A introduction guide to Andiot Watches

[FredOT89]

Hi all,
I made this thread to document my first time ordering with Andiot Watches (Elliot) and to share some of the information I found during my research of this TD.
I hope this info is usefull to you, Ill keep updating my order status and experiences with Andiot Watches in this thread.

---

A Introduction To Andiot Watches
Andiot Watches is a Trusted Dealer on this forum and known by his username Elliot Black.
From what I could gather Elliot started Andiot Watches allong with 3 other partners in 2012 out of a tiny watch workshop in Guangzhou (near Hong Kong) in China.
Andiot Watches has just recently (start 2024) acquired the Trusted Dealer status on the RWI forums.

To my knowledge Elliot is a middle aged Chinese man that often seems to visit the UK.
In some other thread I found a link to what they claim to be his Facebook page (with a picture).

According to the customer feedback on this thread, Andiot Watches has excellent customer service. There are many examples of Andiot Watches helping a customer above and beyond the established expectations by other TD's. Next to his seaming excellent customer service he also seems to comprehand English very well and responds quickly to messages you send on Whatsapp.

* TIP: On the top left of his website you can contact him using Whatsapp with a direct link (very easy)

Next to his service Andiot Watches seems to sport prices often 10-30% cheaper then other more established Trusted Dealers.

---

My first order with Andiot Watches
In the past I have used other TD's that were ranging from okay to great to deal with.
In seeying the great customer feedback on this forum and his good prices I decided to give him a shot.

On Tuesday 25th of June 2024, I contacted Andiot Watches using Whatsapp for the first time requesting the purchase of two watches at once.
Both watches were not available on his website, so I had to ask if he could source them. He asked me for pictures of the watches to make sure we were talking about the same watch. I send the pictures and stated what factories and bracelet options I wanted. Elliot came back to me in under 45 minutes time with competitive prices in my native currency on both watches totalling €500 euro's.

After asking to which country I wanted to send the watches to approximate shipping cost, he quoted me €30 for the shipping of two watches to western Europe.
All his prices seemed good and fair to me. So I agreed upon them asking how and where to transfer the money.

I also asked about the QC time, Elliot stated that because of the recent raids time from payment to QC is around 7 days.

---

Payment process
As of 06/2024 Andiot Watches supports 5 payment methods, that are the following:

1. Wise or Revolut（）
2. Cryptocurrency in USDT only（）
3. Western Union in US Dollar only to China（）
4. International Bank Transfer to China (in your own currency) (）
5. Paypal friend and family (you have to pay +5% extra because of the bad exchange rate)

With the amount of hearts he indicates how prefered a payment method is to him.
For all transfer methods he provides a full instructions on where to transfer the funds.

I send the funds on Wednesday 26th of June 2024, the day after my first contact with Andiot Watches.
I used Revolut since it was nice and easy and I already had it set-up. There was a complete all be it not chronological guide on where to transfer the money.
All info I needed to make the transfer was there in the guide so that was nice and his responses where quick.

After I confirmed that I made the payment with a screenshot and proof of transfer document he asked me for my full shipping address which I stated.
Elliot then assigned me a order number and as of today the next day there is no updates yet.

Ill update this thread as my order continues. I hope this info was helpfull.

 

[memox]

Can you share what u ordered?

 

[FredOT89]

Ofcourse, I ordered the following two watches:

REF: IW328206 / V7F IWC Mark XX green dial on bracelet, price paid €340


REF: WSTA0042 / AF Cartier Tank must small on black leather strap, price paid €160

 

[noog]

I'm almost looking at the mark xx. How much is it with a bracelet? I can't seem to find it on his site.

 

[Luxfer]

Wow what a “review” well done

 

[noog]

I'm almost looking at the mark xx. How much is it with a bracelet? I can't seem to find it on his site.

Oh silly me. Missed the line with the price in it.

 

[FredOT89]

UPDATE 1: 19 days since ordering

QC Pictures received
Andiot stated 7 days till QC when ordering the watch.
This was longer then usual because of raids according to him.

The 7 days came and went and during this time I did not contact him.
In my mind he would contact me if there was news, no need stalking him for info he doesn't have.

