Fireman_Fred

October 19, 2019

How Rolex sitre list the submariner for under $8,500 but everywhere i see it cost around 10K or more. where do people buy them?

Or should that be... "why do people buy them"?

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August 11, 2019

Steinhart watches usually look great straight on, but flat lugs
Not sexy and like wearing plywood

The new 39mm version wears better than the 42mm. "Like wearing plywood" ?!

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August 10, 2019

I have been buying, owning, wearing watches since I was a kid. I bought my first "fake" battery operated "Rolex" when I was on holiday in Turkey in 1993, it was cheap and nasty and I ended up giving it to a friend.

The next one was a Tag (again, bought in Turkey). This one was automatic and stopped working on the bus back to the airport at the end of the holiday !!

That didn't put me off and soon I had another one (a Breitling, which I'd never heard of in those days). Fakes/reps, whatever you want to call them in those days (1990's), were not very true to the original, were made of poor materials and had a high failure rate.

Since then, I have continued in the rep game, especially since I discovered RWG all those years ago. At one point I owned around 30+ watches (all reps) and had one of each variation of the SMP (I love my Omegas!).

One day, my daughter found my "stash" of reps and said "Dad, why do you need so many watches?". I thought about it and decided she was right, you can't wear 30 watches !! I ended up selling most of them. I ended up with enough money to buy a second hand gen Omega !

I then went "big" and started buying and selling gens instead of reps. I could only afford one (or possibly two) reps at a time. I owned a number of different Tags, Omegas, Breitlings, Oris. I bought and sold when I fancied a change...

That brings me to the present and the title of my post (at last !!, you say). I now have 3 gen Omegas and a Tag. I still have about three reps as well but I also own a "homage" watch. It's a Steinhart Ocean One Vintage and is based on a Rolex Sea Dweller double red. It is Swiss made, has an ETA 2824-2 elabore movement, is WR to 300m, polished and brushed 316 stainless steel and came with a 2 year warranty. I bought it second hand, from Ebay when it still had 18 months warranty left and it cost me £350 (~US$420). I have been SCUBA diving with it (in Turkey !).

The other day, I was asked by a friend to sell my noob rep Rolex Submariner to him. I said I would, then I started looking for a replacement from the RWG trust dealers. I was looking at a Sea Dweller, which was going to cost me around $320 plus $35 postage from China.

Then I saw a 39mm Steinhart Submariner homage on Ebay for £340 ($410). The Steinhart has the genuine Swiss ETA 2824-2, sapphire crystal with double AR, ceramic bezel insert, 300m WR, comes in a nice leather box and still has 17 months warranty left. The Rolex Seadweller from China "claims" to have 5m WR an Asian clone ETA movement and is guaranteed to reach you in working condition. In the end my head won over my heart. The Steinhart is a stunning homage to the Rolex Submariner (although it says "Steinhart" on the dial, not "Rolex"). It begs the question, for the money and the peace of mind, why would you spend $350 on a rep that could stop working and fall to pieces with no come back when you can buy a homage of the. same watch (or similar) that it is built solidly, with quality materials and a 2 year, no quibble warranty ??

OK, I get the whole rep ownership thing, I've been there and done it (a lot !!) but I've also been frequently disappointed, especially when I've spent big bucks on a "super rep" !! As an example, I recently bought a 42mm titanium Omega Seamaster Ceramic with a (supposedly) ETA movement, from TrustyTime. It was not cheap. On arrival, it became apparent that the diver's extension was very loose and it keeps coming undone (very annoying!) but I put up with it, the bracelet broke on holiday and the watch fell off my wrist. I had to get it repaired. A few days ago, the ceramic bezel insert fell out (I've had to glue it back in) and, this morning, I was setting the time on it and the crown pusher fell out !!!

I rest my case....

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April 12, 2018

How about the other way 'round - I've been telling my missus that my gen SMP is a rep for years - she'd kill me if she knew that I'd splashed out on a gen !!

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January 3, 2018

Belated Happy New Year !!

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December 7, 2017

This is a homage to another watch that was worn on the moon. Dave Scott on Apollo 15 wore a Bulova on the moon when the crystal of his Omega popped out !!

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November 27, 2017

I'll see you and raise Torn!!

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April 21, 2017

My trusty SMP

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February 22, 2017

I would expect that this primarily relates to new members. When you do a search in the sales threads, sometimes your search will bring up a very, very old thread, one that has been dead for years. I got a PM to approve a post a little while ago. A new member was asking about photos of a strap for sale. When I went to the thread, I saw that it was started in 2009!! Now what are the chances that a 7 year old strap thread is going to get you a strap? So guys please look at the date the thread was posted before you start asking questions about the items for sale.

This does not apply to any of our "Knowledge" threads, brand threads, general discussion, etc. often it's sort of neat to bring and old thread back from the dead. Newer members read it, folks add new comments and everyone gains. Sales threads, however, are like a smelly corpse. Better to let them rest undisturbed, far away!!