OiRogers

Well... sadly that settles the question of which HBB I was going to get... the answer is now None. I'd been struggling with my 300-350usd limit on rep price... now I know I put that limit in place for a reason... for 500usd one can source a pretty decent used gen with some footwork. If our dealers were to go back to the factory and up the quality of this rep quite a bit... I'd be tempted... but still that price is harsh. Kinda like the PS3 I guess.. I'd love to pick one up... but the entry fee is way too much to be worth it.

Keep us posted on how things work out with Jay... this is the only quartz watch on my "want" list... Does it function at all like the gen?... chrono, stopwatch, alarm... etc? From what I've been able to find Jay is the only rep source for this watch currently... anyone know of any others? And that leather strap looks great... your fuzzy shots may have moved this watch to the head of my "want" list... luckly its a cheap one to pick up.

@tmg I've located the source... My thanks for your help.

The "novelty NASA strap"... where did you source this item? I just sourced myself a used Gen Moonwatch and would like to accesorize mine as such as well... Any tips would be appreciated.

@ r11co... My ETA version of this watch is the same as yours... clamps holding the movement holder only. My DG4813 wasn't secured to the movement holder either... just plopped in there ala ETA... I'm still trying to figure out how the clamps and screws made their way *Under* the anti-mag cover and into the movement... the cover was on snugly and had to use a *bit* of force with a fingernail to lift/remove it. And I know for a fact that the screws/clamps were outside the anti-mag when I got the watch initially... I remember thinking the mis-matching screw head sizes was a nice touch in a rep watch... a mystery.

Yes.... In CONUS EMS packages get handed to USPS and they deliver them with all f@#king haste once they arrive at your local brach... usually delivered at my house by the branch manager in his personal vehicle.... something about having to be in the hands of the customer prior to noon, either way I won't complain.

Ouch. I hope the stolen package was listed at the correct value so that you (or the dealer) don't get shorted on the insurance end.

I got my UPO lite about 5 weeks ago... I already have a 4th gen 42mm and a UPO ETA with orange bezel... Decided I wanted to try out the black bezel/orange numeral version without the full expense of the ETA. I ordered the UPO Lite full well knowing that the movement could very well be a timebomb that could go at anytime with no warning and little prompting. First two or three weeks of my UPO Lite ownership went great... no issues at all. Water-resistant to a good depth after just tightening the caseback after a little siliconing. Then about a week ago the first *hiccup* surfaced... the date wheel didn't change all the way... only flipped halfway. By crown the next morning it flipped easily with a loud *snick*. Two days ago (after three more mornings of half-date changes) it totally stopped on my wrist. I undid the crown and gave it a good shake and it ran... but i couldn't hear the rotor spin.... figured I was seeing the demise of a UPO Lite movement firsthand. Yesterday the same thing... stopped dead on the wrist, no rotor movement noise and ran find after unscrewing the crown and shaking the watch like it owed me money... it ran fine all night with the crown in the "wind" position" dial up on top of my dresser. This morning (after a 16 hour work shift) I had the great idea to crack the caseback and see what I could see... wanted to see if I could find why the rotor had stopped spinning (at least as far as my ear could determine). Upon cracking the caseback.... I noticed the three movement holder clips and screws were nowhere to be found..... empty screw holes and clip recesses were plainly visable. When I purchased the watch, I popped the caseback to silicon the gasket and at that point noticed that the three movement holder screws were of three different sizes.. amused me at the time. I lifted the anti-mag cover and to my horror found the three missing screws and clips seriously gumming up the works... a screw was keeping the rotor from turning at all... a movement clip was jammed vertically through the balance... another screw was wedged into the winding train... the other two clips and single screw were nowhere in sight... I turned the watch over and shook it again... As if it owed me *a bunch* of money... and low and behold... two clips and a screw produced themselves from points unknown inside the "asian eta copy" movement. After removing the six offending pieces of metal.. the watch ran fine... date changes went fine... didn't just "stop" on the wrist.... I reassembled the watch... placing the three clips and three screws back in place and discovered that two of the the clips didn't actually "clip" to anything... they are too short. Also found that one of the three screws is too skinny and would fall pretty freely out of any of the three screw-holes. After this discovery I have since reassembled the watch with 2 screws and clips (one not holding anything) and have a spare screw and clip in my parts bin... The watch has run for the past 16 hours losing less than 2 seconds on the wrist.... not too bad.... date changed fine this morning as well. I checked my ETA UPO this afternoon... no issues at all... and all the screws are the same size. Checked one other UPO lite I have visitation rights too (next door neighbor) and found that the screws were of different headsize, but fit snugly into their holes... this makes me *pray* that my particular UPO Lite is a unique case... I came pretty close to chucking the watch into the "dead" heap and moving on. My biggest question is how in the heck did those six pieces of metal, after working themselves loose, end up *UNDER* the anti-mag cover and in the movement... it seemed like a pretty snug fit when I looked at it. And I suppose one further question for all the watchsmiths here that know more than me... (that would be pretty much any of you that own a screwdriver)... does having the movement/holder ring being held by one screw endanger anything... am I putting my crown/stem up to undue stress?... It takes a pretty good effort to get the movement and ring to come free of the case even without the screws/clips in place. Long story made short... today OiRogers learned that upon getting a new watch... ensure the retaining clips and screws are tightly in place... one more step for me to go through upon reciept of a new watch... oh well... at least its fun to tinker under the hood as it were. And man... I hope this makes sense to someone other than me.. I've had two bottles of locally produced Sangria after work tonight and I'm not certain that I've made any sense... Wish I would have had the wifes camera handy to document the wonders of my self-disassembling UPO lite. But if nothing else... finding it out to only be clips/screws loose restored my faith in the UPO lite as one of the best "bang for the buck" reps available.

