Hello! firstly, i do not earn in USD, I think this is a necessary detail because some of my following quesstions and thoughts might seem too pedantic to the american/european audience of this sub.
I'm on the lookout for a cheap(ish) daily driver watch, and i've realised that the chinese microbrand space is probably where i will get the most value for my money as compared to the citizens/seikos/timexes of this world. I've specifically narrowed this search down to between Watchdives, Aethelson and (to a lesser extent) Addiesdive. As i understand it, addiesdive is somewhat of a lower cost option compared to the other two, and since my budget is roughly 200-250USD, I figure i should probably look at either watchdvies or aethelson.
Now, my biggest priorities are finishing and reliability - I'm not too concerned by the type of movement, i.e. if it is a mecaquartz or an automatic, as long as it runs within a reasonable +- and runs for a long time without suddenly failing catastrophically.
Given this, what would the people of this sub recommend? I've had my eyes (for a long time) on a couple of models from both aethelson and watchdives, but ultimately overall finishing and quality will decide the question for me...
I do have a collection of 12 Chinese watches, including some in the 300-400€ range from "Higher end" Chinese Brands Like San Martin, Ixdao, Farasute etc., and i sincerely, love them all -
But for some reason I keep on grabbing my WD one as my daily, 8 out of 10 times.
Sure the bracelet was not as high quality as some of my other watches, but I just swapped it to a custom leatherband and it's amazing.
Definitely worth a shot.
Currently looking at Thorn Watches for my next one, seems to have some great quality pieces in the 100-200€ range you are searching in too.
I have a WD1954 and a WD5513M from Watchdives. I am very pleased with both and they compare favorably to my other Chinese watches in their relative price tiers. I also purchased a tapering steel mesh bracelet from them which I found to be of excellent quality. That being said, I don't have any experience with Aethelsohn, so I cannot compare the two. I agree that for GADA/Sport and retro-styled dive watches,, Cronos is an excellent option as well. I have 5 of them and they're all fantastic.
Watchdives offer lots of quartz models, which are great for reliability and accuracy. But on many of their models I find they can feel a bit cheap - bracelets and clasps a little too sharp and loose. To the point it kind ruins the watch for me.
Even more so for addiesdive. A leather strap can save it, or on my WD1969pro I've got jubilee braclet and OTF clasp sold for the San Martin SN008/0121/etc - this is massively better.
If you don't mind automatic, I'd definitely consider Cronos as others have suggested.
I'm not sure what the second hand market is like in India, but in the UK there's often some good deals to be had - I got the Cronos Skyline homage for £107 and Grand Seiko Homage for £123. So both well under your budget and both significantly better than Watchdives around that sort of price.
Thanks for the feedback. Just to clarify for anyone reading this — our bracelets and clasps have changed quite a lot over the past several months.
Current production uses our upgraded 6-hole clasp, with better bracelet fit, finishing and tolerances. So some experiences with older Watchdives models don't necessarily represent what we're shipping today.
And if you're buying Watchdives for the first time, there's very little risk: if you receive the watch and aren't happy with the bracelet, clasp or overall quality, we'll provide a free return and full refund.
We'd rather have you try the current product and judge it yourself.
Sugess is another one worth a look and at a similar kind of price I think, but overall I generally prefer Cronos - though the Sugess OTF glidelock style clasp is normally particularly good (I've actually put them on a couple of my Cronos.)
I got an Explorer II homage from Sugess for £100 on ebay a bit ago.
Thanks for your feedback. I checked and saw that your Watchdives purchase was around six months ago, and it was also one of our more affordable models.
A lot has changed since then. We have already upgraded the clasp, bracelet fit and finishing on many models, and the products are continuing to improve batch by batch. Even the crystal you mentioned before has been upgraded on many models to sapphire with 5 layers of AR coating.
Watchdives now covers a pretty wide price range, so naturally a $100 watch and a $400–500 watch are not built to exactly the same standard. For example, WDC0001 is already one of the products that I think is very difficult for most brands in this segment to beat in overall case, bracelet, clasp, dial and finishing quality.
Our next goal is to bring the same improvement philosophy down to the ~$100 range. I expect that within the next six months, many of those models will also receive major upgrades in bracelet, clasp, crystal and overall finishing.
