thomasng

[censored]ing hell- half the pictures I took were awful. Cell phone cameras [censored]ing suck ass. Did more watch browsing.... no more new purchases to report, but there's still a lot of temptation. What I noticed is in Hong Kong, all the ADs cover the watches in saran wrap from face to bracelet, and even leather straps. That way, new watches are new watches unlike some ADs which give you a banged up one as new. They wrap them up so well that it's hard to ntoice when looking at displays.

Come on someone..... help this guy out.

That's inaccurate. The box that came with my mother's SS Datejust had gold lettering. I recall seeing gold lettering on boxes that came with Subs, etc.

That happened to me too. I adjusted the regulator and it was still 2 minutes fast a day. I found that I should only wind the watch only once every 24 hours, instead of winding every hour, and it was brought to fast 10 seconds a day. I did this because I recall reading a post from Purists on manual wind watches, that consistency in winding is important to get an accurate picture of the timekeeping.

How he was fooled by the shitty date font is beyond comprehension to me..........

I tried one on at the Omega flagship boutique in Hong Kong yesterday. Amazing watch with great heft and feel.

Nope, I sent him a 029 for mods today from Hong Kong.

The 202 sucks and is the example watch that shows what's wrong with Panerai, whoring their brand for Sylvester Stallone. The 194 I am eager for and waiting patiently too.

I saw Jacob and Co. stuff in person for the first time today. Three words to sum them up: Butt ugly crap. What a turnoff they were.

Was there last night for dinner, but I promptly left as the place gets a bit scary when it's dark, especially the Tsim Sha Tsui section. Too much to do, so little time. I finally got to try on DeWitts today, 5 pieces, including a tourbillon. Amazing pieces, really something unique and avantgarde, but too expensive as always. Also got to try some rarer IWCs at the IWC boutique at Prince Building, including the boutique exclusive skeleton FA Jones. Too bad the phone was out of battery. Also, you could also mail the watch back like we do with reps, it's real anyways.

I am actually returning to Toronto, I plan on leaving both watches with relatives who are going to visit Toronto in October, they aren't Canadian residents, so they can bring in whatever they desire. They can just wear the watches on their wrist, and leave them with me. I can just mail the boxes and papers back from here. @Watchandpen, you're right, Singapore is also a great place for genuine watches, also with an amazing selections at ADs like Hong Kong, but I have honestly never seen so many dealers carry Vacheron Constantin, Audemars Piguet, Breguet and Patek Philippe in such a small space, with major chains like Prince, Emperor, Elegant, Halewinner, and many independent stores. Asia in general is a great place to shop for watches. Oh yeah, while you're here, enjoy the great food and sights (also applies in Singapore and the rest of Asia).

Well, it's the only way I can keep my watch buying habits afloat I guess.

Tell me what you are interested in, and I'll give you the best dealers for them, as I have plenty of time to ask beforehand. But always think before you buy. HK will make you say bye-bye to your money faster than you can say "RWG" Another advice, always have plenty of HK$ cash on hand, ready to settle a deal. If you have cash on hand at the moment, you have plenty of room to haggle and bargain hard.

Also, never bring your significant others with you when you shop for watches. They can make your money disappear quickly. Give them a distraction or two. I bought her a Cartier yesterday for HK$200,000 and she eyed another Franck Muller today ominously.

I saw two dealers at Ocean Terminal today that had Panerai in stock, and also passed by the boutique which was closed today. I'm sure there are many more here. And another warning, you will never see so many Daytonas together in one window display! I went to Emperor Watch in Causeway Bay and spotted 30 Daytonas together in a single window display. Every store literally has hundreds of Rolexes, Omegas and the like. Absolutely f**king insane. The prices here are so damn good, that you can buy a plane ticket over here, buy your watch go back home and still save thousands from buying at home. Plenty of time to shop, I'm here until September 1st.

I took 74 pictures just for you Ubi. I also took a lot of pictures of watch shop displays. I'll try to get them up tomorrow! Thanks for the advice Highflyingclive! I own an apartment here, and stay in the Mid-Levels, in the Soho area. I also bought a Breguet Marine Big Date today, I went into a watch dealer (Prince Watch and Jewellery) at Ocean Terminal, asked to see it, the lady brought out the calculator and gave me a price that I just couldn't say no to, an absolute steal at HK$52,000, just about $6700 US, considering used pieces are all upwards of US$8000.

Ah ok, I went to Ladies Market yesterday around 5pm, and there were quite a few police officers around, but I don't expect it to be cheap here anyways, which is fine, as I already have a multiple entry Chinese visa in my British passport ready. @ubi, I'll try my best with my phone camera! I just realized I didn't bring a proper camera.

I'm in for one as well.

This guy is a complete idiot. Do not trade with him, period. Do not answer his inquiries to buy from you either. He seems to flake on everything.

I have been in Hong Kong for 2 full days so far, and I have been absolutely overwhelmed with what I'm seeing here. I think I've died and went to watch heaven here. In terms of reps here, the search has been incredibly disappointing. I found a stand in Mongkok that had a few ETA Rolexes, including a Swiss Daytona, but he wanted HK$1800 for the standard Subs (US$220) and HK$4000 (US$500) for a Asia 7750 Daytona. All other stands were selling the cheap Asian stuff that's no damn good. Looks like I will have to cross the border to get some good stuff. In terms of genuines, Hong Kong seems to be full of them. You normally have 10 or so watch dealers within a block, filling to the brim with Audemars, Breguet, Franck Muller, Vacheron, Pateks and other high end stuff like IWC, Lange, Piaget, Chopard and Blancpain. You also see a lot of rare pieces from manufacturers like DeWitt, Roger Dubuis and Bovet. Rolex, Tudor and Omega seem to be a dime a dozen here, on a short walking trip around Central Hong Kong, I counted 25 Rolex dealers, all of which stock at least 100 or 200 Rolexes. What is amazing here is simply the stock of all the authorized dealers here. They simply have a huge inventory of each brand they carry, and almost every model you can find here. Hong Kong is also a great place to buy genuines because of the price. If you ask nicely, you can normally knock 20% off Rolex, and normally 30% off Breguet, AP and Vacheron Constantin. The advantages of buying in Hong Kong are, there are zero taxes, and the list prices are normally far less than what you see at authorized dealers in the UK or the US. I've only had time to go to only one dealer to ask about an AP and Breguet, and the offers they made were incredibly tempting, as they were close to prices for used pieces in the US. I would think that there are at least 30 or 40 high end watch dealers here, and maybe 100 Rolex dealers, it looks like i'll be kept busy for a while. Also, there are many watch boutiques here, like Richard Mille, Roger Dubuis, IWC etc. I'll take pictures when I can of the dealer displays etc.

That's total [censored] if he wants $13,000 for a used TT Daytona. You can easily get them from ADs in Canada with a small discount too. Timezone also has the occasional one which pops up for $8000 or so for a 2 or 3 year old piece, and they are from reputable people too. Even if we're talking about SS Daytona, $9000 will get you one on Timezone easily, for a LNIB or even NIB. Oh, and this is my 666th post by the way.

I smell a troll. If you didn't want other people's opinions, then don't post anything on public boards. Plain and simple.

Strangest rant ever, considering all SD replicas suck ass.

I suspect something may be wrong with the threads where it screws down? If that's the case, you may need to contact the dealer for a replacement or parts. That's the only reason I can think of, since my Panerai 187 is also like the Daytona in that it has screwdown chrono pushers, and one has a little trouble screwing all the way down because of the threads.

Just don't screw the lower pusher in that much, not all the way, and it'll look fine.