got-it

Thanks for the help Ken.

I'm helping a friend buy a watch and she's very interested in the Gucci Twirl. However, when looking at trusty's pictures, she noticed some weird welding spots at the joints by the face of the watch. Here's a pic from Andrew's site Now, does the gen have welds like that too? If so, that's pretty weird (and horrible quality). Does anyone here have any knowledge about this? Maybe a gen and rep comparison that was done? I did a search and seems Victoria had both gen and rep, but doesn't look like she participates in the forum anymore. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I consider myself a member of this forum for a long time now and I've traded and bought many reps. I've become inactive with the board simply because I haven't been very active with the hobby (gens are keeping me busy). But recently, something was brought to my attention that concerned me a great deal. I feel like our hobby is becoming more and more well known to the mainstream crowd. Recently, while speaking to a salesman at one of my regularly frequented ADs, I saw someone who obviously bought the rep from one of our dealers, showcasing it off to everyone to see. Granted it was a super rep (it was the concord c1), but this blatant disregard is alarming. This isn't the only incident that has occurred. I'm a bit worried that this sort of exposure may one day lead to our hobby's doom. Anyway, just ranting. But it would be nice if we're (especially the newer members) would be more cautious. This hobby should continue it's underground status.

Yup, I'm in the same boat with Reps. I have 2 gens, but no reps left. I will probably buy another rep in the future...but right now, I have my own issues about the reps that are out there that I will keep to myself.

I can certainly understand the cost to train them, but I would certainly expect at least some minimal basic training. You don't start a job without learning a little bit of your position. By following some basic rules, the sales person should know, at the very least, on how to operate the watch, since they are the ones that would be teaching a first time mechanical watch buyer on how to use it. I can certainly let the knowledge of the movements slide (like what I wrote in my original thread), but I would expect them to at least know how to use the watch properly.

Sometimes I think the AD sales rep contributes in messing up gens by giving some pretty bad information. I went in to an AD over the weekend to purchase a gen Oris Williams Day Date. Before purchasing, I always pretend I know nothing about mechanical watches or the brand. A sales guy introduces himself to me and asks if he can help me. I told him I am interested in the Oris Williams Day Date, and if he would provide me a bit more information on the watch. He tells me that all Oris watch movements are in-house, and that the one I am looking at is no exception. Ok, so he got this wrong, but it wasn't a huge deal because Oris does purchase the 2836-2 and modify it in-house. As I am looking at this watch, he suggest that I give it a few shakes to get the movement going. I'm thinking..."shouldn't I wind it up instead?" I politely ask him if I should wind it up instead, he proceeded to tell me that winding up is not required, and that I can just shake it up to get it going. He proceeds to pull out the crown on a chronograph automatic and shakes it rapidly...then....he uses the chrono...oh lord no. At this point, my eyes glazed over and I somehow believed I am in some sort of nightmare. I didn't purchase from him. Instead, I went to another AD and bought it from them. But sometimes I wonder if these sales people contribute to the defectiveness of some gens. I especially like how he had pulled the crown out and couldn't understand why the second hand had stopped, and shook it some more in an attempt to get it going LOL.

Well said. I recently bought myself another brand new gen Oris. It cost me $850cdn, which is roughly $700usd. For that price, I am warrantied, and I have a highly reliable modified ETA 2836-2 movement. The super reps, though highly accurate and nice in appearance are just too much for me to justify that kind of spending.

No worries. Just wanted to give you a heads up cause the admins might get [censored] with clone postings. I also think this information is very relevent, considering I too lived half my life in an asian country.

I can understand starting this thread...but do you have to post the same thing on several threads???

Or worse yet, a less popular brand which has a reputed Swiss ETA movement. This watch could be in the dealer inventory for months, and you wouldn't know it because you apparently done your homework, only to discover that, as the first person to send it off for servicing, it was a Asian copy. Too many factors and none of it is worth the risk IMO.

Not to mention if we don't deal with it now, who knows how bad this situation will become. History is not immune from repeating itself. I think people need to note that the people who are dissatisfied are not a bunch of newbie members. We are all season members who have bought, modified, and sold dozens of reps. We know what is expected, and tolerated.

Well...they should really change their intro to their main page..."Please do not pay in the realm of $1000 dollars for a rep, you are being scammed." doesn't seem to apply anymore to their 5 star dealers.

I'll relate how I feel about all this. My 2 cents of you will. I am seriously disillusioned by all this. The lying, price fixing, conglomeration, and so on have seriously turned me off of reps. I am not saying I will never buy reps again, but I feel I will not be buying for now. Honestly, a steelfish which cost $308 + $30 shipping = $338usd is a high price in Canada. I'm spending almost $400cdn on a rep. For the same price, I manage to negotiate with an AD for a Tissot Le Loche automatic. Actually, it was $20 cheaper. Something is seriously wrong when I can buy a beautiful gen with a 2 year warranty for $20 less than a rep. The ETA 2824-2 does not give me issue, and best of all, I have the assurance it is warrantied. I understand that these 2 watches are not really comparable, as one is replicating the steelfish and the other isn't. but I can't honestly say the steelfish is better in quality than the Tissot I bought.