teddy boy

I agree with what you said, fooling a gen owner means absolutely nothing. The addendum that I would add is that fooling most gen salespeople means nothing. I have been astounded by how little gen salespeople generally know. When I bought my gen superocean I said to the guy (the store's watch expert btw), this watch still has the Breitling 17, correct? He had to look it up in the cataglog. Then I said, nice movement, it's built up from the ETA 28-24. He had no clue as to what I had just said. I had a similar conversation with a salesperson at Tourneaux in the Forum mall at Caesers when asking if Breitling continued to use the Valjoux 7750 in their chronos.

Seems particularly attracted to the steelfish, but who could blame him!

Last night I did a search on replica watch and went to Global Replica. I wanted to see what the evil empire was up to these days. Immediately my webroot spyware program detected a potentially harmful program attempting to load on my computer. I clicked on the block button and then did as webroot suggested and scanned the comptuer. When I checked the computer this morning, webroot had found a "behavioural" piece of malware that they rate at their highest risk level. Apparently going to the evil empire to check out their nefarious business practices comes with a new and potentially very dangerous risk.

How do you adjust time on a numbmariner that is losing two minutes a day? I figure there is something to adjust inside? How much adjustment is probably needed?

I mean this in the nicest possible way, but someone who says "I figure there is something to adjust inside" probably shouldn't be opening the case. I would make that exact statement about myself. A mechanical watch is a very delicate instrument. Unless it's off a great deal, I'd let her be. Otherwise, find a watch maker who will work on a rep.

My wife and I were at the high end mall tonight and I naturally had to visit one of the jewelry stores. After looking at the Chopards, Tags, and Pams through the display case, I made my way over to the Rolex area. I wasn't dressed all that well, so they were ignoring me. Eventually the sales person noticed the Omega SMP on my wrist and I guess she decided that I was a watch person and thus possibly worthy of her attention. From that point on, she couldn't pull things out of the display case fast enough. I really only wanted to look at two watches; the solid yellow gold blue dial sub and a white gold day date with the rhodium dial and flouted bezel. Those are the two watches for which I own high quality reps. I handled both gen watches, tried them on and inspected them very carefully. While I'm not foolish enough to suppose that my reps would pass a side by side comparison, I am convinced that it would take a highly skilled person to identify my watches as reps other than side by side. I have to believe that most of the stories posted on the forum by people who were called out were either (1) a lucky guess or (2) an educated guess based on the wearers age and/or employment status. My point is that, in my opinion, our reps today are that good. Only people with the skill level shown by some on this forum and by gen watchmakers would allow one to pick out a rep. I don't believe that most jewelry store sales people have that skill level.

So you know you buy entirely too many GEN Breitlings when you get an invite to have cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and dinner with the president of Breitling USA. They'll be unveiling the new pieces from Baselworld '08 here.

It's limited to 100 people, so I should be able to snap quite a few pictures if they'll let me!

I'm wearing my GEN 6.75 for this occasion. I contemplated wearing my HBB (b/c it's so damn good)

If I can snag some Breitling swag, I'll auction it off and donate the proceeds to the board!

Cheers!

I was invited to a similar event in Charlotte NC. I decided that I would feel some obligation and probably end up buying a watch that I don't need and can't afford so I declined the invitation.

Lately I have been accused of being rude to noobs, so I'll try to be as helpful here as possible as an apology.

1. Are DJ watches pretty safe when it comes to reps or are there some real bad ones out there just like all others?

If you stick with approved forum dealers (Joshua, Narikaa, etc.) you can be sure to receive a high-quality Rolex Datejust replica. Two things should cause concern for you, however. The first of these is gold. My DJ was advertised as "18k 5mil" gold "plate". It started to rub off a little, and turns my wrist green after prolonged wear. I would advise you to get the slightly more expensive alternative advertised as "14k 15mil wrap". This should stay on a little longer, but the weight of the watch will still be too light. If this is an issue, stick with stainless steel. The other issue is slightly more complicated - it concerns the 8:00 hour marker. On some models, a dash is missing from the small roman numeral indicator. This means that you basically get 2 "XII" (in place of the seven, correctly; and in place of the eight, incorrectly.). Researching photos before buying, or asking your dealer to check before shipping, is a good way to ensure your watch is consistent. If you want to get a Turn-O-Graph model, you should recognize that the bezel may lose its ability to rotate bi-directionally. These are generally very accurate watches, and excellent choices for a first rep.

