Toadtorrent

...and spare movements. Ideally, get one of the one you are working on so you can see a reference for what things should look like...and even a third to act as a donor for the screws you will lose. A high power magnet for sweeping for dropped parts is good too. It won't get some of them due to the metal used...but the screws should be alright. And...take pictures of every phase so you can see what things should look like.

You're new here...so welcome. Read the many informative posts here, and you will find out there is a HUGE difference in the quality of the reps available. Some reps are extremely expensive and a total rip off for what you get. Other reps are cheap...but surprisingly accurate. There are $100 and $300 versions of the same reps available with different movements and different cases, dials, straps, etc. Read on...and you will find there are even subtle differences between the high end reps you can find from the dealers people have had good experiences here. But, in general...as said above, you will not got a "super rep" for $65 of any Breitling. A Beginmariner/Noobmariner can be had for about that price...but that's about it.

The older releases had the more accurate heavier date font...that is correct. I've tried the gen on a few times...SS and RG and it's quite the watch. The rotating disc running seconds subdial is an excellent feature. Earlier posts by the first buyers had the heavy datefont...any of the more recent posts have had the light date font. The real glaring flaw is the movement obviously...but the rotor is nicely finished and hides 50% of the visible movement.

If you look through the Antiquorum Rolex auction catalogue, you see sooooo many variations on dials on the vintage pieces, it's really hard to really say yay or nay on any vintage watches. I did a little guide to some rare vintage rollies...obviously not complete...but it shows huge variances on things like crown guards that many members here speak so definitively about how they should look. Toad's Vintage Rollie Guide I think the watch looks amazing. I would love to do something like this!

Generally...the buyer pays all shipping fees back. I've never heard of customs fees having to be paid in China. When you returned the watch DOA, did you receive instructions from the dealer outlining specifically the address and what to put on the customs label? Did you follow the instructions exactly or did you puto on the label something like "replica watch warranty return?". Obviously, if you did anything OTHER THAN labelling exactly how the dealer requested, you should have to pay with no argument. If you followed specific instructions and still got caught by CH customs...you're unfortunately stuck. This is the joy of the rep game unfortunately. If you want your watch...you gotta pay the price. How much are the fees?? Do you pay directly to Chinese customs?? Shipping BACK to you is generally covered by the vendor. It may not be shipped by EMS (faster service)...but the dealer will cover shipping.

I couldn't sleep after reading that thread...who would buy such fake watches? I mean really... It is amusing how much more knowledge there is on this forum, especially since many folks here have both reps and gens and often reps of their gens, so comparitive knowledge is present, as opposed to uptight gen owners who speak ill of reps not knowing anything about them.

The obvious ones: HBB RG - $35,000 CDN Concord C1 - $12,000 CDN (not quite $15,000...but with taxes...pretty darned close)...the RG one below is pictured at $35,000 CDN (pic by rckh) AP EOD - ~$59,000 USD Pretty much any of the AP ROO's fall in here... IWC St. Exupery RG - ~$15,000 USD IWC Big Pilot - $12,500 USD + taxes (Lani's pic) Any of the vintage DRSD, Red Sub's, 6263's, 1655's, etc Patek Nautilus ...there are TONNES!!

That's a good looking piece.

The Zigmeister has said he adds lume right on top for the dials...but on hands, he has to scrape off the old lume...which ALWAYS results in some damage.

The deadline's tight for 1st of Oct...depending on where it's going. You can try any of the dealers here. Mine was from Silix. Check the dealers section of the board. I ended up getting the same incorrect caseback...oh well, what can you do. That's the world of reps. Good luck.

Good job!

That's a great looking collection. It's very diverse as well. The Snoopy is a fave for a gen I think...albeit, hard to find.

There are TONNES of Canadian members here. Being in BC, you will even get your watches probably in 4 days on the super fast end. The speed generally depends on having the item in stock or if they have to source it. But, once actually posted, it will take about 3-7 days to BC...7-10 days to Ontario. I've never had a problem ordering here...or sending back. EMS tracking online is slow (it may take 4 days to get an update to the status...and the watch may well have arrived before a change shows up for your tracking number). Buy from a reputable dealer, and you should be fine. Do lots of research here. Read about the watch you are interested in...buying reviews for particular vendors. Buying reps is not like going to Home Depot or Costco. Customer service is there...but it's in China...so communication can be slow...problems with quality control will mean you have to mail things back at YOUR cost with potentially 2 months delay. These are reps...they are not gens. Don't spend more than you can afford to lose. Treat it like a hobby and entertainment, and you will have fun. It is exciting to get your first rep...and once you get one...you'll suddenly have a list of all the ones you want to buy. Finally, make sure you post back your experience to contribute back to the community, and upgrade your membership if you find the info here useful. Use the search function here...it will likely answer almost all the questions you have.

