panerai153

Sooner or later, it's going to happen to everyone if you buy things from overseas. In the past few years, I have had a couple of boxes of Cigars shipped from Australia , get stopped by US customs. The folks I purchase from reshipped to my business address, and were received safely. Incredibly after months and months, over a few week period, the boxes arrived!! I was told that US Customs in NY was releasing a lot of stuff that they had been holding. Of course with cigars, after 6-12 months in a non temperature and humidity controlled environment, they were pretty awful!! Probably their perverse way of saying" We know these are Cuban, and we could have destroyed them, but you can have them now after 8 months in a hot dry warehouse, enjoy your smokes!! This story however is about watches, not cigars. A couple of weeks ago, I bought an AP Diver V5 from a member on RG. Shipping from Singapore. Nice smooth transaction, lots of good prompt communication, He gave me two choices for shipping, Registered mail or courier service (OCS), which I had never heard of. He assured me that they were legit, sent me a link to their website, which I visited, and they are indeed a world wide shipping company. I chose the OCS route. He shipped the watch on 1/6/2014. Shipping 3-5 business days. I tracked the package, but the main site showed "Dispatched to the USA' up until yesterday. Then it showed up as undeliverable, which was strange as there was someone at home all day Thursday when it was showing as undeliverable. I emailed the seller as well as the OCS office in Los Angeles and their tacking email. last night I got my answer. the package was held up in Customs in LA due to "watch is undervalued" Shipper sent it as "Watch for repair" value 50.00 USD. He has resubmitted the invoice to OCS with a value of 150.00 USD, which may or may not satisfy customs. Since OCS hands off to FedEx, I believe that the FedEx customs clearing is where it's residing right now. So I may or may not get my watch, we will see. This is a lengthy lead in to the main topic which is How to ship a package overseas to the USA. First off when shipping to any country where the package has to clear customs, never ever use the word WATCH on the customs form, always use something like timepiece or Horological instrument, never watch. When customs sees a package from China with the word watch, the first thought is "Counterfeit", Second, if the watch is listed as" repair watch", do not use that terminology, List it as Broken Horological instrument, or timepiece, for repair and return to sender. If you send it with that terminology, first you can declare it for more, and it won't raise any eyebrows. Lastly, don't try to sneak it in in a toy!! US Customs X-rays every package. They go through a scanner just like your carry on baggage when you fly. Believe me the X-ray can "See" through the stuffed animal, and inside resides a watch!! Ah Ha, someone sneaking a watch past customs, sure way to get it seized. if you follow the rules of common sense, it will decrease the chances of something getting stopped. I assure you what I'm saying here is not 100% foolproof, it may still get stopped and seized, but every little trick like this will increase your chances of having it get through safely. Disclaimer: I am directing this only to those packages that are shipped to the USA. I have no idea as to how stringent the Customs Services of other countries scrutinize packages. I have heard that some EU countries are particularly difficult to get rep watches in to the country, however that is only what I have read on the forums.

I had no clue as to what parts went into this one, but I am impressed by the way it looks and particularly the AR'ed Crystal. I have a FC V3 and while the crystal AR is pretty good, I still get and awful lot of reflection from the Cyclops. Your case is very impressive as well. It looks like it has more color variation than the rep cases. How does it compare to the gen cases? Because each of the genuine, and rep cases as well, are each forged separately, would there be a fair amount of variation in the case color composition, as opposed to a metal case where every case is going to look exactly like the one before it and the one after?

Beautiful watch. I'm so glad that the Tudor has found a good home. It just wasn't getting any wrist time. Those are really beautiful photos. Well Done!!

Anyone? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Glad to see the post. I'm sure this fine gentleman will be seeing plenty of work!!

I have the FC V3 diver and it passed a 6 atmos test. That's not enough for a dive watch, but it reassures me that it's safe for washing hands, and possibly a swim in the ocean or pool. I couldn't test it to any greater depth as my tester only goes to 6 atmos.

I recently bought a watch from a RG member in Singapore. He offered Registered Mail or Courier shipment with OCS. Sent me their website link and they looked OK, so I went that route. I had never heard of them as it seems like they operate mainly in the Far and middle East. they do have offices in several major cities here in the USA. My questions are, has anyone used them to ship to the USA and or gotten stuff shipped to them here in the USA. Second, since they don't seem to have a big presence in the USA, who do they hand off to in the USA for delivery? Thanks

They, Steinhausen , are pretty slow, seems like it's pretty much like a "mom and pop" operation here in the USA, but I felt like they were very generous to offer me a 60% off deal on and old winder that was probably at least 10 years out of warranty. They could have just as easily said, sorry ,it's old, out of warranty, we have no parts available, do you want us to throw it away or send it back to you!!

