angkikee

Thanks By-Tor! Big fan of your numerous stunning reviews. You're also on the POTN forums aren't you? I've seen your posts i think in the 28mm prime lens sample pic thread?

oh wow hey that was my first post here on RWG!

My take on this hobby is if you choose to buy a rep with an Asian ETA movement, you would first want to think about rep friendly watchsmiths for when you do need to do repairs. I started out not too long ago and reading up a lot on the forums and watching youtube videos it’s not impossible to learn the basics like movement swaps and what not. Granted the first few times it’s really unnerving but if you spend the equivalent of the cost of a rep it’s possible to buy the right tools to do movement swaps. The tools and skills you pick up really go a loooong way. Once you’ve achieved this you now have an option to have your Asian movement serviced or you could just buy a whole new ETA movement from Cousins or Ofrei and do the swap yourself. If this isn’t for you it’s also entirely possible to buy the movement and have a local rep friendly watchsmith swap the movement for you. The cost of a typical ETA movement is not too much, so if you find the cost of a movement service approaches that of a whole new movement why not consider a new ETA movement and you’re good for another 5 yrs? A Gen owner would probably have his movement serviced, but for me if my dry unlubed and unloved Asian movement failed on me I have two easy options: 1. If it’s a DG2813 or DG4813 movement I’ll definitely just swap movements. 2. If it’s an Asian ETA like a 2836, 2824 or 7750 movement, the logical thing is to swap this for a real ETA movement and run that until it breaks, then service it again. At which point your main watch case and bracelet may also look a little tired. Repeat the rep buying process. Either way it’s going to be more economical than going Gen. You can of course buy the Gen if that is your thing and you appreciate ALL the details and you know why you want the Gen but this is not what this thread is about. With a Rep you really do have to lower expectations a little and work with a fair budget. There really are lots of places to get the movement serviced at a low cost, although this is not the case for everyone on the forum the option to buy and install a new movement should be a viable option for everyone. Anyone who moans about reps being unreliable and costly to repair should also know that Gens are not completely trouble free either and the cost of servicing Gens could be much much higher than movement swaps for Reps.