Schaffer Tourbillion

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DannyO
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Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by DannyO »

Anyone heard of these and are they a real tourbillion?
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by Kip »

I haven't heard of them and the only place I can find them is on Ebay. Chinese I would guess.
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by ianblyth »

I have a few. A couple are pretty good (after changing the strap - budget for a new strap) and I use them as beaters. One I got (the sub homage) did not work well but I got a replacement which is also not working well. That is the thing with Chinese watches. You can get some great bargains or some absolute dross. Both Shaffers tend to suffer from a tendancy to jump the minute hand a few minutes backwards when you pull out the crown and then forward when pushed in unless careful. Annoying when you are setting the time.

Unlikey to be a real tourbillion as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourbillon. What they mean is that they have cut a hole in the dial so you can see the movement heartbeat. The Chinese watch makers are also loose with the terms, moonphase, chronometer and chronograph.
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by village »

ianblyth wrote:I have a few..
Do you know,i half expected you to say that :D

Here's a 'Devils Advocate' question for you Ian ,which in no way expresses any views etc from me,its just to provoke a small discussion... 8)
Given that you've bought a fair few Chinese watches,and your comment that " You can get some great bargains or some absolute dross",do you think that in retrospect you would have been better keeping the money and spending it on one,more expensive,better quality watch?
Like i say,not casting aspersions or passing judgement,i'm just interested.
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by Robin CB »

ianblyth wrote:I have a few. A couple are pretty good (after changing the strap - budget for a new strap) and I use them as beaters. One I got (the sub homage) did not work well but I got a replacement which is also not working well. That is the thing with Chinese watches. You can get some great bargains or some absolute dross. Both Shaffers tend to suffer from a tendancy to jump the minute hand a few minutes backwards when you pull out the crown and then forward when pushed in unless careful. Annoying when you are setting the time.

Unlikey to be a real tourbillion as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourbillon. What they mean is that they have cut a hole in the dial so you can see the movement heartbeat. The Chinese watch makers are also loose with the terms, moonphase, chronometer and chronograph.
Could we have a shoot-out on points with the Parnis brand Ian? :D
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by ianblyth »

village wrote:
ianblyth wrote:I have a few..
Do you know,i half expected you to say that :D

Here's a 'Devils Advocate' question for you Ian ,which in no way expresses any views etc from me,its just to provoke a small discussion... 8)
Given that you've bought a fair few Chinese watches,and your comment that " You can get some great bargains or some absolute dross",do you think that in retrospect you would have been better keeping the money and spending it on one,more expensive,better quality watch?
Like i say,not casting aspersions or passing judgement,i'm just interested.
It is a fair question and one that I have asked myself. Would I rather have one Rolex/Breitling/Omega or 10 CWLs? I Think we know the answer to that one. :D And so the logic goes would I rather have 10 Chinese watches or 1 CWL?

When I bought my first automatic there was the lure that you could break free of the tyranny of changing batteries. Then I learned that automatics need servicing which cost considerably more than any battery. :( I learned to change batteries and I became interested in what I could achieve with an automatic with the hope that one day I could service my own. To that end I started to look in charity shops for a cheap watch to practice on as there was no way I was practicing on my C40. I could not find anything suitable. As quartz watches were displayed with "new batteries" then it is obvious that someone had gone over them before they went on sale and that person probably sidelined the good ones.

So I turned to eBay which is a fascinating area in its own right and not a place I had spent much time on before. It did not take long to find cheap automatics. In fact too many of them. But as I was wanting something to disassemble then it did not matter too much so I got one for under £15 and one for under £16. So not likely to break the bank or make a dent in a potential £6,200 Breitling purchase. It was a 2 tone Navtimer I saw on another guy while working on a project that got me more into watches after my initial acquisition of a Seapro automatic. I went to the shop to have a look and almost collapsed when I saw the price. I have accepted Downer's philosophy that there are plenty of good watches under £500. The only one that I have gone over that for was the C40 with alligator. But only just.

