Pix

Thx for that !

That's just making me more confident in my decision not to spend more than 300 dollars in a rep...

much more?....you mean like the shroud of turin

Does anyone know which brand did Jesus wear ? Clepsydra or Sundialex ...?

And obviously no troubles of seconds @6

Is there any chance to see how the caseback looks ? Or is it a "standard" plain one ?

Why I'm asking is that I would love to see the movement.

Steppen, I'm stopping here, that's exactly what I can't stand : moving the things to a personal vendetta against an other member...

Nothing personal against you, just against the way you do.

:close_tema:

Sure, my 'other dealer' watches might not be running, but that's because I killed them with my tinkering, 'out of the box', they were fine...

I would love to know who's the next dealer I will rely on... If you don't mind, I'd expect some names by PM. Thx

BTW, I often get PM about who or where, and always answer by return. I may think that if I would not name the dealers in my posts, I would get much more, and I may not answer everyone, for time reasons. Not mentionning the people asking things by PM, and forgetting a thank you or something that sounds like "your answer was useful". That's why I have a preference on "public" discussions over private ones.

BTW, isn't the Dealer's review section visible by all ? I can't confirm that, since I've been a *cough* VIP for some time already.

Steppen, you disagree with Stephane's way of doing, I respect that, but I learnt that when it comes to judging someone namingly, it always turns into a fiasco. I would avoid continuing posting testimonials about who did what, in all honesty. Hopefully the thread will remain gentle.

TJ : Understood

From my side, when showing my latest aquisitions (very important part in that hobby as far as I'm concerned, if not the most important), it's difficult not to say where it comes from. I know that the question will be raised if I don't mention the dealer's name.

I have since the recent events on RWG2 learnt not to link directly to any website, but still, if I'm satisfied with a deal, I feel it's fair to say it. Not only for the dealer, but before all for the readers that come after me and may want to have a similar experience. The same way I expect dissatisfied members to express their opinion on the same dealers. It just makes us stronger.

It seems we're turning into a Cartel / non Cartel dealers discussion : to be honest, I disagree on their recent pring policy (check my thread about the Asian SFSO from Ruby), but my worst experiences were not with them. They have now become my last choice (if I can source a watch elsewhere, I do it), but they remain possible suppliers, because except their price (and the usual "little? white lies" which seem to be a common behaviour everywhere), I find nice things in their range, and still affordable ones.

To make it clear, and not acting as a shill for them, I came to this conclusion after having delt with PC, TT, Silix, Ruby, River, Sashwatch, and with Narikaa to some extent (pens only). I also know who I will never deal with

Yes, some dealers never ever answered my inquiries (which are always done in a convenient and gentle way) : I blame them much more than the ones being "too kind" with me, because I don't feel anyone makes me a favour when selling me a rep, just they do business, where I'm the customer and they're the vendor. Even if that's an illegal business, relationship should be the same : there's one seller and one buyer.

How far I went from Stephane's thread. Maybe that therapy was necessary for me, as I rarely express "political" issues.

Oh, and I agree, the special price for the Chopard might be overstock, but on the other hand, I have only seen satisfied owners of the Asian version. We should not forget that what is a hobby for all of us is nothing but business for our esteemed collectors. They won't discount a top seller item. So, if I don't agree on all what they do, I understand at least.

May I end with what is most important for me...

I would never had made such a good bargain without the existence of this very board

Oh, I hate myself for entering so seriously in the discussion, I have always tried to stick to sharing my hobby exclusively.

But... Teejay, I respect your point of view, basically I respect all points of views when expressed in a gentle manner (the way you did). But as far as the support to the Cartel dealers is concerned, without going into blaming them or not, I feel that the less supportive board to them is RWG : the collector's section is only accesible to VIP members, and there is no list of supported dealers, as we have it on RWI or the newest Repgeek boards. Don't misundersand what I'm writing, I share my time there too (basically, the more, the better !). Just, I don't have the feeling that RWG is letting dealers hunt for naive customers (BTW, we're more or less all aware of what is expensive and what isn't)

Let's all agree that noone should be harassed/blamed if he does not financially contribute, as long as he contributes in sharing pics, knowledge, time. But noone should forget that it's risky, money and time consuming to run a rep board (although I don't know the details, but I am convinced of it, as I've been actively involved in other boards during 3 years).

May I suggest to stick to the general idea of Stephane (financial contribution is most important but not compulsory), and forget about the way things might have been expressed by some of us, not turning the thread into pros and cons of VIP membership. I find this useless, sad and it just makes my day worse

This crown issue is probably what prevents me to buy the thing. I'm thinking about it every day I see these cheap prices thrown at my face (I mean these 78 dollars !!) The more expensive version is better from this point of view, but is this worth a price difference of more than 200 bucks ??

Maybe the right solution consists in polishing the crown, to have the wrong markings disappear. But is the crown made of 100% SS ?