You were !! Lots of folks had relatively positive dealings with him before all this started. He repaired and relumed several watches for me in the past, and while communication could be a little erratic at times, he always seemed to respond. This situation is entirely different. Personally, I have a very nice DW cased 6265 along with a genuine ETA 7750 movement, as well as a WatchNY bezel that he was going to put together for me. It's been with him since late summer or early fall. I have around 800.00 USD in that watch/parts plus postage for the watch and parts. What is so sad about this whole thing is it could have been easily averted. All Mike had to do was put everyone's watches and parts in a box and send them back. He could have enclosed a note saying, that due to circumstances that were going on in his life, he was suspending all watch repair and modding. That would have been perfectly acceptable, and everyone would have been happy. He did not choose to take this route, and now this will all end badly, probably for everyone involved.

I recently replaced and old Steinhausen, I sent the old one back to the company in California for repair. They didn't have parts for the old one,as it was about 12-15 years old. They did offer me a 60% off on any new ones. I bought a 4 watch winder that has storage for 2 more. the new winders have a lifetime warranty on the motors and winding mechanism electronics. This is the one I purchased. http://www.steinhausenonline.com/automatic-watch-winders/steinhausen-quad-watch-winders/executive-wooden-quad-motor-quad-watch-winder-with-lifetime-warranty-sm481ga-golden-burlwood.html

When you pay 800 bucks for an "out the box" rep' it better be good !!! At that price point, it's in direct competition with a fair number of nice genuine watches. These are watches with genuine Swiss movements, real quality control , and warranties. Another consideration, are the dealers going to guarantee delivery if your watch gets seized, lost or stolen? That's a lot if money to send off hoping that your watch get's delivered safely.

I'm sure that there will be more "improved" models introduced in the future. The problem is often the manufacturers fix one thing, but then screw up something else, so it's one step forward and one back. Let's face it, there will never be a 100% 1:1 rep, it's not in the best interest of the manufacturers to build a perfect rep. Folks would buy one and done.

Matt is mymanmatt, he posted that Datejust with the Roman numeral dial that you liked. He's a great guy, been building and repairing watches since the mid 80's. He's worked on genuine Rolex watches of mine as well as built three or four really nice Rolex reps for me. He has access to lots of genuine parts like dials crystals, bezels, crowns, etc., so he can build you something really special that you will wear and enjoy for years. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Here is a photo of the Airking Precision Matt built for my wife. Pretty simple, no Date but a great watch to wear when she wants to dress up some, but not wear a watch with diamonds or a really formal dress watch. Great for everyday wear as well.

that is a nice looking watch. would like one for myself! Give Matt a shout, he can build you one, just about any dial combo, nice case and bracelet, genuine dial, crown crystal and probably the bezel, you would be the envy of the rest of the barrel racers !! I have a gold plated Airking that Matt built for my wife, neat watch on a President bracelet, I'll get it out and take a photo of it. It's a genuine case, crown, dial, crystal, only thing rep is the movement and hands plus the bracelet. Never tell this one from the real McCoy!!

Beautiful job, that is one gorgeous watch. Alas, it's way to young in style for my old bony wrist, but it truly is a work of art. Nice thing is if a gen dial should ever come up, you've done all the other stuff, so it would just be icing on the cake.

Any photos or links to the one you are looking at?

Genuine Rep

Very nice work!! I like this one better than the Project X. This really looks like Vintage meets modern, but better proportions.

They really press you hard to pay with a bank account, saves the fee problem, but most importantly, if their is a dispute, you can get your credit card company to do a chargeback and you get your money back, can't do that with a bank account. Also, I wonder if deep within all that legalese you have to agree to when you open and account, if there isn't some provision that if you are lose a PayPal dispute and they try to get their money back, they can go into your bank account and debit it for the funds, without your permission or even your knowledge, should their not be sufficient funds in your PayPal account. Bears looking into.

it will make a great raffle watch if it turns out to be too small!!

Beautiful build. Love the movement!!

Great builds, Looks like you've been pretty busy lately.