Emperor Penguin

The flaws you noted are negligible, and there may be other tiny flaws that you may have already overlooked. For example, did you notice the differences in groove patterns on the dial? The watch conoisseur will not notice these or other flaws unless he seeks specfically for them. Otherwise, those flaws will escape his eye because the correct datewheel will distract him. As we know, every fake watch is flawed in some way, that there is no such thing as "1:1." Concerning the high-end fake watches, the name of the game is now awareness of specific flaws and to seek them. The Emperor has spoken.

I have a rotary tool and all the things necessary to polish most watches. However, how the heck do you polish the Royal Oak Offshore? You know very well that over time you will scratch the watch somewhere, and it is very likely that the bezel will scratch. However, what can we do to remove the scratches on the bezel? There are hexagonal screws on the bezel that have polished tops, and the bezel around those screws have a brushed surface. You can rub the Scotch Brite pad on the bezel to restore the brushed finish, but you are rubbing them over the polished hexagonal screws. You can use the rotary tool and do each hexagonal screw, but even with a felt-tip point there will always be a chance that the point may miss and slip off and land on the brushed finish. This is very, very perplexing. Any ideas?

Looks like you'll have to get a new clasp. Send Joshua an email and he'll set you up for an AP deployant clasp. He will give you a product number, which is a strap, but don't worry; he uses the product number so you can pay a specified price. The price will be $45 including shipping. You will have to enter in the comments section of the payment link that you are paying for an AP clasp. Contact him by email first, tell him your intentions of buying a clasp, and then he'll set you up for one.

That's strange, dude. If you can't unscrew the locking pin, the clasp rod cannot come out. You gotta take a picture of it for us to see. How the heck did they lock in the clasp rod in the first place?

Dude, at least you have a clasp to work with. I'm still waiting for my clasp from King, and for now I only have the watch and strap. You should be able to fit the clasp rod into the AP Bands strap. Joewatch at RepGeek did it with no problem. The first thing to do is to remove the clasp from the rubber strap. To do that, there is a tiny screw you must first unscrew from the clasp. That screw locks in the clasp rod, which has a hourglass pinch in the middle. It's a very, very tiny screw (about 1 mm long). The rod should fit into your AP Bands clasp loop, and you lock it in with the tiny screw. What is the problem? The rod does not fit into the AP Bands loop? Or are you having problems removing the clasp from the rubber strap in the first place? If possible, please post a picture of what the problem is.

There should be no dispute as to the color of the genuine. Budjosh posted in this forum a side-by-side comparison of the genuine Safari and the fake black dial. The dial is clearly a cream-like color, and when you zoom it in the dial looks like it has a pearly gloss to it as well. To avoid any further dispute, it would be better to avoid the Safari altogether and get a black dial instead. There's no dispute with the black dial.

Wow! Josh responded very quickly. It pays to have a Blackberry on hand. OK, this is what I wrote to him in email: Hi, I'm looking at your Safari model APROO. http://www.joshwatch.com/images/9/4/0107/2.jpg In previous models, the dial color was incorrect because it was ivory white. The correct dial color in the genuine Safari is an off-white, cream color. Did the Guangzhou watchmakers correct the dial color? If you have one in hand, and have taken a close look at it, please let me know. Thanks. And here is his response: Hi, It is still the same dial.. The color is accurate and correct. Thanks Joshua If it is "still the same dial" as previous models (i.e., ivory white dial) then the color would be inaccurate. However, on the website it does look like the off-white color. Perhaps he meant that the dial is the same as the genuine.

Dude, you and I are looking at the exact same watch. I am presently modding my AP ROO (secs at 12), which has a black dial, to a black alligator strap, but I'm thinking about dropping $600 on this to have a second watch for sunny days when I wear brown or khaki. We'll have to wait until someone buys one to post pictures of it. To me it looks like the correct cream color, so we'll see. Why not shoot Josh an email and ask him directly? I'll do that right now.

