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It's all advertising hype. Do you really think that the manufacturers buy one of every watch that they sell, take it apart and make their parts as a 1:1, because if you do, I think that you are living in a dream world. I do think that in some cases, they may do a 1:1 replication, but not every one that you see on their websites. When they get it "close", is where the problems arise. You try to use gen parts, and the case is a tiny bit too big or too small for gen dials, or the bezel assembly isn't like the gen (looks just like it, but a gen won't work!) These are the really frustrating watches. And as we have found out some of the watches are not gen like because of necessity. They are too tall, because the rep movement would not fit in a gen dimensioned case (AP ROO's for example) , the date window is off, because the rep movement DW is not in the same position as the gen. All of these are problems we encounter every day with reps. I think that we as buyers have to learn that this is hype, and it's probably based on half truths and embellishments. The safest approach is not to be a "first responder" Those are the guys who hit the buy button the first day that a new model is released. Better to wait a while, let those first buyers receive their watches post photos and reviews and then make the decision to buy or not buy. At that point, you have cut through all the hype, have good photos of actual watches delivered to members, and you have a better idea as to what you might need to do to make the watch better (and they all need something to make them better!!) as I have never seen a rep "out the box" that couldn't stand some tweaking.

One day........... Like 5K used....................

UPDATE April 17 2013 Due to the high demand for AP lume, AR and movement service we decided to hire another watch smith to help us do "Full service”, he will be dedicated to: *take movement apart *clean using ultrasonic *put movement back together, oil, lube and grease then regulate beat and rate. I will still do all other mods like always! This will improve our turn around time by at least 30% PLEASE note that till will affect work received after April 25 2013 All other work already with me will be finished ASAP. Thanks for your support over the years and looking forward to provide the same or better quality with shorter turnaround.

Just bought this one a few days ago in a M2M sale on RG. The seller had the watch for about 8-9 months after purchase from another member over here. This certainly isn't a review, as I'm such an AP noob, I would probably not know good from bad, unless it was a glaring error. First impressions, the watch is heavy!! After wearing my FC V3 Diver for a couple of months, I really noticed the weight. It's also tall, however I believe that because of the totally flat caseback, it seems to ride better on my wrist than some of my previously owned large watches, in particular the Rolex DSSD. I don't like tight watch straps, and I can wear this one at a comfortable length and it's not always trying to "turn turtle" on me. For reference, my wrist is a shade over 7".Because of the height and size, I find it a little uncomfortable under a sweater with tight cuffs. I'm looking forward to spring and short sleeves. Will be much better I'm sure. This is a very imposing watch, it just looks good! The Grey dial, black subdials and Rose Gold case really go well together. It's residing on the rubber strap that it came on, but I have a better Black Hornback strap incoming, so I will change to that when it arrives. AFA the movement, this is my first encounter with a sec@12 watch, so hopefully it will work out. I don't play around with the chrono so, that should help the longevity. The precious owner sold it as "Serviced", but by the first owner, and he couldn't offer any details as to what was done. He also mentioned that he thought it had been AR'ed, but I don't believe that it has anything other than the AR from the factory. If anyone who looks at the photos and recognizes the serial number as a watch that you sold and could cast any light on the service history, I would appreciate the info. One glaring fault, and it's only noticeable at magnification, the date window is crooked. It looks like there are two parts to the date window, the dial and the bottom of the Cyclops. It appears that either the dial date window was cut crooked, or the Cyclops was installed crooked. At my normal focal distance, I can't tell anything, only when the photo is magnified. All in all, I think it's a pretty nice watch. I'm happy enough with it that I'm going to order a Safari after all the CNY celebrations and order backlogs are cleared. Please feel free to comment as that is the only way we learn, listening to what the more experienced members have to say. One last comment on the lume. What you see here is a good example of how you can make a watch with mediocre lume look good. It was exposed to bright lights during the photo session, after I took all the regular photos I turned out all the light except for the room light in the next room. It was pretty dark, but enough light to focus. This was a 20 sec exposure at F.2.4 ASA 800. my camera was mounted on a big rock solid tripod and I use the self timer to trip the shutter. Looks like it was superlumed by one of our moddersd, but in fact it's just average at best. Photos

I keep looking at these pictures, but I don't see the problem. What am I missing?

Old pic, but same watch on wrist today.

a new wife would be cheaper

buy some spring bars from panatime, use your case, and call it a day!

Don't get too excited. CNY is just over, and everyone is just getting back to work, nursing hangovers and jet/party lagged!! All the backlog that piled up during CNY has to be worked through, so there are folks who paid right before CNY who are ahead of you. They will get to you, just sit back relax and do some reading and research while you wait.

