deltatahoe

you don't have many "dress watches" as options.... i went for the santos 100 chrono (dressy), navitimer gmt world (can be dressy; you're traveling -- hence the GMT) and the steelfish on rubber (beach) deltatahoe

model: uPO lite size: 45mm seller: josh waterproof test: swimming pool in cabo, no problems whatsoever other: i tightened the caseback (yellow kitchen rubber glove method) before i left for the trip; it was a good thing i checked, because i was able to tighten the caseback significantly by doing so. deltatahoe

hello all, first off, i want to apologize for the delay in getting this group buy going -- as i posted previously, things have been really busy for me lately, and i'm just now having some free time to sort out all the details related to setting up this group buy. below is the list of the current people who have contacted me with interest in participating in the group buy. i just sent a PM to each person on this list; if for some reason you did not get the PM or are interested in joining the group, let me know. 1) archibald 2) subzero1 3) nebakanezzar 4) vlydog 5) dvn 6) woody 7) tutima once i have heard back from everyone (which will hopefully be in the next day or so), i will send the final order and funds to pugwash for him to buy the wheels and ship them to me. once i get the shipping amount from pugwash, i'll tally up the cost for each person and send out another PM with payment information. deltatahoe

i think the moneybookers issues are more prevalent in the US for some reason. @chieftang, be warned re: using your credit card & moneybookers -- it is likely that you will be charged "cash advance" type fees in connection with transfering money to your account. when i tried to link a credit card to my moneybookers account, my credit card companies rejected the request out of hand. a quick plug for another (relatively) easy payment option: bank wire transfer. furthermore, washington mutual has free international bank wire transfers; i set up a small account just for those purposes (they have free checking with no minimum balance requirements). deltatahoe

looking good. what's next on the list? deltatahoe

some updates here

now that i remember, my springbars were jammed in there funny (at an angle). and i recently got new end links where the holes don't match the lugholes just right, so i couldn't manage to get them on properly.... which reminds me -- i need to follow up w/ the contact i had about new end links..., deltatahoe

classic nanuq watchmaking school -- free of charge deltatahoe

best way would be to send it to someone like ziggy (a professional watchmaker)....

i think you've answered your own question. you'll get your watch. waiting on that first rep is one of the hardest things ever -- sending hundreds of dollars to china to someone you've never met for a replica watch is scary. but don't worry, it gets MUCH easier the second time btw, welcome to RWG deltatahoe

OMG how many fish (do you measure in weight when there are that many?) are in that net? or better yet, how many $$'s in one catch? deltatahoe

yup -- it's called timezone (click here) deltatahoe

umm....there ARE lugholes on the 6263 case -- or at least there should be (genuine 6263 here) deltatahoe

i found a really easy fix -- send it to ziggy seriously, those 6263 end links are tough. i pretty much decided i didn't have the tools to do it properly. deltatahoe

i'm VERY thankful that i've never bought a rep from bestswiss, etc......luckily i found RWG while looking for reviews of those sites

unfortunately for me, this is the only pam that could bring me out of my rep-buying hiatus. i'm really happy with my collection right now; this is the only watch i'm currently excited about.... deltatahoe

in the end i did receive my watch.....apparently my watch was one of the watches snagged by thai customs......ttk eventually contacted me about the watch; he sent a replacement out on 6/5/07, which was received on 6/11/07. many thanks to ttk for making things right deltatahoe

fwiw, angus told me in an email last week that they are currently working on getting the cyclops and the blue color of the dial correct; the watch will be released once these items are taken care of.... deltatahoe

ouch misaligned 20 & 10 on the minutes subdial, and stickers on the rotor.... good catch tonton. did you contact the buyer? deltatahoe

i think he was genuinely confused about it. not everyone has seen behind the curtain

now this is helpful information. so let's say you can get a noobmariner for $110 shipped. that is a 83% markup over your stated cost of $60. i paid $418 shipped for my HBB; that is a 81% markup over your stated cost. based on these numbers some fool could try to argue that you're actually getting a better deal on the HBB given it is a lower markup, but these numbers are skewed given shipping cost makes up a higher percentage of the total cost for the noobmariner. so let's say the actual shipping cost (i agree with you that some dealers are probably making a profit on their EMS shipping charge of $30) is $20. thus, for the $110 noobmariner, the actual cost to the dealer is $80, resulting in only 37.5% markup over cost. for the $418 HBB, assuming the same $20 shipping cost, the actual cost to the dealer is $250, resulting in a 67.2% markup over cost. if your information is correct (i have no reason to believe it is not) our collectors are making a significantly higher margin on the HBB than the noobmariner. is that a huge surprise? not really. i think anyone can surmise that ttk (or any other collector for that matter) can't be making too much on a $110 watch. however, i would be surprised if a new collector doesn't come along at some point and sell the HBB for a 37-45% markup over cost and make a nice profit doing so. in my mind, if these watches really are available to everyone at the markets, then the prices will drop -- it's inevitable. the bigger / real concern for me is the possibility that the maker is not allowing everyone to have access to the products, which allows the price inflation to occur. anyways, i've found this interesting -- thanks for posting about your experiences in the markets luisik. hopefully you don't have any hard feelings -- i appreciate your insight and opinions. regards, deltatahoe

@slay, what's funny about your tirade is that i don't disagree with your theory about why other collectors don't have access to these watches. it's a pretty likely argument. my whole point was that i think luisik is full of sh!t in saying that he's seen the hublot big bang and breitling chronomat evolution reps for sale in the markets at the same prices as our other reps. if this were the case, some new collector would realize that they could make a nice profit by selling them to us at a price lower than the inflated prices of our existing collectors. and your point that what's going on with the prices on super reps is the same as idealwatches or bestswiss is an apples and oranges comparison -- those sites sell watches that can be freely bought on the markets for $100 or less for $1,000 or more. my point is that you can't buy these watches in the markets at deeply discounted prices -- they just aren't available. the factory that is making these watches probably finally realized -- hey, i'm the only source for these popular, well repped watches -- i can charge higher prices. the whole point of pugwash's thread that i linked to earlier is just that -- they CAN charge higher prices, and people will continue buy the watches. deltatahoe

so you're saying that you've been to china in the last six months and found both the hublot big bang and breitling chronomat evolution reps? and you're saying that these particular reps were selling in the markets for the same prices as the other reps? many of our trusted collectors have said that even they cannot get access to some of these reps. and yet you're saying you have been in the market and have seen them selling these reps for the same prices as all of our other reps? i'm calling bullsh!t. deltatahoe

totally agreed -- seeing your omega makes me kick myself for not buying the franken vintage 300 that sat on the trading board for weeks at a time several months ago... beautiful collection ubi deltatahoe

like pugwash, i'm getting tired of everyone complaining about people buying expensive reps. first off, have you ever seen/held/worn a hublot big bang rep, or compared it to a genuine (which is a $8k+ watch)? or even a breitling chronomat evolution rep for that matter (which is less than $300 shipped from most dealers)? if not, i suggest you quit making claims about their supposed quality relative to some watch you bought back in april 2006 for $200. you are making sweeping generalizations, basically calling everyone who buys these watches fools. do you really want to be that guy? deltatahoe