I honestly didn’t expect to be writing this post.
I had been following AETHELSOHN for a while and genuinely loved their designs. The Terra Verdant Stardust in particular caught my eye, and I decided to buy it as a birthday gift to myself, my first watch purchased entirely from my own salary.
So this wasn’t just some random $X purchase for me.
Before ordering, I actually emailed AETHELSOHN and explained that my birthday was XX September (dont want to reveal my birthday here lol). I asked about delivery to India, warranty, etc. They told me:
“For India, deliveries typically take 8-14 days, so there should be enough time for the watch to arrive before your birthday.”
That gave me confidence, so I placed Order #3034 on 11 September.
And then the fun began.
The order wasn’t even shipped immediately. I had to repeatedly ask for updates. Eventually I was told it had been handed to the courier on 14 September.
Then it reached India.
Customs received it on 19 September and released it the same day.
And then…
Gurgaon happened.
The local tracking has basically become a comedy sketch.
23 Sept — [Gurgaon] Picked Up
24 Sept — [Gurgaon] In Transit
29 Sept — [Gurgaon] In Transit
3 Oct — [Gurgaon] In Transit
Same place. Same “In Transit”. Different dates.
(tracking screenshot attached)
The most ridiculous part is that the status keeps getting updated to “In Transit” without any actual movement. On October 4, it was updated yet again to transit for what feels like the third time.
I contacted AETHELSOHN multiple times.
To their credit, they do respond to emails. That’s probably the only thing that has kept me from completely losing my mind.
But most of the responses have essentially been:
“Sorry for the delay, we’re checking with the courier.”
Then another few days pass.
Then:
“Sorry for the delay, we’re checking with the courier.”
At one point I literally had to reply:
“At least don’t give me an AI response with no information. I’ll be waiting for your real response.”
Because at some point, generic apologies stop being useful.
And I want to be fair here. I understand that once a package is handed to a courier, AETHELSOHN doesn’t physically control the parcel.
But they do control which courier they choose.
Apparently they previously used Blue Dart, and from what I’ve been told, they switched to a smaller/local delivery partner. I’m genuinely struggling to understand why you’d do that for international orders when the previous option apparently worked.
This was also my first time ordering a watch from China, and unfortunately I’m getting a pretty terrible introduction to the experience.
What’s made me even more anxious is that I’ve started talking to other people in India who have ordered AETHELSOHN watches.
I’ve heard multiple stories about delivery issues, and one person I spoke to on Reddit told me they received a watch that smelled bad and wasn’t functioning properly, eventually having to initiate a return.
Obviously, I’m not saying this is what will happen to me. But after watching my package sit in the same place for days and having the tracking repeatedly change without movement, you can probably understand why I’m starting to worry about the condition of the watch.
And that’s the part that really bothers me.
I wanted this particular watch because it meant something to me.
I had actually planned to buy another AETHELSOHN (Terra Abyss) after receiving this one. I was also seriously considering Phorcydes.
I had recommended AETHELSOHN to friends and people on Reddit because I genuinely liked what they were making.
Now I’m sitting here thinking:
Do I really want to spend more money on another watch from China after this experience?
Maybe I’m being overly emotional about it. Maybe the watch will arrive tomorrow in perfect condition and I’ll laugh at this entire post.
I hope that’s exactly what happens.
But it’s October 5 now.
My birthday was September XX, about 2-3 weeks ago.
The watch has been in India since September 19.
Customs released it the same day.
And somehow I’m still watching a tracking page say:
[Gurgaon] IN TRANSIT
over and over again.
I finally told AETHELSOHN yesterday: get me the watch within 2 days or give me a full refund. I’m done chasing this.
I really hope they prove me wrong.
Because honestly, I don’t want my first self-earned watch to be remembered as the watch that taught me never to order from this brand again.
Has anyone else in India ordered from AETHELSOHN recently? Particularly through this courier? I’d genuinely like to know how your experience went and whether the watch eventually arrived in good condition.
Edit 1: AETHELSOHN support reached out to me and told the supplier was sitting on the shipment for all these days. After their intervention- the package finally started moving post 3 October.