surpur

I used to learn and work on gen watches and I must say that working on reps is 2, 3, 4 + times more difficult because there just are so many different pieces on suposedly identical watches that just don't fit together. I find it more frustrating then rewarding and probably one of the most difficult things to do period.

I admire people like The Zigmeister that have a knack/ talent to deal with all these inumerable issues.

Come on Pix! take a look on Ebay, searching for 'diamond tester'.

both sapphire and diamonds are very strong and hard/solid materials. Mineral glass is much softer. So it recognises the sapphire as diamond and the mineral glass as 'no diamond/sapphire'

bought mine from:

http://stores.ebay.com/tools852

Cheers,

J.

Actually it looks for the thermo conductivity of gems. Diamond has a very high and specific conductivity value and those testers are programmed for that number. Sapphire has a very similar value, so on a good tester you can see that. Mineral glass has a very low thermo conductivity, so it is very easy to see the difference.

So many natural disasters. Nobody can imagine what these people are going through. All my best wishes are with them and hopefully the numbers of the victims will not increase.

I think the times when people could afford money for wars are over - we have to concentrate all means on helping people in need, abroad and also in this country.

Works very simple. press the end of the tool on the glass. wait until it beebs. if it beebs it is sapphire. if not, then not.

Ok - I went to a Jeweler I know who has a diamond tester. Turns out that of all my watches only my Sub and Day date Rolies had sapphire, both are high end with ETA movements.

Its awfull - I am selling 2 watches to reduce my collection and a week later I have 4 more. Its a tough one to shake off

Another misconception. If you look at the Breitling Avenger reps which are sapphire, there is a noticeable distortion when viewed at an angle. The asian SFSO however, which is mineral is clear as any crystal I've seen. Distortion is more a factor of the shape and thickness of the crystal, than the material from which it is made.

I have to agree somewhat with Andrew. If I get a watch with a curved crystal that distorts the view I buy a $3 curved mineral crystal at my local watch supply house and its clear as day. Obviously they are often using the cheapest glass they can find on the reps.

That said - the same watch supply dealer would charge me $30 for sapphire and for 10 times the price you really cannot see the differnce by eye. This huge price differnce makes me wonder how many 'Sapphire' crystals are really sapphire?? Considering the low price of the reps.

I am not wondering enough to invest in a diamond tester, but maybe Hooky could give us a rundown what he found out about how many are real sapphire.

That would be great - Thanks!

Thanks for the reply. i will keep it as is. Incidentally, you mention seconds at 9 being the natural position? Ive seen Genuine Rolex Daytona models with seconds at 6.

I mean natural for the 7750 not for the new Rolex Daytona movement...

I have a SS Daytona, with the 7750b movement, and it has a slight problem where the subdial at 9 will move when in normal time mode. It works perfectly when chrono is running, but when not using the chrono, the hand in subdial 9 moves slightly after the watch has been reset after just 20 minutes.

Which gear do I have to freeze to stop the hand moving in subdial 9?

Or would it be easier if i just cement the hand?

Would freezing this gear/hand cause any running problems with my movement.?

Im very happy with this watch, and it gets comments on it almost weekly, but the dam subdial at 9 is frustrating.

Any help, or advice is appreciated.

If you freeze that then your whole chrono function won't work, is that worth it ? These Asian 7750's do some strange things.

I have one that runs much faster (1h a day) on a winder then when I wear it, on another I have to keep the chronograph running or it will stop alltogether. An older one with seconds at 9 (which is the natural position) has the hour hand at 6 moving just 2 notches when the chrono is off. I think you are just lucky if you get one that works 100% clean and that is especially with the seconds at 6 - that one uses so many gears to switch those 2 subdials. I would not worry about this

As long as these manufacturers comply, Rolex will not bring the wrath of God down upon them. And all these "slightly wrong" watches are simply advertising for Rolex.

That is exactly what I suspect for years now. Lets face it - for Rolex anything that mentions their name, shows their product etc. is advertisement and in case of reps it is free advertisement. How many people see you with a Rolex (rep) not knowing its not real and then think - 'Well I think its time to buy myself a Rolex!'

Even news flashes about how many replicas they caught and destroyed are free advertisement. As far as Rolex goes there is no such thing as bad press.

