Toadtorrent

Lani has spoken!! He's summed up what you need to know...mainly because he put together an awesome photo set of this watch. If you search around for various scams sites on RWG, you'll find out MANY of the members came here after wasting money on the other sites. Many sites will offer Breitlings, Rolex, etc as there are many factories I'm sure making them. The issue is, how many sites are offering the higher quality reps? And again...how many offer the higher quality reps at reasonable prices? The watches sold by collectors here may be had by other sites...but often at prices waaaaay higher...and the watches here cost a lot more than $50 Chinatown specials...but their quality is leagues above. You may have found a site out there that has what you need at the price you want...but if they aren't "represented" here...it's your risk. Even if the collector is represented here...it's still your risk, but at least you have the benefit of collective experience here. I've seen crappy reps sell for 3-5x the price as some of the reps here (the best example being a Noobmariner vs. replicacenter one). Use search...experiment with search strings...read read read. If you look at many of the guides, the reason reviewers like myself, By-Tor, SD4K, Pugwash, Lani, Andreww, Chrgod, etc and a HANDFUL of others spend so many hours taking pics, researching, and writing things up is to provide a self service environment that can benefit more people than a single "personal" thread.

To be honest...I think wrist size is over-rated for big watches...it all depends on whether or not smaller wrist sizes are attached to smaller arms that makes the difference...or at least that's what I'm telling myself. I think that is a great watch...and a much better choice than the diamond markered Rollies you were looking at earlier. This has bling...but it also has presence. Great score...and lucky you. Thanks again to Andrew for the support of the board...and of course to the Rafflemeister for making it all possible.

Hey Nikos, You never solved this with your Cousteau from back in May?? Here are Takashi and Ajoesmith's tutorials...they should be what you need: Swapping Swiss Rotors with Asian on 7750s Takashi's A7750 to Swiss Tutorial Ajoesmith's A7750 to Swiss Tutorial

Chris @ Eurotimez generally assures if you pay for Swiss you get Swiss and has descriptions in his area here on RWG that help identify the Asian Swiss clones.

The Search tool is your friend...and looking at the main menu options and poking around yourself. There is lots to learn...and picking a vendor is not as simple as answering an "are they any good"...you have to determine that yourself. You have to find a collector (aka dealer, aka vendor) to buy from. There are many...each with their issues and each with their greatness. Collectors Reviews of Collectors and Users All the collectors will be able to get what you want likely, even if they don't have what you want pictured in their galleries/webshops...so emailing them is recommended...or whatever the particular collector says to do (some say email, some say PM, some say Skype, etc). Dealers vary in terms of response time (hours to days), and quality of English. All can ship to the US. Good luck and welcome aboard.

Agreed...those are some of the better ones I've seen.

I got an email that my strap order from Angus was shipped...so I think Angus is back in business hopefully. Other users have posted some trouble recently...but for me...so far so good. As to factories making this one...there are a number of factories making the Cousteau Divers and Aquatimers...but from what I understand, there is only 1 that is making the good ones...so you should be alright. There may be the usual rep problems like misaligned datewheels which are corrected with putting in gens...but overall...the Slevin should be a fine piece. Some users in the past have complained about dust on the dials of the other CD's...not the Slevin...and that seemed to have been fixed overall as a problem.

That makes sense to me. My gens are all vintage with slow beats...so I'm more of a visual...I just notice something seems the same or "different" in the movement from my gens.

Alligoat has summarized the info nicely. Remember...from all you will read here...you are talking about a very select cross section of society...and the premium posters on this board are really some of the most knowledgeable watch enthusiasts around...gen or rep. So...what are often really small issues may seem "bigger" on this board because of the WIS pursuit of perfection or close-enough-to-it-ness. Pretty much all reps (except for uber-modified Frankens) can easily be spotted by a specialist in the field...but those specialists are few and far between. e.g. People who can determine visually the difference between the 21.6k and the 28.8k movements either have enough knowledge about movements and which goes into what...that they will likely be able to call out inconsistencies with crown shape on Rolexes or relative font sizes on casebacks...so there is no point in trying to pass your fake off as a gen. You'll read that some users here have passed their reps as gens and fooled some ADs (very bad taste and a bad practice and against forum rules)...but remember...very few people who sell watches, really KNOW watches. Most people (including those who buy gens) won't even know what a Panerai or Alaine Silberstein is...let alone what beat movement should go in which watch (some watches like vintage Rolexes or Pams actually should have 21.6k movements). The rest of society will just know that Rolexes don't move like quartz movements...and a 21.6k 2813 will more than fit that bill...of course, unless it's supposed to have a quartz movement (e.g. some Omegas, Tags, Rolex, etc).

Love that Maxi...

The link was not working for me tonight...I'm following up on this. The main page works...but the actual d/l returned an error. I tried on a few different machines with different o/s...no dice. Stay tuned. If I can get the pics, I plan to repost the tutorial and relink the pics.

