VesperMatt

If you do a simple search you can get a rundown of most of the movements. From memory I can seem to recall: - Swiss ETA - Easy to find someone to work on, good quality but often times the movements are NOS and should be serviced immediately from sitting around. - Asian ETA Copy - Generally good quality and don't need immediate service, although not all parts are a complete swap with gen ETA - Asian 7750 - Poor quality control from the factory, should be serviced almost immediately. Some have additional gearing to move complications/subdials that are extra prone to crapping out. - 21J - Good workhouse movement, shouldn't require any service but when they do die its cheaper to buy a complete movement or a whole new watch. There are all sorts of movement reviews that will go in better detail if you use the search function. I think you may have posted asking about watch tools before? If not, or if you did, I see you're in Australia and I know WatchBitz is from there. Perhaps he could recommend a watch smith who would be willing to work on reps or, worst comes to worst, if you got handy enough with tools you may be able to decase the movements and be able to give those (at least gen Swiss ETAs) for service. I haven't been in the rep game long enough to personally vouch for longevity of movements and what not, but just like anything I'd go on common sense... I'd never buy more than I'd be willing to lose.

Waiting to get my BK DSSD back from Zig after a relume, the only thing I found lacking on that watch (:

Insert looks great to me! I need to pick one of these up soon.

Aston Martin DB5. Will probably never be able to afford one. I have a 74' MGB GT, chrome bumpers, I'm fixing up now... 'Poor Man's Aston Martin'. Actually looks closer to a DB4. Plan to do it up with the wire rims and similar silver paint job to Bond's classic DB5. Even debating vents in the fender as a 'homage' to the inspiration and adding the more aggressive GTC bonnet. Also thinking what kind of gizmos I can rig up with switches in the arm rest

What do you guys have to say about the varying sizes listed for the dials between the 3 main makers? I am trying to emulate Donerix's poor man's 6542 franken and I'm trying to narrow down which dial is best suited for my needs. We all know how wokky the PureTime case is and how the rehaut needs to be sanded down and a larger dial fitted, so its my thinking that the largest dial would be best. For just the 6542 dial I'm getting the following measurements: InGod44 26.5mm Yuki 27.3mm NDT 27.8mm Should dial sizes really be varying that much?

+1 to WatchBitz, both of you being in Australia should make it a no brainer. If NATOs are among the straps you're interested in getting into, Gnomon also gives you a free springbar tool with a minimum order.

Looking to get one of these Seagulls very soon. Have been wanting a watch with working moonphase for a while and don't feel comfortable wearing a rep watch with one. $290 from Seagull USA

I messaged KB about the 8-watch case on the 2nd of August and he said he couldn't get it. He showed me some other very nice watch boxes but I ended up going the complete opposite route and ordered a Pelican case to at least keep all my sport watches in.

Oh, this might be the writeup that pushes me into a cheap noob as a knock around watch! Excellent write up and much thanks.

Maybe someone has done this already, but if anyone is curious I have both the gnomon strap and the gen strap that comes with the the Tudor Heritage. Not much really to show, but its the only thing I own both a gen & a 'rep' of so I'd be happy to contribute a side-by-side

Placed my first order with WatchEden for a couple shirts, a pair of shorts, and one of their $108 watches ($70 with discount). We'll see how the quality is. Purchased a Paul & Shark polo on iOffer from the seller 'Chasedreams'. Communication before sale was great but the item was supposed to be shipped via EMS within two days of payment and then take 6-8 days to get to me. Seller didn't ship till about five days later and sent it via RA. Tracking was funky and didn't show acceptance so I repeatedly tried to contact him with no reply. Eventually I PayPal disputed him and the shirt showed up the next day. Took just over 3 weeks to get to me. Wouldn't be a problem if they would have said it would take that long/replied to my concerns. Anyways, quality of the shirt is pretty so-so. These have a lot of embroidery/patches on them and the stitching has a lot of loose threads/overruns. Heres hoping the WatchEden shirts are of better rep. I can post a pic if anyone is interested.

Also the opposite of their own 'Watch Snob'. The site constantly contradicts itself in that regard with generic write ups of 'must have watches' and styles that are then panned by the watch snob's Q&A on their very own website. A good example of that is their generic press release sounding write up for the DSSD versus his bashing of it.

Anyone know a good source for Paul & Shark? Bergies said he doesn't do it. Tried buying a shirt off iOffer as a feeler and seems like I'm getting dicked around. WatchEden actually has some pieces but I've never done business with them, they have some of the stuff I want but not everything. Maybe someone knows a better source or can recommend a better seller on iOffer?

I don't like to wear an 'expensive' watch to work, so I wear my homages. I've got an Orient Snorkeler (Submariner homage) on NATO straps that I switch out and a Rotary Chronospeed (Navitimer homage). Also have on the way a Tao homage of the IWC Yacht Club. On Saturdays I wear my gen Tudor Heritage to work since nobody recognizes Tudor except for some of my european customers, and I don't mind showing off a little to them.

Oh yeah, I am a huge advocate of vintage and didn't even think to mention that. Omni is spot on with that suggestion. Tissot, Omega, and lots of other older brands can be had in gold for great prices. Depending on your age, and since this is for you, maybe double up and try to find a watch from your birth year?

I love the AskMen.com's watch snob advice that you'll be buying her jewelry for life, so she should be buying you a watch approximately twice the value of whatever ring you are getting her. I agree that going for a gen would be wiser for such a special occasion. For a dress watch for such an occasion, I know its a time bomb but the IWC Portuguese is my all time favorite. Maybe she can get you replacement movements as anniversary gifts! Or you could save up down the line and try to score a genuine movement and dial for it, although I know Concepta said he was getting out of doing Port stuff.

