I really like topics like this, as so often you'll only hear people gushing about watches on this forum, which can actually contribute to the disappointment of others who may (mistakenly) let this hype influence their buying decisions.

Case in point: My most disappointing watch was the SARB033. When I first started lurking on this forum around 2016, pretty much every other post on this forum was a gush-fest for the SARBs, talking about how "ThEy'Re BaSiCaLlY GrAnD SeIkOs FoR 1/10th ThE PriCe" and how everyone needed one in their collection. Believing all the hype, I picked one up for a decent price, but I quickly flipped it within a few months for the following reasons:

1. Subpar finishing: Anyone who says a SARB is basically a Grand Seiko has clearly never seen a Grand Seiko in the metal, or any other high-end watch for that matter. Edges and brush-polish transitions on the SARB are soft and mushy. Perhaps I was spoiled by the finishing on Orient Stars, which IMO are on an entirely different level finish-wise compared to the SARBs that are comparably priced, but I couldn't help thinking "THIS is the "BaBy GrAnD SeiKo" that people are gushing about?"
2. Terrible movement: The 6R15C has to be one of the worst mass-produced movements when it comes to precision, and I don't think I'm alone in that opinion on this forum. Positional variation on mine was all over the place. I'm not an accuracy stickler, but having a watch that would be +20 seconds one day, -10 seconds the next, and +15 the day after that was quite annoying.

For the price they were going for at the time ($300-350 before they were discontinued), they're certainly not the worst option as a GADA-style watch for a new collector, but I think the stratospheric hype that surrounded them on watch forums resulted in a lot of buyers being disappointed upon receiving them.

...But I learned an important lesson from that experience: Don't buy into internet hype.

 

Took the words out of my mouth. That is exactly how I felt about the watch and the first thing that came to mind when I saw the thread title.

it's a decent watch for under $350. The thing it has going for it that is a big draw is that there are not many watches that are 38mm.

 

For me it's been the current model Omega Seamaster Diver 300m.

Of course that's not to say that's it's the worst watch I've ever owned, rather it's disappointing because of the expectations I had for it.

I wanted it to be the watch I wore every day by default and in reality it just hasn't worked out like that.

Two main reasons and one bonus reason.

Reason #1 - I find it very uncomfortable

Yeah it's chunky and heavy, but the main problem for me is the display case back. Turns out it sticks to my skin when it's hot and humid. The weight of the watch pulls on my skin and I can't wait to take it off at the end of the day. I've tried covering up the back of the case with various materials but haven't found a solution yet.

Reason #2 - the rotating bezel is awful

I love having a rotating timing bezel on my watch, it's a feature I use every day when I have it available. Under the right conditions the Seamaster bezel works fine, but under the wrong conditions (e.g. when it's cold and dry) it's close to unusable. I just can't get enough grip to turn it properly. Hands down the worst bezel of the 7 watches I've owned with that feature, in terms of functionality. Worse than the Invicta 8926OB.

Bonus reason - skeleton hands are no good in the dark

Good lume can only go so far. Although the lume on the Seamaster is strong, the design of the hands makes reading the time in the dark difficult after a few hours. Not very practical.

 

Reason #2 - the rotating bezel is awful

I love having a rotating timing bezel on my watch, it's a feature I use every day when I have it available. Under the right conditions the Seamaster bezel works fine, but under the wrong conditions (e.g. when it's cold and dry) it's close to unusable. I just can't get enough grip to turn it properly. Hands down the worst bezel of the 7 watches I've owned with that feature, in terms of functionality. Worse than the Invicta 8926OB.

The scalloped bezel design has been an issue for decades. I owned a Brosnan era Seamaster and had the same complaint.

 

Chinese mushroom brand Duboule. Fell only once on a cushioned surface, now the chapter ring rotates by itself basically screwing the alignment with the indices. Never touched it again,.

 

I would have to say my Turtle.

First off it has the dreaded rehaute misalignment - Ive seen worse but its there.

On top of that the hands are about 7/8 minutes out.

 

Years ago... I was looking for an inexpensive watch to use while camping. Made a mistake and bought a Luminox. The seconds hand didn't hit the markers, kept below average time for a quartz and it died shortly after the warranty expired. Checked to see what a "service" would cost and it was half the price of the watch. The tritium tubes were cool though.

 

While we are on the subject (and just getting it all out there) I was/am a little disappointed with my Citizen BN0118-55e or modern "Ray Mears" as its sometimes known.

Nearly everything about this watch is spot on ie no misalignment's and the second hand hits all the markers.

What is disappointing is that the crown guards are shonky

They look worse at some angles more than others - and to be fair they look ok when viewed face on.

I had already swapped the first one I'd got because the crown was not centred between the guards

I have kept it and its still a great beater watch but still a disappointment especially when all my previous Citizens had been QC problem free.

