Motoman4540

OK, opened it up, obviously simple. As far as I can tell, there was nothing at all out of place in there. There were no apparently loose screws, no scratches on the inside of the caseback that would indicate rubbing, and the rotor looked fine, spun easily, and didn't appear to be rubbing on anything. The whole thing looked very clean. The "rattling" sound was very reduced without the caseback as well, so I guess its (1) watchsmith locally for an expert opinion and then (2) depending on that, back to the TD. I assume that if I sent it for service to Vac (who is in Florida, like me), he would take care of that issue anyway, so I guess that's a third option. But if the sound is from the rotor making even slight contact with the caseback, I don't see how that could be fixed without either grinding down the caseback, or using a slightly thicker o-ring, maybe. Hopefully it wont come to that!

Will do! I am getting up my courage to actually open it up and see what's going on! Not very mechanically oriented, so I'm afraid of screwing something up! But you guys are giving me strength to foray (for me) into the unknown!

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I had heard that there were reports of the rotor hitting the caseback recently, but honestly, it sounds like the rotor is a little loose. . . . just a guess. Not sure that even if I see what's wrong, I'll be able to fix it, but I guess it's a start. And FYI, IMAKNOCKOV, phenomenal work on the forged carbon cases! I've been following your work and barely able to hold back buying one of the Puretime forged carbon GP's, which, rumor has it, you made!

Thanks for the info. The watch has been running flawlessly since yesterday, and it doesn't sound like a screw rattling around loose, because it seems to make a sound only when the rotor is swirled 360 degrees (or seemingly). The more I listen to it, the more it sounds like the rotor may be slightly loose, or possibly rubbing on the case, perhaps. I guess that the bottom line is to take it into a local watch repairer, take the caseback off and tell me what is going on. Question 1: How tough is it to take the case back off? Is it as simple as unscrewing the back screws and and then screwing the back down again? Now the big question: what should the TD do about it, if anything? A QC inspection should have quickly disclosed the problem -- I heard it immediately after unpacking and swirling the watch. On the other hand, no sense in spending time and energy shipping it back to China if it can be fixed for $40 here. On the bright side, the Don Ramon is simply gorgeous (although I am puzzled why they just dont put a gold AP logo on it like the gen -- it's not like they don't have any, my RGRC has one) and I will probably want to get this serviced anyway so it lasts me a long time!

I am a noob in need some help from the experts. I just received my Don Ramon yesterday from a TD and of course, it looks magnificent. It appears to be keeping correct time and the chrono function seems to work fine. However, when I move the watch in a circular motion, the self-winding rotor makes a kind of rattling sound, like maybe it is rubbing on something and needs lubrication. It's sort of hard to describe, and just wearing the watch on my wrist does not seem to cause the noise. Tapping lightly on the watch does make the noise. It sounds like the rotor may be loose or something not tightened. My RGRC does not make that noise, so I know that there is something slightly off, maybe not tightened or something. I am not high maintenance or particularly finicky but I don't want serious problems either . . . Question for the experts: What should I do about it? Is indicative of a serious problem to come, something that can be ignored, something I should take to a local watchmaker that works on reps, or send it back to the TD for repair/replacement? I am pretty sure that the general consensus is not to send it back.

I'm in for one! Amazing work!

As a newcomer to the whole rep watches world, I am perhaps not as fussy as some. On the other hand, I have several friends that have various AP gens (GP carbon, T3, Alinghi carbon and even one douche that has a Chronograph Rose Gold Tourbillon) so accuracy is important if I am going to "rock a rep." That said, I suspect that most people that have gens would have no idea how to tell a gen from a rep, and looking at these pictures, to me the rep and the gen look virtually identical. My first AP, which I just got this week, is a ROO RG Rubberclad. To me, it is impossible to tell from the gen, unless you know things like the date window position. Other than that, flawless to me. As someone observed here, getting a $60K watch for $600 is a helluva bargain, minor flaw or not, and I will wear my new RC anywhere with pride and no worry about being called out on it.

You guys are eagle-eyes! I have looked at the hands on the gen and the rep pictures and can't see any difference. I guess that's why I'm a noob, LOL! So it had a date window mod, but left the hands alone?

Sure looks like the new forged carbon! I don't know how it got to US so fast though . . . Puretime just put it up March 14 I think! Strange that they would get the forged carbon case and still not correct the red color . . of the two, correcting the color seems a lot easier!

I'm a noob, but I just got a beautiful updated ROO RGRC rep. I looked at the one on eBay . . . Why is it clearly a fake from the pics? I thought the big tell on this watch was the fact that the date window butts up to the tach ring, while on the gen, there is about half a square between the date window and the ring. On the one on eBay, it looks like the date window is placed correctly . . .

I am a complete noob in purchasing rep watches and I didn't even know about this site until after two purchases, one for me and one for my wife. I just went with a site that looked professional and quickly responded to my emails. The first site that I bought from was watch-way.com. They had well-written and informative articles on the various grades of rep watches, and movements, etc. My first purchase with them was a $749 swiss movement Vacheron Constantin tourbillon, and although it came in polished stainless steel rather than gold-plated, and took about a month to ship, they were very responsive to my emails and kept me informed (except as to the stainless instead of gold, which I actually like better now anyway . . .). So my experience with them was very good overall. My second experience was with swissclock.net for a ladies Rolex with a masterpiece band (apparently fairly uncommon). The watch came fast, looks perfect and my wife wears it everywhere. Now maybe I'm just easy to please, and I don't get wrapped up in making sure that a $300 watch is a 1:1 exact copy of a $50,000 watch, but I can only say that my experience at either place was favorable. I am considering buying an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Ruben Barrichello II from either of them.

I bought a Vacheron Constantin Tourbillon with moon phase from Watch-way.com, which I believe is another site of Replicaster.com, allegedly with a "swiss" movement. Although it took almost a month to get it, it is a very nice looking watch and for the last three weeks has been running perfectly. Whether it really has a swiss movement or not, I have no idea. They responded quickly to my emails, which was also reassuring, and explained the delay in getting it out. The only problem was that the the watch in the picture was gold-plated, and what I received was polished steel. They told me that they were having problems with their supplier's gold plating, which was wearing off, and so sent the polished stainless instead. Customer service said that if I didn't like it, I could return it without any problem and offered a discount on my next watch. I am keeping it because the polished steel looks great. So, all in all, I am a happy camper, at least so far.