Beautiful but marginal quality and a ridiculous warranty.
I own the model 1902 which is the same as the 1908 but has rose gold instead of stainless steel. Having used it for a few months I have some observations that I hope will be helpful to someone.
THE GOOD:
I like skeleton watches and this one has one of the "cleanest" looks of any skeleton at any price; meaning there is not a lot of junk hiding the beautiful movement. (The movement is what the watch industry refers to the inner workings). I was going to buy an Invicta skeleton but they have huge logos on the front crystal which detract from the overall look. This watch has Roman numerals painted on the inside of the crystal that float above the face and look great. The small "Daniel Steiger" logo is unobtrusively engraved on the front right-hand side of the case. Because there are crystals on the front and back you can see all the way through it. Watching the intricate gears operate is fascinating; you can even see some of the jewels. The thin blue hands are very classy looking but are difficult to see against the skeleton face. So if you need reading glasses then this (or any skeleton) might not be the best choice for you.
Also for a manual-winding watch this keeps surprisingly good time! It lost only a few seconds in the first two weeks of daily wear.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
The composite leather band looks and feels cheap and the color has already started to rub off it after 3 weeks of use. I expect it to wear out soon.
THE BAD:
There is an (imitation) blue sapphire on the winding crown. It is held on the crown by a thin band of metal. Unfortunately it started to "unpeel" from the sapphire after a week and I'm sure the stone will fall out of the crown soon. But here's what REALLY ticks me off:
I would send it back under the 5-year "free" warranty but the Timepieces International manual says it costs 30 bucks for the "handling & transportation fee"... 30 BUCKS! I could ship an anvil to China for less than that. I'm suspicious of any company that resorts to shady tactics like inflated shipping charges that offset the costs of "free" warranties.
OVERALL:
This really is a sharp-looking watch that gets a lot of compliments. However it doesn't appear to be of the same quality as other watches that retail retail for 200 dollars and I wouldn't be surprised if it breaks in a few years. I'm no expert but it seems to be over-priced at 150.0
Thanks for reading my review I hope it's useful.
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Beautiful watch of marginal quality and a ridiculous warranty.I have owned the Daniel Steiger skeleton watch for a few months and have some observations that I hope will be helpful to someone.
THE GOOD-
I bought this because I like skeleton watches and it has one of the "cleanest" looks of any skeleton at any price; meaning there is not a lot of junk hiding the beautiful movement. I was going to buy an Invicta skeleton but they have huge logos on the front crystal which detract from the look. This watch has small Roman numerals painted on the inside of the crystal that float above the face and look great. The "Daniel Steiger" logo is unobtrusively engraved on the front right-hand side of the case. Because there are crystals on the front and back you can see right through it. Watching the intricate gears operate is fascinating and you can even see some of the jewels. The thin blue hands look very classy but are difficult to see against the skeleton face. So if you need reading glasses you might not be pleased with this or any other skeleton watch.
Also this manual watch keeps surprisingly good time! It lost only a few seconds in the first two weeks of daily wear.
THE NOT-SO-GOOD:
The composite leather band looks and feels cheap and the color has already started to rub off it after 3 weeks of use. I expect the band to wear out soon.
THE BAD:
There is an (imitation) blue sapphire on the winding crown. It is held on the crown by a thin band of metal. Unfortunately it started to "unpeel" from the sapphire after a week and I'm sure the stone will fall out of the crown soon. But here's what REALLY ticks me off:
I would send it back under the 5-year "free" warranty but the Timepieces International manual says it costs 30 bucks for the "handling & transportation fee"... 30 BUCKS! I could ship an anvil to China for less than that. I'm suspicious of any company that resorts to shady tactics like inflated shipping charges to offset the cost of a "free" warranty.
OVERALL
This is a very sharp-looking watch that gets a lot of compliments. However it doesn't appear to be of the same quality as other watches that retail for 200 dollars so if you buy one you shouldn't be too surprised if it breaks. I'm no expert but it seems to be over-priced at 150.0
Thanks for reading my review. I hope it is helpful.
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It's pretty ... that's about it.
Purchased this watch this past Spring. By the Summer the screws holding the watch case to the bracelet came loose and the watch fell off my wrist while driving. I was able to find most of it and sent it back to the mfg. for replacement. The people at Timepieces International were very nice and I received my replacement after about six weeks (they were out of stock at the time). The crown on the replacement however was bent and prevented me from screwing it down. My third replacement had the same problem but only slightly so I decided to keep it.
There's no denying that the watch is beautiful and this one is acceptably accurate but I've never had any watch ... not even a cheap 'gift with cologne purchase' watch just fall apart like this one. My suspicion is that the movement may be Swiss but even the Swiss make cheap movements. Further the watch doesn't say 'Swiss Made' which leads me to believe that the watch for all intensive purposes is actually Chinese. I work quality for a cosmetic manufacturing company and the Chinese imported components I've seen are of such low quality that needless to say I'm not a big fan of Chinese made goods.
I do have to give kudos to customer service though ... they were very responsive they didn't interrogate me about details of the problem and they gave me accurate information about the turnaround time.
I don't think I'll be buying any more watches from Timepieces International. I have a couple of friends that have watches from them and they each have complaints (inaccurate short battery life etc.) If I want a good cheap Swiss movement watch I think I'll go with Invicta instead. I own several and all have been problem free and their designs range from big chunky modern to classic 'Rolex Submariner' type and everything in between.
Too bad too ... this watch line is extremely attractive to me but I can't get past the poor quality problem.
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It's not worth the moneyThis watch looks beautiful online however when I received it the rose gold finish looks very cheap. There are other watches out there with rose gold plating for a little more that look much better. Amazon made it very easy to return the item. The watch I give a bad review Amazon gets a great review.
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Lovely large substantial
The watch is large yes. Actually the EXACT dimensions are LISTED in the description and they are accurate - 36 mm face 10 mm thickness. It's a chronograph "boyfriend style" watch for women which means it's INTENDED to be on the large side. I am not a large woman - just above average height with an athletic/lean build - and this watch looks great on my wrist. The face has a beautiful deep MOP background with bright well-defined chronograph dials. It is very much as pictured on amazon.com. The hour and minute hands have black insets which makes them a bit subtle. I don't find them hard to see but zoom in in the photo to review the features before buying this watch. If you read the description and look at the picture and decide you want what's described in this product that's what you'll get.
I would be disappointed to see more negative reviews of this lovely expensive-looking time piece just because someone didn't read what she was ordering. The watch is exactly as advertised it's a great value and I like it very much!
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