teddy boy

It's not very good, the hands are particularly bad. That being said, most people won't know the difference.

I got a BK transformer about 2 weeks ago. It's a really nice watch and worth the money. If it doesn't fit your budget, you might go for Joshua's. Just don't buy the correct hand stack (CHS) model as that movement has been problematic.

If this worked, there should be two images of my day-date. The picture taken next to the sub demonstrates the pinkish hue of the day-date. As I stated in a previous post, a salesperson in a Rolex AD was the first to point out the pink hue. Believing that my watch was gen, she was pointing out the difference between white gold and stainless. Since I was told that my watch is white gold plated or wrapped by the person who sold it to me, I simply thought that the pink tint came from the plating. By-Tor suggests that he doesn't think that white gold plated reps exist and that the pink tint may come from something else. I certainly defer to his judgement as he so clearly has forgotten more about reps than I'll ever know. In another post on this thread I indicated that the guy who ultimately took the picture believed that the pink tint came from flourescent light. After examining the watch more carefully, that's not the case but I couldn't exactly say when the watch looks pinkish and when it doesn't. As you can see in the wrist shot, the pink tint is not evident all the time. In any event, thanks again to By-Tor for the review. I've owned this day-date for about four years and wasn't wearing it very much. His review inspired me to again wear what is really one of my favorites. Moreover, this style watch is appropriate for me as I normally wear a suit.

I took both watches (the day-date and the wouldn't fool anyone sub) to my camera friend. We're going to try to take the pictures on Friday, April 23. He doesn't think the watch really has a pink hue. Rather, he believes that they're both stainless; the day-date polished and the sub brushed and that the polished reflects flourescent light differently from the brushed. After he made that observation, I could see that being the case as the pinkish tint on the day-date isn't visible in plain daylight. My friend's impression of what's going on would fit with what happened at the Rolex AD as the light in the store was obviously flourescent. I hope to have some pictures up by the weekend. If I decide that the pinkish hue ins't there, I'll just post some pictures of my day-date f to allow comparison of my rhodium dial to the ice blue that By-Tor reviewed.

The idea of taking a picture with a stainless watch ocurred to me too, which is somehwat remarkable. I don't usually think of those comparisons. I'll get in touch with my friend and ask him to bring his camera to work. I have a stainless sub rep (not a very good rep) that could serve as comparison. I took both watches outside today and the difference is subtle but it's there. I hope it will show in a picture.

I'm terrible with a camera. With my pictures you'd probably say, "well, that could be a watch". I have a friend who is pretty good, I'll see if he can take some pictures and also help me get them posted.

Another excellent review from By Tor (the source). I own a rep of the day-date with rhodium dial and fluted bezel. It's the same watch that RobbieG has pictured but with the fluted instead of a smooth bezel. I am almost certain that my watch is white gold plated. It was advertised as such when I bought it. Moreover, I was in a rolex AD and the sales person who was very knowledgeable about watches commented on the white gold. I never let her handle the watch, she only saw it on my wrist That's why she wasn't able to tell that it was a rep. Also I was dressed like someone who could own such a watch. Her exact comment was that some people claim that white gold isn't worth the money because they think it looks like stainless. She then went on to say that you can always spot white gold because of the pinkish tint. She reached into the display case and pulled out a stainless sub which she held up next to my watch to illustrate the difference in color. She was right, there was a dramatic difference as my watch had a pink tint that was missing from the sub. My day-date is 3 or 4 years old so there is no way of knowing whether the white gold plated is still made, but the claim that there are some white gold plated watches out there seems to be substantiated.

I would echo what Panerai said. If BK's price is beyond your means, you might try looking at what Joshua has to offer. By-Tor reviewed a GMT that both Joshua and Andrew offered and the review was relatively complementary. Regardless of who you end up buying from, DO NOT BUY THE MODEL WITH THE CORRECT HAND STACK. Those watches have been a bit of a nightmare. A nightmare, that is, if you actually expect the damn thing to work.

Justasgood, That's a beautiful Pinarelo. I especially like the steel fork. My 94 Paramount had a carbon fork for years but I recently put the steel fork back on. God intended for bicycles to be lugged steel with steel forks.

Thanks for the replies. I suspected that was the case but wanted some verification. My greatest fear is paying Swiss ETA prices and getting Asican copy movements so I heard the "honest sale" comment.

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a sub and trying to decide between the genuine ETA 28.36/28.24 and one of the Asian copies of that movment. What has been the general consensus on the Asian copy movements.

I will keep everybody posted; it could be fun. If and when I get it, I post here for opinions on who should do the review. I appreciate Francisco's offer. I know that I'm not the one to look at it or try to post pictures. Once my friend gets back to me I may ask him to get the 21 jewel "rolex style" movement too. That way we could get an evaluation of two different low priced movements. I don't know the minimum dollar amount, my friend just said that there is one. He buys 100 batteries at a time and that just clears the threshold so the minimum must be around the wholesale price of a watch battery times 100. Unfortunately he just bought batteries so he won't be ordering for awhile.