One of the cheapie Chinese watches I was happy to take to bits. The other was surprisingly good look and amazed me of the quality of the watch (and an automatic at that) for such a low price. So I started looking for others as it was a cheap way to have some fun. And I also saw the pics of Monkey's Parnis and found a great review on another Forum so I bought the Portuguese style one (very close looking to what the Forum 2010 was going to be).
Monkey - http://www.christopherwardforum.com/vie ... 42&p=44316
Mine - http://www.christopherwardforum.com/vie ... 42&p=44728

The Parnis are in a different league from the other Chinese watches. The quality is much better (although not the straps). One of my Parnis has the most accurate time keeping compared to all my other autos and the Portuguese is one of my favourites to wear. It looks classy and is at a price that you don't mind if something happens to it. In fact it is currently on the Toshi that you sold me. And if that strap was new then it would have cost more than the watch. :shock:

But I expanded out and tried other brands. Some were OK and some were really nice. There are quite a few that I tend to wear around the house as they are cheap and I don't mind if they take a few knocks. There are some that I wear out as well as they are good enough looking. When I look at the duffers that I have bought it comes to less than £80. Which is about what I spent on the evening meal at the GTG. So all in all it has not been too great a price to pay for some fun. Apart from the Parnis watches all the others have been under £30 with the cheapest being £13.45. And that is for an automatic with a reasonable SS bracelet. In fact this Cjiaba (Slava) is what I am wearing at the moment and has been a favourite to wear about the house for the last month.

Image

Easy wearing and easy to read and keeps very good time. And it cost less than most of the straps that I have bought.
When I look at people that flip their watches I see some that are selling after a few weeks and obviously taking a hit on the price. There was a C40 on sale recently for £325. A hit like that buys an awful lot of cheap Chinese watches. I collect watches so wrist time is not that important to me. It is just fun to buy, own, look at them, wear them and occasioanlly dismantle them. Plus I don't have a wife or kids to vie for my money. :D :lol:

So a rather long answer to a short question. That will teach you to ask questions Andy. :lol:
Robin CB wrote:Could we have a shoot-out on points with the Parnis brand Ian?
Not sure what you mean but I am happy to go through the Parnis v the others if that is what you mean.
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Robin CB
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by Robin CB »

ianblyth wrote:...
Robin CB wrote:Could we have a shoot-out on points with the Parnis brand Ian?
Not sure what you mean but I am happy to go through the Parnis v the others if that is what you mean.
Pretty much that (in my clumsy way :? ). I recall the Parnis from the GTG and wonered how some of others stacked up against them.
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by downer »

ianblyth wrote: It is a fair question and one that I have asked myself. Would I rather have one Rolex/Breitling/Omega or 10 CWLs? I Think we know the answer to that one. :D And so the logic goes would I rather have 10 Chinese watches or 1 CWL?.....................................................etc, etc
Interesting and comprehensive answer as always Ian. Good on you for taking the time to explain your point of view.

As you say, I have a £500 upper limit, but I think I (mentally) at least also have a lower limit of about £150, believing (perhaps mistakenly) that the quality is likely to be lacking below that level (C6 white £85 excepted). Maybe I'll give one of these chinese brands a whirl one day..
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by highway61 »

downer wrote:
ianblyth wrote: It is a fair question and one that I have asked myself. Would I rather have one Rolex/Breitling/Omega or 10 CWLs? I Think we know the answer to that one. :D And so the logic goes would I rather have 10 Chinese watches or 1 CWL?.....................................................etc, etc
Interesting and comprehensive answer as always Ian. Good on you for taking the time to explain your point of view.

As you say, I have a £500 upper limit, but I think I (mentally) at least also have a lower limit of about £150, believing (perhaps mistakenly) that the quality is likely to be lacking below that level (C6 white £85 excepted). Maybe I'll give one of these chinese brands a whirl one day..
how can you say that when a lovely G-Shock can be yours for waaay under £150?!!? :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by Mortis »

Yeah, but not all quartz are cheap. Timex can stretch the wallet a bit, even for Ian I'd imagine!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timex-Flix-Spor ... 587&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Forerunn ... 15&sr=1-65
:shock:
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by ianblyth »

I think those go a little bit over the £500 limit. :shock: :lol:

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But it is surprising how many people buy it at that price.

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Should I buy this for £8,590 or the other for £69.99? Difficult choice.

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Similarly with the Garmin.

Very good. Rolex eat your heart out. :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by highway61 »

Mortis wrote:Yeah, but not all quartz are cheap. Timex can stretch the wallet a bit, even for Ian I'd imagine!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Timex-Flix-Spor ... 587&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Forerunn ... 15&sr=1-65
:shock:
love the customer reviews on the timex! :lol: that's one serious typo!
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Re: Schaffer Tourbillion

Post by Loddonite »

Amazing the damage a decimal point can do.
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