kanerich

I'm having a hard time seeing your point. You know what a completely inaccurate rep is worth to me? Nothing. So the fact that it costs $10 or $20 or whatever doesn't matter to me, because I'm not going to buy it. Second, I know that reps don't cost in China what our dealers charge. But I don't have to personally go to China to find the watches, haggle, smuggle them into the country, etc. The dealers deserve a premium for doing the legwork. As a lawyer, I am painfully aware of people thinking my service is worthless because "all" I do is take information that's already out there and provide it to the people who need them. In theory. But you know what, if you can't do it on your own or can't be bothered it doesn't really matter that you could do it yourself at some theoretical level, does it? This post reminds me of the all the posts by the geniuses who point out that Rolexes could cost a few hundred bucks if only Rolex would sell them to them at cost. Yeah, and the only thing that keeps me from dating Carmen Electra is that she doesn't want to. If wishes were fishes we'd all be eating sushi. What is your actual point, other than that we could get crappy reps for real cheap, as opposed to good reps for a lot more, and gens for a lot more still?

I remember you as the guy whose first post was July, talking about how you bought a gen. Your first post on a replica site was how you bought a gen and how you thought buying reps was a bad idea. So excuse me if I question your intentions when you bemoan how good reps take away from the specialness of the gens. Maybe just a little buyer's remorse for you? http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...62&hl=faker In any case, many of us -- not just you -- own gens and reps and can deal with the awesome dilemma. Let me let you in on a little secret -- if you are a emotionally balanced person who has more going on in life than stroking your Rolex purchased on credit and hissing "my precioussssssss" alone in the dark, you don't give a rat's ass that people own fakes. That's because it doesn't matter two shits what other people pretend. You own life, education, job, loved ones and bankroll are all real and if people who are merely pretending to be owners of a few thousand dollar watch can by that single act significantly encroach on your status and lifestyle, that's because you are one of those posers. In which case you shouldn't get too bent out of shape for being mistaken for one of them. Besides, not to point out the painfully obvious but if some Chinese dudes can make a 99% perfect Rolex for $150, maybe the problem is not that those watches are making the Rolex seem less special, it's that Rolex needs to make their watches more special for the prices they charge.

What's the old George Carlin joke? "Ever notice that anyone going slower than you is an idiot, but anyone going faster than you is a maniac?" I swear, that's how some people on this board are about what constitutes an "acceptable" level of accuracy on reps. Occasionally I'm left shaking my head at people who get all pissy about crap like caseback engravings but get hostile at people who complain about the subdials on Speedmaster reps as being unnecessarily anal retentive. Yeah OK, we get it, if you bought it that's proof it's great and anyone who expects anything better should buy gen, if you don't like it, it's a total piece of crap. Obviously that is the most objective, easy to understand standard for judging reps. Note that I'm not referring to anyone who has posted on this thread, but there are clearly members who think like this. But anyway I appreciate people who nitpick. I can see for myself that a rep is pretty good without having someone try to sell me on it, it's more useful to know what details are off without my lazy ass having to research it on my own.

http://cgi.ebay.com/MINT-BREITLING-TITANIU...1QQcmdZViewItem Check out the date font and the numerals/lume dots on the dial . . . and I checked the production # on the caseback to the one on trusty's website -- bingo, same number. It's even worse than that LV scam because someone asked if this was a gen Breitling and the seller responded "yes, it's 100% genuine."

I don't think you can make a really bad DJ/Air King/Explorer I. I bought a TW best Exp I from EL and a Chinese Exp I and SS DJ from Paul, they're three of the most accurate reps I have owned (the Chinese Exp I I gave to my brother). I dp have to say that the TW best Exp I is definitely better, although maybe not in a really obvious way, compared to the Chinese Explorer. But it also cost $100 more.

What 38mm diving watches? Pretty much every modern professional auto diving watch (Omega, Rolex, Breitling, IWC et al.) is at least in the 40-42mm range. And it makes a fair amount of sense for dive watches to be good sized since they must be readable underwater. Really, as far as I can tell only Rolex has stuck with the 40mm (39.3mm, whatever) size but that's because Rolex is about not changing, for better or for worse. Omega is hedging its bets for sure with the 42.5 and 45mm Planet Ocean line. Men used to wear pants six inches above the navel and my grandpa still swears waist-hugging pants are just a fad, but I don't see the old style coming back around anytime real soon.

