crystalcranium

Ahhh grasshopper...but do you know a Swiss ETA is really made in China??????? So actually all Swiss ETA's are Asian made!!!!! Confused....join the crowd! More and more in the shell game of movement provenance, performance is going to be the bottom line, not actual ETA lineage.

Crown tube stripping is probably replica watch weak link number one. Good reason to buy a winder. You simply cannot expect to use and handle these watches in any way that mimics real daily use unless you are willing to go through the expense of upgrade and repair. They are remarkable, sometimes visually indistinguishable from the genuine article, copies of some of the best watches in the world, but that's where the similarities end. Our Chinese friends know very well that putting most of the effort of manufacture into the fidelity of the copy sells better than the effort going into the performance of the watch.

Watch Time

Thanks to Pugs for a head's up to your March 3 review of the 2824 clone. I have not been to your review section for a while. Sounds like this is an almost perfect copy, perhaps made on the same machinery. I'm sure this is going to show up in just about every 2824 watch if it isn't already.

One rotten apple doesn't necessarily mean pending doom for the trade but I agree, the unlimited supply of ETA movements available to us in this golden age will come to an end. I don't see why, having copied the 7750, the Chinese couldn't come up with a servicable reliable 2836 or 2824 25 jewel clone. What we're seeing right now are some pretty compromised substitutes but when the market demands, I think our friends will come up with the goods.

The vid showed an "assembly shop" in Guangzhou which was a back room in a residence where parts from a variety of sources were put together. Such a small decentralized, clandestine operation such as this was described as being able to produce as many as 1000 watches per week with thousands of such operations going on all over the city. As I recall, the "raid" on this residence was by a Cartier executive with the muscle of the local police probably doing their good deed for the day in fighting the counterfeit trade. You are correct that the video did not address the production of cases, movements, dials etc, only the construction of watches.

One factory eh? Watch the video and be prepared to have your notions of gleaming replica producing factories blown out of the water! http://culture.hautehorlogerie.org/en/haut...iting-1832.html EDIT: Ah [censored], I think the link is broken!! Anyway, no factories my friend, just Uncle Joe and Aunt Jane putting together parts under a drafting lamp....just like the couple next door.

Love to see some pics of the insides of the actual watches.

No, my understanding from the more knowlegeable peanut gallery is that our 2824 and 2836 ETA's are "pre Swiss spit polishing" Chinese assembled ETA movements, not amalgams of ETA and renegade parts. The 2892's are a much discussed crap shoot. I don't think anyone can say for sure if an absolutely genuine swiss 2892 resides in any of our replicas.

I've opened Rolex rep casebacks with a wadded up rubber glove and there's the ever popular ball of duct tape. The tape will play havoc with your hologram sticker though. The generic container of silicon grease I have say's it's specifically for watches but I don't know if there's a difference. I have to say though, I just don't get the "I have to wear my replica Submariner in water" crowd. The litany of reasons has never made any sense to me. "Who is going to think it's real if I take it off before I go into the pool?" Well, I don't know of a single reasonable person who would fault you for removing a watch that suposedly costs $5000, no matter what the WR rating is, before diving into the drink. I have 2 expensive genuines that are supposedly bulletproof underwater and there is no way in hell they get anywhere near the briney deep. Not when they cost me $4000. My Seiko diver is an incredible water resistant watch and, should disaster strike like say a $0.20 spring bar fail, it going to the bottom isn't going to cause me to stick a knife in my eye. My replicas are showpieces no matter what they look like they are supposed to do. I keep them high and dry!!!

That's not something you should be satisfied with. If the dealer is a reasonable chap he should replace the watch. As far as I know, it's not SOP to recycle old movements into new watches but....who knows what the rationale of the assembler was. It could be he needed one more movement to complete a run of watches and decided to slip an old one he had on the shelf in. Luck of the draw in a ZERO controlled production industry.

Not to [censored] on anyones parade, the watch is beautiful, but didn't Ziggy ID this blue screw 2892 as an ETA ebauche with asian parts built onto it?????

