What do you give as a birthday present to a man who is rich?
I still remember wondering about who would buy the one-acre neighbourhood plot. Well, that was about ten years ago. It was purchased by John Arkin “Jo” to everyone, and his lovely wife Emelia Arkin.
My own plot is about half the size. I make around 110-grand a year while Jo, a doctor by profession, easily makes twice that. A Merc and an 4×4 Audi grace their driveway.
Over the years, thankfully, Jo and I have been good neighbours and I’d like to think, good friends too. We attend each other’s barbecue parties and a few times we even been to the games together.
Then out of the blue, couple of days back, Jo and his wife came over and gave me a formal invitation to his birthday party. Seems he was turning 50 and his wife insisted they have a party. Which in turn put me in a quandary; what do I give as a birthday present to this rich guy?
I know he has a collection of watches because I’ve seen him wear different watches. I figure he must have at least 5 or 6 watches if not more.
I Googled around a bit, visited half a dozen sites and in general viewed several “must buy” watches for the rich. While the watches were fine, the price tags were not – they were just out of my league.
I dug some more just to make sure the site was genuine and they weren’t selling me something that looked like a Tissot. Turns out my concern unfounded. The site was indeed genuine; had good reviews and every watch was accompanied with a one-year international warranty. This set me at peace.
The Tissot Classic Dream Quartz T033.410.22.053.01 T0334102205301 Men’s Watch was all stainless-steel and had a lovely two-tone stainless-steel bracelet with gold weave in the middle of the bracelet. This gave it a nice rich, expensive feel.
The dial had a kind of light-copper coloured Roman numerals for hour markers. These were set on a black dial. Add same coloured hands and watch looked truly grand. The crystal was flat and the specs indicated it was a Sapphire crystal.
The watch was analog and powered by a quartz movement. It had 300M water resistance so I guess it will withstand more than just the occasional swim or shower.
I decided to buy it because it looked good, looked expensive and more importantly, it was a Swiss watch and made by a brand (Tissot) that guaranteed quality. When the watch arrived and I presented it to Jo, he said “how did you know I was planning to add a Tissot to my collection?”.
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In response to your request for a review on my purchase from DOWNUNDERWATCHES I can say the following, I address myself for this particular watches to DOWNUNDERWATCHES since they claim to be Australia's premier online watches store. This particular model is not available in store in Australia, not that I know off, therefore the advertised Australia's premier online watch store induce me to believe that the item was available in Australia but only from online orders. It turn out not to be so but from Singapore apparently. So, the claim that delivery is made within three days turn out to be three weeks. This detail should be indicated clearly to people in Australia. Other than that the delivery was made by DHL and the watch received in good condition some ten days latter. The watch is exactly as I expected it would be, well packaged, no complaint whatsoever to make about it. It would be better for the retailer to indicate that the delivery to Australia will required two weeks instead of saying next to day of dispatching leaving the impression that the goods is from an Australian distributor which physically it is not. Orient watches are not well represented in Australia by retailers if not at all. Seiko dominates the market amongst other brand. Orient is no more made in Japan as it was in the past, the factory with the name Epson is now in Thailand, the product is still of high quality and genuine as it has been expected from the original manufacturer in previous years from Japan. Epson has absorbed the brand name Orient which remains nevertheless a high quality product originally exclusively from Japan. Orient watches are of high quality until today.
Hi Patrice,
Thank you for taking the time to share your detailed feedback. We’re glad the watch arrived in good condition and met your expectations. We also appreciate your notes about delivery times and origins—this helps us improve how we communicate shipping details for our Australian customers.
The watch was as good as I expected, being refurbished and works accurately with minor blemishes. "Downunderwatches" is Singapore based, so I was surprised to have to pay additional fees for the foreign import.
Hi Herman,
Thank you for your feedback. We’re glad to hear the watch is working well and meets your expectations. We understand the surprise with the import fees and appreciate your understanding regarding international shipping.
Hi,
Thank you for your feedback! We’re glad to hear you’re happy with the quality and value. It means a lot to us knowing our customers are satisfied.
Best Regards,
Downunderwatches