At day 8 I did decide to send Andiot a message about my not yet received QC.
He replied quickly saying one of watches (The V7F) was not received by him yet and he would get them soon.

The next morning (day 9) I received a link to a QC album with QC pictures of both the watches I ordered mixed in with each other.
So he exceeded his own deadline a little, but nothing major. No red flags or complains here from me.

---

QC Picture quality and completeness:
When QC'ing a watch high quality pictures are essential to see if a watch is a GL/RL. Also the completeness of the pictures and even video's can make GL'ing a watch with confidence that much more pleasent. I am pleased to say the pictures did not disappoint. To be fair they are not up to the level of quality and completeness of some other TD's like Eric at Geektime for instance. But they are not bad at all. There were video's in the QC of both watches. One short headshot style video and a longer test of all functions and walkaround. There was also a timegrapher VIDEO for the automatic watch. This is a great addition to see if the timegrapher scores are not manipulated. Here is an overview of the received album:



Link to V7F IWC Mark XX green dial on bracelet QC album:

https://imgur.com/a/bTH0Lx4

Link to AF Cartier Tank Must small (22mm) QC album:

https://imgur.com/a/vQuoBo3

---

Proces of GL/RL'ing a watch
When you receive the watch QC pictures it is up to you to GL (Greenlight) or RL (Redlight) the watch you received pictures off.
There is a third option. That is to ask more pictures/video's of a specific thing you have doubts about.

A RL is something you should not do lightly. The RL will cost the TD money and time. This QC proces is a service and a proces you pay a premium for and have a right to do. In the end you want a good watch ofcourse. BUT PLEASE DO NOT FORGET: you are buying a replica watch made in a Chinese sweatshop for 1/10th the price of the real deal. So some misses will nearly always be there and are OK and to be expected. If you want a real 100% 1:1 get a gen.

BONUS TIP: Before you receive your QC pictures review other past QC posts on the Reddit page R/RepTimeQC for common issues to check for on your QC.

Now for the pictures and my personal QC of the two watches:

Some pictures of the V7F IWC:


As you can see from the pictures and the QC album links in the last paragraph the watches look good. No issues. The IWC has a nice centered DW (datewheel) and the "N" in ShaffhauseN does not seem to fly of to the 2hr marker which in some cases happens. The printing is crisp, hands look good and everything else is nice. So easy GL for me.

Some pictures of the AF Cartier:


And then for the Cartier, the dial printing on these can bleed and be not as crisp (this even happens on gens). But fortunatly this was not the case with this watch, very nice and clean dial printing! When I went pixelpeeping I did find a small defect.


This is exactly the type of defect I talked about at the start of this chapter. This is zoomed in 100x on a 22mm very small watch. Something you will never ever see in real life. So yes, this is an error. But no, you cannot and should not RL a watch for these minor defects. So another GL for the Cartier!

---

Shipping and Tracking your parcel
Most TD's have a lot of experience with shipping these replicas to nearly every country in the world. They have there ways of avoiding customs.
But sometimes it does happen a watch is seized by customs. Most of the time you will get a letter saying something bound for your adres has been held up at the border. NEVER RESPOND to these letters. And if you HAVE to respond to the the letter say you don't know anything about such shipment and that they have the wrong adress. Most TD's have a policy in which they are 100% responsible for the watch until it is received by you the customer. So if it is taken at the border, most of the TD's on the list will send you a new one free of charge. DO CHECK or ASK YOUR TD, if they provide this service if you aren't sure. AndiotWatches does offer this service according to there website:



I GL'ed the watches within 24 hours of Andiot sending the QC link. He replied 3 minutes later that he will send the watches the next workday (monday after the weekend). I received the tracking number on tuesday morning.

BONUS TIP: Use this website (17track) to track your parcel. It shows tracking info of all parcels and carriers worldwide combined in one easy to use website.

When looking at my tracking number on the 17Track website using AndiotWatches his integrated 17track website link I get the following info:


When I receive the package there will be a new update.

 

[killing.time]

UPDATE 1: 19 days since ordering

QC Pictures received
Andiot stated 7 days till QC when ordering the watch.
This was longer then usual because of raids according to him.

