Pugwash

Great mini-review. :-)

The Zigmeister is an essential part of the forum's checks and balances. We will not be the same without you, Z.

Mine is the cheap (but good) replica IWC strap.

I use the countdown timer. :-)

I wish! I'm using a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 (5MP with a Leica lens). It's amazing if you have enough light and a liability of you don't. Stuff you don't need for general watch photography: Flash or Macro. A light tent and a tripod will make up for poor light, but a couple of table lights and manual white balance will get you out of too much trouble. Oh, and mastering Photoshop is an excellent idea, but as always, it's best to get as much as you can in the lens and use Photoshop to turn the picture into what you saw, not what the camera captured. It's a balancing act, but look at TTK's photos for what can be done if you have both time and talent. You can see some of my stuff here: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?automo...um&album=38

I think the fact we both jumped on the same piece of advice at the same time is telling. Duplicating solid advice should never be frowned upon. Listening to TTK's photography advice is essential. Polarising filters are an excellent piece of kit for learning watch photography, but the fact that I've mislaid mine means all my recent pictures have been without one. I think they're a great learning tool, but you don't need them. :-)

Those pics are a great start. You don't need a macro lens and you definitely don't want a ring-flash. Of all the toys you can get to make watch photography easier, a light-tent is the first you should consider. Carry on though, you're doing fine.

This is a thread for newbies. They are posting their opinion here already. Of course they want it on a silver platter, and they want to know who has the best sub. That doesn't mean we should comply: We're not paid to be here, you know. It's a community, not a noob-info-zone. I think this idea is a worthy one, but I know it's doomed to failure. I'm not going to stand in its way or discourage it as I think the act of participating in the project will be educational for all involved. Carry on. EDIT TO CLARIFY: That was supposed to sound a little more supportive than it did. Seriously, just because I think it's not worth my time should in no way discourage anyone that thinks I'm wrong.

I'd have no qualms about spending rep-like money on gens, but for Omegas, that means quartz and I just can't do that. :-)

I wouldn't worry. It's December.

Not at first as the 365GT Daytona in the first and second series was a Chevvy with a body kit. The blown-up Ferraris were the replicas that Enzo Ferrari ordered destroyed in return for some genuine Ferraris.

He's Audemarsfan here. He's been a part of the rep community as long as TTK.

Good luck. Remember Richard Brown's guide is 184 pages of info cribbed from these forums. If you get a document produced by the members here that's considerably smaller, it'll be very vague. Oh, here's the other way of spotting a rep. It's not as reliable, but it's good in 99% of the cases: If you think it's a rep, it's a rep. Trust your gut.

Here's the Pugwash method for spotting a rep. It's pretty much foolproof. Know the watch. That's it, I'm afraid. If you know what a genuine Sub looks like, you'll spot replicas. If you need a Word doc, you'll never be sure it's not out-of-date. If you're serious about rep-spotting, go to an AD and commit the tells to memory.

I know the price in Baht, not US Dollars. Why should I know the exact price in US Dollars? 7500 Thai Baht for those who can be bothered to do the maths, but that's already been posted in this thread.

A large amount of watches in movies are from the actor's personal collection. Take Leonardo's Breitling in Blood Diamond, for instance. If that had been a prop, they'd have used a model that was on the market the time the movie was set in. In other cases, the watches are provided by a sponsor, like Bond's Omegas or the IWCs in Miami Vice. In the remaining cases, the watches are provided by the props department or someone on set (as per Bond's first Rolex coming off the wrist of Cubby Broccoli himself as Rolex wouldn't provide a watch) and some of the prop watches (Keifer's Sub in 24's first season, before he got a sponsored watch) are indeed replicas. You can see the perfect example of a prop in this scene from CSI: click to play

It's well over $200 for a 1680/1665 in MBK.

All Thai men are just an insult away from going Tony Jaa on you.

Wow, the dollar sucks. They were $140 earlier this year, and the price translated into Sterling/Euros is still the same, but yes, they're now $180.

Ok, if I give you my Skype username, can you in any way damage my computer/data? I'm up for that challenge. How is it less secure than, say, IE or Outlook Express? I know this seems off-topic, but I really don't think n00bs should be put off dealing with TTK because experienced members say Skype will get you hacked.

The Orange Monster is only $140 on Amazon, with a full US warranty, no hidden tax and most likely free delivery.

I really don't want to have to go on about this, but the Pyske worm wasn't a Skype hack. It was a regular trojan you had to install through naivety that used the open Skype API to send messages to your Skype contacts. The vector was as much Skype as if you'd got caught installing a trojan that used your Address Book. Would you say of this "someone hacked my address book, it must be my address book that's the weak link!" Here's how the worm worked: It sent a link to your Skype contacts (much like others have sent to outlook contacts or AIM contacts) as you and if someone clicked on that link (and were running Windows) they were allowed to install and run an application (these are usually hidden as screen savers or greeting cards, you know the ones) that then sent the link to all their Skype contacts. It never actually exploits Skype.

All instant messengers and email clients are vulnerable to the sort of danger Pykse posed: "Click this link, it's fun" and you then download a trojan. Skype wasn't the vector, the trojan you actively downloaded and installed was. Skype is as secure as any other internet application. TTK's choice of Skype as a means to deal is a good one, even if it's ironically using eBay's servers to transmit the discussions.

Oh, ok! ps. New server. I hope it's faster ...

No it hasn't.