I Tried Africa’s First ‘Luxury’ Brand | Asorock Watches Review
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I recently encountered a company called Asorock, which claims to be "Africa's first luxury watch brand."
They reached out via email, asking me to become a monthly paid ambassador for them, where I'd be receiving cash and commissions in exchange for making some YouTube and online content involving their watches.
That's exactly why I'm making this post…just kidding.
While this offer was tempting, it didn't align with our operation at Ben's Watch Club. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the whole concept. I've been contacted by brands from Eastern Europe, Asia, and The Americas over the years, but never Africa!
What is this brand, then? Are these watches actually luxury, or are they instead hiding some weird secrets?
To find out, I rejected the backhander but got them to send me over a watch for review instead. Boy, they'll wish they hadn't.
Who are Asorock?
Who is this peculiar brand that you'd be buying into? That's half of the 'luxury watch' concept, after all.
According to their website, Asorock was founded in 2018 by two African-Americans, Ben and Andrew, who "sought to cut out the high retail mark-up of popular name brands."
Hmm, that sounds familiar for some reason...
The company was named after a monolith in Abuja (the capital of Nigeria).
Unfortunately, it seems that they can't decide on the pronunciation of their name. In some content, they say "ace-o-rock," while on other occasions, it's "ass-o-rock." I'm going to go with the latter, given that's how the founders seem to say it.
Either way, the lads were fed up with their "limited choices due to the inflated high mark-up prices of popular name brands."
They frequently mention a social responsibility program where the proceeds from each watch sold go toward building a library in a village in Nigeria. I'm not sure what percentage of the profits this will be or which village this is for, it doesn't say. If true, then this is really cool. When it occurs, I'd love to see Asorock vlog this process to prove it's not just a marketing falsehood. Unfortunately, I've come to expect such dishonesty from comparable microbrands in the past.
Marketing Strategies
My senses are especially heightened as the brand uses numerous stereotypical strategies, including its launch via Indiegogo; the frequent, continuous discount codes; various paid media appearances; bold quality claims, and the generic 'cutting out the middlemen' cartoons.
Many of their watches also look just like other infamous brands that I've covered before.
Nevertheless, I'll give them some slack as some of their slip-ups reveal it's clearly their first rodeo. These include frequent verbal blunders in their pitch videos, a strap that's fitted upside down, and one of the founders appears to be wearing a different brand of watch in their pitch video.
There's also a supposed street review, where members of the public react to Asorock watches. Take a look at it for yourself.
I hate to be the one to say it, but...this has got to be staged, right? I mean, approaching strangers on top of a skyscraper? Really? Nothing about the interaction seems natural to me. That being said, I'm from the UK, so what do I know? Maybe that's normal for you guys in the states!
I noticed a few more unusual 'inconsistencies,' shall we say. Their about section says that they keep advertising costs to a bare minimum, despite spending out on the aforementioned media appearances and offering me cash and commissions to cover their watches on YouTube.
Additionally, all their watches are either quartz or automatic, yet they have shots of hand-wound movements on their website.
It's not all bad, though.
While not based out of Africa and with watches produced in the far Ear, these guys seem to have a solid connection to the continent the brand is linked to, unlike certain 'Italian' brands run by Lithuanians.
The reviews section also looks legitimate for the most part, with a huge variety of user-created images and some reviewers noting criticisms. Unlike some other brands that have been in touch, these two don't seem like scumbags out to scam anyone and customers seem to be receiving their products.
Asorock Watch Review
Holy smokes, does this look like a Valuchi! Or maybe the Valuchi looks like this? I can't remember which came out first.
Either way, this looks like it's been made in the exact same factory. The steel case is borderline identical outside of the bezel, with a comparably brushed finish. From a side-on perspective, you'd be hard-pressed to find a difference. The housing is clearly a Royal Oak/Nautilus hybrid rip-off, so it lacks originality.
Bracelet & Crystal
While the solid H-link bracelet is slightly different, it still retains the same fixed end link issue as the Valuchi, which boosts the lug to lug size to an ungainly level. The screwed rear features a silhouette of the Nigerian coat of arms and feels secure enough to withstand more than the assigned 5ATM water resistance rating.
