chrgod

Cool find! I see that these are the cheapest TAG Heuers on eBay, but then they are way more used than the mint example you have! This is a real time capsule. The 1980ties were the area of plastic Swatch and Casios for me..

Cool test! Good to know that the UPO can take the stress of a Norwegian winter. St

Ah.. It is that one! I remember an ad for a watch with the Tritium tubes, but I never remembered the maker! Not a replica for me. Cool, but nothing special I think. "Just another nice 7750 chrono". Presonally, I would rather buy the Longines Hydro Conquest chrono, which is another niche replica. Cudos to the replica makers for replicating an odd piece, though!

I wonder if the price of used sports Rolexes are going down. During the last weeks there has been some Submariners below 3000 USD, a price range which previously were reserved well used Explorer IIs and Date Justs. This 1987 16800 with service papers has been out for a while, 2950 USD: http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tre...58782&rid=0 Also, this 2000 GMT-Master II with box and papers for 3200 USD seems tempting http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=tre...58568&rid=0 Strangely, the Explorer IIs do not appear to have dropped much. I think it is rather the more expensive models which have dropped in asking price. Or is my observations wrong? Well, had it been 7-8 months ago, I would have been buying.. But even with a safe job and solid economy, I don't feel comfortable spending this much cash on a watch.. The dollar is also rather strong, compared to last year.. Anybody else having it the same way?

Congrats on your purchase! Thanks for the picture. It shows the dial very well. Looks like a well made dial.. Lume markers are very good, sharp printing and they have the concentric pattern on the subdial. The sunken date does not really bother me.. Hmm.. another Breitling to buy?

Interesting.. I keep my fingers crossed! Thanks for the insight, The Zigmeister!

Interesting tool. It will be fun to read about your experiences. I have been watching these. It is way more advanced than the basic tinkering I do now, but it could be interesting if one want to take the hobby to the next level. Real "Boys toy"!

Well... To be honest I don't know the gen and I dont know the rep... Just looks like another Chinese skeleton watch... Sure a watch that will catch more glances from the average person than even the most excellent AP RO or modded IWC...

Slightly interesting watch.. It reminds me a bit of the Oris'es with the same red/ black bezel.. Will likely pass on this, but it is nice to see that the makers are still turning out cool watches! UN is a true WIS brand!

A "Bump" for this excellent review! Well written, and detailed! For me, the big Seamaster Chronograph is one of the few watches that disappointed me. I did not like at first encounter, too thick for me! I sold it on.. But later after rereading about how an excellent replica it is I bought it again "just to have it"... Then, after some months in the drawer I kind of rediscovered it. Strangely, this time I really like it! It is one of my candidates for an ETA-swap!

Well, I actually like it! Running seconds with a aircraft "turbine design" is a fun idea. Also, I have always found the date on the BP a bit wrong to have on a Vintage looking pilots watch.

Great looking ring! Not my style, but I am glad to see that the project was carried through. Great job for the community, Ken! Wear it well!

Interesting.. and tragic. Thanks for sharing!

A "home made" brand I think, like the "Alpha" or "Aeromatic" on eBay.. The movement is likely the same as in the cheaper 100 USD replicas. It is a good looking watch, but the ending price of 4500SEK / 500 USD is ridiculous!! Flying Tigers was a famous American fighter squadron of volunteers who fought for the Chinese before US entered WW2. Strange name for a watch brand... God knows where the Titanic connection is..

Not bad. For once the slide rule seems to be aligned! *EDIT* The sunken datewheel is due to the extra gears added to the 7750 for moving the chrono 30 minutes counter from 12 'o clock to 3 'o clock. Here is the gen.

Great project! Well worth the effort.. It is nice to be able to wear a true "handmade piece"!

I seriously doubt that anyone would replicate Soviet Sekonda watches! Some years ago, I saw an Poljot which was rebadged as "Rolex", though. The movement in the Sekonda is a rather decent movement. A rugged horse, based on the Venus 170, if I remember correctly. It is likely an older version of the 23 jewles 3133 calibre in my Poljot Shturmanskie:

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, in fact the chrono subdial hands are slightly different from the gen. However, I categorize this in the "only visible when comparing side by side" category. Yep, according to RWI, Watcheden and Rolex2u is the same guy. ( Not the same as Rolexaward, though! )

Never seen one in person, but there are some comparison pictures in THIS thread.

Here is my first "serious" attempt on vintagization. The base is a Silix-sub with no new parts. Bleached the bezel insert ( it took half an hour), worked the case, caseback and band. Think I went a bit over the top with the brown lume... and, I did not manage to fit the seconds hand back on. The watch runs very erratically now. Well, a cheap and nice way to learn. I like the way I got the pearl and hands.

Two nice watches. A SMP was also my first online replica buy, back in 2004. Congratulations!