If not the spirit, at least the dial

vbarrett, I almost agree with you. We don't need medals on our chests, so the VIP Elite Superwow Member status is not absolutely the best thing to throw at someone's face. Doing so would be a lack of intelligence. Which is more important is the background of the thing : support financially the place that allows us to share all these fantastic things on our hobby. Not a question of Rich or Poor, of Robin Hood or Don Quixotte, just support, nothing else.

I would never use neither my posts amount nor my VIP status or whatever to show who I am. Just using my brain for this. But again, I think Stephane's right : we owe the boards something. And 30 dollars is finally not a lot.

Mmm... it seems I'm going in a discussion which is usually not my field (moral things), but, hey, it's important !

- updated on 30th june with my latest toy : an UZI Military watch, black PVD and Tritium vials : my first radioactive watch

Summer holidays coming, I will calm down with watches for a good month

I ignored that...

Mmm...Stephane, I think we're stuck

Basically I agree with you, what are 30 dollars compared to the money spent in our expensive hobby ?

But vbarrett is right too, eh eh...

May I add the philosophical thingie : "we're all ignorants, but we do not ignore the same thing..." :cc_chinese:

I like your gen Oris a lot too.

Pity that the reps are scarce and not really great looking.

Wow ! And I missed that thread !

Gorgeous... I always wanted an Ingenieur, but the chrono version was some kind of worry for me (seconds @6). I found the ETA simple version a bit...too simple. But looking at your pics, I think it's just starting growing on me...again

There seem to be much more versions of the Overseas than what I thought. Finally I was lucky with mine, I bought it blindly and without specific request. I learnt all the things (dial, crown, cross, datewindow) much later.

The Chronomat Evo is really calling me too...

And your pics, hell, they're razor sharp !!

Tritium vials on my wrist... Does not really hurt

I have (fortunately) no experience in a watch breaking after a while . Usually the problem occurs immediately upon receipt or in the following days.

I have never heard about some kind of warranty, where the dealer would exchange a watch after a while. If that happens, I would just try my chance, not sure at all about the results.

I understood that your AP is quartz : so IMO there's no reason it shows any problem in the future if it's working correctly now. If the bracelet is of poor quality, it's likely to be the same on any replacement one.

Good night !

If I had to choose, I would always go for getting a replacement part rather than a complete new watch, for obvious customs and costs reasons (you won't most probably get the shipping costs refunded -> that's in my opinion the "custom" in this business).

Maybe a brand new bracelet would be the easiest. I understood that getting spare parts always lasts longer, that might influence your choice as far as the settlement of the problem is concerned.

I also admitt that TTime is easier and faster in bringing a solution : you very quickly/easily get a discount or new watch. But at the same time, this has a price.

I have returned only one watch so far, that was to Andrew : I got my replacement very quickly, and I suspect he sent the latter before getting my "wrong" watch (it was a wrong caseback issue, not a broken watch)

Hi,

good bargain if the buckle is replaced. BTW, isn't it just a screw missing, which you can get from one of the links you will probably remove to adjust the bracelet ?

I purchased from Silix twice. First experience without any single problem (a PAM 112), excellent value for money. The second arrived today, a Chanel for my wife. The chrono did not reset correctly, but it was easy to fix (quartz) and the deployant clasp is not holding well : here too, easy to fix, but basically this shows that the watch was not controlled when shipped.

Well, what to say ? Silix has very sexy prices, and as long as he's insuring a kind of aftersale service in such cases as yours, I would live with that. He's a known dealer and, even if things go slower, I am sure that you can't be scammed.

I bought several times from TT and was happy so far, but here too, sometimes there were small issues, also always quickly fixed by the dealer.

I just mean, such things unfortunately happen, and you know you have a good dealer if he's reacting after you mentionned the flaw. I do not expect 100% perfect watches anymore in the rep world, whatever dealer we speak of.

Is it water resistant..?

Found this on the Luminox store

I suppose it applies to all Tritium (H3) vials.

What Are trazers?

The technical term for a traser light is a Gaseous Tritium Light Source (GTLS) These low level light sources have unique properties, they are unaffected by water, oil and most corrosive materials and require no external power source or exposure to light in order to work. They remain fail-safe and maintenance free and have a useful life in excess of 10-20 years.

Each traser light is a laser sealed borosilicate glass vial which has been coated internally with phosphor. In one single process the traser is sealed by a CO2 laser and injected with gaseous Tritium. The low energy electrons emitted by the Tritium, excite the phosphor and this creates a cold energy which produces a low level light without filaments or heat dissipation and no risk of fire or explosion.

Quality control

trasers go through a labour intensive manufacturing process with quality control being a dominant consideration. They are 100% inspected for dimensions, brightness, temperature, thermal shock and Tritium leakage. Random sample testing is performed continually for discolouration, brightness decay, reduced pressure and vibration effects.

