Parnis - Everything I Should Hate But...

Kintarō Hattori

Yep, I should really dislike them as they are cheap watches, have no history and essentially rip off well established designs. A few years back though I bought a 50mm for the giggles, just because I wanted something ridiculous. Thing is though, it's turned out to be a great watch. It's held up well and keeps good time. I feel I want to get another Parnis but have read that it's basically a brand that lots of different factories use so quality can vary.

I'm looking to see if there are any sellers on the likes of eBay who have established a decent reputation.

Cienciano

Looks good imho. For that type of cheap watch I'd have no problem with a brand like that. Aliexpress and DHgate is full of them, cheap enough to take a chance one if you want something different.

Jurgen Klopp

I wouldn't care if it's a nice watch

The only thing obviously would be if they have a bad rep quality wise and the type to break after a year etc

Or something like watches way overpriced for what you get like a Hugo Boss or Invicta priced in the 100s when it's worth about 60

Speaking of Invicta have been watching the 9094 model, can be got for circa €70 from Amazon US but has a Seiko NH35A movement very tempting

Homer

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

A few years back though I bought a 50mm

Allright there Arnie

Im maxed out at 44mm!

Trigger Happy

I bought an unbranded parnis from Eoin from these parts a few years ago. California dial. It has been a loyal servant and it really reliable.
They are a bit hit and miss in terms of quality apparently but I have absolutely no complaints.

There is a massive thread over on wus about them but watch out for a few shilling posts.

unkel

Got an automatic Parnis - a big one, I guess it was a Panerai homage - years ago with a power indicator and a nice enough leather strap. Decent enough looking watch too and was comfortable to wear.

Got it for €25 and sold it a year later for €45. Can't complain about any of that

Kintarō Hattori

I'm delighted to see some positive feedback and surprised that so many of us have or have had one at some point. I assumed there'd be lots of negativity towards them so that's great. As Cienciano said, they are cheap enough to buy for some fun.

Homer wrote: »

Allright there Arnie

Im maxed out at 44mm!

Ah now it's not a beater watch, it really is just an occasional wear and is nice to have something silly. Most of my watches are sensible enough so the 50mm is a nice change.

darragh o meara

unkel wrote: »

Got an automatic Parnis - a big one, I guess it was a Panerai homage - years ago with a power indicator and a nice enough leather strap. Decent enough looking watch too and was comfortable to wear.

Got it for €25 and sold it a year later for €45. Can't complain about any of that

You fleeced me so Still have that watch and it’s still going strong, a little on the big side but certainly we’ll built and a conversation piece.

On the brand, I own two automatic Parnis watches. The one I bought from Unkel, an IWC Big Pilot look alike and another recent aquisition a Panerai fiddy look alike. These watches are very well built and in my opinion are a good entry point into automatic watches. Both of my Parnis have sapphire crystals, high quality stainless steel cases and automatic movements (seagull replica afaik). The Pan lookalike has a GMT function and came with a high quality stainless steel bracelet which is much better than some of the other more expensive watches I own, the other came with a really nice leather strap that I’ve worn for the past few months in different watches, currently on my new Parnis.

As a side note, I’m hoping to buy a real Panerai before the end of the year and had my Parnis side by side with one a few days ago and the quality was pretty close. To be honest, I bought this one to get a feel for that style of watch before I splurge out on one.

Kintarō Hattori

Thanks for that Darragh, very informative indeed. I love my 50mm but a good chunk of that is simply because it's unlike anything else in the collection. It does help though that it's fairly well made and finished.
incidentally what seller did you buy your most recent Parnis from? Looking at the likes of eBay, AliExpress they can be bought really quite cheaply. on the likes of Parnis.org though they are more expensive. You'd wonder whether they are likey to be better quality or are they simply playing on the name to charge more of a premium.

darragh o meara

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Thanks for that Darragh, very informative indeed. I love my 50mm but a good chunk of that is simply because it's unlike anything else in the collection. It does help though that it's fairly well made and finished.
incidentally what seller did you buy your most recent Parnis from? Looking at the likes of eBay, AliExpress they can be bought really quite cheaply. on the likes of Parnis.org though they are more expensive. You'd wonder whether they are likey to be better quality or are they simply playing on the name to charge more of a premium.

I bought my second one on Adverts. I was looking at getting one from Parnis’s online store, prices are pretty good there. www.parnis.org

Eoin

And because some of their homages are very "faithful", they're also a very cheap way to test out something like a GMTII or PAM a while to see how you like the dimensions.

Cienciano

lol, just clicked that link, they're closer to reps than "homages" :pac:

Eoin

If it doesn't have a fake logo, it's not a rep IMO.

darragh o meara

Cienciano wrote: »

lol, just clicked that link, they're closer to reps than "homages" :pac:

Mine is pretty close to a PAM alright but hopefully soon I’ll have a real one

Cienciano

darragh o meara wrote: »

Mine is pretty close to a PAM alright but hopefully soon I’ll have a real one

Try one on first, they're big

darragh o meara

Cienciano wrote: »

Try one on first, they're big

I have tried one recently and had my Parnis beside it, there’s very little between them if anything at all. The only difference I found was the weight of the PAM was a bit more than mine. Hopefully I won’t have to wait years to get one