Sorry to hear about everyone's bad experiences. I agree with the comment about buying directly from the factory during Chinese New Year. This time of year I try and focus my buying on other reliable forum members. Picked up a 2892 Power Reserve, rare correctly functioning Palped Daytona and an Orange PO with good bezel insert is on the way from another member as well.
On Eddie's project, IMHO, patience is a virtue. If a large factory were doing this do you think they would slow down their run of 1,000 pieces because a gasket was a little off? No they would jam it together. I do hope there are more smaller run high end projects. I will happily wait for whatever time it takes for Eddie to get the Pilot Chrono right. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That's mine.