I thought I'd post my experience so far with Theonewatches. I had traditionally been a Rolex Submariner or Sea Dweller fan already having these in my collection as well as a few other similar style watches.
I decided I wanted to try something a little more sporting and with a little more color. I was first considering the Tag F1 racing senna series and various variants, which are great value at around $130 to $180 a piece.
So I headed over to Andrew at Trusty Time and a few others sellers but found these were not available like a lot of other watches I was browsing!
I'd always liked the orange accents on the Planet Ocean and eventually I found that this model was avaiable from Trusty Time but by that time I had started looking at some other models.
By this stage I had started looking at the the Planet Ocean Deep Black Series and being a bit of a yachting fan I decided I'd like this one, an older Emrates Team New Zealand Americas Cup edition. Unfortuantely Andrew and other suppliers did not have in stock but after inquring at numerous sellers I found Theonewatches had one available:
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So over one month ago on 25 July 2021 I started the purchasing process and paid with my Master Card on their website. A slight hiccup required me to ring my bank and get their site unblocked from my payment list. The following day Steve had the QC photos for the above Omega available. Not sure if there is the refinement of the Rolex's but the images of the Omega looked good enough.
I probably should have quit while I was ahead as presumably he would have shipped the watch there after but there was a bit of a discount buying two watches so I turned my attention again to the Tag Heuer Carrera Formula 1 Ayrton Senna Special Edition Watches, namely the skeleton model. In contrast to the Omegas these cost considerably less.
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Now Steve said he had this in stock so I puchased both the Omega and the Tag with anticipation of QC photos for the Tag a few days later.
I really don't know what ever happend to that Tag watch so about 20 days later I suggested to Steve another Tag watch which I figured might be easier to source and which Steve said was in stock. The one he came up with was slightly different but I was happy with it, this model below but with a black metal band. I didn't care much for the novel tire tread rubber band in any case.
-1000x663h.jpg)
Things seemed to start moving again and a few days later QC photos for the Tag appeared and I approved the sale. Shipping was delayed a little due to some sort of Chinese Customs inspection issues but on 2 September the watches were finally sent.
So what have a I learnt.
Many of these watches seem to be very difficult to souce and is an exercise in patience, which is ironic given the nature of these watches.
Most of the watches listed on websites are not available. Although as many would have read some of the factories have been closed down.
If you want to contact Theonewatches do it via Whatsapp but purchasing is fairly streamline on their website. Steve is reasonably responsive but I had to approach him and ask the relevant questions.
In any case, hopefully I'll be able to update you all in a couple of weeks that I've added these two beauties to my colleciton.
Now, my journey with Omega continues and I have taking a liking to the SpeedMaster Dark Side of the Moon watches, in particular, the Alinghi. You can see a recurrent theme but I'm yet to find a reseller that has this one and I should probably wait for these other watches to arive first in any case!
I decided I wanted to try something a little more sporting and with a little more color. I was first considering the Tag F1 racing senna series and various variants, which are great value at around $130 to $180 a piece.
So I headed over to Andrew at Trusty Time and a few others sellers but found these were not available like a lot of other watches I was browsing!
I'd always liked the orange accents on the Planet Ocean and eventually I found that this model was avaiable from Trusty Time but by that time I had started looking at some other models.
By this stage I had started looking at the the Planet Ocean Deep Black Series and being a bit of a yachting fan I decided I'd like this one, an older Emrates Team New Zealand Americas Cup edition. Unfortuantely Andrew and other suppliers did not have in stock but after inquring at numerous sellers I found Theonewatches had one available:
So over one month ago on 25 July 2021 I started the purchasing process and paid with my Master Card on their website. A slight hiccup required me to ring my bank and get their site unblocked from my payment list. The following day Steve had the QC photos for the above Omega available. Not sure if there is the refinement of the Rolex's but the images of the Omega looked good enough.
I probably should have quit while I was ahead as presumably he would have shipped the watch there after but there was a bit of a discount buying two watches so I turned my attention again to the Tag Heuer Carrera Formula 1 Ayrton Senna Special Edition Watches, namely the skeleton model. In contrast to the Omegas these cost considerably less.
Now Steve said he had this in stock so I puchased both the Omega and the Tag with anticipation of QC photos for the Tag a few days later.
I really don't know what ever happend to that Tag watch so about 20 days later I suggested to Steve another Tag watch which I figured might be easier to source and which Steve said was in stock. The one he came up with was slightly different but I was happy with it, this model below but with a black metal band. I didn't care much for the novel tire tread rubber band in any case.
Things seemed to start moving again and a few days later QC photos for the Tag appeared and I approved the sale. Shipping was delayed a little due to some sort of Chinese Customs inspection issues but on 2 September the watches were finally sent.
So what have a I learnt.
Many of these watches seem to be very difficult to souce and is an exercise in patience, which is ironic given the nature of these watches.
Most of the watches listed on websites are not available. Although as many would have read some of the factories have been closed down.
If you want to contact Theonewatches do it via Whatsapp but purchasing is fairly streamline on their website. Steve is reasonably responsive but I had to approach him and ask the relevant questions.
In any case, hopefully I'll be able to update you all in a couple of weeks that I've added these two beauties to my colleciton.
Now, my journey with Omega continues and I have taking a liking to the SpeedMaster Dark Side of the Moon watches, in particular, the Alinghi. You can see a recurrent theme but I'm yet to find a reseller that has this one and I should probably wait for these other watches to arive first in any case!
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