The 7 days came and went and during this time I did not contact him.
In my mind he would contact me if there was news, no need stalking him for info he doesn't have.

At day 8 I did decide to send Andiot a message about my not yet received QC.
He replied quickly saying one of watches (The V7F) was not received by him yet and he would get them soon.

The next morning (day 9) I received a link to a QC album with QC pictures of both the watches I ordered mixed in with each other.
So he exceeded his own deadline a little, but nothing major. No red flags or complains here from me.

---

QC Picture quality and completeness:
When QC'ing a watch high quality pictures are essential to see if a watch is a GL/RL. Also the completeness of the pictures and even video's can make GL'ing a watch with confidence that much more pleasent. I am pleased to say the pictures did not disappoint. To be fair they are not up to the level of quality and completeness of some other TD's like Eric at Geektime for instance. But they are not bad at all. There were video's in the QC of both watches. One short headshot style video and a longer test of all functions and walkaround. There was also a timegrapher VIDEO for the automatic watch. This is a great addition to see if the timegrapher scores are not manipulated. Here is an overview of the received album:



Link to V7F IWC Mark XX green dial on bracelet QC album:

https://imgur.com/a/bTH0Lx4

Link to AF Cartier Tank Must small (22mm) QC album:

https://imgur.com/a/vQuoBo3

---

Proces of GL/RL'ing a watch
When you receive the watch QC pictures it is up to you to GL (Greenlight) or RL (Redlight) the watch you received pictures off.
There is a third option. That is to ask more pictures/video's of a specific thing you have doubts about.

A RL is something you should not do lightly. The RL will cost the TD money and time. This QC proces is a service and a proces you pay a premium for and have a right to do. In the end you want a good watch ofcourse. BUT PLEASE DO NOT FORGET: you are buying a replica watch made in a Chinese sweatshop for 1/10th the price of the real deal. So some misses will nearly always be there and are OK and to be expected. If you want a real 100% 1:1 get a gen.

BONUS TIP: Before you receive your QC pictures review other past QC posts on the Reddit page R/RepTimeQC for common issues to check for on your QC.

Now for the pictures and my personal QC of the two watches:

Some pictures of the V7F IWC:


As you can see from the pictures and the QC album links in the last paragraph the watches look good. No issues. The IWC has a nice centered DW (datewheel) and the "N" in ShaffhauseN does not seem to fly of to the 2hr marker which in some cases happens. The printing is crisp, hands look good and everything else is nice. So easy GL for me.

Some pictures of the AF Cartier:


And then for the Cartier, the dial printing on these can bleed and be not as crisp (this even happens on gens). But fortunatly this was not the case with this watch, very nice and clean dial printing! When I went pixelpeeping I did find a small defect.


This is exactly the type of defect I talked about at the start of this chapter. This is zoomed in 100x on a 22mm very small watch. Something you will never ever see in real life. So yes, this is an error. But no, you cannot and should not RL a watch for these minor defects. So another GL for the Cartier!

---

Shipping and Tracking your parcel
Most TD's have a lot of experience with shipping these replicas to nearly every country in the world. They have there ways of avoiding customs.
But sometimes it does happen a watch is seized by customs. Most of the time you will get a letter saying something bound for your adres has been held up at the border. NEVER RESPOND to these letters. And if you HAVE to respond to the the letter say you don't know anything about such shipment and that they have the wrong adress. Most TD's have a policy in which they are 100% responsible for the watch until it is received by you the customer. So if it is taken at the border, most of the TD's on the list will send you a new one free of charge. DO CHECK or ASK YOUR TD, if they provide this service if you aren't sure. AndiotWatches does offer this service according to there website:



I GL'ed the watches within 24 hours of Andiot sending the QC link. He replied 3 minutes later that he will send the watches the next workday (monday after the weekend). I received the tracking number on tuesday morning.

BONUS TIP: Use this website (17track) to track your parcel. It shows tracking info of all parcels and carriers worldwide combined in one easy to use website.

When looking at my tracking number on the 17Track website using AndiotWatches his integrated 17track website link I get the following info:


When I receive the package there will be a new update.

I know this is an older thread. But curious as to why it wasn’t updated? I was drawn in. Killing me there is no ending to it all.

