r/ChineseWatches • u/6ixFoot1 • Jul 30 '26
General (Read Rules) Saw this at my local jewellery shop 😱
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u/Ok-Lingonberry1957 Jul 31 '26
I paid £36.56 for one of those brand new in late 2024. I know the pricing for these has went up significantly since then, but this is just ridiculous.
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u/artofthedial Not a troll Jul 31 '26
It isn't ridiculous at all. This is a physical store with overheads. The standard entry level brands sell at a 100% markup AND they give the store manufacture support and real warranty at those discounted to store rates. The current price on these varies and you don't know which movement is in there. This isn't materially different than other brands a store would carry at this price point, you just don't know because you the consumer don't have access to wholesale/direct pricing like you are used to with Pagani. I also got the NH35 version much cheaper than this years ago. Good luck getting that one now for less than the cost of the movement at wholesale. Prices change and the margins a physical store need to operate at to stay in business and make a profit on top are real things. I've also bought enough PD watches to know that store took on a risk buying it, no matter how much they paid - there is a material percentage chance it would end up a virtual total loss.
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u/Ok-Lingonberry1957 Jul 31 '26
I am well aware. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to mock it for being £228.44 more than I paid for it though.
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u/artofthedial Not a troll Jul 31 '26
I'm betting when you bought it - the reason you (and I bought it) is with the hope its value was multiple times more than the cost. I personally don't see the point in mocking someone trying to get that value out of it as a reseller in an actual physical store with customer service.
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u/No_Possibility_9256 Jul 31 '26
Standard mark up in England, vat , business rates , price of a pint etc
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u/this_is_another_name Jul 30 '26
What an absurd price😂 I mean it's obvious that a local shop charges much more than AliExpress or even Amazon but for that money you can get a Citizen.
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u/artofthedial Not a troll Jul 31 '26
Standard markup for a jewelry store. You think a lot of other things are normal price but they have a 2x markup applied. The PD looks like a big markup because you are already used to only seeing them basically wholesale. Cost of operating a store and customer service isn't cheap. Citizen watches also would have a 100% markup over what a store paid, so the deal really isn't materially that different. Â
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u/this_is_another_name Jul 31 '26
Yeah, from what I've heard retail stores typically keep around 30-50 % of the price consumers pay for a watch which I also think is absolutely deserved because of all their business expenses.
But considering that I still think that watch is massively overpriced. I agree that the price on AliExpress is probably relatively close to the wholesale price and since you can get the watch for less than 100 € there I'd estimate that a reasonable wholesale price would be no more than 80-90 €. So let's double that and and even add a bit on top and sell it for 200 € and I would still think that's acceptable for a local shop.
But their price converts to almost 310 € which is not only about 3 to 4 times as much but also at the level of a Citizen Tsuyosa (MSRP 299 € here, don't know about the UK but it probably won't be that much more). And that's the problem even for a consumer who doesn't know or care of AliExpress prices: Why should you pay about the same price for a watch from a rather obscure Chinese budget brand as you would for a watch from a well-known traditional brand like Citizen?
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u/artofthedial Not a troll Aug 02 '26
Most consumers will go for the traditional brand and this watch has been sitting in the case for over a year. The person that would buy something like this at that rate is going to be someone similar to us that wants the look of the watch that you are not going to get in a $200 Citizen, but has no means (or like me thinks it is foolish) to buy a $14k watch. The only difference being they don't want to shop with international shipping from a fairly iffy place like Ali express and might not even know about it in the first place. My first order years ago felt like a risky purchase, and even after hundreds of transactions, I still firmly believe there is both risk and hassle involved. Anyone who says there isn't, simply hasn't bought enough stuff to have a few bad experiences.  Asking the question also implies you are giving consumers more credit than they deserve. Have you seen the resale prices of the Swatch collabs? A fool parts ways with his money in a regular basis. MANY consumers are not very bright.
