TeeJay

Agreed, there is nothing wrong with it.

As I pointed out yesterday...:

As for what James Bond wears, I am also a huge Bond fan (that is how I first became interested in watches) but Bond is little more than a thug in a tux, not an example of perfect business-dress. Infact, that's probably why he would wear an SS bracelet with a suit, as a way of putting two fingers up to the accepted conventions.

Ethan, I would certainly find a guide on what to wear in what situation very informative and helpfull. At present, my sense of coordination means matching my shoes and belt, and if possible, my watch strap (or face) to those colors. Eg black shoes and belt - Black strap or black dial on SS. Brown shoes and belt - Brown strap or black dial on SS (Steve McQueen style )

All joking asside, I would certainly find it an interesting topic, even though being self-employed, my clothes tend to run to jeans and sweaters, however, I'm sure there are others here with Corporate SallaryMan jobs who would be able to put that advice into practice far more than I could (I just like to wear the right thing at the right time)

A few things so that people are clear:

-apparently Josh's band does not fit well, and has gaps when there should be a tight fit.

-This is a Seamaster band and not Planet Ocean (which has a different buckle and the holes are a different shape), even though they look similar. Therefore this should work for other Omegas, such as SMPs, Seamaster GMTs etc.

This is also very true. Neither this (nor Joshua's) straps are the Planet Ocean strap. I actually tried on the LE 45 PO today, and to be honest, it's a nice watch, if a little big. It dwarfs a 42mm watch when compared together. As for the strap. The Planet Ocean strap does not have rectangular notch holes, but a kind of off-round hole. It also has Planet Ocean imprinted on the inside. To be honest, I did not like the shape of the notch holes, I think that the rectangular notch holes looked much nicer. I'm still going to order mine from Joshua as the price is right, and I prefer how they look compared to the gen PO strap. However, I would advise people not to try and pass a Seamaster strap off as a PO strap, as anyone who knows will spot the difference instantly.

7 reps including the ones my wife has so we're up to

2810

Mine bring it up to 2814

I'm still wandering if the rubber band this seller is selling is the same than Joshua sells. In this case, I would cancel this group by and inform the rest of people interested that they can get Joshua's one. At least, with the info from NAVI you know how it looks like and the way to improve it.

Without the two straps side by side 'in hand' to compare, it's hard to be 100% sure. However, rom the pictures, I would say that they appear to be identical. Out of curiousity, does the contact you had do the same level of business as Joshua? It's possible that they get their straps from the same source, but Joshua is able to offer a better price due to his overall business levels...

To go off topic for a second... I am quite happy to take people at their word that they hold the positions in business that they do, but, taking this into account, I am curious why people with such salaries would purchase rep watches rather than gen watches.

Is it because you feel that the genuine watches are simply not worth their pricetag, and that the reps are 'better value for money'? This is certainly how I feel about watches, and I'm no high-powered exec (yet )

I would agree entirely with Ethan that there are codes and conventions with clothing, and, just because many people do not know about them, that does not mean they exist.

Would I wear a black Planet Ocean with a suit? Yes, I would. However, it would be on a leather bracelet, not SS or resin. As or what James Bond wears, I am also a huge Bond fan (that is how I first became interested in watches) but Bond is little more than a thug in a tux, not an example of perfect business-dress. Infact, that's probably why he would wear an SS bracelet with a suit, as a way of putting two fingers up to the accepted conventions.

PLease... if you have found a cheaper source with the same or better quality let us know so we can take advantage of...

Sorry, I wasn't sure if it was good form to mention dealers what with the rumors of dealers getting shut down...

I was going to get the bracelets from Joshua. He's selling them for $35 US with free shipping, which is quite a reduction in price from 40 Euros... The bracelet's you've sourced look amazing, but given my unexpected pet emergency last night, I did a panic search for something cheaper, and Joshua seems to be the man with the goods Sorry for not saying anything sooner, I wasn't sure if it would've been frowned upon.

Please disregard previous posts/email

Sorry guys, but I've found a source for the straps which is much lower in price. Sorry to be a dropout, but I've got to watch the cash at the moment, and a cheaper source makes things a little easier. Sorry again...

Oky, a pet emergency last night has put a nice dent in my wallet. I will definitely have the money for one strap next wednesday, but I would really like to order two. Would it be possible to have one 'put by' for me so I can get the second strap when I have more free cash available?

