Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

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ArmyMedicDad
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by ArmyMedicDad »

I was just on the LACO site putting a watch in my shopping cart and opening an account. In the middle of my transaction, the price of the watch dropped approximately 16 percent (the Bielefeld from 348 to 292.44). So I go back into the site to check on other prices. And indeed, several watches I had been looking at (both A and B) had the same price drop.

Is this normal when someone from the USA orders a watch from the EU and the exchange rate suddenly changes (but 16%)?

And there is no mention (at least from what I could find) of any type of sale or discount.
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by Jan »

Being in the US, you won't pay EU sales tax. It is possible you'll have to pay local sales tax ( or should that be import tax..) when it arrives in the US, though...
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

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Jan wrote:Being in the US, you won't pay EU sales tax. It is possible you'll have to pay local sales tax ( or should that be import tax..) when it arrives in the US, though...
Thanks. It just caught me off guard when all the prices suddenly changed while I was ordering this watch. This was to be only my second purchase from that side of the pond.

And if ordering anything from Germany is similar to ordering from CWL, I was not charged any tax or import duty - just what I paid for the watch + shipping/handling.
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by Jan »

Not sure if CW charges tax on US customers, but I'm sure someone here from the US will let you know. Perhaps ask Kip ?
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by malvern_man »

eggtronics wrote:How about Laco? They were one of the watch manufacturers asked to make the original B-Uhr watches for the German Luftwaffe inthe 1930s, so the history is definitely there (more so than the other brands).

You can get an affordable range which is €300.
https://shop.laco.de/en/Pilot-Watches/A ... matic.html
Laco gets a thumbs up from me.

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What about a Hamilton?

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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by ArmyMedicDad »

Jan wrote:Not sure if CW charges tax on US customers, but I'm sure someone here from the US will let you know. Perhaps ask Kip ?
They don't. They only charged me $25usd for shipping/handling to send it to Missouri USA.
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by ArmyMedicDad »

malvern_man wrote: Laco gets a thumbs up from me.

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May I ask what your wrist size is? I did read a couple reviews on the Laco site where their only complaint was that the watch band that comes with either the A or B was too short for their size wrists. Sadly, they didn't say how big their wrist actually was. Mine is 7.5".
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by Jan »

I would still be prepared, though. Isn't there an old saying that only 2 things in life are certain, death and taxes ? ;-)
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by malvern_man »

ArmyMedicDad wrote:
malvern_man wrote: Laco gets a thumbs up from me.

Image
May I ask what your wrist size is? I did read a couple reviews on the Laco site where their only complaint was that the watch band that comes with either the A1 or A2 was too short for their size wrists. Sadly, they didn't say how big their wrist actually was. Mine is 7.5".
Hi,

My wrist size is 6.750" ( 172mm ) - I had to put an extra hole in the strap.

I now have it on a Steveostraps Para Strap.

Regards,

Chris.
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by ArmyMedicDad »

malvern_man wrote: My wrist size is 6.750" ( 172mm ) - I had to put an extra hole in the strap.
Thanks - it looks like that band should fit my wrist with no problem (I hope).
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by holyk »

The companies that made the original fliegers in WW2 were Lange, IWC, Stowa, LACO, and Wempe. Of the 5, only Laco and Stowa still produce modern fliegers. Stowa's fliegers however is a modern interpretation of the classic fliegers as the case has a brushed finish and display case back. So if you want a flieger with some history, only the Laco and Stowa should be in the running. If you want something more authentic, then Laco hands down. If you want something more dressy then you go for the Stowa. The quality between those two are similar with the fit and finishing of both being incredible. The Steinharts, Archimede, Aristo, etc really are only second best to those two.

When I was considering which flieger to purchase, I was tempted by Steinhart and Archimede for their attractive price points. However the lume on the Steinhart doesn't even come close and the Archimede has chopped of hands. I didn't want to end up wondering what I was missing and flipping my watch a few months later so I just sprung for the Laco. I liked it so much I got both the A-dial and the B-dial. I will be keeping those two watches forever.
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by alanpar »

Did I not see some Laco's with a display back.I'm not finding their website the most intuitive.You're making a passionate and
persuasive case for LACO as is ArmyMedicDad
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by holyk »

alanpar wrote:Did I not see some Laco's with a display back.I'm not finding their website the most intuitive.You're making a passionate and
persuasive case for LACO as is ArmyMedicDad
Lacos have solid case backs as they continuously refine their watches to look more like the authentic fliegers. Back then fliegers did not have display case backs.

Vintage Laco flieger (original WW2 watch)
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Modern Laco flieger
Image

Also if you're thinking of getting the Munster or the Paderborn, you should look elsewhere other than the Laco site as they recently bumped the price of those two watches up by 200 Euros. Some other authorized Laco dealers have still sell them at pre bump prices.
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by alanpar »

The Augsburg looks stunning value or am I missing something? Stowa's entry price is 650 euros. Why is that Augsburg so cheap vs the Stowa. Also the Hof is 450 euros for a quartz.Am i being obtuse?
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Re: Which Flieger? Up to £650. Help please

Post by gweilgi »

holyk wrote:The companies that made the original fliegers in WW2 were Lange, IWC, Stowa, LACO, and Wempe. Of the 5, only Laco and Stowa still produce modern fliegers. Stowa's fliegers however is a modern interpretation of the classic fliegers as the case has a brushed finish and display case back. So if you want a flieger with some history, only the Laco and Stowa should be in the running. If you want something more authentic, then Laco hands down. If you want something more dressy then you go for the Stowa. The quality between those two are similar with the fit and finishing of both being incredible. The Steinharts, Archimede, Aristo, etc really are only second best to those two.
If you'll permit the quibble, Wempe still make a modern interpretation of the Flieger, and IWC's Big Pilot is a very decent and faithful recreation of the original. The main drawback is that for the price of one IWC Big Pilot, one could buy Laco pilot's watches by the dozen...
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