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Finally sourced a genuine 1966 7206 with some help from a friend. Just came in yesterday.

I have had a couple of these type transactions. I PM or email the buyer Nd tell them that they are short X dollars. When they send the remainder, I ship. If they don't respond or start complaining, I just refund their purchase price. That usually get's their attention, if not, I move on.i don't have the time or inclination to deal with folks that are not serious.t Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've gone gen and the one watchsmith I trusted my pieces to retired. Ziggy.

I know this topic has probably been discussed before but I want to get this off my chest.. Whats up with this high prices for "modified" watches? All I see these days are fancy marketing words like "uberfranken", "superfranken", "closest-to-gen" models..... starting to sound like dealers now. The way that i see it is, if you are selling a franken, the guidelines should be: 1) Confirm that all parts you have advertised are indeed genuine 2) Compare your franken vs a genuine piece at market value and sanity check if your price is appropriate 3) Your price shouldn't include labour costs associated with putting the watch together prior I say this because you have people selling frankens in the thousands. There is currently a franken 16610 model on RWI selling for $3.5K when you can get a used version for $4.5K. I know its not scamming but I think prices in that range, especially so close to a price of a genuine is "unethical". If our forums are built to prevent high prices for replica watches, then we should also make sure overpriced frankens dont fall through the cracks. Now I know what you're gonna say, fair market dictates that there's a buyer for a certain price but i'm not sure all of the buyers (members) here really know fair price, especially if they are new. /end rant

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I fail to see how spending $3500 on a $4k watch make any sense, given the fact that the case might still be rep....Which is why I would never do a "uber-franken" 16610 sub build unless a whack of cheap gen parts just fell in my lap. However, spending $7k on a 6538 big crown sub build can be justified since that is only 1/10 the cost of a genuine equivalent. But, this is a hobby, and most hobbies just don't make economic sense. How many vintage car builds do you see at Barrett-Jackson where the cost to build the "resto-mod" is significantly higher than the sale price? Happens all the time. Part of the fun is in the building and part-hunting process whether its a budget build using a cartel case or a complete genenstein. I personally enjoy the fact that I have to contact several vintage parts dealers, or scour ebay daily looking for the perfect part. I think if there was a super watch parts supermarket where I could find every part I ever wanted, the fun of this hobby would be lost. It would just be too easy. As for cost breakdown, i think that's somewhat irrelevant.. how would you price a rare insert you might have had in a drawer for 20 years? at cost or current market value? If the latter, how is that determined? I think for any build, only a complete list of parts (gen and rep) are required along with the services/mods performed to the case or any other part. Then it's up to the buyer to do their homework and evaluate if the asking price is fair or not.

2836-2 clone with decorated bridges/gears.

Well for example, there's a really gorgeous 6263 Daytona on here that is at least 75% genuine and has a V72 movement. Seller is asking $4,300 bucks... I'd pay that if I didn't want to go through the build process as that's pretty much what the parts / watch-smith time will cost me. Actually, if it had the dial I want I probably would have already snatched it up. It's a supreme build. Point is, I think there's some discernment to be had between a Cartel Sub with an ETA in it and some fancy lume-work for $1500 versus masterpiece level builds that need maybe one or two bits before you could sell it to John Mayer for $200k. That's why newbies/non-experts should rely on senior members and lots of research before parting with cash. Agree that there should be a price breakdown... but (not that I'm selling it) I don't even remember what I paid for all the parts in my mostly genuine 5513. Digging all that up would be annoying, but yes should be a requisite. That said, another point of contention would be I ignorantly over-paid for some parts, how does that correlate into fair-market value? Do we take the mean and min for what parts sell for and split the difference? Someone charging $400 for a 703 crown and tube versus someone fire-selling it out for $125... Markets, all markets, will be driven by speculation without regulation... you don't need to read 600 pages of Adam Smith to see that.

Wow, defensive much? The question posed was actual location where these are made, which this thread gave no actual specs nor indication of location made, only "Swiss oem std". FGD answered the question already, and with much more grace than you seem to have. You are the one with the poor mental attitude, and it's unfortunate for FGD that your attitude also reflects poorly on him as well by association. I'm glad you have no more words because it may be best that you stay out of customer service related aspects of this endeavor and leave that to someone better equipped to handle.

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I'd prefer a 002/009 Pre-A dial before an 000. As others have said, it's not as rare of a dial and sourcing a gen dial is a lot easier than pre-v or pre-a dials.

Ceramic 116610 Submariner

I rather they put all their effort into making the watch as gen looking as possible. As for the strap I always change it.

I'm so sorry. I really hope you find them and pray that they are in a box somewhere. If not, hold the moving company responsible, if you cannot, then serve your own justice!!! I [censored] hate thieves! Life's a [censored], then you marry one!

Now thats a serious reply. OP you should be good to go! No more drinking for me

The best dealers are here on this forum. Always remember what this hobby is: buying and selling contraband items. If you can grasp the nature of the thing, it becomes more clear to you what to expect. All the dealers on this site can be trusted with your orders. Some have great web sites, and some have NO web site. Some dealers here receive more negative feedback than others. This can be caused by trying to grow too quickly and losing control of your business or being small to begin with and trying to handle the flow of orders from these large forums. Some dealers are "companies" and some are one-person shops. The dealers mostly buy the exact same watches from the factories or from a watch bazaar. Moving from dealer to dealer will not improve the quality of a watch replica. That said, some dealers cater to the low end, offering mostly quartz or a21j watches. That is by design, and not because their "factory" builds worse replicas ... it's marketing to a different crowd of buyers. The speed of delivery depends on a few things .. did you want to pay for EMS courier shipping or will you only pay for Air Mail (5 days or two weeks, your choice) .. also is it a pre-order of a hot piece, where you will have to wait a few weeks for the watch to become available due to the huge demand. All the dealers here "stand behind" their sales, since it's a prerequisite to being a trusted dealer. You get an opportunity to reject a watch on a cosmetic basis via approval photos sent before shipment. Then if it arrives to you broken you have the option of returning it for repair or replacement. If it is seized by Customs in your country, it will normally be replaced (ONCE) free of charge. About communication: Some dealers are much better with this than others. A rule of thumb, tho, is that dealers who are willing to hold your hand and spoon feed you also charge the most money for their watches.