alterego

Hi dear fellow members: I have a doubt. This came as s result of a comment made to me via PM regarding origin of a Sub that I may be selling. I bought the watch as a MBW a few years back from a reputed fellow in the forum. I never asked myself the authenticity (MBW) of the watch until now. Can someone with experience in this area tell me if the watch is a and MBW version of the classic Rolex Sub. Here are some pics so as to facilitate the identification. Thank you all for your valuable help. Alter

Hi I've been looking for an Ingenieur replica for sometime. I have finally decided for the one offered by Perfect Clones. It's $308 plus shipping. I thought, well, OK. Then I go to check out and surprise, the only option available for shipping to Chile is $ 165. This is obviously outrageous. Ther's no other option.for shipping. Is this something someone has experienced when shopping from PC ? or other dealers I thought I'd buy from Andrew but his site is not operating and Pure Time is sown too. Any suggestions ? Regards

Very educating experience reading all the opinions about USPS v/s the other guys. There is one comment in particular that is food for thought. Indeed FEDEX and the "other" carriers will do their best efforts so that your parcel is checked (actually inspected) by Customs. I don't know for sure if they make money turning replicas to Customs, but it wouldn't surprise me. I have lost two packages containing reps that were consfiscated having been shipped with FEDEX. I had to pay a stiff penalty and the watches were destroyed by Customs. I think the safest way to get your parcel is using USPS. It may take longer but the chance of losing your watch is far lesser. Take care

Old and new Ingeniueurs ? Sorry about irrpting on this thread but can someone explain what are the differences between old and new ? I am fasccinated by the Ingenieur, so all infomation you guys can provide will be appreciated. Alter.

I'm thinking of the piece that has a" clean" edge in the area adjunct to the crown.

Hi fellow members: I'm pretty sad as I missed a nice Ingenieur posted for sale on the "watches" board. I read the post too late and it's gone. Any ideas about where to source one., I'm interested not in the current version but the one the older version (two to three ago) I don't use to post "wanted" ads or please tell where to find ............... as this is a homework one should. But in this case I'd be happy to hear some soggestions from the constituency. Thank you guys. Alter

Hi fellow members. I thought posting this note on the Breitling forum but then I 'd rather have a more diverse reaction about my question. I know there is a contractual situation that links both brands. Sicura bought Breitling sometime. Tha's fine. What I think is wrong is posting (in the internet) Sicura watches for sale associating this crappy watches (sorry if I step on someones's toes) with a high end product like Breitling. I have seen Sicura watches sell for as little a 50 dollars in the flee market and people are paying as much as $ 600 for one of these in oboy, thinking they are getting a very good deal. . This is myth about Sicura being a Breitling product is outurageous. Alter

I'm listenig to Jazzradio. Great selection of all kinds of just about all trends in this category. Cheers Alter

Interesting reading. This has ben the point since the very beginnig regarding the debate Genv/s replica watches. Gen geeks- not people who can afford expensive watches and buy them "regularly," feel threatened as they perceive the replica as a blow bellow their waist. And I can see why they feel this way. Someone mentioned this on a reply above. They know they will never own as many gens as we own replicas, that pixxxs them off. Nothing feels like a gen, but by the same token, the next best thing is to own the rep, as it is the closest you'll get to the real thing. Now, ethically I think it's not good to tell people your rep watch is a gen, because that's cheating on yourself. Not good !!! I'll never try to pass a rep as gen becasue that defeates th purpose of the replica, that is paying tribute to the original. Now if you want to look at this isue from a practical point of view, Replicas are out there because gen brands contract Asian companies to manufacture their caees, bracelets and movements (ETA did that for along time). They do this to maaaaaaaaximize their profits - Hong Kong made cases are a lot cheaper than Swiss made counterparts - so they pass the blueprints, and matrixes to these "foreign" companies, to get their orders taken care of. So a few months or years later the subcontractors sell the information to smaller factories and shops - to increase their profits as well - which ultimately results in the production of the the replicas that you and I buy. So, who's to be blamed for the existence of watch, radio, tv, cel phone, computer, bag replicas ? Not he consumers, but the manufacturers, whoever they are. In retrospect: if Da Vinci had painted a thousand original Mona Lisas, the owners of the originals would be screaming about the millions of copies of the msterpiece that are sold in Museum souvenir shops around the world. By the way, I love the copy I bought at Louvre a few years ago and I'm very proud to have i in my living room. My 00.2 cents contribution

Thank you guys. Your comments coincide with my impression. They tried to "clean" the hour markers and ended up with this porous chalky surface on them. I'll tell my friend the watch is fine but he deserves to get a good discount for purchsing an untouched dial, if he wants to buy this watch. Thank you all for your valuable opinions.heers Alter

Hi fellow Rolex Forum mmembers: I posted this question in the general forum and I thought I'd do the same here, an instance that gathers so mny Rolex fans. I hope you give me your opinion. The watch looks a lot better than the pics show. Thank you for reading my post. Best Alter A friend is thinking about buying this GMT and he asked me about the dial condition. I told him it's a gen dial (as well as the watch) but it looks the hour markers or the entire dial have been retouched. I could be wrong but the texture of the stark white markers for an old watch like the 1675 is suspicious to me. What do you guys think ? Your comment will be welcome, even if they are not encouraging. Thank you allfor taking the time to read this post. Best. Alter "

