eddhead

you should have turned to the person to his left and said something like "... nice washed up, has been lounge singer you got there.. to bad it is not real... those glasses look phonier than the glasses in the old elvis impersonator acts..." what an [censored].

My PAM 029 has lost less than 3 minutes since may 12. 180 secs divided by 60 odays = 3 secs per day. not too shabby...

Well maybe I am one of those persons who do not always express themselves appropriately LOL . For the record, I have been participating in this forum since March and have benefitted greatly from the patience and knowledge base of several seasoned members...most of whom have been very generous with their time and with info sharing via PM's. I personally have not been slammed (although the day is young) however, occassionally I read a response to a new person's post, or an assumption from a member that makes me cringe in sympathy for what I know will happen next. (Actually, sometimes it is kind of funny.) Having said that, this can be an intimidating place for people breaking into the hobby. There is a lot of information on the site, but it is not all that easy to find.. in turn, that causes people to ask questions on subjects that may be pinned. I realize that frustrates some of the senior members and I can see why, but I can also understand why the question pop up. Also, the members have an awesome level of subject matter expertise.. far more than many new participants, which is also very intimidatin... I know if you ask correctly you'll get the info you need, but not everyone is capable of expressing themselves well.

Please be senstive to the fact that people do not always express themselves in the manner in which they mean to.. I think that may the case in this instance. I do not believe this person meant to imply that the dealers were shady although I can see where his message could have been taken that way.. instead i believe he was suggesting that when he does not see photos taken from a 'straight on' perspective' he wonders about what he is NOT seeing. Granted his oberservations may not be correct in all instances (as you have demonstrated) and there are legitimate reasons why these photos may exist in others (as has also been demonstrated) , but as a prospective indicating what he is looking for, this person is doing the dealers a favor. He is telling you what he would like to see in order to help him buy your product. His request may not be doable on all instances but he does not know that.. he is just laying it out there. The reason I mention all of this is because I am beginning to see some small amount of noobie slamming on this board. These people (including me) represent potential new markets for the dealers, high value markets that are aquired with little or no marketing effort. In most industries, suppliers would kill for type of access to these types of markets, but as a result of this board, it comes to the dealers who participate here with little advertising cost or marketing effort. In addtion, noobies represent a fresh perspective for the forum at large. As a general rule, without new blood, social groups run the risk of becoming sort of inwardly focused and stale. Sorry about the soapbox preaching.. take the comments with however many grains of salt you wish.

well how about this as a guess (this is truely a guess from the uninformed) many of these watches do not come with AR coating.. I would imagine the reflection would screw up the shot...

A lot of suggestions here that the perpetrator is a noob.. as a noob myself I am a bit offended... ok, not really but still I cannot help but think that there is some presumption here.... it could be a dumb regular or someone with a chip on thier shoulder, or a set-up... only eddie knows and apparently he is not saying... p.s. i did purchase from eddie, got a great PAM with a loose gaurd and tigtened it ... it took all of 3 seconds... it doesn't take a regular or even a smart person to figure out how to tighen it up a loose screw... camparing the hassle involved in sending the watch back, to the 5 seconds it takes to tighten the screw, i gotta think the person knew what they were doing when the marked the package the way they did...

I hear ya, but I am not quite sure I know how to go half way. I do agree though that that some level of transparency would be ideal.. just not sure how to get there

To the uninformed amature (me) this is a great looking rep.. i am not a huge breitling fan but the GT has me thinking...

That would be a mistake. By and large, this forum and the dealers who participate here, benefit from all the members, including the newer ones. For the dealers especially, I would think new members = new blood. I do not disagree with the notion of blacklisting members who engage in bad behavior (just as dealers are) but with new members come fresh ideas and perspectives and without them you run the risk of becoming xenophobic.

I received a PAM 029 with a 2893 movement from Eddie Lee in early May. It could not be more reliable or accurate.. has not lost more than a minute since the time of purchase, just incredible. I even shower and have swam with it... not harm... . just my two measly cents

Where we disagree I think is in the assumption that the manufacturer and merchant have perfectly aligned interests by virtue of both being on the supply-side. Notwithstanding the value added component of the merchant’s role in the transaction, I believe that the two parties are motivated by different interests. The merchant’s objectives are tactical… they want to sell as many watches as they can… velocity = revenue= income... they really do not care about the health of the Rolex or it’s long term objectives. Rolex, on the other hand is motivated by more strategic concerns. They undoubtedly view their brand as their most significant asset and its positioning themselves as a high-prestige item is mission critical. They are in it for the long-haul and are unwilling to sacrifice the long-term health of their brand for short-term revenue gains. To illustrate, let’s assume that the manufacturers allowed the merchant to set a market based price, and that price was below the current list. The result would be increased demand, accelerated inventory velocity, and yes, increased supply. The manufacturer would sell more watches at a lower price, thereby “commoditzing” (uh-oh b-school word) their product. In the end the commoditization of their brand would cause a cycle where in prices might continue to fall until production capacity was met. The result? More sales at lower margins. Secondary markets would suffer the same price collapse as because the product sold on the primary market serve as a suitable substitute. Again this is just a 2 cent theory from a layman, but one thing I do feel strongly about is that outside influences (i.e. non-market based ) on price or supply, are never good in a free market economy, aand create a lot of unknowns. One other thing I can tell you… my brain hurts!!

