Hey fellas, my boss gave me a watch as a CNY present.
According to him its a prestigious label on par with omega and audemar piguet watches.
The brand is Philip Stein. I've  have never heard of this company before. Can any of you watch loving bros enlighten me?

Can't say I've come across this brand myself, but if you do a quick Google search you'll find out that the company is relatively new compared to other well-knowns (their own website claims that it formed in 2002).  It seems like Oprah has a segment called Oprah's Favorite Things and supposedly indicates that she likes a handful of their watches over the years (I counted a total of 3 different Phillip Stein watches).

Notice Oprah's Favourite Things list doesn't seem to feature any watches from Omega or Audemar Piguet. My guess is that Phillip Stein are still building up their brand and are using Oprah's show as a means to do so. Whether that means anything in terms of "prestige" depends on who your friends are (or at least who the people you want to impress are). The watch may be as expensive as an Omega, but if you need to explain this to everyone - then it's not widely accepted as "prestigious".

Phillip Stein also claims that their watches help improve people's sleep with what they call Frequency Technology. And this is apparently what their customers rave about. I'd suspect these watches appeal to a certain market of well-off health fanatics (e.g. doctors). The sceptical still think it's just "snake-oil" . So maybe a certain set of people will automatically recognise the "prestige" of that watch (like your boss or doctors), but others won't.

Ask yourself: Who do you hang around and do you want to impress them with wearing the "prestigious" watch?
(Now I see the beginnings of an experiment... start wearing it out often and see what kind of reaction you get. Maybe you'll start a new trend and help make it into a more well-known brand!).

[ Last edited by  yyy111 at 28-1-2012 01:33 ]

In my opinion I think it is mostly a marketing ploy, yes it is worn by some famous people but I personally would not buyone, I would take an Omega any day (my choice! As they say in the ads!)
To me they are just an overpriced quartz watch but if it was a present then that's ok!
I wouldn't mind banging the lady boss who imports them, she does the modeling in the ads for Philip Stein, Christy something.

Heading to DG soon for some factory meetings, if I don't have flashbacks I will file a report!
Where is a safer bet, anyone? Thx

Definitely not on the same level as Omega or Audemars.

As a watch collector, Phillip Steins have little to no value.  

As a gimmicky watch, they have followers, I know of a few people who swear by its frequency marketing.  I've tried one and I can't say it magically improved my life.

As a gift, it's not that bad a present!  

Be thankful for what you have =)

Thanks for the feedback.

I guess this is a real POS (piece of shit).

I cannot find anything about the guts of the watch. Any idea what the movement of the watch is? Are they made by ETA? or is it just some generic china made movement?

I'm thinking of just pawning this garbage.

yeah.
i'm into watches and rarely ever hear people mentioning this brand.
it would help if you post which model you have.
so it is mechanical?

No its quartz movement.

I was thinking to get a nice watch this year. Any ideas? budget is under 3000USD.

Whats the best automatic watch I can get in terms of accuracy reliabiability and prestige?

[ Last edited by  berndt at 30-1-2012 00:46 ]

Phillip Steins use ETA movements.  Which means its basically a nice Swatch.  You'll find these inside most if not all of the boutique watches, including "prestigious expensive" Cartier.

That being said, it's not a bad watch.  I'm not up to date with pricing, but I recall them being north of 1200 usd, although I've only really looked at them in the Philippines just to see how much they were at first.

Under 3k, I'd say look at Omega and perhaps you can find an Rolex AK for slightly more.

I do think unless you are quitting or getting fired, you best wear that watch and say it's awesome to everybody you know.  I can't think of a faster or more efficient way to get in the doghouse of never getting promoted than to sell gifts from your boss and then wear a substitute that he can see everyday at work.

Good luck with that.

i like omega.
it's getting up their with rolex in terms of prestige.
Their new co-ax movement is extremely accurate.
I have the aqua terra and it is off < 5 secs per week.

I don't see Omega ever coming close to Rolex in terms of prestige.  There are a few Omega watches that are valued by collectors though, and they will get you those prestige points, but if it's been purchased within the last 15 years or costs less than 10k usd, then Rolex will get you more bang for the buck.

Most modern watches are precise enough that you won't notice.  Truthfully though, if you are looking for precision, a quartz movement will likely serve you better than a mechanical watch.

Most Rolexs are not as precise as any cheap quartz watch, although they can be more accurate, depending how the bones fall that week.

for under 3k USD, you can consider Ball and Oris as well.

almost any cheap watch can be as or even more precise as a pricey ETA timepiece.  The pricey ones are like artwork with its precision 200+ moving parts.  It will be pretty precise as long as people take care of them & tune them up as needed.