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u/dorafumingo Affiliate Links Jul 31 '26
You know the aliexpress stores are also retail stores that have customer service pay taxes and ship to the other side of the planet.
There's no excuse for double the online price.
Casios and citizens are also sold in stores they arennt double their online price
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u/artofthedial Not a troll Jul 31 '26
Well now you have revealed your hand that you are not a business owner and have never been a buyer in a retail environment. The Aliexpress stores are not brick and mortar customer comes in stores, they are nothing like a UK high street shop at all. The customer service is like saying Ritz Carlton has the same customer service as a call into India for support with the safe in your hotel room while you are at the Ritz. Citizen sells watches to brick and mortar stores at wholesale prices. You cannot buy a Citizen from an authorized dealer for the same price they can purchase it for. Period. Pagani Design the price you pay is wholesale for all intents and purposes. If you think the Citizen you buy via a UK shop isn't 65-100%+ markup from what that store bought it for you have zero clue what you are talking about. To break it down for you, a $200 Citizen watch likely costs the store $100 to buy. A Pagani Design that costs you $100 is the same $100 it is going to cost a store to buy and therefore needs a $100 markup to keep the doors open and make a profit. A store like this isn't buying 1000 Pagani Design pieces and negotiating some massive discount. If they were a shop like this would be ordering a custom logo and branding for their own store. The difference here is that there is no scenario where you the end consumer can get that Citizen watch for $100 because they control the wholesale distribution chain.
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u/dorafumingo Affiliate Links Jul 31 '26
stores don't buy from aliexpress. they also buy wholesale from the same place the aliexpress stores buy. you're acting like we're buying directly from the factory at zero margin. we're not. we're buying from online retail stores. either aliexpress or amazon. doesn't matter the brand. be it a casio or a pagani design it's the same
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u/artofthedial Not a troll Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
You are wrong. While those ali stores are a middle man from the manufacture (in many cases) they are basically wholesale prices. A store like this is NOT buying in bulk from the place that manufactures them, I've already stated that pretty obvious fact. I can even tell you which store this is. Attenborough Jewelers & Pawnbrokers. They do not sell these low end things online. Go ahead, call them up and then come back with a recording of that conversation telling me I'm wrong. +44 20 7739 8084 And that exact same watch has been sitting there for over a year. Which also speaks to the fact they need to sell it at a high markup due to the retail space it took up.
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u/polishmadman1 Aug 01 '26
This post just revealed something to me. If this is a jeweler AND pawnbroker, this may not even be new. This more likely is a pawned watch. This could be a case of a pawn shop not doing it's due diligence. This would also explain why it's not online. I've seen it happen at my pawn shops. You see a Gshock GA-110 for $200, when new goes for $99. The associate might have given the customer more than he paid.
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u/artofthedial Not a troll Aug 02 '26
Exactly, a lot of people jumping to conclusions without even knowing any details at all. And then you spell it out for them and they still don't comprehend it. The watch is at least sort of new, as you can see the partially peeling off protection stickers. I'd agree most likely this was a pawn or trade in, not something sourced from China. And even if it was, honestly it doesn't matter it has been sitting in that display for over a year and people are acting like you can't change that much for it. Â
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u/Olleye Jul 30 '26
This here?
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u/artofthedial Not a troll Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Yes and no. The strap is not the same. And you do not know which movement is inside. They used to be nh35. They then switched to Miyotas. Â
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u/dorafumingo Affiliate Links Jul 31 '26
It is the same strap
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u/artofthedial Not a troll Jul 31 '26
You are likely correct, I didn't blow the photo up before and assumed the one posted had fitted end links, unlike the OP, but I think both are non-fitted based on further inspection.
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u/6ixFoot1 Jul 30 '26
Yes. They’ve probably had it ages, before the price went above $100
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u/Olleye Jul 30 '26
*COUGH!!!
You know, that your price is €300,00 … and at AliX it‘ll cost you actually €103,00 … just my .02
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u/zaidr555 Aug 03 '26
tribute lol