TeeJay

Ahh, that would explain the longer hand on my black PO...

There's nothing wrong with the orange bezel, to be honest, it is rather growing on me (especially now I gave the Twins a make-over) but it's just not 'my style'

I think that's an excellent idea, that way, people would know from the beginning that discretion is important.

I would have said not at all. The purpose of the forum is to inform and educate. Removing INFORMATION about dealers cannot help to inform or educate. Making people aware of the existence of dealers is not the same as providing dealers a 'market place'. The review section educates people about dealers, it does not promote dealers, and it is the promoting of the dealers, which would be the problem.

I quite agree, as I agreed with your points about the Cartel. Given what has happened, I will never give the name of my dealer on open forum. They are a personal friend, and while I know they give good service to all their customers, the free orange Planet Ocean was a gift between friends, not between dealer and client, and I do not want people to start hassling them for 'freebies'. If someone is genuinely interested in buying from them, I will happily give their name in a PM, but if I get ONE email from them saying "You recommended (insertnamehere) to me and they hassled me for a free watch", I will be seriously [censored] off and never give their name out to anyone else. I remember reading a thread where people were laying into Pug for not getting his brother to ship out cheap reps. The majority of people here are decent and respectfull, but there are some who act as if people owe them some sort of favor, or that discounts/gifts given to one person, should automatically be carried over to another buyer, and that is an attitude I refuse to tollerate or pander to.

Thanks I notice your orange also has the shorter second hand (the one on my black PO is longer, probably the 45 hand) My feelings on the orange are mixed. My mother in law really likes it, my fiance hates it. I think it looks much nicer 'in the flesh' than the pictures (they don't capture the color of the bezel properly, it's really quite a 'muted' orange, not bright at all.) However, it's not quite my style (although it definitley has the feel of a 'casual' watch) so I'm going to swap the bezel for a black one, and try and track down a Planet Ocean strap for it as the gape issue bugs me (the watch is so much more comfortable on rubber) I'm still planning on getting the 45mm with white numerals on rubber, as that was the Casino Royale watch, so a definite 'must have' for my collection

Thanks, I quite agree, the Planet Ocean is by far my favorite watch available (and the most suited to my needs) The 20mm black Seamaster strap (which is what I put on the orange PO) is available from Joshua and King. This is not the correct strap for the Planet Ocean (hence the gaping issues) As far as I know, Silix is the only person who offers the correct Planet Ocean rep strap, but, as far as I know, that is only available in the 22mm, for the 45mm watch... This is why it might be as easy to actually order a watch with the strap pre-fitted, as that way, the modifications to make it fit properly will already have been done. If you go to ofrei.com, they sell the genuine strap, but they do not advertize the buckle, so you may need to make enquiries about that. (The Planet Ocean buckle has a 7mm tongue, where as the Seamaster buckle has a 10mm tongue, which would not be suitable for the Planet Ocean strap due to the different shaped notches.)

PM sent

I for one, never got the impression that you were trying to force any opinions on anyone, just pointing out the that now would be a good time for donations. My primary objection to donating to be a VIP member, is I do not have to pay subscriptions to any other discussion forum, and the extra facilities afforded to VIP members, to be honest, I really didn't find of use. I'd much rather make a contribution to the community by ways of a review or any information I can share than to shell out $$s. To be honest, I would (and will) enjoy this forum just as much without dealer sections, as I did when there was a dealer section, as it was something I did not find usefull. To be honest, there is enough 'word of mouth' on the forums that dealers can be found without the direct links that were in their forums, and it also prevents dealers currying favor by paying subscriptions or donating to raffles, it will keep things purely academic and informative (obviously with a few laughs thrown in) and that's exactly how the forum should be. If I wanted to subscribe to something, I'd've found a porno site

I think you'll definitely notice the difference between how more comfortable the rubber strap is Best of luck with the fitting, I hope you don't have any gaping issues like I have with the orange Planet Ocean (the gape was more noticeably on the black PO, which is why I kept the strap on the orange, and will likely simply order a black PO 45 already on rubber)

Sean, thanks for the backup now and earlier, it's much appreciated

Couldn't've said it better myself. When my SMP arrives, I was planning on writing a review comparing it to my Submariner, a comparison of actual Bond Watches. Sure, there might already be the Submariner Vs Seamaster review (a piece I found incredibly informative, and contacted the author to express my appreciation for it) but, that is comparing 'like for like', I wanted to actually compare James Bond's watches. As you say, not everyone has the finances to donate, and that should not reflect on their membership. As I said, the only thing this forum needs, is discussion. Sales are 'icing on the cake'. If the sales are getting the admins in trouble, the obvious answer is pull the sales, and stick to discussion. Freedom of speech, and what-not.

Thanks, Zed, no, it's just the way the light's catching my hand Rubber strap, without question. The bracelet is comfortable, but the edges are hard, where the bracelet is flexible. To be honest, on a strap, the watch doesn't feel like it's there.

I don't care what it costs to run a forum. No one made the admins start a forum. What legality? Sales of reps is illegal, so don't let ANYONE advertize ANY reps on the forum. Simple as that. That's all there is to it. If this place didn't exist, I would not have got ripped off, because I found my own dealer way before I found this forum. They charge way less than the Cartel, and I consider them a personal friend. The only thing I have gained from this forum, is information. Information I likely would have gained from gen forums, so rather than assuming anything about people's circumstances, try and look at things with a little objectivity. As I said, this forum has not saved me money, and there is no way I am going to pay to post on a discussion forum. I am certainly not going to pay to post on a forum that, untill today, continued to tollerate the Cartel Dealers. This is supposed to be a forum to educate and inform. It should not have ANY kind of links or dealer's sections whatsoever. They are unnecessary to DISCUSSION.

