The Spectacles Thread.

[oldbreadstinks]

thanks that was really helpful. i guess i'm after a light weight lens since my frame is on the heavy side already. what's the pro of having coating smoothness? and what is the usual turnaround time for fitting lens into a frame in singapore?

to quote my answer to hippo

(generally)stock lenses if the shop's edging the lenses themselves 1 day or two to order , another day to cut. and if they drag their feet or have more jobs that day, add another day
so you'll end up with a potential 2-5 working days to get the glasses done.
so the shop should tell you 1 week, and maybe call you if earlier.

(generally)sent to cut at lab depends on what date they request the glasses to be sent back.
a safe time period with no rush is usually minimum 2-3 working days.

but from my understanding paris miki usually do their own cutting and they order their lenses from japan(which is why their japanses lenses are much cheaper)
takes 2-8 working days to send lens in from japan


if price and time isn't a concern I would say paris miki specifically taka should have the least problems where service is concerned.
plus it's in a shopping district.




and if it's frames you're looking for you can try this place
be seen.!
hate the boss but the staff are great.
they have a very nice deco(like a restaurant) and interesting frames but if you're getting from them insist on better lenses
the boss has a policy of making staff push lenses from his own overseas source.

what's the pro of having coating smoothness?

all lenses these days are sold with a anti reflection multicoat.
although the lenses are hardcoated to prevent scratches they are plastic afterall.
most brands of lenses will have a clean/smooth coating on top to repel water/oil/smudges and reduce static to prevent dust from settling so that you won't scratch the lenses .
based on my right thumb some how nikon seecoat lenses felt the smoothest (anyway they happen to be the most expensive as well)

yes the coating comes with all branded lenses in singapore so it doesn't mean if some company is blasting their commercials all over singapore theirs is the only lens that solves these problems.

damn had no idea acuvue 2 is being phased out... btw, any idea whether a contact lens prescription is required to buy contacts in singapore? i have a spectacle lens prescription which is current but my contact lens prescription is not current, and the contact lens prescription has an expiry date which was two years ago.

my spectacles prescription is
-5.00
Cylinder -0.50
Axis 7

-5.75
Cylinder 0.50
Axis 130

acuvue 2 can still be ordered as there is still demand for it. but for shops which felt that the sales don't justifiy the volume since oasys has taken over as the main 2 weeks lens. keeping stock is a waste of time and space.

they'll probably discontinue the stock here once the sales die off.

whoever does your glasses would be about to convert the prescription to contact lens prescription.
due to the optometrist and optician act. the person doing so should be at least an optometrist.

 

[xxllbb]

oldbreadstinks, thanks so much for the detailed response. your advice will save me a lot of shopping around and time in sg. be seen.! looks awesome. will be sure to check it out. i guess if i do buy frames from be.seen, i'll get my lens done at paris miki. wasn't really planning on getting frames but i guess i can be tempted... do you have any other stores to recommend for frames? and any good places to buy acuvue moist in bulk in sg?

 

[oldbreadstinks]

and any good places to buy acuvue moist in bulk in sg?

if you can bargain, hard, I'll say try shops in the heartlands which are used to fierce bargaining .
the margin for contacts is quite low but if taking in bulk you'll find it easier to make a deal.

if haggling is not your thing
most shops will list out $56/box for moist recommend retail price
current J&J promo is
$198 for 4 boxes,
and $300++ for 8 (think it's $368)

oldbreadstinks, thanks so much for the detailed response. your advice will save me a lot of shopping around and time in sg. be seen.! looks awesome. will be sure to check it out. i guess if i do buy frames from be.seen, i'll get my lens done at paris miki. wasn't really planning on getting frames but i guess i can be tempted... do you have any other stores to recommend for frames?

I'm brand conscious... so erm it's hard for me to recommend particular places?
Seen at demsey has quite a bit of stuff.
if you're wandering around in orchard, paris miki has a lot of good japanese titanium frames, below them at basement 1 there's alexis.(there's one more in paragon)
optics 2000 in wisma atria around level 1 or 2(I think, I can't recall the exact name)
and with the exception of paris miki, always, always look at the price list before deciding the lenses you're getting. it is orchard road after all.
do not buy anything before seeing the price list to ensure a good shopping experience.

frames generally have a price tag








if shop deco is not your thing and you don't mind good being a bit cramp. seng li in queensway shopping center has way more stock then the average shop(their sign board even says department store) they don't sell fakes so it's safe to buy there. I think in terms of stock they have one of the biggest varieties I've seen. but they don't do too much of those starck and mikli, theo stuff


queensway had more than 14 optical shops at one point.
bear in mind if you have a fetish for raybans there are only 2 or three authorised dealers there(seng li's one of them)
despite so many shops selling.
buying stuff there is the kind of situation where if you know the retail price, you pay that or less, if not you pay more.
so maybe you wanna look around in other areas then visit queensway to be equipted with an idea of prices. the same thing might cost you 40 in one shop, and $120 in the next.

