I bought an Alpha Explorer about 18 months back. Great bracelet but of the watch fell off due to a poor spring bar. The hands and face were slightly misaligned. The watch gained 40 secs a day for the first week. After about 6 weeks it settled in to a very accurate +20 seconds per week. The lume was very bright and lasted a reasonable amount of time. Fit and finish overall were very good. Probably 90% of a Rolex for 2% of the price.

However you can get a Citizen or Seiko for a bit more than the Alpha price. Personally I much prefer my Seiko 007 to a Rolex look alike.

Well guys evrybody knows for ROLEX you have to pay the name….. I live in Hungary and a ROlex costs 6000 dollar here. You can imagine how money people actually wearing a real ones. no one gives a shit. We dont pay 6000 for 5 letter….

I’m wondering if anyone has had experience with alpha’s chronoghaphs?

The reason some people hate inexpensive watches is simple. They hate the fact that a $40 watch looks and works like their $4000 watch. It is hard to feel superior if the guy on the street has something that looks just like your Rolex. IWC or Patek Phillipe but only costs the price of a case of beer.

I have three multimillionaire businessmen friends who wear fake Rolexes because they think the ‘real deal’ is a total waste of money. With a real Rolex everyone assumes it is fake unless you are wearing an expensive suit. If you’re wearing an expensive suit they always assume a fake Rolex is real. BTW a Rolex Sub costs almost USD8000 in Australia.

I have just bought a green dial Alpha Yachtmaster. It is keeping perfect time after 48 hours. That is as good as any automatic watch will get. I also own an Alpha Explorer. I wore it daily for about six months but the lack of a date was a nuisance. It runs about +2 sec/day. Neither watch has been regulated. I’m not worried if this Alpha only lasts two years. That works out to 5 cents a day depreciation. I can buy 10 new Alphas for the price of a single Rolex service.

The Alpha has an excellent case and bracelet – similar quality to the real thing. The Alpha lume is good. The bezel moves a little too easily but that is the case with most watches. Waterproofing is poor but that hardly matters for a desk diver.

Just an update on my Alpha’s for anyone that is interested.
The GMT is now a year and three months old and still keeps very good time. The glass is blemish free and the case and strap still excellent in finish and looks. The GMT movement works perfectly showing two time zones with ease. I wear this watch Monday through to Friday for work and my Orange Alpha on the weekend.
My Orange Speedmaster lookalike is also performing without fault and its time keeping is almost as good as my Seiko titanium Sport100 Quartz in accuracy.
I am not able to fault either watch.

Okay, bought this watch on-line for 39 USD. Green bezel submariner style. Had the watch for about three months.
Yesterday I am riding in the car with my girl. She was driving thank God. I saw this green thing fly across the car. When I looked at my watch a few minutes later I saw that the bezel was gone! It was on the floor. I picked it up and looked at the back of it. There was paper covering the back of the bezel. I pulled it off and there was glue underneath. I stuck the bezel back on and it has stayed on all day so far.

Mr. Icantseewhy. Why even post such a comment? People are looking at the alpha brand because they like automatic watches and maybe the Rolex models are out of their price range. Who cares if you go to wal mart and get a timex or casio or whatever? If someone wants to appreciate a fine timepiece, I don’t know where in the hell you get off telling them to buy some wal mart or Target watch. Why are you even reading the post if your watch is so great and you love it so much?

I don’t own an Alpha but it would seem to me that if you bought a cheap watch you should expect to receive a cheap watch. If you’re looking for a good look-a-like for a sub then try Debaufre. I think they are running $460.00 US new and I see them all the time used for $275.00 on WUS. It’s an excellent and I do mean excellent watch.

Sandoz is a Swiss brand.
You are a bit ignorant, aren´t you?
Or a liar that makes everything to prove his point.
Go fuck yourself

This is one of the most useless watch reviews I have ever come across. The only good thing is the links to other, better reviews in people’s comments.

You dumb ass. You don’t know shit. Alpha watches are nice and if you wear them everybody asks you if it’s a Rolex so go shove it up your moms big fat arse you fuckin faggot.

Alpha are great watches. PERIOD!!! No 2 ways about it. What a useless review and great comeback from the true Alpha fans.

Stevo, do you own Alpha watches or are you here to make new friends??? Stick to the review of Alpha watches and you can be my friend.

