Watchmeister

Ubi- Beautiful watch, wear it well. The only reason why I guess rep is that I know you only own watches you get the pleasure of working on. Sometimes it is better to know the man rather than the watch. - Kruz

Fabulous post and incredibly helpful to those who haven't bought one yet. Of course knowledge can be a very dangerous thing as now I want to think long and hard before buying one (no I don't want two). In any case, thanks again and great comparison pics.

Looking forward to it.

Make no mistake, that last point is just my speculation. Who would pony up $100,000 for 29 rep 18k watches rather than $200k for the real mccoy. If you had the $100k for the entourage you probably have the $200k for the real thing. On the manufacturing I had noticed that there were a number of watches where even when they were more widely offered there were significant differences. Take a look at the 28 Power reserve. Their original dials were spot on with the gen. The later versions are of the same quality of the 222. On the movements the original engraving on the 283/2's it was never matched in subsequent offerings.

I will be around that week. Assuming I am in town (and I should be) I will be there. Once it is all set I will see if we can twist a few arms.

Slay- Unfortunately I can't. I used to have a contact there (pre-Ken at ETA swiss) who occasionally sold outside the Honpo system. I bought a few items from him but he offered more than 1 solid gold of this or that for thousands. He even showed me a couple of pics which I can't find now. I asked him why they were not on the website and was told that I was being offered a spare piece or two from dedicated orders for specific customers. This is actually fairly common. We just don't see this as none of us are contacting these folks to do 20-50 pieces for six figure type numbers. It used to be predominantly Middle Eastern. I always wondered if it expanded to Russian and Chinese market. Actually, I always wondered if what was really going on was the rich person's assistant was scamming his boss. Buying 20 for him to give to friends and business associates (a common occurence in the Middle East) and then telling his boss they were real. You know - buy solid gold for $4,000 (at the time) claim it was gen for $9,000 and keep the difference (x 20) And you know what, if I were a betting man I would guess some of our long-time dealers still do it. But we will never know about it.

If you can't handle taking off the crown and pushers you can also screw off the case back and open the crown and do what dluddy suggests. It probably doesn't work as well as Dluddy's solution but you don't have to do anything other than unscrewing off the back. If that doesn't work you can actually consider keeping the back off and putting it at a low heat in the oven (but very low heat). If you go too high you risk "frying the movement" or potentially having the crystal pop out (gasket contraction related).

One reason is that they have their own limited manufacturing capability. They will also occasionally go out and source something specifically from a non-rep vendor. In spite of selling into the Japanese market almost exclusively (they do some wildly expensive Middle Eastern stuff which is never shown on their web site) they shifted their base of operations to China. But the number of things that don't ultimately hit the larger markets is ever-shrinking.

Glad to see you are on the mend. I do hope your "nurse" is continuing to take good care of you. She may have it tougher than you. She has to take care of a type A personality reduced to the couch.

I see 1-3 a day when at work (during the summer especially). At least 4 guys in my building alone own them. Interestingly they all are multiple watch owners. I was curious and asked. If I go into a chic upscale restaurant for lunch I am guaranteed to see at least a couple. Sales of these watches have gone through the roof in a couple of cities over here. And how do I know this? Because I am always "Kruzing" the large gray market sellers and ask them how sales are going. A regular gray marketer on risti was telling me that his sales basically doubled this summer. And that is all automatics as they don't usually sell hand winds other than the Fiddy/very expensive types.

Exactly what Mickey said. But you may want a dial as well and depending on the generation of 7750 movement in your watch you may need new hands or to broach the existing one. First gen A7750 has properly sized hands though. Exactly what Mickey said. But you may want a dial as well and depending on the generation of 7750 movement in your watch you may need new hands or to broach the existing one. First gen A7750 has properly sized hands though.

The other potential fix is to pick-up some aircraft epoxy and a new threaded strap bar. You can pour in the epoxy, screw in the strap bar. let it dry for a bit and then unscrew. Don't ask me which epoxy it is as Ziggy has done it for me. But I have to say it has held strong for 3 years on a couple of watches.

