Omikron is by a swiss company called Leschot SA. Tissot is part of the Swiss Swatch group.Many of the low cost E-sale watches use a swiss made action. Some of the cheepo quartz jobs use a jap Seiko or Swiss Rona action.

Louis Bolle watches. C’mon get a life. A cheap Chinese watch that has a recommended retail price that is nowhere near the value its worth. Get some sense. If you want a good watch pay good money for it!
It’ll last for life and you know you have a good product. Me…if its chinese…avoid it!!! Too many bad experiences

I bought TAVAN “Fiona” watches from ebay. I just wounder if diamonds are really genuine dimonds or not. You can not check stones cause they are behind the glass. So if someone actually cheked the “diamonds” please tell me if they are genuine or not.

I resently bought two Louis Bolle watches,MINISTRY & INCOGNITO-(jump hour) and am very pleased with them. I’m a machenist and a perfectionist, these watches are not worth their MSRP but their not $10 either.the gold platting is of good quality. the leather bands are not top end neither bottom end,overall their products are mid to 3\4 high range. on the MINISTRY the two sub dials 24 hrs and the power reserve do actually work.

These watches are fantastic. The quality is honestly getting better all the time. But this is not to say they’re perfect. It seems that about 1 in 20 have some small issue (which may or may not correct itself), and 1 out of 50 which have a genuine defect. Typically, all you hear on sites like this are either the nay sayers who know not what they speak of or the 1 person out of 50 who got the defective one. They’re upset, and they should be. But overall… THERE ARE MANY, MANY MORE HAPPY AAM WATCH CUSTOMERS THAN UNHAPPY ONES.

So here’s the deal. These amazing watches are being designed and assembled in China at a quantity and speed that is beyond belief. The shear magnitude of all the processes which it takes to design, market, build, distribute, and then redistribute them, (never mind all that goes into the auction and payment process as well), is just sick. By the time one makes it onto your wrist, it is probably warm from the friction of BS it took to get it there.

Due to this fast pace, and the unskilled labor used to keep the prices cheap, a small fraction of watches get overlooked in the final stages of assembly. This is typically when the watch gets oiled, regulated, and is given the once over to make sure it functions properly.

Another problem seems to be with customer service and repairs. Once again, there are many repairs which I hear of that go smoothly, but some don’t. My only comment here is that AAM is a MARKETING company, not a watch manufacturer or even a retail chain. I would expect a marketing company to be good at the marketing part, but not at the customer service or repair end.

I still think they are an exceptional buy. If you purchase one, and it has an issue that bothers you, consider bringing it to your local Watchmaker (not a jewelry store) for service. They will do a better job (unless they have a bad attitude).

Dean
Louis Bolle User Group Moderator

Hi

there is a similar company called always at auction (alwaysatauction.com) with a phone thats very close.

also, http://www.j-springs.com/distributor.html shows them as a distributor. and that’s a SII ( Seiko brand )

are these a SEIKO product?

Recently, a friend showed me ubid.com and once day I went there and placed a bid of $50 on the first watch I liked. I did not even read properly, which means that while I should have placed a bid of $37, I did put $50 (so much to say for my intelligence!). I did not expect to win it, but since there were 49 watches on auction, I got a mail within 4 hours telling me that I won. So it cost be about $60 to get a watch. It was a Romilly watch.

When the watch arrived, I was bit nervous (I had even told my colleagues that probably I would get a plastic watch!), but it turned out to be a nice watch: good vintage looks, nice leather strap, heavy,attributes I like in a watch. It has been 3 weeks and the watch is still doing fine. Actually, I wear Prague, Esprit etc. brands, but this Romilly of mine is the one watch, which makes people look at it and ask me as to how much it cost me, or from where I bought it.

I had planned to buy a Tissot for my birthday, but now I am instead bidding on an SUG. I can buy the Brown one right now for about $50, but I would instead wait for the black one.

In a world where a pair of $6.49 sunglasses has better UV protection than a $300 one (I am not making it, Wikipedia has a reference on this study!), where many bottled mineral water is apparently processed tap water (not that it is any worse, but just that it is processed tap water. again I’m not making it, I saw a TV report), I am happy with my $65 Romilly that looks great, works fine and on which people compliment me.

If you LOVE these watches, please goto; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LOUISBOLLE/ and join the Louis Bolle User Group on Yahoo where we can talk about them without bothering those that dislike them.