DO NOT buy branded on the 2nd floor in queensway no matter how good the deal offered looks.you can buy anything else, shoes bags, macdonalds but do not buy branded glasses
on the 2nd floor
there's a particular shop which deal with fakes and pass off as the real deal on the 2nd floor, don't recall the unilt number.(I sometimes suspect 1st floor have shady shops which do the same thing so erm keep to sengli and optique zone if you're not sure, optometrist at work sells raybans(real) but they're not an authorized dealer)

anchorpoint shopping center is next door of queensway if you prefer to make your purchases in a less shady environment.(there's capitol there, so capitol generally=safe they carry all lens brands and don't jack up the price)



if you like funky stuff and look for them outside of orchard

this is tia gong lah(hearsay) there's a particular shop in a place call millenium walk. they apparently are one of the few shops who carry theo outside of the shopping district. again hearsay but 6years ago I hear they were doing 30% off theo but I've never been there so I wouldn't know what prices they were selling at, besides it's six years already.

 

[KohChris]

Buying Oakley RX locally might not be attractive anymore as now they do not have lifetime earsocks and nosepad change out after they changed the distributorship.

The earsock and nosepad kit only cost 10 USD but they charge me 30 SGD to change. What an inflated price.

Btw, the earsock and nosepad still can be change for free within 3 years of date of purchase.

The company changed hands.

Last time, it used to be under Larrikin Pte Ltd, they offered trade-ins for discontinued models (eg. $xx for your frame, and to top up a certain amt etc) and lifetime frame replacement for $80 u.p if the replacements was available.

Nosebombs and earsocks was complimentary for life.


then tragedy happened...

 

[KohChris]

Nowadays, the metal used by oakley to construct spectacles are thin, oakley paint coating looks cheap and the finishing is horrible

 

[Seannie]

I'm brand conscious... so erm it's hard for me to recommend particular places?
Seen at demsey has quite a bit of stuff.
if you're wandering around in orchard, paris miki has a lot of good japanese titanium frames, below them at basement 1 there's alexis.(there's one more in paragon)
optics 2000 in wisma atria around level 1 or 2(I think, I can't recall the exact name)
and with the exception of paris miki, always, always look at the price list before deciding the lenses you're getting. it is orchard road after all.
do not buy anything before seeing the price list to ensure a good shopping experience.

What do you think of "Shingawa Optical" at Wheelock Place? I have yet to visit their shop. Its one of the concept stores belonging to the Capitol group. Im actually looking only for good japanese frames.

The rest of european-fit frames, france, denmark, sweden all out for me. So alan mikli, IC!Berlin, oakley all are history, i will never look at them again. I wasted on 2 ic!berlin frames which are such a disastrous fit for me, notwithstanding many other countless brands.

Im not in optical trade and i cant say that im obssessed. Just like most people like to buy cars, watches or real estate. For me, its finding the right kind of spectacles. Everybody who wears specs should have at least enough knowledge to know what suits them & what they should be looking out for. Its not just brand price nice and full stop. Fitting traiangle is just a basic theory which all spec wearers should be aware of, but sadly there is very little education on this. I have to learn all these through the hard way, trial & error & alot of pain along the way.

Many years ago after graduation i tried for interviews at optical shops, but they said my qualification too high didnt want to try me out. At that time optical88 are still new in sg. Capitol optical cant be bothered abt me. Paris miki even asked me whether i wanna do their office job. Heck.

 

[oldbreadstinks]

The company changed hands.

Last time, it used to be under Larrikin Pte Ltd, they offered trade-ins for discontinued models (eg. $xx for your frame, and to top up a certain amt etc) and lifetime frame replacement for $80 u.p if the replacements was available.

Nosebombs and earsocks was complimentary for life.


then tragedy happened...

manufacturers are cuting out the middleman all over the world.

in oakley's case luxotica's coming in

even rayban's warehouse has been moved to china with the salesman quitting.

 

[oldbreadstinks]

Nowadays, the metal used by oakley to construct spectacles are thin, oakley paint coating looks cheap and the finishing is horrible

when the tookover was completed, first signs were cases started having made in china stickers
then printed

then the word china appeared on some of their acetate frames, I called the salesgirl/women to ask wtf's going on. the reply...."oh? you got that one?"

2-3 years back they declared only the sunglass frames are made in china.


fug them....


the titanium frames started to suffer from col peel..... and once I commented the oakley frame a person was really shiny, he took off his glasses and showed me his legs were a different col. the peeling of the front area was so thorough it turned silver

 

[xxllbb]

thanks for all the info, oldbreadstinks. might come back to ask more questions when i'm in sg next week and have shopped around a bit.

