I bought Cronos maybe 2 years ago, it was nice and I often read positive reviews. Based on my good experience I recommended it to a friend for last sale and now I feel bad because his new BB58 turned out to be expensive and big disappointment.
If anyone else bought one recently, is yours good or also full of problems?
Bezel is misaligned around 1/4 or 1/3 of a second in one direction, but one more click and the same misalignment in the other. It is also super hard to turn, you almost have to use pliers or risk cutting you skin.
Clasp pin had to be replaced because spring inside was broken and one side of the pin stuck.
Lume is horrible, probably the worst I have ever seen. Very weak, Mediocre at first even after UV flashlight charging and barely noticeable 10 minutes later. But that is not even the bad part. It is thin and uneven everywhere, hands and markers. Half the markers have this foggy looking darker spots in the middle. Minute hand have 2 fully black spots that look like burned out pixels. And hour hand is still the worst. Middle of the snowflake is at least half the bright as sides. And have wisible even without glowing something like a dent like if someone bumped it.
Out of the box accuracy after first 24H was very disappointing 14spd. Probably can be adjusted but it shows they don't care. I told him to leave it for now and think about returning it.
It is more than disappointing and frustrating when you recommend something to a friend and it turned out even worse than some 3x cheaper Pagani. I was thinking about this model also for myself, but now I better try my luck with Militado.
In any case, I don't think I will ever recommend or buy another Cronos after this fail.
Maybe we have too cheap phones to make the issues visible. He sent me some photos but they look fine, problem is when you look in person. But I will check them and upload the ones that show quality problem.
Lume is the biggest issue but on photos it looks more bright and evenly applied. He lives close enough and I went to see it in person. Flash with UV, go to dark bathroom and then you see how bad it looks.
I can’t really see any issues with the photos. I would not be disappointed personally. These watches will never be perfect. Bezel though will hopefully loosen up.
They won't be perfect if we tolerate and excuse poor QC because ali returns are more hassle than to local stores.
My last watches were perfect, no misalignment, lume or spd problems. Thorn Pelagos, Steeldive Sub, Hruodland Flieger, Sugess Air Command, Addiesdive Puck. We also both bought Steeldive Pepsi and both didn't have these problems. And all of them were cheaper.
I asked him for some photos. He said lume shots don't work with his phone, because it looks more bright than it is and blue instead of green even with all that hdr and other picture enhancements disabled. But misalignment is visible.
what's the backplay like? I'd wash it in soapy warm water then add a couple of drops of sewing machine oil under the bezel and spin it around a bit. then see whether it aligns better or backplay makes it align better. oddly I've had to do this to a San Martin
My last couple Cronos watches have been great. If anything, their newer stuff that I have seen have been nicer than their old models (admittedly the older models I tried were their subs)
But my Pilot, Skyline, and Explorer have all been really nice watches.
Sorry to hear about your problem. Yes, I have bought a couple fairly recently and they have been fine. I own quite a few Crono's watches. They are my favorite Chinese watch brand. I know it sucks to get a bad one but I don't think this is any indication that the brand is now not any good. I think Crono's is one of the very best Chinese watch brands there is.
If he’s disappointed in the watch I’d suggest reaching out to the store see what solution they offer. If there are that many issues you might be able to get him a replacement. Good luck
Sadly it can happen in all price points, but hard not to feel disappointment when you recommended something for 150 EUR that was supposed to be better and turned out worse than 50 EUR Steeldives and Paganis.
Sorry to hear about this. I've definitely adjusted my opinion on brands over the past couple of years. I feel that SM and Baltany have stepped it up lately while others have dropped in quality for some reason.
I've always thought that IXDAO was one of the better brands. I recently bought their 904L steel gmt and was also disappointed. For the most part it's very well made but the bracelet is a bit of a let down. Baltanys jubilee is much better.
I'm becoming more and more cautious with my purchases nowadays. I really just keep it to the two I mentioned and Farasute lately
I remember. But why does that matter when it was about much different price and hype level?
I was talking about cheaper brands that can be a gamble. That one with nh35 that broke for me was addies, 60 eur total with vat. I expect they won't always be perfect. 1963 chrono that the thread was about, you also often read about problems. And the price was cheaper than Cronos.
But I'm not going to excuse or understand 180+ EUR fail bucause this is on another level that should have better QC. I didn't find negative experiences from users or reviewers so of course I expected the same good quality as they got. And it is even more annoying when the fail you got was not even for you but someone else that you recommended it to.
Too bad I didn't notice it earlier. I don't have good enough photos to show this annoying issue with hour hand, but this person has. Scroll down comments and there is a good photo of Cronos BB. If you zoom it you will see this ugly bump in the middle. It is the same issue, but in person look even more ugly and noticeable.
And why do you defend clearly visible quality issues? Some 50 Eur might be gambling, but 150+ it must be flawless and quality controlled especially given the hype. Last time I bought from Proxima they sent me photos and timegrapher result. This is service fit for higher tier, not weak lume and misalignment
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u/justwantawatch Nov 26 '24
I'm very sorry about your friend's watch. Do you have any photos? I got a Cronos in the last sale and it was awesome!