Sunday, February 6, 2011

Jules Verne Victorian Pocket Watch

I bought this pocket watch back in November from a different seller. It didn't have the black necklace or the key, but the rest was identical. I looked up the name "CAIFU," which is imprinted on the watch face, and found out it was a Chinese company that makes replicas of famous/historical objects and oddities. This watch was a replica of Jules Verne's pocket watch.

Victorian Pocket Watch

The watch worked great and after winding it up it lasted for well over 24 hours. The internal mechanics were quite good and the ticking was surprisingly loud through the casing. The glass panel on the back allows for easy viewing of the inner workings, which is honestly more fun than telling the time. The face and numbers are kind of dark anyway, which makes telling the time a lot harder. I would recommend this piece as an aesthetic piece rather than a practical one.

On a final note, I'm a little disturbed that the sellers of this watch put it in the handmade section of Etsy, since it's clear it was made in China. The wording on their etsy sites suggests they handmade it themselves, when in reality, it was made by the hands of some Chinese kid.

Trevor's rating of the Jules Verne Victorian pocket watch: 82%

Trevor's rating of the integrity of the seller: 10%

15 comments:

  1. What's the worse is they jack up the price so high, you could buy about 5 with the money you bought with one from these dishonest fellows.

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  2. I actually just bought two of these watches - from another seller though. Considering the price I wasn't surprised to confirm my suspicion that they are made of cheap parts. I'll see when I receive them if I'm disappointed. I don't know if I would have ordered them knowing what I know now, but if the quality is just semi-decent they are still better than a more expensive pocket watch I got as a present, which was bought in a physical watch store.

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    Replies
    1. Does anyone know what the value of this CAIFU made in 1858

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    2. Does anyone know what the value of this CAIFU made in 1858

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    3. bought a Caifu recently and it didn't work so took it to my clock guy and guess where it was made.. in switzerland, parts are a very good swiss working. this watch guy was extremely surprised at his findings.... me too. watch is really old.

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  3. For reference one of the watches I bought was this watch: http://www.etsy.com/listing/101329029/personalized-black-mechanical-pocket

    The seller seems nice, and the thorough description gives a good impression.

    I'll post my own review here for any other googlers stumbling upon this slightly dated post looking for similar reviews (If I remember).

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  4. busted mainspring ten minutes after opening the package. FFFFfff....

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  5. I've recently seen this same watch from more than a dozen sellers at various prices. Buyer beware! Mine still works from when I bought it in 2011, but not everyone has the same luck.

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  6. I ordered a similar black one today (http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00KVEDEY4/ref=pe_385721_37986871_TE_item_image ), it's on sale and it looks amazing so I thought "Must, have, watch!" It says it's from ESS on Amazon but I began suspecting there was something odd about it as there were no reviews about it on Amazon, and the ESS site doesn't have this design. Hopefully it'll work correctly. :o At least it looks great. ;)

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  7. I bought a watch like this on Etsy for a gift to my boyfriend so I haven't wound it up yet but it's absolutely gorgeous. In the picture they have it where you can barely see the part that says Caifu so when I got it I looked it up to find out what it meant and now I'm extremely disappointed...I paid a pretty penny for a watch that's barely worth a blade of grass...

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  8. My story is similar to all of the above. The seller said," the watch had been sitting in it's original box on her parents dresser. She decided to sell it and let someone that appreciated pocket watches have it", so she implied that it had been in her family for longer than she could remember. I did look up the manufacture before I received it and found that I could have purchased it from China for 10 dollars plus shipping. I got taken for about 10 dollars, FROM NOW ON, GOOGLE IT FIRST. Before you take or go out with someone you just met< GOOGLE them, their Phone #, look and see if you can link them up by their email address or Facebook as well. Fool me once shame on you fool me twice sham on me. GOOGLE the item and seller. There will always be sharks in the market,you just have to keep an eye out for them.

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  10. I have purchased numerous low cost repro pocket watches for resale and personal use. They all functioned well however, I had to regulate most of them to achieve accurate operation. The price of these watches varies widely between sellers so shop around before buying.

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