This New Release Is Another Nail In The Coffin For Swiss Made Watches!

I think I need to take a break from auditing Chris Ward. Yeah, recently I've posted a few videos on the latest Sealander C63 by Christopher Ward. It's all Alex's fault. He kept telling me how good Christopher Ward watches were and I kept telling him, I don't know. And so, yeah, he forced my hand. Anyway, in today's video, we're not going to talk about Christopher Ward after this anymore. But what we are going to be talking about is the latest watch to come out of the house of Boltony. That's not the official brand name. That's what I'm just calling them. And Boltony, a great AliExpress brand. They produce fantastic military and vintage inspired watches. They're one of the few brands on AliExpress to do it, which makes them stand out. It also means their watches are perhaps not going to be as popular as watches from brands like Chronos and San Martin, because they tend to produce sporty watches, garter watches, dive watches, Rolex, Tudor, homage watches. But Boltony should not be ignored. Their watches are really, really good. And the watch I'm showing you today houses the Hangzhou 5000A. And I'm sure many of you are familiar with that movement. It has a micro rotor, so a tiny little rotor. Why? Well, that helps to keep the movement thickness down. So they build the rest of the movement around that micro rotor. And it means you can have watches like this a bit slimmer than you would normally if you had a standard NH or Mioten. Well, the Mioten 9015 is pretty slim, actually. But yeah, 10 millimeters thick, this watch, because of this movement. And this movement actually finds its way into some pretty premium micro brand watches, because, well, there's not a lot of options out there when it comes to micro rotor automatic movements. Yeah, well, this one. And it looks pretty good, that itty bitty rotor in the back. That's why watches with this movement in them tend to have exhibition case backs. And the good news is, Boltony, of course, they've put sapphire in the back as well as in the front. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's take a step back. So there's a couple of versions available. This IP gold and titanium coated version. I've spoken about this coating that Boltony are using quite a bit. It's lighter than your normal standard sort of gold colored coatings. The case is steel. But yeah, they coat it with this sort of genuine gold and titanium coating. And yeah, I think it looks pretty good. There's also a standard steel cased version. It's the S4099 if you're wanting the reference. Now, there is going to be a bit of a sticking point. The price. Now, I've checked out with this watch, this coated version, which is a little bit more expensive than the standard steel version. The cheapest price I could get it for prior to contacting Boltony was 408 US dollars. I then reached out to them and said, you've got to do something about the price. And so they've offered me a $50 discount code. However, that price I was being offered the watch for before $408 had a $25 discount. So the cheapest I can get this watch in the UK at the moment is $385. Now, I know this movement isn't used that often, and it's often found in really nice micro brand watches. But the higher the prices on AliExpress, the less watches they're going to sell. I could sit here and tell you it's too expensive. I think it is, but I think the numbers they sell will tell us when they and if they end up not selling enough, then hopefully they'll offer decent discounts during the sale. But outside of the sale, the cheapest I could buy this watch for was 385 US dollars. Yeah, the Hangzhou movement, no cracking movement, no hacking, hand wind, automatic 28,800 beats per hour. This one's running, it's okay, a little bit fast, but it's consistent, decent beat error, decent amplitude. And it looks pretty good, doesn't it? The dial, very nice, very, very nice. Of course, I've zoomed in just as much as I do whenever I feature Christopher Ward. I said I wasn't going to talk about them anymore. I know, but I like to zoom in on all watches. It doesn't matter what price they are. I like to zoom in and have a good close look. None of this 30 centimeters from my eyes. If I can't see it, it doesn't exist. Anyway, I like to zoom in and the build quality of this one. Very, very nice. Of course it is. I mean, it looks pretty tidy. A small imperfection near the 12 o'clock marker. A couple of micro scratches on the hour hand. Overall, really nice quality watch. Finishing looks good. Of course, this one's coated. It's got a nice leather strap. The buckle is matching in terms of its color and coating. It's signed. Custom rotor on the movement as well. That's a nice touch. Those applied Roman numerals look nicely done. I mean, it's yeah, I mean, it's a nice looking watch. 38 millimeters. 10 millimeters thick. 20 mil lugs. 50 meters of water resistance. Screw down case back, pull, push crown. It is nice. I like it. Yeah, I just think the only thing holding this one back is the price. I think there'll be quite a few people saying it's too expensive for an AliExpress watch. When you factor in the movement. Well, there are cheaper watches housing this movement out there. So I don't think that's enough of a reason for the price to be where it is. But yeah, their watches are good. They are good. I just like to see it a little bit cheaper. Guys, let me know what you think.