True-Stu

I purchased a beautiful Omega Constellation Double Eagle from this member and the transaction was outstanding (thanks Joe, forget to tell you that before). The communications were great and the watch was well packaged and in perfect condition. I would be very surprised if he didn't handle this problem with you in a fair and gentlemanly manor.

Hey, I'm no longer a "weekend wrist check" virgin! Here's what I'll be wearing this weekend. First up today is my rep Constellation double eagle. I really like this one a lot. A very impressive rep. Tomorrow, while I'm working outside raking leaves it will be my gen. Eterna Super Kontiki. We're going out to dinner tomorrow night and I'll be wearing a brown camel hair jacket, so I'll be accesorizing with this gen. Raymundo Davalos Rossie power reserve with the crocodile strap.

Don't hold back your true feelings now. I'm sure we can handle your innermost thoughts about this watch.... let it all out, it's really cathartic and so good for you!

Thanks Joe. This confirms what Jay told me about his version with the black date wheel.

Hey, nice catch! I've been staring at these pictures for a while and didn't even notice the silver hands on the white face rep. I've ordered the black face one and now I'm even more glad that I made that choice.

Ok, here are some pics of the Super Kontiki This one is the black face, like I have. A simple, yet elegant variation on the Sub theme.

I really do need to take the time to include pictures. My descriptions just don't do the watch justice. I think I'll do a search on picture posting and get some advice.

It really isn't worth that much. On the used market it might fetch $800 US. Eterna as a watch brand never really caught on in the modern era. The Super Kontiki chronometer 300m that I have is 1998-2000 vintage. I think the retail price was just under $2000. The company is now owned by Ferdinand Porsche and manufactures their own line as well as the Porsche design watches under license. I bought it at the time because it was a drop dead gorgeous watch that didn't look like a Rolex Sub wannabe. The unique history of the watch also appealed to me. The Kontiki model was originally designed in 1947 as one of the first sport watches. It was commissioned for the crew of Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl in his expedition across the Pacific in the balsa wood raft they called "Kontiki" after the Peruvian Sun God. The back of the watch has a nice engraving of the Kontiki. I happen to think that the watch spanks the Sub in terms of style, fit and finish and most importantly (to me anyway) people comment on how nice it looks, but have no idea what it is or what it's worth.

Hey I second the motion that this is a great thread. As a side note I'd like to give a plug for the Eterna watch company whose wonderful Super Kon Tiki I am presently wearing. You see, back in the day ETA was the movement manufacturing division of Eterna. Then in 1932, ETA split off and joined Ebauches S.A. Eterna and ETA continued to work jointly on some designs for a number of years. Almost all ETA and Eterna automatics share the Eterna-designed automatic winding system: a ball bearing mounted rotor winding in two directions via springless twin click wheels and two reduction wheels on the locking wheel. The 5 ball bearings of the rotor in pentagon configuration continues to be the symbol of Eterna watches and it is proudly displayed on the face and bracelet of my Kon Tiki. Now for the real point of my posting. With ETA movements ostensibly now made in China and a good deal of the case and bracelet assemblies of "Chiss" origin, what exactly are you paying for when you plunk down the big bucks for some Swiss "designer" brands. There is undoubtably some quality control on the Swiss end and in some brands there is finish work and filligree applied to the movements visible parts. The movement may be oiled and regulated as well. But, and here is the huge BUT-MONKEY, can this amount of labor and "expertise" justify a price increase of several thousands of dollars? No-way, no- how. You are just paying for their marketing and the cache of their name recognition. You will notice that I refer to these companies as "designer brands." There is certainly an exception for those companies that create and manufacture their own movements and do most, if not all of their machining. Hey, I'm really glad I found this place, because you guys really love your watches and that's very cool with me.

As a follow up to my previous post on this thread, I'd like to report that Jay (Silix) now has the 40.5mm Seatimers with the black date wheel and stainless (non-rubberized) band. I think Jay's site may be the first of our reccomended dealers to show the new style. It threw me for a loop because it was initially posted as a 38mm watch. A quick email exchange later, and it is now correctly listed. Well almost correctly. It's called 40mm, but as the calipers show on the Honpo site, it's really 40.5mm, just like the genuine. I am now officially buying one of these. At $150 it is an excellent deal on a very good replica.

