UNBOXING: Merkur - Red Army First Chinese Watch Homage Handwind Mechanical Retro Dress Watch
Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2020 1:07 pm
After [mention]ManOnTime[/mention] ordered his Pierre Paulin Mechanical Chrono, I used the same code to purchase a Red Star Retro Mechanical watch from Merkur for $59. Or more specifically, the Red Army First Chines Watch Homage Handwind Mechanical Retro Dress Watch. I placed the order last Tuesday and FedEx dropped off the box this morning.
This unboxing was also first shared on the MoT Discord #watch-talk channel.
Link to the watch from Merkur:
https://www.merkurwatch.com/Red-Army-Fi ... 45879.html
Shipped in a plain cardboard box in a FedEx mailer:
Inside the item was wrapped in bubblewrap and securely sealed:
From there we have a kind of hard plastic case:
More bubblewrap protecting the watch:
No warranty card, but a general contact card for Merkur and a way to make $ by posting about the watch on WUS:
Here's the watch...finally:
Nice convex dial and applied indices:
Obligatory wrist shot:
The expansion bracelet didn't feel cheap, but it was too big and an expansion bracelet, so it had to go:
Caseback and movement pic:
So for now, I've got it on a leather strap that I had picked up for my Ball. Good match in my opinion:
Overall impressions:
The good:
- Great price at $59 with discount code and quick FedEx shipping from Beijing
- Well packed and protected
- Nice weight to the watch head
- Aesthetics of the 1963 chrono, but a three hander
- Thick, domed mineral crystal
The not so great:
- Large expansion bracelet
- Small crown and difficult to wind
- Non-hacking movement
- Mineral crystal instead of an acrylic or sapphire
- No lume
- A tad too much space between dial and inside bezel.
Worth it?
YUP.
Worth it for $109. Even more worth it for $59.
This unboxing was also first shared on the MoT Discord #watch-talk channel.
Link to the watch from Merkur:
https://www.merkurwatch.com/Red-Army-Fi ... 45879.html
Shipped in a plain cardboard box in a FedEx mailer:
Inside the item was wrapped in bubblewrap and securely sealed:
From there we have a kind of hard plastic case:
More bubblewrap protecting the watch:
No warranty card, but a general contact card for Merkur and a way to make $ by posting about the watch on WUS:
Here's the watch...finally:
Nice convex dial and applied indices:
Obligatory wrist shot:
The expansion bracelet didn't feel cheap, but it was too big and an expansion bracelet, so it had to go:
Caseback and movement pic:
So for now, I've got it on a leather strap that I had picked up for my Ball. Good match in my opinion:
Overall impressions:
The good:
- Great price at $59 with discount code and quick FedEx shipping from Beijing
- Well packed and protected
- Nice weight to the watch head
- Aesthetics of the 1963 chrono, but a three hander
- Thick, domed mineral crystal
The not so great:
- Large expansion bracelet
- Small crown and difficult to wind
- Non-hacking movement
- Mineral crystal instead of an acrylic or sapphire
- No lume
- A tad too much space between dial and inside bezel.
Worth it?
YUP.
Worth it for $109. Even more worth it for $59.