vandal.tbh

The Flightdeck reps are 99% correct

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

I like Flightdecks too. Thanks for the info! I'll look into them..

Ok, I should point out That as a rule, we do not go to AD's to "test" them. There are some good reasons I discussed in a thread but, let me summarize.

1. Watch should be for you to enjoy, not to call attention in public to our "hobby"

2. You will NEVER get a real answer. One of 2 things will happen, either they won't know and that is not a test, sales people they can't afford the watches they sell and they are not enthusiasts. Or 2 they know and still won't say anything because either 1. They want to sell you something else and won't embarrass you or 2. They don't want to break it to you that you got ripped off.

So, as you see there is only bad that can come from this. It is actually a rule of the forum not to take your pieces into ads or jewelers to call attention to it and us. It will put you in disfavor quickly. If your our and pop into a store to try something on. That's 1 thing. But, intentionally doing the deal, very frowned upon.

A long time ago, folks were much more positive about things with watches and they were big things, tiny crown, recessed center pin. Wrong font on dial. Crap strap. There were plenty of threads discussing the issues but, if someone posted their piece people wouldn't rip it apart.

Enjoy responsibly;

Ok, I'm new here and I absolutely love this forum, but I have a few questions/comments about this:

1) I understand that forums have certain rules about what is posted on the forum, and rightfully so. But for a forum to have a "rule" about what you do outside the forum sounds absurd to me. Call it a recommendation or advice, and I'm with you. Call it a rule and I go into "fight the power" mode.

2) Do you think that AD's don't know about our "hobby"? I think that it's pretty well known, by literally just about everyone, that fake watches are produced and distributed in mass quantities. I get the impression that you think that by taking a rep into an AD, they will be alerted to the fact that people are purchasing reps and will sound the alarm, and begin some kind of crusade against the rep market that will eventually restrict our ability to purchase these reps. I would have a hard time giving that scenario much credence.

3) If I bought a watch on eBay, or really anywhere other than an AD, the first thing I would do is bring it to an AD to make sure it was real. I've read here on the forum that AD's will give you their opinion, but that if you want an official appraisal, they will send your watch in to Omega to do a thorough inspection of the watch and check the serial number against their archives. And this is at some considerable cost. However if that turned out to be a rep, then I'm in the same situation.

4) Like you mentioned, a person could have very easily been ripped off and unknowingly purchased a rep, fully believing it to be real. That person could (and in all likelihood would) walk into an AD to look at other watches or have something done to what he believes is his gen watch. Again, same situation.

5) I'm not going to worry about taking off my watch if I walk into a jewelry store. I probably won't say "look at my watch, do you think it looks real?", but I'm not going to freak out if someone starts looking at it either. I'd be surprised if someone asked to look at it, but if they did, I'd show it to them. I'd then be surprised if they immediately noticed that it was a rep and then said something to me, but if they did, I would feign surprise and thank them for alerting me that I was ripped off.

Again, I'm new here and maybe my logic is flawed. I don't think I'm all knowing and I'm always grateful for the opinons of those who are more experienced than me. But at first glance, this just seems silly to me. Let the flaming begin!

Whoo Hoo!

You have ME pumped on this DDSD now! Can't wait to see yours and read your review!

Tomorrow we dine in Hell!

300 quotes...I love it!

Oh yea, I'm pumped up now. I was getting really bummed, but now I'm stoked. I can't wait to open them. I feel like a little kid on Christmas eve.

I'll be sure to write a good, thorough review.

Holy [censored]! Finally!!

"Your item cleared United States Customs at 9:28 pm on January 26, 2012."

No I ordered the first one, the PO. It got here fast but there was a crown/stem problem so I sent it back. I only had that one for about an hour before I packed it back up and sent it away. Broke my heart. It was beautiful and I wanted to wear it.

Then I ordered two more. Those were sent quickly, but have been sitting in customs at JFK for 5 full days now. It's killing me..

Your sister in law saw the watch right? If she thinks that's junk seeing it in person, she's crazy!

On another note, and just to continue the constant whining and crying I've been doing lately, my watch still shows being in customs. I thought today would be the day. No such luck. It has now been 5 full days and I'm really starting to think that something is going on. I have just had the worst luck with this so far.

I'm literally going to throw a party when my first watch gets here.

