Pugwash

I presume the rep is taller and has crown-position issues as they're trying to shoe-horn a non-2893 into a 2893-shaped hole. I'd love to be wrong. Oh, and I nearly bought a gen but couldn't help thinking the first time a non-WIS saw it, they'd say "Oh, I love Bono too!" and you'd be the guy with the U2 watch. Eesh!

I'm right here.

Looks like it'll be this for a while:

Whimtastic photos!

Seiko Spring Drive is next. Got to get that out of my system.

You want some movement shots?

I think that is a safe assumption. Let me think. Oh, ok. I'll keep it.

I win.

Just the one pic. You'll be seeing a lot of this in the future, I'm afraid. Click to embiggen. No, it's not a replica, I'm afraid. No secret new factory just popped up making perfect Moonies.

I can't afford a gen movement. Graphite fixed it, though. It's been running solidly on my wrist for three days.

$300 is not cheap: Anything over $100 isn't really cheap. it may seem it compared to other lenses, but $300 is approaching the price of a spare camera. With a reverser ring and patience, I think I'm doing ok and spending money on a macro won't provide me with $300 of benefits.

I'd love to be able to afford a macro.

You can't beat good glass. You know I like what you've been doing recently, so I won't repeat it here, but it's obvious you had hit the limits of your point and shoot and a DSLR was possibly the smartest move you could have made. As always, I eagerly await more.

The Canon f1.4 was the lens I really wanted after borrowing a friend's for the weekend. The f1.8 was the one I could afford.

Owning a Mac doesn't make you stupid, either.

France has been doing this for about a decade. This is nothing new.

$600? You can't even get a replacement 2500 movement for that.

Same complications, sure. However, a Rolex 3135 movement is a better movement. It's not about tolerances, it's about materials, design, construction, etc. http://www.chronometrie.com/rolex3135/rolex3135.html Most people reckon it's better than the ETA 2892A2, which is an order of magnitude better than the ETA 2824/2836 we get in our reps. If you want to go Omega, the movement in a Planet Ocean is significantly better than the 2824 we get in our reps because it's a highly modified 2892 with a Co-Axial escapement. IWC sometimes make their own movements, and where they don't, they change a lot of parts for much higher quality parts. A 7750 from an IWC 3717 will be much better than one straight out of the ETA factory. It's like a blueprinted engine with strengthened parts used for production racing is better than what's in your car. Breitling, however, use pretty much the same movements as we get here, so on that one, sure, you're not getting much more by going gen, but Breitling gens are by and large cheaper than Rolex or Omega gens. In conclusion, the movements used in Rolex Subs and Omega Seamasters are considerably better than what we have access to in our replicas. They are also considerably higher quality than their cheaper competition, like Tissot, Breitling, Sinn, Fortis, Longines, etc.

I used to be a graphic designer and illustrator. That diagram should not be seen in any way as indicative of my abilities.

50% by value ... and we know the factories making parts for Omega are not doing a backdoor trade in spares because they would get killed for it. Security for the bigger factories is brutal and it has to be precisely because China has always done back door trades and they had to crush them to get the kinds of business they wanted, like ETA and their like. Torture over leaks is commonplace. http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/07/21/foxconn-employee-intigrated-over-lost-iphone-prototype-sucide-ensues/

For a start, not mentioning resale value or servicing (especially if you mean warranties) means you're pretty much eliminating most of the reason for buying Gen. However, with the 16610, as this is the example you picked, you get the 3135 movement which is vastly superior to the ETA 2824. Also, you get a watch that you know will be waterproof at silly depths, if that is important to you. On top of this, you get a gen. A get out of being called out free card. If I could afford it, I'd buy gen over rep any day of the week.

I need a photo that shows the rings in the numerals. I'll take one while I'm resetting the hands and cleaning off the apparent graphite dust on the dial.

I'll be swapping between these two all weekend in an effort to get the graphited movements to smooth out.

I will admit I got this watch wrong. I preferred the gold/blue in pictures, but in reality, the all-blue is a lot more striking.