This has been on my list for about two years, but I have not picked it up before now.. With the rather strong dollar and financial crises going on, I figured it was about time to stay out of the cool chronographs and settle for a "budget rep". The Tag Heuer Formula 1 series is the "bread and butter" of the Tag Heuer line. It is a series with youthful styled quartz-watches who appeal to the "Fast and the Furious" generation. The line was introduced in 1986, right after the "Techniques d' Avant Garde" takeover of old Heuer and changed it towards a more fashion-oriented style. Sure, the line of relatively cheap quartz-watches is the cause that many watch snobs look down on Tag Heuer. The Formula 1 Chronograph was updated in 2007, with a new dial style. Selling for less than 1000 USD, it must be one the cheapest chronographs from one of the big Swiss manufactures. The replica of the new F1 Chrono has been on the marked for some months, and there is a good review of it here. This time I decided to shop from a new vendor. Since my girlfriend "needed" a new bag ( just as I "needed" a new watch) I wanted to try out "Watcheden", which had a great selection of both bags and scare cheap replicas. His 168 USD list price is including shipping and using an RWI -code you also get a 20 USD reduction, so his price is equal to 128 USD on other sites. Transaction went smooth, good communication when the first bag we chose was not available. FIRST IMPRESSION This is how the watch arrived: Standard replica packaging, with a nice "Sapphire" sticker on the dial. First impression was good. Fine size, feels solid, cheap band (like the gen) and solid clasp. On the downside, it is a tiny bit of play in the bezel. It turns easily enough though, with distinct clicks. Having mostly black dialed watches, I was happy with the choice of the white dial. It felt different from all my other, automatic watches. Beeing a quartz, it is thinner and I was way less concerned about the watch being defect when I unpacked it. The band feels cheap, but does the job. The clasp is different from the genuine. The bezel and crown guards are covered with Titanium carbide on the genuine. On the replica I guess it is some sort of high quality plastic for the bezel. It feels good enough and have not gotten any scratches yet. The crown guards scratches easily though. After one week, I already have some scratches. Scratches on the crown guards.. Guess the genuine holds up better. DIAL Dial style is well executed. The big subdial@6 is running seconds, the subdial@10 is chrono-minutes and the last one is for 1/10 of a seconds on the chronograph. Text on the dial is crisp and good. On the genuine the white is more silvery, and the "FORMULA" text is bolder. There are a circular pattern on the two upper subdials. The Chronograph seconds hand on the new F1 Chronograph has a rather special shape, it is well replicated on the gen, and has the correct length. However, one of the biggest flaws on this replica is the size of the running seconds hand. It is much smaller than on the genuine, and does not touch the seconds track.. This buggers me a bit, but I was aware of this. Date window is very good, and one of the best parts of this dial. Very often, the date is slightly off or the sides of the date window crudely cut. One litte detail is that the lume dots on 2,5,7 and 7 should have a black border on the withe dial. Oddly enough, on the genuine, the red and orange dials do not have a border around these lume dots. The black dial has a white border. On this replica only the hands has lume (rather good lume), on the genuine the hour dots are also lumed. It is also a small lint on the dial, just above the "R" in "Professional". This is as one can expect from a replica, no matter the price.. Nice shape and color of chronograph seconds hand. Small size on running seconds hand. Crisp text, though! The date window and font is very good! True ETA-font! Another reoccurring flaw on Tag Heuer replicas is slightly greyish rather than bright white text on the dial. My Carrera has this. On the F1, the white parts of the TAG Heuer logo is grey. However, it is not very noticeable. On a macro like below, it looks way worse than it is. Slightly greyish logo. The polished hour markers are a bit dirty, usual on a replica. Notice the red "60" on the seconds track, cool. CASEBACK AND SIDE ENGRAVING The caseback is well done. True engravings that are sharp, and with no spelling mistakes! Tag Heuer has the dial style referenced in the model number. The "CAH1113" actually is the orange dial Formula 1 chronograph, while this white model is CAH1111. Buy the orange one if you think this is important Caseback. The protective plastic is still on. New for this model is the "TAG Heuer" engraving on the side of the case. A nice touch, which is well replicated. Engraving on the side. Maybe not as sharp as on the genuine, but looks good. MOVEMENT The genuine has an ETA quartz movement 251.262 or G10.211. This movement powers quite a few Swiss Chronographs, among them a Swatch, Porsche Design and Breitling Colt. The chronograph seconds hand ticks in 1-seconds increments and 1/10s of seconds are counted by a separate subdial when you stop the watch. But enough talk, time to pop the caseback and find out what powers this beauty! Hmm... It does not look like anything I have seen before.. But yes, it appears to be an ETA-quartz! The hole with an arrow next to it is likely the stem release. I thought I should pop out the movement and remove the lint on the dial, but it did not release as expected. I just left it as it.. Better safe than breaking anything. REPLICA VS GENUINE "ruelcortez" has already done a very good comparison in his review. But I will nick two of his pictures here. Replica versus genuine. More silvery white in the genuine, longer seconds hand and borders around the 5&7 lume dots. Picture by "ruelcortez" Replica versus genuine. The difference in the clasp is obvious. Mine has a polished fliplock. Picture by "ruelcortez" All in all, I find it an excellent watch for the price. The only thing that buggers me is the short seconds hand. For the first time in close to five years, I will likely put a quartz into regular rotation. Wristshot Family picture!

Impressive! I have always been fascinated by the jump hour watches, have not yet bought one, though. Cool to have a look under the skin. Thanks for the time and effort!

Thanks for the time and effort! A good guide! Was in fact thinking about it some days ago.." Why is there no Patek Phillippe guide? "

Interesting to see pictures of the lesser known replicas, which still are good looking watches! Is it a helium valve@10 o'clock?