jkerouac

I have the grey dial..... I put it on again as soon as I got home tonight. I received this watch last Thursday and on Friday on my way home from work stopped at the local Breitling AD (no, I didn't wear the Evo into their store. I wore an Ingy instead because I know they don't carry IWC). In any case, I was disappointed to find that they didn't have either the graphite or grey dial Evos in stock. According to the sales guy, the graphite in particular sells almost as soon as they get them in stock. (OK, that's the kind of thing sales people often say when they think someone shows unusual interest in a particular out of stock item, but I'm just reporting what he said and I have no reason to disbelieve him.) He did have the white dial in stock, as well as the mother of pearl, the blue dial, and some two tones. The white dial is a beautiful watch, no doubt about it. Surprisingly, I didn't really care for the blue dial. I showed enough interest in these and various other Breitlings that he gave me both their price list and catalog, which has pictures of all of their models. For the grey dial, I would say that the dial in the picture has a bit more grey in it and the dial on my rep has a bit more brown, the result being very slightly more contrast in the dial in the picture of the gen than in the rep. Last night I realized that I have quite a few more black dial reps than white dial reps. I was puzzling over strategies to correct this imbalance when it suddenly occurred to me to buy a white dial Evo and sell the grey dial. This was in the wee hours of the night, mind you. So when I got up this morning I studied the grey dial some more -- and decided that despite the "imbalance" in my collection, I simply like the grey dial Evo too much to give it up. My next watch will probably have a white or light grey dial... but I'm not going to sacrifice my Evo to make this happen. The bottom line: Whichever of the Evos you decide to buy, whether it be graphite, grey, or white, will be an awesome and incredible watch. And in my opinion it would be a mistake to be swayed by which is reportedly more exact. Get the one you genuinely feel drawn to. I do not think you can go wrong with this watch!

I only purchased one watch from Eddie, and that one was during his Christmas sale a couple of months ago. It's a sad day indeed when someone of his caliber has to leave the arena. At the same time, I have long been amazed that he could maintain a successful rep business from his North American base of operation. If you read this, Eddie, I join with the rest of your forum friends in wishing you well. I only purchased one rep from River as well, although that was much longer ago -- my 192, if I recall correctly. Another flawless transaction. I always figured that I would eventually buy more from him, but it never came about. River, if you see this, I wish you all the best in the future.

My white GST runs well and gets more compliments than any of my other reps. Aside from the usual anxiety about the long-term health of the 7750 engine, my biggest concern with this watch is the somewhat flimsy feel of the crown and stem. Great rep, though.

I measured 43.5 (or so) across (my scale is not digital, so that is an eyeball fraction, not an exact fraction) and ab. 17 mm. thick with the crystal. For what it is worth, I stopped by an AD on Friday to try on, study, and feel a real Evo. Although they didn't have the graphite or grey dial in stock (mine is grey) for a closer evaluation of the dial color, I am convinced that if you dropped one of our reps into their display case you would have a devil of a time distinguishing the differences.

I stopped at the Breitling AD yesterday. He gave me a catalog and price list. Divers strap is $75. On the other hand, if you want the pilot bracelet in 18k yellow gold, plan on spending $14,000, or $16,000 for the white gold bracelet. Tough choice.

What size wrist?

I understand. My wrist measures ab. 6-3/4-in. and I'm not certain the bracelet can even be resized small enough for my wrist. Someone with a 7-in. wrist commented that sizing the bracelet was an issue for him, and that he had to use all of the fine tuning slots within the clasp to make it work. Good luck.

Microsoft has a utility you can run to identify potential application and driver compatibililty issues. It will also tell you whether your current hardware configuration is going to give you the full benefit of all Vista features. Upgrade Advisor I have it on my work laptop, which I got a few months ago, and Vista purrs. I love it. On my home desktop the Upgrade Advisor identified potential driver problems for my scanner and a couple of apps, plus I ought to upgrade some hardware, so I've decided to defer the upgrade. My wife, on the other hand, has a one-year-old Dell system running Media Center Edition and I will upgrade that system in the next few weeks.

