Biden Watch Review | The Best Selling Watch on Amazon... But Why?
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This is the most popular watch on Amazon right now. It’s not a Rolex, not a Casio, not even a MoonSwatch. No, this watch is a…Biden? Wait, what?!
Surprisingly, I’m not even joking. While it has nothing to do with the US President, when I typed in ‘men’s watch’ on Amazon, this was the first unsponsored result, beating out many more renowned brands, with over 15,000 customer ratings to boot.
Price & Sales Volume
According to Amazon UK, over 700 people had purchased this watch in the past month, far more than anything else on the page, but, as you probably know, Amazon search results can be unreliable. So, I double-checked with a Chrome extension that let me sort by review count. While the Biden was a couple of rows down due to its newness, it still had a monthly sales figure that dwarfed the rest.
Remarkably, this “stainless steel” watch cost me the same as many plastic Casios, just £26 GBP, and it’s often available for under $30 in the US. Along with the high average 4.3/5 review score, it left me wondering…is everyone right? Is it worth following the herd and buying this bizarrely named watch?
Well, I have some experience with this brand.
My mate drunkenly showed me one of these on his wrist at a party a few years back, but I had no idea just how popular they were.
So, I’ve already seen one of these watches in the flesh before, but I had no clue how prevalent this brand was!
Oddly, despite the huge sales numbers, BiDen doesn’t have a proper website; instead relying on retail platforms, including AliExpress, Wish, and DHGate. While browsing these Chinese sites, I noticed several similar watches; we’ll get to those later! So, they’re clearly some sort of Chinese brand, but the rest is pretty much unknown.
Despite their fuzzy backstory, this BiDen chronograph looks pretty good online. However, most of their product shots are computer-generated mockups or at least heavily edited, meaning it’s hard to judge the quality. Take this one, for instance, the one I mentioned earlier. BiDen doesn’t own this image, nor does Amazon. No, Zenith does. Spot the difference?
How does this watch actually look in person? Well, here it is.
Obviously, it’s not nearly as good as the doctored stock images, but in all honesty…it could be worse. Unlike many other super low-cost watches, the watch dial has some level of complexity to it, with applied markers and engraved subdials. There’s even a vibrant sunburst blue, which adds to the flashiness.
Construction
Now, there are some glaringly obvious signs that this is an awful quality watch; we’ll get to those in a moment. But, one thing that genuinely surprised me was the weight. I mean, I’ve reviewed some super-budget watches before, most of which felt like tinny, lightweight junk. This BiDen, on the other hand, feels relatively hefty straight out of the box.
It’s supposedly made of steel, unlike the brass or zinc alloy commonly used by competitors, which could explain it, but I sense there’s slightly more to it than that. You see, when examining the case rear, I noticed two exposed metal strips with a much rougher finish than the rest of the case. It almost looks like there’s a different material concealed underneath. I’ll reveal all later.
Still, if you handed this BiDen to someone without any watch knowledge, they’d probably assume it was decent enough, thanks to the weight alone.
Bracelet
Perhaps the highlight of this trashy ticker is the bracelet. It’s fairly comfortable, with reasonable finishing, a push-button clasp with a safety catch, and three micro-adjustment holes. Now, it’s far from the best on the market, but it matches the color scheme nicely and easily outdoes most others in this price bracket.
While it seems to even use solid steel links, if you look from one end, you’ll see that these are actually rolled links, cleverly disguised as solid ones, with no exposed edges. BiDen is far from the only brand to use this tactic, though. Previously, reviewers like me have falsely identified Seiko bracelets as having solid links despite many of them using the same trickery. While not as well-built as a solid link bracelet, this style should pluck fewer hairs than bracelets with more exposed construction, such as those fitted to the low-end Casio watches. This relatively decent bracelet contributes most to the weightiness of the BiDen. When fitted to alternative 20mm bands, it suddenly feels a lot less impressive.
Design
Remarkably, unlike most other dirt-cheap Chinese watches, I don’t think this BiDen chronograph is a cheap copy and paste of a luxury watch design. Now, there are thousands of watch designs out there, so I could be wrong…I’m not Rain Man! But, it’s not a clone of a watch I’ve encountered, which has to count for something. It’s perhaps most like the Rolex Daytona, but with a dive-style bezel, enlarged markers, and a rudimentary handset. The logo, meanwhile…is hilarious. Both the name and typeface look even more ‘AliBaba’ than a Spaghetti Scameti.
Luckily, that’s one part of the watch you can swap it out. No, this isn’t an advanced modular watch or anything like that. No, it’s quite the opposite.
Introducing the ‘Megalith’ chronograph, which I also purchased on Amazon for around 30 quid. Unlike most real vs. fake posts, your eyes are not deceiving you. This Megalith is the exact same watch, just with the logo and 12 marker switched out.
Manufacturing
What’s the deal here? Well, inside the branded pouch is a piece of paper that explains everything. It details the name of the factory that makes these watches; “Guangzhou Zhenhuo Watch Co Ltd”. According to some trading websites, BiDen is their in-house brand, but they also offer OEM and ODM orders to buyers, meaning you can basically customize these existing, generic watches and sell them under a different brand name, with slight variations in design or packaging.
