I like Hamilton's frogman better. But like I said these don't do it for me. Do you think its a design ripoff Ocean? Does look a lot like the Hamilton.

Bump

I'm surprised to see that their website is still operating...and selling a watch called "the Destructor." Oy.

I've never owned a Renato. I saw a couple that I thought were nice looking, but they were too large for me. I don't think Mink is a good designer, most of his stuff is tacky and as the years go on the watches get cheaper and more tacky. I have no idea how Renato stays in business.

He is no designer but some of the stuff from his dad's company doesn't look too bad.

Bump

An interesting thread, thanks for the bump.

Also interesting is the fact that La Mink, at some point, attracted the attention of Oprah Winfrey, who promoted his watches. Normally, even the most mediocre businessman should be able to ride that wave to riches that would be the envy of Croesus--I used to sell books, and when Oprah gave a thumbs up to a B-list author, that was enough to rocket the writer to the top of the NY Times bestseller list.

But not La Mink. Indeed, in retrospect, it seems he went out of his way to come up with dumb ideas--anybody remember his "Black Card" scam?--and successfully trashed a brand that actually seemed, at least in TeeVee Wartche-land, to be somewhat respected.

As Mr. O points out above, La Mink even dipped his toe into the tourbillon pool, which was the moonshot of the Florida Wartche Triangle brands. With Seagull building some simple tourbies, a lot of the TeeVee brands were rushing through the door to buy them--kind of like the Three Stooges trying to rush out of the room at the same time, yanking each other out of the way. I recall, when WGs was still living its unnatural life, La Mink was shilling his tourbillons there--until Michael Davis got uppity and threw a fit. Alas, Davis, degenerate gambler that he was, decided to spend the weekend in Las Vegas, and La Mink, who apparently was stringing Davis along with the promise of employment, dropped the bomb on him, telling everybody at WGs that is was a shame that Davis wasn't happy with the crumbs fed to him by Eyal.

At any rate, I watched a few of the old Shop shows with La Mink, usually hosted by the oleaginous Jawbone Skelton, and I really never saw the attraction. I've only seen one Renato in the wild, and it was on the wrist of a very old Asian gentleman, and far too big, and the gold plating was flaking off.

Apparently, La Mink has left the wartche trade, and is now, some say, selling very expensive real estate in New York.

conjurer wrote:An interesting thread, thanks for the bump.

Also interesting is the fact that La Mink, at some point, attracted the attention of Oprah Winfrey, who promoted his watches. Normally, even the most mediocre businessman should be able to ride that wave to riches that would be the envy of Croesus--I used to sell books, and when Oprah gave a thumbs up to a B-list author, that was enough to rocket the writer to the top of the NY Times bestseller list.

But not La Mink. Indeed, in retrospect, it seems he went out of his way to come up with dumb ideas--anybody remember his "Black Card" scam?--and successfully trashed a brand that actually seemed, at least in TeeVee Wartche-land, to be somewhat respected.

Yeah, I was around when this was going on, and it always astounded me. Of course, the Oprah/Gayle King endorsement was for a women's watch, so what does Mink do? Pretty much concentrated on the big/bigger/biggest thing going on at ShopNBC at the time, and it was all downhill from there. My favorite was Kendy or whatever her name is on ShopNBC, describing Renato as "the highest of the high end." Where? The Bowery?

Back in the days I owned a few Renatos, a few were for my wife, but I flipped them all by the end of 2012. The main lesson I learned was never buy a watch with diamonds and expect to get a lot back when you flip.

I liked a few of them..don't recall having any quality issues. I'll have to see if I can find any photos of the ones I liked. I don't remember where they were made or what kind of movements (aka "engines") they used.
05/04/07 RENATO T- REX
10/17/06 RENATO Wildebeast
04/28/08 RENATO Jakal - Yellow - Rubber
06/05/08 RENATO Wilde-Beast White MOP
08/10/08 RENATO Beast - Silver dial
03/10/08 RENATO Cyclops Blue Dial SS
10/21/08 RENATO Wilde-Beast Alligator
10/26/09 RENATO Beast 2 time zones
06/02/09 RENATO Wilde-Beast Diver
10/19/06 RENATO Beauty
07/31/10 RENATO LE Beast X Ana-Digi Yellow
01/28/10 RENATO T-Rex Blue w/2 straps
02/28/08 RENATO Beauty Purple
09/26/11 RENATO T-REX Diver - Blue

The only one I could find was this T-Rex . Just saw one on eBay G 10 swiss mov't asking $290.