Little more than ten days out, but I ordered a GMT 6542 on 7/28. - Next day, the 29th they sent me QC pics and I questioned one of the lugholes - Aug 3rd they sent QC pics for a second watch and I approved them - Aug 4th they shipped via EMS - Aug 9th it arrived Customer service was good for me throughout (and I had been kind of worried). Have a problem with the GMT hand on the watch already but I think service will take care of it anyways.

Left it overnight and didn't mess with it. Just picked it up now to reply and the GMT hand no longer moves more than a mm or two when I adjust the hour and minutes. It will move a tick and then stops moving with the other hands. Date changed over fine at night. The movement is supposed to be an ETA 2846. If I pull the crown out, the first stop I can turn the crown counter-clockwise and it will it in turn move the GMT hand counter clockwise. That still works, although I've gathered from you guys its a separate gear than what actually makes it tick. I guess tonight I'll take the caseback off and try Sneed's advice of assembly/dis-assembly. Whatever it is, it sounds like if I can't do it a competent watch smith should be able to fix it right? Not a serious enough reason to send it back?

Hey guys, After I saw what Donerix was able to do with PT's 6542 I picked one up to do some light modding on/learn on. Got it today and the GMT hand doesn't beat/move with the rest of the movement. Hours/minutes/seconds, however, is keeping perfect time. I can manually adjust the GMT hand (as well as the date) from the correct position and when I manually adjust the hours & minutes, the GMT hand also adjusts in synch. But when the crown is fully screwed in, the GMT hand doesn't budge at all. I did a search and I saw mention of the GMT hand slipping and some other people having problems... I suppose what I really want to ask is if its something I could check/correct myself (I have a set of tools from Watchbitz) or if its something that would be not too expensively remedied when I send the watch to get the movement serviced, as I intended to do. Trying to avoid shipping this thing back to China. Assuming thats not too big of a deal, does anyone know a source for a better GMT hand? Would the Yuki hand set for ETA 2824 fit the ETA 2846 in this watch?

Yeah, they seem decent for the money. If they had a stainless steel case I would have gone for one but I just have no interest in a gold watch on a rubber strap. Since my original post, Watch Eden has added a few models such as this one: IWC Portuguese Two Tone Zone Automatic with Black Dial S/S Weird metal band but otherwise looks half-way decent and is the correct case size compared to the earlier models they were listing. Numbers on the dial are pretty off though. I hadn't seen that new one at Watch Eden and ordered a Tao watch to tide me over. Weird 'perpetual calendar' but I think it will give me an idea of whether I should be too concerned with tracking down the watch or not. I tried finding an IWC AD to try on a gen but apparently the closest dealer is at least a 2-3 hour drive away.

I've e-mailed Steve before about gen watches he has had for sale. Pleasant guy albeit a little short at times, I try not to bother him since I have yet to actually pull the trigger on anything he offers. It seems like he knows whats up in regards to some of this stuff that you could call 'aftermarket'. Looking at his eBay feedback one time I noticed purchases of bracelets from HK. I also remember a situation where the horde on TRF tried to tear him to pieces at the idea that he would wear a big crown sub with a refinished dial, wasn't even a watch he was trying to sell. I sometimes see watches he has for sale that have refinished dials and the like. And like a lot of the franken builders on here, he seems to move parts around on watches in order to get the best examples of vintage watches for the best resale. He is always clear and explicit when any of his watches involve aftermarket parts. I sort of wouldn't be surprised if he cruises these boards himself, I mean I would if I made my livelihood on selling watches that have a super high likelihood of being 'molested' over the years. Like LHOOQ said, its nice that he is not having a temper tantrum and screaming the second coming of satan at the mere photo of a replica watch.

Ohh, another idea I had for a modern Bond sub - and this will probably be a little more of a pain to source parts. But I believe the two-tone subs have yellow gold print and marker surrounds, as a sort of modern interpretation of the gilt dial.

Looks good, 6538 is my favorite by far (its what brought me to this forum in the first place.) Maybe you can pick up a brevet crown from someone whose updated theirs to a more correct crown. For a build like that I wouldn't be too worried about the size being 100% but more so that its large enough and reads 'Brevet' below. And I love the high dome on it. No reason that didn't get put on at some service point when the original owner smacked it on the side of the boat after a deep dive

I've fallen in love with the IWC Portuguese Yacht Club and haven't found any info on the boards about them so far. I only own frankenstein vintage Rolex . Anyone have any experience with these reps? The price suggests they're not worth it yet, but hopefully we'll see something better coming out soon? Gens: TimeShop has two gold cased 21J movement reps, one with a 'brown' face and one with a white face. AFAIK there is no white faced Yacht Club in gold. The brown is closer to gen, but color is still not completely right because the gen gold case has more of a slate-color. Also, I only have experience with ETA and clone ETA movements, with a 21J are these probably going to be non-working chronos? If the case was steel on these I'd probably give the white one a try since they're cheap enough. Rose Gold, White Dial Rose Gold, 'Brown' Dial WatchEden also has a rep with much better case/dials selection but they are listed as only 41mm (should be 45mm), have brown leather straps, and are quartz movement. If they weren't 41mm I'd actually gone with one of them as a cheap knock around till a better rep came out. Anyone know of any other reps out there? Mary couldn't find me anything, either.

Love the Bond sub. For the modern Bond, I was looking at doing a modern rendition of the big crown look and I believe I came across (on the gen Rolex forum) mention that the trip lock on the DSSD was in fact a larger, 8mm version. Maybe someone could confirm this and perhaps you could see about sourcing a rep or gen crown from a DSSD?