I have an Alpha Sub that cost 38 bucks, I got it a few years ago before they raised the prices. It has a black face and blue bezel. I will tell you that I receive comments about how sharp the watch looks almost daily. I work in the IT industry and there are a lot of real and fake Rolexes abound. I’ll just be happy with my Alpha. It ran a little fast when I first got it but after wearing daily for about a week, it settled down and now keeps great time.

its hard to take a guy who has a true distaste for the far east, and then makes a write up like he knows what hes talking about. “I dont mean to be harsh” my ass. Thats like saying “I like it when you poop on my cupcake and call it frosting.” Second, Don’t beat around the bush- Just come out and say that you hate that a 50USD watch with a tearoff of another that costs thousands more.

lastly, I quote Chascomm from watchuseek forum.
“However it does not function like a Rolex GMT Master-II i.e. on this watch, the 24 hour hand has a sweep adjustment from the middle crown position, while the 12 hour hand it sync’ed to the minute hand and set in the conventional way. IMO this constitutes a legitimate type of GMT function. Some enthusiasts however insist that a ‘true’ GMT must have the 24 hour hand sync’ed to the minutes, and the 12 hour hand independently settable by 1 hour steps only (bad luck if you live in Adelaide ). By such a criteria, the old Rolex GMT Master-I and most vintage Seiko GMT are not ‘true’ GMT watches because both hour hands are permanently sync’ed”

Do your homework son.

I happen to have both the genuine Rolex GMTII and an Alpha GMT. Given the price difference, I can say that I’d have to be more disappointed with the Rolex than the Alpha (Although I enjoy wearing both watches). I’m quite impressed with the Alpha, the band is actually superior to the real thing in that the links are not a folded sheet metal affair and has less play. The removable links are held together with screws like the real deal and the clasp has never let me down in the 2 years I’ve owned and worn it. Incidentally, I wear the Alpha when I’m going to be doing rougher things like mountain biking, construction projects, working in the yard etc where there is a greater likelihood it’ll be subjected to damage.

As for the movement, True, it doesn’t feel or work quite like a Rolex, the 24 hour hand adjustment is continuous rather than notching on the hour, but that’s not a big deal. The date is a heck of a lot easier to adjust than the Rolex. The larger crown is a nice touch and the case is nicely finished. Magnification of the date window is not as good, but still makes it easier to see.

For timekeeping, I must admit the Rolex is superior, with the Alpha about +10seconds per day, still respectable in my opinion.

Water Resistance, no doubt the Rolex is the winner here, the Alpha doesn’t have a seal for the back cover (at least mine doesn’t have one), so this is a watch you might want to be careful with around water, certainly no diving or swimming with the Alpha.

Lume – Not so good in that department, but I’ve found this isn’t an absolute necessity and is rarely a big consideration.

Bottom line…. If you’re not willing to spend a lot more on the Rolex, I think the Alpha will provide a lot of wearing enjoyment. I certainly enjoy wearing mine.

So for the price, I think it’s a well constructed watch, keeps reasonable time, and in a few ways is superior to a Rolex.

Hope this helps.

$4000.00 vs $40.00
Really?
You’d probably scream at your 7 year old when he doesn’t complete a 40 yard pass in a Pop Warner game wondering the whole time why he can’t control a game like Peyton Manning.
Next why don’t you compare a Hyundai Tiburon to a Bugatti Veyron Pur Sang? The Hyundai will get you to work and won’t leave you stranded but the damned thing won’t go 0-60 in 3 seconds right?
Get a clue!!

This review is crap. i’d say Alpha watches are about the same as Invictas, they are about
as close to looking like a Rolex as you are going to get for under 100 bucks. Most people don’t give two shits what kind of watch you wear. The only people who care what you have on your wrist are watch collectors. They watch movies just to pick out the watches. Hell, Now if you want to spend 400 dollars on a fake Rolex you can get one with a smooth eta movement and a sapphire crystal that will fool almost everybody. Alphas are great to wear as an everyday watch, they can take a beating. You will notice the first couple days the asian movement will run real fast, but if you wear it for about a week it will settle down and you will be fine. Plus if you lose it or break it you aren’t out 5000 bucks.

@dave holloway

I have the Chronograph and I LOVE IT!!!

After reading this review and the subsequent comments, I, too, shall purchase an Alpha if for no other reason than to spite the douchebag who wrote the original review

Ok, because of this article, I purchased the Alpha submariner clone for about 64 dollars shipped. Watch LOOKS amazing, if you want everyone to think you have a Rolex, this is your watch. One of the screws in the links was loose, watch fell off first day(thankfully on the rug)The watch ran fast for about a week, then kept good time. A month in the bezel popped off. It actually still had the peel off tape on it. I removed it and put it back on. The Lume is bright for a minute, but doesn’t last. After one year of very gentle use, the crown is stripped. I don’t know where to get a replacement. If you want a Rolex Homage I would suggest Seiko, Citizen, Casio or Invicta. I feel that the Alphas are just slapped together with little or no QC. Anyone else had issues? Maybe I got a lemon.

Where have all the comments gone????

I can still see the comments when I disable javascript for this site,