http://www.hanowa.ch/swissmilitary.html

Are they yet another Swinese operation who bought up a half decent name?

Never heard of that brand. My rule of thumb regarding "Swiss Made": If I can't google an image of a factory in Switzerland, the watch is Chinese until proven otherwise.

OK, I see.

The thing is, I'm very new to the world of real watches and this whole Swiss-Made malarky is a real pain in the butt. Unless you know, it's easy to waste your money.

Hanowa Watches

How One Man’s Dream Became a Worldwide Favorite

Hanowa WatchesWhen Hans Noll arrived in Biel, Switzerland in 1961 to become sales manager for one of Switzerland’s many watch manufacturers, he already had aspirations to have a watch company of his own. Three years later, Hans and his wife Elisabeth followed their dreams and became watchmakers. Since the Noll’s didn’t have sufficient capital in 1963 to buy an established brand, they started their own company instead. Using their imagination, the couple named the company Hanowa, using the first two letters each of Han’s first name, last name and the word “watch.”

After only a few years, Hans was living his dream, producing high quality watches under his own name. Hanowa quickly developed a reputation for fantasy watches. These novelty, ring, pendant and clip watches were initially quite popular in the European market. The Noll’s were aware the market was changing however and began converting their production over to sports watches.

By the early 1990’s, the precision and skill that went into the production of this new line of sports, performance and lifestyle watches began to be noticed and the Swiss Military brand was born. Soon after, a sister brand, Swiss Eagle, was launched to offer their target audience specialized, much more exclusive versions of their popular sports watch collections.
Hanowa Mens 16-4004.04.001
Wimbledon Silver Dial Chronograph Hanowa Mens 16-5015.12.007
Ascot Rose Gold Black Dial Watch Hanowa Ladies 16-6000.02.001.10
Timeless Mother-of-Pearl Watch
Hanowa Mens 16-4004.04.001 Wimbledon Collection Silver Dial Chronograph Watch Hanowa Mens 16-5015.12.007 Ascot Collection Rose Gold Accents Black Dial Date Watch Hanowa Ladies 16-6000.02.001.10 Timeless Collection White Mother-of-Pearl Dial Watch

One of the reasons the Hanowa Company has stayed successful is that they are very aware of emerging trends and have been able to quickly evolve, introducing new timepieces that meet changing tastes. It has not gone unnoticed that fashion watches are becoming very popular again. In response to these changing trends, Hanowa is introducing a whole new line of exciting fashion watches to appeal to both men and women.

Classic styles like the new Hanowa men’s Ascot and Timeless models have an elegance and grace that is appropriate for your dressiest occasion. Women’s models like the Kaledoscope, Diamond Lady, Rockstar and Timeless are ready for the red carpet. These ladies models feature sparkling stone bezels and magnificent real Mother-of-pearl dials. Like all Hanowa timepieces, these new fashion watches feature scratch resistant sapphire crystals, durable stainless steel cases and precision Swiss made movements.

If you’re a person who appreciates genuine Swiss quality, but doesn’t appreciate inflated prices, you’ll love what Hanowa has to offer. To acquire one of these quality timepieces for yourself, contact your Hanowa dealer today.
Gevril Group US Agent for Hanowa Watches

Gevril GroupGevril Group is the US agent for Hanowa Watches. You can email us or call 845-425-9882.

I have one Hanowa, a dark-green sunray three-hand quartz diver (pix below). I really like the dial layout, with the seconds subdial at the 6 o'clock posit and stadium-style hour markers. The case is ~43mm wide X ~10mm thick, and the solid steel bracelet is about 23mm wide X 3mm thick, which means it's solid but not too heavy. The clasp is standard, stamped steel and folding, but it also has a two-sided push-button open and foldover diver's lock. It sports a very solid, 60-click ratcheting bezel that operates nice and smoothly, and the screw-on caseback has all the usual basic info engraved on it. I paid $145 + $10 postage for it on feeBay about two years ago, and it's been a very comfortable, rock-solid performer since then. It's one of those nice-looking watches that you grab automatically when you're not sure which watch you want to go with. I'm looking to acquire one of their chronos in their very-unique [color=blue]ice-blue color in the not-too-distant future. Hope this helps![/color]

So they're legit, then? They're very well priced - seen one up for $99 but unfortunately they don't ship to the UK.

itfc1959 wrote:So they're legit, then? They're very well priced - seen one up for $99 but unfortunately they don't ship to the UK.

Judging by the single Hanowa that I have, I'd say they are legit, but it's never a slam-dunk any more these days. Still, I think it's well worth the minimal risk involved, as I really do like mine a lot...

Maybe try eBay?

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1311&_nkw=swiss+military+hanowa&_sacat=0

Lots of sellers of Hanowas, and I'd hope at least some of them would ship to the UK.

Thanks, Mort.

I've seen these being offered on deal of the day sites such as Yugster often.

Mort, thanks for sharing that handsome watch. Do you have the ability to open the caseback and give us a look at the movement?

mrneddles wrote:Mort, thanks for sharing that handsome watch. Do you have the ability to open the caseback and give us a look at the movement?

I s'pose I could...the watch might never work again, but I s'pose I could...