wombat247

An AWESOME ONE!!!!!

Doesn't <i>everybody</i> live at home?

Well, since I'm pretty good at having something to say when there's nothing nice to say, I'll reply. I don't get it. Maybe I'm missing some images but the ones posted don't look like anything. I'm not sure what they're supposed to be nor what you're asking of us. Are we interested? In what? A bad computer generated something? No- not very interested really. Maybe you'll post some updates or something to make it interesting but so far, I don't even know why I'm posting a reply.

A friend of my sister's came over one afternoon in late high school/early college years. She held out her wrist to show us all the new Rolex her father bought for her. He bought one for everyone in his family. I took one look at it and saw the hand ticking and told her it was a fake. She argued the point and insisted that it was real and that her father paid a lot of money for it. I guess she read my face because I realized what I had done and stopped talking. She stormed off and I later heard that she "threw the watch back in his face". She was one of the nicest people I've ever known and I think she was genuinely surprised and embarrassed that the watch was a fake. I don't know what kind of man her father was but based on the stories I heard after that point, he thought he'd get away with telling them these watches were real. That's the last time I told anyone their fake watch was a fake. All I say anymore is "nice watch" when someone shows me a rep.

You've evidently had worse luck than I have. I'd say about 3% of the reps I bought were flawed pieces of trash. Even so, it still hurts to [censored] money away on trash.

Very nice collection. Great pictures. Great watches. For one reason or another, I don't have any Hublots or Omegas in my collection but the ones in yours might make me change my ways. Thanks for sharing.

I'm eagerly awaiting them too.

My guess is that it's a lawnmower.

Exactly correct. The dealers we know have all the reps anyone interested in high quality reps could want- and if they don't, it's because nobody has them... yet. Be patient and you'll get what you want. Well said, By-Tor.

yea=yay btw. Stick with the known dealers here if you don't want to waste any time.

Welcome to the addiction! I have a few comments/questions though. You say you don't like Panerai but you do like Marina Militare. Could you explain please? I'm interested in hearing your reasons. The purple AR is typical (and expected) on genuine Panerai's. You shouldn't think of it as cheap looking.

I just bought an MB fountain pen from Narikaa and for $5 (or so), I can't believe the quality. My wife even used it and commented on how nicely it writes. I have a dozen or so gen fountain pens and the one I got from Narikaa is arguably the best value and out performs ALL of the gen pens I have which cost less than $100.

LOL! I guess that's a certain amount of proof that people (at least I) don't read disclaimers.

I'm not being nosy really, it's just that I don't see it on the three sites that I frequent and am wondering if I'm missing out on a good site.

Color me ignorant, but what site?

I see. Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and disregard that statistic since it's completely meaningless... that is, of course, unless everyone's goal should be to be agreeable. I can't think of a bigger waste of time than that. I thought this was a discussion forum and not an "I'm ok... you're ok" support group. I thought it had something to do with a trading reputation (which would be something valuable). Calling it a "reputation" at all with that kind of a system is completely misleading (IMHO). In other news, I would never have suspected you anyway. I would expect you to disagree with me directly and poignantly as if we have anything about which to disagree.

I just looked at my profile for the first time in a long time and saw that my "Reputation" is -1 neutral. Anybody know what this means? I mean, I'm sure I deserve it for hurting somebody's ego feelings but I have no idea what it was that I did or to whom. Can anyone enlighten me?

Big boss's wives are typically complete morons.

TimeX... they're made by timex.

Funny- notice how not only the dial is illegible but also that the seller never mentions the brand?

Humans are great rationalizers.

When I mentioned box stores, I wasn't talking about taxes at all. I was talking about the labor used to build the stuff they sell. "Made in China" means they use the same atrocious labor practices to build the stuff you see in box stores as they use to build quality reps. Academically, nobody likes these practices yet they get all amnesiac when their currency is doing the talking.

