RLudlowe

Just got email from Tswiss -

they expect to have a new site up by Thursday.

So with Josh, Andrew, Angus and Henry back online all my favorites will be back just like before -

Gotta get me one of the new Nautilus Jumbos with the gold rotor

Blue Fakes has been down for a while... those guys were [beep]ers!

I remember once seeing pages of complaints about them, they promised the moon and shipped serious crap

it mentions that 242 websites were shut down.........and suddenly Josh and Trusty are gone. Coincidence?

Josh and Andrew both went down for "maintenance" just before the problems, Both are back up now at their old URLs

One might speculate that they got word and closed up shop until the storm passed, but that would be a cynical thing to think -

Still, Blue Fakes and Watchez both went down, no great loss there!

I would have to agree with the other guys on the thread,

if you can't take the heat, buy a Citizen or a Seiko at the mall and sleep well at night.

The funny thing is, when you see "Divas" and sports stars wearing expensive watches, they usually didn't pay for them. They're either on loan from the watch company or a gift in exchange for the promotion value of having a celebrity wear their watches. John Travolta is on the Breitling payroll, Nicole Kidman and George Clooney shill for Omega. Charlize Theron got the boot from Raymond Weil and was hit with lawsuit for breach of contract when she was spotted wearing another brand publicly. They had paid her $3 million to wear nothing else.

Since the watches are insured by the promoter, they really don't care if it's stolen or damaged - they just get a new one from the company. Even if it's a $50,000+ watch.

What gets me is, the watch companies will pay a celebrity or sports star millions of $$ to wear their

watches and endorse them, even though they probably would never wear one if they weren't being paid -

And they call us fake?

Never seen it myself -

I would particularly be interested to know if the back says Titanium as some ot the other Hublots. It would be good if they got that sorted.

I noticed Angus has these now as well -

It would be great to visit with some RWG members during the summer. We had great turn-out back in '08.

As long as we don't have to spend $80pp for pizza -

Very true, re-plating is easy and cheap

Replating Rose Gold is a pain - hard to get the color to match.

I guess it wouldn't be too bad on a clasp if the color is a bit off as it's not right next to the case.

I've had good luck touching up yellow gold with Caswell kits, but they don't make Rose Gold because of the color issue.

Of course, you could always just black oxide it for a bit of contrast. I think that would look fine.

You can't tell. That is just it. Not unless have someone test it.

Remember, unlike Breitling, Rolex is using 904L and not 316L. So what is the 316F going to look closer to in the Breilting World, a Rolex?

My point is that there's a clear color difference between L and F, but that's no guarantee the watch you get will be either.

Than again, there's actually no guarantee you'll get any watch at all, it comes down to trust between you and your supplier.

That's why it pays to maintain a good relationship.

As to which color is better for the watch you're purchasing, that's up to you -

Here we go with 316F again

Agreed on the watermark situation - it has gotten out of hand, to the point where is usually wait for userpics to be posted here so I can be sure I know what the watch actually looks like!

With their pricing they should definitely be solid.

The Croc straps are printed leather, too - you would think they could chuck in a genuine Croc strap for those $$$$

They look like canal street specials to me -

Funny how ten years ago 42mm was a "monster" and now it's "Smallish"

I have to admit all the old dress Rollies and Pateks look like ladies watches now -

Josh and Andrew are showing two-tone B01 reps - my first reaction is they look cool, but not very gen.

Other opinions?

The Burgundy dial looks better than I would have expected -

DLC'd Bentleys

I kind of like the Flying "B" chrono in black - would look good in a Tux

maybe it is better to fix the flaws on the ones out there than to bring out new ones?...

I agree with Gran - I'd rather see a Nautilus Jumbo with a good date window and rotor, or Bentley Motors with seconds @3 or perhaps a FG watch that isn't engraved "Stainless Steel" on the back than something new and not so accurate.

Maybe a Bvlgari 303 with correct subdials?

Kenneth Cole makes some nice looking watches at reasonable prices, I have a few, mostly $75-$150 on sale, $100-$200 list. They even have autowinders with Chinese movements.

If you catch them when they do a 40% off sale they're worth the money. Not the quality of a Gen Breitling, but fair for what you get.

They're pretty much the same as Chinese fakes with the KC logo instead of the Gen logo.

What do you all think about taking reps into, and more importantly, leaving a country known for having a fake market with your reps?

I got stopped by a US customs guy who asked about the Bentley I had on my wrist coming back from the Caymans - he seemed more concerned that it might be a Gen that I was trying to beat the import duty on. When he saw that it had reasonable wear for a two-year old watch he let me go. They did hold me up for a few minutes, I suspect they were checking my credit report for an $8,000 charge to one of the Cayman Jewelers.

Never even seemed to give a thought that it might be a rep, or just didn't care.

Now I always make it a point never to bring a brandy-new rep on a trip out of CONUS.

But I usually bring two, a sport and a dresser for dinner out.

Frei can still get 2824's and 2836's he just doesn't list them on his site because the finishes vary from batch to batch.

Send him an email telling him exactly what you want and he can likely get it.

If he can't try Borel - http://www.julesborel.com/movements/movementindex.htm

The best website for what you intend is http://www.bestswiss.com.

Checked out Bestswiss just for fun - man, they are terrible! They claim they have an "exclusive" on the Rolex clone redressed movements and that all their watches are handmade in Switzerland! They even run the old "try the watch before you buy" scam.

That was a hoot - but it's probably not fair to make someone send actual $$$ to someone like that. I can tell him the truth and still get him off my back.

If you haven't seen the Bestswiss site, you owe it to yourself to check it out just for a laugh!

Since I bought the watch from Josh, I'll just send him Josh's old URL - which is where I actually got the watch in the first place.

Josh has changed URL twice since then. That was back when he was perfect clones.

When it doesn't work, I'll just just tell him it's his bad luck, sorry -

That way, I'm not lying to him but I'm not giving away any secrets, either