Hi All,
So back in May I asked for everyone’s opinion on possible watch options:
https://www.reddit.com/r/patekphilippe/s/ik2rdhAuzu
I eventually discovered the Lange 1 137.033 with grey dial and fell in love. So the hunt began…
I had a saved search on Chrono24 so I was patiently waiting for a good option to appear. Finally the spec. I wanted in a full set at a reasonable price appeared in….Shanghai. Great.
We have all tried to justify our expensive hobby one way or another so I had to do the same! “I could make a holiday out of it”, “it’s only once in a lifetime”, “the price is much better than in Europe”, “China is safe” and many more.
So I booked my flights to Shanghai and to get the best price I ended up staying 5 nights. I booked economy which I eventually upgraded to business, I’m all in now so what difference would it make?? Haha.
Before I left for China I sent the store a 10% deposit to reserve the watch, then came the 12 hour flight and the start of the adventure.
- Day 1: Booked my DiDi from the hotel and made my way to the store to inspect the watch. The store didn’t even have security doors, just walk in and you are looking at watch cases full of Pateks, RMs, Lange, Vacheron, APs and many more. I got my loupe out and inspected the watch, checked the mechanisms and took photos of the paperwork and case back. I then left the store and made my way to the Lange boutique to show them the photos to make sure everything was above board. The Lange staff said everything looked fine, I then proceeded to transfer the balance to the pre-owned watch store. Relief.
- Day 2: The money transfer appeared in the stores bank account late in the afternoon so I jumped in a DiDi and made my way to pick up the watch. Mission complete. Now time to relax and enjoy Shanghai.
- Day 3-5. Museums, coffee shops (Shanghai is renowned for it great coffee), the Bund, great food, a lot of walking.