archibald

Been in the market for an acoustic guitar. Played a Martin D-28 for years and sold it when I stopped playing. Now I'm back into it in a half a$$ed got-no-time sort of way and like everybody else I'm looking for the best sound for the least dough. Bought a Takamine G330 on ebay for 85 bucks, and it just aint cutting it. A buddy says I should pick up an "old factory" Yamaha FG150, which seem to sell on ebay for about $300. I recently played a Martin D16GTR @ the store and really like the way it sounds---$900 bucks though. Anyone know how the Yamaha stacks up against the Martin? Harmony Central guys are about split but I trust you guys more anyway.

Their best since Fables of the Reconstruction, which it reminds me of. Since I started playing guitar again after a 10+ year break, I've been listening to a lot of Alternative Folk or low-fi, or whatever you want to call it. I would Recommend: Elliott Smith--ELLIOT SMITH Jose Gonzalez--IN OUR NATURE Sufjan Stevens--ILLINOIS Mary Lou Lord: LIVE CITY SOUNDS The Moore Brothers--MURDERED BY THE MOORE BROTHERS

I thought they only came in silver and black--My guess is we're talking about the same dial, which does look kind of white in the pics but it's definitely more silverish in person, especially w/ a good AR coat. The best part about the silver dial is that the numbers on the gen are polished as per the rep. My friend, do yourself a favor and just order the old version and source a dial. I guarantee you'll be hooked. This one of the few instances where you can save money by getting the cheaper, older version of the rep and order a new dial separately for the cross (the new version's hands are probably really optional, IMO. I like them because they look slightly better finished to my eye.) Add an AR for 40 bucks and you're damn near 1:1 for about $350 including parts and labor.

That would be the one to do, but the whole point of lang's IMO is complete simplicity and the best fit and finish of any watch made. Period. I love Langes but sadly, Lange's are one of the few watches that you just have to buy the gen or none at all. I don't think even a 1:1 copy in every way except fit and finish could be anything but instantly recognized as a rep by anyone who knows what a lange is--I've tried every rep, save the Lange 1 (which is horrible even in the pics) and gave each of them away in short order. I'd love to see some pics of the rep RL, though,if anyone has one...maybe it could be modded and replated?

I agree on everything except the caseback--the ultimate version would require combining 2--the dial from the 1st 42mm version w/ the cross and hands (w/ the long ends of the points snipped off) from the 2nd. AR is an absolute MUST. The silver dial is I think more accurate than the black--I've seen 2 gen black dials and the numbers were brushed on both. I own both versions of the 42mm VCO and the casebacks look the same to me. If you're talking about the rep of the pre-redesign gen VCO, I agree 100%...that caseback is f'n amazing!

Sorry to go off topic, but speaking of Mullers: B., you just reminded me I owe you something...PM sent.

Hi Nikos. If you do a search, you'll probably find some member photos. I breifly had an asian version, which appears to be the same as the swiss aside from the movement: The dial of the gen is a silvery white, which looks cream in many pics, but the rep is definitely more of an off white in person. The hands on my piecewere black, but they may have changed this since they look like a dark blue in some of the dealers' pics. I got rid of mine because the fit and finish were a far cry from gen, more so than most reps of that price.

I hope so, but that's a heck of an improvement either way. B&R experts: Is the "do not unscrew" screw in the right place? Does B&R make a PVD version w/ hex screws? God, I've been finding excuse after excuse not to buy one of these things. Now I think my excuses have run out?

Fabulous and all-class collection, Uncle Jay...I'm glad you like the Casablanca!

I was thinking of the so called custom runs of super reps. Here is some math: If they sell 200 $800+ HBB's to forum members @ $300 profit that's $60,000 in the bank. If 200 represents 1% that's a 6 million profit on on the HBB alone which is I bet more profitable than Hublot. I guess we're all living in the wrong Hemisphere, and I'm shocked our collectors would even bother to return the emails of us picky bastards, reply in threads, etc! If we're talking reps in the $100-$150 dollar range, then I'd say the forum represents far less than 1% of the reps sold on a single streetcorner in NYC.

Great review! The Crazy Color dreams are some of the best the best crazy hours reps because they're the only crazy hours that Muller makes in SS--so no worries about lack of the gold hallmarks. I believe there was a better caseback version available (yours is also off because the 5850 case size indication number is wrong) but there are so many muller rep casebacks for each model, every one you buy is a crap shoot. The very best rep of the CCD is the 1200 Long Island model, which if it's still around has one of the all time best accuracy/cost ratio of all times...

We used their brushed stainless adhesive sheets as a temporary kitchen backsplash while we were waiting for the "gen" stainless to be cut and installed. Looked good and was dirt cheap, but we only had it up for about 6 weeks so I can't comment on its long term durability, although after I dicked around with it to see if it would work for a silver DW (prints and cuts nice but too thin to brush and too thick to use as an overlay) I gave a 4 foot length to the nextdoor neighbors who have had it on their dishwasher for over a year and it looks good. I also thought about using one of their wood products to improve the "deck" instert on the Cousteau Diver but never got around too it. But, for 75 bucks or whatever we paid for the sample pack, it sure is some pretty good stuff. I'll look around and see if I have any of that stuff and if you like I'd be happy to send what I have if I can find it.

I know, buddy....but personally, if I thought we could do it, I think it would be worth trying if only to find out how much juice we as a group actually have.

I doubt we could pull it off--we're addicts, after all--but I've alwas wondered what an actual organized boycott by forum members for a particular watch would do. My guess is that they sell enough outside of the forums, that a RWG/Geek/RWI boycott would probably just make them carry inventory a little longer than they otherwise would and not a lot more. Sure would be interesting to find out, though....

Forgive me if this pic has been posted--no time to read the whole thread today. I just wanted to point out that the latest a7750 will let my insanely anal self buy some clear back watches in the future, since they put the pearlage, regulator an redid the shape and finish of the thing behind the rotor to duplicate whatever grade of finish the gen brands have been buying from ETA. Sure the fit and finish is going to be clearly noticeable, but then again noibody who I sense could tell rep from gen by the movement is ever going to see the back of one of my watches...

In exactly the same way shopping at Wal Mart can and does lead to child slave labor. I appreciate the irony, too....it's just that in the course of our usual law obiding lives we all enable a lot of more serious sh** than rep collectors do by enabling the selling fake watches as real ones. I guess I'll stop buying reps to prevent some a$$hole from selling a rep as a gen the moment everybody else stops driving so Saudi Arabia can no longer pay for the murder of innocent people.

Does anyone have a good pic of the engraved rotor? I think the "discounts" we're seeing is the result of sales cooling off for one of the most hugely marked up reps in rep history--W/ the HBB the collectors and factories repped Hublot's business model along w/ the watch: marketing a watch that doesn't cost a whole lot to build as "a super premium best of the best" bad boy and selling for gigantic markup

I'd certainly be in for a 1A!

Another kruzer00 1 of 1!!! Looks great!!

The difference between a rep white dial and a gen white dial is instantly noticeable, both for the reason kruzer noted and also by the way the numbers are applied. But you're absolutely right...that dial deserves a B caseback--not only for accuracy but to make the dial an even better deal. There's a 10D on ebay right now for $4500 and a 10B Tritium on Paneristi for $10,000.

Hate to sound dumb, but I've only recently heard the term "sterile" used with respect to PAM bracelets....what does sterile mean?

BB wants (gets?)top dollar but he sure gets some rare birds and his extensive pics are valuable for rep/gen comparisons, to be sure.

The fact that the rep is SS, probably would get noticed before any non glowing hands anyway...

I vote gen. If you look at TZ, there are 2 or 3 daytonas listed and sold every day, every LNIB version apparently selling within $1000 of MSRP unless people are dramtically slashing prices behind the scenes, which I doubt. If you can sell for 9k 18 months from now, that's $55 a month to wear a daytona. When you think about it that way, and also consider that even the best post 2k daytona reps ain't that great or that it would cost nearly 5 grand to build an el primero daytona out of all gen parts (Datrons for example have nearly doubled in 18 months) a gen is not the worst use of 10 grand I can think of.

Just checked out the 287 Black Seal Auto and the 288 45mm Radiomir chrono at the AD and not only are both of the gorgeous, but seem like complete no-brainers to rep. Forgive me if this was covered while I was away, but has anyone heard anything?