Hi, Check here: Noisy Rotor Others with way more watchmaking experience than I'll ever have have also stated grease is not so good as it adds too much resistance to the rotor: Power Reserve and Loud Rotor on A7750

Love that ceramic!!

...just look out for the 2 small parts...and don't lose them.

You know where I stand on this...I've participated in all the raffles I think. I'll do a calendar too. It is for a cause...hopefully more of the "on the fencers" read the post...as we know most of the Platinum Club probably will.

Ditto...the deployment is great...very comfy.

Indeed...nice job...and again...great lume on that one.

You know...the more I see those Links...the more I like them. Good job...nice pics! Let's see the box you're using! I'm shopping for one now...

I don't have pics handy...and there was the uber guide with pics on how to do this where the pics have unfortunately disappeared. To make a long story short...there are 3 small screws on the dial side that hold the datewheel in place. The datewheel is actually comprised of 2 parts (I don't know the technical terms): the wheel itself the centre disk that holds the wheel to the movement The screws are on the centre disk. On Noobmariners and others where they use a date overlay, the third screw might be hidden 75% by the overlay...you just have to work with this and your screwdriver. When you remove the 3 screws, the whole assembly can easily be removed. You will find 1 u-shaped part always gets stuck to the centre disk...look out for it and don't lose it. It just rests on the surface of the movement...but I need pics to show where...hopefully somebody else who has this documented can pipe in. There's also another lever that needs to be placed in the right position to ensure the datewheel moves properly...it can just be prodded in place. Ok...so...not my most helpful post...but at least it will get you started. I just wanted to make sure you had some information. I'll see if I can find some pictures to explain things more clearly if somebody else with the proper know how and terminology can pipe in.

Not too many really...mainly slipped datewheels and things like that. The other problems were essentially "known" problems for particular watches that I think are unreasonable to expect a collector to fixed (e.g. mis-aligned datewheels...that's a pretty common problem on a lot of these watches that I think is systemic with rep datewheels). Dust on the dials I've had...which I don't think is a problem...a quick de-casing and some Rodico and we're good to go...that sort of thing. A misaligned Omega logo might not be too bad...remove the dial...pop out the glued feet on the back, and re-glue...possibly the same with the 3-o-clock marker. For me...YMMV of course...issues I can solve in an hour or so I'm more than willing to do, if it means having my watch on me at all times. Sure the collectors will replace it or fix it if I contacted them...and things like misaligned markers or logs are certainly part of the QC/QA thing that should address...but I would rather not take the downtime with my new toy...and other issues like the aforementioned datewheel or cheap threading on the SMP Chrono are inherent problems with particular reps and are hard to get addressed readily.

If you already have one deployment buckle, you can check out Bob's straps (look at the links at the top menu) for deployment capable straps. They have moo-croc straps that look pretty good...but are non-branded (no Breitling markings on the inside of the strap). I have a black moo-crock on my Skyland that is good...and have a brown from Angus on order.

The tool doesn't matter...the compound to select makes more of a difference. You could pick up a Costco basic rotary tool kit for about $30, and buy better polishing compound to use with the felt polishing bits and you should be good to go. The better sets have better motors, finer speed control, etc...which is useful if you plan on using it for other things. Canadian Tire in Canada makes one that regularly goes on sale for $79 for a HUGE kit with a lot of attachments. OH...for the most part, the accessories generally are a universal 1/8" or 1/4" shank size. You could actually use 1/4" router bits in them too.

Ditto what others have said. There are varying problems with most of the reps. Misaligned datewheels are probably the most common, and not something that can really be fixed unless the factories reprint the datewheels...which is not likely to happen. That is why one of the most common upgrades is to fix font flaws, and date alignment by buying gen datewheels. Collectors will likely fix the problems for you...especially if your $1000 in purchases was from the same dealer. If you send back all your watches and complain about small problems...don't expect them to treat you with Rolls Royce service after awhile. The marker misalignment at 3 is far less a problem than some of the marker misalignments on the IWC Pilot watches (not the Spitfire, but the 3717-01). The bigger issue IMHO is the wrong Omega logo (happy feet vs. flat feet)...and that's just the problem with the UPO... The real issue is, is the issue worth sending the watch back, not having it for 2 months, only to have the watch returned with problem "A" fixed, and problem "B" and "C" introduced...with the risk of customs, etc, etc. Aaaah...the joys of the rep game.

Thanks. I love my Cousteau. I did a 2006 CD review here as well. It's a great watch and probably the one I wear the most. The big issues on the watch though are the hour markers on the outside are a little too close to the metal crystal frame, and the wood insert to some looks too fake. I think it looks fine unless you get it in harsh halogen type light then you can see the texture is wrong for real wood. The bezel doesn't line up at 12 without work which I haven't bothered with.

Very nice box indeed...I need to get something like that!