Dean

I own three louis bolle models that I bought off of ebay. Two of the three worked perfectly out of the box (Dune and Proctor). The third (Glacier) woundnt stay wound so I sent it to AAM for servicing. Even though the warranty didnt apply for this watch, they fixed it and sent it back free of charge. That tells me this company is legit. Personally I like the style of some of these watches and they work well. They are definately worth $100. I toyed with the idea of getting a Tag Heuer, but couldnt justify the price, I’m just not that impressed with them.

Hi…
I bought a Trias and can only tell you that it is almost once a week someone will comment on the watch and where did I get it. The Trias is an automatic and does not keep perfect time but with a regular wind and daily wear, this watch will keep time correctly. The only issue is that even though it is a self winder and I walk at work, it does require a wind now and then and will keep acceptable time. It is not a battery watch! So, the perception of quality is that you will have a unique watch for just over $100.00 US and people will notice this watch. So you just enjoy it when you wear it. It is not a super high end watch but a daily wear watch that you can enjoy. I have not found this watch other than eBay.

Fine, cast a positive light on the subject then David…

Good, positive, points I think…

After slogging through all of the comments on this forum, I’ve noticed striking similarities in just about *all* of the positive comments on these watches. I’m fairly certain that all of these glowing reviews about the watches are coming from the same person, or the same group of people, who is or who are most likely the owner of the company importing and selling these “exclusive” watches. If you look at the positive reviews they share the following things:

1) Many come from watch “collectors” claiming to own several of the scam watches (which are almost always listed by model), and many more recognizable brands. They throw in a few impressive sounding credentials (a Master’s in business, a collector of fine watches, etc.) to make themselves appear to be a legitimate enthusiast of this ridiculous brand

2) They trash-talk recognizable and expensive brands (if they’re so crappy, why in the world did these “collectors” bother to shell out $20k for them in the first place? it doesn’t make sense)

3) They admit that these watches are most likely a scam, but rationalize the “capitalistic” marketing schemes as “clever” (just because a marketing scheme is “clever” does not mean it’s legal…conmen are clever, but they still screw people over)

4) They have an excess of awkward and ridiculous lingo (who identifies themselves as an “informed buyer”?? someone who is trying to sound legitimate because they are, in fact, NOT legitimate)

5) They throw in exhorbitant prices so that the $120 for the LB watch seems cheap in comparison

6)A number suggest that these watches will gain value in the near future or are already doing so

7) ALL of them mention how many compliments the buyer has received on the watch. Who walks around complimenting and noticing watches so frequently? Are watches purchased in order to get compliments? Or are they purchased because they keep good time?

Similar tone and style in most of them. Notice over-usage of “in my opinion” or “but that’s just one person’s opinion”, as well as the phrase “I must say”.

There’s more, but this is getting a bit long. The bottom line, though: if someone is so pleased with their watch, what are they doing scouring a scam-alert forum’s comments and adding in their glowing reviews? When I’m happy with a product, particularly a piece of jewelry or a watch, I don’t google it or go on to forums to talk about how much I like it. The majority of the people who come to these forums are NOT satsified customers, but concerned buyers. Beware of the positive feedback in here. More likely than not, they are the opinion of the same person, and that’s the person who is making the profit here. And I imagine it’s quite a profit. I can say that because the watch I bought from this manufacturer stopped working within one day of my receipt of it. The supposed leather band is cheap, shoddy, and uncomfortable. Definitely not high quality. I think $15 would be a reasonable price, purely for ornamental value. Throwing away $85 sure does hurt. Perhaps the “watch aficionado” on here doesn’t mind throwing his money away, but I certainly do, and it makes me mad that this person is making money with his scam. Capitalist does not equal scam-artist, and I hope people realize that. BUYER BEWARE.

If they are made of good quality stuff and workmanship, they could catch on and people may be willing to pay those high prices. the smart thing for the maker to do would be to stop production after the first flood of them. If they are high quality, people will be demanding more of them.

I just received my Tavan Norman yesterday. I paid a whopping $72.00 for it. I immediately set it to the same time as my $400.00 Citizen Eco Drive. More then 24 hours later, it is still on time with my Citizen. Besides the time keeping, it looks great! Very expensive looking, solid design. I’m very happy with my purchase. I have 2 Bernoulli’s on the way and I’m sure I will love them as well.

