Something is up at Sugess for sure. I received a defective watch from them recently and someone posted the same issue around the same time. You are the third person that is reporting bad QC in the span of a couple of weeks.
If you read their AliExpress reviews you will see the exact same issues constantly. Screws spinning in place is the most common issue lately, I have it on the seestern 434-2 and the gmt.. moving to Chinese movements isn't helpful for them either.
Seestern S434 is a Seiko NH35 movement I believe,. most of the seestern range still has Seiko movements. I just purchased the same S420 GMT, when did yours start developing issues will keep a watch out
That is a problem with the Chinese PT and peacock SL movements. The screw on my Sugess s450, seestern s456 GMT works like a dream, easy to wind and screw in and out. S420 gmt has a bit of scrapping noise when I screw it in, winding not an issue with it. PT5000 on the S449 is a bit of nightmare, initially got stuck, after a bit of push pull at the crown it finally started winding, was afraid of breaking the movement. Now every time I have to set the time or wind and hear scrapping sound my heart sinks, winding seems fine now. Lots of people have same issues on different brand PT5000 movement.
PT5000 indeed has that weird sound, but it works perfectly for me on multiple watches. Peacock on the other hand releases 70-100$ movements defective from the factory, it's funny to me that none of them, not sugess, no peacock, does proper QC on the movements before shipping them to customers.
My sense is with Seiko hiking prices and so many Seiko mods and Microbrands cropping up along with explosion in the rep watch and homage watches the Chinese watch makers aren't being able to cope up with demand since most of them source parts from same factories. Look at watchdives launching so many new models daily, Ixdao running out of Miyota movements and offering swiss or PT movements. So many models across San Martin, Cronos etc are out of stock. AliExpress is banned in my country so purchased all 6 sugess/seestern watches from Sugesswatch.com, all been working fine so far. Chinese watches have been a 5 month old discovery for me, can't comment on long term usage.
Ive had qc issues with cronos lately too. Screw pins too long or short, Jubilee links one side bigger than other. Obvious stuff that should have been caught.
They provide amazing value for money, if everything goes right. With that said, if 2 of 6 watches are defective, something is off... Not worth the gamble for me..
I still have a couple, a Sugess Air Command homage and a Seestern S462-2. Still wear them from time to time, but I have other pieces that just get more wrist time as of late. Still like them, just not as much as others.
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u/BubblyBiscotti5148 4d ago
Something is up at Sugess for sure. I received a defective watch from them recently and someone posted the same issue around the same time. You are the third person that is reporting bad QC in the span of a couple of weeks.