kitersoze

salient points, offshore, and i appreciate you elaborating on the timeframe of the thread; it of course might make quite a significant difference. even 2 years might make a difference in pricing and quality, which is part of what i was inquiring about, i guess. if the market has produced the prices as the market will bear, then they will reflect it. i was just wondering what the rule of thumb or etiquette was regarding rep sellers and their buyers. is negotiating common/expected (as with many asian vendors) or will it be looked upon the same as if i wandered into a shopping mall and started doing that. just a noob trying to learn to conduct himself well, but intelligently, in his purchases. thanks.

ah pug, yes... i do agree with you, but i guess my emphasis is slightly different. a fine rep, just like a great shoe for a woman, can heighten a man's sense of confidence, which then of course translates to that intangible quality of attractiveness. but that confidence, and resulting attractiveness, comes from within the person imo. it doesn't emanate from the watch or the shoe. the watch, the shoe, or any other accessory may bolster your self-image and confidence greatly, but i don't think that simply walking with your new rep held in front of you, the mere sight of a rolex, real or not, will cause most women to strip right then n there. my personal experience is that, if all you've got is the material object(s), without the commensurate persona/self-image, then something just doesn't translate or come together, n most people seem to sense that. now often times it's the age-old chicken or the egg: if you think you look good, you feel good, n then you look good... but my emphasis is that displaying a rep in and of itself, without the accompanying intangible qualities of allure, won't get the job done. imo.

omg i thought this was just some odd satirical spoof until i finished reading n hit the link...

well of course i'd be interested, especially in a 42 black bezel SS band, with flaws corrected n AR. who wouldn't be? but it seems the more experienced members are staying conspicuously quiet or out of it altogether. that might be telling us something... still, i appreciate those who are putting in the time and effort... imo, just from business experience, the simpler the deal, the more of a chance a GB has. pick a dealer that's very well respected and known here. we can then all be comfortable paying upfront (w/ credit card?) and the dealer's got too much rwg profile and too many long-term customers to risk screwing us over just one deal. keep the UPO variations very small: one size, one color bezel, band options only perhaps. what's universally most important to all of us seems to be the AR, the logo and other corrected flaws, maybe lume, quality movement, and high QC at the best possible price. that's the only point of the GB imo; otherwise, everyone could just order to their specs a la carte off the catalogs...

hey all, i just got done reading kenberg's/tvt's amazing story about the guangzhou watch market. http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...mp;#entry568485 it is an absolute must read. and it brought up a question i've kinda had for a while. now as a noob who's learning proper procedure, i "search"ed and searched and didn't come up with anything answering my question so here i go placing it into general discussion. does the rep market, specifically our sellers here, do biz like street markets or corp. chain stores? i've been to asia many times and every time i go into the street markets for anything, price negotiations are fully expected. you're almost a dufus if you don't and just take their initial price offers. but at the same time, i don't go into 'target', 'best buy', or any other chain store and start negotiating prices. so what's the etiquette or rule of thumb? having done biz in asia, i already knew rep mark-up's may be pretty darn high, but after reading kenberg's thread, it seemed i needed to clear this up in my mind. it's business: i want the seller to make a profit he can be happy with, but i also don't want to be a complete fool...

wow what a phenomenal read. thank you for the detail of it. the sad thing for me is that i've been to cn and even guangzhou several times on biz, but this was before i really even knew about hi-end reps. i just assumed there were only the obvious fakes, bad, poorly made kinds i'd seen before. my god what it must have been like to be there. i wonder what it's like now? has anyone been since? i believe i'll be going to cn again in the not too distant future; like mid-end/'09. could i pm you for exact location of this market, since even the cab drivers don't seem to know where it is? thanks again for such a wonderful story...

what a great idea for a thread! "What watch would this famous name or that wear as his signature timepiece?" It's a fantastic metaphor of the image and persona of watches to personality. It could be a series... Like what would 'dubya's watch be, versus like, what would sir edmond hillary's be? my image would be dubya chooses to wear an "AP end of days" (because that's either what he was hoping for or just trying to accomplish on his own). hillary, i dunno, an blancpain 50 fathoms? someone should start a new thread for shits n giggles...

having said all that, i don't mean to take any of the fun or joy you're getting out of your new rep's. that's what they're for. besides, i think and hope you were mostly telling the story in the way funny stories are often told best: tongue in cheek and exaggerated.

