subzero1

Cool watch, reminds me of a low-tech slot machine somehow.

Thanks again for doing this Lani, I was pretty stoked when I first ordered this watch, but now after your pics and detailed feedback I am REALLY stoked to be getting it. Mahalo nui loa!

Thanks all. The caseback is numbered as 0023/1906, so it's correct. AR is quite good, on par with the AR that comes with the new Chopard MM XXL Chrono grey dial, almost as good as the HBB. I'm just glad they are putting this level of effort into non-mainstream reps. I mean, how many Omegas, Panerai's, Breitlings, etc, can you own? Variety is the key for me, and having great reps of Chopard, Dewitt, Montblanc, Porsche Designs, Baume & Mercier, that really gives me some variety and spice, and I'm much more satisfied with my collection. Don't get me wrong, I still have 2 HBB's, 2 UPO's, a SMP, 3 Breitling Evo's, 2 Breitling Navi's, 6 PAM's, and 4 IWC's, but with the new additions it's just so much more fun to open my watchbox every morning and pick something out I also just bought my first ever rolex rep (the new GMT II Ceramic), and I've got $$ set aside for the new Concord, AP ROO w/Seconds @ 12, and Graham Swordfish, when/if they all ever come out. It's a great time to be a rep collector!

Still waiting for my correct handstack ceramic Rolex GMT to arrive, so I'm wearing my Montblanc GMT chrono instead. Fit and finish is immaculate on this one, and I love the dual stack GMT/30min counter at the 12 subdial:

Correct hand stack AND a scratchproof ceramic bezel - hahahaha I'm so glad I ordered one of the initial batch. Thanks Lani!!!

GMT hand should not jump, the hour hand should. When you move the minute hand around, the GMT hand should follow the minute hand, in the same manner than an hour hand follows the minute hand on a non-GMT watch.

Hot damm! Glad I already ordered one of these Looks great!

Hey Lani, can you take a screwdriver to the bezel to verify that it's scratchproof like real ceramic >)

Going w/my newly acquired Mont Blanc Star Chrono GMT watch:

Edit - updated with pics of the Grey/slate/black dial version of this watch. The dial on this is VERY nice, best printing and finish of any rep I've ever had. Hands are very nicely blue'd as well, no discoloration or scratches or rough edges anywhere. First off I have to say thank you to PIX for his shots of the Montblanc Sport Chrono, which got me interested in this line in the first place. After purchasing several watches on rubber straps, I wanted to get something with a steel bracelet. The caveats were that it could not be too flashy (like my Breitling Two Tone Evo's or my Navitimers), and it shouldn't be too plain (like my Omega UPO's). so a non-bling, but still interesting SS based watch w/steel bracelet was what I wanted. Lucky for me the Montblanc Star Chrono GMT 1906 Anniversary edition had just been repped using a gen watch. If you look for this watch on the Montblanc website it's actually pretty hard to find, it's not listed in the regular catalog. The direct link to it is here: http://www.montblanc.com/special_100years....l=starwatch1906 Place my order with Josh, had the watch in my hand one week later. In person it is far, far better looking than any of the dealer pics. Josh makes the watch look like a white dial in his pics, but the reality is that it's a very nice silver starburst dial, with a lot of depth and interesting things happening. I've tried to capture the beauty of the watch in my pics, but alas I can only get close, but not quite get the full awesomeness it has in person. I know there's been a general complaint around here that rep prices are going up, but I gotta say that every single one of my last few purchases has put a stunning watch in my hands. This watch, the Chopard MM XXL Chrono grey dial, the Baume & Mercier Riveria Magnum, the Graham Chronofighter, the HBB's, the Porsche Flat 6, all of them have simply outclassed the best reps I'd previously owned, such as the Omega UPO, Breitling Navi's, a whole slew of Panerai's, Omega SMP and SMP Chrono, IWC 3717, etc... Honestly, for this level of quality I don't mind paying more, they look stunning and really cannot be distinguished from the gen when doing a 'look and feel' type of comparison. Anyway, enough talk, on to the pics, hope you like them. Grey/Slate/Black dial: White/Silver Dial:

Rolex is expensive because people will buy them and pay that much. They are not really selling a watch so much as they are selling a symbol of wealth/success that you can strap to your wrist.

Donation sent. Love this place.

Got my 2893 powered PAM 029 GMT from Jakub today - great double AR as usual, put it on my black KWONG shark strap:

Yeah, the only things I see are the slightly too thick bezel numbers and the slightly too thick metal rings around the hour markers. I figure I'll just do a bezel and dial swap when/if this gets addressed. In the meantime I'll be wearing a still-pretty-bad-[censored]-rep of the GMT-II-Ceramic. For the level of out of box accuracy I think the price is very reasonable. Of course I'm also the guy that owned 4 ultimate HBB's at one point

Today I switched to the UPO on Nato, w/K2222 AR:

Still this one:

This is an observation I've been making about the community here with regard to the latest rolex rep, the ceramic GMT II. I started that thread because I was super-stoked that this 1:1 rep was being made, with ceramic no less, and the correct, new bracelet. Then the responses were mostly a bunch of pissing and moaning, wild speculations about the price, misinformation and incorrect speculation about the build, etc... I thought, "Why is everyone being so sour without anyone even having seen one in the flesh? Why is there not more genuine interest in what is being offered?" I mean, everyone knows there are tons of mediocre Rolex reps out there, most with some rather serious flaws, and here's one that gets pretty darn close right out of the box. I figured people would be falling all over themselves to order one. Then it hit me. It's a Rolex. Anyone that owns or considers buying one is immediately suspected of having a rep, simply because it's Rolex. There's a lot of baggage that comes with owning a Rolex (gen or rep), and it seems as though people simply cannot get past that baggage to appreciate the level of effort that went into this one. The reaction is not a huge issue to me, I don't really care what people think. Plus in my everyday life, everyone that knows me even moderately well knows that reps are my hobby so I'm not 'fooling' anyone w/this, so the fact that is says Rolex is no different that if it says Hublot or IWC, or whatever. I just found it interesting how prickly and how sour the general populace here in the face of what I think is a pretty dang good rep.

I'm pretty sure this is both ceramic and a 1:1 rep made from the gen watch. Damn, I can't justify getting both this and the Swordfish coming out soon, dilemma!

After some intensive comparison w/gen pics, the only thing I can see is the font of the numbers on the bezel are slightly too thick. Real ceramic from what I hear. The slightly too thick #'s are definitely not going to dissuade me from getting one.

SSD gets my vote.

Look what I just saw - this is the only rolex I'd ever been interested in, I'm no expert but I think it looks pretty dang good. I'm definitely picking one up if the price is not astronomical:

Can't seem to get it off. Still this one:

Still this one. Love it, it's sort of a "summer" version of the HBB - rubber, steel, titanium, multi-dimensional, but a bit smaller and less awkward on my small wrist, which is important with short sleeves.

I like it, put it on an orange strap to make it really outrageous. Since I've already got the white dialed CF oversize, I'm going to hold off and get the forthcoming new Swordfish instead.

Lume is quite good - better than most reps, but not quite as good as the Graham Chronofighter.