Well I don't know first hand, but the consensus here is that an Oracle conversion kit is designed for an Oracle strap, the rep endlinks fit the rep strap, and AP Bands' conversion kit is true OEM (original equipment manufacturer), and an AP Bands strap, of course, fits the AP Bands conversion kit. After all, AP Bands are designed for genuine Audemars Piguet watches. I don't know about using an Oracle conversion kit with a different strap. I saw one thread where a guy used an Oracle conversion kit and a cheap rep strap from one of the dealers here. You can see a very wide gap between the end of the links and the straps. I can only assume that conversion kits differ up to a millimeter or so at the endlinks, and the corresponding strap will only fit that particular conversion kit. Joewatch at RepGeek did the right thing and bought AP Bands conversion kit and an AP Bands hornback strap, like I did, and there are absolutely no gaps between his endlinks and strap slots. Still, the only way I can feel good about jumping the gun is when somebody buys one of these new watches from Josh/Andrew and give a report on the quality of strap compared to real alligator or crocodile. I would bet money that the quality would not be good because there is no price difference ($568 vs. $568) between the stainless-steel bracelet and the Chinese hornback strap. They must be made of cheap, printed leather.

Dude, I'd never call that a super rep, or even a good rep. The datewheel is way off. Match the datewheel size, position and font and it will be a super rep. I would pay a thousand dollars for such a watch.

I'm [censored]. I bought King's AP ROO for $490, and I decided to change it from a bracelet to a strap. OK, so I next shelled out $70 to King to send me the rubber strap so I can get the AP deployant clasp, then bought from AP Bands a conversion kit for $180 and an alligator strap for $250. This totals to about a thousand bucks for a watch. Yesterday morning, I found that Josh and Andrew have new products in their Audemars Piguet line: Royal Oak Offshores (seconds at 12) with hornback crocodile straps! I spent the past two days kicking myself for not waiting, because instead of modding my way to a great watch, I could have waited and bought the completed target watch from Josh and Andrew for about $600 including shipping. The only consolation I have is that I know my AP Bands straps are among the finest you can buy, and I chose alligator with black stitching, and that would be a gorgeous strap. Furthermore, the strap is made of real alligator hide. I can only speculate that the straps that come with Josh and Andrew's watches are made of printed leather instead of alligator or crocodile because it would be cheaper for the Chinese watchmakers to make real alligator or crocodile. (They charge the same for either bracelet or strap.) Until somebody buys one of these new watches and compares the strap of it to that of the genuine or AP Bands, we can only assume for now that AP Bands would be better strap quality. Heck, I gotta rationalize somehow if I've already wasted this money.

I recall reading in the famous thread "Top Ten Lies..." that "all replica watches are flawed." I would suppose that this would hold true to the so-called "super reps," too?

A simple eBay search shows this bracelet for sale for $2000. That's a lot to pay. I'm in the process of adding a hornback strap to mine, and because I don't care so much about the bracelet I'll sell you mine for $70 if you want. Send me a PM and we'll talk.

AP Bands sells a strap conversion kit for the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore for $179 plus shipping, and Oracle Straps sells any of their AP straps (graphite, Kevlar or rubber) for $185 and the price includes a conversion kit. Are the conversion kits virtually idential? If they are, there doesn't seem to be a point of buying the conversion kit from AP Bands when you can buy one from Oracle Straps and it comes with a set of straps. With a conversion kit costing $179, plus a hornback crocodile strap for $349, both from AP Bands, that amounts to $528 plus shipping, and that costs more than the damn watch (King sells it for $490 including shipping). Might as well shell out the extra six dollars and buy the conversion kit from Oracle Straps. This assumes, of course, that the conversion kits are virtually identical.

Dude, then I'm hosed. Well I bought King's rubber strap ($70) and it's on the way here. If the endlinks won't jive, I just might as well order a strap and endlinks from AP Bands. At least with King's rubber strap I have the rep AP clasp. AP Bands do not sell rep AP clasps. Might as well go all out. Get a hornback crocodile strap for $350 as well as the conversion kit, which costs an additional $180. Those cost more than the watch itself, which I bought from King for $490. Pretty damn expensive hobby here.