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MrWieners t1_j9ynz52 wrote

Okay so this seems untrue to me. Shinola has well known shady marketing practices with the whole “made in Detroit” thing. But ultimately shinola uses the same movement that shit tons of other watches use and they are not unreliable. The mechanical watches use Sellita movements which are high quality Swiss movements that are mass produced

Also, whoever told you a regular watch guy can’t do the job is full of shit.

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2ndfloorbalcony OP t1_j9yrjhw wrote

It’s not the mechanism but the casing itself. The shinola casings can only be opened with a specific machine that shinola and their affiliate watch repairmen have access to. It’s not a case that anyone could open, like my Seiko 5.

Regardless of the movements reliability with other makers, what I experienced was far below the standard lifespan of any other battery power watch I’ve owned before.

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MrWieners t1_j9yrva6 wrote

I still don’t believe that. Who told you this?

Edit: that’s also not true for the seiko 5, which is a common mod watch for amateurs

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2ndfloorbalcony OP t1_j9ytv7m wrote

I don’t know what to tell you dude. I have a model that my uncle bought early on in the brand’s life so maybe they’ve changed the casing since then. I’ve taken it to multiple watch repairmen in the large city I live in and they’ve all told me the same thing that shinola told me. Re: Seiko 5, the case back can be opened by anyone with a small screwdriver, so I’m not sure what you meant by that. Regardless, I’m just trying to give a warning to other folks who had high hopes for a nice looking watch like Shinola makes. They co opted Detroit’s reputation for American made goods to hock their shit watches for high prices, and that bums me out.

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MrWieners t1_j9yuj9u wrote

I misunderstood what you meant in the seiko 5 comment. My bad.

Also, didn’t realize we were talking about a battery powered watch. That’s even more silly.

Here’s a video of the battery replacement for a shinola runwell. Takes the dude like 30 seconds to open the case.

https://youtu.be/1AWD8IYAf0k

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2ndfloorbalcony OP t1_j9yw1z1 wrote

Amazing! In that case, shinola is full of shit. Glad to potentially get this baby working again tho!

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MrWieners t1_j9ywsxu wrote

Well, most watch manufacturers will strongly recommend you send it to them for repairs, but for them to tell you it’s required just for a fucking battery replacement is pretty bonkers. Not clear why 3rd party watchmakers agreed with them too.

I like the runwell style, but shinola is about as as shady as they come with their marketing practices.

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