I have been thinking about this for my Chrono SMP. I think it would look great! There is a group buy for a rep omega strap in the group discussion.

I've thought about it a bit more, and I'm thinking it could look good too. I'd already put my name down for one of the straps for my Planet Ocean, I might treat myself to another for my 2531.80 project watch. Having a black dial, I know the strap will look co-ordinated

Faisal Ali operates at least two stores on ebay (maybe more) and I've found him to be definitely hit or miss on his knock-off Rolex parts. I'm with aclaimsman and would definitely avoid him if you're looking for a 16610 insert (I like the Raymond James inserts better). But when you're only spending $12-13, it's no big deal.

This guys somewhere down the street out in the burbs of Houston (Sugar Land), so when I do order from him, I end up having to pay state sales tax.

I had the misfortune of buying a bezel insert for my Submariner last year, and it was utter junk. I would advise anyone to avoid him like the plague. Any time someone leaves him negative feedback on his other auctions, he uses the same reply: "LIAR. All customers satisfied with product/service." He even admitted to me in one email that he was aware fo the problem with the Submariner bezels and that he was trying to get his factory to fix it, so he is well aware that he is selling [censored]. I even lodged a complaint with paypal, but he simply ignored them untill the time had passed. Once more, avoid like the plague.

I was told about U-Boat watches by a female friend about a year ago, and at the time, I thought they were nice, but put them out of my mind. Having got more into the 'high end' watches, I'm noticing some design similarities with the Panerai watches. Same designer or at least one inspired by the other perhaps?

Just a yay or nay thread really to help me mull over an idea in my head.

Email sent

A little photoshop magic, and this is roughlywhat I'm hoping the finished watch will look like (with an accurate bracelet)

It's a Smith and Wesson SWAT. The SWAT is actually made by Luminox for S&W:

That is absolutely awesome, thank you. My next mission will be to track one down

Given my plans for my 2531.80 project watch, I was wondering about the compatibility of reps as part donors. I know most dealers use the same suppliers, but I was wondering if those suppliers were likely to use the same parts in their watches? For instance, this is the watch I am starting with:

and I am planning on using this watch as a donor for the bezel and hands:

I've heard that genuine parts do not always fit onto reps, but given they are coming from the same dealer and supplier, how likely would it be that the bezels will be interchangeable?

Thanks for the help, guys. Looking at the two pictures, I do not think Jensen's watch is the Luminox 7001...

His has lines of text on the dial which are not on the 7001, the hands are different, and the 7001 also has numerals creating a 'third ring' of information that is not on Jensen's watch, and the mouldings of the strap are different. The 7001 has horizontal 'bars', where Jensons has lines of vertical 'venting'... (when I was younger, I used to spend hours looking through catalogues at the pictures of the watches trying to work out the markings )

I would definately agree that the watch is a Luminox, but not that specific model. (It might even have been customized) I'm going to start hitting up Google to see what I can track down. Thanks for setting me in the right direction, I really appreciate the help :happy:

Whilst it is easy for people to criticise why people have mods done, it seems to me that it's about what pleases the owner and you should certainly be happy with your improved SMP. Wear it well.

Absolutely. This is certainly the theory I am working towards with my 2531.80 project watch. I know it won't be accurate to gen, but that is not my goal. My goal is simply to make it look better than it looks now. As I've said before about my Planet Ocean, I know it is inaccurate, but I prefer the inaccuracies over the details of the gen, so I'd have no reason to mod it. In my mind, unless someone is genuinely someone that really will notice any minor variations from gen standard, and it will genuinely spoil their enjoyment of that watch, the only reason for trying to mod a rep to gen standard, is the (unspoken) desire for it to pass as genuine.

That looks freaking AWESOME!!!!! I do not normally like the black PO with the pumpkin numerals, but, that strap, with that stitching, compliments it PERFECTLY and makes the colors look really nice.

Crappy pic of a crappy watch, but I like it

Oneday it'll look good :happy:

Thanks for the larger image, I still can't find any better images. If Supernatural was on DVD, a screencap might give a close up (if for a second or so) but I don't have it... From watching the series, these are my observations which might be of help...

The strap is definitely resin, not leather.