That's awesome. I'd almost bet that an AD would have a hard time telling. I was in an Omega AD and was asking him about the "anti-counterfitting" engraving and he said he had no idea what it was for. Later I did some research and found out that it is not an anti-counterfitting mark. Omega added that etching because Costco was buying up a bunch of their watches through grey market sources and selling them in their stores. Omega did not like this, but legally couldn't do anything about it. They added the Omega globe etching as a way to use some kind of trademark loophole to prevent them from selling anymore. I may have the details a little off, but it was something to that effect.

As we all know, it isn't that hard for the reps to copy that etching...

Anyway, if an AD didn't know the story behind the etching (and this guy said he'd sold Omegas for 20 years) then I'd be willing to bet that your watch may fool him. I think if someone with a lot of knowledge was looking hard they could maybe find something off, but I think your average AD would not suspect someone walking right into their store with a watch to have a rep. So they wouldn't be looking that hard to begin with..

I don't know any nice U-Boat Gens

Haha... touche'

I don't know, I like the looks of them. I have a quartz one (black thousands) that I get compliments on all the time. I was thinking about picking up a better quality one.

But yea, I don't see much about the reps so I'm guessing they're not very popular...

But still, it looks good. It's good quality, it is much better than you would expect coming from China.

You and I know the logo is wrong, and I only know from the last month of painstaking obsession about this damn watch. The pearl is wrong... OK.

I know Omega says that 7 out of 10 people know who they are and know their watches... I think that is a little generous. As I said before, "If it isn't a Rolex, many, many people won't much about this watch.” that is one of the reasons I chose it.

Average Joe certainly isn't going to know the ins and outs of a logo & exact font on a watch face. Not only that, these GEN watchmakers do so much non-sense to the watches as far as changes to combat the counterfeiting, that unless you live and breathe it, you can't say with 100% certainty if this or that is genuine. Case in point, there was a question Vandal asked in the Rolex forum about the micro etched crown at the 6 O'clock position on the Deep Sea Dweller. Even the experts over there said it didn't exist. Then they reversed that later and said it did. Not only that, that the REP that he had DID in fact have the micro etch, and he had not seen it before. I have said to people before, "The U.S. Govt. changes the money so damn often, I wonder if I couldn't just print out a twenty I made, bring it into a store and say, 'Oh, that's the new money.'" They would probably take it!

I guess the main reason I chronicled all of this is that I just went through it. I made, or almost made many mistakes. People; realize that when the guys really into it on the forums say, "This is wrong or that is wrong" compared to a GEN, realize that the level that they may be speaking about on these high-end REPS could be miniscule. Some guys on the forum are operating so far beyond you, me and the average person, that it is like we are an ant saying, "I can lift 25x's my body weight! I just picked up a whole leaf by myself!" compared to a crane lifting a 100 ton bridge section.

The lower end REPs or glaring mistakes and imperfections, that’s another story, these factories cut their teeth on the older stuff, which is why I went with the newer, more popular watch style (the P.O. instead of the 300M.) The guys busting their (the factory's) balls on inaccuracies, is why we have these higher quality REPs now. Again, the moral of the story is, “Use common sense and factor in the level or extreme of what you are looking at and the cost.”

This “Chinese junk watch” is incredibly accurate and of a much higher quality than I think a lot of people can imagine without seeing it and handeling it. I am going into a fine jeweler in my area to have this bracelet sized. Not because I can’t do it myself, but to see what happens when they see this watch. Is a real jeweler, that does not carry Omega (to my knowledge,) but carries other luxury watches going to spot it as a REP right away, or not. That is what I want to know.

I thought about doing that same thing Wetwork (although I need to actually have a watch before I can). I'm anxious to see what happens so let us know..

Customs is at JFK. It usually arrives the day after it hits JFK.

It's hard to predict.

Well, it's been at JFK in customs for 5 days now. I'm really starting to get [censored].

What's the BK story, how does he mod it, how much is it and where do you get it? I just emailed my good close personal friend Trevor about this watch?

I agree with Cougar about Rolex being a double edge sword, I originally was going Rolex, but exactly like he said, I thought that same thing. That is why I went with the P.O. Many people don't know any fine watch besides a Rolex.