 

[oldbreadstinks]

What do you think of "Shingawa Optical" at Wheelock Place? I have yet to visit their shop. Its one of the concept stores belonging to the Capitol group. Im actually looking only for good japanese frames.

never been there, don't like the persons behind the concept, pretty much means I have nothing good to say but it's not due to the people actually working there. but it's more of a personal issue really. not the quality of their stuff.

if price is not a concern I'm still in favour of paris miki for japanese titanium stuff.

The rest of european-fit frames, france, denmark, sweden all out for me. So alan mikli, IC!Berlin, oakley all are history, i will never look at them again. I wasted on 2 ic!berlin frames which are such a disastrous fit for me, notwithstanding many other countless brands.

disastrous fit? still have them?

because I've seen a lot of asian guys wearing those well.

Im not in optical trade and i cant say that im obssessed. Just like most people like to buy cars, watches or real estate. For me, its finding the right kind of spectacles. Everybody who wears specs should have at least enough knowledge to know what suits them & what they should be looking out for. Its not just brand price nice and full stop. Fitting traiangle is just a basic theory which all spec wearers should be aware of, but sadly there is very little education on this. I have to learn all these through the hard way, trial & error & alot of pain along the way.

knowing opticians , locally I don't think even opticians would bring up the fitting triangle theory lol closest thing would be oakley's 3 point fit.

lol from eperience, your knowledge would be most definitely be viewed as obsession and promptly labelled "difficult" and likely you'll pay a premium for your glasses.
but that's the case in all trades. this morning a taxi driver went into panic mode the moment I asked him about the surcharge(boarded before 10am)
he offered to let me off the cab lol.


my own glasses took me a really long time to find, but luck played a major part so I guess I'm lucky? only took me 2 years and I knew what exactly it was that suits my wearing style. work helps?

Many years ago after graduation i tried for interviews at optical shops, but they said my qualification too high didnt want to try me out. At that time optical88 are still new in sg. Capitol optical cant be bothered abt me. Paris miki even asked me whether i wanna do their office job. Heck.

88 still new?.... how old are you? they were established by the time I started work.
my ex colleague , grad, started out in a bank, didn't like the environment and is now a manager in an optical shop. but she started out in Independent shops.
last I heard capitol still don't care.
related degree?

 

[KohChris]

manufacturers are cuting out the middleman all over the world.

in oakley's case luxotica's coming in

even rayban's warehouse has been moved to china with the salesman quitting.

honestly, im fine with manufacturers cutting out middlemen like larrikin,
if the end clients derive more benefits...

but this is not the case.

Larrikin used to have a nice oakley showroom at tanjong pagar and at leng kee(afterwards), with plenty of product placements & over at the counter, there is a young and friendly lady called hope law.

Over at the former showroom, they had Oakley tees, rugged daypacks, visors, rx frames, sunglasses, boardshorts, watches, bottles, footwear, TVs, displayed in a neat manner.

the TVs had oakley commercials or events running all the time.

the rx frames and sunglasses were stored in those metal cabinets with glass panes.

the showroom products were relatively cheap and hardly overpriced. you could buy a rx spec/sunny and tee for under $100.

it was like an O-store over at the united states.

fast forward to 2012, the new o service center at tan boon liat building is **** and a bloody big joke.

the recep and svc area is 2m by 1.5m.

no products, no nothing.


capitalism at its worse

 

[KohChris]

when the tookover was completed, first signs were cases started having made in china stickers
then printed

then the word china appeared on some of their acetate frames, I called the salesgirl/women to ask wtf's going on. the reply...."oh? you got that one?"

2-3 years back they declared only the sunglass frames are made in china.


fug them....


the titanium frames started to suffer from col peel..... and once I commented the oakley frame a person was really shiny, he took off his glasses and showed me his legs were a different col. the peeling of the front area was so thorough it turned silver

i read online that their rx frames are now made in china, some sunnies in usa. but that was awhile back, so things could have changed..

maybe everything oakley is made in china now...lol

oakley doesnt reveal manufacturing locations for their eyewear now if i remember correctly...

yup, oakleys are VERY prone to wear and tear, and with their altered cs policy, it will affect alot of current and future customers

oakley used to be the IT brand at east coast park.

you would see shirt-shy men jogging with a sexy gf or a dog last time...

still remember wearing my half jacket with fire iridium lens out for cycling at ecp once, and a hell load of others were wearing m-frames, minute, straight jacket etc..

those were the good old days of oakley

 

[KohChris]

my final rant is about oakley's ridiculous pricing.

