Devedander

Yeah you live in the reverse Somalia And for me it will alwas be "it's my money and I will do as I please" married or not. Any girl I marry will have to accept that (note I am flexible and can accept a lot of issue on her side as well) and wouldn't feel wrong about it as long as I was contributing my fair share to everything. I wouldn't skimp on kids clothes or food for my watch habbit, but if everything else is taken care of, my money goes to make me happy.

I fully understand the work put into servicing a watch... that's why even to save $250 I wouldn't dare try it myself. I work in the computer industry, another one where people don't see the reason to pay so much. I am not trying to say it's not the right way to go, it's just hard for me to wrap my mind around it... logically it makes sense, but the human side of me says "gah". Reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon where a story is told: A lady takes her car to the mechanic becuase it's making a funny noise. The mechanic looks it over for a while, then gets a little hammer and taps the engine right on top. It works perfectly then. He says $100 for fixing the car. The lady is angry and says "Why should I pay you $100 to tap my car with a hammer?" He says "It's $10 for the tap and $90 to know where to tap".

You should put the funny cat in the flaming part.

While I am still leery (4 neg and 9 withdrawn) he does seem to have numerous items finishing in the high hundreds and all his auctions seem to be no paypal... if he was scamming people left and right his feedback would likely be very bad by now. I would ask for the item pictured with handwritten note and maybe a phone number to call directly (makes me feel more secure) but it doesn't bear most of the signs of the obvious scams (hacked accounts etc). However in all fairness you did bid and accept his agreements (whether you noticed or not) so you would be in the wrong to not pay unless something glaring stands out... hopefully all goes well but either way maybe make it a lesson that in the future buying anything expensive you spend time carefully reading everything.

I thoght ebays recent policy is you must accept paypal?

She wants a ring, she can buy it herself. My money, my deicision, no ring There is a reason to my madness!

No Paypal, private auctions, hidden bidders... $500... what did you buy? It's possible he is legit, but it's hard to sell that much volume at those prices with no paypal. You could try doing a bank wire, which at least ensures the recieving party has a bank account for what that's worth. MO and WU are very hard to get your money back on if you get scammed. Is it international? If it's in the same country things might be a little easier, maybe if it's somewhat close offer to deliver or have someone else deliver payment in person. More info might make it easier to get better info but sounds iffy to me...

I would say "I ordered another watch". I am just starting on this hobbie but I have lots of rather spendy hobbies and the day I start justifying myself to someone is the day I become single. I am about to put about $500-600 into an order (which is not chump change to me) and last night around 1AM I spotted a deal on a home theater prjector... I already have a home theater projector... that I bought last year... and I pulled the trigger for the helluvit. You know what the GF heard about it? "Hey guess what, I just bought another projector!". My money. My computer. My finger. Click. On the flip side I am very fair; she wants to go to a see Chipendales with her money, fine by me.

Well I am sorry to hear you went through so much from someone who is indeed represented as one of the best, and I would have thought he would send out a replacement too but if he can indeed get good parts to you that you can have installed for a minimum fee (again might see if he will reimburse you for it or give you a discount on your next order for it) then all is not as bad as it could be. Bear in mind some gen ADs might well run you through even more hoops than this!

And to TJ my own post... This brings up another point I have trouble wrapping my mind around, which is spending $200 to service a $200 rep... On one side you can just wear it for the 2-5 years it should last, then buy another rep - total out $200. Or you can service it at a 100% markup every few years, but then have a nice looking timepiece that lasts for only $400 + 200 every 5 years... Somehow I can't bring myself to do the latter, even though I know the logic may be off (kind of like "Hey I will sell you this Dodge RAM that MSRPS at 40k for only $1000" - "Nah, at $1000 a new set of tires costs as much as the truck! I can't go spending 100% of the trucks value every year").

I believe Chinese ETA are very good quality and Swiss ETA are excellent quality. Have you received your watch? Where did you order from? If you recieved it post pictures of the movement and people can help you tell what it is.

And the thousands I have to spend on winders to keep them all on time...

QC is always a potential issue while dealing with reps... some dealers go to greater lengths than others. You can always call a jewler to ask if they will work on reps before going in. If the dealer offers to reimburse for using his dealer obviously that won't be a problem.

I don't know that there is a "usual" process... it's seems like it's usually handled on a per case basis. You could always ask again, however if you have already agreed and parts were already shipped it may be too late to change any minds. If you aren't comfortable replacing the parts, see if your dealer will pick up the tab if you ship it to a repair shop of his choice to have the work done...