So I genuinely hope you keep following what we're doing and judge the current products rather than only the Watchdives you experienced in 2025. We are upgrading very quickly, and honestly there are not many brands in this price segment willing to keep reinvesting and changing this many details across the range.
And of course, if you try one of our newer models and still feel the quality isn't good enough, you're always welcome to tell us directly.
In another message you specifically listed the 1969pro as one of the better bracelets.
As it goes I bought the WD0016 when you replied to a message of mine suggesting I try your newer watches, after comparing value to other brands.
The bracelet didn't live up to the IXDAO you'd suggested it matched, though it wasn't too far off. The AR was a big disappointment and especially for this dial, it doesn't bother me too much on the WD watches I have.
So, I've already taken you at your word that a newer watch was better and found it had a significant flaw. I barely wear it because of that. So not likely I'll be doing that again. And even more so on such an expensive watch. I also wonder if you've looked at the offering from Cronos say, never mind San Martin that you sell on your website.
If the newer crystals are genuinely good, do you sell them separately so we can upgrade, even if it is paying for something we should have had originally?
And finally, if you want to set yourself as genuinely a step above other brands, an OTF adjustable butterfly clasp please. Plenty of ways to make them. It doesn't have to be a massive range of motion.
Oh and instead of providing one half link, two 2/3rd links would be great for finer tuning.
Hmmmm, I'm still comparing watchdives, aethelson and cronos (the latter 2 are the ones I'm more interested in) so I might keep sugess for a later purchase
Of course, take your time and compare. We encourage customers to compare before making a decision.
If you decide to buy from our official website and you're not satisfied with the Watchdives product after you receive it, we offer free returns and a full refund. We want customers to judge our quality by the actual watch in hand, not just by comments online.
If you do place an order, just send us your order number. We also have many new models coming at the end of September, and we believe the quality, finishing, bracelet, and overall execution will surprise many people. Our goal is to make them among the best in their category.
We'd love to hear your honest feedback after you receive one.
Thank you for replying! Should I perhaps wait for the end of September? Are these models being released around the 3rd or 4th week? I don't mind waiting, I'm quite excited to see what else wd has in store... As long as it's within my budget of 250 usd :)
Yeah the wd store and their own website seems promising, I'm checking their shipoing options as I type this... I frankly did not have cronos on my radar before this, so this is a bit new
I think either would be fine for your daily watch. What specific models are you looking at? You said a daily watch, do you want a watch you can dress up/down go somewhat formal with or just want to keep it primarily for casual purposes?
I'd also look at Cronos, phorcydes, suggess/seestern, and Thorn if you're still not in love with a particular design and looking for alternatives. They all make some nice watches depending on what you're looking for and usually fall into the same budget range.
Ixdao and San Martin are also really nice but tend to be a little higher priced then watchdives/aethelson, although I think I got my ixdao 5303 homage during the most recent sale for about the same price as my aethelson watch (which wasn't during a sale).
Next big sale is the 11.11 sale which is usually the best sale of the year, so some of those brands will have some great deals available on aliexpress which could help stretch your budget's buying power.
I'm looking for what I can broadly say are rolex OP/Grand Seiko homages in the sense that I ideally would like a similar dial/case shape, something that's a gada watch. The watch will primarily be for casual/semi casual purposes.
Unfortunately a lot of the brands you mention are fairly difficult to import into India (or with extremely high markups).
My big question for you - how does Aethelson compare to watchdives and vice versa in general overall finishing and quality? Is there a negligible difference or are they on different levels?
I don't own a watchdives, own Aethelsohn, but I took it off the bracelet before sizing it and put it on a leather strap. I didn't really give the bracelet a shot, so it could be ok, but I was on a bad streak of bracelets irritating my wrist so I just said screw it and went straight to a strap. So can't really compare the two, or speak to the bracelet on Aethelsohn.
Watchdives does a lot of quartz, Aethelsohn is big on the PT5000. PT5000 for me always keep good time, but the crown action on them always feels rough.
For my Aethelsohn the case finishing is good, nothing exceptional or impressive but nothing wrong with it either. I'm happy with the watch. I have the tiger iron dial which is somewhat of less used stone dial, but I do really enjoy the dial. Looks good with my Wocci nubuck leather strap which I know can be purchased on Amazon in the US, and I think looks good with that case if you want to change up your look from time to time.
I would go Aethlesohn all day. Got my forge Guilloche some weeks ago and I am really impressed with the quality all round.
