Daniel Steiger Men's 1908-M Skeleton Hand-Wound Stainless Steel Watch

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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