Jawo

All I can say that it is fantastic and refreshing to have a dealer like you onboard. I know there have been a few dealers in the past that have undergone hand inspections, but I use the word few very lightly. I look forward to doing some business with you in the near future.

Try to message seller johngalarza on ebay. I bought 4 movements off him for $165 a piece that The Zigmeister installed on various projects. They are a fantastic deal and exceptional quality. He might of cranked up the price a bit since the demand has grown.

Keep in mind that population control has already been implemented in China. One family, one child if the family wants government support and benefits. This was initiated 2 decades ago. It is in our society and human nature to continue our bloodline so not having children does not become an option for most families. It is very easy to say that if you can not provide for a child, don't have one but this philosophy is not followed in society.

1. You can't necessariliy blame the parents. Many of these children are kidnapped and forced into labor. This reality has been ongoing for generations mostly prodominant during the industrial revolution. Many parents also realize that this is a harsh reality and that a family can't mearly survive on $50 a week. 2. Yes, this definately is an enforcement issue. The govenment in China has to place emphasis on concerns that address the nation. This has to be a mutual consensus of the people of China. As harsh as it may sound, China relies on child labor to keep their economy going. 3. In one form or another, I am sure that some child labor is used to carry out the production or distribution of replica watches. Depending what the definition of child labor is...18 and under? 4. We can base some association of how replica watches are made in relation to typical mechanical products. Cases are probably made factories, as well as the raw individual parts of the movement. The dial might be made in a different factory. The watches are assembled offsite at a different location. Of course this is pure speculation but following traditional production methods. Like previously indicated, we all know of people including ourselves that have worked for money during our childhood years like paper delivery, busboy or other forms of hard labor. There is nothing wrong with it as long as guidelines are in place to protect the worker like maximum hours, benefits, minimum wage requirements and educational rights. Working as a child should be about making incremental income for the family not taking away from a child's right as a human being and the right of being a child. Minimum age requirements in most countries is 14 but is difficult for countries trying to move ahead of third world status to adhear to that guideline. I strongly believe that child labor is used in virtually all forms of manufacturing in China. Some of you might remember the big debate about GAP clothing that was being produced in sweatshops with many children as laborers. I strongly believe that it is the duty of the government to enforce legislation to protect children and maintain their rights as a child. It is the ultimate responsiblily of the general public however to speak out however when those rights are taken away.

Damn Mark, where are the pics? They should look something like this: Post your pics already!!

I have purchased many straps from BOB, Strap Culture and HKTan. Aside from just the quality of the Calf Leather, the thickness of the strap accounts for cost too. As well as the stitching (stronger, thicker thread is usually better), finish of the strap, and whether or not the strap has a sewn in buckle which usually costs more. I have a Calf Leather strap i bought from Strap Culture and I love it. The leather is really soft and will not crack after bending it. A good quality strap should be resilient to wear and match the watch you are pairing it with. The most important thing is that you like it. HKTan for example, has amongst the best straps in the business. They are pricey but are handmade to spec. I own 6 of them. What I suggest is that you ask members to post some pics of calf leather straps with their reps and ask them how they like the quality and where they got it from. I think that would be most useful. I will start with my Calf Leather strap with sewn in buckle from Strap Culture paired with the Graham Chronofighter

This is an example of one of the watches in question. Most of you probably know where I got it from. It is the Oris Carlos Coste LE Chrono. Notice the lume flaw at the 4 o'clock marker and the bubbling of lume on the minute hand. This watch keep in mind was the new quality inspected piece after the intial batch was rejected by the dealer because of QC issues. I had to wait a month to get the watch you are looking at. How would you react?

You hit it about right. Roughly 10k in reps. I own lots of gens too but the reps have been an addiction.

It is the responsibility of the government in China to enforce the restriction of child labor. Unfortunately they do very little to implement child rights. They have established legislation to prevent child labor but do nothing to enforce it. It doesn't help that the US dollar is falling and the cost of doing business there becomes more difficult. I am sure this is the same for our watch collectors. Unfortunately boycotting China for our common goods does not become an option. It is our society that demands low cost of goods, and the retail channel retaining high margins.

You are right. Stuff like a misaligned pearl or date font are intricacies of a rep and the reason people get those kind of things modded so that they become close to the gen. What I am talking about are things like broken crowns, lume that is globbed over the markers, crystals falling off, pubic hairs in the movement...the list goes on. Like I said, I don't expect them to be perfect. What I am concerned with are dealers who claim hand inspection and have these type of problems pass through over to us. How can this be if they are personally inspected? If they are not hand inspected, don't market your business that way, and I am cool with the dropshipping. I just don't agree with paying more for the same product from another dealer because they advertise quality assurance when it is not carried out.

Thanks to guys like The Zigmeister, many of the flaws have been fixed myself. Unfortunately ones like a defective crown, lume or movements is beyond my capability. I know there are no easy answers to this and I didn't mean to stir up such a heated debate. Some members are stating that it is what it is. Perhaps, but we shouldn't be lead to believe that the watches are individually hand inspected when they are not. I can deal with many of the flaws, but can't reason as to why they have been passed through when we are promissed quality assurance. Dropship? Fine by me, but tell it the way it is with some integrity. Rep factory workers probably get paid less in a week than some of us make in an hour. I don't expect them to be 100% motivated to give us perfect reps. But would you not pay a premium to assure you get a perfect watch? For the money it costs the consumer and the dealer to send back return and fix flaws, the money would be better spent initially if it meant getting higher quality goods.