I believe C&R is endemic to watch fanatics. We get caught up in all the hype, and we buy into it and next thing you know, we have a new watch on the way. One big problem with reps is the inability to try them on at an AD like a lot of genuine watches. We go to and AD and try on the genuine equivalent, and then when the rep comes in we are disappointed because it's not exactly like the gen. Our biggest problem is our OCD, we agonize over little discrepancies that will never be picked up with the naked eye, but we know they are there, and we fret over them and finally convince ourselves that the watch is "Unwearable", because it's got these miniscule flaws. Most of us need less watches and more life!!! AFA the Black bay, it never impressed me at all. I'm not a big fan of snowflake hands, even though I own a genuine Tudor 9411/0. Another thing, I believe that folks discover that the red bezel is not neutral like a black bezel or S/S. When you realize that it's a little too sporty to wear with a business suit, it looses some of it's appeal. Add all that, and then you look at some of the flaws that the manufacturers and dealers sort of glossed over and it becomes expendable. Over the years, I have sold and traded a lot more watches than I have kept. Most of the time, it just didn't resonate with me. I would try my best to love it, but if it wasn't there, it wasn't there. C&R is not novel to reps, just go to WUS or TZ and look at the number of practically brand new watches are on sale every day. Folks buy them looking for something that isn't there. that plus the fact that most of us are serial "flippers" anyway. What was interesting to me, was the MKII Kingston. the watch was over 3 years coming from deposit to delivery. The watches trickled in to the owners over probably a year or more. After all that wait, there were brand new Kingston's hitting the sales forum on WUS within days of delivery. Guys waited patiently for three plus years to get the watch, and poof it was gone in days.

Well I used Polywatch on my teeth tonight and they have come up brilliant! Tastes bleedin awful though.

Just got this one a few days ago, no decent wristies yet, but some shots from last night. Wore this today. This one tonight, Big valentine Gala !!

Can't decide...

"Why does the trust have to only go one way?" because they got it and you want it. This being said I have posted many times we are our own enemy in regard to these matters, gotta have it no patience or discipline we lose. As far as movements dealers not cracking open case back to check movements so they order X movement send to you ,you get Y nature of the beast. OH and Pics /QC of movements never the guys would refuse 90% of the dirty stuff we get, service when you get it...............

I've worked with a couple of ST cases. I like them. Yes. Drilling holes in a modern sub case is not easy. But its doable. I went through 8 bits drilling a rep sub c case for my homage project:

after a real nail biting saga I finally got my V5 yesterday. It got hung up in Customs in LA, they wanted more information and a revised invoice as they said the watch was not a 50.00 USD watch!! Got that sorted out and it was released, then FedEx took and extra day to get it to me, thought it was lost again. But, all's well that ends well. I got a chance to set up my camera and a few lights and decided to take a few photos of the V3 and V5 side by side. This really isn't a review, but I do have some thoughts about both of the divers. First off the FC diver is obviously much lighter, the V5 feels like a paperweight after handling the V3. The S/S V5 seems to fit well, and is comfortable. Although I believe that they are both have about the same dimensions, the S/S V5 definitely wears bigger. It feels bigger and it looks bigger. Some of this could be due to the weight difference. I wore it to work today, and I was pretty happy with it. I haven't really timed it to see what it's doing as far as accuracy, but it seems to be around 3-4 seconds different from my V3 after about 24 hours. The new rubber strap is pretty stiff, can't remember if the V3 was that stiff right out the box. Hopefully, this won't be a problem as I have a Sharkskin strap that I bought for the FC V3 and decided to leave the rubber strap on , so it will go on the S/S V5. Another thought on the rubber straps, they attract a lot of lint and dust. I live out in the country, so we probably have more dust in the air, but they sure seem to attract tiny bits of dust and lint. Comparing the two watches further, the dials both look nice to me, they are very, very similar. Cases are obviously completely different. While both are the same shape, One is Forged Carbon, the other a hunk of Stainless steel. The AR on the crystals seems to be Good, but both of them could use a better AR coating on the Cyclops. They are not nearly as bad as my older Rolex watches with no AR, but they could benefit from a better coating. As you can see the lume is almost identical. This lume was from the light used for the photos, no additional "charge" to the lume. While neither lume is in the "Torch" category, it seems adequate, my FC V3 is dim but readable in the early AM after being in the dark for 6-8 hours. From what I've read, the genuine versions do not have bright long lasting lume either. While the two watches share the same heritage, the same layout, the same rotating bezel mechanism and the same straps, they are really two very different watches. If I had to characterize the two, I would put the FC Diver more in the "Tool Watch" category and the S/S Diver more in the "Dress Diver" category, although I would seriously doubt that there are going to be many folks scuba diving, with either one of these 20K + watches. Either one of these would be a great watch for casual wear, jeans and t shirt , polo's, khakis, etc. The S/S would be fine with a sport jacket, maybe a suit, but the size could prove to be a problem under a dress shirt. Here are the photos:

Yes Z. Although I do not no where it stands for. Perhaps the Zigmeister is not retired afterall