Just received this today from the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry August 30, 2007

Must Read and make your own decision on the E-mail received.

Thank you very much for your interest in the Swiss watch industry.

As you may know, Swiss law (Swiss federal Ordinance governing the use of the name “Swiss” or “Switzerland” for watches; please see under http://www.fhs.ch/doc/osme.pdf) gives the criteria which must be met for a watch to be considered as Swiss and to be allowed to bear Swiss indications.

According to Article 3 of this Ordinance, “the name “Switzerland”, indications such as “Swiss”, “Swiss product”, “manufactured in Switzerland”, “Swiss quality” or other appellations which contain the name “Swiss” or “Switzerland” or which may be confused therewith may be used solely for Swiss watches or Swiss watch movements”.

Article 1a of the Ordinance states that a watch may be considered as Swiss if, and only if it fulfils the following minimum criteria:

1. Its movement is Swiss; 2. its movement is cased up in Switzerland, and 3. the manufacturer carries out the final inspection in Switzerland.

Furthermore, Article 2 of the Ordinance defines the Swiss watch movement as the movement which: 1. has been assembled in Switzerland, and; 2. has been inspected by the manufacturer in Switzerland, and; 3. the components of Swiss manufacture make up for at least 50 percent of the value, without considering the cost for assembly.

According to article 3 of this law, in case the watch only contains a Swiss movement but does not comply with the other requirements, the dial may only bear the indication “Swiss movement”. The word “movement” must appear written out in full in the same type-face, dimension and colour as the appellation “Swiss”.

In other words, a watch bearing the name “Swiss” or “Swiss made” on its dial should not only contain a Swiss movement, but this movement should be cased up in Switzerland and the Swiss manufacturer should have performed the final inspection of the watch.

Swiss law territorial scope of application is of course limited to Switzerland in principle, but thanks to some bilateral treaties, this law is also applicable in some European countries. Furthermore, the Federation is very keen to protect Swiss denominations when associated with watches, especially in the USA, where we have registered certifications marks for the words “Swiss” and “Swiss made”.

Having said that, we know that some unscrupulous sellers and/or producers are using Swiss names on watches in an illegitimate manner. Thus, buying Swiss watches through official dealers is the only secure way to ensure that you get a truly Swiss watch.

The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH is the Swiss watch industry’s leading trade association. We are a private, professional, and non-profit association, currently bringing together more than 500 members representing more than 90% of all Swiss watch manufacturers. All the major Swiss watch brands are members of our Federation (please visit our website at http://www.fhs.ch/en).

Balmer is not a member of our Federation. You will see on Balmer website that they are trying to create a link with the brand Colomb & Balmer and Badollet. I can confirm to you that the trademark Colomb & Balmer is registered in Switzerland by the Swiss company Badollet SA, which has nothing to do with the watches advertised on the website http://www.balmerwatches.com. In fact they are not very happy with this situation! Furthermore, in 2004 we had analyze in our laboratory one of the watches advertised on the website http://www.balmerwatches.com, and we found out that this watch did not even contain a Swiss movement. The Domain Name balmerwatches.com has been registered by the US company Alwaysatmarket, 1545 Capital Drive Suite 100, Carrollton, TX 75006. This company is selling different brands of watches (very similar to Balmer) exclusively on the Internet and especially on auction sites. They create artificial links with Switzerland on their websites. Furthermore, the watches are advertised with high retail prices (over 3′000 US$) but then sold in the end for a couple of hundred US$ (please see the forum on this issue: http://www.fratellowatches.com/archives/2004/11/16/another-scam ).

I would then recommend the strongest caution regarding Balmer watches.

Hoping that this information will be useful to you, and staying at your service, please receive my best regards.

Vincent Stauffer

Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry FH
Vincent Stauffer
Legal Department
CH-2501 Bienne
Tel +41 (0)32 328 08 28; Fax +41 (0)32 328 08 80
http://www.fhs.ch

i got a loius bolle as a christmas gift and was also shocked to see what my brother spent 2495! So needless to say i didnt want to tell him the watch was broken, so i went online and started seeing to my horror ebay selling these watches for such small sums. then of course i come accross this information all of you are sharing and i am at odds as to what to say to my brother. i hope he found the watch for cheap too! i must say, the design is beautiful, although i do not know the name of the model. anyway, can anyone share an email addresss for the company so i can communicate with someone there, in texas, or russia, or china. wow what a racket!!

I have purchased several SUG, Louis Bolle and a Picard and Cie. All of them run perfectly thus far. I have nto received the SUG yet, but am very anxious for it to arrive.

All watches made now pretty much share movements. From Tags to Seikos, it is all essentially the same companies making the watches guts. This was told to me by my wife’s jeweler who provides her diamond needs. He will not deal in watches any longer because of this.

Enjoy your time piece.

I own several of these ‘fake’ watches according to you folks and I tell you what. Regardless of your opinions or findings on them to be worth a few hundred dollars I find them to be quite posh and even elegant looking. I haven’t had any issues with time adjusting. I have them in a nice watch winder that keeps them on time. I was at lunch today and receieved a compliment from an older gentleman wearing a $5000 rolex. A REAL Rolex yes. He said “Now, THAT is a nice time piece…”. I rest my case. If you can touch it, wear it on your wrist it’s not a fake watch. I’ll continue to buy these kinds of watches rather than spending the money on your diesel watch that has to fit in that ‘trendy’ scenester setting. I’d rather blind someone with the polished chrome of one of my Balmers… Thank you very much.

Respectfully,
Happy

Re- LOUIS BOLLE STEEL BALANCE WHEEL LUXURY WATCH Recommended price is $2,995

Louis Bolle Watches are now sold in London & Chester Omega / watch stores, They are genuine high range quality watches at a very good price, If you took an average watch, you would get the odd few faulty, send them back to Louis Bolle and they will fix you up great company with some very good watches,

<IMG src=”http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/4/2/6/1/7/6/webimg/102673315_tp.jpg”

Another scam??? “I don’t think so” Why would you say that?

Is it because they are selling them at affordable price’s,…..

The Louis Bolle Watches are very high standards in watch making & the quality is of the very best among any quality watch & Yes they are “Swiss Made” ,

(It sounds to me that you’ve bought one of the Louis Bolle watches at top whack from someone and then found out you can get them at reasonable prices? Or you’re a watch maker yourself & your trying to give the Louis Bolle Watch a bad press)

As the Gentleman above has quoted the Louis Bolle watches can be bought along side Rolex, Tags, and Breitling Watches, throughout the UK, All Louis Bolle are top quality watches, Buy one now before prices rise you won’t be disappointed

I bought a Louis Bolle watch from York City yesterday & they are selling like hotcakes, Prows & cons from what I can see, PROWS: wonderfully crafted watch, Very good price I paid £450.00 for the LOUIS BOLLE STEEL BALANCE WHEEL LUXURY WATCH Recommended price is $2,995, came in a large leather showcase, along with registration certificate top quality polished stainless steel , I dropped it on the floor the first day and no marks shown very tough watch, last but not least its an eye catcher, everyone at the pub wanted it. CONS: If you like light weight watches this is not for you, its extremely heavy, & you know you’ve worn it at the end of the day it’s a relief to get it off your wrist, I guess most people like heavy watches though.

I bought Tavan watches over a year ago for myself and my wife. I have to say I am amazed at the quality. Wearing them 1 year and no scratches, nothing wrong, perfect time. When or if they ever wear out, I’ll be dealing with Tavan again.

Excellent watch.

Just bought Louis Bollie watch it lookes & feels $1,000’s of dollars, it shows my Tag up I’m now looking at buying more of the Bollie collection great watch for a great price

I just like to say i have to admire to marketing stragy here, it is brilliant. I bought a Ramses watch for $89.99 US and I knew something was up, but the timepiece is beautiful, and who’s to say what the msrp should and shouldn’t be. I’d never pay $2500 dollars for it, but I still think it was a bargain at the price. As far as some feeling ripped off…sorry if you thought you were really getting a watch worth thousands of dollars, and i’m even more sorry if you really paid that. I think they are worth the money and just ordered my second one

I just bought a Rousseau Largo watch today. So far everything is running spot on but it hasn’t been a day yet. I don’t own any Swiss or high quality watches but I do have a Seiko and I have them running side by side along with the time on my mobile phone. Time is the true test so for any updates hit me up at octaviozacatecas@yahoo.com and let’s see what it does.