 

For me, it was my Seiko SKX009 Pepsi. I bought without trying on after reading so much love of it from so many people. I hated the rubber strap it came with and upgraded to a Crafter Blue strap (which was really nice BTW).

Even after that, I couldn't connect with it. Still can't put my finger on it but I flipped it and haven't missed it at all.

 

You dont have the steel strap on the SKX ?

 

sorry -bought on the rubber. The steel bracelet might have made the difference.. who knows..

 

This one. Out of order Automatico.

Cool watch that is "patinated". Looks awesome in other peoples pictures but when I put it on immediately knew I don't like that worn look on anything but bronze. Also bezel was lame and could feel the meh quality in the clasp and bracelet.
Came in and out of the collection same week.

 

Sinn 556i

I wasn't disappointed with it. It's easily one of, if not THE best built watch in it's price tier. There were just a few things about it I couldnt live with in the end.

 

Sinn 556i

I wasn't disappointed with it. It's easily one of, if not THE best built watch in it's price tier. There were just a few things about it I couldnt live with in the end.

T-Rex minute hand?

 

For me it’s the cost/expectation ratio of a watch.

If I pay £50 for it and it is well made and keeps good time then I’m very happy.

If I paid a lot of money then my expectations are a lot higher and thus maybe it’s easier to be disappointed.

I can only think of one watch in 40 years where I thought “This is rubbish” and sold it on straight away (No names as I will upset all the owners who love them) but best advice is get wrist time before you buy, the OP would have spotted his issues straight away, and saved himself the hassle of reselling.

 

For me it's the cost/expectation ratio of a watch.

If I pay £50 for it and it is well made and keeps good time then I'm very happy.

If I paid a lot of money then my expectations are a lot higher and thus maybe it's easier to be disappointed.

I can only think of one watch in 40 years where I thought "This is rubbish" and sold it on straight away (No names as I will upset all the owners who love them) but best advice is get wrist time before you buy, the OP would have spotted his issues straight away, and saved himself the hassle of reselling.

Man I respect your thoughts and how you think. Wish you could tell us (or just me).

Louis

 

This one , arrived at about 4pm , set and wore it for a couple of hours after winding ( yes its an automatic ) and it stopped about 10 times , I warmed it , tapped it no harder than necessary to get it to start and the seconds hand fell off , 1 hour later the minute hand fell off !!!! , I removed the movement and the chapter ring dropped to the floor !!! , and the plastic spacer that holds the movement in broke into 4 pieces !!!!! I binned it after it hit the concrete floor at 900mph ! ,, rubbish watch .

My $39 casio is 10 x this POS !!

Beanerds.

ps. I kept the shark mesh bracelet as its of just average quality ,,, HMMM ? a $79 shark mesh of 20mm ..

 

This one , arrived at about 4pm , set and wore it for a couple of hours after winding ( yes its an automatic ) and it stopped about 10 times , I warmed it , tapped it no harder than necessary to get it to start and the seconds hand fell off , 1 hour later the minute hand fell off !!!! , I removed the movement and the chapter ring dropped to the floor !!! , and the plastic spacer that holds the movement in broke into 4 pieces !!!!! I binned it after it hit the concrete floor at 900mph ! ,, rubbish watch . View attachment 15413617

My $39 casio is 10 x this POS !!

Beanerds.

ps. I kept the shark mesh bracelet as its of just average quality ,,, HMMM ? a $79 shark mesh of 20mm ..

I mean it literally says the cccp on it sooooo maybe the expectations were a bit high going in hmmmm

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

Can I have two?

I remember when I was a kid. My dad had a habit of buying us all kinds of kids watches. One had a train going back and forth when you tilted the dial, one was a little transformer style robot, one was a Simpson watch with Homer caught in a painful position to indicate the time with his limbs, one had a "slap on" bracelet etc.
One of the watches he bought us had a green camo print and "ran on water". I think it had a battery, and by filling the little reservoir in the back a small current could be conducted (I was very small, so I have no idea really). Of course, with the logic of a kid, I took the watch swimming. After-all, if it ran on water, how could water harm it? Of course I was disappointed when it stopped working.

The other watch will remain without a model name. Because it is a watch that many people enjoy and I don't want to take anything away from the watch. My disappointment was my own fault. In all honesty I bought it because I learned about how popular it was and how excited people were when they talked about it. With that as one of the major motivations, I bought the watch but ended up feeling disappointed because I did not feel the same connection that so many others did. My idea was that if informed people say that this is a great watch, then that must be true. Therefore, it will be a great watch for me. Even if I do not seem as excited about the design as some others, that may change in the long term, and this has to be the correct decision. I learned later that a lot of the watches I actually enjoy most tend not to be universally loved.

EDIT: I completely forgot about the disappointments of micro and upcoming brands I have had. I remember that not too long ago, I decided to buy the Yema Superman heritage watches when they just came out. I liked them because I remembered the old ones. The first batch had lume that did not work, and that was the incorrect color (hands not matching the dial) to boot. That was pretty disappointing in my opinion. Though by now they have addressed those issues, and they did offer to replace the hands. I guess these things happen to all "early adopters".

