cougar1

Great straps ASCI, thanks for putting the pics up! Just a quick question about that nato type strap, can the main strap be detatched from the bottom part (whatever it is called)? this could be a very nice strap for other watches also.

How's it going Gran, you haven't been on in a while, any luck creating that T1000/frankenstein hybrid or what ever the fock it was you were doing. You're not missing much, except when the Chinese decided to strike and not produce reps anymore, it now costs $1.5K for an AP diver V3 from the dealers and $2.5K on the sales section.

I'm electing Zeleni Kukuruz as the supreme overlord of the rwg kingdom. You bring the prostitutes, make sure they've got nice teeth, ....I'll bring the alcohol! Who's in?, we also need someone with a shotgun to man the front door and control those fuuckers asking serious watch questions. You'll get your turn later, she might be a bit loose though!

So no staff running the asylum these days! What kind of [censored] service is this? Bollox I just realised my vip membership expired!

Sorry I'm no help Silva, I only have the one strap ..and it's already on my aquanaut...and I'm in the EU anyway , but it does interest me that you said $30 from the dealers for a spare, was thinking of picking one up eventually just to have an extra. You might find it difficult to get one quickly, but you never know, if not why not throw the watch on any basic leather strap for going away, leather goes fairly well on these also.

Pics are great, for a sec I thought you were joking op and it was a gen ...agree with sgt, the pearl looks really good on that one, go for it!

You know what I find funny also, on many gen forums lately I find the brand whores constantly trying to justify the inexcusable extortionate price hikes over the past 3 or 4 years in material terms, "but, but it's got a silicon balance spring", "but, but, the swiss franc was at an all time high", "but, but, 904L steel" . The other thing is the designs argument; sure money, effort and research and development goes into the designs but seriously; every manufacturer robs from every other, not just watches, just look at Apple, you'd imagine they invented the mp3 player and the mobile phone the way they go on...of course they've got their patents, but that's only because they plow huge amounts of money into ever so slightly tweaking a design they robbed and then making sure they put their rights to it in legal documents. I'm not having a go at apple here, just trying to put it in perspective. How much actual claim has any watch brand over a design? I never heard of Steinhart having trouble from Rolex or Archimede having trouble from IWC etc. It's all about that bloody logo on the dial isn't it, nothing to do with designs really at all. And if the problem comes back to the logo then it comes back to status and status symbols. And that is where the argument begins again

Sorry to hear about your recent loss chief, you hit the nail on the head when you said that watches are fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things...there are much more important things in life!

That's a fantastic looking watch, congrats, a little bit different and rarer than the regular smps

Lol, wait until some of the others get their teeth in, maybe they are not around atm, but a number of others will just drag any useful discussion into the abyss. Fair play to Bonesey for trying to educate, many do want to learn a few things, and even the moderator of the forum is fairly open minded and lets discussions run....but ultimately he really is just taking part in an exercise in futility... (unfortunately!)

Hoho, Bonesey has opened a can of worms on Page 2, but then again, this gen forum is a little more forgiving than some, although there are a few pitbulls who will mark him for life on there after that. Still interesting discussion on the JLc http://forum.tz-uk.com/showthread.php?232059-Scary-Jaeger-navy-seals-fake

tbh dvn, agree with watchman, it's very off, but for the price, it's not gonna break anyone! It's probably easier to ask what is right about it than what is wrong about it. If going for an smp rep at the moment, then the chrono version all the way, black or blue, blue is slightly more accurate but both are the best classic smp's around atm. http://www.puretime.co/product/seamaster-chrono-diver-ss-black-dial-on-bracelet-a7750/

Good point seafoam, I think to really appreciate and see the value in reps, you'd need to either have access to a good watchmaker or learn some basic watchmaking/modding skills over the long haul. The aesthetics can be brilliant only to be let down by shoddy assembly out of the box. As said many times before there is no reason a rep cannot be as good looking and as reliable as the gen counterpart, but getting to this position often requires changing expectations a little. Once we get over this issue, reps are great Markers fall off expensive gens on occasion also