Checking the names and locations of people who apply. See if that location tallys with their IP address, and being extra vigilant of IPs that could be from people like the Hublot CEO

I think all that needs to be done, is keep the forum private for members only, and have applicants approved by the moderators. I don't think people should have to pay to belong to a discussion forum, but I can certainly understand the need to remove dealer links, and tighten up on security. (possibly putting a word filter into place so dealers sites cannot be entered either on forum or in PM, that way, people will have to discuss dealers in email, and that would remove any onus of blame from the mods or forum.

I don't think VIP Membership should be made mandatory for several reasons. I was one of the people lucky enough to get given a VIP membership as part of the birthday festivities, and all that afforded me, was the ability to edit my posts, larger message capacity, and access to a few extra forums that were actually of no use to me whatsoever. I have not renewed that VIP status, becausefirstly, the ability to edit my posts is not that important to me, and secondly, I was disheartened by the response to the recent issues with Cartel Dealers, and was not prepared to support a forum that continued to allow the Cartel to deal from here, and be respected here. This forum was indeed set up to allow people to discuss their interests in replica watches and prevent people being scammed. Proof had come to light of scamming, so those people should have been expelled. Simple as that. However, that is in the past, and this is about moving on. If people are known to be dealers, so be it, let people do business with them, but, having a dealer's section was asking for trouble. I've never actually used a dealer mentioned on this forum. There are sites like eBay where dealers are monitored and have to make good their promises. Okay, the reps might not be as accurate as some of the Super Reps, but for the prices they are costing, they are still better than some of the Canal Street Junk that the Real Scammer sites pass off. This is not the end of the world, folks. We can still display and discuss our watches, so that's all that matters Peace out.

I forgot to say, I think the Planet Ocean is much more comfortable on the rubber strap than on the SS Bracelet. Might just be my own opinion (and normally I do prefer SS Bracelets) but thought it might be worth mentioning

Thanks I was planning on hanging onto the SS bracelet for 2 reasons; 1. It was already sized for a smaller wrist and there are no extra links, so it would not be fair to pass on a bracelet that likely will not fit anyone else... 2. I can use it for spare parts for my own SS bracelet, should any links or the clasp get scuffed up or otherwise damaged, I can always just canibalize the spare for parts. The black rubber strap did have a locating pin on it, and fitted well on my 2531.80 Project Watch. However, the POs did not have the locating hole drilled in the case, so I used nail clippers to remove the locating pin. The result is tollerable on the PO, but far from ideal...

From what I've read, I think this is because the rubber straps that most rep Planet Oceans are fitted with, is the Omega Seamaster strap. The Omega Planet Ocean has slightly differently shaped lugs (and a slightly different rubber strap) to the Omega Seamaster. This is why there has been some confusion and problems fitting one to the other. If you have a look at my Orange PO, you can clearly see the gape of the strap at the 6 position. It's something I can live with, but it is not ideal... As the watch was a gift, (and it was my own strap)I will be keeping it, but had it been an order, I would expect the strap to fit flush to the case. However, for someone ordering a Planet Ocean, I would suggest ordering precicely what they want, rather than ordering one, and planning to swap straps around. If indeed the lug holes are drilled differently to accomodate the rubber strap, then it might be just as problematic to fit the SS Bracelet. Then again, I have seen pictures of one Planet Ocean which had two sets of lug holes drilled so it could accept either. I would not like to speculate on how common this 'double hole' is though...

This morning, the post delivered a package that more than made my day. Inside, were two 42mm Planet Oceans on SS bracelets. The black one, my fiance had bought me for Christmas, but had been sent back to have a defective crown repaired. The orange one, a gift from my dealer who felt bad for the problem and the delays to the repairs caused by Chinese New Year. I'd not previously been too keen on the orance Planet Ocean, but, in the flesh, it's not as bad as I thought. I swapped the SS bracelet for the rubber strap, and I'm getting quite fond of it, although I am going to replace the orange bezel for a black one. Something that is interesting, is although both watches have the same sized dial, the dial with pumpkin numerals looks smaller than the dial with white numerals. Interesting little optical illusion. Time for some pictures

I have not yet ordered a rep Planet Ocean with a rubber strap, but, have ordered both items seperately (for different watches) Neither of my rep POs (42mm, black and Orange) have a guide hole drilled in between the lugs. The rep strap (Seamaster Strap, not Planet Ocean Strap) does have a guide pin. I cut the pin off, and put it on my Orange PO. It gapes. Not enough to prevent me wearing it at all, but enough to be noticeable. It will be easier to order a Planet Ocean with a rubber strap and swap it for an SS Bracelet, than it would be to order a Planet Ocean with an SS Bracelet and try to swap it for a rubber strap. Hope that's been of help

The watches arrived today, and the second watch was the Orange Planet Ocean 42mm, so I will be keeping it. I have swapped over my seamaster strap (gapes a bit, but never mind) and will be swappnig the bezel insert for a black one when I can. In a way, I'm glad it wasn't the chrono version, as this way, I get to keep my friend's watch, and it will have sentimental value, rather than using it as something to sell or trade

Ahh, that's a little twist I didn't know about. That is very informative, thank you

Then buy from Angus.