 

I love all my watches equally.
Oh wait, wrong thread....

 

For me, it's more connected to a movement. Neither of the normal Valjoux 77xx Chronos I feel comfortable wearing. Luckily I didn't own per se, it was borrowed to me but after living with one and trying others I decided it's just not for me.

Somewhat same with the Seiko VK with the 24h display. It's just such an unnecessary complication really annoys me every time I try to wear one.

 

A FC quartz dress watch, the movement stopped working only after a year.

 

My ETA Black Bay.... it was a great dress diver... but that's all it was... the bezel was completely unusable if your hands were remotely wet.

 

Most bezels, I find are. Doxa's bezel works well - it has very dramatic teeth. And I've heard great things about the Tudor Pelagos. I've tried the SMP and the scalloped edge of that bezel was tough while completely dry. I can't imagine in the water.

 

I probably wouldn't call it a disappointment, more like the least satisfying. It's my Seiko with a 4R movement.
Many people would bring up the price and say that the accuracy is "good for the price". But I realized that I really like watches with decent accuracy. I'm willing to spend more to get a good accurate watch, than the cheapest thing with its accuracy flying all over the place.

 

If you don't like the 4R you will hate the 6R. My 4R movements have been my most accurate non-chronometer watches. I guess I have been lucky as the two I have had ran less than 5spd.

 

Hamilton Field mechanical. I looked at and read about it for a while and finally took the plunge. Had it one day I think. The lugs are horrible and spring bars sooooooooo far away from the case. I really, really didn't like it and don't understand the love.

 

I'll second the Hamilton Field Mechanical. I could live with the long lugs although it probably limits it to just looking good on NATO straps (at least to me), but I could not live with the super reflective crystal. Honestly, it was like looking into a mirror every time I looked at the watch. I've never seen any other watch with that much reflection. I had the black dial version and perhaps the white dial would be better in this regard, but this was a total deal-breaker for me.

 

My Vostok
Just wasn't a fan of the build personally, ok for the price for sure but I guess the hype with it got to me.

 

Maybe it's not the biggest disappointment, but it's the most recent. I backed a Kickstarter project for the Aramar Walrus. The crown on the first one failed the first time I set it. It wouldn't reseat at all, the threads wouldn't engage. After a lot of frustration they replaced the watch, but wouldn't pay shipping. The new one they sent is no better. This new crown wants to cross thread and takes about fifty tries to get it to mesh properly. And since this one loses twenty five seconds a day I have to reset it frequently. It is a complete junk watch and company. CAVEAT CAVEAT EMPTOR !!

 

My disappointment was the Hamilton. I think it's good watch, and I thought I'd like it more because of the W10 heritage. I have a 6 3/4 wrist, and it just feels small. Although my usual watch is a 42mm, so that may be the issue. No complaints with the quality, just don't like the fit. I made the decision to let this one go as soon as I get around to it..

 

I too have a 6.75" wrist and also found it to be tiny. But my sweet spot is between 38mm and 42ish mm.

 

for me it's the seiko turtle. thanks to an earlier poster, I think I finally understood why I didn't like it. the bezel was so shiny it felt cheap

 

The nice thing about the turtles is that there's a healthy aftermarket for parts to swap out. They're like Honda Civic of the watch world with the ability to transform into an obnoxious little rice rocket and all!

 

This is a good discussion. I've bought and sold a fair bit over the last 6 or 7 years and, while I've fallen out of love with watches I've owned, I can't say I've been disappointed by any with the notable exception of the Grand Seiko SBGE249. Given all the positive buzz around GS, I felt compelled to add one to my collection. I did fastidious research, tried on a couple at a local AD (although not this particular model) and decided to buy this reference on Chrono24 because it had the bells and whistles I was looking for (GMT movement, 'frosted' Blizzard dial, display caseback, limited edition). I wanted to love this one but I just didn't feel the connection; from the moment I put it on my wrist, I was underwhelmed. Perhaps I had built it up too much but, within a week, it was gone.

 

Hmmm, probably two are on the top of my list. The first was the Hamilton Jazzmaster chrono that I got for a deal in 2008 when stores were closing left and right. It was a nicely made watch, but it was too big, too heavy, and I could never adjust the strap to where it was comfortable---it was either too tight or too loose. I wasn't in love with the styling.

Fast forward a few years and my next watch on the list was also a chronograph---my Tag Monza. I liked the case shape and that it was made of titanium. That's about it. I probably should never have bought it. The pushers had a very fragile feel to them which seemed cheap to me. I didn't like the styling of the pins (not sure the technical term) that the hands sit on. They were bronze and too large of a diameter---I don't know, it just looked cheap to me. I did like the size and weight, but the items that seemed chintsy were the only things I noticed whenever I'd wear it towards the end. I like the replacement--BB chrono, much more.