ninjagaiden

Well some wonderful choices all round in here. I'd be happy with any of the watches mentioned but of all of them the ROO is probably the nicest (even more than the Aqua Terra) IMHO.

Let's hope Father Christmas brings us each the watch that we desire for 2012!

N

+1 on the Navitimer world, especially in blue.

We've had way too many Pams recently. Not that they aren't nice, but something different would be good.

Folks,

There's been some very good reps released this year, like the Pam 386 and most of the stuff from N-factory.

What rep are you most looking forward to in 2012?

I would love a rep of the new Broad Arrow.

N

Rep : N-Factory Oyster bracelet that is on their Subs. It's something about the weight and balance of the caseset-bracelet combo that works for me

Gen : Omega SMP

Folks,

I'm ssaving up for an Pam 286J from Josh, and I see I can get a rubber strap with deployant deployant, or for a few dollars more a black leather strap with coordinating blue stitching. Ultimately I'd like the carbon fibre effect strap that came with the gen 286J, but to start out is the leather strap any good or should I just go with the rubber one?

N

Is the caseset SS or Ti? The back of the watch has Titanium engraved onto it ...

GMT Hand is wrong. Otherwise not a bad looker!

Welcome! The watch you have linked to is a chronograph, and like many other reps this watch uses the asian version of the Valjoux 7750 movement. You won't get a chrono version of this watch with a swiss movement from the trusted dealers.

If you go for the non chrono version of this watch then you can get a swiss movement. I have one and am very happy with it.

Have a look at By-tors guide and other posts in the forum - you will get a lot of useful information.

Best wishes

N

About 10 years back I trained with a really nice guy who told everyone he was Persian.

Actually his family came from Kuwait, and as an outstanding scholar in his school he was introduced to Saddam and given a Patek Philippe (I think a Calatrava) with Saddam engraved on the dial.

Sad thing was for years post 9/11 he kept it in a drawer because he was too afraid to ever wear it. He even thought about asking a jeweller to scrub the dial!

Wonder what it would be worth now ...

45.5mm UPO has to be right up there with the best

If you've got an old computer chassis lying around, practice on a piece of SECC and see if you can polish it to a high shine!

Nice. How good is the PVD coat? Any flaws in it?

Wow! Best of luck. When you are standing at the top think about the fact that only 500 people will have stood still and looked down on the Earth from above you...

Oh and I am sure that as long as you wear more clothes than the lovely ladies in your sig you will be fine

+1 on the PO. Saw a Gen one in the AD today and it made me smile to think about how good my one is in comparison.

@Hoint : Sold my Lum-Tec Bull 45 a few weeks back on the 'bay to pay for new reps! Very comfy watch but I didn't like the black PVD and very strongly coloured AR. Every now and then the UK distributor sells some off quite cheap.

Very nice. Black pushers look the business. Subdial spacing is good. Pearl placement is nice. Looks like you got a good one!

You are not wrong about the reduced weight making it more comfortable to wear - it's like wearing a titanium bracelet watch. It's been on my wrist all day with no problems at all. Clasp is kind of growing on me too now that I've seen more picks of the Gen clasp.

So you got your answer on CHS and iCHS

On my ExpII it works just like automatico says you pull crown out one stop, turn one way to set date, other way to set GMT hand position.

'Cartel' refers to the group of trusted resellers who all source the watches from the same factories. Difference in pricing mostly reflects the QA measures. Best select a trusted dealer and establish a rapport with them. I have bought all my watches from Josh and hdid not charge me anything to return my repaired watch via EMS express!!!

In terms of 'Replication per Buck' this watch is no way near a Noob Factory Sub with an ETA mechanism. Bear in mind that not that many people have even seen the Gen version of this watch yet, and the factories are working from pictures.

BW

N

Guys,

I finished softening my noob factory LB bracelet this evening, and was thinking about what to oil it with. I tried putting a dab of King of Shaves Kinexium shave oil onto a cotton pad and rubbing it into the bracelet. Now that the "boys locker room" smell has worn off it has worked really well!

I thought of using it because 1) it is skin friendly as I can testify from years of use and 2) it is stainless steel friendly as my shaver can testify from years of use.

The ingredient that is most useful is cyclopentasiloxane - which is a silicone and provides the cleaning, waterproofing and shine.

As they say on the Dr Pepper ad - Try it : you might like it!

BW

N

Doh. How stupid am I! Thanks for pointing that out.

So the weight reduction must be due to the caseset, and maybe the clasp as well.

This is the smallest rep I have ordered, and I am quite liking its proportions. I don't like the clasp though - it just feels a bit flimsy.

Be interested to see if you are going for a CHS or a non-CHS version.

I went for the non CHS version as I heard that the CHS modded movement was more prone to failures.

But then my movement failed even though I did not fiddle around with the GMT hand setting at all (I set it once when I got the watch, and sinze then just had the GMT hand move with the hour hand). So maybe the CHS version would have been better!

Of course this is going to apply to all of the cloned GMT movements (I notice you were after another GMT rep as well)

Right now my feeling is that this is a nice first gen replication of the dial, hands and caseset. It was done from pictures of the new EXPII and when the Cartel gets their hands on a real one the replication might improve.

However if I had my money round again I would stay clear of a cloned GMT movement.

Just my two pennies worth ...

Folks,

My Noob Factory LV arrived from Josh last night. I will do some pics soon. First thing that struck me was how light it is compared to a 42mm ExpII or a DJII. Anyway there was me thinking it must be the smaller caseset reducing the weight, but when I got to resizing the bracelet I noticed the middle links are hollow and are open at the sides.

I've never had a bracelet with hollow links before. Is this a good thing? I presume the Gen has solid links.

Anyhow, I am very pleased with the watch. The bezel is a bif stiff, and again I've had to do a lot of softening of the bracelet with 600grit cloth, but the watch looks really great and wears well for the lighter weight.

N

I did a little writeup on my White Dial ExpII. It was the first Rep I got from a TD. Like you I am loving the orange GMT hand as it goes well against light brown skin.

Mine is on its way back from Josh following a movement failure.

One thing - you will probably ned to soften the bracelet up a little round the clasp with some 600Grit cloth, and the AR on the crystal is very light.

Hope this helps

N

Cool. Are you getting the black or orange bezel? Be interested to see how the pushers look and how the modified 7750 runs ...

Cool. Thanks.