gavidoc

Very nice. Who made the case if you don't mind me asking? I've been tihnking about doing a franken project with my 104 and this would be great. Would an A7750 fit in that case? That's what my 104 has in it. I'd do it without the cyclops though.

Before ever agreeing to ship internationally you must be aware of one thing. Indemnity compensation. If you check with the USPS they will tell you what another country's indeminty agreement is with the USPS. So, for example you ship something to France, if the indemnity agreement with France is only equal to $150 US, if a package goes missing, then all that will be paid of the insured value is $150. Even if it was valued and insured at $500. Once a package leaves the US, all USPS obligation for the insured price is over and all that will be paid is the indemnity agreement betwee the countires. That is why for international packages, it is always best to send via FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. as their carriers handle the package completely from Point A to Point B and there is no indemnity agreements needed as it is contained within the company that is providing the service. Regarding declarations for packages, I know that taxes for the UK and the EU are excessively high for importing and that is why for all watches I've ever sold across the pond are marked the following way (while being sent via fedEx). Horological Parts, repaired and (here is the important part) RETURNED TO OWNER The key is that last part, Returned To Owner. What that registers as with customs is that the owner has already paid import taxes on the item and typically they will not be hit with anymore taxes. I know this works as I have sent the following watches overseas to the UK and EU using this exact process. Also, NEVER declare it as a watch. FedEx et al. will not give full value for a watch but will for parts. Go figure. So, if doable, take a photo of the movement. That is a part. The case is just part of the packaging. 1. Sinn EZM-1. Purchaser was in the UK. Paid price: $3100. Insured and declared value: $3100. Labeled as Horilogical Parts, repaired and returned to owner. Duties paid by the purchaser: $0. 2. Omega Speedmaster. Purchaser was in Spain. Paid price: $1800. Insured and declared value: $1800. Labeled as Horilogical Parts, repaired and returned to owner. Duties paid: $0. 3. Omega Seamaster 300. Purchaser was in Germany. Paid price: $2100. Insured and declared Value: $2100. Labeled the same. Duties paid: $0. 4. Sinn U1. Purchaser was in the UK. Paid price: $850. Labeled and insured the same. Duties paid: $0. How will this work with replicas? No real clue as you run the risk with this hobby unfortunatly. For replcias, the best way to send something is via Registered Mail. It is slower but it has a higher chance to reach its destination due to the fact that registered packages are kept under lock and key (thus the reason for the special tape and the stamps that these pacakages receive on all edges). When I ship a watch internationally, I always do two things. Take pictures of the package prior to shipping (for insurance reasons for me and the buyer) and make it clear to the buyer that I will send it anyway they want but I will not alter customs forms for them. This is to protect me and make it clear that the buyer assumes responsibility for any fees that might be incurred but also use my past experiences shipping internationally to curtail and concerns they might have.

TWP, I was wanting to know how the progress was going. Are you in a program? Have you committed yourself to breaking the bondage of substance abuse? I pray that you have. Not only for yourself as that is the first step but also that you are there for your wife and children. Remember that as they get older, they will notice. They will see you popping pills. They will see you downing that fifth. They will think it is ok. Look out not only for your future, but your sons'. If you have made that call....if you've gotten into a program.....God bless you and I pray he is the rock you anchor yourself to as you get through these tests he has laid before you. "2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. 3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table......6 and may you live to see your children's children....Psalm 128

My experience is more along the lines of: "Hello..Copy watch? Copy bag? Great quality...A+++" as they try to grab your arm. Normally the people I'm with as they look more guilo (sp) then I (I'm half Korean). I think I know the area you're talking about. Same area as the Pudong Airport right?

Anything like the ones in Guangzhou in Shanghai? I'm going to be there for a few days on business before my jaunt to Guangzhou on business and thought I'd check them out if there was. Thanks.

I bought a SS crown from him about 3 weeks ago. In the email exchange he told me that he had (going from memory here) about 50 TI crowns, 30 PVD crowns and 5 Stainless crowns left. He said that the Stainless were the only auto crown he had. The others were manual wind.

Thanks. What about the second hand?

Does anyone know the size of these? Want to know if I can use the 6497 hands on an A7750. Thanks

I thought I had a problem with mine as well when I got my 104. I took it off after wearing it for about 8 days and it only lasted about 24 hours before it stopped. So I wound it up and left it alone. It lasted just a shade under 43 hours. I realized that my lack of movement at work (sit at a desk) coupled with 7 hours of sleep and minimal movement was the problem. The Zigmeister is the guru but sounds like you might have an issue Knicksfan13.

I thought the crown tube was the same. Only difference is that the auto CG is taller to compensate for the date changing position of the stem.