In addition to Megalith, the likes of ‘Filiekeu’ and ‘OLEVS’ appear to be doing the same thing. Some alternative color variants are available on AliBaba for around a tenner each, probably far less for bulk orders.
Still, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily rubbish value. I mean, these watches are still very low-cost. I’ve also showcased plenty of solid Chinese-branded watches on Ben’s Watch Club before now. What are the giveaways that this is a cheap watch, and are they a deal breaker if you want to spend virtually nothing on a watch?
I’ll go through these in order of noticeability. First up is the jangly feel. While this chronograph is heavier than I expected, it still has the jangliness of a low-end watch, due to the poor manufacturing tolerances. Second is the case finishing. There’s no attempt at an integration between the brushed bracelet and the glossy case. To the naked eye, it looks more like chromed brass or plastic than steel due to the excessive reflectivity and tone of the metal. Most low-cost watches opt for this less refined finishing style due to its reduced manufacturing cost, and while it’s not a huge eyesore at a glance, it’s left me even more suspicious about the stainless steel claim. You know what? We’ll scratch this in a moment to see if they’re lying.
Bezel
Credit to BiDen, or should I say the factory that makes them, they actually used a fully ratcheting 60-click bezel, rather than a fixed one, a rarity at this price. I say ‘fully ratcheting,’ but the amount of back-play is pure comedy, to the extent that I would actually prefer a fixed one, to at least increase the likelihood of good alignment. It’s the worst bezel I’ve come across, and you can loosen it just by pushing from the side, so I’m not sure how long this will last!
To be fair, though, you won’t be using it for its intended purpose anyway, as the watch has virtually no water resistance. It’s only got a snapback rear, so despite some of the diver design cues, I’d steer well clear of the open ocean with this one…or even the shower, for that matter.
Issues
There are a few other lesser factors, too: the crown sits way out from its guards, the pushers feel like mush, and bizarrely, the lume pip appears to have been fitted after the protective film that covered the bezel during shipping. After peeling the film off, this small section remained wedged under the lume pip.
I have never seen this on a watch before, but I guess it somehow must be cheaper to do it in this order. Either that, or some private label customers choose not to have the lume pip, so it’s tacked on later as an optional extra.
Watch Movement
Unlike the cheapest watch on Amazon that I reviewed, this is surprisingly not a fake chronograph. The setup isn’t your typical one, as you have a regular, large seconds hand like most non-chronograph watches. Here, the pushers instead operate the mini chrono hand on the lower-center subdial. Overall, the ticking is inconsistent, loud, and doesn’t reset correctly, but it is a functional chronograph watch for the most part.
As you might expect, it achieves this with a Chinese movement, specifically, the Sunon PE90 (sometimes referred to as the PE903). This is the cheapest movement I’ve ever seen, with a retail price of under £2 per unit on AliExpress, far less when bought in bulk. It has a stated accuracy of +/- 30 seconds per month.
Case Material
Well, it’s listed as steel on Amazon, in both the title and specs list, and it does feel substantial. Oddly, though, the product description from the seller claims it has “IP plating” on it. “IP plating” usually refers to ion plating, a type of PVD finish similar to that on watches like the Kore Excursion. It’s used to change the color of a watch and to enhance its durability…but this watch looks nothing like any PVD-coated watch that I’ve come across.
Luckily, we recently scratch-tested a PVD-coated watch as well as the three predominant types of stainless steel used in wristwatches, so we know what performance to expect. The three untreated steel cases saw light scratches with the level 5 pick and deeper grooves at level 6, while the PVD watch did markedly better, only scratching above level 7.
And this BiDen? Well, if you bought this because it was cheap and steel…you’ve been scammed!
It started scratching incredibly easily at just level 4, just like the chrome-plated brass Casio we tested, meaning it’s likely that or a comparable lower-tier material. The rougher strips underneath performed virtually the same too. It’s not made of stainless steel, and it certainly isn’t PVD. Chrome-plated watches succumb more quickly to corrosion than stainless steel, and they’ll look shabbier after a shorter duration, too.
It is a Chinese brand, so perhaps it’s a mistranslation…or they’re just lying to you. These findings don’t surprise me in the slightest, as competitors like Benyar, who are also on Amazon, have previously been caught falsely listing chromed brass watches as stainless steel.
Final Thoughts
So, despite the bracelet being good and the dial seeming reasonable, in every other regard, this Biden, or Megalith, is akin to every other landfill-worthy timepiece that you’ll find at the grocery store. The high purchase count and review scores could be a direct result of customers being misled about the case material, which sucks.
For me, the lynchpin was that case construction. If this were a super affordable steel watch, it may have a unique place, but as is, I don’t feel comfortable recommending an item that is near-disposable, regardless of cost.
What would I recommend buying instead? Well, frankly, I’d recommend spending more for a better-known brand. If you’re stuck with this budget, I’d get either a plastic Casio or a Spaghetti Scameti from our merch store. At least with that last one, you get some stupid stuff in the box.