Do A Bit Of Research On Kickstarter Projects Before You Hand Over $100 For A $15 Watch

These watches were being sold for $100 on Kickstarter, but you could buy one online for $15.

These watches were being sold for $100 on Kickstarter, but you could buy one online for $15.

The projects looking for crowd-sourced funds on Kickstarter range from the absurd to the brilliant, but a few of them are just plain scams. One very questionable project is currently suspended over such concerns, but not until after it scored donations of more than $9,000.

“I have been making amazing watches in Switzerland for many years and have decided to do this on my own,” reads the pitch for this project listed by a man in Florida [via PledgeWeak.com, a site anyone in need of a Kickstarter-related laugh should check out]. “I thought it was time to make my own name known to the world.”

The man says he’s started production of his first model, a see-through, fully mechanical watch, which he describes as “stunningly beautiful.”

The man goes on to explain that he already has 200 watches made and ready to ship, with “parts for another 300 ready to be assembled, and are being assembled on a daily basis.”

Before the project was suspended, some 53 people each forked over $100 to get their hands on these “high-end” timepieces. Fifteen people paid at least $175 for higher levels of sponsorship and additional watches.

But as folks on Reddit noticed, the images on this project page look an awful lot like the ones for this watch that you can buy for $29.60 — for two of them. That’s right, these stunningly beautiful watches are going for $15/each.

So please, before you hand over your money to someone who is just trying to get their new rug/scarf/noodle truck business off the ground, do a quick search online to see if maybe you aren’t getting taken for a ride.

Now you must watch the video that accompanied the project, if only to hear the majestic music that plays during the many blurry zoom-ins on the watch face:

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