 

[memox]

I know this is an older thread. But curious as to why it wasn’t updated? I was drawn in. Killing me there is no ending to it all.

Why is this an older thread? Last update was on sunday stating he will update when receiving the watch

 

[killing.time]

Why is this an older thread? Last update was on sunday stating he will update when receiving the watch

I looked at the date wrong. For some reason I was thinking it was a year old. My eyes aren’t what they used to be.

 

[Kiwisflying]

Any update here?

 

[FredOT89]

UPDATE 2: 22 days since ordering

The day I received the watches
Hi all, 22 days after ordering I received both watches I bought with Andiot on 17th july 2024.
The package came on a wednesday when I was out sporting. I got the message the package was delivered and raced home immediately to grab it. The watches were packed in an unassuming small plastic bag that didin't weigh anything. I was worried for a second I had been scammed since the packaged was so light. I quickly ripped it open (without taking a picture for you guys, sorry ). And low and behold 2 small cartboard boxes where in the package. I opened the boxes up and to my relief there where watches in both the boxes. The watches where packaged in a bombproof way where nothing could happen to them and they would not raise any suspension by customs.

Both watches where inside a small plastic zipped bag with all the accessoires inside. Both watches where wrapped in plastic on pretty much every surface for scratch protection.



First impressions
When I opened the IWC's zipped bag for the first time and held the watch in my hand, my first impression was that I wasn't to impressed with the dial. It seemed not as eye catching as I would have thought/hoped. The Cartier did look fantastic, it felt great in the hand, the strap the dial printing the crystal. All very happy. The Cartier looks like a great succes!

So okay, back to the IWC, maybe I like it better at a second viewing. I removed all the plastics and immediately noticed there are quite a lot of sharp edges on the lugs and especially on the bracelets clasp mechanism. Furthermore if you rubbed your fingers on the back of the bracelet it doesn't feel as soft or polished as it should. It feels a bit hard, sharp and cheap.

The dial printing, hands and date wheel where really impressive in person. They looked perfect, not a single defect, nice elevation to them and the lume also shined great when quickly charged with an iPhone flashlight.

Setting the time and trying the watches on for the first time
To first give some context I mostly own gen Omega watches, some Breitlings and I've had a gen Tudor BB58, a gen Rolex sub and some Casio & Seiko watches. So I am accustomed to what a watch should feel like at different price points. As read in the above first impressions the sharp edges where something that I noticed straight away and definitly won't be on a gen IWC mark xx.

Okay, lets start with setting the time on the IWC. This watch features a screw down crown and an Asian ETA 2892 clone movement. Unscrewing and screwing in the crown feels sturdy and good. No complaints here. In this unscrewed position you can wind up the movement by turning the crown clockwise this proces feels good too and like it should too. Then pulling out the crown to the first position to set the date feels sturdy with a nice clear crown position click. The date wheel is nice and centered, with the crown it feels like and deliberate to move trought the dates. All good here.

Then we have the last crown position to set the time and this watch even has hacking seconds which is very nice! So when I pulled out the crown to the 2nd position it again feels nice and sturdy. Good and solid crown stem. The second hand stops as it should with hacking seconds. And time setting is very easy. Beware of the 24hr cycle with your date wheel if you are in the AM you can set the time normally. If you are setting the time in PM you have to do a full rotation of the hands to add 12hr's to your time for your date to go over to the next day at midnight instead of at lunch time the next day haha. For the last step you push the crown back in and screw down the crown again. Beware to not push to hard and damage the thread. with twisting gently the crown will find it's way back to the screwed in position. This is and can be one of the weakspots and easiest points of failure on a rep watch. So beware and handle the crown with care.

Okay putting the watch on, and imidiatly we have a problem... It it very very tight. Even with the very nice integrated quick adjust mechanism fully stretched the bracelet is to tight for me. So I am going to need some extra links. So buyer beware, I have 18,5-19,5cm wirst depending on the time of day. If this is your wrist size too, I would advice on getting atleast 2 extra links and doing final adjustment with the awesome quick adjust mechanism that can add or remove 0,6cm from the bracelet length. So if like me you have a 18,5cm-19,5cm wrist. Add atleast 1 link to make the bracelet fit a 19cm wrist comfortable. and do the final adjustments during the day with the 0,6cm quick adjust length. If you have larger wrist you can do the math, 2 links are about 1cm extra length.



