JohnG

Suspicious? What are they going to "suspect" - that you wear a watch normally? I tend to agree with those that hold that this practice may draw unwanted attention to the quality of high-end reps. The gen manufacturers are not stupid and know that these watches exist but rubbing their faces in it is never wise. Unless you have been genetically enhanced or have a bionic eye or something, you cannot see that etching from a foot away. And even if you have been abducted and modded by aliens, TRUST ME, the sales people will notice other tells before they see the crown etching. But regardless, following the forum recommendations and removing the watch before entering the AD solves the problem quite nicely.

I am confused by this post. The Sea-Dweller until less than a year ago was based on the sub case and was small. Other than that I can

WHY exactly are you wearing your rep into ADs pray tell????!!!!

Hey, I

Ruby is top notch! Post pics when it arrives!

Best city in Spain! I lived there for 18 months. Sorry I won

This is the principle upon which Pawn Shops work - but they charge interest of course.

Dude, that we are even still talking about watches is an achievement in itself. That is more than we could expect over at RWG1 - by now we would be talking about Fleshlights or health care in Canada.

Well those guys were never actually DELIVERED to Tehran so you can't make any judgments there. And as to Somalia - I am not sure what you are talking about there either. I would like to see anyone else do better under such incredibly [censored] conditions. It is important to parse the ineptitude of politicians and support units from the actual performance of the men on the ground.

More or less. I don't have personal knowledge of Pure Time - I was speaking generically - with most dealers now it seems you are not sure WHAT you are going to get. If it says Swiss ETA in the ad you may or may not get a genuine ETA. It might be a clone. It might be real. You don't know until you get it and, as The Zigmeister and Freddy say, have it taken apart for servicing. That is, according to them, the only way to know for sure. I have received one watch that was a gen ETA and another that there is some doubt about. My watch maker says it is gen - but he hasn't disassembled it. According to EuroTimez's posts, it looks like it might be fake. At this point I just don't know. The thing is, that there is very little certainty anymore on this question unless perhaps you buy from someone like EuroTimez who guarantees the authenticity of his movements and checks them all before shipping.

Assuming everthing you say is true, it violates eBay's rules, etc.. So what? He is not trying to scam anyone - are we really in the business of policing the sale of after market parts that hint at their intended use?

He has also clearly stated that fake or clone ETA's exist. SOME are NOS, old, or rusted, and SOME are fakes. So not ALL "Swiss ETA's" are Swiss ETA's.

Please hurry. I feel like I have ants crawling under my skin.

Thank you Freddy.

Euromariner OR BKmariner.

I confess this is a peev of mine. A criticism of someone should stand on its own two feet. If it needs to be propped up with an implied insult (the things you spend YOUR time doing are not as important as the things I spend MY time doing), then it has little merit to begin with.

Thanks! This may sound stupid, but are you and The Zigmeister saying the first two pics in the thread - the OP's movement, is NOT like this - because to me it looks like this spring and it looks, now that I understand what the cutout is, that there are three. But The Zigmeister said there was only one and to look at the "Kif" and that "this" wasn't it... Was he talking about the OP's movement?... because it looks like a different spring than the KIF on your chart, but it looks just like the spring on the ETA for sale at Otto Frei. The reason I am interested is that my SSD has that exact spring - the "Novodiac" it seems. If that spring is consistent with a gen movement then maybe there is still a chance I got a gen movement... Still hopeful, Thanks again!

I care - I paid for a "Swiss" ETA - The Zigmeister himself said the following speaking of a clone ETA 2836-2 in a GMT-Master II, YESTERDAY:

Freddy, could this be the spring in the OP's movement?: That is from a 2824-2 listed on Otto Frei. I am clinging to the last dying hope that my SSD 2836-2 is gen.

THIS post I REALLY don't understand. Let me paraphrase: All movements advertised as Swiss are Swiss... unless they are not Swiss. Am I going crazy?

The Zigmeister just put the last nail in the coffin of my SUPER SEA DWELLER VERSION TWO "SWISS" ETA. I would love to see what you are talking about. Here is what I am talking about: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=478633 - that is a 2836-2 and the tell that The Zigmeister SPECIFICALLY points to (the KIF spring) is WRONG on my SSD just like it is on the movement in that thread (which was sold as an Asian by the way). I don't see The Zigmeister saying that all movements sold as Swiss ETA are in fact Swiss ETA. Am I misunderstanding your post? Just to be clear - my SSD VERSION 2 shows ALL of the tells listed by BOTH EuroTimez AND The Zigmeister in the post above. At this point is it HIGHLY unlikely that it is a Swiss movement (which I paid for and which was advertised).

Well another nail in the coffin of my 2836-2 "Swiss" ETA SSD - it has the different spring thing... I looked at Freddy's chart and my Explorer (which according to EuroTimez's tells was real) has the correct retaining spring (KIF setup) - while the SSD has the one that The Zigmeister says is wrong. And to boot, he says the movement is not very good. Great. But thanks for the info!

It is also important to point out that Davidsen's policy on replacement for loss/customs seizure is to refund 50% of the money. Since it is generally believed that markup on watches is about 100% this means that you take all the hit and he loses only his profit. I mention this because Scooby recently purchased a watch and was not aware of this. I looked around and while this policy is written, it is easy to overlook. Many other dealers will replace the watch free of charge. I have read enough to form my own opinion which is that there is significant risk involved with ordering from this dealer.

I took my SSD to the watch smith in my town today and he looked at the movement which, by EuroTimez's criteria, is a fake. He studied it for a while with a loup and said in his opinion it was genuine. The overall quality of the movement was too high, in his opinion, to be a cheap copy of an ETA. I told him all about the debate here. I pointed to the "many holes" (or lack thereof) in my movement and the shiny wheel... The first thing he said is that there are differences in the appearance of components over the production life of a movement. He said he has worked on MANY ETA movements and they don't all look the same despite being the same model number. They change machines on the line, materials suppliers, etc., and that superficial differences in the appearance of the movements are common. I mentioned the technical drawings from ETA's website and he said, sure from this year, right? Nevertheless, he gave me his email to send him the comparison pics and he will take a look at them. He admitted it was certainly possible there are fake ETA's and even that mine may be a fake, but he said in his opinion, it is genuine. He confirmed everything that I had once thought but had abandoned given the opinions I had read here. Now I have doubts again. I will keep you guys (those who are interested) updated. This will never be a definitive answer, but it is one more opinion to take into account... I was correct that the experts are not all in agreement.

I like the Hamilton - but more by default - I am not a TT guy. The rose gold is very very pretty.