jkerouac

It all depends. In some situations I will be perfectly candid about the provenance of my rep. It can indeed be a good conversation starter. A few years ago I was buying a new car and the negotiator turned out to be really into watches. He had an IWC and told me about the Panerai that he planned to purchase. So I had to poo poo the Pam 192 on my writst even though he was practically drooling over it because I needed him to think I was really stretching my resources to afford the car. (OK, I was going to pay cash except they had a 0% three-year loan offer, which I took because.... why not!) Perhaps I should have offered him my rep in exchange for knocking a few grand off the price! In other cases I downplay the name (for example most people have never even heard of an IWC or Chopard, so if you say the name matter of factly they might just say "Oh, nice watch" -- and go on from there). For a brand that is more familiar (i.e. Rolex, Breitling, Panerai) and where the other responses are problematic, I might say the watch was a gift. That would address issues of whether you are wearing a watch that is beyond your means or they consider excessively showy. (I happen to have both an Omega and a Rolex that I received or inherited from my father, so I don't consider it a slight to my father's memory to use the attribution.)

I look at the watch case periodically when I go to Costco. Always interesting to see what they have on hand. I believe Costco sources their high-end watches overseas, which the manufacturers are unhappy about. So Keep in mind that you wouldn't have a US warranty.

In college a friend who was very successful with the ladies turned me on to Royal Bay Rhum. I bought some and started to wear it myself when I took my first job out of college. But then a co-worker came into my office, sniffed the room a bit, and she said: "I smell fruit cake!" Somewhow I never really cared for Bay Rhum after that. Over the years since then my favorite scents have been: Chanel for Men Issey Miyake Dior Homme (and most recently) Bleu de Chanel

I have no complaints with delivery times from USPS. Their bureaucratic procedures and lines at the post office can be a pain, but their delivery service is actually pretty good. Shame that the service itself is disintegrating due to the decline in first class mail. We complain about junk mail, but that's probably all that keeps the USPS afloat.

I haven't purchased a watch from Costco, but have seen Breitlings, Tags, Cartier, Ferrari, and a few other high-end brands -- over the years, mind you, not all at the same time. I am fairly certain these watches are grey market, as verified in the Omega case. But my understanding was (not sure where I heard or read this) that Costco would extend their regular warranty terms and arrange for service if needed to duplicate the terms of the original manufacturer. If this is true, then you would have to balance the value of the OEM warranty and papers vs. the Costco warranty and the potential cost savings.

I have a rep rubber strap that is closer to the vanilla scent. But I prefer the metal bracelet. You might be able to get one of the dealers to sell you one separately from the watch itself.

I've been into reps for about eight years now. I got into it because I love beautiful watches but hate the idea of paying more than a grand for one. The irony is that if I tallied up all the money I've spent on reps, I could have easily afforded something in the $6,000-7,000 range. Would I be happier? Absolutely not, because I would be kicking myself for spending that kind of bread on a watch. But spend that amount of money on 20 or so watches with essentially the same skin as their more expensive counterparts, and I'm not particularly bothered. I get to wear a different beautiful watch 2-4 times a week and have to be fairly diligent to make sure that every watch is worn at least once during the month. Reliability has been pretty darned good. The only watches that have actually died during my rep adventure were $100 "what-the-hell" cheapies. A few others have had minor problems, but nothing that required major effort or investment to fix. A few that I am particularly fond of have been serviced by The Zigmeister. A few others, if they died, I'd be annoyed but could replace them easily for probably less or the same cost as a service. To be honest, the last few years I've been kind of burned out on reps. I haven't bought a watch in more than a year, and I'm not sure what model would get me excited again, unless perhaps I sold a number of pieces from my collection. That's also why I haven't been around here very much and let my VIP status lapse. In any case, I think reps satisfy a genuine need, because luxury goods are obscenely overpriced and the playing field needs a leveling agent.

Daily Mail: That's one expensive car crash: Hapless blonde crashes her £250,000 Bentley into a Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari and Aston Martin The article and pics Fortunately if you can afford the car I think you can afford the repairs. But hiring a chauffeur might be cheaper.

I'm probably not the only member of the board thinking this, but ....... would you adopt me??

quote name='AlexBPM' timestamp='1308372336' post='986037'] Well I think it's a great piece. And looks great with a suit. It seems every time a watch gets great reviews, it becomes extinct shortly after. This is the only Ebel I would even consider getting. Guess I'll have to look into getting a used one

Happy Birthday, Gran. Perhaps you can dub this one Gran Master, V x.

For a case, try Amzer: http://www.amzer.com/Apple-accessories.htm . Nice cases, good prices. For a thin, scratch-resistant coating try Ghost Armor: http://www.ghost-armor.com/index.php . You can apply it yourself, or better yet, find one of their locations (they appear to have three in MA) and have them apply it.

I think it's a pretty sharp watch as well, but I still wear my Mile Miglia panda regularly, even after some years. One big benefit of this thread: it reminded me that I have a rubber strap with deployant similar to the one pictured for this watch, along with the bracelet. I haven't worn the rubber strap in years, but I think I'll be changing things up later this week.

Jetmid would only buzz the Grand Canyon if he could do it using his personal Concorde and spreading shredded $100 bills over the minions watching from below.