Regardless of where you sit on the topic, there’s no denying that certain homage watches pack a lot of value. Whilst value can be quite a subjective thing in itself, $200 USD for a fully automatic, hackable and hand winding Miyota 9 series movement, with blued hands and sapphire glass, is definitely enough to give you pause. Pictured below is the model I’ve had hands on experience with: the Tisell Flieger Type A. With no date or sub-dials and a completely sterile dial, this design stays truer to the WW2 spec fliegers than some brands with models approaching the $1,000 USD mark. Granted, its not from one of the original three brands still producing fliegers from the 1940’s, but for the price and comparable specs, you really can’t look past the Tisell Flieger models.
So who are Tisell? Located in South Korea, Tisell are a micro-brand working off of a back order system. In order to purchase one of their watches, you essentially go on a waiting list until the model is ready for dispatch. Postage is free and in my case there was a 2 week delivery time to Melbourne, Australia.
The watch itself is stunning. A slightly domed sapphire crystal sits atop a beautiful matte black dial. The indices, hands and minute track contrast strikingly in this monochromatic colour pallet, with the wonderfully blued hands adding just a touch of colour at certain angles.
The Miyota 9015 is an excellent movement, keeping time accurately with a lovely sweeping second hand oscillating at 28,800 vph. The rotor is a little louder than other movements, but this was barely an inconvenience. The applied lume in this case is Super-Luminova BGW9. Unfortunately this was not a strong point, with slightly uneven application. But then again, my Glycine Combat Sub at over three times the price has the same issue.
Tisell produce a whole range of models. I can only speak for both the type A and B pictured above, however anecdotally, there’s a wide community of owners professing love for the Sub and Bauhaus homages. With a lot of ‘top 5 homage watches under $200’ pieces excluding Tisell from their lists, I felt it necessary to correct this oversight.
Specifications
Manufacturer: Tisell
Model / Reference: Flieger Type A
Case size (not including crown): 40mm
Lug to lug: 49mm
Lug width: 20mm
Caliber: Miyota 9015, self-winding, hackable, hand-winding, 28,800 vph
Lume: Super-Luminova BGW9
Crystal: Sapphire Crystal
Strap / Bracelet: 20mm Brown Genuine Leather strap
You can view the Tisell range here: http://shop2.tisellkr.cafe24.com/
Melbourne Watch Republic 
Sleazy company – stay away. The watch bracelet broke almost immediately. They charged me $39 shipping to send me a 10-cent part. Then the bracelet broke again one day later. They refused to replace the bracelet, wanted to charge me another $39 to send a slightly different 10-cent part (like they couldn’t have included that one on the previous shipment) and blamed the problem on a professional jeweler who made the original fix. Disgraceful.
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Hi mate, thanks for your comment. I’m so sorry to hear about your experience. One of the risks of buying overseas is that returns and after sales care can be difficult. I learnt this the hard way recently when I purchased a Rolex Explorer from Japan. It was a nightmare in the end and I’ll mainly stick to buying locally from now on. Hope your luck turns around. Take care.
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