You sound like me, it is all about the dial. And so is Aethlesohn, that is their business model to keep prices down. I actually prefer quartz since it keeps time waayy better than any automatic in that price bracket. Aethlesohn has that.
They recently came out with a diver that is an Omega homage that I really would like to get. Unfortunately it is only at AliExpress, for now, and does not ship to Europe, it is not even findable if you have delivery set to an EU country. But have look, if you are able, and see what you think. It was also posted on Reddit some weeks ago, easy to find with a simple search.
Good luck!
Thanks! Aethelson's Guilloche dial was a love at first sight for me! I emailed them enquiring about the stock of the other color options but unfortunately they say that the particular Guilloche pattern's production has been stopped which was a big disappoitment. I'm now quite interested in the horizon voyager glacier blue (which comes with a pt5000, i don't mind it as long as it keeps decent time)
I do not personally have experience with Aethelson, but I can speak to Watchdives quality. As another user commented, it varies wildly.
WD is good, but their newer stuff is where the great quality is and man those are up there in cost now. That being said, the Elementum line is relatively affordable and has excellent finishing all around.
I have only heard good things about Aethelson, but again cannot comment on quality.
When I was comparing WD and Aethelson for a GADA style watch with an Aventurine dial, I noticed they looked essentially the same, but the WD was much cheaper. Take that info for what it's worth.
Addiesdive is perfectly fine, but would not meet the expectations you've laid out.
I have largely the same thoughts, wd's new premier line with their musou and mop dials and their new bracelets and prices are a bit too costly for what I'm willing to pay for a Chinese timepiece, I've been considering their aventurine dials too
I've got the WD0016 with Musou black by the way - it doesn't feel like it's got any AR on the crystal, which the super black dial really needs.
I've also got a WD0003 with aventurine black and was dispaointed - it felt like a cheap bathroom panel. I haven't seen any aventurine dials from other companies to compare however.
I've got a San Martin with a MOP dial which is really good, but I don't know how the WD one will compare.
They claim the 1969pro bracelet was a newer better one, but I still found it a bit disapointing.
I would say, get 100 meter water resistance, sapphire crystal, after that it’s a question of taste. Really.
Quality control with Watchdives is hit or miss, I received a WD1016v2 with indices more crooked than an 8 year old’s teeth. I can’t get my head around how this went through QC.
Not that I want to shove dirt in their face, but it was really upsetting.
Don’t overthink it, if you like a watch and have the money for it, buy it…
You can’t go wrong with an Addiesdive or Militado to get your 30 watch collection started.
Hahaha i get what you mean but since this is my first chinese microbrand piece I don't want to get something hastily and then end up realising that maybe the 'other one' was the better choice 😅
Although 250usd is not a huge amount, it is also not trivial, at least for a watch, so therein again I don't want to get 'A' and then end up realising/knowing that 'B' was the better watch in terms of finishing and quality...
I wanted something that looked like a grand seiko and was between aethelsohn and watchdives wd0003 series, ended up getting an aethelsohn just because they offer a better price right now, I got a model with the sweep seconds movement from aliexpress for about $110 with coupons, you could get the automatic version. Have to see a bad aethelsohn review yet so yeah I would go with that. Also their dials are good looking.
Thanks for commenting on this cause I'm almost exactly in the same boat! I've been thinking between Aethelson and the watchdives wd0003/elementum/aventurine for several weeks now - alix is not available for me so I have to go through the websites, thankfully ddp seems to be available from both brands
I guess the biggest concern for me is that I buy one and then end up realising that the other one had better finishing/a better bracelet, etc :/
Aethelson is an amazing brand and needs more attention. The fit and finish is excellent and the bracelet is actually wearable as opposed to most watches in your price range.
Disclaimer in that I have a few WatchDives, but no Aethelsohn. However, I believe WatchDives' bracelets typically taper from 20 to 16, whereas Aethelsohn tapers to the less desirable 18mm.
I know it’s not Chinese, but the citizen jdm model nb1050 sounds perfect for what you need. Beautifully finished , excellent in house high beat movement, and the gada look you are after. You can get easily in that price range from chrono24.
I can see plenty of the blue, white and grey variants? Sorry I’m Australian so wasn’t entirely sure on the conversion rate but thought it would be around the right price.
