zero_deficit

There should be a ref number on the bottom of the box underneath "Rolex Geneve Suisse" or something like that, it's pretty much impossible to miss, not sure if rep boxes have these too

Post a picture of it though

If it's this box (newest 2014) then you can be sure it's a gen since a rep of it doesn't exist yet

and if it's this, then it's pretty easy to tell if its a gen or rep because the rep ones are really bad

If its not on a dealers website, it doesn't mean a dealer cant get it for you (provided a rep version of it does exist). Just ask them

Try emailing your TD, though some may not sell parts themselves without you purchasing a watch, otherwise post a WTB thread or try APbands website

Pretty much any dealer can get you BP watches, all you have to do is ask them for that particular version when purchasing - don't worry about buying off the website, just email them stating what you want.

After a while on the forums you'll be able to identify straight away which factory a rep belongs too Good luck!

I believe that's an issue of bad glue or the glue wasn't applied properly. Should probably do what the others are saying

Regarding your question on Asian clones, they are quite reliable, and are workhorses for many watches rep and gen, however increases in price doesn't always correlate with increases in reliability. One example is paying an extra $100 or so for Swiss ETA which turns out to be a refurbished or really old movement that's not as reliable as a factory new Asian clone. The higher price you pay is for the most part in the improved accuracy to the gen, or the use of more exotic materials.

My point is don't be discouraged by this. You'll have reps that will just be fantastic out of the box, and if you're unlucky, every now and then you'll get a dud, but when that happens (hopefully it won't happen again), you have many great communities that'll be ready to help

Good luck!

These brand seems to have done a homage of the SevenFriday, except with a circular rather than rectangular case

http://www.anconwatches.com/models

Same movement too, and a little bit cheaper

Any dealer can source you the watch you want. In most instances I'd always get a custom or OEM strap anyway, the rep straps are pretty bad

What I'd do is unscrew the crown and put your watch face down in a some uncooked rice, or even better if you have any desiccants like DampRid or something like that, those silica packets work well too if you have lots of them, put the watch inside a ziplock bag with those inside it. Leave it in there until you can take it to a watchmaker to have a look at, and properly waterproof it too if need be. The uncooked rice draws moisture away from inside the watch, and placing it upside down helps prevents the water droplets on the crystal falling on the dial, and possibly inside the movement.

Also, no authorised dealer will entertain the idea of helping someone with a replica of their product

Good luck!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-04/china-stops-ordering-japanese-scrap-steel-on-radiation-risk-umetal-says.html

Haven't fully read the article, nor done any further research on this

In a nutshell and super simplified

1) Poor practical mechanisms in place to address/enforce intellectual property rights. Without IP, no benefits from innovation, no urge to innovate, no investments in innovation - alternative, replicas. Panerai153's comments are very true. In a country where economic growth and social stability is the main objective, the idea of IP just gets relegated to the bottom of the priorities list

2) China's national 'Medium and Long Term Plan for Science & Tech development' plan. In it, they detail a concept called "indigenous innovation" which effectively encourages copying others

3) Enormous existing watch manufacturing industry. Rep makers get their parts from these legit industry who have achieved economies of scale

4) Deep cultural roots that see replicas as a-ok

5) Exploding consumerist middle class who see luxury items as status symbols -> drives up domestic demand

6) Often ignored or not realised, but many Chinese manufacturers make replicas as a way of gaining valuable design and manufacturing skills to which they later use to make legit products

7) Already well established replica industry that contributes much to the economy. The state is reluctant to stop this (other than some token demonstrations such as driving a steam roller over some 21J stuff to appease the West)

Of course it's enormous manufacturing engine, low wages etc etc. But i see those 7 points I mentioned as what makes it distinct from other manufacturing powerhouses like India or the US.

Oh and on the topic of the US, not many people know this, but the United States had started out as a country employing very similar strategies to what China is doing now. The 18th century US govt supported Americans trying to replicate European books, machinery and techniques from the British textiles industry and their copyright laws at the time didn't really grant much protection to any one other than Americans

Wow, that is indeed a mess lol

A3135 movement, horrible pearl and insert, even the engravings say 16610

21J: Buy if you want a cheap movement, that can be cheaply replaced should it stop working. Will most likely come in low-beat, though high beats are available sometimes (not as reliable)

A2824/2836: Buy if you want a reliable workhorse. Can be serviced or replaced with another A28xx or Swiss ETA.

A3135: Buy if you want to spend extra money on a movement that hardly looks like a genuine 3135 and comes with many reliability problems.

42mm ROO = 32.5mm

AP Divers = 32mm

GP = 33mm

44mm, RBII = ??

"I PM TT to get me an ETA SS SMP. Paid WU and sent EMS to CONUS, but was DOA. Gonna send it to ZZ to fix it, realign DW and get AR :D"

 

Sorry to hear but better than sending back. Hate WU never use it, gonna look better now anyway.