What she says. I'm wanting to make a fantasy watch. I've got a PAM 104 that I like but have a titanium bracelet that I loooooooove as it is much better then the stainless steel POS I've got. I want to try and find a rep Tantalium 172 that I can use the case from. I'm wanting to put my 104 dial and movement into the Tantalium case and add the stainless steel crown guard and send her off to The Zigmeister to have him service the movement and fit a stainless steel OEM crown on. Only problem is I'm having a hell of a time finding any dealer who sells the 172. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Or if you have a 172 to sell, let me know. I am goign to be in Guangzhou and Shenzhen for most of April but I figure my chances of finding what I need at the watch markets might be slim. Let me be clear that I'm wanting a a real titanium case with polished stainless steel bezel. Thanks for your help!

Beautiful K. V, I'd love more info on that case if you don't mind. Thanks.

@ the Admin team, Well done and good job. No matter if his health issues were legitimate or not, you did do the right thing by suspending his dealer status till he could get caught up and handle all the backlogged orders. The fact that he lashed out the way he did makes me suspect that to some degree, TTK is robbing Peter to pay Paul and he wasn't happy with such a large fora's sales being taken from him. I've seen it happen as well as the threats. When that happens, there is no other recourse and you did the right thing. Great work. @Mez... Great post and sums it up in a nutshell. After his latest behaviour, I also feel he tried to use his health issues to cover for his poor business practices after these same practices got him into trouble in the past.

Ouch. Great work. I've learned my fair share from your posts since I became active. Thanks.

HikeUSA, Please understand I wasn't saying you were being rude, just that the belief that as a customer you are always right no matter what is not quite true. I personally thought you asked a valid question even though you chose not to phone him. Quite a few of the "bad dealers" were once well respected members of the prop community. Guys who had been around for years (the RPF first started back in 1994 via an old message board before moving to EZBoard and then on to a PHP board like this one) and had been selling their product for a while. One of them was even a former moderator of the RPF. 5postboy made fantastic pieces for years and then just stopped after he took a bunch of money from members. EDC Studios was one and continues to sell via the web to this day to people who are unaware of his business practices. Another that comes to mind was Jedi135 (Tim was his first name but I don't remember his last). He had been a well respected member who sold fantastic product but got in over his head and ran off with a lot of members' money. Vadermaker was another. I could probably come up with a few more that were long standing members if you so choose. It happens to all types, established dealers as well as those who are new. Why did I post my own experiences, I see a few being admonished for voicing up about issues they have had by other members. Could some voice them more effectively? Absolutely but this sad scenario (for all involved) follows a very basic pattern (from my own experiences) when it comes to product that skirt the line of legality and it might for others as well. On the flip side, there were dealers who dropped off the face of the earth for valid reasons. GFollano who made fantastic stormtrooper armor had Lucasfilm drop a cease and desist on him and a hefty lawsuit. Exedge was issued a C&D as well. Another guy was in a really serious car accident and IIRC, I think another was diagnosed with a pretty serious illness. I should have put this into my first post as well but apologize as I forgot to.

I do hope that Neil's health issues are genuine but unfortunately I've seen too many "dealers" (not just this hobby) who use the umbrella of medical issues (be it physical, psychological, etc.) as an excuse to protect their poor behaviour, poor business ethics, bad business decisions, and horrible communication. Typically it has always occurred when a "group buy" was done. From my experience, the dealers see dollar signs as opposed to customers and happily gobble up as much as they can and then place an order. Normally they have a nice little markup for themselves that covers what they feel is a justified fee for their own commitment to the order and organization. Yet something always goes wrong. "It was lost in shipping. Customs got it. It's out of stock. My vendor is giving me grief." Then who gets screwed? Not the dealer. He just goes incommunicado. The consumer is hurt. They start screaming bloody murder after little communication from said dealer for months (or even years) and then finally they reappear to say they will make things right. They typically ask for a bit of time. Ask for people to "email them or PM them their phone numbers so that they can talk one on one." This normally buys the dealer a bit more time to try and find a way out of the situation. Typically a few more months go by with no real results and then from on high the dealer reappears and brings up one of the following: 1. Family problems (someone is really sick and they have to take care of them, someone close has died, someone is needing help moving are typical ones). 2. Personal problems (medical issues, depression are typical ones). 3. Financial problems (lost their job, busy at work, remember that this isn't their primary business afterall, are typical ones). A few more months go by with no results. At this point it becomes a chicken match. who will outlast who. The dealer will eventually make up with most of those wronged but there will always be that one lingering issue (or few). In the mean time, the dealer continues to take orders and is especially consious to do an incredible job of serving those smaller orders. Why? So that when the pitchforks and torches are pulled out, the dealer will have a small group of members who can come to his/her defense saying, "I've ordered from him.....No issues.....Quick and friendly...." "Never had a problem.....excellent communication...." "He'll come through....Don't worry....You have to remember, this is an illegal hobby....." "He's been real busy with his real job lately.....Remember, this is just a hobby for him too....." etc. etc. Hope it really is medical issues? Absolutely. Skeptical? Absolutely. HikeUSA, While I agree that the consumer does have rights, the line, "The customer is always right" is pure and utter bullsh1t IMO. You have rights as long as you remain cordial yet stern, but once you cross the line and go into rude mode, all bets are off. Sure you could complain about a meal at a restaurant if you wanted to. Be nice to the waiter and all will be taken care of. Be rude to the waiter and your replacement order just might have something "special" in it when it is delivered. Trust me, I've seen it happen (7 years as a server in college). Why should he/she take good care of you when you aren't going to leave a tip but other tables will? (rhetorical question) Note to all. I have not purchased from TTK. What I describe isn't TTK. It is the pattern I saw while adminstering the largest Replica Prop Forum (in a nutshell the TimeZone of Replica Props) on the internet for 2 years where we ended up banning around 20 bad dealers for the above issues.

