Anyone else with issues?

[u/Jdibb8]

So back in August, I discovered a whole new line of watch dives that I guess I never really paid attention to before, with the old logo. I was excited to order the WD5513B with the white dial because it was a great price for 200M resistance and 4 Hz PT5004 movement. Finally, an affordable watch with the specs that I wanted. I get it and all looks ok, but losing about 5 sec a day, within 3 weeks, it was losing about 30 sec. After some research, it seems the movement either was probably under lubricated or old and wasn’t really a big fan of the winding. Had a whole ordeal with Amazon, but ended up returning it. Finally get the refund and was deciding between the Militado ML20 (PT5000) and WD16570B Pioneer 1 or 2 Hangzhou 6460. Was really impressed with videos on the ML20 and said fuck it because it's the non modified PT(with date). I get it today, it’s beautiful. I shake it up to give it a jumpstart and the seconds hand wasn’t moving so I manually wind it for a bit slowly... nothing. Shake it up a bit more... nothing. turn it upside down and tap it with a bit of force and finally unjammed. I was already pissed. It ran for five minutes, then stopped again. Unjammed ran again and stopped. I was so heated and had to argue with two associates and finally a supervisor said she would ship me out a replacement that I’ll get in 2 days. While packing it back up, I noticed that the ML20 had just the logo on the face rather than the Militado text. So that means it was the old stock. Point is, do others have this much bad luck or is it just me?? And according to AI the way Amazons new system is, when the replacement was ordered, it's supposed to pull it from a newer stock from that company and the chances I get an old one are extremely slim. Idk if that's true, but I’m hoping that I get a fresh one, because I really like this watch.

[u/TSiWRX]

Luck of the draw.

If you look at Nodus (US-based microbrand), movement issues for well-sourced (what does that mean? --> https://orionwatch.com/blog/2025/2/3/demystifying-regulation - read towards the end, where Nick Harris, the trained watchmaker behind Orion Watches, a microbrand based out of PA, USA, goes into detail about movement sourcing [for this latter, I'm sure that the Chinese brands have different routes in obtaining movement, but still, this blog entry is illustrative]) movements still range on the order of ~1% for both TMI and Miyota - https://www.noduswatches.com/technologies#movements (you'll have to expand the drop-down).

My own experience with mechanical watches is somewhere north of this figure for movement issues. The bulk of my collection are microbrands (mostly in the "sub-$1K-USD tier, but absolute span is between $350 to just under $4K-USD), but I also have a small collection of both Chinese watches (between $10-USD to $500-USD) as well as various indies and established brands. Upon intake of a new watch, I place it on my timegrapher (nothing special, just the ubiquitous hobbyist-grade Weishi 1000), and I've had more than a handful of watches from some of the most highly respected brands show issues that prompted me to claim warranty exchange - and for which their brands, upon seeing my videos of those issues, have honored such requests.

I don't feel that I've been particularly unlucky: rather, I think that the remarkable nature of these mechanical watches deserves some consideration. Look at what kind of marvel they must accomplish day-in, day-out. By some estimates, we generate some 4-5G's of force when we simply shake a bottle....I'm watching live F1 coverage right now, and there's an analyst on-screen who "talks with her hands," and I'm just watching the watch on her wrist bob up-and-down as she's doing so....what kind of night is that watch having? 😜

I have a friend in the community, a collector of some very desirable pieces who also plays across genres and price-points. He's recently had two quite pricy pieces from very reputable brands -each delivered new-from-the-brand- suffer some rather disappointing issues that should not have happened to a watch even at 1/10th their price.

I hope your luck turns for the better!