CJR

Hey guys. I'm continuing to read reviews and am still in the "shopping" phase (do we ever get out of that phase???) for my first purchase through a RWG dealer but have been reading more and more posts about the need to service a rep's movement from day one. Is this as common a practice as the posts recommend? The thought of shipping out a recent purchase for service as soon as it arrives seems like a real bummer time-wise not to mention the cost to have a friendly watchsmith service it. Do any of our dealers have good enough suppliers such that this type of expense could be put off for 6 months? a year? From what I've read I'm certain movement longevity can vary from watch to watch, dealer to dealer, and production batch to production batch but what is the expected norm from purchasers here? On a related topic, what is the typical longevity of a rep these days? Will they easily last 5 years? With service, 10? I'm sure the Zigmeister's watches last a lifetime but what about us mere mortals? For those who don't go down the immediate service path, how long did your rep last? After all, from what I've read, a service is almost equal or half the cost of another watch. I do wish to get several years worth of wear our of my rep purchase so if this is a common practice to assure reasonable service then I guess I'll just bite the bullet and budget this cost into each purchase. Thanks for your thoughts..... CJR

Thanks for the warm welcome folks, just confirming what I'd already seen here. Got my tool kit from Offshore the other day so will be taking my first steps on one of my earlier purchases (now DOA) soon to further my learning process. Will be looking to start the Time Zone class soon too. Wish the winter here in So Cal was less than 70 degrees so I'd have an excuse to stay indoors all weekend and focus on learning, whoa is me right? Still considering my first purchase, in the running is the Omega Railmaster XXL(would like to see one on my wrist first though as the 49.2mm case is a well known beast!), a Breitling SuperOcean, or the classic blue Bond Omega Seamaster (is this watch still available from dealers or has it been updated to the Co-Axial?). I'm not to the point where the accuracy to the gen is that critical to me, just want a nice looking watch I can wear for several years at this point. plaifender, thanks for the compliment, guess writing is just another hobby of mine among many others. Think sometimes I'm ADD hobby-wise as I've got so many different interests that I bounce between. Looking forward to the possibility of a GTG here in So Cal in the months ahead.... CJR

In a word, WOW!!! I'm embarrassed to occupy the same region of the globe with usctrojan11. Some USC alumni have reputations for being quite full of themselves and if this individual has any sort of association with the university he certainly didn't help that perception. Such vitriol when you were the one asking a misleading question and Valerian was just trying to help. Best find another site to spread your special brand of good cheer 'cause no one around here will be anxious to help you I'm sure. WOW!!!! CJR

RED, The GTGs sound great to me. Some times a faster way to get up to speed is with a face to face as I'm not the world's fastest on the keyboard by any means. I'm searching and reading nightly but that just raises more questions to search on. I've seen a few CA designations on the member profiles and assume there are many here. How do the GTGs start anyway? Anything planned? I was a member of another hobbyist club several years ago now (saltwater aquariums) and we actually met monthly and had discussions / presentations of interest to the group. We might not be up for monthly meetings but maybe something quarterly for now? What do you think? CJR

Hello everyone . I