So they didn't take a hammer to it....they took a screwdriver? Sounds to me like they began disassembling it to start the service, the bracelet always goes first, and realized it was fake and sent it back without any further work. At least there's some satisfaction that it passed visual inspection before it showed its' colors.

Fedex shipping almost guarantees more than just a casual sniff from customs. So sorry to hear about your problems. Luck is part of the process in this trade and it's never good to hear about someone rolling "snake eyes" a couple of times in a row. I've lost two packages to fedex and DHL and never lost a package EMS sent in over 10 shipments. ...but the sad fact is that lost shipments are an inherent, built in expense in this hobby. Hope it works out

Exactly right. You'll hear from members who will claim they have gone swimming every day for 5 years and members who fogged their WR watches sweating. Every watch is an individual adventure.

Yes, I'm still dreaming about my 1980 RX-7

Replica and genuine mechanical watches are tweaked to run a little fast out of the box for 2 reasons. A hacking mechanisim that's running 30 sec fast per day is easy to reset daily just by pulling out the crown and stopping the mechanisim until the time is correct. The second reason is that over time as oils dry, a watch will tend to loose time so one that is gaining time will give the owner a longer service interval. Fine adjustability is a very interesting pursuit as you get into the COSC numbers realm. This is where the margins of technology and nanoscience are pushed by the high horology manufacturers to get mechanical accuracy as good as it's going to get. When you read about R&D worrying about the air turbulence the adjustment screws on the balance wheel make,.....well...it must be fun to operate in an accuracy standard where that makes a difference! As for our reps, I've had Asian movements that I've been able to adjust to +3-5 sec per day and some that I couldn't get closer than +- 30 sec/day. It's a crap shoot out of the box. A decently made 17 jewel or better mechanical watch, oiled and adjusted, should give you +- 15 sec/day. And it's not all about accuracy, its accuracy in positions. Mechanical watches tend to gain dial up and loose crown down due to friction in the balance wheel jewel. The amount your watch gains and looses in these positions is important to on the wrist and on the bedside table daily accuracy. A watch that is adjusted to work very well dial up on a work bench might be an inaccurate watch in daily use.

Aligning the overlay so it centers in the window is the biggest issue. Some of the ones I've worked with have alignment holes that mount on posts on the underlying date wheel but these posts are usually not present on the out of the box Chinese movements.

Sure, get out that spray can of WD-40

The Asian 7750 does what no Asian movement could 5-7 years ago, bring real chrono functions to the replica world. I had a rep collection that once included watches like the Speedmaster with a chrono second hand that was the running seconds and faux chronos. These were the norm. The fact that it is such a good copy of the 7750 that it can be cleaned and oiled and will run like a champ is a fantastic bonus. I think the line of expectations here is getting blurred. Remember what we are buying. I think the fact that it works as well as it does is something to be grateful for. If the cost effectiveness of buying what is essentially a $90 retail priced movement that needs a $200 service makes no sense to you just remember, your $300 Swiss ETA will need service eventually too.

It is but the datewheel overlay on the movement in your Noob has to be saved and glued to the new movement if you want to swap or replace. It's specific not just to the Rolex font but also position in the datewheel opening on the dial. The feet will match. When I first started buying from Clockspares, I couldn't believe how cheap the Chinese mechanical movements were. A 21j movement for $10 is quite a deal. It kinda makes servicing a non issue. If you are skilled enough to pull and replace hands, remove a dial and re-seat the movement in the case, spending $10 on a fresh movement every 3-4 years or so isn't prohibitive. BTW, the asian copy of the Citizen (Miyota) movement hacks, something the Miyota does not do.

I thought with over 100 pieces at last count, RT WAS the high end rep market!!!!!!

You don't see nuts and bolts on the SM crown and pushers?????

Of course but not one that really requires a medical degree!!! Myabe I'll give my lactose intolerent sustem 8 oz of milk tonight and go for my duration record!

My last fart....4.5 seconds!!! Chronos reset perfectly!