i realized i was just being silly -- i mean it's not like i was sending several hundred dollars to china to someone i didn't know, hoping to receive high quality counterfeit goods in return.
oh wait
seriously, i got comfortable after reading a bunch of reviews about people's experiences with the various dealers, combined with quite a few emails back and forth with one of the dealers (probably at least 10-15 emails; this was back in the day before our trusted dealers had websites -- just photobucket accounts. back then, it took quite a bit of reading just to find out how to even contact any of our dealers). then i finally took the plunge (i bought the requisite submariner and pam 111h btw), and never looked back.
i have to be honest though -- it was pretty exciting (read: nerve-racking) waiting for that first rep to arrive it's like everyone says -- no one forgets their first
anyways, feel free to ask questions; i think you'll find people here to be pretty helpful....
oh, and welcome to RWG
deltatahoe