So this the first of the two watches that I spoke about in my last post. I should be ecstatic, but things didn't go exactly as I had planned. The customs department really put me in a foul mood in the morning. FedEx sent me an invoice for the total duties and taxes I was required to pay. Its honestly quite a pretty penny and over that, I was required to pay octroi. All in all, its about half of what I paid for the watch. To make it worse, the customs totally disregarded the price of the watch mentioned in the invoice (and honestly that what I paid for it). They instead thought they knew more about watches than the company itself and valued the watch at 75% more than the original price!! So not only was I pissed that I am having to pay more as customs duty, I am more appalled at how they chose their own price for it.
However, I really wanted this watch for a long time and the original price + shipping (without the discount I was offered) is quite close to what I eventually paid for it, so i thought I'll take it anyway. Moreover this was supposed to be an early birthday for myself and I couldn't see it go away.
Having cleared that of my mind, I preset to you this truly gorgeous timepiece with a history dating back to WW II - the Laco Flieger 42 Type A Automatik - "Bremen"
Specs: ETA 2824-2, Stainless steel case with "FL23883" engraving Ø: 42 mm, height 12 mm, domed and anti-reflective Sapphire crystal, solid case back with engraving, 5 ATM
I'll let the pics do the talking as I will be doing a review on it soon enough. One thing I have to say, although it has a 42mm diameter, it appears larger than that. Its good for people who want to go for the 45mm, but are in two minds if it will look too big on the wrist. This one looks just right! :)
Apologies for the quality of the pics, I had o rush home and take some quick shots during my lunch break. Some of the pics have been shot on my camera phone. As always, click on the pic to enlarge it.
I forgot to take the blue plastic off the rivets, so took another wrist shot -
An attempt to capture the lume on my camera phone -
However, I really wanted this watch for a long time and the original price + shipping (without the discount I was offered) is quite close to what I eventually paid for it, so i thought I'll take it anyway. Moreover this was supposed to be an early birthday for myself and I couldn't see it go away.
Having cleared that of my mind, I preset to you this truly gorgeous timepiece with a history dating back to WW II - the Laco Flieger 42 Type A Automatik - "Bremen"
Specs: ETA 2824-2, Stainless steel case with "FL23883" engraving Ø: 42 mm, height 12 mm, domed and anti-reflective Sapphire crystal, solid case back with engraving, 5 ATM
I'll let the pics do the talking as I will be doing a review on it soon enough. One thing I have to say, although it has a 42mm diameter, it appears larger than that. Its good for people who want to go for the 45mm, but are in two minds if it will look too big on the wrist. This one looks just right! :)
Apologies for the quality of the pics, I had o rush home and take some quick shots during my lunch break. Some of the pics have been shot on my camera phone. As always, click on the pic to enlarge it.
I forgot to take the blue plastic off the rivets, so took another wrist shot -
An attempt to capture the lume on my camera phone -
5 comments:
Hi,
Where can I get my Laco serviced in Mumbai. I live Goa. The needle needs to be reset too. I know nothing about them. Mine was a gifted.
Hi Arup,
I don't think Laco has an official service centre in India. My Laco was gaining about 30 seconds a day off late and I took it to a recommended watchmaker in South Mumbai. He is quite an experienced guy and regulated my watch in 10 mins. I would definitely suggest you show it to him.
His name is Murali and his address is:
Murali Watch Centre
Shop No. 19, 43, Ready Money Mansion, Teekays Shopping Centre, Next To, Akbarallys Men,, Veer Nariman Road, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400001
I don't want to put his phone number here, but it's easily available on Google Search.
If you do go, let me know of your experience.
Regards,
CF
I've had my eye on this one for a while now! A really beautiful watch. How much did you end up paying for it? From what I have found online, with shipping and customs duty, the price comes close to a whopping 70K! That's almost 1.4X the original price. Don't think I am ready to shell out so much for this just yet. Do you know of any places in India which sell Laco watches?
Also, I noticed that you posted this article in 2011! How has the experience been over the last 5 years? In the end, are you happy with the purchase?
Hi Hegde,
Thanks for visiting the blog. Sorry for the late reply, I have been super busy with work the last few weeks.
As it so happens to be, I am wearing the Laco now as I type this :)
I bought this watch during a special discount going on for Watchuseek members. I can't remember exactly, but I ended up paying a little over 300 Euros for it including shipping, but excluding customs.
As for how it's doing, well, its been great! I've kept in on the original brown strap it came with and recently sold the unused black one. It was running about 20 seconds fast after a few years, but a quick trip to a local watchmaker fixed it. Overall, I am very happy I bought this :)
Regards,
CF
Oops! I forgot to answer your other question.
I am not aware if Laco is available officially in India. I may know a guy though who can source them for you at a good price. If you are interested, let me know and we can get in touch and discuss it privately.
-CF
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