Just to make clear, I completely agree with you that it would be nice if members stuck up for each other the way they stick up for dealers and modders. I also find it distasteful when members slam other members simply for posting legitimate gripes against "the pros" and have said as much on numerous occasions. I think part of the lack of outrage is that, like I said, dealers come and go, and when they do for good it's inevitably with some people's money. Ask members if luckyyy filled all his outstanding orders. I'm not saying it's right or even acceptable, but it is unfortunately a part of the game. But you're right, not a lot of sympathy and that is kind of embarrassing. Sorry for hijacking your Theo, promise this is the last tangential post. Well, from me anyway.

Uhh . . . he says and shows that the watch has an ETA movement. I don't think you need to check serial numbers or papers to draw the conclusion that the watch isn't gen.

Not to be cynical, but I think the reality is that most of us understand that any of the dealers may very well flake out, get arrested, get bored with their side career, decide it's more profitable to sell fake iPods, whatever. Many dealers have come through here, were good or even great for a while, then took off like thieves in the night. This doesn't make them inherently crooks, even legit businesses shutter up and leave town with people stuck with their bills when times are tight. And Pugwash is right, there's not much you can do. We were able to buy from them in the first place because they were good at dodging legal responsibility; turnabout can be a [censored] like that. So all you can ever do is try to find a dealer who seems reliable and try to keep him happy and solvent so you keep getting watches as long as you can. You're right it's not fair to the buyers, but that's the life of a junkie. Also, another reason we get more [censored] at buyers who cause problems is that they often create problems for reasons that many of us consider completely unjustified, which dealers generally do not do. Theo's situation is emphatically not such a case, but buyers often do things like get paypal accounts froze because they didn't get their watch in 72 hours or they didn't really like what they got or some such silly sh*t. Obviously we get pissy at people who just don't know how to behave like grownups.

You have GOT to be kidding. I disagree that this guy is a replica collector "like us." Maybe like you, but not like me. To me, you sell reps as gen you cross a line; fun little slippery slope arguments aside, I'm sorry to see we have members who find that a terribly complicated and abstract idea. Yeah, you're right, he's clearly just trying to sell a rep, that's why under brand he put "Rolex" and under model he put "Submariner" and he uses the word "Swiss" about 50 times and the word "replica" 0 times. Completely on the level. What was I thinking, clearly this guy is a complete gentleman and it's not his fault people are dumb enough to be cheated by his scam. By the way, that's what all scammers and crooks say in every line of fraud in the world. And yet you think this guy has a god-given right to cheat people without being unnecessarily inconvenienced and we're the bad guys for "bothering" him. That is an interesting viewpoint. And again, I have to say, you have GOT to be kidding.

I do not presume to be an expert, but considering the seller represents that his watch has a "Genuine Swiss ETA 2836-25J automatic mechanism/movement" I don't think you have to dig real deep to figure that the watch is a fake and the seller knows it. Note that he says the watch is "exactly as represented" probably to disavow accusations of outright fraud. It can't be enough on any count but I'm sure he thinks he's being tricky.

There are worse things than selling homages going on at TZ. As I posted on TRC, a guy calling himself yurcov has been trying to hawk fake Pams and Rolex subs on TZ since June without any repercussions . . . mysteriously, after I complained about him on TRC and how irresponsible it was for TZ to just ignore a blatant scammer, TZ immediately rescinded his Pam for sale posts, but not his Rolex for sale posts. Rather interesting on both counts, I thought.

Yeah, I've bought probably a dozen watches from him, yet he hasn't responded to my recent emails. Maybe he's just busy but he's always been excellent about this sort of thing before.

How does it compare in massiveness to the 187? I have one of the those and it's gotta be similar in terms of case height, not to mention it's SS . . . Seawolf can't be any worse than the Chronozilla especially in Ti. The 187 is IMO pretty close to the outer edge of what a normal sized guy (I'm 180cm and 81kg) can wear. Well, it's actually well beyond, but I think it works as long as I'm dressed for it (i.e., very casually). But any gotta get me one of these Seawolfs once supplies loosen up again (I'm told they will). Must have, especially but even without a dial swap!

I realize everybody has what they consider deal killers. For example, I don't care for watches with inaccurate subdial spacing nor for pure fantasy models, although I realize both have their proponents provided they are otherwise nicely made. I'm sure we all draw the line somewhere . . . but at one engraving flaw in the caseback (If anything, I personally would have thought the incorrect dial print would be more of a (non)issue)?? CC, I'm sure your point is that you're a very discriminating rep collector and that's bully for you. But seriously what does that leave you to collect? Besides, you bought that highly inaccurate LV and yet the Seawolf isn't up to your standards? WTF?

Gotta agree, I have the Orange Monster on SS bracelet and it's an amazing watch for the $130 I paid for it on ebay. There isn't a watch, rep or gen, that can match the quality for the price.