Double T, I am aware that he doesn't break any rule and that is why I asked him nicely. Gentleman to gentleman. If he chooses not to, no biggie.

Mahler, Would you be so kind as to edit your post to remove that image? Some of us view this place from work on our lunch break and would not want to run the risk of getting into trouble for some nice....buns. Thanks.

I have one on a 3646 hommage. It doesn't bother me. What did bother me was the profile of the buckle as it is way to wide. I chose to machine it down and it now has the angled look of the Pre-V's. Works much better. Another difference for me is that I only use one keeper, not two. I actually like mine and think it is quite comfortable. Never noticed any issues with it but then my 3646 has a high domed crystal on it.

What is the cause of all the exploding PAM Fiddy crystals? I've been thinking about a mini-fiddy but don' tknow due to this exploding crystal thing. What's the cause?

@Rolli, I want the polished bezel and was going to look for a rep at the Guangzhou or Shenzhen Watch Markets when I go in April for business. Otherwise I'll pick one up from perfect-clones. They have a good looking manaual wind with the titanium case and polished stainless bezel. @SSSurfer I wasn't aware that Panerai made one (209). Still new to PAM's. Do any of our dealers make it? I haven't seen them for sale anywhere. As for the reason of no cyclops, if you're going to use a white on black date wheel on a black dial, you're looking for the date to blend in with the dial. so why then make it obvious with the cyclops? I know Panerai does it but me being a designer by trade, it throws the look off for me. The date is something you look at occasionally as you need to, not something you look at on a consistent basis through the day so by removing the cyclops, it lets the date serve its intended purpose. I did it on my real Tudor 9411 date sub and my Rolex 1680 when I had them.

Ok. Here's the down low first so forgive me as I figured I'd introduce myself to you guys. I'm new to Rep's. Found this place last year, registered, then forgot about it. I've owned real Rolex and real Tudors so fakes of those don't appeal to me. Panerais on the other hand have always piqued my interest. A buddy of mine got this and gave it to me in 2005. It was a POS but I found it interesting. I think it died a little over a year later. So I started to do some research into this company called Panerai and came across their vintage stuff. I really like their vintage stuff and sometime 2006 I got this and aged it. Again, way before I knew of places like these. And then last Aug. I was in an AD while in Hong Kong on business and tried one on for the first time and really enjoyed it...Just not the price tag. Fast forward to Sept. of 07 and I picked up a replica of the 3464 with Cali dial but it had some weird markings on it. It had California across the top and L Swiss L on the bottom. I easily took care of the California and the L's. It had a really bad strap so I put it on a Strap Culture and love the darn thing. This is what it looked like before the mod: Then I came across another one that I liked. The 6154 Rolex dialed one and I am in the process of making one of those. I bought a watch from an ebay seller that had the right (close enough but slightly too thick) case and the screwdown rolex crown and I'm getting one of TrustyTime's Rolex reps (wrong case, too large font {Not a problem for me} but correct hands). I'm going to have to polish the hands to make them gold but I'm cool with that. So, here's the thing. LIke I said, I found this site again after a year and right after I bought a rep 104 off of Ioffer. Here it is: Not 100% accurate but it does have Super Luminova and keeps decent time. The cyclops is not really a magnifier but I'm ok with that. You see, I like the Titanium PAM's too but obviously don't need another manual wind so here is the project I was thinking of. Taking the movement, bezel, lever, and a real stainless steel PAM crown and installing them into a titanium case. I've got a titanium/stainless bracelet which I know aren't made anymore and I figured it'd complete the look. In essence, a PAM 165 but with the 104 dial combo sans the cyclops. What do you guys think? A TI/SS 104 Mod. And thanks for reading this long post.