Oh sorry, that was just an example of how you can write a sentence made up mostly with acronyms

A GZ based dealer can get you pretty much any decent rep provided they're still available or is actually repped at all.

I often browse non-TD sites to find stuff that may not appear on our TD websites, or if I want to see different photos of a particular rep, but there's absolutely 0 reasons why you would want to buy from them. If you spot something you like, it's all a matter of emailing your TD with a photo of what you want and they'll tell you what they can do.

Keep reading around the forums and you'll be right. Make the best use of the search function and pretty soon you'll be talking pretty much entirely in acronyms

Eg.

I PM TT to get me an ETA SS SMP. Paid WU and sent EMS to CONUS, but was DOA. Gonna send it to ZZ to fix it, realign DW and get AR

Here's a decent thread I found

http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/107966-acronyms-list-for-noobs-needed/

Great watch. Do note there are two versions, older one with a littleeeee bit more brownish dial (less accurate to gen), and an updated version with rounded pushers and more accurate greyish dial. I however actually prefer to former - the dial really pops in the light.

As with all ROO, you'll probably need an AR'd crystal, and there might be an issue with the sec@12.

And also, the rep is currently out of stock, though there are plans for a re-release in a couple of months

I would probably attribute the higher cost to the following:

1) Unconventional design and materials relative to other reps

The case, lugs, dial etc are quite different compared to subs and pams and all that. That added, AP reps are one of the few reps that incorporate things like rubber bezels, ceramics, DLC RG plating, hornback (albeit crappy) straps

However, some people may notice that there are other reps that share similar unconventional characteristics but are cheaper, eg. Hublot, Richard Millle. I guess that's because -

2) Sec@12 movement

While the cost of the modifications of the A7750 for sec@12 configuration may be negligible, it is worth noting that the movement is (was) only available to Noob factory. How common this movement was is anyones guess, but it wouldn't be surprising if the extra cost came from high demand vs low supply of the movement. This brings us to the 3rd reason

3) Noob monopoly on AP

Ever since the first decent AP ROO rep by Noob came out around 2008, there has been no other factories who has made or even tried to make anything close to the quality of the Noob ROO. Again, this was probably due to the movement being only available to them, with no other factories bothering to make a decent rep of the ROO without the proper sec@12 configuration. As such, Noob was probably able to dictate the prices of the ROOs however they wanted. This is hopefully going to end very soon with a new seemingly very accurate ROO being made by v3 maker along with the sec@12 movement.

My 2c

very cool! hopefully I never have to send a watch back but if I do I'll use this. Thanks

You can use it with just any regular M2M, where you play the watchsmith (seller) returning it to the original owner (seller)

No use Zero_D's box put a sticker on it  " *&*%^ Watch Repair " then put in your invoice from same with the repair/work done, itemized cost, total  come on get creative    ............................ gonna be hard for customes to agrue with that.

Well that just gave me a great idea

http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/166506-fake-watch-invoice/

Thanks Mike!

While not an original idea (Thank Mike on a Bike for that idea), I thought I'd create a fake watch repair invoice for people sending reps to countries with risky customs, or those who just wanna go to the extra effort of ensuring their replicas end up where they want it to end up. Instead of making your own one up, I made one for everyone to use. All you have to do is

1) Download the .docx file: http://www.filedropper.com/fakewatchrepairinvoice
(I can upload it in another format if someone wishes)

2) Change the watch details and date. You can also change the particulars, cost, and even the name of your 'watch repair store' if you want

3) Print it out

4) Place it with the rep you're sending

5) Declare on your customs deceleration form something like 'Repaired timepiece' or something along the lines of that

6) Send it off

I welcome any feedback, or if there are any flaws in my idea.

Happy shipping guys

The fact that cheap, gen watches can get through without any problem always made me think, why not get some cheap "snap closed" watch boxes, cheap cushions, outer cardboard box, labelled "Citizen" or "Smiths" or similar, put the rep inside that lot, and send it via the exact same courier services that these companies use?

 

I think things like not having hand written address labels and custom declarations will help enormously - if you think about it when was the last time you got a gen watch through the post that was just a watch, in bubble wrap, with hand written labels?

 

Never.

Interesting idea, i've always used 'timepiece for repair', but I might from now on add a cheap watchbox from eBay or something to make it look a bit more legit.

Perhaps something like this, can't go wrong for $1:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Present-Gift-Boxes-Case-For-Bangle-Jewelry-Ring-Earrings-Wrist-Watch-Box-TR-/310720925785?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&var=&hash=item4858691059

In M2M sales, I always ask if the buyer has any special preference to what they want on the customs deceleration

The problem is the straps: LW's strap system is quite unique and AFAIK, the only source for them in Linde Werdelin themselves.  (And they are not cheap.  The basic black rubber strap is 200GBP. )

Good news is that there is an RG member who's making a lot of different leather straps for the LW

A SpidoLite rep would be great too, but considering how long it took them to get the what seems like a simple dial right, I don't have much hope for one in the near future