Now to answer the OP's post. I wear reps for very good reason. After buying dozens of gen watches over the past 10 years, I got disgusted by the fact that MOST of them are nothing more than polished ETA movements inside and under well-designed cases and dials. Most of the reps I buy are indistinguishable from the gen. Especially when I'm in the company of 99.9% of the real world who don't know the first thing about watches- gen or rep. Most importantly, they fool ME. Maybe I'm lying to myself, but I take great satisfaction in wearing a good looking, well made, well finished wristwatch. I frankly don't care if it's a rep or not I'm happy knowing that I'm paying what I think is a fair price for a good watch. Granted that reps aren't breaking any new ground but it's only a matter of time before the companies making reps start making their own brands and bring us better watches than ever. Furthermore, there's service. I have a gen sea-dweller and I've had it for 8 years or so. Recently, the 12 o'clock marker fell off. That's right- fell off- for no good reason. Guess what? I have to send it to Rolex to get fixed. Guess what? It's not covered by warranty. Guess what? They'll insist on doing a complete service on it- replace gaskets, stem, crown, tube and pressure test it. Guess what else? It's going to cost 3 times as much as the best available sea-dweller rep today. Is it worth it? Maybe. Many of the people who know me well know that I'm big on reps. When I show them a watch they haven't seen before, their first question is usually, "is it real?". They're not asking me if I'm a fake or not. They know my gen collection is extensive. They're asking me because they're AMAZED that they can't tell the difference. They're AMAZED at the quality of reps available. They also know gd well that I'm not trying to impress anyone with my wealth- I'm only interested in sharing my interest in quality timepieces. Modern reps (super reps) are truly remarkable works of engineering. They warrant interest and attention based on that fact alone. In my opinion, if you're going to walk around suggesting to people that your reps are anything but reps, you're a real loser in the purest sense of the word. I suspect that most of the people on this and other rep forums are doing anything but that. My other issue was that I was buying gens that I "had to have" and wearing them for a few hours once a month. I'm not made of money and can't afford to be doing that while having all the watches I want. I admit there's something wrong with me. I see someone wearing X watch and I want one. I see X watch in a movie and I want one. I see X watch in an ad and I want one. With reps, I can keep those watches on hand and afford to do so. Some of you have seen much of my collection. It's ridiculous. Most of the watches sit idle until one of the aforementioned scenarios occurs and I take it out of the case and wear it before putting it back for an indefinite period. All that said, 90% of the time when I go out in public, I wear a gen. I have about 20 that are in regular circulation and I think that's an excessive number of watches for anyone to wear. I wear them instead of reps because of three main reasons: 1. They have a movement or complication which isn't being repped with the expectation that if someone DOES happen to show an interest in my watch, I can show them something special or something they haven't seen before. 2. The case is made of a precious metal (if you think white gold is the same as SS, try wearing it. Even in a dark room, you'd NEVER confuse the two). 3. It's actually purpose built and has been tested by a reliable manufacturer to do what it has been advertised to do. (I'll wear a rep dive watch swimming but I wouldn't wear one diving). Furthermore, I limit myself to gens in public because I think anyone who owns a lot of watches is demonstrating only one personality trait- they like to spend money- period. Admittedly, I like to spend money. However, I'm not too proud of this fact. I don't know if any of you watch Mythbusters but if you do, you've probably noticed Adam's extensive watch collection. You've probably also noticed that Jamie wears the same watch over and over (some cheap black plastic POS). You've probably ALSO notice that Adam is an idiot and that Jamie is the brains of the operation. Think of that before you ram around wearing a different watch like most people wear a different channel on cable. I've typed too much. Flame away.

The same is true of almost everything you buy from Walmart, Kmart, Home Depot, Target, Lowes and every other "box" store. How about buying a car off a 3 year lease? Most of the depreciation happens in the first year anyway. The last Jeep I bought was off a 3 year lease and I sold it for $6k less than I paid for it 4 years later. I only sold it because it was a 6 cylinder and lacked the power I need. My other car is a 94 Jeep. I paid $7k for it 11 years ago. It's still running strong and I have no plans to get rid of it. My other car is a 2005 Suburban for which I paid 66% of the list price and I intend to keep it at least another 10 years. My other other car is a '79 Alfa Romeo for which I paid $3k 15 years ago. After 10 years, an owned car is fully depreciated and a properly maintained car will last twice that long. This might not be an option for you if your car is necessary to for the maintenance of your self esteem. Personally, I don't give a rat's ass what car people drive and don't give a rat's ass about people who care what I drive. I've always said that the people who are impressed by material objects are not worth impressing in the first place. I don't know about your math but I know about mine. You can make all the arguments you want but leasing ANY Benz is a waste of money. If you can afford it, great, but don't insult our intelligence by asserting that there's any economy in leasing a car- let alone a Benz. The truth is that leasing a car for 3 years costs as much out of pocket as owning a car for 6 (assuming a 38% tax bracket and intelligent financing of the purchased car). When you lease a car, you are personally paying for the first year of depreciation. I'm not going to run around calling other people "idiots" simply because they have different buying choices than I do, but you really think about what you say before you lip off. Fortunately for me and the entertainment of all who read my posts, I don't instill any such restrictions on what I say. Of course, it's always possible that you don't know what the hell you're talking about most of the time anyway.