Solitaire

1) the small links have double screws. You need to secure the screw heads on both sides to loosen and tighten them. It's tricky. I was able to loosen and subsequently retighten one side of my bracelet, but not the other. Perhaps if I have more time and patience I'll be able to get the other one as well. I didn't worry too much about fine tuning the size of my bracelet, though, because I replaced it with the strap as as soon as the watch arrived. Even with the bracelet resized, I think I will prefer the strap to offset what for me is a fairly blingy watch. 2) As for your second question, the spring bars are difficult, but not impossible, to remove. With the bracelet it's a very snug fit. The trick is that you have to pop the bar out first on the left and then right (or vice versa) before you can remove the bottom or top half of the bracelet. Once again, and as usually happens with me, one half of the bracelet was fairly easy to remove, but the other took me a lot longer. This is another reason why I am less than eager to put the resized bracelet back on the watch to fine tune the sizing -- I'm reluctant to do battle with these spring bars. Good luck.

Those are very useful guidelines, and I think they could even be pinned in the Dealer Review section. But hard and fast scoring guidelines might be less useful than they might seem. For example, are you buying mainly high volume current models right after the dealer posts that he has it in stock, or do you do mostly special orders on low volume watches? What if a dealer is travelling at times when you want to ask questions or place an order, and therefore their responses are delayed -- does this make him an average rather than good or excellent dealer? And let's face it, some buyers are better than others, and a good customer may get more favorable treatment than someone with a history of difficult or unreasonable demands. (It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Neil really did keep a spreadsheet rating past or potential customers. It would be an interesting read, to say the least.) I am as guilty as anyone of posting reviews that "are vague and based mainly on emotions rather than statistics and pure numbers." But when I have had problems with dealers, I always felt that it was even more important to post that information than the "ordered watch/came fast/love it/blah, blah, blah" reviews. I'm less inclined to take into account reviews where everything goes smoothly than I am the reviews that describe problems in the order/purchasing/follow-up process and how they were resolved or not resolved.

Hey, don't we all do that every night when we go home in the evening, pour ourselves a pint or toddy, and admire our watches?

Welcome. Not all dealers have Web sites. TTK is one who does not, nor does he maintain a photo "catalog" of watches that might be available through him.

Many people get caught up in the euphoria surrounding a significant new model, particularly one that is the subject of a group purchase. Then they decide it doesn't meet all of their expectations. In my case I wasn't that keen on the Ingy, but decided to join RT's group buy because I was intrigued and I felt that I could always sell it again for minimal loss if I didn't like it. In my case it turns out that I do like it a lot -- it's clean industrial lines, smooth integration with a fantastic bracelet, and extremely solid feel are some of the primary reasons. Ironically, part of me really likes the weight of the watch, and at other times I think it's a bit too heavy. Will it wear well with me over time? It's too early to tell. For now I am still loving this watch, even as it has been joined in my collection by a few flashier models. I'm sorry for butting into a thread where I am not the direct target of your question. But I really don't think it is that unusual for an exciting new model ot suddenly show up a few months later on the resale forum. Do what is right for you. Don't bother yourself with what other people are doing. P.S. As a side note, I don't think all that many Ingy's have been posted for resale. The leader in that department, in my opinion, was the IWC Jones. A beautiful watch, and I even bought one (a resale from another member) but quickly resold it to yet another member who gave it to his fiance. Even though there were many things to admire about the Jones, it truly didn't deel right to me from the start. Good luck, whatever you decide.

