RLudlowe

Plating on stainless is inconsistant, you really have to nickle plate first or use the stainless prep solution that Caswell sells - but if you use the solution you get a result that is more smokey, kind of like antique gold. If you want real yellow gold you have to nickle plate first. Also, make sure your surface is absolutely grease free. I've had a lot better results with the wands than the pens - you can transfer more metal to the surface. The pens take forever.

Surprisingly, I've never had any serious problems, just stay away from ADs - their business relies on people paying too much for gens. The other guys just want to make a living -

And what if you don't want to wear the same watch every day? Do you have to drive a different car?

That means if customs grabs it on your way home, don't come to us for a refund!

Don't go to a jeweler, go to a small watch shop with an in-house watchsmith - most of them are starving like everyone else these days. Go to them watch in hand and a sincere expression on your face and ask if they can help you with your watch. No big speech, don't even say if it's a rep or not. Just ask them to do the work you need. If they can, they probably will. They have rent to pay. Of course if it needs parts they likely can't get them unless it's a real ETA. If you tell them upfront it's a rep, they have legal issues to deal with. You might be a cop. So just say it's a watch and it needs work. If they tell you it's a fake, just say "I'm not surprised - but I really need it, is there anything you can do?" If they say no, say you're sorry to waste their time and leave. But they probably will.

With the price of Gens coming down as fast as they are, if the reps don't come down the Gens will soon be the cheaper alternative -

Lousy Chinese fake ad -

Sad to say that was a few decades ago - at one time you could get good reps in Tokyo, too!

Most of the big dealers sell the bands both with and without the watch - Angus and Andrew even have an "Accessories" section on their website

I don't even think it's a watch, it looks like a drawing - And why bother with an awareness campaign? everybody knows you can spot a fake watch from 20 feet away

Sure, starting at $500 a pop just to look at it - or you could just buy a completely new rep for a fraction of that -

Does anyone make replacement straps for the Big Bang? I really like the Black Magic - but I equally hate rubber straps. I was thinking about getting one and having a matte black alligator strap made for it. On the face it looks pretty simple, the strap is just a square of material with a springbar at the end. I was wondering if anyone makes them retail, or if I have to go custom - Any input appreciated

Steel or gold? I have an extra gold bracelet for the IIc

Here it is, Jorg Gray 6500 Series Chronograph - black face and black strap but steel case -

But I wouldn't call either "Quite blingy" I'd go for the Bentley 6.75 in gold - now THAT's bling and at 49mm it's anything but small!

The guys at Offrei really hate "amateurs" - people without a WOSTEP cert and 20 years experience as a full time watchmaker. If you're not one of their business accounts you get put on the back burner and they take care of it whenever. Bob really doesn't think people should be allowed to work on their own watches when "professional" watch techs don't have enough work. The auto parts business used to be like that 30 years ago. If you did your own tune-ups you were just a cheapskate trying to cheat some mechanic out of work that rightfully should be his. They'd give you the wrong parts on purpose just to waste your time (I know, my uncle ran a parts shop)

Personally I'm always amazed at how much time is spent on the factories on bezels and hands and then they put no effort at all into the rotors or the clasps. Look at the Porsche Flat six rep rotor, it's not perfect but very nice indeed. It shows how nice a rep can be. I know, nobody looks at the back, But I do - and I would like some effort to be made there as well. I can't see where it would be so hard to silicone cast a correct rotor in steel and plate it - no harder than repping a good bezel.

Go to Caswell - http://www.caswellplating.com Order their fastgold kit and do it yourself - it's not that hard if you have the skills to disassemble the watch - I've done a couple in my basement. They use genuine gold so the prices depend on the market price at the time, the plating gear will cost about $50 but it will last a long time. You don't need the pro gear for a watch, the plug-n-plate kits work fine. The big trick is being very clean, but that's the same with anything to do with watches.

Thanks for the leads!

We all know about the BaselWorld show in Switzerland, but are there any big watch shows in the US or Canada?

This is not at all uncommon, especially this close to the holidays when everything slows down -

I imagine it has bluetooth so you can use an earpiece if you want - if it doesn't the next update will

LG Touch Watch Phone LG Electronics made a splash in Vegas when it unveiled what it claims is the world's first market-ready touch-screen watch phone. That's right, a phone you wear on your wrist. "You want to think James Bond, 'Get Smart,' [censored] Tracy. It's all that and more," LG spokesman Martin Valdez said. "You'll never have to worry about losing your phone anymore. The tiny, 3G-capable gadget has a 1.4-inch screen but packs a host of features such as Bluetooth, text messaging, still and video camera and a built-in speaker for playing music files. Video Watch This is what it looks like -

The fact is, the newer Seagull ST-24's and the updated A7750's are pretty damn good movements, cleaned and properly oiled they will give excellent service. Perhaps ten years ago it was worth it to hunt out a Swiss ETA, but now I ask for the Seagull.

The perfect rep it isn't, but if it were mine I'd replace the strap and wear it -