Hi dear all: A friend is thinking about buying this GMT and he asked me about the dial condition. I told him it's a gen dial (as well as the watch) but it looks the hour markers have been retouched. I could be wrong but the texture of the stark white markers for an old watch like the 1675 is suspicious to me. What do you guys think ? Your comment will be welcome, even if they are not encouraging. Thank you allfor taking the time to read this post. Best. Alter

That's a good question. I stated collecting watches back in the late 60's. My firts was obviously a gen. A rolex Date 1050 to be more precise. I cannot describe the pleasure of owning that classic, which at that time sold for aroung $ 350. That was a lot of money then, when (1968) a Volkswagen beatle was selling for $ 1.777 in the US. A Rolex entry level watch was aprox one fourth the price of that car. I kept on buying gen - one every 4 or fiveven though years - until reps came out in the late 80's. We are talking about very primitive, base metal copies, powered with Miyota quartz movemenhts, that kept perfect time, for the $ 20 you'd spent. back at that time, I had five gens, but I wouldn't wear them as much as the reps. The reason was simple. with $ 100 a year I could have five new watches, whose gen version I could not afford. Now, I have around 180 watches, one third of them being replicas. Istill, I wear the reps about 80% of the time. Would I still buy a gen ? Yes. I'm saving for a Breguet Tyoe XX that sells for about 4 or 5 K in the internet. Why would I pay that much for a gen ? Because nothing feels like the real thing, that simple !!! This is MHO Cheers

Hi all That was a great response to a rather controversial (matter of opinion thing) question. I agree wearing two watches is rather odd but still many people do, including soccer enfant terrible Diego Maradona. I understand that sometimes it's a must for professional reasons, but one watch is enough. Regards Alter

I was watching a soccer game and noticed the referee was wearing two watches. A digital looking like a G shock and what seemed a Daytona. I read read somewhere that many people do. If you needed two time pieces on your wrists what would those be ? Personally I'd have my gen Sub on my left wrist and my rep Breguet Type X on my right. I think those two are the best in the sports watch category. Hope someone reads this. Best Alter

That video on The Fake Industry was an eye opener. The point is who is to blame for such business practice. The manufacturer or the consumer ? I see a tremendous difference between buying fake watch or shirt, which will do no real harm to anyone and being poisoned by fake medicines or food, The point is clear. Fake goods are out there beceuse they are cheap to produce and because there are millions who buy them because we cannot afford the real product. If the big brands wanted to shut down this industry they could do it overnight. But ... yes there is a but. It would hurt their business. Picture all the American and Europen companies taking back home their production plants. Thet would hurt their "esay way of making money" deeply. It's good to know (that's's the relativist side) that there is no trace of child labor in the watch industry ... or is there ?

Or maybe I should try this other classic ?

How about this Breguet Type XX for a change ?

Thank you guys for the tips. I can see restoring the watch can be more expensive than getting a new one but I'll try to work on fixing it for sentimental reasons. It's very similar to my first Rolex GMT Replica, -long time gone - bought in Mexico in 1990. Thank you again for your comments. Alter

As I was cleaning the drawers of my garage "desk" I found an old replica that I bought in a garage sale yeeeears ago. This is a quartz GMT with all the defects that a 20 year old eplica can have. Still, this may be collector's item sometime so I want to restore it. I found a a case thtat is in better shape but the bezel does not fit. I wonder if someone can suggest where to look for parts, so as to bring this piece of watch replica history back to life. Here are some pics. Please, feel free to say anything you may consider related to the topic, but also please consider this is a 22 year old replica, made in an epoch when the rep industry of today did not exist. Cheers. Alter

Here's the Breguet Aeronavale on my wrist, after 4 months waiting for it.

The watch is here !!!! it arrieved today. Four months and a half to se my dream come true. Angus was loyal to his policy regarding customer satisfacttion. He sent me a second watch, replacing the one that was lost in transit to Chile. I'm very happy as I reported a few meinutes ago on this thread. The watch is stunning. I'll post some pics during the week end. Cheers to Angus, who happens to be only one person whose credibility is not at stake at Puretime. Thank you guys for your support and advise, that kept my hopealive during all these long days waiting for the mail. Cheers !!! Alter

Hi all: I posted an update about this last night. I don't see it in the thread, but I may have overlooked it. It all boils down Angus finally answering to my mails. He asked what watch he should send me. I answered right away giving the information about the missing watch. A Breguet Aeronavale Type II, no date. I am quite happy as everything seems to be clicking into position, now that - as many commented in thethread - Angus is the man seeing that things are done right. I'll keep tou posted. Cheers !!! Alter

Hi guys. Puritime, the truted dealer, HAS NOT FALLEN FROM GRACE. Angus replied my message and he says he'll send me another watch. After so many members of this forum spoke so poitively about Angus, I never lost hope. This indicates he's always the trusted dealer you guys told me when I wrote my first post about this uncomfortable situation. I hope the piece I ordered is still in stock, so as to finally enjoy this ellusive Breguet Type II Aeronavale. I'll get back to you s soon as I get information about the new shipment. Cheers!!! Alter

That's a good question. Lol, Lol, Lol.