TeeJay

I've no intention of going anywhere, afterall, I still need to write my comparitive review of the Bond Watches, as well as unveil the White Seamaster I plan on making as a dress watch rather than the VCO

Stephane, I am prepared to read your comment as sarcasm, but to be honest, it is in seriously poor taste. You are the worst culprit for trying to get people to pay to upgrade to VIP membership, and even when I pointed out the reasons why I did not want to contribute (which had nothing whatsoever to do with not wanting to contribute to THE COMMUNITY of the forum, you (and others) refused to listen. Well, against my better judgement (read I did it to SHUT YOU UP) in the hopes that the contribution would prevent the forum going down, and, not more than a month after that, Cartel Dealers are blatantly advertizing their products in open forum. As I said before, if this forum is set up to EDUCATE people about the rep world, there is no need for ANY dealer to be mentioned by name on open forum, and, to prevent a conflict of interests (which is clearly the case here) contributions of hosting fees should not be accepted from dealers, regardless of who they are. If people really feel that they MUST have some kind of presence on the forum (which I cannot see the actual reason for, as anyone can find any dealer if they ask the right people) then fine, have a dealer review section, but if it is a matter of hosting fees, allowing the dealers to contribute to that is just giving them unnecessary leverage over forum policy. Indeed, the admin staff did not make me donate, that moral weight was placed on me squarely by Stephane. As a moderator of another forum, I totally appreciate that it is a thankless and unpaid task. My objection is not so much paying hosting fees to keep the forum running for the community, but an objection that it continues to provide the Cartel with an easy client base. Has Edge's thread been forgotten so soon? PM Sent

Close to?? It is cross posting. Here is the same thread in another section of the forum. I did not start fighting with anyone. I made a comment, complaining about how my donation is being used, and others felt the need to attack that comment. As any tax payer, I am entitled to voice an opinion about how my 'taxes' are being spent. If Andrew and Joshua (Hi Josh, having fun lurking in the shadows and not posting? ) are paying, then let them pay the hosting fees, and stop allowing members to be heckled into donating money they do not want to donate, as is precicely what happened this time. I never wanted to donate money to become a VIP member for this very reason. I donated money when the forum needed it, but my fears have been proven valid, in the Cartel are being allowed to call the shots. As I said in my first post in this thread, I want my $50 back.

Thanks for checking. Given that he also posted the same information in the collector's section, posting it under general discussion was something of an unnecessary redundancy...

I discussed my donation with Admin when I made it. He knows I made it. My beef is not that I haven't been upgraded, I really could not care less about that. My beef, is that I did not want to donate money initially because I did not want to be providing the Cartel with a 'market place', I eventually do make a donation -after it was no longer necessary, because I'm generous like that- because there were concerns about the hosting fees, and what happens? A Cartel dealer posts an unnecesary direct link in the middle of open forum. Talk about an 'I told you so' moment... As I said to V, if Andrew wants his clients to have his new domain name, all he need to is email it to his clients. Simple as that. Posting it on open forum, despite the full knowledge that these forums are scrutinized by the Powers That Be, shows either incredible arrogance, or a seriously short memory. Let's just agree to disagree and leave it there. It's too nice a day to be stressing about trivial crap like this

Credit where credit's due Thusly noted for future reference I'm still half tempted to put it on to wear later, but every time I do, it just comes right back off again... Oh well, it adds diversity to my collection

It's true! I WANT MY PLANET OCEAN BACK RIGHT NOW

Why spam up the forum with additional threads on a subject which has been totally discussed? My comment was relevent to this particular thread, in that I did not make a donation so Andrew and his ilk could continue to make posts like this one, and had I known that dealers would be allowed to do so, despite the unwanted attention from the Powers That Be, I would not have made the donation, which, as I said before, was made after the cut off point, and when I could have just said "They don't need the money now, I won't donate afterall." But I'm not that guy. I stick to my word, and when I say I will do something, I do my utmost to make sure I do it. During previous discussions on VIP subscriptions, this was one of my main reasons for why I did not want to make that payment. Then there was a huge panic about donations being needed, so I contributed. I am just really annoyed that my prime reason for not wanting to make the payment originally, has been proved to be totally justified.