Then we have the Cartier, this is a no date Quartz watch with a Swiss Quartz movement according to the factory (who knows?).
This is just really simple, pull out the crown and set the time. Nothing more to it. It's a quartz so no winding, the time on the watch was not accurate when I received it, different time zones and all. But once set it seemed to keep the time great. This is a 22mm ladies watch and doesn't fit my male wrists.




The first week with the watches
I ordered a very fine quality light brown leather strap in IWC Mark XX gen style to go allong with my bracelet at a well reviewed German store. I am very happy I did since the bracelet was to small for me. So later that night I imidiatly swapped the bracelet for the leather strap using my Bergeon 7767-F springbartool (Please get this tool if you don't have it, it makes changing straps easy).

I combined the leather strap with a IWC butterfly clasp to improve the life of my strap and make taking on and off the watch easier.



While removing the IWC bracelet I noticed the bracelet had a quick detach function that I didin't even know about! What a nice surprise! The original IWC strap has this mechanism too. So if you buy both rep/gen strap and bracelet switching them out can be done in <60 seconds! This is great. So my advice to a future buyer get both rep strap and bracelet (with extra link) when buying. Will increase the price by +$100 but you will have much more versatility from your watch! See beneath a few picture of the quick disconnect:



So now the first week of wearing the watch (on the leather strap because bracelet was to small).
I started liking the watch more, the more I wore it. The dial started to grow on me. And the dimmensions are perfect. 40mm, nice domed crystal, case is nice and thin. It's light so it doesn't bother you, but not to light that you don't notice it. I am especially impressed with the detail on the dial. All the numerals and markers are just very clean and very nice for the price paid. You definitly do not get a watch of this quality with a €400 Seiko. That being said, you have to remember it's a rep, and it is never perfect. This watch by V7F is very very very highly rated in the rep community as being a NWBIG of the highest quality. Yet some defects still remain. The bracelet is a really easy tell because of the wrong first link facing aggresivly down (look trough other reviews for more info on this, or ask me bellow), the polishing is not done to the same level and the watch does have some sharp edges.

Also the watch having essentially 0 waterproofing you can trust and rely on is something I really don't like. So the next few months I will be researching waterproofing and seeying if it's a proces I can DIY or if it is something that is better to be outsourced by a proffesional. If you have any info on this please message me.

Regarding time keeping I am very, very, very impressed with the watch. I have worn the watch for the past month now (Yes, I write these reviews later to gather my thoughts on a watch/item). And this watch has blew my expectations. I don't know if this is normal for a rep, but after wearing the watch for a month, sometimes skipping a day and keeping it in my watchbox/nightstand it has kept *PERFECT* time. It has not been a minute off the entire month since I set it the first day. *Mighty impressive!*

The power reserve is also impressive, like I said there have been days I didin't wear it at all and kept it in my watchbox (no winder). And the next day I picked it up and it was still running like a champ, so 24+ hour powerreserve and maybe more. Will have to test this someday. Now for some pictures:



I gifted the Cartier with a nice stand as a gift to my girlfriend, she liked the watch a lot. It looks great, feels great and keeps great time. She is very happy with it. So that makes me happy with it too. Some pictures:




Closing thoughts and a retroperspective look on the product and buying experience
I ordered these watches after a lot of research in to the options, versions and factories. So it was a very well thought over decision. I have been in the watch game for a good few years now and ammassed a whole load of knowledge about it. If you are new it can be overwhelming, but please just take the time and read as much as you can without asking questions and taking shortcuts. In the end it this will help you a lot.

Regarding my experience with Elliot and Andiotwatches it is a bit of a mixed bag. Andiot delivered and got me some great watches that I was looking for at affordable prices. However I can see from other reviews that this isn't always the case. These people are essentially Chinese "criminals" we are dealing with and this is something that should not be forgotten. Something that should also not be forgotten is that we are buying "cheap" replica watches made in sweatshops in China in poor labour conditions. So the only 100% 1:1 of a watch you like would be getting a genuine watch. Nothing is perfect, and you should not expect it to be.