I look forward to seeing the pics. I saw one at the AD and although it is rather odd I liked it. It does wear huge but it is quite the fashion statement. Plus, how many 44mm round Breitlings can a person have. And yes, I do hope the price comes down but IMHO there is no point in continuing to complain. If they don't sell well or the manufacturer expands who they will sell it to it should come down in price. If you like the watch you just have to decide whether you want to be an early adopter.

Lani- Awesome pictures and your usual excellent job. The bezel pearl looks great. How is the bezel mechanism - too much play or does it settle in securely into the various "clicks"?

Yes, we will never know. I do know that in general the minimum has always been 100-150 pieces for high end pieces (ignoring the $2,500 one-offs) and actually I have found that to be true with many gens (below $50,000 of course). I spoke with one of the owners of a jewelry store that has many exclusives from the gen manufacturers (Chopard, AP, Hublot, etc.) and the minimum order with them is 100-150 which they usually get in batches of 50. Then again the gens will be derivations of existing watches - different dial or materials, custom engraving, etc. But even that small a run in the rep world will often have follow-ons with the manufacturer having done all the set-up and sourcing. Or they will come up with the usual rep and dial variations. I do know that as we have seen reps grow in sophistication so have the required minimums. I have never heard of a $500+ rep have less than a 300 piece minimum in the last couple of years - even if it is a derivative piece of an existing model. Finally, if a manufacturer goes to the trouble to source a new movement from one of the movement manufacturers I believe the minimum on movements is closer to a 1,000 or more. This info is simply pieced together over the years from dealers/manufacturers both rep and gen and is mostly anecdotal so take it for what it is worth. And obviously I am not talking about the $50 Rolexes. God only knows.

I look forward to seeing the rep. But depending on the model they would have to be fairly well priced.

Looking good. Sssurfer is absolutely right. Push the pin up. On the gen CG's it is interesting that the historic and the fiddy type brushed cg's have perfectly flush pins. But none of my older gens have anywhere near a flush pin. Some are a little high, some a little low, etc. Of course this is due to use as well as fit and finish but the level of finish on the brushed cg pins is so much better. I guess they are getting better at making watches. The rubber tube is a great fix as well. But no gen I have ever tried has it. The ones I have tried just have a better pin and lever level of finish. I was curious a while back so I actually took apart a couple and looked. Do any of the gens actually have rubber tubes?

I applaud the sentiment but I think we have to bear a few things in mind. In spite of the fact that rep folks around here are huge fans of PAM's the number of gen PAM's sold worldwide is miniscule compared to other brands. One of the reasons that PAM's were so intently pursued a few years ago is that the initial target markets (Japan and the EU) were a disproportionate percentage of the buyers and as a result the rep manufacturers piled in. But in truth If you haven't noticed a number of the PAM reps are being discontinued. The trend now seems to be to build $300 reps of $1800 pieces or $800-$1,000 reps of $7,000 plus pieces. In general PAM's don't fall into either category. So I don't think I would hold my breath. But the best part of PAM's is that they are so simple and so you can often swap parts from other versions or even gen parts. And that is a reason why a number of folks love them here as well.

I wouldn't hold my breath on a rep. Although there are more expensive Sinn's a number of the classic Sinn's can be had in the $1,000 range. That is one I would definitely save up for and buy the gen. The workmanship and durability is far better than many other gens costing 5-6x as much.

Slept through the action but a great read. I knew that once TT woke up and saw this one poor James wouldn't last long. This one will be a classic for the ages. It is kind of tempting to head over to RWG1 to watch the battle.

Good to hear.

The Blancpain is stunning and still IMHO one of the most elegant dive watches ever.

Guys, it is what it is. But I can tell you that to accuse the admin team of being in bed with any or all dealers is really insulting. If you really feel that way given your moral temperament from the posts above you should be long gone and not wasting either the energy or people's time.

What is interesting about our new apprentices is that they are not new or apprentices. They are new here though and as such will have to prove their mettle. And yes many folks are familiar with both dealers. They are a welcome addition and we look forward to seeing their offerings.

Thanks for posting the pics. What is the gen case made of? Platinum or white gold?