Here is a (small) interesting thread: http://forum.tz-uk.c...ear-your-heroes I think it sums up the fact that quite a lot of Gens can be basically overrated/overpriced in one way or other, and who wants to stump up huge money for something that they quite like, but don't love, and have reservations about it being a 'lifetime' watch. This for me is where reps come in, they serve a fantastic purpose in this regard. How many times have we read on gen forums comments like 'this is the one, definitely, I will never part with this', only to see it posted on the site sales section a month later. Jeez! I don't think it's that clear that we are all just kidding ourselves and really want that gen. For me I'm happy to buy the gen of a true grail or long time keeper, but I will often take years to know this, I may buy and wear the rep for a long time to know for sure, In some cases I may even buy the gen (used) a few times and sell it a few times before I know a particular watch is a true keeper. There is a lot of lust moments with watches, helped by lots of nice flashy brochure images by the brands, there is also a lot of 'really like but don't love' scenarios, reps are fantastic in this regard. I won't speak for by-tor, but just guessing here and possibly BT came across a time in his life where his priorities were different and he was happy to pick up a select few gens of watches that really were important to him and then continue with other priorities. And this is the sort of thing that we possibly all do at least once or even a few times. I'm into watches at the moment and have quite a bit of time reserved for both gens and reps but I also see more and more time soon needing to be devoted to other more important things. In cases like this it wouldn't bother me in the least to reduce a large collection down to a few 'important' ones. Would they be all gens?, I don't think so, at the moment if I were to do this it would be a mix of gens/frankens/reps.

You meet some odd people on gen forums at times. I've come across some who were outwardly acidic towards reps on forum, but proudly displayed high end reps they owned in the weekly 'what you wearing for the weekend' threads. This was their own in joke on the forum, I often though this was quite funny. Eventually they were outed, not by me...but they laughed and called everybody a bunch of watch snob tossers. Then you have the ones that aren't the usual social climbers; who can't afford $500+ gens so have this fascination with homage watches. They often as I've seen. behave like a pit bull chewing a rag doll when the discussion of reps comes up. I mean they cannot afford the real thing, they ogle and congratulate the big timers when they see pricey gen pics but even the the word replica sends them into a spin. Of course then you have those that kindof fear reps, they are not haters, they have paid for a gen and see the quality of reps. They just realise its a steep learning curve to get into reps and don't know where or how to start. These are often fairly open minded. You then have those that can afford what they want, and have no problem with reps, they have a few watches, and a few reps that they would otherwise probably not stump up the gen asking price for. Those ones who can afford gens but have this insipid hatred of reps are either just brand weirdos, or social climbers of the highest order. They fancy calling themselves WIS all the time (I truly hate that term, I much prefer watch enthusiast, ...less bull-[censored]!). No point getting into arguments with this sort...and they are many, they will just harp on and on about prestige and history and how fake watch wearers are fake people etc. I sometimes find that these truly need a reality check, maybe lose the job, perhaps have the house taken off them, even put them in a war zone etc. They then might have a different perspective on life in general, and have less energy devoted to such an insignificant item as the watch someone wears. I still find it humorous that 99% of the planet couldn't care less what watch anyone wears, of the rest, who actually take an interest, and actually have something in common with rep wearers.. some still want to rip the watch off their wrist and break it off a wall. Silly buggers, life is too short for that sort of silly anger. btw some nice women in the later stages of this thread

Looks great Kmac, can't ask for a better face on photo than that Do post some photos when you receive!

Right, we'll keep this thread about PO stuff You could do much worse than one of the Vac modded 3717 atm, the rep is great out of the box but with some finishing touches, AR/Lume/DW it turns into a classic rep. I have a concepta 3717. About 2 months ago I was gonna sell it and just use a modded rep but now I think I'll hold onto the genenstein...unlikely to see them ever again!

Still though, the new IWC spitfire is very appealing, has the dressy thing going, could also be put on kevlar for jeans and tees, they are pushing the sizes (and prices) up but still a cracking looking alrounder!