So I have to totally agree with Carlsbads conspiracy theory - if the Chinese ever make a perfect Rolex copy there will be hell to pay, the wrath of god and everything.

Never owned an Omega, please explain how you can tell it's a rep?

Easy way to tell is that the bracelet links are stiff - 1 piece links. The gen links are from many different parts and more flexible.

"consultant"

Well that covers a lot of ground

I was a selfemployed consultant for analytical instrument applications for many years.

Now my job title is Senior Field Support Engineer for analytical instruments - not that much differnce I guess.

Obama hasn't said a thing profound IMO. The Clinton years were the best in this country since I have been alive and I would love for those days to be back. It is scary to me that the American people are naive enough to buy into Obama's preacher like ramblings. I guess the attraction is that he is unlike anyone that has been in office before and the people want a complete 180 degree turn from Bush. I also think that his Christianity has a lot to do with it which is also dissapointing because religion has no place in politics.

Flame me if you will, but noone seems to realize the fact that Obama is a radical racist. He claims that for the 30 some odd years he went to church with his preacher he never heard him talk about "the white man". Come on. He changed his name from Barry to Barak. The guy preaches how race should be left out of the election but that is all you hear from Oprah touting DR MLK's dream. This guy will run this country further into the ground than it already is. Hillary is a politician's politician. She knows how to play the game and she knows how to get things done. Plus Bill will be right with her.

Obama may get the nominee but there is no way he will be the next president. Reality is that John Mccain will be in office soon enough. Thank god for the electoral college. I forget which president it was but it was once said that the American people aren't smart enough to know who is best for the presidency. I concur.............

Amazing that is almost word for word what I think about the whole mess. Clinton needs to be nominated or we are stuck with a really old same old:

For steel? Preowned?

That is very interesting - thanks for sharing. Can you tell us if the original always had the matte look or did it come with time?

Can you tell us where you found the new strap? I like the look of it for Summer.

I think modern divers are wearing dive computers on their wrist that have time, depth gauge etc and calculates decompression time. The only divers wearing watches are snorkelers and they don't dive very deep

I don't understand how Rolex could have any authority over a private watch repair shop. Granted, if it is an authorized Rolex shop they could pull the franchise but, a private repair shop could care less what Rolex or any other maker thinks about the watches it accepts for repair. As long as the shop isn't an AD and doesn't sell replicas, I would think that it would be safe from the legal arm of Rolex.

It does not matter - it is illegal to work on any rep watch. As soon as you take money for it you commited a felony, its just like you made a rep (trademark infringement) and who can afford to fight Rolex lawyers. It is very little enforced by other brands, but Rolex is just relentless about it. In watch school I was told the safest thing is to ship the watch back, if it was mailed, even without charging for shipping.

Over the years I heard this several times from differnt watch makers who always personally knew who this had happened to, so it is not just a story.

Wow - I am jealous! I have several vintage Rolex models also, but yours is an amazing collection. I am getting more and more into the vintage watch collecting.

Thanks for sharing these great pictures.

Have you asked him if it's OK to post his info on the forum? I know my watchsmith would absolutely sh** a brick if he started getting calls from people saying "I read on the Internet that you'll fix fake watches..."

That is true - Rolex especially is actively shutting down repair shops that work on reps. That is why so many are scared to do it. They have even gone so far as to hire a large detective company to do sting operations on repair shops. The detectives show up with a $10 quartz Rolex that is definitely without question a fake and ask to have the battery replaced. If the poor guy is doing it - pang they come down on him with Rolex lawyers and take him for all he got.

That is not a myth I heard that from several sources in the gen watch world and I would not put it beyond Rolexes pratices to do that.

A good friend of mine who is an official Rolex certified repair guy told me that they show up unannounced in his shop once in a while and just snoop around if he has ANY third party parts. If they find anything bye bye contract. As soon as you put so much as a single third party part into a Rolex it is not gen anymore in their opinion.

Is there anyone who can setup a torrent of this for those us outside the US?

Which torrent site do you use down there?

