anton

so far, anything in my radar has always led me to buy a gen of that brand, since to me, I see that a rep is kinda like an extended "test drive" of that one car you always had your eye on, but wanna build some emotional value to it before commiting to it full-on (sounds like spouses, too. ). Since X-mas time is coming around, bonus time will come near as well. I see myself liking the Zenith Defy eXtreme (am I the SECOND person that likes it?!?!) and possibly buying it. As far as the reps go, though, those Panerai ARKTOS models are looking mighty purdey (no pun intended!) as well.

what would be the tells for you? i'm pretty sure that his link chrono is a gen and the seller has a long-standing reputation of selling high-end watches.

again with the men and women issue... Miss V...you also confirmed my other suspicion about women and their watches... Women like their watches to be an accessory...whereas men like their watches to be tools to them. But the line is closing closer than ever. What used to be the ultimate addition to a woman's watch (diamonds), men have taken something lovely, beat it in the head with a stick and made it gaudy-looking. Unfortunately, the marque that falls victim is Breitling. Why oh why are their watches encrusted with awful oversized diamond bezels??? Leave that to Rolex.

oh well. we'll never figure out women and the crazy sorts of watches they like. i know i like the "tool" aspect of my watch. breitling (and Sinn) puts that down to a "T". but women like the simplicity of those panerais. i swear to god, the only watches i even remotely consider owning are the ones that make other people study my watch for thirty seconds to find out what time it is.

I suggest that you start on PMWF. Or TZ's sales corner. Someone is always selling theirs and always the auction sites.

The company's called "MKII". It was started by Bill Yao of Seiko custom watch fame.

It has single-sided AR. Buy one. It might not have the prestige of let's say, a Breitling, but you get alot of WATCH for your $$$.

So today originally started out as a day for myself to pick up some moving supplies, but on the way there though, something unexpected occured. Not only did i NOT pick up any moving supplies, I didn't pick up anything related to moving. Instead, I picked up a new watch. I know that from rep collecting I seemed to neglect the variety of gens that I could have purchased or have perused through. This one did seem to catch my eye, though. It's the Hamilton Khaki X-Wind Chronograph. Before today I didn't think much of Hamilton or know much of its' history but that was because I wasn't much of a WIS. All I knew were the Rolexes, Tag Heuers, and Movados. As this Chronograph is intended for aviation use, it set me on a whole new plane (pardon the pun). It was geared to be an affordable, or alternative aviation chronograph. As you can see from the pictures, it has a very busy dial and a total of THREE functional bezels. Now I'm no "flyboy" so I don't know what it exactly calculates. So a quick browse of the manual (didn't know a watch needed a manual!) tells me it is used to calculate flight times, distances, and altitudes. I beleive it was released as a response to other much pricier models out there; namely the Navitimer, some Sinn and Fortis chronographs, and the (then new) Bell & Ross BR01-94. The case diameter is roughly 44.5mm and Hamilton has done a good job of using ALL of the available space on the watch. The crystal is flat, though (I don't know the correct word for it) for some reason it give a distorted look when viewing from its' side or at a slight angle. The watch sits nicely and is very comfortable due to its' flat back. There are three crowns and two chronopushpieces. The two crowns on the right side control the inner bezel and the "inner inner" bezel, which can be seen from a window placed on the inner bezel. Inside of the body is an unadjusted, roughly unfinished stock V7750, placed in an upside-down configuration. For something that has been largely untouched from when it left ETA, it keeps great time, being off by maybe -6 to +8 seconds a day. The watch was intended to be my daily wearer and my "beater". It's a beauty to look at and suits me perfectly as a "tool" watch. It's available in a rubber, pilot's leather (like the IWC Big Pilot band), and bracelet models. I hear there's even a limited edition of this watch being done in red gold. I purchased this from my local dealer at a discount from the MSRP of $995. I never understood why Hamilton has always been looked down by the WISes on other websites, but I guess simply it's because they were the "Patek Philippe" of America, but since being owned by the Swatch group have turned into just a name on a watch. But since the build quality is FANTASTIC, it keeps great time, much attention is given to the details of the watch, the functionality (okay, maybe most of us will never use the functions) that it provides makes me feel that it gives great bang for the buck. And online, it can be had for $700 or less. A V7750 OEM watch for less than $700 you say? You bet! Next time you are considering spending near $7-800 on a rep that has a V7750 or a HBB, consider this. You get a great looking watch, a reliable timepiece, and it's also backed by a warranty to boot.

