Found these watches....comments please

[Socrates]

Does anyone know anything about these watches with regards to reliability and quality?

http://www.mwcsa.co.za

I'm looking for a wrist watch, found these guys. I'm a bit skeptical of brands I don't know.

[andy_760901]

never heard of them, and i have a few decent watches, but there not too price heavy, i say stick with what you know, rather get a Seiko, i bought a nice Seiko divers for R5K

Then id look at Tag if u want to go higher, you can get a formula 1 for around 7-10K there.... then id say anything more, you should be looking at names like Breitling, IWC, Rolex, Omega etc etc etc. those go anywhere from 15K-350K

But if go Tag formula 1, or equivalent, they can go for around 6K if u shop right, perhaps not the chrono, but anyways, i have never heard of this watch company that your considering buying from...

[Bushboy]

I have found that cheaper watches tend to have lenses that scratch too easily, or chip when banged against say a wall or whatever. I had a swatch irony wich looked good to start with but soon was almost unreadable. Then when the battery died and was replaced it became impossible to keep it accurate. I was then given a panerai luminor. Man now that was a watch! (way out of my price league) You could bang it smash it swim with it dive with it, use it as an impact tool .....(well no, not quite, but you get the idea). The only thing was that the strap "pin" which was a miniture bolt came loose and I didnt have a small tool to tighten it...... and then I went waterskiing...... It now resides with the fishes and crabs at the bottom of the Kariega river.

My advice is to buy a watch that has a good lense and a good strap, oh and dont water ski with it....

[Paul]

I'm looking for a wrist watch, found these guys. I'm a bit skeptical of brands I don't know.

I have had a Traser watch for almost 10 years now, and it is quite simply the finest watch I have ever owned. The face still looks new, the crystal glass is unmarked. There are marks on the strap from where welding splashes have fallen on it and been ground off with an angle grinder (just to indicate how gently I treat it). It has gone through two batteries over the years, but the Tritrium inserts on the face are still glowing as brightly as ever.

I have had the watch down to about 50m in the sea - the Seiko I had prior to that flooded whilst diving.

I believe Kreature are/were agents for Traser, and they're good people to do business with.

My wife would be wearing a Traser also except they weren't importing a womans' model at that stage yet so she had to settle for a Tag which doesn't keep time as well as the Traser.

[andy_760901]

bushboy, you should be taken out back and shot for what you did to that Panarai, you should have babied it to no end, i own a Tag Heuer Carrera chrono and a Breitling Aeromarine titanium chrono Avenger, and both along with a number of others live in the safe, i only wear them to weddings and special occasions, for everyday, i wear either my plain jane Casio, or my Suunto Core black/Black, now those are nice watches, very specialty, but really good... i find that a plain jane casio, or perhaps a frogman if u want something bigger, is something that you can not easily go wrong with, people like Peter Machlup, who deal in Breitling, Rolex, IWC, Omega, and even Patek Phillip (up to almost a million) say that these watches admittedly, may not keep the best time, and if u want japanese precision, then buy a casio. So there you have it, spend between 300K-900K and get a Patek Phillip that does not hold exact time, or pay R200 and get a casio that does :)

I also have a police watch, a Seiko and one or two others, and am in the market for a Breitling navitimer World, but at R60K, i will have to find a used one, from an authorized dealer :)

[Snaphaan]

I have had a Traser watch for almost 10 years now, and it is quite simply the finest watch I have ever owned.

+1

I have 2 Trasers, the garden model, and a Super Sport Chrono. Both are excellent watches at fair prices. The Super Sport Chrono has been discontinued, but Kreature still has a good stash.

Look here:

http://www.kreature.co.za/mm5/mercha...y_Code=WAT-TRA

[boondog]

I must say I had a good experience with Citizen last week.

I have a Promaster digital diving watch (14 years old)

Started giving me a error and would go into dive mode without getting wet. Took it to citizen, they replaced the complete inside for me for R1500.

New crystal and strap R800.

All in All a new watch for R2300 and good for another 14 years.

[Bushboy]

Andy, I could have done it to myself and spent the rest of my holiday beating myself up about it. As soon as I felt it come off (i was floating waiting for pick up) I kicked off the ski, dropped my vest and swam to the bottom and seached for it. The water was about 3-4m deep and the bottom was very scary mud, but I did it repeatedly. Problem was that the tide was coming in strongly and i couldnt keep in the same spot and soon became impossible to know exactly where it went down. That coupled with lots of boat traffic made it dangerous. I thougfht of going back to the house, collecting my brother in laws scuba gear and spending some quality time on the bottom, but canned the idea as it was almost sunset and by the time I got there it could be anywhere with the strong tide. And to top it off it wasnt insured so bye bye R30k-R40k watch.

[andy_760901]

id still cry daily :( a friend had the same thing happen to him, he was tending to his jetski ready to launch it, normally he takes off all his kit before going on the jetski, this time he had problems starting it. so he became involved with getting it going, when it took off and he though he would take it for a quick spin before coming in and changing, bye bye rolex. think that cost him around the R80K mark :(

[shooter]

30K, 80K for a watch! Damn almost worth more than the arm it rides on:)

I guess this is more like jewellery? A cellphone tells the time just fine.