I think the dealers themselves are also getting frustrated with the QC these days too. It also costs them money to get problems fixed. This is the more reason for them also to voice their concerns. You only hear about problems that are in these forums. Imagine the thousands of other watches that have slip by with flaws.

Watch reviews are extremely helpful and have lead me to purchase many of the reps that I own today. They remain as vital information to these forums. Although my reviews are not up to par with some of the veteran members of the forum, I still enjoy doing them when I have time. Many thanks to the members that have dedicated their time to informing us. You know who you are.

Since rep collecting just over a year now, I have purchased more than 50 reps from many of the dealers on this forum. I know we are dealing with reps and that we cannot expect perfection like the gens. There is however a certain level of expectation when we are buying goods, whether they are reps or the genuine article. Just recently, I have purchased a few reps and all of them have visual or mechanical flaws like lume, crown falling off, dust under crystal and the actual crystal falling off. I think of myself as a pretty easy guy to deal with. I like to compromise and make sure both parties are satisfied. But what I can't tolerate are dealers who claim "hand inspected" or "quality assured" in their marketing or communications when this is not true. I have no doubt that that almost entirely that reps are dropshipped. There is no way that a dealer that actually hand inspects these watches can let them pass onto us with flaws. If the watches are being dropshipped so be it but don't give us bs about them being inspected. We need to stand up as a community to voice our distrust and disappointment on how we are being treated with deception and should not be tolerated. It costs me $45 for returrn EMS shipping back to China for a watch to be sent back. I have sent back over a dozen watches for various problems and that is not acceptable, especially if they are "hand inspected". I don't think there is a dealer on this board that has been unscathed by a return due to a flaw. What are your thoughts? Am I being unreasonable or out of line here? Am I expecting too much as a consumer? What suggestions do you have? Should watches perhaps come with an inspection certificate? I have been very patient over the past year but enough is enough. Jawo

Not sure what you mean by gasket. It is just the actually the crystal that came off. It was probably loose on the watch because some of the paint on the inner bezel has come off also. I will probably just Andrew for a replacement. It just sucks because a $278 watch just became $318 and having less than a week.

I just received my Oris TT3 chrono from Andrew about a week ago. Just now I felt something rolling around in my sleeve. Low and behold the crystal came off the case!! I have never seen this before. Is this an easy fix so I dont have to send it back? Or should I just request a replacement?

Owning a gen, I know what to look for on the reps. No regulator pin here and no number markings on the inside of the rubber strap. Flat Six

Chopard Miglia XL LE Chrono on BoB today.

I bought a HBB from Joshua when they first came out. It has a matte finished ceramic bezel. I know that the HBB came with 2 versions of the bezel. The matte was for Asian markets and Polished for North America. Is there any way to polish a ceramic bezel? With a Dremel maybe?

Thanks for the great review!! It lead me to pick up one of these beauties from Jay. Mine has a flaw at the 4:00 marker where the lume is not filled in properly. Thus even though it is not completely accurate, i am sending mine to The Zigmeister for a full relume. I didn't feel like paying $40 to reship it back to him to get this corrected. So much for personally inspecting the watches This was the reason why Jay shipped my order 3 weeks late. It has to do with QC issues and he had to wait for a new order.

Actually, larger sets like 60" and up are more pricey for LCD than Plasma. The Samsung is probably the brightest and dynamic LCD available. When I compared it to others on flat setting, it blew the doors off the other sets. Mind you I never got to see a Kuro. Plasma units are susceptible to high altitude pressure interference where it emits a buzzing noise. Not so good in mountain regions. LCD's consume much less power than plasma. No image burn means better overall compatibility for gaming and computing. Yes, plasma is better for viewing angles and generally produces better blacks. The Kuro is arguably the best consumer HD based display on the market but was sold out everywhere I went. I might have ended up with that set if I actually got to see one. There is good and bad about both technologies but I am fairly happy with my purchase. It is more than adequate in size for my bedroom and I will probably go with a Kuro for my basement when it gets finished. Take a look at the Samsung. I think you will be quite suprised and impressed on how far LCD has evolved.

A perfectly placed backhand to the opposing foe will render him helpless with a Chrono Fighter crownguard imprint embedded in the temple

I just picked myself up a Samsung LN-T5781FX and I love it. LCD's are topping Plasma sales and I believe is more of an international standard. While the best plasma's generally do have crisper blacks, I like the cinematic feel of LCD's. Plasma is still a phosphor based technology and believe it will get phased out. They are heavier, emit glare off the screen and have a screen door effect when up close and have a chance of image burn on cheaper units with stagnant images. LED technology will surpass that of plasma and this is evident of manufactures' websites. More LCD available than plasma. My Samsung has multiple LED backlights and a contrast ratio of 500000:1. The picture IMO rivaled the best Plasma's I looked at. To answer the original question on the thread, buy your 10 reps and finance your tv over 1 year with no interest

I don't know where to post this, but as you might know Kenberg's computer is not working and he is in the process of getting a new one set up. I just got a message from his partner indicating that a parcel sent to Holland for one of the board members here did not have a detailed address. Unfortunately I am the liason until Ken returns. If you are from Holland and has placed an order from Ken recently, please pm me and I will try to make sure the package reaches you. regards, Jawo

What a great find!! Just ordered one myself. Thanks!!