I've never really personally understood the infatuation with the issue over fonts for the same reasons as the others. While I wouldn't say those who obsess over them are a few short, I will say...."Wow." Incorrect levers, funky crown guards, thin crowns, canon pins, CG pins, floppy levers, sub dials that should be sunk...I can understand those as they are aesthetic parts of the design that are noticeable from a distance but fonts? I guess my point is that to me, if you're that concerned with an "A" or a horizontal dash well you've gone beyond the need for a decent replica of a killer design into the realm of wanting to trully try to deceive everyday Joe's and even some original owners into thinking that you're not just trying to keep up with the Joneses but that you are one of the Joneses. My 1 RMB.

In all honesty, it isn't a "closed" avenue that is mission impossible. All it requires is knowing someone in China who is in the manufacturing business. Currently today, the number of people who are interested in this hobby who have the ability to work with any factory in China is small but for those of us who do, all it would take is a simple question: "Do you know of any watch manufacturers?" You might be surprised at the answer you got. Some would say they didn't, others would say they did, while others would say they would find out. One of the beauties of the American dollar (even in its weakened state) is that it still carries a lot of power in China and the manufacturers located there. Many companies over there who have American customers would be willing to find the answer to a simple question such as: "Do you know of any watch manufacturers?" Only for the sole reason of showing that the company they are working with are capable to finding the answer to a question no matter how trivial. The larger the customer you or your company is for that Chinese factory, the quicker the response. I asked one of our factory reps if she knew where the watch markets were in Guangzhou and she said she did and plans on taking me to them when I'm there. This idea that it is an unknown or unobtainable is not really the case even if the "collectors" try to make it appear that way. The problem is that not many people have the ability to get answers to the questions and the hope is that those who do know, will answer the question. My experience with Chinese factories that work in assembled product might be different then the way the watch rep world works but this would be my take on it. For Custom made replicas: Joe wants to have some rep watches made and has capital to invest in the making of these watches. Joe finds a factory in China that is capable of making them. More then likely the factory itself only makes cases but has their own vendors that they outsource for the other parts such as bracelets, straps, dials, movements, etc. Joe works with the factory on exactly what he wants (might even utilize their own engineering capabilities) and the factory makes a few prototypes. Who pays for them is based upon the deal worked out between the factory and Joe. Factory creates the number of cases that Joe wants (after a price is determined) and then they turn around and order a set number of pieces from their vendors for the remaining pieces. Upon completion of the pieces, using the factory's quality control, Joe takes delivery of the product and sells it. Who he sells it to is his choice. The factory charges him $Y per watch. Joe can either turn around and sell it to a dealer for $Y*2 or directly to the end consumer and charge a typical mark up of $Y*3 or $Y*4. For Prebuilt Replicas Joe decides he wants to buy a certain type of replica and the factory that he works with is able to produce it. Joe works out a price with the factory for the completed project. Factory creates the number of cases that Joe wants (after a price is determined) and then they turn around and order a set number of pieces from their vendors for the remaining pieces. Upon completion of the pieces, using the factory's quality control, Joe takes delivery of the product and sells it. Who he sells it to is his choice. The factory charges him $Y per watch. Joe can either turn around and sell it to a dealer for $Y*2 or directly to the end consumer and charge a typical mark up of $Y*3 or $Y*4 What I'm saying in a nutshell is that if you are able to find the avenue to get there, you could greatly help the rep community if you so chose and hurt collectors if that was your cup of tea. The end consumer (you all) would be thrilled at lower prices for better quality and the collectors would be appalled at the fact that their unobtainable resource has been pierced by the Consumer driven West. Like I said.."Typical mark up" is 3 to 4 points over what you paid for it. I base my assumptions when looking at rep watches with that understanding. So if I see a rep being sold for $300 by a "collector", I naturally assume it only cost the collector $100 to purchase it from the factory. Based on reports I've read here and elsewhere where they say that good quality reps can be had at these watch markets in southern china for around $100 US makes me think that the actual markup is higher but I will deterimine that when I visit them myself and "purchase" some of the better quality reps. Regarding wages, it's amazing how drastically different it can be across the world. How much would you say a typical 30 min. taxi ride would cost in the US? In Zhongshan, China you can take a 30 min. taxi ride for around 35 RMB which roughly equates to around $5 US. Here in the States, my company pays a wet behind the ears mechanical engineer right out of school a starting salary of around $55000 a year. In China, the same engineer would make roughly $20,000 a year. And Victoria, I didn't see anything personally offensive about your joke. Just know that Asians typically only have a hard time with L and replace L with R so Rosie would have said, "So sorry." and some Chinese would have said: "Is this okay?" "Rooks okay to me" "Rorexs ready to ship!"