Funnily enough, they actually sent me two pieces, the second being a matte black variant of the same model. I've never been a fan of matte black watches, as they can often look like cheap plastic, so I prefer the traditional silver one.
In one crucial area, this Asorock beats the 'unparalleled' Valuchi. This one is fitted with a proper sapphire crystal, which is also an upgrade over their 'sapphire-coated crystal' marketing promises. This will give you must better scratch resistance.
Production
They also say that these are made in Japan in their pitch video. A revelation I'll mention soon revealed that it's almost certainly just the Miyota quartz movement that's from Japan, which is why it only says 'Japan Movement' on the back, rather than 'made in Japan' as is customary. I could be wrong, but I reckon the rest of this is likely constructed in China (for reasons I'll mention later).
Both units function well, with the alignment consisting of one hit and one miss. I've never liked these movements, as even well-aligned modules are annoyingly prone to missing some markers during a full circulation, though they will still give you accurate time.
Watch Design
Putting size aside, I honestly think this Transporter is pretty good-looking. Of course, it bears more than a passing resemblance to some previously mentioned brands, with a similar layout and near-identical indices. Nevertheless, it seems more tastefully done. I'm not sure whether 'basic' or 'restrained' is the appropriate term here. Still, it hasn't been overdesigned to the extent of other comparable watches that end up looking cluttered and convoluted.
This one is simple and slick, with a high contrast backdrop, a lumed handset that better fits the sports watch aesthetic and a safe logo that isn't too large or obnoxious. The dial itself is rather bland, but the subdials are well spread, and there don't appear to be any significant quality control issues.
That brings me to the main question. Is this a luxury watch? Well, in Africa, maybe. Asorock does appear to be the only heavily marketed African watch brand, so I guess there's no reference point?
For the Western market, though, it's a bit of a laughing stock. For a list price of USD 199, they're not any sort of game-changer. While the construction feels solid, much better value can still be had from a range of more established brands at the same price point. There's nothing luxurious or impressive about a cheap quartz movement, and I doubt many luxury watches arrive caked in dirt as this one did.
Asorock Watch Models
Is it a bad watch? Well, there seem to be many very similar watches floating around on AliExpress.
Wait a minute...is this the exact Asorock smartwatch case that I saw earlier?
Wait, what on earth is this too?
You can't expect me to think the established brand Megir copied newbies Asorock, right?
Wait for this.
Asorock has this next one down as a pre-order product on their website, yet reverse image searches prove that this design has been for sale since 2016 on other websites. Disgraceful. The reason it's everywhere is that it's readily available from an Alibaba wholesaler who allows for custom logo printing and whose minimum customized order quantity of 100 lines up perfectly with your 100 pieces limited edition run. Turns out it's the same story as the previous two, which can also be fully customized.
Final Thoughts
I mean, seriously, Ben, Andrew, and the weird American guy who can't pronounce the company name; did you guys really think you could pull the wool over my eyes?
I'm now doubting the legitimacy of this whole African library stunt. After all, most of Asorock's offerings are likely to be drop-shipped from China, meaning that the spiel about touring various factories and designing the watches is not wholly accurate. How do you expect me to believe the rest of this story? At this point, I've read fairy tales that seem more plausible.
The model I was sent is the only one on the Asorock website that I couldn't easily find online. Hopefully, that one is legitimate, but I wouldn't put money on it. It doesn't look good.
Are the reviews also pulled from AliExpress or Alibaba? Asorock is using the same software as No Label Watch, which I previously exposed for dropshipping their entire collection and shadily pulling their reviews directly from Alibaba; so it's not out of the realms of possibility, is it?
Asorock should be ashamed. I cut the founders some slack, as they are beginners from a less prosperous part of the world, who didn't seem as cocky as founders of other notorious fashion brands. Yet, they've still tried to hoodwink me and my audience!
The only brand that matches this level of dishonesty is Valuchi, which copied an entire Kickstarter campaign and stole other brands' photos for their marketing. Read that article next right here.