Well, you can't spell "BREITLING" without "Bling"! I guess every piece they make is set to stand out. Maybe it's not the intention, as they are supposed to have that "professional" look; but I can see the women not being partial to them. The dials are just too busy! But that's what makes me love them and makes me think that gen or rep, they are well worth the $$$ you pay for them due to the intricate detailing and craftsmanship that is put into every single one of their watches.

k2222, put me down for (at least) three.

Doesn't that bug you? Because I'm the same way. Instead of appreciaing the beauty of art some of these watches are, I am taking the time to cross off a mental "checklist" of what could be wrong. So if a rep could have a majority of the details but the datefont wrong, I don't buy it. And even if I do buy it, I look at it as the most glaring flaw.

I hate people like that too. I have always held onto my rep collecting with some sort of quiet dignity. Like some "dirty little secret". My father handed me a Calatrava that he's had for thirty some-odd years. It's very beautiful and someday I'll hand it down to my son or daughter (when I have one, anyway). I think that any rep will never match the quality and effort that is put into one of these PP's, but dang, they sure are getting there.

This notion has been stirring in my head for some weeks now and i'd like to bring it out to the public. I'd searched on the rep forums for some answers, but so far found none. What I'm trying to figure out is how two mass-produced items (one being genuine and the other being a replica) could have the same "look and feel" when one costs a fraction of the other. Granted, we see these in other tangible items as well, like clothing and appliances, but what I'm primarily focused on is the watches. What I haven't been able to figure out as of yet is the "raw cost" of many of these watches. Plainly speaking, the manufacturing cost of producing such a watch (the cost of the parts). I know that in "haute horologerie" (high horology) much of the MSRP is related to the costs of developing the product, so I accept it if I am paying 250,000 for a JLC Extreme LAB, but $25,000 for an AP ROO that has the same movement as other, much cheaper iterations; only that it would be produced in the 100's and has a different dial color? Does a different dial color justify a $8K price increase? Now going back to my original topic, if you did not account for the movement used in the rep watches, do they use the same quality of steel as the gens? (I assume the costs of steel are different based on where they source it from), are the hands made of the same material? Does more lume really cost much more? Is an AR coat that pricey when we are talking about coating thousands upon thousands of crystals? The reason why I bring this up is I have in my hand two Ferrari 008's. One rep and one gen. If they are almost identical, then how do we justify the $300 vs. $6000 price difference of what is essentially the same product? I tried to use Breitlings as part of my argument, but the bracelet weight of the rep is still not up to snuff with the gen.

then that doesn't count. pug, don't be a pug.

I've got a PAM 212, BR01-94, PAM 202, HBB, they all seem to bug me with the mis-aligned subdial indicators. But Pug, your GST looks beautiful..mind telling me which dlr you got it from?

...is how the "10" and "20" in the minutes subdial is not aligned. I owned maybe five or six chrono reps (even the HBB) and it's not aligned.

that's ironic. but then again, they're the only ones who can get away with it.

I hate it when people say that they cannot guarantee the authenticity of a $18,000 watch. If it costs $18,000, I think one would have the authenticity engraved into their brains until the day they die. And maybe they'll tell their in-laws or siblings the story of how they once had an $18,000 watch.

Simple question: After gathering all this knowledge and know-how about the rep world, are you still fooled by some of the reps into thinking that it was the genuine article?

I second the problematic Ingy. Mine works like a charm dial-side down, but dial-side up will only give me about five-ten minutes. Someone said that the balance cap jewel might be loose, so I'm trying to use my novice skills to fix it, or replace the movement. With AR it is beautiful. But even without it, it still is beautiful. The reflections are just unavoidable. So, I only wear mine at night.

I used to own a gen chrono and AFAIK, there was no screw-down crown. But that could differ between models.

EDIT: Thanks doc for the comment. Calibre 17 used to have the 7765, used in older carrera chronographs. That has since been replaced by the 2894-A2. This calibre 17 is also used in the Limited Edition SLR. I don't know what the "RS" designation is, though. It could be just a naming convention.

Not a surprise that the design team from panerai is responsible for the creation of the timewalker... Both companies are part of the Richemont Group.

Link Calibre 36 could not be replicated, since it is based on the El Primero 400 Calibre. (I believe it's basically no difference except for the "C36" engraved on the bridge). Additionally, El Primero-based movements have subdials spaced closer to the center of the dial. A7750 would make it "far off". Even if they made a plate like the daytona seconds @ 6, we would then have to deal with a recessed datewheel. If it took so long for the factories to replicate the 7750 movement, I would expect to see a El-P copy by the time I am long past this hobby.

Well, it looks like the scammer is at it again. This time he posted on local website craigslist: http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/jwl/396094509.html Not everyone is as eagle-eyed as us. I know that a warranty card without a stamp and a COSC certificate without numbers almost guarantees that the watch is fake. At least he posted the correct model this time.