Fracture

As a fellow belgian I can only give you one tip: read and research. It'll take some time but it is worth it.

415 this week.

Hello. I bought a supposedly genuine rubber strap a few days ago. I'd like to know if anyone can verify if this is actually a gen one? I have a rep of the same style and it is exactly the same. Thickness, molding seams, logo's/letters, bend ability, feel etc. all seem the same to me (I don't have a microscope though). the only difference I can notice is that the "gen" one is odorless, while the rep has a chemical smell (not vanilla). This really has me puzzled. Are the reps that good or was I just simply scammed? Included some pictures: http://imgur.com/a/QONh6 The one on the watch is a rep. Thank you for any input.

I don't think it's smart at all. If I ever want to know if a gen is a gen when buying one, I will ask the rep guys here. They know their stuff. Some of the peeps at WUS can't see the difference between a carrot and a boat.

That engraved bezel looks fantastic. If only more manufacturers would do this.

PO on nato with a fat scratch at 3.

CrPO on a Hirsch Modena today. Will switch it for my cheaper daily PO when I'm off for work.

Late reply but only had the chance to try it yesterday. 42mm crPo and gen rubber strap (if you mean the vulcanised one) don't match. Can't get the spring bars to align. Even broke my spring bar tool with the attempt. Bummer, since the strap costs more than the watch :/ chunky, if the strap was only 30$ then it wasn't a gen.

Couldn't find my Seamaster so grabbed a G-Shock.

I notice many members here have a moderate to very good knowledge about the mechanical side of the watch hobby. I too would like to learn some more about mechanical watch repair and maintenance, for example how to replace movements, oil them, remove hands (would like to try my hand at reluming at some point). I suppose most knowledge would have been learned from books. Are there any recommendations on where to start? I did a google search but there are quite a lot of books about this, although most seem advanced and old. Would this book for example be a good place to start: http://www.watchmaking.se/BOOK/Shop/shop.htm ? (I'm not advertising here, I do not know the writer of this book). Thank you for any advice!

I have a related question that is probably not worth of creating a new thread for: is there a difference between the replica rubber straps from the trusted dealers and those that can sometimes be found on ebay? I bought one on ebay for about 20$ some time ago and while it's pretty accurately replicated, the rubber is quite stiff. Are the ones from the TD's made of a different kind of rubber? I'm hoping they would be as soft as Panerai ones.

25 bids? I'm sorry, but whoever bids on this is as dumb as a bag of nails. And not because it's a rep, I personally can't spot the mistakes as I'm not into Hublot but purchasing such an expensive brand of watch from a seller with 0 feedback? C'mon...

Been wearing my 42 PO all week. Really love it, might have to think about getting a genuine one at one point.

How do you guys feel about it? Technically we are knowingly supporting illegal activities and when you think about it we're not better than shoplifters. I must admit I sometimes feel bad about it.

What exactly makes it a true ETA? I bought mine as "swiss ETA" as well but I wouldn't make that mistake again. I'm very doubtfull that they're real ETA's with the current happenings around Swatch possibly slaching the suplly of movements.

You guys sure are quick to turn your backs to someone. If a new guy asks who he should be buying from it's all "Oh, Josh or Andrew will sort you out, they're dependable guys". Some romours about a raid pop up and all of a sudden they're liars. I bought 2 watches in the last weeks from both and they have arrived in 2 weeks as they usually do, after first contacting them about availability. Alright, some might have to wait a bit longer due to current circumstances but is anyone here really convinced they're being screwed over and stolen from?

This model seems like a winner. Here are some of mine. Is it me or is the color of our cases slightly different?

I'm also wondering what the difference is between the 292J's in the first post. They're the same as far as I can tell. I just ordered the new 292J with the 25/22 assolutamente strap from Joshua, I'll try to take some pics when it arrives.

They must've not gotten the memo that the games are held in London this year.

What would make the noob version better?

He means the storefront HERE, on this board.

Got my quality check pictures today, so I suppose H-factory isn't affected. Unless dealer had the watch in stock of course, not sure how that works.

Ordered a PAM from Trustytime, received the same message. It's a H-factory though, so I wonder if they're affected as well.

They can be hard to remove. I've alo had some bend tool pins from getting the link pins out. I'd say, make sure you are pushing them in the right direction, and keep at it untill they're out. If you're really in doubt then take it to a shop but in the end it's not rocket science