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Sooner or later, it's going to happen to everyone if you buy things from overseas. In the past few years, I have had a couple of boxes of Cigars shipped from Australia , get stopped by US customs. The folks I purchase from reshipped to my business address, and were received safely. Incredibly after months and months, over a few week period, the boxes arrived!! I was told that US Customs in NY was releasing a lot of stuff that they had been holding. Of course with cigars, after 6-12 months in a non temperature and humidity controlled environment, they were pretty awful!! Probably their perverse way of saying" We know these are Cuban, and we could have destroyed them, but you can have them now after 8 months in a hot dry warehouse, enjoy your smokes!! This story however is about watches, not cigars. A couple of weeks ago, I bought an AP Diver V5 from a member on RG. Shipping from Singapore. Nice smooth transaction, lots of good prompt communication, He gave me two choices for shipping, Registered mail or courier service (OCS), which I had never heard of. He assured me that they were legit, sent me a link to their website, which I visited, and they are indeed a world wide shipping company. I chose the OCS route. He shipped the watch on 1/6/2014. Shipping 3-5 business days. I tracked the package, but the main site showed "Dispatched to the USA' up until yesterday. Then it showed up as undeliverable, which was strange as there was someone at home all day Thursday when it was showing as undeliverable. I emailed the seller as well as the OCS office in Los Angeles and their tacking email. last night I got my answer. the package was held up in Customs in LA due to "watch is undervalued" Shipper sent it as "Watch for repair" value 50.00 USD. He has resubmitted the invoice to OCS with a value of 150.00 USD, which may or may not satisfy customs. Since OCS hands off to FedEx, I believe that the FedEx customs clearing is where it's residing right now. So I may or may not get my watch, we will see. This is a lengthy lead in to the main topic which is How to ship a package overseas to the USA. First off when shipping to any country where the package has to clear customs, never ever use the word WATCH on the customs form, always use something like timepiece or Horological instrument, never watch. When customs sees a package from China with the word watch, the first thought is "Counterfeit", Second, if the watch is listed as" repair watch", do not use that terminology, List it as Broken Horological instrument, or timepiece, for repair and return to sender. If you send it with that terminology, first you can declare it for more, and it won't raise any eyebrows. Lastly, don't try to sneak it in in a toy!! US Customs X-rays every package. They go through a scanner just like your carry on baggage when you fly. Believe me the X-ray can "See" through the stuffed animal, and inside resides a watch!! Ah Ha, someone sneaking a watch past customs, sure way to get it seized. if you follow the rules of common sense, it will decrease the chances of something getting stopped. I assure you what I'm saying here is not 100% foolproof, it may still get stopped and seized, but every little trick like this will increase your chances of having it get through safely. Disclaimer: I am directing this only to those packages that are shipped to the USA. I have no idea as to how stringent the Customs Services of other countries scrutinize packages. I have heard that some EU countries are particularly difficult to get rep watches in to the country, however that is only what I have read on the forums.

Just purchased this original 1912 Big Pilot Omega watch. Regards AJ

See if you can get them with tall canon pin sets also and I might take a couple. The standard 2824 canon pins are a little too short for most Rolex reps.

New Tag Heuer for today!

cc33 teasing us with his outstanding dial! this is gen his might look better!

6538

My favorite buy in 2013 happens to be the same as OPs: a blue gen Longines Hydroconquest

"Clean Ride", "Wax Lube", "Self Cleaning"! This stuff sounds great, so I went down to my local sex shop to buy some. They've never heard of it, but did sell me some rather odd looking accessories and a box full of batteries...?

Nice Tudor's today! Wearing my Tudor Sub today But luckily for you, you've got the watch back mate!

HBBV6 maker is working on it. Here is the rep dial:

Hublot Big Bang V6 and Panerai 111 Noob, best reps on the market

Picture update: