Logan

AR is the only required upgrade in my opinion, once you have that you'll fool pretty much everyone. The crown is only really required if you strip yours, and the HE valve can be easily sorted with some epoxy inside to water proof it. Most of the other upgrades really only show side by side with a genuine, and even then only just.. in the real world the rep hands, dial and bezel are close enough.

I find the Cousteau rubber strap a little stiff to be really comfortable for everyday wear. Part of that is probably wrist size.

The end of the pusher inside the case is in fact a screw head, so you can strip the pusher assembly by undoing that from inside. The reason for the "stuck pusher" problem that these have is the pusher shaft is left with burrs on the end during manufacture, this prevents the pusher head from screwing down fully. The extra length then allows the outside part of the pusher to come off the splines it slides on and sit over them. If the whole outside pusher (inner and outer lockring) can continually rotate then you have this problem. If the burrs are removed and sometimes the shaft shortened slightly the outer pusher stays on the splines. You also need to loctite the thread to prevent it coming apart and parts getting lost.

I have about 35 in the "long term collection". There are probably another ten or fifteen in various states of repair or modification.

Those pictures appear to be the real thing.. but the price?? What are the circumstances of the purchase? Maybe its a bait and switch scam?

Given the level of movement detailing and the degree that the movement is visible I don't expect we'll see a "great" copy of an RM watch any time in the foreseeable future. Whether you buy ones depends why you collect reps. I mostly stick to the most accurate reps possible, but I have a few Pateks, Langes etc.. and soon to be RM which I have even though they are not the best.

I take both of mine swimming, surf ski paddling, and generally go them wet any chance I get. I greased the case back o-ring and got a bit of grease under the crown when it was new but have not spent a whole lot of time on them. Btw o-ring grease simply helps protect the o-ring and pro-long the life, its doesn't actually help waterproof directly. Its most important on the crown where the o-ring can be damaged as the crown turns if its not lubricated. I've seen a couple of reps with o-rings torn apart from nothing more than winding.

The RM05 rep that most of the dealers have is half reasonable. obviously no super-rep but a nice addition to the collection. The RM11 rep is terrible.

They don't really get much better that what you are buying unfortunately. These aren't assembled in swiss dust free workshops so its common to get a few specs under the dial. Its pretty easy to remove dust specs though. You might be best to learn some basic watchmaking skills so you can do your own quality control. You only really need screwdrivers, a blower and maybe a tiny clean paint brush for what you are doing. The Hublots from the supposed "best factory" are priced at quite a premium over other reps. I don't know there's much can be done about that other than not to buy them. There are some good Hublot reps coming from the other factories though.

I keep a spreadsheet of the current collection, items presently on order (with EMS number), items to buy next (with ranking) and a wish list of models I'd like to see made, or ones I'm not really sure about. I also have a section of watches I'm selling or think I might sell. I have a credit card that I use exclusively with Paypal, anytime there is enough money available I'll buy one of the next on the list.

Everyone said that about Japan 20 - 30 years back.. the usual comments.. can't design anything.. only know how to copy. Back then it may have been a little true, but look at them today. China will be the same.

The easiest solution might be to bring the dial back so everything lines up. You would need either a round spacer which would be tough to make or perhaps some dots of the appropriate thickness. The only downside would be some visible gap from the front. With a black dial I suspect this would not be visible. @Sander I don't know the thickness difference, I'd guess 0.5 to 0.75mm perhaps?

The reps have the crown positioned differently as the genuine movement is thinner, or to be exact the transfer gears on the front are thinner. Compare pics of the Port or Ingy chrono's with the genuine and you can see the crown position change. It won't be an easy swap as a spacer might leave the hand mounting shafts too short to clear the dial.

I have several of the other watches you listed as well as an Offshore. I don't have any photo's handy but I can tell you the Offshore in steel on the bracelet feels stupidly huge and heavy compared to any of the others. To me its not pleasantly big either, I'm happier with a 1950 even. I can't recall ever wearing the Offshore outside the house. I'm hoping it's better on a strap as I plan to order the Barrichello very soon.

Thanks for the link.. Its quite interesting to know a bit about what happens to our crystals, quite an involved process really..

Josh briefly posted a full ceramic Hublot power reserve Senna edition yesterday but it was later removed. It looked very good from the quick look I got, Power reserve dial, senna edition strap with fine ribbed pattern on top and green senna strip underneath. Correct centre bearing on the rotor. The ceramic looked very well made too. Did anyone else see this? Is it still available somewhere? I know Josh only lists Hublot on the "haven" site these days but its not there either.

I wish they would hurry up and make a lite version of the platinum matt.. I love the watch but can't see myself dropping $750 on one.

I swap watches pretty often and I don't have a winder, so its doesn't really matter to me directly. Having said that the accuracy is remarkably good, even the cheaper ones.

Personally I think some of those options are way to complicated and no-one in the audience is going to have a clue. You'll look as though you forget to take your watch of before the show. To me there is only one option. A gold rolex president. Its super recognizable so your audience might actually notice it, and it has a certain notoriety to it too.

Never say never in the rep world.. But I'd expect forged carbon to be some time away yet sadly. I could certainly see a plastic look alike though..

This one is growing on me.. a little. The shot of Reubens Barrichello wearing one at the last F1 did make it look quite good. This rep looks pretty good for the first one out as well.

Closing in on one hundred years later there are of course no surviving soldiers alive today, yet the crowds at the dawn services grow larger and larger by the year. All they asked is that we not forget the sacrifice they made and happily we have not.

The prices really have not changed that much.. but the quality of the cheaper ones especially has, so you can now get a pretty good rep for $100, but the prices for the best reps are really pretty similar. Thinking back I paid $399 for the first electric blue eta seamaster from Wade about 8 (?) years back, $399 for the "closed factory" 2892 based 007 Omega from River about 6 years back, $350 for the all titanium Chrono Avenger from River 4 years ago, $700 for the 7753 196 about 3 years back, $700 for the "genuine ceramic bezel" hublot a couple of years back.. $300 for the Black Steel just recently. There are many more but you can see the prices have not really shifted.

You can adjust the dial position slightly by bending the dial mounting posts a tiny amount. Most movements have a countersunk dial pin hole to allow this. Alternately you could file one side of the pin down a little but it'll depend how the dial mounts in the movement. This is assuming the sub dial "hand disk" is accurately made of course.

Mental note made to loctite these...