In mass production luxury timepieces, nothing will rival Rolex in easy resale & prestige.  There are pieces which are more prestigious like patek or less pretigious like Tudor but they flat out don't have the same mainstream following.

For mainstream prestige, Rolex is the watch to get. They also hold their value very well as long as you get a style that is timeless. However, Rolex movement is a little less spectacular compared to some other watches. Omega's are very modern pieces with, in my humble opinion, better movement than Rolex. However, Omegas are definitely held to a lesser regard than Rolex from a traditional mainstream feel.

Like Sirtiger said, if you want to really be in the know, then you're looking at watches such as Patek Philippe, IWC, Vacheron Constantin, and Panerai. Most likely, these brands would be outside of your posted budget unless you have some interesting connections. However, that's not to say that the other watches mentioned in this thread aren't nice either. All watches have a personality, from their mechanics, to the company's history, to the quality of the materials.

Just to add more fuel to the fire, take a look at Breitling and Tag.

I personally have a Tag F1, Omega Speedmaster, and Glashutte Senator. However, my most treasured is my Tissot PR50 which was a gift from my mother.

Your watch is part of you. Pick one that you'll enjoy

modern in terms of style?  

Both timepices are very rugged and its hard to say which has better movement.  Yeah a little snobbery comment here but there is something to be said about rolex inhouse movements oppose to outsourced ETA movements.

The orginal tag f1?  I have that one too and love that one!  Speedmaster is a very nice one as well.

maybe he meant in terms of movement?
The omega coax is one of the latest renovations in mech watches.
i love it.
it is extremely accurate/reliable and is reputed  to have 2x longer period of time before it needs to be serviced.

Yes, in my opinion, Omega style is more modern than Rolex. Both movements are great, but Omega just seems to evolve more in terms of style and mechanics than Rolex.

I have the TAG Heuer Kirium F1 which came out in 2001. Has both analog and digital functionality.

http://us.tagheuer.com/en/vintage-watches/launch-of-the-kirium-f1

[ Last edited by  Grimlock at 8-2-2012 14:09 ]

From the comments you guys are making, it's obvious that these watch companies have done a great job of marketing their products.

Before you guys get too involved debating quality of movements, I suggest doing a little research on the history of watch manufacture and the industry as a whole before you buy your next watch.

I think you'll be surprised at who actually designed and manufactured the movement in the watches you're talking about, and the precision or lack of in each brand.

As I mentioned before, watches are a personal issue, and you should buy what you like.  Debating about movements, especially at the price levels you're at, ispointless.

you can have a look on the following website : www.collectorstime.com

I know the boss very well, they are ultra serious and know a lot about watches. It is basically asian grey market and you can get sometimes great prices there.

I am not connected to them in any mean, just giving a link that i think is useful

I know a few people that have purchased this watch brand.  I wouldn't say that it is a POS, but it is more of a fashion watch rather than a collectors watch or anything with a complicated movement.  That being said, they usually start around $4500HKD to upwards of 20,000HKD (with diamonds).  It is a quartz movement usually with two time zones.  I don't think they look bad but as bros have said in this thread, not rolex or omega.  But then your really not comparing apples to apples.

Well, for starters, Omega actually used to be considered more prestigious than Rolex back in the 1950s/60s.  Not to say that Rolex was not a prestigious watch back then.  However, the  perception toward Omega began to change in the 1980s when Rolex became quite popular amongst the nouveau riche/young people with way too much money on their hands.  Omega remains a quality brand, with recent solid achievements including the coaxial escapement (which interestingly enough, the inventor first put in his Rolex to test it out!), the Planet Ocean which has been a huge market success for them, and more recently the LE "Liquidmetal" bezel.

Having said this, Omega is not on par with Audemars Piguet.  AP is more in the echelon of elite watch brands ex. Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, etc.  The fact that your boss lumped them together shows he's probably not that informed about watches (or, he thinks REALLY highly of Omega).

I personally wouldn't say that Philip Stein is on par with either of the other two brands mentioned.  I wouldn't go as far as saying it's just another fashion watch, as fashion watch to me is something like a Fossil or Diesel watch.  Philip Stein is at least known in the watch collector's world for their advertising of frequency technology.  I don't know much about it and haven't read up on it, but supposedly it helps your sleep rhythms or something like that. I also occasionally see ads for Philip Stein watches in WatchTime magazine, and they look decent for their price point.

What I guess it comes down to is that no, I wouldn't put Philip Stein on par with Omega, and therefore by default not on par with Audemars Piguet.  However, I think it's a nice gift to receive from your boss, even if he tried to make it seem like it was more than it is.  I'd just enjoy it for what it is: a nice gift from your boss for CNY

btw, in case it wasn't apparent... I like collecting watches, haha.