that_watch_guy

I just looked at mine, and it also has a 'D', damn!

I've had some sit in customs for a while. Sometimes they are actually out of customs and on their way to you but the system still says that they are in customs. I've had watches show up as being in customs, and had them delivered to my door the same day. The system takes a while to update sometimes. As for being confiscated, I wouldn't worry too much unless you got a box full of 25 Rolex replicas haha! I usually get 4-6 watches at a time and I've had my packages opened once by customs, but they did not take anything out, and even that shipment had a Rolex in it and it had come from China. I think US customs usually has more interesting things to worry about, like black tar heroin and nose candy from Colombia.

Honestly, I'm quite glad that Panerai is not the "brand of the masses", I'd probably stop buying them if I started to see them everywhere. I'm glad they make most of the originals in limited quantity. The last authentic Panerai I saw was in Osaka Japan in March of 2005 on the wrist of a Panerai Employee. I see other brands all the time, but I'm really hoping that Panerai doesn't catch on as the new 'rolex' opiate of the masses watch.

True! When I was at the hospital, there was an Australian dude there who was also on an IV and hadn't taken a solid # 2 in two weeks. The doctor told me that many forms of bacterial food poisoning are common form travelers in Thailand, and many of the strains have developed a resistance to Cipro and other medicines. Despite what Paso said, I've spoken to quite a few people who have gotten sick in Thailand from the food. I saw restaurants using tap water to rinse lettuce, and even worse was the fact that in the restroom there was NO toilet paper, only a little hose type of thing to wash off with. It was a total breeding ground for every type of bacteria known to mankind. Customs is going to be much more concerned with people stuffing heroin filled condoms up their cornholes than they are about a few replica watches. I've never been questioned once about any watches or clothing etc, it's too big of a pain for them to verify where and when you bought it and whether or not it's authentic.

Last time I was in BKK I got a wicked case of food poisoning, it lasted me about 4-5 days, needless to say, that was the last time I ate anything from a street vendor or shady local restaurant. I was so dehydrated that I had to go on an IV drip. I also had the "napalm-and-ground-glass soup" that Pugwash is talking about with those ever so tiny little green peppers ground into it. I couldn't stop sweating for hours. "How does one get watches out of the country safely? Is it simply a matter of posting then home in jiffies?" I just wrapped my watches up in some socks and threw them into my suitcase. I am a US citizen though, so when I got back to the states, a few replicas were on the bottom of the custom's agent's list of questions and concerns.

If you are going to be stuck in Bangkok for 8 hours, you don't have many options. If you don't have tons of luggage, I suppose you could hop a taxi over to patpong, but as other members mentioned, most of the replicas they sell there are total crap. You might as well spend your time inside an airconditioned gogo bar knocking back cold ones until it's time to go back to the airport. If it were me, I'd probably just stay in the airport, granted the airport sucks, and if you are sitting in the normal waiting area you are going to be surrounded by Indians and Pakistani travelers who for some reason have a cultural aversion to deodorant. There will be a few tv's set up in the waiting area, which are usually showing a rugby or cricket game. If you go upstairs you can hang out in the airconditioned internet room, or grab a bite to eat. 8 hours is a horrible amount of time to be stuck in Bangkok, not enough time to get out and accomplish anything, but just enough time to drive you nuts with boredom.

It's been reported many times that Perfectswiss.com, Idealwatches.com etc. along with a string of other replica sites are basically frauds. They are linked to replicacenter.com, which is a site that promotes the string of "Swiss Rolex" sites. If you order from these sites you will most likely recieve your product, however the $1000 watch you bought from these sites is going to be identical to the $200 replicas that dealers sell on this site. These scam sites simply go the extra mile with their marketing and make the buyer think that their watches are the only good replica rolex watches. They use pictures of authentic rolex watches on their site. If their products of so high quality, why don't they have actual pictures of the watches?

are you talking about this bracelet?

I favor the 196 with metal band. My first ever Panerai replica was a piece of crap fantasy model that I bought form a co-worker at the time. It had a white face and a moonphase haha! That was many years ago and long before I even new what a swiss movement was. I'm glad you are doing some research before making a purchase. For reliability's sake, I recommend something with a swiss movement.

No one in my family is into watches, and none of my friends are either. I've gotten lots of comments on my various Panerai watches, and 9 times out of 10, the comments come from attractive women. For some reason, they love the watches. I think that women are much more aware of the accessories that other people wear. Whenever I wear a PAM out somewhere, especially the mall, I can always count on someone asking me about it.

I'm not a big fan of replica clothing, as it usually just doesn't fit properly and the thread count is typically rather low. When I lived in Thailand I used to go out and buy new clothes instead of doing laundry, because I could buy shirts for like $2 each. I ended up with a bunch of fake DC shoes tshirts because I was too lazy to do my laundry. On another note, one of my watch selling friends is also involved in the replica sneaker market =) I've got a few pairs of Diesel knock offs which aren't TOO bad in quality:

My mailman is now used to me receiving boxes from China, HK, and Malaysia. He never asks what's inside but I can tell that he is curious as I get a few packages from overseas each week, and I always seem to be home to sign for them.

Lots of replica makers are using the term "synthetic sapphire" to describe plexiglass. There are pros and cons of using thick plexiglass instead of mineral glass, for one plexiglass doesn't turn green when you view it from an angle like cheap mineral glass does, and plexiglass is probably even cheaper to manufacture. In my experience, most dealers who are selling watches with mineral glass will either say so, or not mention the glass at all. If it says synthetic, it may be plexiglass. I have a Pam111 with a plexiglasscrystal, and it's a fairly new version too, it's really hard to tell just by looking at it.