ha. funny story... glad you're excited and having fun. but remember, when you wear it, the bigger the deal you make of it, the more it doesn't ring true... like the guy who constantly talks about how much tail he gets. invariably he's full of it. or the guy who talks about how badass he is. the people that are those things don't really try to get it talked about, because they're already there. n as interesting and fun as reps are, they are only an accessory. i hope you enjoy and admire them on their own in and of itself. i think they are beautiful and a blend of both form AND function. the fact that they are relatively inexpensive allows me to indulge in, without remorse, a quantity and variety of watches that i otherwise would feel asinine about spending that kind of money on something that's really not necessary for a happy life. but a rep can't transform your life, even your sex life. it shouldn't be able to make you more attractive on its own (or god help the girl that thinks that way). it's an accessory that can go together with a total, rounded picture of someone. without the overall, corresponding components, i think one might just look like they're trying way too hard. i've heard tell that just as many people who can readily afford gen's wear hi-end rep's as those who can't. i completely buy that. i'm fortunate enough to have several gen's, but i love this whole new world of reps opening up before me. with the quality of reps now, it just seems streetsmart to wear reps. i thoroughly enjoy what they are, it's a pleasure to wear them to fit my sense of style, and i feel like i'm getting all of that without spending a fortune on what can only be described to me as a selfish little passion of mine. "...the spoon doesn't bend... it is your mind that must bend... there is no spoon..."

hey, got it. some of you guys know, trust, n done biz with him?, cool. didn't mean to cast dispersions directly at him, just the scam sites in general that seem so slick and well-practiced at what they do. and to tell the truth, the scam sites (and the companies with their ever-changing umbrella of scam site names) are too numerous fr me to keep straight in my head. i thought idolreplica rang a bell from one of the many threads i've read recently. plus, the youtube PM and the wording of the message: it totally read like those other sites i was so tempted to try when i first started to look into reps. it's a sad statement of our society (or maybe just me) that my initial reaction is to distrust what i read and am presented with from someone trying to do some business... but after my own due diligence, reading the horror stories of consumer/complaint boards, and corresponding with other members here about how they finally got to rwg, i know from where my skepticism comes...

seriously, wiseman! that was very kind of you to go out of your way to help turbo in his misfortune. thank you for your part in making this forum what it is...

well said, RobbieG... ...and i like what you did with the skagen's for your fiance. showin' the gf the thought and the EFFORT - now that's smart...

i got this PM from idolreplicas on my youtube account, because i'm assuming they're studying users' "subscriptions" and view and/or comment list (and i've been viewing rep watch vids lately): " Hi，message from Idolreplicas Hi，message from Idolreplicas Dear, We, idolreplicas, are professional high end Replica watch dealer years into replica business world. We offer almost all world-famous watch brands,like . You name it, you can find it! Our Replicas are made to exact weight and dementions and look extremely close to genuine pieces even at the very details. High quality, nice finished, excellent water proof, accurate time keeping

i'm in SoCal and fortunately had no problems. just a slight hiccup and it was more uncertainty from inexperience rather than an issue to be dealt with... http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=86492

it was my pleasure, P8B. toad's noob guide seriously calmed my nerves... i'm just givin' a little back...

Deadwood and The Wire are the two finest drama series i've ever seen, bar none. the writing, the acting, the subject matter, the writing. the characters in both series are not your typical 2-dimensional stock stereotypes. they and the situations they inhabit are as fleshed out and 3-dimensional as any i've ever seen. 6 Feet Under was also very very good, but a little too whiny for me. Dexter is very dark and very fun. the mini-series, "Band of Brothers" was also very very good.

SUCCESS!!!!! cherry popped!!!! my 1st ever rep in my hands, er, wrist... trade review post will be forthcoming... thank you rwg!!!

hey kitersoze i just got some info for myself and thought i'd write to myself to let myself know about it so that myself's mind may be put to ease (and any other noob's in the US who might come across this and one day be waiting for their 1st rep, fretting like an old granny, like myself... s-s-seriously, i was TOTALLY fine throughout the whole shipping/delivery/waiting/customs/waitingsomemore process (bcz i'd read enough noob guide material here about the waiting process; thanks TOAD!) until the last time i checked the damn usps.com tracking and it said attempted delivery unsuccessful and notice left! i was home and there was NO notice! then, like a freakin' cheap fold-up card table under the weight of a krispykreme GO-NUTS! 72 doughnut pack at the complimentary coffee and 'snacks' of the local Overeaters Anonymous meeting, my mind got swarmed and crushed. i had the unshakeable image of ems delivery couriers, driving on the left side of the road, swerving repeatedly... reading the address from right to left, confused... being fed up looking for the house, feeling the weight of the box, opening it up, putting on my 1st ever rep and placing his gen HannaMontana GMT XL in the box... but i digress. i found out for myself (and for anyone who cares and/or doesn't know already) that EMS, once it's out of customs, is in the hands of usps,and that i can pick it up any ol' time at my local post office. they no longer attempt a second delivery unless you request it. so in a little while, 2 hours 44 minutes (but who's counting...), i can go to pick up my very 1st rep ever, and proudly take hi-res photos of my new HannaMontana GMT XL with Val-scroux 2.8 bph movement and the pink rubber strap to show on the forum. wish me luck...