Wow, look what the thieves made off with!!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...ter/7353448.stm

They stole 100 watches totaling

fake watches and fake drugs are VERY different. ONLY thing they have in common is they are not authorized for production. fake fashion goods exist to replace the high cost of a product that has no reason for being overpriced in the first place except greed, (our reps with ETAs are examples of that, same with leather LV bags, can a genuine do anything more than a rep?)on the other side; fake drugs exist OUT OF greed, a counterfeiter seeing an easy way to make money of a huge industry with no regard for peoples safety. my opinion is the first example of the watch is not immoral, but feeding into consumerism and then exploiting sure is, the second example with prescriptions drug that could harm someone is defntly a problem, and any idiot can see the difference. as for child labour and low wages; it would exist regardless of the product being made (even genuine items use cheap labour, where do think 90% of everythig is produced and why). stick me in a country where id have no education and id beg you to pay me 10cents a day, not to mention 10cents would probably stretch the whole day in a country where cost of living is 5$ a week. at least now the kid can eat. the problem is with the government not taking care of its citizens, china has a lot to offer, but take away someones job and youll have a lot more problems than if they made next to nothing.

FYI: i once read a parts breakdown on a year 2000 or later rolex submariner and it was established it cost rolex around $500 to produce a fully functioning prim and polished model.

i mean there is no real justification for why an LV would cost $1,500 more other than exclusivity. maxi dial blah blah blah.

I have now seen this film also and I have to agree that they throw everything in one pot. It hurts to see all the nice bags and watches destroyed, all the labor that went in that - its bad.

They just do not make the connection that their 'legitimate' Industries have their dark sides too, they also exploit people its the nature of business. They just cannot control the rep market and that is what really makes them nervous and angry. Let the people who have the cash and like to buy gen, let them buy it and let the other people who rather buy reps buy those. As much as both Industries have their dark side, they also have their benefits for the people who make these goods and the ones who love to own them. There are certainly bigger troubles to worry about then fake handbags and watches - as this film also has shown.

When it comes to watches I am very selfish - I wear them only for my own pleasure, reps or gens alike, I never cared what other people see in it. I guess I am a bit of a 'private person'. The only time when I think of others might notice my watch is when I get into a questionable neighborhood, then I either sneak the watch off into my pocket or pull a sleeve over it. No point in getting mugged over a watch - rep or gen.

I started dealing in only gen Swiss brand watches from liquidation sales and watch shows and sold them on ebay when times were better (1999 -2001). I sold a ton of Omegas, Tags, Breitlings, Guccis, Movados, Chopards and any possible Swiss brand except Rolex. Rolex does not liquidate their watches..

Well that is what lured me into the rep websites I wanted a Sub but not for $4k..

A friend of mine has a Gallery with Gemstones, watches etc and he always wore nice clothes and this black Submariner, darn I wanted one too...

So I ordered finally a 'Swiss movement, all original, sapphire crystal Rolex Sub' and I must admit I did feel fake at that time wearing my first rep. When my friend saw it he said wow that is a good looking watch, how much was it? He believed it was a gen. So I told him its a rep - and he told me his was a rep too, a cheap one and he couldn't find a watchmaker that would fix it.. Well that was funny to say the least. So I ended up getting him a new one also.

After all these years his watch looks still great, it does not scratch like his old one and he is a happy man.

Since I was not selling watches anymore I had an itch for watches and finally gave into the rep fever and bought everything I always wanted and more

As far as wondering if other peoples watches are real, I only occasionaly ask myself that. Why bother - let them have their fun, I have my fun.

Welcome back Victoria!

I am still pretty new here, but last week it was really not the same without your smart and witty posts.

Yeah - create your own style

He is wearing his Diamond Rolex on the neclace under his beard - donation from a disciple...

That watch is genuine.

The things that I like about it are the color of the gears, the Breguet balance, look at the 72B under the balance wheel, ROW on the balance bridge for Rolex Works, pushers are assymetrical (slightly), engravings at 6 and 12 look perfect. The dial pic isn't the best, but the spacing of the sub dials looks good, lume is shot (and to be expected on a 45 year old watch), and the bracelet is fine from what I can see of it.

And the seller is excellent. Just wish I could justify spending $28K on a watch, cause it's a beaut.

What about the really poor looking case back inscription? I never saw anything so bad. You can buy a Vietnamese assymetrical rep case for the v72 and Rolex bridges on one of those auction sites like youbuyit or whatever its called. You can take any 72b movement and add those bridges. I would not bet on this being real - not for 28k.