By-Tor

Congrats Tom, and enjoy... it's really nice! Link bracelet could be my all time favorite bracelet on ANY watch. Pure genius and very original & great innovation by TAG.

I love Seamasters. I assume you wanted members to show theirs, right? 1. The classic SMP ETA from 2005. Still in my collection. And most likely will be forever, as I'm somehow "connected" with this watch. 2. SMP Bond Chronograph. Lovin' this watch. Ditto what I said about the standard version. Will never part with this gem. A few Seamasters that I've owned: 3. Planet Ocean 4th Gen. 42mm beauty. The bracelet was utter crapola and the watch had ZERO AR. Other than that it was really nice rep. I also had the 3rd gen before this but it wasn't even close. 4. UPO. This doesn't need any introductions. If I find one with black rubber strap and 2xAR, it'll be hard to resist. I never liked it with bracelet... it made it look clumsy and unbalanced... lack of 2xAR also bothered me and didn't want to go through all the trouble modding it. Usually I don't find AR that important, but on PO it's a bit different issue. This watch is synonymous with strong blue 2x AR. 5. Black Seamaster GMT. Definitely one of my favorites in the SMP line, among with Electric Blue. I got this Bond bracelet attached to it. The old models of black SMP have this bracelet, which is among my favorite watch bracelets. I don't care for the "Speedy" style band that it originally had... unfortunately the Bond bracelet SELs never fit perfectly, so I sold it.

Exactly my point.

Good post as usual Richard. But quality wise... or from purely common sense standpoint this statement is 100% true. But people aren't just buying mechanical watches. Quality is important, but it's not the main factor to many rep purchases... it's the human nature. People want to have $5K luxury things for $500, no matter how flawed this logic is. Think of the WM9 Sub with genuine ETA movement. Change a gen crown and virtually indistinguishable. Reps like this didn't exist when we started this hobby. However, we had better movements. The visuals have improved dramatically, but the mechanical quality of movements have decreased (generally). Hamiltons, Marcellos and all that... nice watches and I'm sure the quality is decent. But it's decent in Seiko and Citizen too. Personally, I don't find most of those watches fascinating at all, and they don't compete with reps directly (imho). But if (and when) the prices of 2nd hand mainstream "high end" brands like Omega, TAG and Breitling come down, selling more expensive reps might become a real challenge.

Speleologists, huh? Yeah, gotta love all those pretentious "purposes" that Rolex marketing department has always invented for these watches. Still... pure Genius I say. Pretentious or not, the whole "tool watch" idea make these vintage Rolexes fascinating. And yeah, I've read the same story. So in that sense the modern Explorer II with 3185 movement has moved away from its "roots". It's a full 2-zone GMT. In principle you can use the modern GMT Master II for 3 timezones because of rotating bezel.

Ziggy, I just found this about the movements: "The 1570 and the 1575 are the same movements. The addition of a "5" indicates a date feature. The fact that some 1675s have 1570 stamped on the bridge is simply Rolex used what ever was on hand at the the time." http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?p=498628

Some gen pics: And the rep from Angus' site: http://www.puretimewatch.com/index.php?productID=461 I couldn't friggin' tell them apart!

I'm not sure Dems... could be... I\'m VERY bad with numbers. I don't even remember my own cell phone number.

Case looks good, bezel looks good, crown looks good. I'm not sure about the dial but then I'm not an expert of this model. Where is our Austrian friend... he'd tell you for sure. I guess it's safe to say that the bracelet isn't original... never seen a ExpII with Submariner clasp. As far as I know, the GMT (or hour) hands on these old 1570 and 1575 aren't adjustable at all... at least it's not adjustable in my dad's 1675. But then again how can you use it as a 2nd timezone watch when the bezel doesn't rotate, huh? Edit: Here's a good comparison shot of the dial. Hmm... it might be all legit. The seconds hand is blocking the coronet, but the McQueen's have very special style coronets, and it looks good on your watch. Also the "X" in ROLEX is kinda special. There have been variations of course, in typical Rolex fashion.

As a matter of fact I do... one from my great grandfather, one from my grandfather. Not that I wear these though.

