By-Tor

Well that sounds reasonable. Actually now that you mentioned it, I wouldn't mind my reps being delivered by young blonde naked women.

Another very impressive writeup. Damn I really, really enjoyed this with a cup of coffee. An excellent replication too. The bracelet and SELs are definitely something out of ordinary.

Classy!

Two biggest flaws on reps are badly applied lume and sloppily fitting SELs (imho). Even some WM9 products have crappy SELs. Why is it so difficult to make them fit properly? Dealers... I only use Precious Time (UK) because I'm European and I can only praise his service and communication. I also have great experiences of Joshua who has always been helpful and friendly to me. Maybe one thing... dealers who QC the watch and photograph the actual watch that you're going to receive are great. PT does that for me every time.

I don't want to hear about the DateJust that you bought 1986 from Thailand. Or the crappy CN Sub that you bought from someone... and can't sell it because it's so crappy by today's standards. I mean the oldest surviving quality rep. A nice one that you still own and wear regularly. Mine is the Omega Seamaster Chronograph from 2006, from Eddie Lee, with perfect ETA datefont. Lots of reps (60-70) have come and gone, many of them have been replaced with gens. But this stays for good (unless I buy a gen, which is highly unlikely). It's THAT good. The newer versions have inferior dials. I consider this one of the best reps, ever. A kind member promised to send me a gen insert so it's going to be even better. Let's see yours!

The rep factories' initial claim that it's "guaranteed water resistant to 1000 feet" is just laughable. I mean, that's GOTTA be a joke. It's a well built rep but still a rep without decent quality control. Don't take your reps into the water before testing them properly. Most (non-chrono) reps survive swimming just alright but you never know. Crystal can be leaky, caseback isn't tightly shut, etc. Actually I don't take my gens into the water, either. There's no point doing that, imho.

Superb! I'm not a huge vintage Rolex guy but that no-date I would wear without hesitation.

In my country, all high end watches that I've seen have been gens. Every single one of them. I've never seen anyone wearing a high end rep. I've seen some garbage reps on people though but even they are rare. I think reps (and high end watches generally) are much more common in the US. Most of my real life American friends have a nice watch.

Funny you mentioned Peugeot. My little brother just bought an old Peugeot 605, model 1999 I think for cheap. And the car is better to drive than my Merc any day of the week. Amazing car, amazing seats. Automatic transmission. I don't like the rear wheel drive though... when I was a kid I learned to drive with Ford Escort '78... and you know Scandivian slippery roads in winter, it was pure fun. French cars don't hold their value but when I was driving his old big Peugeot I gotta wonder where the ridiculous price difference to Merc comes from.

I drive a Mercedes E-klasse 2006-2007 model (E200 Kompressor). Not a big car person, the car belongs to my stepfather's company. But I like Mercedes. Very reliable car. This is not my photo but it's the same model (although the mirrors on mine have "legs"). These are my shots. Low quality but it's tought to take good ones when you're driving.

Exactly. I always felt that this forum is mainly for people who want to find the best quality stuff. Whether the new member can tell the differences between junk and better models is irrelevant. They're looking for that kind of advice. I mean, what's the point of the whole forum if we just tell them to buy cheap street junk (because "nobody" could tell the difference anyway... which is actually total BS.)

Amazing!!! Beatiful baby. Congrats to all! PS: 57 cm? She's really tall girl.

You might get Luckyyyy there. Ok bad joke.

Damn... so my advice isn't valid anymore. That was literally a steal for $300-whatever. While people were raving about v2 they somehow forgot that v1 was the model that already "robbed the bank". I made crown guard mod for mine but it was easy... just a little bit off from the insides. Me and Ubi both loved the "Flat S". Don't sell yours.

Best value for money Rolex rep is the WM9 v1, imho. Precious Time can get it... it's called PT "perfect Sub". Of course it's not perfect but I loved it. Best SELs ever. Perfect perfect. Even if I have the upgraded v2 I wish I hadn't sold this. Same base as Ubi's WM9.

You're RWG:s two primary Rolex men for sure. Freddy's wristies are always unique. I'll join in.

I think you have to get a picture of the watches that MBK store is selling. Then post them here. We can easily determine between the old (good) stuff and the new junk. I think it's way too risky to let a third person to buy them... especially if this person doesn't possess deeper knowledge of the said reps. If he can get the good ones, like the 1680, I'd stick with the white dial versions. The red dials aren't accurate at all (this applies to the old versions too). My 2c.

This is a great thread. We have discussed this before but I think it's great to have an "update" every now and then. I remember when I first found TRC... I will never forget the feeling. I was like kid in a candystore... all reps looked amazing to me. I bought many watches, even fantasy models... and many of them even were decent quality. Flaws? Who cares, that's a nice looking new Sub model -> login in to PayPal!! Could I still enjoy those pieces? I don't think so. It's not about them being "inaccurate" but the details simply weren't there. As long as the build quality is there, I could still enjoy an inaccurate rep or fantasy watch any time. Like the Seagull-powered Zenith El Primero Chronomaster. A beautiful piece. My Ebel BTR (with inaccurate subdial spacing) was the best quality replica I've ever had. The bracelet was just sick good. The partly-fantasy Speedmaster BA (that my brother now owns) was also one of the coolest reps I've had. Lately I've bought gens of all my favorite watches. Sometimes I wonder why, as I often feel like they're boring in the sense that there's not much to discuss about them. Ubi's hand built franken-Daytonas are million times more fascinating. It has nothing to do with "being afraid of getting called out". It's just that details are important for me and I often enjoy watching those miniscule perfect details... things that seem to bother me on reps these days... like sloppily fitting SELs or lousy lume on hour markers. You know, the usual stuff... I think I could also enjoy building frankens like Ubi and others but I don't have the skill. And I have big, clumsy hands that are better suited for moving heavier objects. So I stick with the gens and best OTB reps. I'm just an average guy but I've managed to bank some savings and pay off my apartment fully (because I worked really hard in the past years). But now I opened a bank account for my son and I will place all my extra savings there instead. So I doubt I'll be buying many new gens in the future. Reps are so great and they haven't lost their appeal to me at all. Too bad there haven't been many new appealing models (for me) lately. As someone already stated, ignorance is a bliss in this hobby. Really. I wish I could get those early days back. Wait a minute... maybe not... remember when we sent our shitty CN Subs to XXXXXXXX who "serviced" the movements and replaced the rep inserts with "high quality Swiss aftermarket inserts" and charged $100 for them? Blowing off the dust from the dial was $30, right? Now you can send a pm to BK and buy a WM9. A rep that we couldn't have even dreamed of 5 years ago. Things have really changed, haven't they?

Thanks Gentlemen. @HikeUSA: I wouldn't mind doing that. Talking about dream job... photographing watches.

I never jumped the RWG watch bandwagon. But now I'm sorry I didn't. It's a collector's item, and it helped Blade to get his super cool Acura. Does anyone has one for sale... I'm willing to pay... ONE BILLION DOLLARS.

Damn... that's GIGANTIC. People always talk how you have to have wrists for the watch... I think it wouldn't look too big on this guy.

Thanks man. No, sorry... didn't make a wallpaper size but I might later.

Stunning!

Stop teasing me with that stunning gen BTR Ronin! I almost purchased one already and I have to resist.

This morning I'm enjoying my son's 1st month birthday (together with him) and wearing my favorite chrono.