Sure, he might not be selling his wares in this specific thread, but, let's be honest here, his only postings over the last few months have been precicely that. Advertising stock. I can see your view that it is a legitimate and important update, but I have to disagree, because he can simply email the new URL to anyone who's bought from him, mailing list or not... Time consuming it may be, but then again, that's one of the hardships of advertising any business... Also, there's nothing to stop people asking for the URL privately, which is a point I brought up on another forum, that I don't feel there's ever a need to discuss any dealer's name or URL on open forum. All one needs to do, is discuss their watch as is. If someone likes it, they can PM the owner for the name of the dealer. I frequently get PMs (had one yesterday infact) asking for the source of my SMPs, and that is ultimately the reason for my irritation. The forum should exist solely to educate people as to what is available. Not provide 'market space' for people who pay towards the hosting fees... It wasn't so long back, that people became 'collectors', rather than 'dealers' because there were concerns about the Powers That Be taking an unwelcome attention to this illegal hobby we all share, and it was necessary to try and make things a bit more subtle. Posting a thread in open forum with a direct link to a site is anything but subtle, and shows either incredible arrogance, or a seriously short memory.

Never seen Rebel without a Cause, so can't really compare them... I didn't dislike Breakfast Club, it just didn't appeal to me as much as other Hughes movies, or indeed the movie Hughes should have directed, Weekend at Bernies... Don't do things like that, you totally got my hopes up Now it shall be condemned to a life of collecting dust with my Rolexes

I couldn't care less if people want to know or not, there are other ways for people to find out the domain name, than to let a dealer post such a blatant advertisement in the middle of a 'general discussion' area. This forum is supposed to exist to protect buyers from dealers who lie about their services and products, not continue to allow them to advertise. As I said, I made a donation - after Admin had said that donations were no longer required- to assist with server fees, not to allow the Cartel Dealers to keep advertizing their sites. What did I actually get for my donation? I haven't been upgraded to VIP status, despite the transaction taking place outside of the 'window of requirement', and it was something Admin and I discussed privately. Had I realized that dealers would still be allowed to post such blatant advertisements under general discussion, I would never have made the donation. Given my donation was a ) surpluss to requirement, and b ) will be used in a way I consider unethical, I feel well within my rights to ask for it back.

Awesome interview, I'm looking forward to reading more

Definitely. Ferris Bueller's Day Off was one of my favorite movies when I was younger, topped only by BMX Bandits... I love John Hughes movies, but for some reason, don't really care much for The Breakfast Club... It was watchable, but never really appealed to me like his other movies did... (Weird Science, for example) I think it might be as well for me to let it go. If I'm realistic, I'm never going to wear it, as, I just don't like the watch enough to want wear it... Every time I've put it on, as nice as it looks, I always just want to rip it off and put my SMP back on... Given that's how I feel about it, I can't see myself ever opting to wear it, even for a formal situation, so I think it's probably best that it goes to someone who can give it a good home... Shoot me a PM, and we'll work out some details

Awesome watches, and excellent choice in movies, although I must confess that I prefer Ludlums novels to the Liman movies... And RE my mention of the VC Overseas, I've changed my mind. I put the bracelet back on, then decided I'd rather wear my SMP out. I really don't like the VCO much at all... I keep telling myself that it'll get worn for a 'special occasion', but something tells me that's just not going to happen...

2220.80 for the majority of the weekend, but I am going out tomorrow evening with friends, so might give the VC Overseas some wrist time for that.

At the moment, it's nothing more than a sketch, but oneday, who knows...