Dean is not a 'rich guy', and his 'job' is a fairly rough and tumble one, so I cannot imagine his watch is a particularly expensive one. I'm guessing it is a cheap quartz sports watch, possibly not even a major brand, but a 'Dime Store Special'... If anyone has any thoughts or ideas, by all means let me know, as I collect 'movie watches', so the brand is not really as important as the watch itself

Okay, this is not the best picture, but it was the best I could find at short notice. I'm a fan of Supernatural, and I wondered if anyone knew what watch Jensen Ackles wears when he portrays Dean Winchester?

That's a real shame that it has made people think twice about helping newcomers. To be honest, questions I've posted in open forum about sourcing parts have gone pretty much unanswered, but PMs to Ziggy and Flav were incredibly enlightening and informative, I for one would hope that the actions of one person will not lead to a permanant reluctance to help n00bz in need of help. But. I will say this. Good on you for naming and shaming. There's nothing worse than people who back out of agreements or try to use someone's name as a backway into getting something they want. I'm not a big one on naming and shaming myself, but no one has really ever disrespected me enough to deserve getting shamed (although I have warned someone about one unscrupulous eBay dealer as they had already listed them in a thread.)

Thanks again to everyone who has advised me on my 2531.80 project watch, I really value the input and suggestions, I just hope I can make it into something worthy of display, rather than the guilty pleasure it is at the moment. Once more:

Backing out of deals and name-dropping to get hooked up =

i went away friday-saturday for a friend's birthday and wore my Submariner. All the time I was away, I missed my POS 2531.80 project watch, and the first thing I did when I got home, was put it back on

There is something that I dont understand here.

If you have received defective watches on the first place and therefore you have send them back to the dealer for replacement , customs is not your issue. As long as you can provide a proove (sort of post office receipt) that you have send the watches , is the dealer that should worry about customs and not you.

.... of course if you have send the watches back simply because you didn't like them or you have changed your mind..... in this case, customs is your problem.

Dealers should pay more attendion when they send the watches out to the client.

Either they or their distributors should check carefully the watches before sending them (some dealers are playing a bit deaf on this).

A defective watch returned is a loose-loose situation for everybody.

I am personally fed up of getting (1 out of 3 or 4) defective watches and by no means I will assume custom risks when I send back a defective watch.

PS: very few dealers check their watches personally before they send them out.

Because of confused order, I sent a watch back to China. It got through no trouble, and the replacement arrived fine. These costs people are talking about are crazy. It did not cost me £4 to send the watch in a bubble-wrap envelope and it got thre fine. Same situation with my Planet Ocean, which was returned to Thailand because the crown stopped screwing down. Arrived with the dealer no trouble, and he has passed it onto his supplier for repair. Also, as he is Thai, he personally checked the watches before posting them. My fiance ordered me a 42mm Planet Ocean on SS, and I ordered myself the same watch on resin. The watch on the resin, had a faulty mechanism, and he reported that immediately rather than mailing it out, and offered a refund or allowed me to chose something else (I chose a Rolex Daytona as substitute) He's been 100% straight with me in all our dealings.

My watch not only had a defective movement but had gold coming off of the bracelet and blemishes and inconsistensies. It was just a decrepid piece of garbage to begin with. I sent pictures to my dealer, he said send it back...

What I cannot understand, and probably never will, is how somebody can have the nerve to put something clearly broken, both visually and mechanically, into an envelope alongside two other expensive watches for a repeat customer and find it ethical to send said package half way across the world. It's unnacceptable, and what's worse is that my dealer wants me to wait before he sends out a replacement. It's frustrating, condescending to myself as a regular buyer who constantly promotes his name on this and other message boards, and absolutely unfair.

Now I have lost not only my $228 watch, but shipping, as well...

:thumbdown:

Does your dealer actually pack and ship the watches himself, or does he drop-ship them? The confusion over the watch I had to send back to China was because of drop-shipping, and is not the fault of the dealer. When I told him, he said I could either a) keep the watch and buy the correct one at a discounted rate, or I could do a straight swap. I asked to do a straight swap, but also asked if the discounted rate could be transfered to another watch as compensation for the mistake, and he did that with no trouble whatsoever. Sure, it cost me a bit extra, but I wound up with another watch at a discounted rate. The watches from this dealer are admittedly at the low-end of the rep-market, but, I cannot fault the dealer themselves over their integrity as a business man as they did everything in their power to rectify the mistake caused by their 'staff'.