Richard Tracy

OrenG, this is not directed at you, so please don't take it personally, as I'm simply responding to much of what I have read in this thread in your post. Sometimes, the ugly political and slimy under currents of racism by some in this board rankles my nerves and nearly drives me away. If it weren't for a shared love of time represented in mechanical form, I don't see much we have in common. This is why I shy away from forum get togethers. The shiny sparkle of a replica watch, won't long blind me to the fake jaded smile of a bigot. What has Obama done ? Isn't it obvious ? He's given solid living substance, to the long sung American slogan, that America is the one place on Earth where you can, no matter who you are, or where you come from, rise to any height your intelligence & determination can carry you. The Statue of Liberty is now a true representation of the best of America. If you don't know how much this astounding historical event has effected the attitudes of millions the world over, and especially in America where a vast segment felt that they never really belonged, then you were one that was blind to your brothers and sisters plight, and attitude is everything. To the world, He's shown that America, for a time, and in places, overcame the past stagnating shadows of racism, which is, like religion, a most ridiculous and self defeating ramshackle wall, which keeps us as a human species, separated, and separation breeds ignorance, and ignorance begets fear, and fear brings forth hate, which explodes into violence, and violence destroys us all as a species, not only by bloodletting, but by blocking the flow of genius which has no color, no nationality, no sex, no religious of political affiliation, and only requires bread, clean water, clean air and respect, to grow and deliver the answers to the diseases and problems which kill us all. If Obama does nothing the rest of his term, {which I doubt, as people are too quick to jump & judge,} then he will have still changed the world forever for the better. This is all I have to say. I will not respond to any commentary pro or neg.

Sorry for being late to this, I just saw it. Get well Lankai, take it easy, stay positive and take your antibiotics.

Think about all the watches that sit with dealers for years, before being purchased. Watches wear out with use, not disuse, unless your pieces were not properly lubricated from the factory, if they sit in a place that is cool, dark and dry, then you have nothing to worry about.

Thanks to the brilliant review of the Ebel Discovery by our much loved brother By-Tor, and the wonderful transaction by King who did a hand select for me, I am the proud owner of my 339th replica purchase. This piece however outshines them all,, and is one I will never sell, or give away, unlike 334 of them so far...which are but memories. This Ebel is the most beautiful, handsome, and well put together with top notch materials ! Sorry for the lack of a photo but I could never outdo By-Tor. http://www.rwg.cc/members/Review-EBEL-1911...ove-t81129.html I feel like I did years ago after receiving my first Pam 196,.. and now find myself looking for more... Thanks Again By-Tor, our everlasting sweetheart... King, and the best place on the planet for watch Talk & Action RWG !

May the forces of life send strength your way !

Look for watches with silver, white, or beige dials,.. as they look best with brown straps,..

Thanks Dluddy,... I finally found some info on the guy. I consider myself warned...

Hey Gang,... I noticed some people sporting great deals from a Mark at Watchmark, but I cannot locate him.. Has he done something wrong or was he ever a dealer here ? Thanks in advance for you time...

Logical as always Ken ! Hear that guys,.. the gloves are off.... Just joking.... Great to be here,....

Thanks for the response guys.... With regards to the notion of 'selling to whomever I want..." however,.. I'm not referring to a law here, but a courtesy, as long as the person who posts interest first is of respected status,.. Otherwise if you will only sell to a chosen few, you should post your ad in the platinum forum, or send pms to your 'friends'... I personally feel that if someone will take the time to respond to my ad, then I should at least take also the time to respond, and if someone gets there first, but I am not aware who they are, I will also let them know the reasons why I feel the way I do. Not to do so is simply rude, and allows backstabbing deal ninjas to snatch watches away from honest forthright buyers, with the offer of a few extra dollars, when someone who responded to a sale first and was willing to pay the full asking price is left in the lurch. To me that is a shady way to do business, but if I am alone in this notion,.. then I will remain silent and simply follow my own guidelines.

Something has drastically changed in RWG for the worse. I have been on these replica boards for years,.. many in fact and have traded in the boards for as long and never have I seen it reduced to this. The trading forum has become a place for the bored to amuse themselves by posting negative and usually uninformed opinions on other member's sales threads. I understand fully the spirit of our board which is to prevent rip offs, however, much of what you see posted on sales threads is totally against simple and common Etiquette ! Some say that the market should regulate itself,... however I don't even go that far. If an item is clearly overpriced, then I have no problem with someone pointing that out, however my last two sales were in the $80 to $100 range, peanuts, for brand new watches and yet still the crows come out squawk, ask silly questions, & start ridiculous speculative discussions. If you have questions, please take the time to pm the seller. We are all members of the same RWG family and we should not, I repeat not, be so casual about taking money from other member's pockets just to amuse ourselves. Another recent degeneration is for sellers to play favorites and ignore those who reach a sales post first then follow the logical format of post interest, then to pm their interest. If you have an item for sale, and some respected member gets there first to post interests and then pms for details,.. take the time to answer their request, and allow them to make the purchase if they agree to your price. Why ? Because it has always been a basic etiquette which allows for a fair transaction that should reward the fastest on the draw and makes for a more exciting and rewarding experience for everyone. Not to follow basic and common decency takes away from the purpose of the trading forum, which is to allow us all a productive & fun place to barter, save some money on great deals or to finally obtain some elusive or discontinued peices. As it sits now, I don't think I will ever go back there again to buy or to sell, because the experience has never been so uncivilized.