Too lazy to search google but want other people to write up a wipe my ass FAQ and take plenty of pictures . . . sigh.

Yeah, the Chronocentric posting. It's been around for several years, people here seem to "discover" it periodically.

Yeah, when I first got my Chinese movement 177 I wound it and it didn't do a thing, I wound it all the way to the stop point and then shook it (yeah, real technical) and it started running. The same thing happens whenever it's completely wound down but otherwise it's fine, and I've had it for about five months now and wear it regularly.

The thing is he's just repeating what he was told by idealwatches. As far as he was concerned, you were saying precisely what idealwatches says people who buy cheap watches from scammers say. And if he didn't know you from Adam, was embarrassed by having the tables turned on him and he had $900 invested in believing he didn't get gypped, I don't think being persuasive enough was the problem. Interesting story, I'm always amazed at some of these people you guys meet. Who brags about "only" paying $900 for a fake Sub? Most people would think you were nuts to pay that much for a fake.

Honpo is still active in Japan, but it's moved its operations to China as far as I can tell. You pay to a Japanese account but the orders ship from China. That's why even though I live in Japan I've never been much bothered to buy from Honpo, why wire him cash just to get shipments from China anyway, when the dealers on this board take Paypal.

I do spend a lot of time looking at people's wrists, especially on the train. Hey, it's something to do and more acceptable than staring at girls. Lots of people with nice watches, women usually DJ's and Cartier Tanks, men Omegas and Rolex DJ's. Not a lot of variety to be honest. Japanese people tend to be brand whores rather than trend setters. I'm sure some people will disagree with me but that's my personal observation. I have seen a couple of truly terrible Daytonas on young guys but I don't pay much mind -- kids will be kids. One time a young woman caught me peering at her wrist and at first she gave me an chilly, annoyed look but then she saw the TT Santos 100 rep I was sporting and her attitude changed 180 degrees, if I didn't know what a come-hither look was before then I know it now. Glad my wife wasn't around for that exchange!!

Well, that does explain why River hasn't responded to my last two emails. I thought it strange since usually he's the quickest around . . . I wonder if he's out of the business for now. Too bad, I thought he was as good as anybody.

I"m sorry, but a dealer would be foolish to shut out all newbies. I think I bought more reps in the first 3-4 months than since (I've become both more informed and picky since then), and judging by the number of "I've bought seven reps this month, I'm rep mad!" type giddy noob posts we've seen here on a regular basis, I doubt I'm the only one. Dealers do business with noobs and will continue to do so for one reason -- it's profitable to them. As far as making this a pay only site or no purchase until 100 posts or whatever . . . IMO a lot of people would never get hooked if we had rules like this. If you have to pay upfront to get involved or buy reps. a lot of people are going to shy away, period. I'm sorry but look at it from an outsider's perspective -- if a website says "access to good fake watches! Just pay us first and we'll give you info!" would you assume that was legit or possibly a scam in itself? I personally would never have handed over money to a site like this as a condition of entry. If you spend a lot of time on this board you can see that at any given time there are only a couple of dozen really active members who account for a bulk of the posts. IMO some of them tend to overvalue their value to the dealers . . . there are lots of members who spend a lot of money here, just not as much time. Being a dealer favorite and a regular poster would seem to me to be two different things. Also, I think just like people tend to overreact with anger when their supply is threatened, longtime members also tend to blame new members for problems on this board disproportionately. When I look at members, watchsmiths, etc. who scammed other members or flaked out of old RWG, TRC etc., they were almost always well-trusted members who were regular posters. That's how they got away with crap for a long time. Also, of the recent dealer problems one person used his uncle's (a respected longtime member) account -- his ID theft was not something this board could do anything about. Another involved a fairly longtime member and regular buyer. This hobby doesn't "belong" to any one of us in particular, and this board would become as dead as TRC without regular infusions of new blood.

Supposedly in the Reagan-era 80's the government OK'd seizing property of drug dealers and using the proceeds to fight crime. That was the inspiration behind Miami Vice, the idea that undercover cops would take contraband and use it to more realistically pose as drug dealers and gangsters. Neat concept I guess, although I would have liked to be in the room when Crockett was convincing his chief that he really NEEDED that Gold President to pull off being a wholesale porn buyer (Episode 2). Also, if a drug kingpin's ultra-rare, ultra expensive Daytona Spyder got nabbed by the feds, how could no criminal in Miami notice that the identical car was being driven around by Don Johnson's character? If you stole Suge Knight's tricked-out Hummer and drove it around LA clubs claiming to be a big-time gangster and record producer, would it even take a week before you were gunned down?