I always read up before buying a watch. Admittedly, online reviews are either really good or really bad, with lots of caveats, while at no time giving an accurate picture. I own Farer watches, EPOS watches, Henry Archer, Studio Underg0g, one Longines Spirit, and now this Cincinnati Guild watch.
With those brands of watches you can see my price point - less than than $2.5k. I target the movement, country of origin, and the history of the timepiece, then I find a face of theirs that I like, often leading to no purchase. I like what I like. That's my methodology.
I was quite reticent to purchase an American made watch (because I'm an American) but in this case the movement is a Swiss SW210, and installed into an American case performed by what used to be the Gruen Watch company. There's a wonderful and rich history to explore!
Apart from being a little on the weighty side, I find no flaw in design or execution. The dial style is very old-timey. The dial color way is snow white with a black hour track, no date, numerals like my EPOS Timeless Retro watches, and lume on the hour/minute, nowhere else. The complete thickness is 10.39mm (measured).
The packaging is on the lean side, which doesn't deter me from another purchase. I don't store my watches in the original packaging anyway. It rides a little high, even though the thickness is ~10mm because the bezel is larger in diameter than the caseback but this also fine to me.
Lastly, I suspect I'll need to regulate this as it is already running 8 seconds slow. This also in not a deterrent to an avid watch wearer. O really this was a wonderful and surprising purchase. I'm already planning another hand wound watch from Cincinnati.