Agreed ! I'm not placing my health in jeopardy for a phone... besides, I would not pay more than $500 for a phone regardless,... as they go out of fashion and technology too soon...

Yet another ultra paranoid supposition,.... The vast majority of people don't know a Rolex from Timex,.. Some of us tend to give too much power to these outsiders,... most of which say, and I hear this all the time... "why do you need so many watches ? A watch is just a watch".... Keep in mind that 99% of people who know all about the various and ever changing aspects of replica watches are members of forums like this one.. thus have no room to make a disparaging comment because they are also sporting a replica...

Many of the reported problems with the 7750 are user error related, and much of the remaining are posts from the old versions, though I have had great success with even those models...

Three Years ?? It's so true that time flies when you are having fun !! Here is to 3 more,...

Ditto ! And I add that they are the perfect engine for what is, and always will be,..a Replica watch. Especially so in a difficult economy, where waste is simply a lack of foresight.

I smile when I hear all this 'conservative' commentary,.. as their leaders have had decades to prove their rhetoric all the way from two terms of trickle down Reagan through three sets of Burning Bush terms adding up to 20 years of stacking the top until it toppled over. Now that others sensibly want to build from the base up, and have the power to do it,.. out come all the economic 'experts'...with their Nostradamus like prophecies which are thinly disguised desires that the 'other side' fails. Something different needs to be done, and done it will be, and though the results are not guaranteed, anyone in their 'right' minds, who really take the time to think past all the brainwashing they have all been swallowing about people, places the world, and their places in it, can understand why this plan has come to be. Equalization always comes eventually !

For me at least, today's economic times have forced me to cut all wastes out of my budget, and though I do love replicas, when I add up all the money I have spent over the years, and compare that to what I currently own, and their worth, it dosen't make for a logical argument to the wife at the end of the day. Though I would not call my replica times a total waste, as I have enjoyed the variety,.. I must admit that it was somewhat irresponsible from an economical standpoint, as I used the low pricing of replicas as an excuse to buy like there was no tomorrow, and tomorrow has caught up with me. The escalating prices of replicas have sealed the deal, as they have placed themselves into the price range of genuines,.. a place in which they clearly cannot compete. Thus I'm currently only seeking to invest in low priced genuines such as Hamilton, Philipe Watch ect. as I believe that they are the future of the mechanical watch world, companies that have logical pricing combined with high quality.

Perfect Post,.... could not have said it better myself. To believe that the high end buyers are the base of the market is not based in fact. The base were working class people who once felt that they were obtaining their piece of the pie by copying the gaudy rich and spending like the good times were never going to end. Reality however has dawned on the masses, which includes the rich, and we are all wiser because of it. Liberace like gaudy demostrations of waste, are less and less seen as a mark of the winner but now as the sign of the shortsighted, or gullible, greedy & selfish fiends who flaunt the waste of resources when their fellow man can't feed the future adults who will lead us one day. Now before some of you get up on your high horse and shout that this is a communist or socialist viewpoint, I would point out that a wave of a green and milimalistic mindset is set to move across the globe, which is anti waste, and pro equilibrium for all humanity. Which in light of China & India posed to engulf already limited resources like a vacuum, is an essential counterbalance to a tipping of the scales which will place us all in jeopardy. Keep in mind however that we replica lovers are part of the counterbalance of waste, and in my opinion we also we chip away at the Swiss watch industry, {though some would like to believe otherwise,}.. if in nothing else, our exposure to styles that don't hold our attention for long, are genuines that we would never purchase. Lastly to answer the question of the future, do I really believe that one day many people will be talking on their video watch phones ? Yes I do !

Thanks for the thoughts Richard ! I do love the heartbeat of mechanicals, though I also tend to gravitate towards gadgets,.. and in particular alarms which I have found is best when combined with a backlight feature... I will never abandon mechanicals, though will explore to the very latest edge of what is available from a technological standpoint, and I think that will be common for many future watch buyers to the detriment or at least, to the shifting of ground under the feet of the Swiss watch industry, which will need to alter their stance or dig in deeper, both actions of which the results are unsure. Though the watch industry as a whole is losing market share to cell phones companies, and mini computers, the mechanical watch industry is under attack from two directions, which is a fight that can be rarely won...