2. If I buy watches with ETA movments will they last just as long as a production watch with the same movement?

Movement lifespan is fairly irregular in the replica community. In general, however, it is ambitious to assume this would happen with certitude. Genuine watches have their ETAs regulated, cleaned, and adjusted by professionals before sale. Our ETAs are often of dubious origin, and are rarely (99.99% never) tested/adjusted/cleaned by dealers unless you pay for such a service (which itself is of dubious quality). Today, many watches actually have "replica" ETA movements which are identical to the gens. They are good movements, and usually work fine. I have many, and have experienced problems with only one which arrived DOA. It was a small, lady movement 2671-2.

3. when buying reps from perfect clones and they are advertised as ETA movments will they actualy be ETA movments?

This is a very hard question to answer. Just a year ago, I would have written "yes, absolutely!" without giving it a second thought. But now, with the ETA shortage and the introduction of cloned movements, it is hard to say. I can only say from personal experience, having purchased many watches from PC, that all of them arrived with as-advertised movements. Joshua, the owner, is a very honest dealer and it is likely most of his watches contain genuine ETA watches. Some, like the recent Bell & Ross incident, were proven to contain imitations - but eventually he changed the labeling on his site in accordance with the findings of a thread here called "Little White Lies".

4. Will these watches require any maintinece when recived or will they be ready to go i.e. regulaton, oiling, pressure testing?

I have never regulated or cleaned any of my reps either before shipping or after arrival, and even the oldest (1 1/2 yr +) still work fine. Considering full servicing by a REPUTABLE (read: not guangzhou) watchsmith costs about $200+, the value is questionable. If the watch is to work for 5 years unregulated, why spend money when, more than likely, after all of this time you would have moved on to something different? I would recommend getting your watch serviced after 2 years of ownership, where you know that you like it and would like it preserved for future wear. Be advised: it is rare for local watch repair people in your community to willingly service reps. I haven't been able to find anyone in my village who would be willing to do it. I would not recommend paying for the perfect-clone servicing or waterproofing. Sorry.

That said, I wish you the best of luck, and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Three chears for Corgi, you spent a great deal of time and gave the noob terrific advice!

Been a year since my last rep purchase and about the same amount of time since I spent a regular amount of time on RWG. You guys are like crack cocaine! Just a week back and I'm already $380 into a new Steelfish...I'm looking at more rep IWCs and my post count is up. I'm a mess. I thought I had stopped all of this and found some common sense about replicas...that my money was better spent on a single 1K gen than on 3 dubious quality clones. What the hell is wrong with me? I'm infected again!

I was doing pretty well. I bought a gen Breitling Super Ocean back in November and then took the pledge. My wife rolled her eyes and said, "I'll believe no more watches when I see it". Like I said, I was doing well, that is until about three weeks ago. I had on my rep white gold day-date which is a very nice rep. A friend saw the rep and asked me to help him select a rep for his father and that sent me back to the sellers' sites. I know that I'll pull the trigger again soon, it's just a matter of time. The really bad thing is that there isn't anything I particularly want; I just need to buy a watch!

I looked at their planet ocean, it wouldn't fool Stevie Wonder. Their Chopard GT looked pretty good, however, and at $70 it's worth a try. I wonder how long they will be accepting paypal. Maybe we could have a lottery on that point.

For you Teddy Boy. Quick and dirty.

Made me LOL and given that I'm sitting here while my kids take an exam, that's a good thing.

I despise all things orange, especially The Hee Haw Technical Institute in Pickens County. My children will not even wear that color because Daddy is crazy. lol

Go Cocks!

I am "thenightowl" on the rivals board. I live in Davidson NC which is close enough to hold seasons tickets; a group of friends and I go to at least one road game a year. This year it will be to the UF game. If you're a season ticket holder, I'll walk by and make my manners next fall, talk Carolina football and watches. Great pic btw, you just needed a watch in the shot.

I am down with that.

me too

Hey Teddy Boy,

I am sorry you are in NC and not SC like me.

Spend all your time looking at genuine watches on the net and at an AD, and then you too can be a watch nerd. lol

I have learned just enough to make me dangerous, but I still have to bow to some of the master nerds on here. They have mad skills finding flaws with reps and I have learned so much from this forum and it's members.

To all my watch nerd brothers, a toast.

