Imaknockov

Actually, those look pretty interesting. If the case construction is the same as the mechanical as the ad states, then these would make for very interesting and affordable source of case/bezel/caseback & screws. If not, then they'd still make for an interesting daily beater.

From what I've read, there are generally three issues with the seconds @ 12 movement: -Improperly assembled gears on the mod plate -Most movements either come poorly oiled or not oiled -The seconds hand needs a jewel. All three points are fixable in the hand of a competent watchsmith. The Asian 7750 movement itself seems to do a fairly good job; no worse than any other Asian-made movement. The one snag is that if you plan on keeping your rep for the long run, it might be a good idea to swap the A7750 with a gen Valjoux, but this is by no means necessary. Merely understand that it's probably wise to have the new rep serviced and the cost of doing so is merely the price of keeping your watch problem-free for many years to come.

The bezel screws seem to have gotten much better with time. I suppose that with any manufacturing procedure, little bugs get worked-out with enough ramp-time. I just received a Don Ramon yesterday, and I swear, the bloody thing is immaculate! Were it not for the mediocre faux leather strap and incorrect color on the tachy & subdials, you'd swear it was a gen.

There are actually quite a few problems. The date window, for one, is trapezoidal on the gen; the rep has it round.The outer bezel on the gen is noticeably thinner on the gen, I think they just reused the same bezel as the regular ROO on the rep. The caseback is too thick; the hour hand is either too long or the stick markers are, but the hour hand shouldn't overlap the markers like they do on the gen. The type font used on the inner bezel also differs from the gen. Who knows, maybe the factory will correct the mistakes at some point, but I wouldn't recommend holding your breath.

Straps I can understand, cos it changes the overall look/feel of a watch, plus leather wears out, etc. I guess I just figured that somehow, the boxes only came with new watches. Regardless, a big thumbs-up to edge for shedding some much welcome light on this matter.

You mean that you can actually walk into an AD and just buy a watch box for about $100 without any issues?

Hi Sander. Your work is, as always, spectacular! Just out of curiosity, is it possible to mount a thinned-out caseback onto a watch with the Asian 7750, or is the movement too thick? Also, I'm sure that this is on the mind of many here, but what would you charge for a supermod with correct movement, gen dial, tachy ring, hands and thinned-out caseback with no strap?

Would it be indiscreet of me to ask what the gen strap set you back? I've always loved the Volcano and I'm happy to see that you did it justice.

Technically, the date magnifiers do have an AR coating... At least on the newer watches.

Agreed. Even with the regular old Asian 7750 movement peeking through the caseback, it's still lovely to look at. One of my fellow WIS colleagues was holding my rep Montoya in his hand, looking right at the movement and even he had thought it was a gen despite me telling him it was not. The new models are really growing on me, though I wonder if maybe the (pearl) white dial wouldn't have looked better in pure white w/white tachy. Either way, we likely won't be seeing any reps for at least another year, seeing as how the Diver rep still isn't out, and that was a 2010 release.

Is it just the photo, or is some of the brushing still visible after the media blasting? I'm looking at the bezel specifically.

Nope, there are photos of them and they're the exhibition type. Not a dealbreaker for me though; I like being able to see the movement through the caseback, even if it's not the right one. So long as they get the rotor accurate I'll be satisfied.

I don't know about anyone else, but I find the aesthetics of the ROO pleasing in an overall way; the fact that the crown and pushers are a mm or so out of alignment, or that the date is 0.5mm too far to the right doesn't detract from the overall look, the textures or the way the light reflects off the beautifully alternating polished and brushed surfaces. Also, considering the fact that a rep is one thirtieth to one sixtieth the price of a gen, I think we're getting a fantastically good deal. I buy my watches for my own enjoyment, not to try to impress others; if some people notice my watch, that's great. If they don't, no loss.

Any chance that the rep factories will ever get around to making a decent copy of the movement so that we can get a properly spaced date window and corrected caseback? I figure that they're already half way there with the ETA 2892; just need to make a chrono module.

Ironically, the Montoya is also a very good rep if you can overlook the movement through the caseback. I realize that it's a hopeless dream, but it would be nice if the rep factories would make all gold watches out of plated tungsten to give the watch a more authentic weight.

The white-on-black date is an interesting touch, though I wonder if it will make the date harder to read in lower light due to the fact that it's more recessed than on the gen? If they can make a convincing rep of the white dialed ROO I'm in!

I don't think that's a crack, but rather a molding seam.

Sigh. I just can't feel sorry for people who bid on stuff like this anymore. I mean, the red flags are all there and you can clearly see that the date window on the dial is too far to the right. I don't condone fraud by any means, but if someone is stupid enough to buy a high value item like this without doing their homework, especially with all the wealth of info available at one's fingertips via the net, then they get what they deserve.

Haha, that's my old Montoya. Ironically, the clasp on that particular watch was nice and tight.

The T3 doesn't use a deployant buckle like on the regular ROOs, it has a more conventional buckle which doesn't appear to have any kind of screw holding it in; almost like the strap was sewn around the buckle.

Hi nagar, yup, AP Bands was right at the top of my list, but I'd need to know how to get the buckle out from the stock strap and into the AP Bands version otherwise, the new strap doesn't do me much good.

+1 for this query; I just got a T3 myself and I looooooove it! The strap however, not so much. It would be really great if someone well-versed in APs could post a tutorial with pictures on how to not just swap out the strap, but how to do so with the buckle as well.

Theoretically, you could get a regular ROO on ss bracelet and get it gold plated, but the hard part with getting that particular rep made is that I don't think that particular dial was ever done for any rep, so then your only option would be to source a gen dial and mod the date wheel on the rep's 7750 movement. Sadly, the weight of the watch would never be convincing. Could be an interesting project though

Also, it's really hard to determine what the exact problem is until it's actually opened and inspected. Depending on what the actual damage is, it may well be easier (and cheaper) to just swap-out the movement. For what it's worth, I've never used Francisco, but I've heard nothing but good things about him on this forum and Repgeek, and his tutorials are a Godsend.

First, we need to determine what "wind the watch up as normal" means. It has been discussed by people with vastly more knowledge than I, but a certain amount of care is needed when performing certain operations, even basic ones with the 7750 movement. It's been mentioned on this and other forums that one should take care to avoid manually winding the movement quickly, as this puts an inordinate amount of stress on the gear train, and of course the date should never be changed between 10pm-2am to avoid damaging the date change mechanism. You've gotta remember that a mechanical watch movement is made such that its gears normally turn very, very slowly, and the parts are very, very small and delicate. So while it could be a construction defect that is just now manifesting itself (seconds @ 12 conversion has many known problems) it could also be an issue related to improper usage. I'm sure that others will shed better light on the issues, but that's generally where the problems lie.