Thanks to everyone for the intelligent & thoughful posts on this subject. I agree with much of what was posted, though there are some issues that would like to throw into the arena for further thought. It was said that if digital watches were going to take over mechanicals then it was decades ago that it would have occured. I disagree. Now, more than ever, with this age of green sentimentality combined with our ecomomic woes and amazing new technology, electronic watches are posed stronger than ever before to push pretty hard the Swiss watch industry to the edge. Green: Atomic, Solar driven, Kinetic, never need battery replacements. Economic: The cost factors of electronic watches are too good to ignore when financial times are tight, and styles change like the winds. Technology: Never before has there been so much available on the wrist, from communication to entertainment, to life saving and information of every type, electonics cannot be beat, and can adapt to any time and place. As for reading digital readouts with mature eyes, there are watches that speak the time to you, and even brail for the blind. I personally think that one day the readouts will be transferred via bluetooth to the lenses of one's glasses when needed. I will always love mechanical watches as I said before, and I don't think that they will ever die out completely, though I do believe that the Swiss watch industry will either adapt, or face an ever shrinking marketing base, as their product is viewed more & more, as vanity, ego, or gaudy status symbols, nostolgic pieces or curios of the past that are held onto not for their functionality, which has been clearly overshadowed, but for emotional, sentimental reasoning, which is not up to par for logical discussion and thus, like religion, best left to each his own.

I have to disagree, on two points, and wonder at a third,.... 1. If you seek perfection, mechanical will never give you that, moving parts are imperfect by their very nature. Gears have been around for thousands of years and were one of mankind's first attempt at technology. 2nd, Craftsmanship and design are found in both mechanical and electronic. 3rd, how can one shun digital totally and live in a modern world ? No, as I said before, I love mechanical watches, and always will, but that part of my soul, I understand, is purely emotional, an illogical loyalty to a side that I must admit may have been influenced by the advertisement manipuations of the Swiss watch industry, who were fighting against the tide of time which had attempted to move forward without them, and will eventually, regardless of what you and I think. Much like the Samurai who were shot down by the gun, their swords a thing of great beauty and long history, now collectors items. Time had turned against them. Eventually the mechanical watch will fade away as the younger generations, the ones who have not been indoctrinated, take the logical course and strap on ones wrist, the one companion that serves all our needs from communication, gps, entertainment, computing, timekeeping, work, and who knows what else, for a much smaller investment. The only question that remains for us from the vantage of this forum, is if the replica world will keep up, and sadly I believe that it won't, because there will be no gap in price points from which to exploit, like the one that the Swiss watch industry is using to rob us blind.

Let me start by saying that I love mechanical watches,... always have and always will. Why ?? Because micro mechanics are not only beautiful, but link us to our past. I also noted how digital watches almost killed the mechanical,.... however there are times when I miss the simplicity, the reliability, prices, and yes the functionality of electronic watches.... Now mind you that I am not speaking of the type that mimic mechanical form, no, ,..I mean the multi-function, cell phone, mp3, bluetooth, gps, television, ect. ect. ect..... My first digital watch was in the 70's a Seiko with as many gadgets as I could find, alarm, calculator, ect,.. for which I paid $150, { a tidy sum at the time} and that watch was so usefu, and lasted so many years without a problem that I never forgot it. Then I was swept up in the rhetoric of the Swiss watch industry and never looked back, that is until recently. When I was a kid I was always fascinated with [censored] Tracy's watch, it was his special tool that set him apart, and I dreamed of a time when I could actually own one,... well that time is here, with video cell phones already released in Europe and soon here in America.. Now I find myself thinking about revisiting the digital watch,... Whenever I do consider a digital purchase however, I hear the echos of slogans and opinions that are stronly evident on mechanical watch forums,.. which I have agreed with, and also posted myself for years,.. but I am starting to rethink those opinions.. and those thoughs are coloring my past opinions as snobbish and a more than a bit illogical. Does anyone else feel the tide of time pulling to the digital realm who were always firmly in the of fox hole of the mechanicals ? Come on out and voice your opinions....

Great post,...! I have been saying for years that replicas and ETA don't mix regardless. Kind of like placing a genuine brand engine in a kit car, it just dosen't make sense. Most of us, though we enjoy our reps, won't keep them forever or pass them onto our children like heirlooms, and many of us tire of each model, long before the movements will ever need to be serviced. Lastly having owned close to 200 reps, and quite a few genuines, I found that, at least in my life, that the Asian movements served just as well mechanically, as genuine. My daily beater is a Narikaa JCL alarm which I have had for years without servicing and it runs like a top... I can't imagine how much money I would have wasted if I had insisted on ETA in my purchases, and now, there is simply no excuse to delude yourselves.

Having owned both the Vulcains & Jlc compressor both from Narikaa,.. I must say that the Jlc lasted for years,.. and is still my daily beater, and the alarm function works flawlessly every time...