Yes I agree. It's a good idea. We have to think about "highlighting" it and dividing it from the Photography section in the next forum update. Other option is that someone gathers all these gen vs. rep comparisons in one link guide (just like "Supporter review database") and keeps maintaining it.

We are in process of making things simpler here... and considering carefully what we really need and what not. You're right... the whole photography section is virtually a ghost town. It's one of the subsections that members wanted. Not a great success story. Members often suggest all kinds of subforums... thinking that they'd increase traffic... but the end result is just the opposite. These areas just divide the members, make gathering information more difficult... and it's a fact that they get used very seldomly. Why would you have to post it to a sub-subsection "Genuine vs. Replica"? If it's a good review, it'll get archived to posts like "Supporter review database" and "immortalized" that way. Let me ask you a question: If you have a gen and rep Rolex Submariner, why couldn't you post it to the Rolex section where it automatically creates a big following and gets a lot of attention (due to large number of regular readers)? Maybe you would post to the gen vs. replica section once, but after you'll notice that it won't create much interest/catch replies, you'll post to the Rolex forum next time. Some people even refuse to post their collections to "My Collection" because they don't get any replies... and insist that we keep them in the General Discussion. What purpose does the "My Collection" subsection have then... if nobody even notices the whole damn forum? Common sense doesn't have much to do with it, but that's how things are... and that's how the psychology in these forums work. Don't make simple things more complicated, that's what I've always said.

We already have that kind of area. And just like many of such obscure forum sections, nobody rarely posts there, and nobody rarely reads it. Kinda proves my point that you didn't even know it exists, huh? http://www.rwg.cc/members/Rep-vs-Genuine-f6.html We don't want to create more useless sections (even sections that are nice ideas in principle). Au contrary, we want to get rid of these sections which are equal to ghost towns.

"Unnecessary"? Yeah, world is full of all kinds of weirdos. I agree with tgchrono. The prices will come down, there's no other way. You can find gens for bargain prices now... and I'm sure they'll become even cheaper within the next few years (if this economic situation continues).

Hey... that's a classic. Navitimer TT. I had it too... and it's one of those watches that I occasionally miss.

Thanks. The dial choice between black and white... always the same dilemma. Actually it'd be ideal to have BOTH versions of your favorite watches. I have both black and white of Rolex Explorer II... this Ebel is definitely another candidate for "twins". The AR looks stunning on the black... but then again I think I love the "Panda" even more. Since my brother got my old Broad Arrow, I wanted another white dial chronograph to replace that. Discovery filled that gap perfectly. I can't imagine my collection without this watch now.

Check the last page of this thread. Plenty of pics of the black dial version there. I have no complaints about the bracelet. After oiling my rep bracelets they all feel good.

I'm wearing this heavy fella today.

Go for it man! This is definitely one of my all time favorites!

-Best non-blingy sports watch on bracelet: Rolex Submariner -Best blingy sports watch on bracelet: Breguet Type XX full gold / Omega Broad Arrow full gold / Ebel 1911 Chronograph full gold -Best sports watch on leather/croc/gator: Breitling Navitimer -Best sports watch on rubber: Omega Planet Ocean -Best tool/work/rugged watch: Omega Seamaster "Bond" -Best braceleted dress watch: Omega Aqua Terra -Best strapped dress watch: Patek/Breguet, any dress model -Best sporty chronograph: TAG Aquaracer Chronograph -Best dress chronograph: Ebel 1911 Chronograph two-tone -Best GMT: Rolex GMT Master with 3185 movement -Best aviators watch: Rolex GMT Master with 3185 movement -Best pure dive watch: Breitling SuperOcean Steelfish

This beauty for Tuesday.

Damn... first IWC I really, really liked... and it's not available.

One Rolex that I'm always going back and forth is the TT Sub. Should I... yes I should... no I shouldn't... well maybe... This was the nicest TT rep I've had. Unfortunately no longer in my possession.

Mmm... I just love this watch!

Thanks Robbie! A Sea Dweller? Well I'll try to resist the new WM9. 16610 is so similar in design. PS: Awesome photos guys... keep 'em coming!