I take the middle road here. Sturhling watches are definitely not junk - I bought a bunch of Delphis when Amazon had a 1 day sale of them to give away as Christmas gifts this year. They all arrived in good working condition and in nice gift boxes so I can't complain. I'm sure they'll work for a number of years (how well they'll keep time is another story as I'm not sure what auto movement is used) if just due to the simplicity of the watch - no complications, no date.
My personal take is if you can find a watch you like for under a $100, go for it as the designs are unique for the price. Above $100 however I'd have trouble recommending these watches over the likes of an Orient Mako or similarly priced Seiko. Sure the latter two watches would be more conventional in design, but the quality and utility would be vastly superior.
I think this summary takes the grand prize.
I myself own three Sturhling Originals; two of them needed repairs within roughly one month of purchase (they were both automatics - a Sturhling Winchester and a Sea Hawk), though after the (admittedly pricey) service both have been running very smoothly since (though I wonder if the fact that the frequency with which I wear them has decreased dramatically to the point that I am considering selling both has anything to do with this). Also, in spite of the $20 charge for returns within warranty (and the approximately 1-month turnaround), the customer service is actually good and the repairs well-done (I had actually opened both and totally trashed one of them before sending them in for repairs, and they came back nearly as good as when I first took them out of the box). I can't, however, speak with much certainty on either of their movements, though I know I've seen the movement from the Winchester skeleton in other non-Stuhrling watches (specifically a Rotary, and from what I understand that Rotary was sourced from China, so there's good reason to suspect that at least the Winchester's movement is Chinese in origin).
The third Sturhling I own, a Montague skeleton, is handwinding (not automatic) and uses the skeletonized version of the Chinese Standard movement. I know this because I've compared it to the skeletonized movements of watches (particularly some of the pocketwatches) I've gotten on eBay from those "mushroom" brands, all of which use the skeletonized Chinese Standard, and structurally the Montague's movement is identical to this design. However, there is a
major difference in quality. Starting with the finishing, the Sturhling Montague's movement is very well-finished (I can't actually say the same for the Winchester's, though the Sea Hawk's movement is also well-finished). What's more, the Montague has not ever failed on me in the roughly one year I've had it, and it even survived my amateur modding (I replaced the crown with one I took from a dead automatic that came out of a watch I got from another of those "mushroom" brands, and I replaced the hands, as the originals were too difficult to read in anything but broad daylight, with the ones that came from one of those cheap "mushroom-brand" pocketwatches, which added to the steampunk vibe from the Montague and also confirmed that they used the same movement design).
So to answer your original question: from my personal experience, Sturhlings are something of a mixed bag. Watches from them that use simple mechanical (but not automatic) movements are likely to not only sell for less than the others (the Montague was by far the least expensive of the three Stuhrlings I own; the two automatics that needed repair both cost around $120 each not counting the cost of sending them back under warranty - all told I realize now that this was probably too much) but because of the simplicity are likely to be more reliable (the Montague I own cost me something like $70 and is so far as reliable as any watch I still wear, which is more than I can say for the two automatics). They definitely use at least some Chinese movements, but they are definitely
not junk, but I wouldn't go so far as to say they're all quality pieces either - only some of them are (which, of course, is a lot more than you can say for some other brands, with perhaps the exception of Sea-Gull, that rely heavily on Chinese-sourced movements). It would be a good idea to try to find anything from them with a price in excess of $100 for less, and perhaps avoid quartz models from this brand, if only because for the price you can probably get two quartz watches from a brand with a better reputation for reliability.