Those reversos are lovely Cromag, I do agree though, very difficult get full use out of it unless dressed up all the time. I'd love a decent rep and there is talk about doing one, but again it may be a while before anything gets off the ground. The small seconds or the no seconds closed back version would be in theory not too difficult to get a good rep. I love the Reverso duo also, but again I'd never get wear out of it really. The master control is an option or the memovox, a bit more sporty/dressy? Also, who are really impressive for the money relative to the others lately are GO, they produce stuff a calibre up from the competition at some very decent prices and are not as mainstream as Rolex/Omega, which is kinda appealing. Sorry for the thread hijack Kmac

I don't know what that one is tbh, there was meant to be a very good quality (i.e. potential superrep) of the blue laureus version out soon. And then the black and white versions to follow. This one doesn't look anything like a superrep, looks very similar to the first version with a different colour datewheel. I'd wait on and see what happens when the 1:1 version is out, these should be due by now according to Angus.

It is a little too high, but tbh, they are all off a little, some were too low, right above the lettering (no gap) others were high, and some were just placed correct but had bad cut to the logo, I would rather have a perfectly cut logo slightly high than a logo that looks like it was shaped with a stanley knife but in the right position. Yours is perfectly cut, its fine either way it is a small part, hardly noticeable. The lume is gonna be a much bigger issue vis a vis gen. Hi cromag, it's just interesting to see other perspectives, the new IWC range definitely looks outstanding, to me all these watches have got a little too expensive for my taste, nice to look at, but way too expensive to be minding on the wrist. I'm surprised you didn't like the new PO, but hey not everybody gonna get on with them it's definitely a step up in terms build quality from the previous. JLC also seem to have some astounding build quality for the price, well that is relative to other competitors in a similar category. Atm If I had $10K I honestly don't know what I'd buy, I definitely wouldn't by a newer generation Rolex, not as nice as older stuff. A nice 16610 or any vintage piece is always a good watch. The PO you could possibly get a 20%-25% discount so it still can be a bit of a relative bargain for the price. Some change would be left over from either of these. IWC or JLC would be sweet but very hard to pick out a one and only watch for all wear sort of choice.

Yep, one of the best I've seen aswell maxman, good quality rep there, do post a few pics when you receive kmac. I'd nearly leave it as is, but a new upcoming sunny crystal and gen or relumed dial and it will be killer rep Were these the new models Cromag, that's because the gen rolex has more shine to it the bezel numbers being off is just an optical illusion, it shows up worse in photos. Honestly though, the gen old PO can look a little washed out in certain lights, but most of the time it's just glowing, jet black glossy shiny rolex dials are more striking, no doubt. Well if they haven't competed with in looks with rolex in previous models they certainly do with the new models, hold a 8500 PO next to any rolex diver and it looks outstanding in comparison....well I think so anyway I don't really like the new smp 300m ceramic models, looks like they had an attack of the bling monster tbh.

I reckon it looks great Kmac, as good as I've ever seen out of the box without any modding. the pearl seems fine, nicely flush, they are all not perfectly centered anyway so this is pretty good. He valve looks a little tall in first pic but it maybe slightly open, it is definitely 'normal' rep He valve in the rear pic and looks closed and a little thinner there. Dial looks great, all markers seem straight, printing and logos fine, as is dw. The bezel numbers always look misaligned in pics of PO compared to markers, very few take a pic 100% face on, wouldn't worry about it, seems fine also, even gen PO's give the illusion of being misaligned to dail markers in angled pics.. All in all it seems a fine rep I wouldn;'t reject it, and its a good base to start on if you want to mod lalter.

Wow, what an amazing pickup datlore, makes my day hearing of these sort of finds! Lovely watch and great work, I'm sure the hacking fix is probably not too awkward, parts should be available!

From Sead, UK stock! Excellent rep! All the dealers have them now Yep post up the QC pics, as you say worth a try, the 42mm are decent out of the box, the pearls are better than the 45's, definitely worth a try, easy to sell on if you don't like it!