Some people have posted that the date font is slightly smaller than on the gen. Also, there is a very small misalignment of the numeral '60' on the rehaut directly below the 6:00 marker -- but I really had to look for it. I'd estimate the misalignment at less than half a second (whatever that would work out to in degrees). I have the grey dial with a deep red leather strap and the asian movement; this is my first Breitling as well and quite honestly I have a hard time imagining that another watch will show up in 2007 that bowls me over like this one does. But I also want to do a bit of a reality check by topping visiting the local Breitling dealer in the next few days to check out the real deal.

This thread reminded me of the watch box that was on my Christmas list that Santa forgot to deliver. Fortunately I had an Amazon gift certificate that I decided to use on the following: Watch Box Holds 20 Watches See Thru Top Burlwood Finish Marked down twice, and quite a few positive comments.

Also, don't forget to consider the SMP GMT with an ETA (or Asian for that matter) movement, for that matter-- especially if you travel or have family or acquaintances in different time zones. As for your wife, be sure to tell her about any friends who are into cars or other expensive collectibles. Next to them, a few rep watches are a fairly inexpensive indulgence. Plus, how many better quality necklaces, bracelets, and other jewelry does she own? Cheers.

Thanks Brad. That's exactly the information I was looking for. I'm leaning toward bracelets these days, but damn, that leather band looks incredible against the Evo case and bezel. And they are very comfortable as well. Perhaps I'll try to resize the bracelet this weekend....if I have the time.

I'm not sure what you mean by misaligned. The date in mine sits a tad high rather than vertically centered, but I'll need to see what happens after the midnight date change in order to verify whether this is a permanent condition. Even if it is, the top of the 6 is still well within the confines of the date window. The date is perfectly centered on the horizontal axis. As for the bracelet, I took it off to wear the leather band from the get go, so I can't say whether it suffers from the problem you describe. My bracelet is still wrapped in plastic. If I have time I'll size it and try it out this weekend. Good luck, Woody. I have the same watch, and it's a real beauty. Enjoy.

Springbars. You have to use a springbar tool or a small screwdriver to remove the springbars. The fit of the bracelet is fairly snug, so you need to first loosen the spring bar on the 7:00 side and then the 5:00 side to slide the bracelet out from the bottom of the watch, and then loosen the sprinbar on the 11:00 and 1:00 positions at the top of the watch. These are stubborn rascals. It took me longer than most other springbars to free them up so I could swap my leather band for the metal bracelet. But once you lift one of the springbars from any of the four holes you will realize what you need to do to free them from the other three corners. Good luck. By the way, I have the exact same watch with the deep rep leather strap. A gorgeous combination.

Excellent review...and pictures, Seadweller. This is the first post I've read since receiving my own Evo. Initial impression: this watch is its own version of "shock and awe." And I particularly appreciate your comments about the bracelet. I immediately removed the bracelet and put on the extra deep red leather strap that Angus offered because I didn't want to mess with the bracelet before getting the Evo onto my wrist. How many links did you remove to size the bracelet?

I asked him for the tracking number over the weekend and I received it this a.m., when the watch was already in customs. So not receiving a tracking number does not mean it hasn't been sent out. Cheers.

Terrific pictures, Szumi. Thank you for posting them. There has been a lot of discussion of the grey dial Evo even before anyone even received one. Mine entered and exited customs this a.m., so I expect to see it in person in the next few days. If possible, I'll also stop at a local Breitling AD to examine the real deal.

I wonder what is going to go through Rex Grossman's head during the off season? Will he be demolished by his experience this season, will he find the secret to becoming a winner, or will it be more of the same? This, in my opinion, is one of the most intriguing set of questions that will be answered during this off season. I wish him well. I don't have a lot of confidence in miracles, but I wish him well.

I agreed to go to a play before I reallized that it was going to take place at the same time as the game. But because of my DVD recorder, I decided to honor my commitments by watching the Super Bowl on tape delay. Chicago (the team I was rooting for) played well, but they had no offense. Indy wasn't that much better, but at least they had an offense. I remember the 85 Bears. Those guys would not be denied. This Bears team did not believe, and for whatever reason, did not deliver.