Geesh, Murphy's law. I just got another offer on a watch I've been waiting on for a long time, so in the immortal words of Rosanna Rosanna-Danna..."never mind."

OK Richard, I've been on the sidelines hemming and hawing about whether to get this watch. I will now join the party, if you will have me. Count me in! Regards, Stu

Hey, nice Seatimer! Did you put in the black date wheel yourself, or is it one of the new versions that come with it?. Please let me know what the true case diameter and thickness is. (42mm x 10mm or 40.5mm x 12mm).

I just read the thread on the West Palm Beach Rapid Reaction Force ---oh man, that is just too cool! It's nice to know that with a shared hobby, you can become a band of brothers and protect your own. I found this to be true in other hobbies, like high-end audio for instance. You can tell who really loves the stuff - who really has it in their soul. Those are the people who will treat you like a brother and would never dream of misrepresenting or scamming. Heck, they usually go way beyond the call of duty in helping you out. It's interesting to me that it is quite often dificult for men to really bond with each other and have any more than superficial conversations. The common interest, the shared hobby, is the casual and safe door opener that sometimes leads to really great friendships. I envy women in this one respect. They seem to bond so easily with their girlfriends.

Yep, we all know who it is. It's the guy you posted about a few days ago that you couldn't reach with pm's or email. A young man who apparently lacks maturity and integrity.

Yeah!... glad to hear it arrived safely and very glad to hear that Josh upgraded you to the black datewheel version. I just posted about the new version on another Seatimer thread.

I've been having an ongoing email discussion with Joshua on this and he has been helpful to point out that the newest black version does indeed come with a black datewheel. They are apparently backordered from his supplier so it may be a while before he is listing them. He did say that he needs to update his pictures on this model to show the black date wheel. Sash also has indicated that there is a newer version. He is selling a white face Seatimer that has the correct stainless (non-rubberized) band. There is also a gen. version with black face and plain stainless band and a rep like this can also be supplied. I have asked Josh to re-measure the new ones because there seems to be some confusion on case size. Josh and Andrew both list their current versions of the Seatimer as being 42mm by 10mm. They also have a plain bezel Pasha (which is the gen. Pasha XL version) listed as 42mm by 10mm. The gen. Seatimer is 40.5mm by 12mm. I was wondering if the earlier rep version just used the Pasha XL case and dressed it up like a Seatimer. I have asked some current owners to measure it up as well. Sash says that his latest version is indeed 40.5mm by 12mm, but he didn't indicate whether on his, the date wheel was black on the black face model. I'm ready to pull the trigger on a black face, black date wheel model that is the correct size. If you get the one with the rubber bracelet it should be an excellent 1:1 rep. I would want to get a plain stainless band for it too. Of course that wouldn't be as accurate as the gen. because the gens without the rubber bracelet do not have the black edge on the bezel. The white face versions look pretty good too, but even with the now correct bracelet, it has two flaws -- black edge on bezel instead of plain stainless and black cabochon instead of blue. When our excellent and very helpful dealers post up this new black face model, I think it should be on everyone's list for an "out of the box" dead on replica (excepting of course the minor font problem with the numbers). Cheers, Stu

Former hardcore audiophile here....in recovery (somewhat). I was the hardware editor for Positive Feedback magazine for several years and contributed to several other mags. I was the guy who launched the craze for the Von Schweikert VR-4 loudspeakers and the Golden Tube Audio SE-40 amps. I still have a dedicated listening room in my house and I still have more hardware in there than you can shake a stick at. I figure that its the same recessive male gene that causes audiophilia nervosa and horologica replicata necrosis. Cheers, Stuart

Hi Andrew ( you hoser). I listened to your podcast last night. Being a noobe and all, I thought it was great. I dug the Rush music in the background - Yes, you surely are from the Peoples Republic of Kanukistan (aka Canada) . I'm your neighbor just across the St. Lawrence River in the 1000 Islands region of New York, so it's pretty easy for me to "take off.. to the Great White North"...eayh!? ..you hoser. Keep up the good work. I'll be waiting for the second installment. Best Regards, Stuart