Colors

The colour of light emitted by the traser is determined by the phosphor used in production. Choices are very limited and can only be specified for the spectral range from 350nm ( ultra-violet ) to 1200nm ( near infrared). The most effective colours for human eye perception are generally green and yellow as these are the preferred colours due to the eyes maximum sensitivity to them. A large green traser light of 5mm in diameter and 20mm in length, can be perceived by the unaided dark adapted human eye at a distance of some 50 metres in total darkness. The relative brightness of other colours compared to green are as follows :

Green 100 % - Yellow 80% - White 60% - Orange 50% - Red 25% - Blue 20%

Brightness

The brightness performance is dependant upon the filling pressure, shape and size of the traser. The maximum pressure inside a traser is 2500 millibar. Various configurations with a green light will provide the following range :

100 microlambert for the smallest light of 0.65mm diameter

750 microlambert for a large light of 5mm diameter

Up to 2500 microlambert can be achieved in special lights by coating part of the surface with a reflective white paint.

Hi,

well, I'm not used to review gen watches here, especially not "common" brands. I usually post 1 or 2 shots in the popular Wristcheck topics, but this time I wished to share a bit more. I already apologize to those who think that this place is meant for reps only... Anyway, let's go

So why would I like to talk about this particular watch, rather than any other Seiko or Citizen thing ? The reason can be summarized in one letter : T, that stands for Tritium

Most of us know that before Superluminova (or whatever branded lume it is), Tritium paint was used to make watches glow in the night. That was more or less abandonned in the 60's, as the drawback of tritium is that... it is radioactive

The Swiss have brought this back to life in a more secure technology : they use Tritium in a gazeous shape, which is put in glass vials under high pressure. As far as I could understand, there's also phosphorus inside, to induce a reaction, that lasts something like 25 years ! These vials resist hard solvents, scratches, oil etc... For anxious people, let's highlite the fact that the level of radioactivity is very low. Believe it or not (well, I have no choice), it's not supposed to be dangerous.

So I wanted to have a watch with Tritium (you know, these watches marked T Swiss MADE T instead of L Swiss Made L), first to add in my collection, but also and before all to see how it stands against lume. Swiss brands like Luminox typically provide watches equipped with these Tritium vials. They often have a Military design, which I particularly like. A bit expensive however for me. So, as usual, I searched for a solution on ebay... And found several non swiss brands providing what I was looking for, at affordable prices. Still they use Swiss parts, which I suspect to be the vials themselves and/or maybe a the quartz movement (Ronda or whatever).

And here is my choice : an UZI watch (name of circumstance for a military timekeeper). But it's not israeli... it comes from Thailand So here we go with my first thailandese watch.

Let's see what we have here... (you know this sentence very well, don't you..? )

A military SS watch, black PVD coated. Sounds good for stealth !

A 90 clicks unidirectionnal rotating bezel. The feeling is excellent. Not too loose, not to hard. The way it should be on all reps.

200meters water resistance : just enough for the swimming pool, right ?!

Notice the radioactive sign.

Assembled in Thailand, thailandese movement ??? Some parts are Swiss, but which ones ..? Well, is it so important in our case ?

Aren't we used to Asian movements, asian parts and genuine ETA made in China ?

Screw-down crown.

I now understand better the reference to UZI

And here the reason for my quest : TRITIUM vials ! Impressive, no ? In reality, you won't almost notice them. They look a bit thicker than lume markers, but nothing spectacular. Nice piece of work however : imagine there's gas inside ! BTW, you can notice the tick of the Quartz movement

So, how does it glow ? I read somewhere that Tritium glowes something like ten times more than standard lume. I was ready to grab my sunglasses but...

well, no need. What a disappointment first. Charged lume glows much more in fact, especially when it's Seiko lume or that kind of very powerful luminova.

But generally that fades quite quickly, to our greatest regret : some lume will last for the night, but will be hardly visible.

And there we realize the true advantage of Tritium : it's indeed much brighter than the poor light provided by lume after some minutes, difficult to say how many times, but definitely much better. This, of course, without having to charge it in the light. Whenever you need it, it's here, and for the coming 25 years !!

The pearl and the seconds hand have classic luminova (very bright). The rest, including the main hands, are equipped with Tritium vials.

Last, but not least : here's my *cough* NUCLEAR WRIST !!

Would I recommend the thing ? Definitely yes ! The finishing is close to excellent. The bracelet is very smooth and flexible (as you can see it on the pics), feels a bit light. But ok, I must say I cannot be objective after having worn my Breitling SFSO !

The only drawback, at least for people who have a large wrist : it's advertized to be 45 mm (wow!), but in fact it's 45 with the crown, which means about 40... If that's a perfect size for me, it will surely prevent many to do the step. Besides, 40 is pretty small for a military watch.

Oh, and the prices : well they start from 80 dollars for the cheapest (plastic) ones, to something like 200 for the SS models. The Swiss brands are more in the 400-500. But who knows, ebay is a real treasure chest for watches.

I want one ! :cloud9:

Or maybe I just need one !

Si finally the thing has stopped yesterday evening.

I can only conclude that it has an excellent power reserve together with an odd behavihour that helps the movement to run when shaken.

Thx for all the technical explanations.