I really don't know much about the BK DSSD, other than a few things I've heard on the forum. He basically takes the standard "Ultimate" version and does some minor mods (I think AR, maybe lume, can't remember). Heard about his after the fact so too late for me.

I'd just be happy with ANYTHING on my wrist right now. I have 3 watches and $1100 floating around in outer space (thats what it feels like) at this moment.

Anyone know of any nice U-Boat reps?

Anyone else like scotch? I've been drinking it all day. I love it as much as watches...

oh yea, and I'm hammered drunk!

Get the watch warm (set it in a sunny window) and get the crystal cold. Then press the crystal in place with your thumbs, then put a hockey puck on the crystal, set it on the floor, and step on it.

Easy squeasy.

Whhhaaaaa?? Are you being serious? I've got zero experience with this, so I'm in no place to question. But this sounds crazy! Thumbs...hockey puck....stepping on it...

Seems like the next sound I'd hear is "CRAAAAAACK". And the next thing I'd see is little gears, pinions and springs flying all over the room.

You saying I'm trying to compensate for something with the orange bezel??

Yea, movement on the PAM looked too good so I would have guessed gen on that. But I would have guessed rep on the SD, although Adeodatus makes a pretty solid point!

+1 what Freddy said.

Glashutte has a nice one...

Oh, I like that one.. Is there a rep of that?

Partaaaaaay!!

Haha...I recommend sticking with the watch addiction though!

But...to keep this thread from getting hijacked and becoming a Rolex thread...

I still think the PO with the orange bezel is one of the best looking watches I've ever seen. If I were to pick one gen to purchase right now, it would be that one!

Vandel... Have you ordered a REP D-DSSD? After seeing the two videos on here I'm very tempted by that. Where did you order yours? I like the look of that.

Also as more of a general question, which watches are considered "super-reps"?

Yea, I got the best DSSD that I could find. Here's the link to the one I got:

http://www.yourtrust...roducts_id=6579

I will do a full review with lots of pictures when I get it. I just really like the look of the DSSD and from what I can tell this one is one of the best. I do hear that BK does one that's modded a little for the same price. I just didn't hear about that one until I'd already ordered mine. Maybe others can discuss that one..

The thing about Rolex is, you can't win either way, if it's gen, it's seen as a fake, if it's rep it's seen as a fake, so if you like the watch then that's all that matters!

hawaiian robot: the asian 21j is just as nice, the movement comes in for a bit of criticism but it's not too bad, they are a straight forward swap out with another should anything go wrong with the movement, (even saying that makes it sound like expect the worst ) they really are not that bad at all. Plenty of people are happy with their a21j PO's.

vandal: no watch yet, nothing worse than waiting, I'm sure you'll be sorted soon, the apparently don't bother seizing these in the US, the dealers are so confident they offer to replace all free of charge in the unlikely event that it did happen. They're just being slow. Now if it was in German customs that would be another story. Also agree on the aquaracers, both chrono and non chrono are really good (I didn't realise until recently that the chrono was so good aswell) I originally had a gen quartz blue 500m.....really gorgeous, then I got the rep black and sat down one day and examined both watch heads side by side, they really are amazing you'd need a loupe to see the minute differences, some people complain that the logo isn't cut as accurate as gen....yes that's a valid argument...when examining the logos under a 10x loupe

I haven't seen the Aquaracer 500M rep, but I hear that it's very good. I love the look of that thing though, so if it's even close I'm going to love it. I want to order it now, but I can't do it until I actually get some of my other watches!

It won't be long now though...I've got the fever!

After looking very closely to my BK DSSD I noticed it has the crown too on the sapphire but it is very very hard to see

Yea, you could almost miss it if you're not looking very hard for it. I've been trying to see it in my QC pics, but I can't. Not sure if it's because it doesn't have it or if the picture just doesn't show it. I guess I'll have to wait for it to get here to find out for sure. If it ever does get here!

Oh, you're absolutely right JKay. I thought I'd copied a different video's link. Regardless, the gen has the engraved crown on the crystal if I'm not mistaken..

Go to the rolex website, select the DSSD, watch the movie.. no crown there..

Hey GMTlover,

I'm pretty sure you are wrong about the crown. Here are two videos, one of a gen and one of a rep. Both have the crown on the crystal: