archibald

If the strategy, as somone above wonders, is to trade forum buyers for the uneducated masses, and market themselves as a low(er)-cost alternative to Idealwatches.com, I pridict that, within days of any accross the board price hike, the educated consumer demand around here will be met by some new "trusty/Jos." Dad's old cliche, that nobody is indespensible, is as true around these parts as it is in the real world.

I thought you ordered 2824. Anyway, I'm not sure a thread about blatant lying on the part of dealers is the place to worry publicly about a specific watch, especially without any evidence you have gotten anything other than advertised, but to avoid any possible false impression about eddie, I'll post what I know, having organized the buy. I ordered 2824, and that's what I got--genuine swiss ETA. I believe it was made clear to all buyers that the pics of the 2892 versions of the 18k Muller had nothing to do w/ the actual watches shipped for the buy, which EL guarateed to be Swiss 2892, sourced and decorated especially for the group buy which is why they took an extra 3 weeks. So far nobody has posted or PMed otherwise.

Sure is if it's an ETA 2000, which is what Cartier puts in the gen. And if nobody wants to pay 588, the price will go down. Are you sure the price jump wasn't because the movement changed from a 2824 or something? Which is not to say that Pug is not the Alan Greenspan of the replica watch market....

Most dealers want to be associated with a hot new model--how m any times have you seen posts that refer to "Angus's Big Bang?" so they rush to realse pics, news, etc... remember, the gottabefirsters provide whichever dealer introduces a desirable hot model first with huge profit margins, since the first pieces available cost 2-3X what the watches will sell for when they become mainstays of the dealers' inventories. I don't get excited about new models untill I see a few positive reviews and I don't buy them until the prices drop.

I agree 100% but unless you're one of the 13 people on earth who accept absolutely no hypocrisy in their lives, degree of sin is the operative concept. A few women making fake watches is a water molecule in the Pacific compared to the literally wholesale human rights violations enabled by our pals at Wal Mart and Target, not to mention the completely unnecessary death and destruction subsidized by your tax dollars...

Keep your fingers crossed, guys...the first batch of production pieces using the new method have arrived and will be tested randomly over the next couple days. If they work, and my money is on them working just fine, we're in business....

Email on the way as soon as I compile everyone's contact info in one place...IMPORTANT: After working on a few projects that need the expertise outside of our community, I heartily reccomend (and, in fact, demand if you are using a source I provide you) that the purpose of all projects is discussed honestly but so as not to burden anyone with any concerns about trademarks, nightmares about C&D's from mean lawyers, etc. Phrases like "I need this to restore a watch to it's original appearance" or even just "I need a few watch parts made" have always served me perfectly well. Also, I've gotten a few PM's from people I don't know...I know there's no way to say this w/o sounding like a [censored], but unless you're an oldtimer or we've previously communicated at length about projects as RiverwindMDS and I have, don't bother to ask me for any "leads" for printers, CNC shops, etc.

I can point you in the direction of several people who could make that bridgeplate in five minutes provided they have a the specs...probably be a couple or three hundred bucks for a one piece deal though...

We're almost there guys. After the shop we used to size the wheels continually promised us new deadlines and then missed them, we fired them...or maybe they fired us. It's hard to tell. Since it cost them the same amount of time to do the setup work for our 100 piece run than it does the several thousand piece runs they do every day, it's no wonder we got shoved aside. The good news is we've found another (less elegant but perfectly adequate) solution and I know for a fact they are in production as I type this. If they meet ubi's stringent quality control standards, which I have every reason to believe they will, we will post an offer as soon as they arrive and are tested. As far as my involvement--I'm just the help. Ubi deserves the lion's share of the credit for the success of this project. It was 100% his idea in the first place. He provided both of the "originals" we used to design these. He directed, approved/nixed, and guided every step the entire process. He did all of the test-installations, and, as we all know, is the board's primary source of knowledge of the appearance and functioning of vintage watches so we can be sure that once these have the stamp of approval they'll look and work great. I just spent a few days inefficiently researching materials and technologies and several weeks on Adobe Illustrator work that would probably have taken someone who knows what they're doing a few hours.

Yeah, there ain't very many WIS's 'round here, sadly. Real WIS's, at least as I understand the term, actually understand FP Journe's ad copy, for example, which I bet not too many folks who frequent this board do. In the general watch community the WIS "honor" is reserved for people who not only know all various variations of esoteric watches, but how they work, too. The good news is that there are dozens of dudes who's cumulative knowledge comes pretty close to rep omniscience. As far as classics, go, it's a matter of taste: My #1 is the Muller Crazy Hours, which seems to be no longer made. Nearly 1:1 in the versions that the gen was made in SS, and pretty damn reliable for an asian movement further messed with by a rep factory.

I agree that they'll never be able to rep the DD module or the El Primero--even though that really would be the "Ultimate." What Seagull or someone else in china should do, though, is make a simpler chrono movement (either based on the asia 7750 or venus) with similar subdial spacing and configuration to either the EP or 2894 or both. That would open up a whole new world. Until then, there is no alternative--even if you can find an oem dial and real 2824 that fit size wise in a rep case, the pushers won't work on the 2824 and where are you going to get the hands for an el primero based watch aside frm a daytona?

LOL! 'Cause ,like, three threads, pug still doesn't get that there is just accepted industry jargon that predates most of our involvement w/ the rep boards dispite it's inaccuracy: Lemania, Synthetic Sapphire, etc. Ain't never gonna change, and they're not really that misleading a)because most people already know what they mean, b)noobs will run accross dozens of threads that clarify these issues if they bother to search, and most imbortantly, they're used to denote specific parts not subjectively indicate quality or accuracy. 1:1, Ultimate, and Perfect are a whole different matter. I've been bitching about the use of these terms from their initial, stupid, and dishonest appearances. And the OP is right..dispite their honesty in their transactions, Jos and Andrew continue to call things 1:1 that aren't even close to it. As far as "ultimate," I guess anyone can call anything the "ultimate" but since it's such a vague word it strikes me as pretty dopey to use it in marketing copy. Unless a movement is not made by ETA, S.A. calling it an ETA is an outright lie. But Andy and Jos: Until Bell & Ross starts using fake screws on the backs of their watches, for example, can you please stop calling your reps 1:1 until they are?

Sorry buddy, been away for a couple of days and the PM's racked up. Just cleaned up the Inbox. Feel free to give me holler....

We should call them Tourbillain'ts...

'Cause 500 is all they can sell with that fit and finish, and probably the minimum order for their Chiinese case suppliers..look at the finish on the top right of the bezel, the crown, and, the dial--all totally rep-like. And, as pug says, not a single thing interesting about the design that would makeme spend any of my rep money on one of these watches.

I'd love to have hand CDG, guilloche, engine turning, etc, on all my $300 watches, but it ain't going to happen until the chinese really figure out, or more liekely, feel like using their CNC engravers to their full capability it ain't going to happen. Besides, anyone who cares about the backs of PAM reps ought to sve themselves the trouble and heartbreak and buy a gen--99.999999% of the people who see it, would tn't know Cotes de Geneve from goats in the barn, and the other .000001%, who happen to be paneristi or maybe people being scammed on ebay, are going to say "thank god those chinese haven't got the movement right yet."

It doesn't take a WIS to figure out why Richemont won't make these calls anymore--they know full well the determination, skill, and profit motivation of frankenmakers. They know how many of their old parts are floating around the planet. And they're going to be damned if the onus is going to be on them to figure out who's getting jaked and who's not. They just want to sell watches. They're attitude is: "Hey, we still make subs and sea dwellers and daytonas all of which we'd love to sell you. Wanna buy a watch we've already made our money on three decades ago under different management? Find someone else to figure out if 15 grand is a fair price for a beat-up watch that would sell for 10 bucks at a garage sale if it didn't have our name on the dial."

LOL! Great diea! Unfortunately, I could make several dozen of those a day...

I also hate to rain on the fit and finish parade, but having now seen one of the rpes in person, it's no different than any of our high end reps: extremely accurate part for part, and an instant tell for anyone who's familiar with the usual standard of fit and finish of gen watches...which is to say that 99% of the people who see your piece wouldn't know real from fake, but as usual all those who go into AD's thinking they're going to fool them are being dopey.

Hypothetically speaking, if someone did the leg work and arranged for the production of some aftermarket parts for our PAM reps, what would be tops on your list...and how much would you be willing to...er..part with for said parts? My list: 1) Accurate H series guard, flush pin w/ rubber thingy, finished 1:1 inside and out as per gen: $100 2) 005H dial and back, correct "A's" and superluminova on the dial would be a must. I couldn't care less about serial #'s on the back as long as they're not 0002 or the similar unlikely-to-be-owned #'s repmakers are fond of. $125 for the set. 3) Not sure if this one would work: Solid Ti backs w/ "automatic" PAM markings so that we can turn our 036's, 118's, etc into Ti autos by dropping in the movements and dials. $65 bucks for the back. Any others?

Looks nice....but a lot of trouble to go through until they fix the "A's" . When they do fix them (as on davidsens 055 and 082) that'll be a great mod. How'd you change the color?

I can't even see why you're saying that PVD looks 95% like real gold. A friend of mine has the Mont Blanc power reserve in PVD gold and even side by side I can't tell a damn bit of difference w/ solid 18k...plus, with all the shades of 18k in existance, I guarantee nobody would be able to call you out with their eyes alone. As far as reps go...there aren't even any out-of-the-box reps in black PVD are there?

VC Overseas--classy, accurate and looks grear w/ anything fro T-shirt to tux..a great vacation watch.

Since they're worried about the little globe thingy, they surely must have finally gotten the He valve position right....

You've lost me here...they actually put thinner crown guards on the H series reps than they did the E anf F series reps, even though the main difference between F and H series gens is the beefed up guard? That's pretty funny...I think they do these things to mess with us.."OK, Panerai makes their new guards bigger We'll make ours smaller...drive those anal retentives nuts."