A Frequent Buyer’s Experience about Dos and Don’ts in Guangzhou Watch Markets

Recently updated on April 16th, 2021 at 01:41 am

I travel to Guangzhou on a yearly basis and so it didn’t take long until I was combing through Guangzhou watch markets with detailed photos in my ipad and iphone to show and compare. At the beginning I did have great troubles finding suppliers for the real good replicas as almost no store keeps the good stuff behind the stand in case there’s a “raid” and they would not admit they have good stuff until you are considered as a serious buyer.

Usually most of the sellers in Zhanxi watch markets have offices or showrooms nearby or they buy from their distributors nearby. They do have some common watches behind the stand but normally if you are looking for the good replica watches, you’ll have to explicitly ask for the best quality ones they’ve got. Some of the small sellers cooperated with the distributor since they can’t afford to stock good stuff such as ceramic HBBs. Usually there is little demand for good replicas and for sure they wouldn’t risk storing behind their counter.

If you can’t speak Chinese or you don’t know the brand names in Chinese, it is better to go with a Chinese friend or hire a Guangzhou interpreter. For example, the brand TAG Heuer is translated as 豪雅 in Chinese as it is close to the pronunciation of Heuer.

I had them show me many TAG carreras around the market. In all they were good, but some imperfections do exist. The TAG featured a slightly misaligned bezel and index around the 5 o’clock dial. They had it fixed by the watchmaker. I also had them changed the blue screws into metal ones, and the saw-toothed rotor to a smooth one. You can exchange almost every part there because there are also lots of sellers dealing in watch accessories but enough time and patience is needed for the work.
The following is some Dos and Don’ts while going to Guangzhou Watch Market.

Dos

Do your research beforehand about watch mechanism, prices, etc

Set yourself a price limit or goal

Use smart phone or ipad to show photos and compare

Bargaining can help you get a good price, and you can pretend to walk away to see whether there is any compromise

Bring a loupe to examine watch parts more clearly

Keep their business name card

Bring a Chinese friend

Don’ts

Disrespect sellers or his products

Expect you can get a good quality replica watch at the price of a beginner watch because you are near the source

Buy at the first store, always compare before buying
View more pictures about Guangzhou Watch Market