We can however try and get as close as possible and some factories like V7F do a great job at this. In the end I am happy with my watch and I spend 1/10th of the money I otherwise would have on a this watch in gen. The money saved getting this rep instead of a gen while still scratching the itch for this watch can be used to spend on gens that deserve there gen prices like a nice Omega Speedmaster or JLC for instance.

Will I order again with Andiot? The short answer is yes, the long answer is maybe. But since I have already typed enough I will leave it at that. So would I recommend Andiot for first time rep buyers? Not really, I think TD's like JTime and Geektime are better suited to newbie buyers. Andiot is more for the experienced buyer that knows what is what and what they want and don't want. His prices are good, his service too as long as nothing goes wrong. But for a first time buyer I would pay a little extra and go with a more established buyer friendly TD like the aforementioned.

So what's next?
As you probably know the watch collecting world is a very deep rabbit hole that keeps demanding new purchases from time to time. I have restricted myself for fun and taking time to appreciate my new additions sake to 1 watch purchase per quarter. That means I have 2-3 more watches I could buy this year. I will most likely fill these spots since it's just so much fun. The watches on my hitlist this year are the following:



Regarding the IWC, I am going to DIY polish it in the short term to round of some of the sharp edges. Get 2 extra links to go along with my next TD order. I want to take a look at DIY waterproofing (if anyone has any tips please let me know, will make a thread about this soon). And just enjoy the watch before my next acquisition will arrive.

Thank you all for taking the time to read trough my post. I hope this was informative for you and you learned more about the rep game in general, ordering with a TD, Andiot watches and the specific watches I bought. I might do a update in the future about the IWC or Cartier if they start acting up or something like that.

Please let me know if you have any questions or feedback on my post. If not, have a good day and wear in good health

 

[shomfo_8005]

thanks for the very nice writeup and detailed review for both the watches and also the TD experience, I see that you already had several people waiting for your review hehe, congrats on your new watch and may you enjoy it in good health

I too decided to pull the very first trigger on the V7F IWC (ingenieur in my case) and agree with you with those reps being NWBIG, by reading through this forum I can somehow manage my expectation a little bit when it comes to dealing with TD (especially the waiting game that had me worried for quite some time ) so I dared myself using andiot on my first try and fortunately he delivers

 

[gmm87]

Hi, nice watch! That's my first interaction in this forum so sorry if I do a silly question. I could see that you ordered Mark XX from V7 and didnt have in their website. I just joined and saw they have it from ZF. I read some discussions here and I would like to ask you since you have a done a great research. Did you ask specifically for V7 instead of ZF or you just wanted the green dial? Thanks in advance and congrats for the watch!

 

[FredOT89]

Hi, nice watch! That's my first interaction in this forum so sorry if I do a silly question. I could see that you ordered Mark XX from V7 and didnt have in their website. I just joined and saw they have it from ZF. I read some discussions here and I would like to ask you since you have a done a great research. Did you ask specifically for V7 instead of ZF or you just wanted the green dial? Thanks in advance and congrats for the watch!

Hi Gmm, welcome to our lovely forum! Be welcome, look and you shall find whatever your looking for here.
And yes indeed Andiot does not offer the V7 version on his website. I specifically asked him trough Whatsapp to source the V7F version of this watch for me. The Mark XX from V7 is superior to the ZF in my and many others opinion. So I would advise you to get the V7 edition of this watch. You can ask any TD to source you a watch they may not have listed on there online store. Just mention factory, ref/model and a picture and they will come back to you with a availability and price. Enjoy your time here gmm

 

[gmm87]

Hi Gmm, welcome to our lovely forum! Be welcome, look and you shall find whatever your looking for here.
And yes indeed Andiot does not offer the V7 version on his website. I specifically asked him trough Whatsapp to source the V7F version of this watch for me. The Mark XX from V7 is superior to the ZF in my and many others opinion. So I would advise you to get the V7 edition of this watch. You can ask any TD to source you a watch they may not have listed on there online store. Just mention factory, ref/model and a picture and they will come back to you with a availability and price. Enjoy your time here gmm

Thank you very much!!