Sir Lancelot, I actually mistated. I live in NC but I am actually of SC. I grew up in SC and hold a degree from the University of South Carolina. I am a rabid Gamecock fan, please tell me that you don't see orange.

In most of the older Panerai reps, including the 029, the A has its crossbar too low, resulting in a larger upper triangle and a 'droopy' appearance. Just compare most rep PAMs with the corresponding gens - the newer reps (104 some subs etc) are correct but the bulk are incorrect. The 029 pictured in that post had the crossbar at the correct height so this must be a different run of dial. However if it is for the Asain movement only then this dial will not suit the more desirable ETA 2893 movement watches.

Thanks for the response. Some of y'all (I'm from NC) amaze me with your abilities to notice detail. I'm going to look more carefully at some gen pictures and also at some reps to see if I can pick up the difference.

Corgi, you're right up there with By-Tor when it comes to the camera.

You can buy a gen at Bernard Watch for under $1000 so why worry with the rep?

$1000 is a $1000, a lot of money in my book too. I finally decided that my watches were for wearing so I wasn't going to hold them back. I just take the watch off and put it in my pocket if I do something that is likely to rough it up.

Hi everyone.

I was wondering if all of you had a lot of experience opening up and fixing watches.

I mean, I have read a lot of the tutorials and it doesn't look very difficult but at the same time, are those skills that you developped over the years or is it within reach of just any newbie to open a watch to see what movement is in it and perform a few little fixes ?

Thanks for your answers !

I only work on watches in my spare time when I'm not performing open heart surgery or cracking open someone's head as a neuro surgeon. As in the case of my watch expertise, my heart surgery and neurosurgery skills were aquired by visiting enthusiast forums and paying careful attention to the real experts who post there. It's just amazing what you can learn on this internet-web thing, I really believe it might catch on.

The truthful answer is that I just bought a new bracelet for my airking and my watch maker will have to put the gen clasp on the aftermarket bracelet.

Here is a site containing lots of information regarding Rolex models including several reviews. Forgive me for postiing if it's old news.

http://www.rolexreferencepage.com/articles/

Perhaps it was a genuine dial ?

I didn't get the sense that it was a genuine dial. Regardless, my knowledge base is so poor that I don't understand the issue with an "A" on the 029 dial. Here is a link to the thread:

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=72298

Either my Pam 029 or my Ingeniuer although the Ingy has the incorrect white dial. Nevertheless, the Ingy is a very substantial watch.

A response to recently posted pictures of a rep 029 indicated that the version pictured had the "correct A." Could one of the Panerai experts explain what the issues are with the A on the Pam 029? Thanks in advance.

You can buy a gen at Bernard Watch for under $1000 so why worry with the rep?

Thanks for your reply. The best deal that I've seen for an aftermarket bracelet with solid 14k midlinks is around $330 on ebay. Given your post, this would seem high. Do you know of a source that offers solid 14k in the $150 range? Also I assume that my watchmaker can change the clasp?

It's from a guy who has lots of really good feedback on ebay over a long period of time. I'm going to go with it. Thanks again for your help!

You are about at terminal stretch... I had always thought that the jubilee bracelet could not effectively be repaired when stretched. I have since been shown that the labor involved in taking every link apart and replacing the pins in each link can fully renew the bracelet.

Now is this cost effective considering you can buy an aftermarket bracelet and swap out the clasp??? Not really! But if you want an all genuine piece for less than buying a new gen bracelet... It works.

My watch smith charges in the neighborhood of $250 for parts and labor. This includes taking EVERY link apart, replacing the internal pin and refinishing the entire bracelet. Once done, you would not know it was a vintage piece.

Personally, I would not do this... The aftermarket bracelets available (not the REPLICA ones available from our dealers) are quite nice and can be found for under $150.

Thanks for your reply. The best deal that I've seen for an aftermarket bracelet with solid 14k midlinks is around $330 on ebay. Given your post, this would seem high. Do you know of a source that offers solid 14k in the $150 range? Also I assume that my watchmaker can change the clasp?

I have a gen Airking from the early 80s that I bought used. Recently I've noticed that the pin on the clasp shows from the underside of the bracelet(it sticks out a bit) and that the bracelet isn't exactly square with the watch. Is this the end result of bracelet stretch? If so, other than appearance what are the problems. Should I get an after market bracelet as a replacement?