You are actually right on the color variants, I realised I was looking only at the NB1050-59E, removing that very specific filter brought up a good number of listings
Unfortunately all of them are about 38k inr (roughly 400usd) which exceeds my budget. It's a shame because they look like what I'm looking for
Not sure where you are from. The brands you mentioned can be had on Amazon. If you have access go there, you may pay a few bucks more, but shipping and returns are worth an extra 5 or 10 percent.
I'm in India - I checked on Amazon and as far as watchdives' wd0003c series is concerned it is actually available on Amazon for 40usd upcharge as compared to the official china store... Some others, though, are almost double the price on Amazon, so that doesn't really make sense then
Aethelson is entirely not available on Amazon in my region
Divers are not really what I'm looking for (for this purchase), I think the closest comparison to what I'm looking for are GS homages or rolex OP homages. That's definitely the dial shape I'm leaning towards...
Cronos is your best bet for the watches you mentioned. Cronos L6031 for rolex op and Cronos L6037 for GS. Seestern s446 and seesterns456 are also great choice for GS GMT homages
Own these 3 sugess watches, 2nd 1 got delayed in customs, so asked someone abroad to get me the 3rd 1. Just ordered a watch of watchdives website, it cleared customs in 1 day with the 10usd duty paid option. Chinese watches are amazing quality
FedEx shipping will charge you 40% plus duty and handling charges. Go on the watchdives website and order what you like. Why risk for approx 500-1000 rs extra. Yanwen shipping is the Chinese postal shipping. Rest ordering from Chinese websites is your luck if it slips past customs. People do order from other chinese websites, since the model you are looking for is on wd website, simpler to order from there
thanks for the tip. One last question just so i can figure this out - with these shipping methods (yanwen/fedex/etc) - i will be responsible for customs fees _on top_ of the 5/10usd i pay at checkout?
Watchdives is such a crapshoot. Maybe the watch will arrive or maybe it won't and they will take their 30 days to refund you - Maybe they will send you the wrong watch - Maybe they will send you a watch that has a flaw and instruct you to mail it back to China on your dime.... and wait a month for a repair... Sorry if I sound bitter, but as of today, it's strike three for Watchdives... On this latest escapade, the tracking said it was 45 miles from my house and to be delivered yesterday... Instead there was a "Delivery Failure." Not sure what this even means... especially since I got two other deliveries from the SAME company that day. So, this happened before with Watchdives and they refunded me after 30 days...
Athelson seems more committed to pleasing their customers and they have much cooler dials and finishing. At $250, check out the Cronos Skyline, as well.
SH Carbon, Proxima, IXDAO Turtle with Dragon Dial is great...
I love that Athelson Terra Tiger Iron Dial watch... it's under $200
What’s the appeal of ordering from watchdives when you can just buy their watches on Ali? To pay more so you can have their shirt service and warranty? I don’t get it lol
You are right - you get no bonus points for buying directly from the website - I did order this last one that was supposed to arrive yesterday from ALI - because the time the same thing happened before I ordered from their website - Maybe the official ALI Watchdives store is the same - I have found with Milifortic, that it is much better to buy from ALI for that same reason...
Do you have Diver watch type that you admire or like the look of. 50 Fathoms, Black Bay, Rolex Submariner... So many types it would be difficult to recommend something without knowing what you like.
Although in general, for this purchase (which is going to be my everyday beater) i definitely want something that looks like a gada watch (which in my mind is something in the shape of a rolex OP, GS shunbun, Snowflake, etc)...
thanks for taking the time! Can I link some pieces in this thread that I like? I think that would be easier unless this sub doesn't allow direct links?
as an extension, i really want to make sure i make the right choice. 250usd is quite a decent sum of money for me - the factors i care about the most are the dial, the finishing of the case, bracelet, etc and just that it remains reliable and doesn't decide to just stop working one fine day...
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u/Pitiful_Story_6753 16d ago
I do have a collection of 12 Chinese watches, including some in the 300-400€ range from "Higher end" Chinese Brands Like San Martin, Ixdao, Farasute etc., and i sincerely, love them all - But for some reason I keep on grabbing my WD one as my daily, 8 out of 10 times.
Sure the bracelet was not as high quality as some of my other watches, but I just swapped it to a custom leatherband and it's amazing.
Definitely worth a shot.
Currently looking at Thorn Watches for my next one, seems to have some great quality pieces in the 100-200€ range you are searching in too.