$396 for crossline & crossline is made of plastic btw.

seriously, companies need to stop thinking about profits at the expense of customers

 

[ohj81]

honestly, im fine with manufacturers cutting out middlemen like larrikin,
if the end clients derive more benefits...

but this is not the case.

Larrikin used to have a nice oakley showroom at tanjong pagar and at leng kee(afterwards), with plenty of product placements & over at the counter, there is a young and friendly lady called hope law.

Over at the former showroom, they had Oakley tees, rugged daypacks, visors, rx frames, sunglasses, boardshorts, watches, bottles, footwear, TVs, displayed in a neat manner.

the TVs had oakley commercials or events running all the time.

the rx frames and sunglasses were stored in those metal cabinets with glass panes.

the showroom products were relatively cheap and hardly overpriced. you could buy a rx spec/sunny and tee for under $100.

it was like an O-store over at the united states.

fast forward to 2012, the new o service center at tan boon liat building is **** and a bloody big joke.

the recep and svc area is 2m by 1.5m.

no products, no nothing.


capitalism at its worse

This I totally agree. Charged me S$30 for something that is only 10 USD on Oakley's online site.

 

[ohj81]

if you've already purchased the frame. ask your optician to move the legs out . there are 2 sizes for transistor. bigger ones naturally fit better. if the bigger one cannot be adjusted to your fit . its not for you.

I remember transistor have springs, that was whats holding me back from getting the frame. Not sure if that part would last.

 

[oldbreadstinks]

honestly, im fine with manufacturers cutting out middlemen like larrikin,
if the end clients derive more benefits...

but this is not the case.

Larrikin used to have a nice oakley showroom at tanjong pagar and at leng kee(afterwards), with plenty of product placements & over at the counter, there is a young and friendly lady called hope law.

Over at the former showroom, they had Oakley tees, rugged daypacks, visors, rx frames, sunglasses, boardshorts, watches, bottles, footwear, TVs, displayed in a neat manner.

the TVs had oakley commercials or events running all the time.

the rx frames and sunglasses were stored in those metal cabinets with glass panes.

the showroom products were relatively cheap and hardly overpriced. you could buy a rx spec/sunny and tee for under $100.

it was like an O-store over at the united states.

fast forward to 2012, the new o service center at tan boon liat building is **** and a bloody big joke.

the recep and svc area is 2m by 1.5m.

no products, no nothing.


capitalism at its worse

never called her young lol, i'm younger then her I guess so I didn't
no interest in their stuff, always found them overpriced, I usually waited for the invite. but will still look look see see but no buy.

deco's nice but work brings me there so usually no mood for their stuff. but my manager would ask me to "steal" their redbull

but this is part of luxotica's efforts to consolidate liao. like rayban warehouse being move and jobs lost. coupled with the lousy quality with stuff under their company. I'm not sure if i wanna support them by getting radar

 

[Seannie]

never been there, don't like the persons behind the concept, pretty much means I have nothing good to say but it's not due to the people actually working there. but it's more of a personal issue really. not the quality of their stuff.

if price is not a concern I'm still in favour of paris miki for japanese titanium stuff.

Hmm, i dont quite get you. You dont like the management behind Capitol Optical or Shinagawa? Becos it seems to be a joint venture. Anyway I will need to get down there one fine day & test out their service, product knowledge & attitude and also their range of products. You know most chain stores employ staff whom either dont know their optical stuff well, or having an attitude problem, or plainly not motivated enough to want to give you a good experience. Thats is why i still prefer sole proprietary shops, but the main problem with these shops is that they do not have the capital which big chain stores have to be able to take in too much varieties or quantities. So a lot depends on the astute vision of the owner in identifying & choosing the best products available.

 

[oldbreadstinks]

my final rant is about oakley's ridiculous pricing.

$396 for crossline & crossline is made of plastic btw.

seriously, companies need to stop thinking about profits at the expense of customers

oakley's been going downhill since last year. or the year before. my ex manager's already cutting back.

but really any brand under luxotica will get their prices jack up

prada is now $400-$700

oakley you know the story

raybans shooting up

they just took over coach and it's 20% up already

 

[KohChris]

This I totally agree. Charged me S$30 for something that is only 10 USD on Oakley's online site.

buy all eyewear related products online next time...
no more good eyewear companies le...

 

[KohChris]

never called her young lol, i'm younger then her I guess so I didn't
no interest in their stuff, always found them overpriced, I usually waited for the invite. but will still look look see see but no buy.

deco's nice but work brings me there so usually no mood for their stuff. but my manager would ask me to "steal" their redbull

but this is part of luxotica's efforts to consolidate liao. like rayban warehouse being move and jobs lost. coupled with the lousy quality with stuff under their company. I'm not sure if i wanna support them by getting radar

i would not buy the radar, but i would buy the m-frame