Good to hear... I was digging a bit in my parts box/bin/bags and know I have at least four links from UPOs... two from each of mine... just can't find em at this time.

If you haven't sourced any Pins/tubes yet... PM me and I'll see what I can dig out... I should be able to find you some from a UPO pretty easily.

There was an audio story done by the same reporter... either NPR or BBC can't recall... sometime last week or two. All in all very interesting.... they didn't discuss watches during the audio story at all. Had a bit on people with their yatchs and their "shadow yatchs"... i.e. boats that follow the main yatch to haul all the extras (jet-skis, heliocopters, submarines... ) All in all was very interesting... I'm thinking the title was the same.

Interesting thread.... I know that I type in a similar manner to TTK... Why?... no idea Not in imitation of Neils style... I've just always done it.... seems to fit with my flow of thought... if it bothers you, I appologize... but I don't intend to stop.

Fixed it for you there Jfreeman420.. can't believe you overlooked that in such a genuine post of a replica board.

Right up till the "Must be gold" part I was thinking Omega Speedy Moonwatch.... A timeless classic of a timepiece.

Logo is obviously different, pearl is different... without looking too hard around the net, I'm curious if the dealer sent you a photo of a gen... I've never seen a 45mm PO rep with a logo that good.

There you go Pugs... fixed it for you.

As someone who is getting the funds up to purchase a HBB rep.. I'm curious.... what makes Tigerdaytona state that the bezel isn't Ceramic?.... This could decide between the stainless.. the ceramic and the *mebee* forthcoming black magic... Either way I'm not too upset... I love the look of this watch.

Wow... I heard the same thing from someone calling himself the same name... we have secondary confirmation now... must be true.

All in all the Seamaster reps are pretty spot-on... the Planet Ocean reps in particular. You'll be let down if your expecting a rep to sport a Co-axial movement though.. best you can hope for is a "swiss" eta movement... and that is even going to be suspect if your ordering something a dealer claims to house a 2892 ETA movement... do your research before you buy... Feel free to PM with any specific questions or post them to the forum... we're always happy to help.

Panerai hasn't (to date) released ANY tourby models. They have an inhouse movement (cal.2004 mebee) that will sport a touby (horizontal axis, not visiable from dial side). Any rep you see at this point that sports a tourby is a fantasy... Any rep you see that sports a dial-side visable tourby is a fantasy.... Any *Gen* you see that sports a dial side tourby at all, or a tourby before 2008/2009 is a fake.... Anything else?

Just my .02cents... I also have both.. the ETA and the Lite version of the UPO... If I had to do it again, I'd go with the ETA every time... my lite runs fine, keeps good time (withing 8sec a day on the wrist) and hasn't given me many issues... but it has for unknown reasons... not flipped the datewheel completely once or twice... hung up and stopped when adjusting time once (fixed by unscrewing crown and moving to "hack" position and then reseating/rescrewing crown)... all in all the Asian Copy Lite has been servicable, but I'd go with the ETA in a heartbeat on this watch if I had the choice... just ordered the Gen hands and am sourcing an ETA movement to do a swap shortly.

Guessing my PO addiction is about to come to the forefront: Model: 4th Generation/ETA Size: 42mm Seller: Josh Rain: Yes, no leaks or mist at all Shower: Yes, no leaks or mist at all Pool/Ocean 3 meter/10 feet: With ease... no leaks to 32ft skindiving.. no silicon... just finger tight on the crowns and Jaxa wrench on the caseback. Model: UPO/ETA (early run) Size: 45.5mm Seller: Josh Rain: Yes, no leaks or mist at all Shower: Yes, no leaks or mist at all Pool/Ocean 3 meter/10 feet: 110 feet scuba diving off Puerto Rico in April... can't complain. Silicon on the caseback, both crowns finger tight. Model: UPO lite Size: 45.5mm Seller: Josh Rain: Yes, no leaks or mist at all Shower: Yes, no leaks or mist at all Pool/Ocean 3 meter/10 feet: no leaks at all... did put silicon on the caseback o-rings and retighten the caseback... both crowns finger tight. All in all... all of my newer diver/sports watches are nicely watertight... I'm a bit afraid to try a chrono in a humid envoirnment though.

I've got to say this does work... I've had many reps recieved from dealers/members that were running extremly fast (i.e. more than 3min day fast) that a good beating brought back into line... I cringe a little bit each time I smack a watch like this... and I always say "this is hurting me more than its hurting you"... With this knowledge I've even scored a few deals from various people who didn't believe the advice I gave to them to beat their watches back into line... I'm not certain I'd beat a gen in such a manner, but a rep I'll beat in a heartbeat.

I'm with Woody on this... I'd love to see a blackbird made. And I also have a weakness for the BigDate on the dial... that is something that has hooked me recently... If this rep is reliable and can hold up to general and daily wear without destroying itself, I'm gonna have to get one.... My first breit mebee?

Remind me to bleach any watches I purchase from you prior to handling them bare handed. A whole new dimension to the phrase "serviced" eh?