I hear ya. You would be surprised at the number of people in my gym who wear watches while they work out. Not all are high-end luxury watches, although there are many high-end sport watches (Tags, Omega's etc..) and most work out hard. Yesterday I worked on a stair master, and on the machine next to me was a woman with a nice looking Omega. She and I were both on for 30 mins. and I can assure you her workout was strenuous. I personally do not a watch because I find it uncomfortable, but I wouldn't judge anyone who does, nor would I presume to understand their motivation

I agree.

I completely agree that govt set price controls never work and are dangerous practices. I am actually a strong advocate of market-based economics, which is by far the most efficient and effective way of distributing goods and services. That is why I feel so strongly about this topic. Because not only are government set price controls a 'bozo no-no" (see i am reverting to childhood) but so too are ALL artificially set price controls. I believe that certain luxury watch brands (see if you can guess who i am talking about) circumvent the dynamics of a free market and thus do not play by free market rules; i.e. they do not allow the market to naturally achieve price equilbrium for their products through their retail distribution channels. Instead, they exert pressure on their resellers to hold the line on prices, and thereby circumvent the laws of supply and demand. Just my opinion. ( I have a few) I also think this is a friendly debate although I admit that I sometimea get a bit overworked on this stuff. My bad. Afterall i only know slightly more about this than I do about watches, which is next to nothing, but maybe I can learn a bit about both topics

I beg to differ and I DO understand the fundamentals of capitalism. Rolex is not a direct seller to the public, and while they do not have a monopoly on watches, they do have one Rolex watches which is a commodity unto itself. This by itself would not be an issue if they did not exert pressure on retailers to apply list pricing, however, by penalizing retailers who attempt to discount from list, they are effectively engaging in price manipulatiion. If you don't think so, try to find a retailer in the US who will publically advertise or admit to discounting Rolex watches. You might be able to work with one "behind the scenes" but certainly not publically.

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True on both counts. Nevertheless, Rolex, who is undoubtedly concerned with protecting their luxury brand may not be incentivized to lower prices which may lead to additional sales but with lower unit margins. Moreover, they are not dealing with the general public, thier retail re-sellers are. Many retailers probably would reduce prices if it meant capturing additional share, (they tend to be less concerned with margin and not at all concerned with brand protection) if not for the pressure exerted upon them to maintain the list prices In that regard, Rolex may have different objectives than the retailers who sell their products to the general public. You are correct though, it is difficult to guage the long term effects of potentially removing price restrictions which is exactly the point. By setting a price through the use of non-market based tools, the whole supply and demand dynamic gets whacked.

I tend not too for 2 reasons. The first is comfort. I perspire a great deal when I workout and as a result, devlop a rash when i wear a watch. In addition, I lift weights using wrap around gloves which, when worn with a watch, adds to the discomfort. Secondly, my understanding is that schock poses the greatest risk for watches. Again, because the bulk of my activity involves resistance training, I tend to resist wearing the watch.

Adam Smith acutally documented 5 conditions that must exist before Capitalism (and Supply and zDemand dynamics) can work in a free market. The main tenets of these condtions are that the buyer and seller have free access to the markets, that distrubution is unencoumbered, fand that full and equal information be available to all buyers, sellers, and producers. These conditions drive price equlibrium and are the the basis of "supply and demand" economics. Supply and demand economics do not work where a supplier controls pricing by systemically coercing retailers or by artificially controling supply (as would be potentiallybe the case in monoplistic or oligopolistic industrys). Based on what I have read hear, their is a claim that certain brands penalize retailers who discount thier prices to below list. Such punative measures constitute price fixing and corrupt the supply/demand price equilibrium. The "bid" dynamics do not work, because the sellers are not able to set competitive prices. If they were, prices would again rise, or more watches might be produced. The second situaton would lead to a diluting of the brand, but that is the way captialism is supposed to work.

The only one I have is the 029 with 2893.. but I can't seem to take it off my wrist!

This is awesome advise.. It is absolutely true that calls to the chariman's office of any large company receive a high priority. The approach you recommend with how to deal with the PA is right on.

wow, that is odd... the hands on the watch in this pic seem to be a lighter blue than the hands on the watch at carier.com, at least to me... can't cut and paste a pic in though, but it is easy to find.

I stand corrected. Thanks.

There is a real good write up by The Zigmeister in the knowledge section on automatics and maintenance. It is comprehensive and detailed and really helped me understand how different automatic movements work, which are best, and how to care for them. Basically, for most automatics, you cannot overwind them because of the clutch. In fact, The Zigmeister recommends winding new ones up to 100 'winds' before wearing them.

ummm... 47 to be 48 in sept. ouch.