You can get any watch pressure tested and many watches can be fitted with good seals and lubricant to help them resist higher pressures...

Yeah the oil was covered, but I was wonering about the stress on the parts in general... for instance take any complex motor and crank it slowly... then crank it fast, then go back to slow... you will notice that friction and breaking momentum makes it harder at lower speeds... with that in mind it seems like maybe keeping parts running and moving would avoid the stress of initial starts as well as keeping it from running slowly (which from my analogy seems to be when things are hardest... if you have to put in more work, that means there is more resistance and I wonder how much that resistance effects parts).

So I was looking for a cheap box to hold my watches (something better than a pile in the corner of my sock drawer) and this whole "winders" thing has me wondering, do you guys get winders just so you won't have to set your watches, or is there value in keeping watches wound? I was thinking that maybe when they wind down and things get slower or pressure becomes lower maybe it puts more stress on gears (as I understand, breaking momentum is rough on most mechanical devices) so maybe keeping them running will help them avoid the "cold start" wear and tear. On the other side it seems that maybe letting them run down and sit in a "dead" state might be good for them as it will cause less damage between friction creating parts (I am aware of the whole "oil degrades over time with or without use" thing). So what's the verdict? Is there any significant difference between keeping watches wound vs letting them run down?

After looking through some of their selection it all seems like the good from far but far from good sort of thing... Unless there was some really great feature (like maybe something in the digitals that was worth a lot to you) I wouldn't think they worth anywhere near $300... I would consider $30-100 at a dept store a fair price range for most of them unless there is some feature I overlooked that makes them really good.

Looks very similar to a daytona...

Yeah I understand, copyrighting a watch is like copyrighting a clothes hanger... change the bend or twist a little and voila... still seem wrong somehow to me

Generally a product is considered made in the country it is assembled in. That's why Honda cars made in Ohio are made in USA and why cameras whos parts are manufactured in Japan and assembled in Korea are made in Korea regardless of who's hands do the assembling.

Appreciate any info on this as well... I am north bay (50 miles north of SF) and am mostly interested in people who can service asian and swiss movements.

Well not to judge your ways but I guess I wouldn't give a girl a watch if I wasn't intending to be with her long enough to make me uncomfortable keeping a lie going. I just think of it as "what am I trying to accomplish?". If I want to get my gf a way to figure out what time of day it is, I will probably get her a dept store watch or a cell phone. If I want to impress her and make her feel special, and spending money on her is what does it, then I am going ot spend money. If I enjoy reps and want to share that experience with her, I am going to buy her a rep. And in any situation I am going to tell her about it. How will she find out? For me it's not the question how, or even if, but what will happen when she finds out. Women always find out in the end, they have supernatural powers And in all fairness again, if I don't care enough to feel bad about lying to her, I am not buying her anything more than lunch. Besides, I wouldn't even lie to strangers I meet on the street and try to convince them it's a gen... so how am I going to treat my GF with less respect than that?

It amazes me the lengths we have to go through to get a sub rep yet they allow this stuff to be on shelves... it seems so wrong...

Thanks all for the input! And don't worry no offense take to any of it... I don't ask the questions I don't want to hear the answers to As for the fakeness of the diamonds, are these pretty much the same things I am going to see at walmart on their sub $200 watches? I personally have always been bad at spotting cz (you could put sharp metal under glass and I would think it's a diamond) but considering this how do they sell any diamond reps if the diamonds (which all must be cz) look poor? I am 27 and no one who knows Rolex would believe I own an actual one, but most people I know will say something like "Rolex? How could you spend $1000 on a watch?" so I am not too sure it's going to get called out... I tend to dress well when I dress up, no armani or gucci but decent looking... Bear in mind I am not trying to lie to people that it's a gen, but I just don't think I am around people who will call me out, just maybe think I am stupid I am leaning towards Roman on my own and more so with the input, but the part of me that is not as refined as many of you in respect to watches (this applies to most of my aquaintences) is still tempted by sparkles... I think it's more being scared that I will miss the diamonds than thinking that they are actually a good idea; I guess worst case scenario is I really want them later and it's a few hundred more to get another watch... Gah... my spending weakness is kicking in full throttle... Please don't take this as "asking for help then ignoring it when given" or just looking for justification for a desire to have the diamond one after all... I am just trying to be cover as many angles as I can and that may mean playing devils advocate in some situations to achieve that goal. Anyone else want to chime in it's all appreciated!