Another post said they actually had AP ROOs for sale 50% off on the first day of the sale only. It wasn't just the cast off, old stuff they were clearing out!!

New watches can sometimes take from 7 - 30 days to really "settle" before they run as well as they will without servicing. If you have the stopwatch function running, it will wear down the power reserve quicker obviously than without. To start the watch, as you have done, a gentle swirl for a few times should be enough to get it going. Once running, you can set the time...remembering NOT TO SET THE DATE THE QUICK WAY BETWEEN ABOUT 2100h and 0400h or you will screw up the date set mechanism. Seriously! You can wind the watch as stated earlier using the crown...but this will prematurely wear down the movement and The Zigmeister our resident movement expert has posted a technical explanation with photographs on this. A watch, fully "wound" with active arm movement across an entire day will generally at most have no more than 48hrs of power reserve, if you are not very active during the day wearing it (i.e. you sit at a desk)...it could be much less. Some movements just have bad power reserve. I have one that is about 30hrs...and others that are about the 48hr...so it's a bit hit and miss. A movement servicing should solve this...but the cost of doing a proper servicing (over a quick surface oiling) may be prohibitive for you.

I think it would be great to bring back awareness to cycling in North America following the crash of interest with all the drug scandals. All the major North American sponsors essentially dropped interest and the last couple Tours have only had marginal media interest. An event like this come back would be great for the image of thge sport in the newer, supposedly "drug free" climate.

It's true. Digicams make macro photography so much easier. Play around with white balance either with the camera or after in a photo-editing program...it will help get rid of the yellow tint. Nice little collection with the Orange Monster.

Dress or sport? New or would you consider used? Pre-owned anything would give you the best value. Pre-owned Rolex or Pam's would likely give you investment protection down the line with ever-increasing prices.

I'm thinking with the BT theme...a vintage black dial Rollie on croc would look great. Nice write up and some great pieces.

Not the dial colour of choice for me, but on Mrs. By-Tor-to-Be...it looks great. Nice review and interesting shots. I had some crappy photos of a Ladies DJ with President bracelet I was going to do a review on (camera broke so I had to use a substitute before I got my new one). I'll try and type that one up one of these days.

The OCC is a little too chunky for my wrists I think, but I really do like the look of it. The comb of colours and subdial arrangement is great.

Great as always The Zigmeister. Is the white lume a C-1 mix and the Tritium using that new lume from your other post? Is this the unbranded lume from your other post? How does the glow look on this new lume? The gloss finish here looks great I think.

Hey, Thanks for taking the time. Sharing any information people find useful is definitely appreciated. There are far too many users who sit and lurk and don't attempt to put back in the community at all...and others who even worse, put back only to ridicule and flame others. So...again, thanks for posting this. I think some of the folks here (who really are not being mean...but just poking a little fun) are just highlighting how when you stick around with the hobby a little longer and read a lot more of the great stuff on this board, you will find that the rep market today has really advanced over time since that article was originally written. I paid for the download of the e-book some time back and still find it to be a useful reference. However, with the quality of the so called super-reps being extremely high, with the SOSF (aka SFSO, Super Ocean Steelfish), distinguising rep from gen is not that easy to do without a thorough examination or case opening. If you read a lot more of the posts here...especially from new folks, you will see a recurring theme for many of the questions being asked...namely things like "where do I find the best sub", and, unfortunately "what does SOSF stand for" is one of those common questions being asked by newbies. The easiest solution for most questions is to use the search feature of the board...but experience will show that many people don't know it exists...others think the Shoutbox is the search feature...and others who use it will in fact find it doesn't work as wells as you hope. So, experiment with the search and try and look up some of the answers to your questions and you may reveal some great info you never thought existed. Search link for HBB SFSO Search Link to Allergydoc's Rep Watch Report post from a few months back Who is Richard Brown link Discussion over the need for an updated Rep Watch Report was one of the things I had discovered in the past. Hopefully this clarifies things a bit, and doesn't scare you away from the forum...it really is filled with extremely knowledgeable and helpful folks...albeit sarcastic ones on occasion.

I'm new to this Freddy...but am I correct in seeing that the lead and some of the succeeding pictures looks like it has asymmetrical pushers, but the last picture (with the closed back and bracelet) looks symmetrical? I have a feeling this is just a photo angle distortion thing, but want to make sure. The currency conversion appears around $3,410 CDN assuming Japanese yen is the base currency.

Thanks! Wow...beautiful. I saw a collection of old Ball and Elgin pocket watches at the Revelstoke train museum in BC. Very small collection, but still, very nice. Yours are definitely a step up in quality over what was there.