I think watches are a bit like televisions--once you go to a large screen the old set looks incredibly small. With watches, however, there are more aesthetic and physiological limitations. The physiological limitation has been plainly stated here. You just can't have lugs that extend beyond the surface of the wrist and that seems quite reasonable. The aesthetic limitation is much more subjective and well,... personal. Here's my take on it. I think the "trend" that bigger is better has gotten way out of hand. It reminds me of the many fashion trends that go too far-- Central African women wearing so many neck rings that they actually dislocate the cervical spine to lengthen their necks; Women's corsettes that tightened the waist more and more until they were ridiculously small and could hardly breath; and Dandy's wearing powdered wigs that got bigger and taller each season along with the size of their codpiece. Ok, extreme examples, but I think you get where I'm going. There used to be only one reason to have a very large watch -- you were in a profession or livelihood that required you to see the time under very poor light conditions and your life may depend on it. So yes, there was a 47mm Panerai Radiomir produced for the Italian Navy in 1938. But would anybody in their right mind wear it out for a night on the town back then? Of course not. It would look, and it would be, a ridiculous thing. Now most of us wear our watches for style rather then pure functionality or necessity. So what does the bigger, bigger thing have to do with style... a whole lot I would think. But for some, there are undoubtably some social status and subconscious things going on too. Is the watch substituting for a small penis? (Gosh, I hope not) Are you wanting people to really notice your watch so they will think how powerful and wealthy you are? Does a very big "rugged" watch make you seem more "matcho"...after all Mr. Rambo himself, Sly Stallone, is given much credit for the recent popularization of the Panerai brand. Will your testosterone levels increase (without the nasty injections), so just like Arnold you can be the "Eraser" and eliminate your competition? Most everyone on this site is very well adjusted and comfortable in their own skin, so I'm sure none of these are real issues. I'm just having some fun with this. I personally have a rather small 7" wrist with somewhat large upper arms, shoulders and chest also from power lifting (Kudos By-Tor, enter me in the next big arms competition ) and for me 42mm is really pushing it ( the VC Overseas is pretty thin, so it just barely makes it). I look best in 38-40mm watches. I personally think wrists my size or smaller with 44mm watches look like a characateur. Sort of like a young boy wearing Dad's watch. But hey, that's just me and if I see more of it, maybe I'll change my mind. Come to think of it, lately I've been eyeing a really bodacious codpiece.

I have a question about this rep. The gen. Seatimers are supposed to be 40.5mm according to Cartier's web site. The reps are all stated as being 42mm. Are the reps accurately sized? Regards, Stuart

I don't know what possessed me to write this - perhaps I'm just venting. I have always been amazed at the prices Rolex can charge for what most consider to be average craftsmenship for the Swiss watch industry. It's all about the marketing--it is the one watch that Joe six pack will identify as a status watch. I believe that the vast majority of people who purchase a Rolex do so only for the "status" and not because of its beauty or the quality of its movement. Most of these buyers don't have a clue about what else is out there and their local jewelry/watch shop only carries Rolex as its premier brand. The salesman tells you -"it's the best watch in the world".....yada, yada (I know because a local salesman did this and I had to leave the store because I didn't want to embarrass him by laughing too hard). Just my personal opinion, but I think that most Rolexes are very plain styled, utilitarian watches that I just can't get excited about. The fit and finish is good, but certainly no better, and in many cases worse, than what other Swiss companies offer. I won't buy one, nope, not even a replica, because I don't want any of the local clowns recognizing it and saying, "ewwhhhhh...you own a rolex!" When I wanted a dive watch, I bought an Eterna Super KonTiki. I think it's style and finish kicks the Submariner's ass. I got it for well less than half of the Sub's price and I get compliments on it, but no bugeyed stares and assumptions that I'm one of those wealthy shylock lawyers. When I wanted a dressier sport watch, I got an Omega Seamaster 120. Again, in my opinion, a much nicer looking watch and a way better value than the Explorer. My non-sport dress watch ended up being a Girard Perregaux Richland tonneau. I got a stupid good deal on it and though an elegant watch, it still stays under the local radar screen. Which brings me to why I love quality replicas so much. I can wear some really beautiful, uber-cool watches and hardly a living soul in my hometown will know what it is, or ascribe any real value to it. I do have some nice genuine watches, but my budget wouldn't allow me to wear genuine Vaheron's, PP's, or the like. Hey, great site you all have here. I have learned a lot by perusing the forum archives. Regards, Stu

The case with the gold filigree is incredible! Too bad the see through movement is so damn busy. Stu