The shop shelf

Parts & tools I actually use

Everything here has been on my bench. Where a cheap version is genuinely fine, I say so; where it isn't, I say that too. Prices drift constantly on these marketplaces, so treat the figures as a rough guide rather than a quote.

Affiliate disclosure. The buttons on this page are affiliate links to DHgate and AliExpress. If you buy through one, I may earn a small commission — it costs you nothing extra and the seller sets the price, not me.

I only list parts I've handled myself, and a commission has never made me recommend something I wouldn't otherwise. Full details in the disclosure statement.

Before you order

Four things I check on every listing

  1. Measurements, not model names. "SKX-style" means nothing. Get the crystal seat diameter, the movement opening and the lug width in millimetres, in writing.
  2. Ask a question before you buy. A seller who answers a specific measurement question clearly is a seller who'll help when something arrives wrong.
  3. Check the movement's origin. Genuine NH35s and clones both circulate widely. The clones can run fine, but you should know which one you're paying for.
  4. Buy the consumables twice. Gaskets, hands, spring bars, crystals. You will damage one. The shipping wait is the expensive part, not the part.

On trademarks: a lot of what's sold on these marketplaces carries branding it has no right to. There's a real line here, and it's worth knowing where it sits. A homage — a watch that borrows a familiar design language but wears its own maker's name — is legal, and it's most of what makes this hobby affordable. A watch wearing someone else's logo is a counterfeit, and reselling those is where hobbyists get into genuine trouble.

Everything listed here is either an unbranded component or sold under the maker's own name. Nothing on this page carries a logo it isn't entitled to, and I won't link anything that does.