I'm with you on this. The differences are there, but for the money paid, the OP's, and your watches are good daily beaters.I have the cheaper one in red and the better one in blue. I wear the red one more. I personally think it was a fantastic rep for $100. I've had it a year and still ticking. I bought the cheap blue and black Pelagos for $100 too. I've since bought the better ones, but they are really quite good for the $.
Pics of the cheapies.
That's a lot of fun for $300 shipped. Plus I sold the 2 Pelagos for what I paid for them in a couple minutes.
As with all Ali/DhGate, YMMV.
As you say, if it's not your thing, someone here will pick it up M2M for close to what you paid as a cheap intro to the brand/type or a daily beater for themselves.
The bit that would piss me off is the misleading informal provided by the retailer...