hey all, got a little situation. i am waiting on delivery of my first rep ever!, in an ems package to the US. i've tracked it and the usps.com has very accurate tracking info. they're saying that an attempted delivery was made yesterday, but i was home yesterday. they said that a notice of attempted delivery was left, but no notice was left in my mailbox or door. ems site tracking says delivery was attempted unsuccessfully as well, but mentions nothing about a notice being left. under "Contact" it gives me a service hotline "@11185", which i don't know what the hell that is? it ain't a US nor a Chinese tel. no. there's no email contact given either. once it's in the US, who does final delivery, USPS or an EMS courier? Who has it now? I'm going to call USPS in the morning in the hopes they have it and i can just pick it up from them. if EMS has it, how the hell do i contact them to confirm they're going to the right house or tell them to come inside the friggin' gate and knock on the door so that there's a chance for me to snatch that package from the courier?!!!! seriously, i was fine waiting until i read that it was attempted to be delivered. now i'm like a friggin' kid the night before Xmas, just antsy and buggin' out...

yeah, that's sinowatch.com. he's all over youtube with these videos he shoots of his rep's. he displays all their functions and scratches 'em and shows 'em frm every angle. he's out of guangzhou, only takes western union and bank wire, goes by the name of "mickey". i came across him during my own due diligence looking for rep sellers before i was introduced to rwg. i know a couple of guys who've bought from him n they got their reps and were happy. i gotta say, his website and video channel on youtube is pretty damn persuasive because he shows the watches he has in plain video capture. nothing slick or corporate about it, like the scam sites. i was so tempted to try a buy from him (even traded emails with him), but i was a noob n his payment method made me too nervous. but i corresponded with a couple of guys who actually transacted with him successfuly. i'm just happy i stumbled upon to rwg...!!!! anybody else know/try him? just to be real clear, i also am not endorsing/vouching for him in any way, shape, or form. i'm merely saying i've come across his site and youtube channel before i found rwg and spoke to a few other people who had bought from him. i'll take our trusted dealers with the 100's of transactions thank you very much!!!

Welcome, welcome. i'm a noob, too. there's a lot of intro material you can look at to familiarize yourself with the rep world. i'd recommend toadtorrent's intro-guide bcz he puts all the links to those intro's in one post. have fun.

ahhhhh, miagi-san... fence is painted, car is waxed. but i still can no defend from attacking tree...

yeah, i just figured it was like some magical spell or writing that, you know, "ONLY WIZARDS can read this!!" so, as a noob, i was all "MAN, what else can't I know?!"

read toad's intro-guide: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=85981 it sums up the beginning of your journey and gives you invaluable links all in one spot. old skool members are like, "where da hell was dis wen i was just starting out?!!!" noobs like you n i are like, "what? isn't all the info we desire always supposed to be at our fingertips just like this?! what?!" it will seriously save you tons of time... and believe you me brutha, you ain't the only one who done it... http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=86098

jeezuschristos! i've just finished reading toad's comprehensive guide, and as i've sorta been reading more n more throughout the forum, i'm slowly realizing that not only did i know almost nothing about reps, but if possible i knew even less about rep forums. i'm promptly trying to remove my cherry head from my rectal regions... i hadn't used "search" nearly enough, was nervous/anxious about my first rep buy (after my own due diligence turned up the horror stories and scams of the rep world "out there"), knew nothing really but had acquired just enough knowledge to have detailed questions. but unfortunately didn't know the best way about seeking answers to those questions. hence i PM'd The Zigmeister because his name was so prominent and respected and because i'd read some of his movement reviews. i hadn't realized that what i was doing was the rep world equivalent of PM'ing a 3-michelin star chef and asking him for advice and instructions on how to make toast... i want to thank The Zigmeister for his kind tolerance in dealing with a total cherry noob, holding his hand, looking both ways, and getting him across the street. it was very much appreciated, rob. kitersoze