I think you're right there, some watches definitely have a masculine air about them, and the Planet Ocean is one of those watches... I bet it looks much better on the leather deployant. The problem with the PO Gape, is that nine time out of ten, people are (and dealers are selling) trying to fit regular Seamaster straps, to the Planet Ocean, which has a decidedly different strap. My 45mm Planet Ocean (I really miss that ) is one of the early generations which had the 20mm Seamaster strap force-fit onto the Planet Ocean lugs, by having a second set of lug holes drilled a little closer to the case, and slightly higher in the lug (about 2mm in, and maybe 45 deg up. The result, combined with the watch having a hole to accept the rep strap guide pin, is a strap which doesn't gape, although it is 2mm narrow... Silix sells the correct Planet Ocean straps in 22mm, but I'm not sure if he also sells them in 20mm... Hee hee, the HBB Aspen is still keeping pretty good time (although admitedly not as good as the +4 secs a day of the 2220.80 ) I'm a bit irritated that the bezel insert got a nick in it a few days ago, but, as it is only 1mm long, and contained entirely within the space of the '3' character, I can put up with it for now, and possibly get a replacement bezel insert in the future. I'm in two minds as to if the nick 'gives it character', or if it just counts as 'damage', because in all honesty, it is pretty un-noticeable unless the light catches it a certain way, as the mark does not affect any of the blue coloring at all (which was just blind luck)

Ahh, that shows up much better as silver I've tried coming up with a photoshop mockup of the idea, but just can't quite get it right... I'm also having trouble finding the car from Overhaulin' which gave me the idea, so I think I'll have to just draw it the old-fashioned way

Awesome cars, particularly the Trans-Am and the 32 Coupe... Nice location of the licence plate behind the front grill... I like that, and think it could work well on other cars... I think the trucks could do with a little more flare in the graphics though... With the blue and white truck, I think a white panal in the blue with some kind of flame detail inside would look awesome. I'll try and do a photoshop mockup as an example

Awesome to see you wearing an Omega But that strap's got a worse gape than a porn star's *ahem*... I've heard that 1.8mm spring bars will help alleviate the gaping As for myself, I'm still wearing and loving the 2220.80

No problem, I'm glad you liked it In all honesty, I was just doing a review of 'the watch', irrespective of it being rep or gen. When you say the ship has no relief, which watch are you refering too? The ship on my caseback is raised and polished... Same for the waves... As for the dial, off-white was just the easiest 'label' for the color, and depending on how it catches the light, it could be described as silvery... Indeed, if anyone can confirm the gen details, that would be great

That's definitely a car with some history, so definitely cause for a restoration project Maybe you could go down the 'Wrecks to Riches' route and make it into a Super Muscle Car? It certainly matches the thousands of other orbs my father in law has captured on digital camera from years of amateur paranormal investigation, so that's what I'd say it was... What would you say it was?

Absolutely the case. The behaviours of the Cartel Dealers is absolutely disgusting, and personally, I cannot understand why so many intelligent people are continuing to accept their manipulative behaviours and obviously scamming behaviour and defend them, yet in the same breath knock any other dealer who has been considered a scammer in the past... The factories do not control price. The dealers do. Sure, the factory price might be expensive, but, it is still not enough to affect the end buyer price. In all honesty, dealers of this size, who ship various makes and models, could even sell a watch like this at cost price or a loss, and make up the difference in profits from their other sales (ie every n00b who turns up wanting 't3h be5t Su6!!1' I bet sales of those alone would be sufficient to make up any shortfall from selling watches like the HBB at cost price. No, the factories do not control price. In all honesty, even the dealers do not control the price. We do. They can only sell us product at prices we are prepared to pay. If more people started boycotting these dealers because of their prices, they would have to start dropping their prices to get people's business back. (Not that the Cartel deserve anyone business, of course)

All the more reason not to have a go at them [censored] the Cartel and their lieing, manipulative and rip-off practices

Ditto. I honestly do not see what people see in the BBs. If they like them, that's their choice, but I for one don't get the fascination with them..