champagneinhand

I have had some decent buy years ago. The best IMHO opinion was in 2007 before gold went all kinds of insane. I was able to get a 50s era, hand wound Gerard Perragaux for around $270 if I remember right. It's 14K and signed in 3 inner parts. It's a thin 22mm sundial with average aging but the movement worked. I've looked recently and there isn't any great deals, especially on Gens with Gold cases. I've seen some Gen parts at decent price but always so much time left. FYI, I'm new to the forum or let's say I haven't posted a lot. Just signed in through tapatalk, but have been active on RepGeek for almost a full year. I've been into gen and rep watches since 1992, back in the days of horrid canal street garbage date just and Gucci crap. Things are so Much better post 2007 but prices have gone up markedly. Balancing that is better quality from the factories and TDs.

Hi everybody. I'm new to this forum but have been on RepGeek for almost a year and have been doing Gen and Rep watches since 1992. This was a great thread. I bought my own timegrapher for just over $200 and it pretty invaluable, especially if you work on watches for even basic stuff. If you are going to lay out almost a grand for the various tools you need for working on mechanical watches then you won't regret it. Kind of like a demagnetized, the best screwdrivers and tweezers you can afford a timegrapher is a must. Thanks for concisely explaining the benefits of the device as well as the shortcomings of basic QC pictures. Great movements are designed to balance out the + and -s over the day while wearing a mechanical watch. When you have the watch holder and can simulate any angle it's easy to see if something big is off and yes proper cleaning and lubrication is essential. So many reps come with too much lub, not enough or just the wrong type of lubrication. As the 78 year old watch maker I know really well shows people, a good lub should only require a pinpoint of lubrication put on the proper spots that will move smaller amounts throughout the gears. It huge to see this in a plate of glass. A drop is enough to lubricate 20 mechanical movements that are assembled in a clean, dust free environment. We know none of the rep factories have these conditions and many don't even wear latex gloves... So annoying to need to pull apart a rep to clean finger prints off a crystal. The may make a great rep but we have all seen hair and even food particles stuck in newly assembled movements from the better Chinese factories.