
Patiently I waited for it to run 24 hours and ridiculously it ran +1 hour 30 minutes faster This is absolutely unacceptable.
I don't expect the accuracy to be perfect for mechanical watch and -1 or +1 minute per day is ok for me, but not until such variant.

2. Uneven paint on 4,5,6 o'clock indexes, especially number 4


3. Bad lume
4. Hard to screw and unscrew the screw-in crown
5. Movement is loud
6. Strap is good, I can smell the genuine leather smell (+1)
6. From the clear back, I have noticed it is a 6498 instead of 6497 as listed on his website.
This is the 6497 shown on his site.


I can accept other flaws in view of the price I've paid for, but not for the accuracy. The most basic function of a watch is to tell corret time, 1 minute variant per day for me is ok for any mechanical watch.

I've email him the above issues and he replied that the watch might be magnitised during the shipment (is it possible? ) and he agreed to return and refund for me. I will get the watch to regulate and maybe demagnitise by local watchmaker and to ask for reimbursement from him.

What a bad experience for my first online purchase watch

Lastly, wrist shot.


Thanks for reading

This post has been edited by ck77: Jan 23 2010, 03:08 PM

congrats ck77...nice looking watch you got there!
how much did you pay for it?

---

Added on January 23, 2010, 6:40 pm[quote=ck77,Jan 23 2010, 02:23 PM]
Received my first homage watch on Thursday 20 January 2010 from Getat.
Watch was ordered and paid on 24 December 2009 and the shipment was stuck in HK post office for some times due to some issue. Communication via email was ok but reply often delay by 2-3 days, he is trying his best to answer all my quiries.
The spec:-
Movement: Asian Unitas 6497 manual winding
Case: 47mm without crown 316L polished steel with doom plexiglass, California sandwich dial.

This homage watch is base on Pam3646 and Pam249.


err....what does a homage watch mean?
and what do you mean by the homage watch is base on Pam3646 and Pam249??



This post has been edited by khopl: Jan 23 2010, 06:40 PM

if not mistaken, a homage is when a manufacturer follow a very famous design or something like that....i think ck 77's is a homage to 2 Panerai models...

got homage to Bell Ross square dial, Rolex's submariners...etc..

fake or replica will still label it as Rolex, Panerai, etc..but homages dont...

http://forums.watchuseek.com/forumdisplay.php?f=71 (i learned from here wan....)

all sifu, correct me if i am mistaken

khopl, PM me if you want the link, I don't want to do free advertisement for his site
nando has explained the summary of homage. In another word, they are the copycat of certain manufacturers but won't put on their name. Very often they will go brandless or put on their own brand name, i.e. Orang Watch Company, Ocean 7, MKII etc.

congratulation, ck77.

nice watch!

Yea but not the accuracy

is that a swan neck regulator? 1hr already running so fast, must have gone thru huge shock. the last time my vintage roamer did that is because I took it golfing!
iirc, u paid 100-200 for it.
I lost faith with hongkong/chinese homages, I paid us$50 for 1, after 6mths that darn thing started running fast (30mins every 24hr), next few mths it started running irregularly at times fast at time so slow. I threw it away.

What movement is that? Not even regulation or servicing could help?
I don't expect top notch Swiss quality, what you get is what you paid. This is to me more like a wear-spoil-and throw away watch.

This post has been edited by ck77: Jan 23 2010, 11:01 PM

I see. thx for the link.

---

Added on January 23, 2010, 11:32 pmi'll work hard for it

This post has been edited by Daymon: Jan 23 2010, 11:34 PM

Can't wait to get my watch! Already booked.
gonna get it next month.

you're the guy that ordered Jorg's Stowa right? the Flieger ? been contemplating it for a long time...

until now they haven't update me when can i get it....

heck knows, some chinese. paid us$50 for it, send in for regulation + servicing would cost more than the watch.
I expect it to be the kind wear and throw thingy. thats why I am very reluctant to get a seagull. I know there QC not really there.
although ST-1812 if done right is decent, if paying us$200-300 is it really worth the trouble to get it done right the 2nd time round?

if i pay us$200, I expect swiss quality. since I can get a swiss mechanical online at around us$200-300 mark.

---

Added on January 24, 2010, 7:15 amaccording to their est, u may be getting it sometime in Apr.
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=144115

---

Added on January 24, 2010, 7:18 amat rm$1K u can afford a swiss mechanic, just cannot afford what u love.. chrono.
those eta 6497, pocket watch movement is a work horse. with routine servicing they will last U a lifetime.
even U at your 60s-70s, reading time also no issue on such basic watch.

---

Added on January 24, 2010, 7:21 amwell, its alot cheaper than the ball U going to get.
got it on a dealer closeout deal. 80% off!
ladies.. I always though longines looked better on them.
hack so long your lady love the design, thats whats impt!

This post has been edited by patryn33: Jan 24 2010, 10:08 AM

Anyone here heard of Tauchmeister watch? From what I know its a german brand...and the model I'm eyeing on uses Miyota 8215 movement. Is it any good? In terms of accuracy and reliability...anyone?

here's a list of True German watch brands. I wouldn't go for those mushroom brands if I am paying over us$100
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=3277

Miyota 8215 is Citizen some threads on it. this movement only winds in 1 direction unlike eta 2824.
reliability should be quite ok, accuracy depends if manufacturer regulates it well.
oh.. its a non hacking movement, pull out the crown would not stop the sec hand.
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=138906


alot of ppl opt to go with Laco on Miyota
http://www.lacher-shop.de/e_shop/index.php?cPath=1


This post has been edited by patryn33: Jan 24 2010, 11:11 AM

The watch is sent for regulating by my friend's watchmaker, let's see how it perform after that.
What you think about OWC, since they are using ST21 in their Mil Sub homage with a whopping price of USD299
Cheapest Swiss mechanical is definately Swatch, as far as the movement is concern. One can always swap the movement to other homage or modified watch

love the Nomos Tangente series...

but after currency conversion......sigh......




Attached thumbnail(s)

Thanks patryn33...that's quite a list of german watch manufacturers there!
I really like the Sinn model 900 Pilot...gotta feeling its pretty pricey!!

ck77: thanks for the review. relatively interesting, since i am contemplating saving up for a pam sometime this year. still doing as much reading up as i can.

any chance you can PM me the link to where you got your watch from? want to have a quick look-see at their range.

OWC, ST21 US$299 is kinda expensive I think. seem like the case, bracelet cost that much.. ST21 next to nothing.
ya cheapest swiss mech gotta be swatch all under US$100. as for movement grade, maybe the lowest.
for US$200-300 can find those closeout deals or gray market. a swiss army on 6498 cost around that figure.

I love Nomos! wanted to get the pwr reserve. But then still went with a Zenith defy Classic.

Sinn 900 Pilot, cost right around rm$10k after discount I think.
kinda expensive for a unmod Valjoux 7750 automatic chronograph

don't mind preown here is one
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=353768

for half the price can get from Guinand, the founder of Sinn. pics of movement here, very nicely decorated with blue screws.
pretty well regulated under +3sec.
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.php?t=198944
another nice review by an expert on WUS
http://forums.watchuseek.com/showthread.ph...081335#poststop





This post has been edited by patryn33: Jan 25 2010, 08:50 AM