The seller is a good friend who is in the bicycle business. He is certainly not interested in stealing my money, if he's able to pull this off it's as a favor. I have seen the movement listed in a wholesale watch/jewelry catalog. It may be complete junk, that's what I'm interested in finding out. The same catalog lists a 21 jewel "rolex style" movement for $18.50. These prices piqued my curiosity, that's why I'm pursuing this. If this somehow turned out to be a good movement, I'm not interested in selling them or anything like that. I am an economist and the economics of the rep market intrigue me. We keep hearing that you can't offer a replica with a high quality movement for less than X$ because the movements are so expensive. I'm just interested in obtaining one of these to test that hypoethesis. I think of this as sort of the economists science experiment.

A little over a week ago I posted that a friend who owns a bike shop showed me a catalog that included replacement watch items. The prices I posted for some items led me to conclude that you could build a high quality rep to sell for $200 and make a nice profit. One of the items was an asia 7750 movement for $16. The movement price prompted some speculation that the movement must be a POS. I asked my friend if he would order one with the idea that I would make it available to an expert on the board (The Zigmeister if he'll do it) to give us all an opportunity to find out. It turns out that there is a minimum dollar order from this supplier and my friend isn't looking to buy batteries anytime soon. He is willing to go to his friend at the jewelry store to see if they will include it on their next order. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I would be interested to learn if you can buy a decent movement for $16 and suspect that many here would be interested in the same thing. If I am successful at getting the movement, my payment to the expert who reviews it would be that they get to keep the movement. I realize that if it turns out to be junk that's not much compensation, but the process should be fun regardless. I'll keep y'all posted.

not that I really have all that much against seiko. I own a kinetic titanium that I wore to ride my bike. The damn thing would never stay wound so I bought a citizen eco drive titanium for my bike watch.

Thanks, you've given me the information I need to share with my friend.

A friend asked my advice about a rep, I pointed him toward one of the recommended dealers. This particular dealer offers 18K plated or for an additional $80 14K wrapped. What is the likehood that you will actually get said 14K wrapped from a drop ship seller and is the difference worth $80. Opinions would be very much appreciated.

A rep seiko strikes me as being a little like doing a kit car for the 79 Ford Pinto.

How about this? They are all genuine watches, some just might not have been manufactured by the company whose logo they bear.

I am by no means an expert. However, I was under the impression that the 2531.80 uses an omega 1120 movement. The omega 1120 is built on the 2892 ebauche.

Actually I stated that incorrectly. Of course it's possible to get one of the catalogs, I'm sure my friend would give me one other than the most recent. The problem is that theompany won't sell to individuals. My friend told me that he established his account at the suggestion of the jewelry store that is next door to him. He had been ordering his batteries through them. There were many hoops my friend had to jump through to prove that he owned a retail business before they would allow him to open him account. To that end, it would be extremely difficult for one of us to order from the company. So far as the misprint in the catalog is concerned, I would be surprised because the "rolex type" movement was in about the same price range.

I have to admit that I was shocked to see this thread make it's way back up the forum. An update is that I ended up bying the superocean as well, I guess it was the lure of the blue dial. I like both watches alot, although the omega gets much more wrist time. I didn't post the promised pictures because I had no idea how hard it is to get a good picture. I promise to get our computer tech (who is good with a camera) to take pictures of both watches and I'll post them. And btw, my dealer was in Concord NC and it turned out to be a one time thing. A friend went in a few weeks later and the SMP was priced correctly.

Andrew (trustytime) generally has an excellent reputation. Although I've never bought from him, there are many long time members who consider him to be their "go to" guy. So far as the SMP is concerned, the best versions no longer seem to be available. It's probably that the UPO chased them from the market. Having said that, this one looks like a pretty good $108 watch to me. The problems with it have been descirbed in another thread on the forum. I have a gen SMP and it's probably my most frequently worn watch so I am undoutedly biased. Having admited my bias, my advice is if you like this one, go for it.

The next time that I'm in the bike shop I'm going to ask my friend to check if there is a minimum number on that particular item. If there isn't, I'll ask him if he will order one for me. If all that works out, I'll see if The Zigmeister or some other knowledgeable person on the forum would be willing to inspect the movement to see if it's any good. I'm really not interested in getting into selling movements to the forum. However, the economist in me is extremely curious to know if a $16 movement is worth having.

chieftang may have offered an explanation. There were no real details regarding the characteristics of the movement so it is possible that it's not very high quality. I doubt that I will order them for sale as that's a little too real world to suit my tastes.