cougar1

Yeah agree time for the factories to get their arrse in gear and step it up a little, Just a question, I don't even think those ones listed on J/A sites are really 46mm case? Seems a missprint? Are they not very similar sized to the raft of a21j grey/white/black dialed versions floating around watcheden and timeshops @ 38mm to 41mm? I was sure I saw a review on one of the cheapies grey dial versions somewhere, on repgeek I think and it certainly wasn't 46mm, and it didn't look half bad, but obviously needs some improvements. Here is a watcheden one: grey/black dial on which the blue above is based and 41mm!??

Saw that they went with the AT for this Bond, unusual that they ditched the PO, I thought they might have been pushing it as it's also new release and more likely to sell (being sporty) than the more dressy/sporty AT. I suppose they want to bring attention to their other watches. I'm sure we'll find went the movie comes out they'll have devised a method to get a couple of watches in (like in Casino Royale), maybe PO 8500 or new SMP ceramic while jumping off things and the AT while wearing the dapper gear. Edit: Yes a good rep would be nice...and over due...not much to do with these, they have most of the hard work done already, case sorted, just fix the logos as we know they can and put the semi decorated sellita or st18 in as they have done for other reps!

Watch looks great, even the writing on the dial seems to be whiter lately? Where is the greenish thing near the crystal? Oh right at the top, not sure, is that a dead on straight shot? The crystal should be flush, should be no green, ask for a few more shots and ask them to check it for clarification. You have every reason to ask if it is a little uneven and to have it sorted if it is. The 2nd shot it looks a little out but it is not always easy to tell from photos. Other than that the watch looks superb.

Cheers Gran, they are really striking watches, having a hard time letting go of this AT, they are not too easy to find lately!

Last few days of this baby quite possibly!

Sounds good vandal.tbh, glad to hear it seems to be working somewhat normal, just keep an eye on it, if it is off the wrist for a long period of time it may just need some 'loosening up' I find that happens sometimes aswell with my watches. Not sure if is my imagination here either Not a scientific approach but I find stiffness/resistance is ok, they seem to go on lasting just fine, but a grinding gritty feel isn't the best indicator of movement health. Hopefully it will be fine, keep us posted. It would be extremely bad luck if you got another lemon after the last incident with PO's.

Yeah, you are right, there is definitely extra stress on the handwinding mechanism compared to the rotor winding, truth be told I prefer not to have to wind any watch but unfortunately sometimes it is necessary to get the cranky ones running . I much prefer to pick up a stopped watch, give it a gentle shake, set the time and stick it on the wrist. But if that doesn't work then the way I look at, (especially with some reps) is that there is even a separate (slight) risk in stripping or damaging the crown/tube when screwing back in the crown after resetting the time, so ten or twenty winds gently hopefully won't kill off the movement aswell! Yeah the new out of the box ST2130 are pretty smooth, clean and nicely oiled for the most part. Also the sellita SW200 in reps has a nice even smooth feel to it aswell. Just goes to show some rep eta can be very hit and miss, as you said when you took it open and saw the parts in bad condition. I feel less and less trustworthy of the swiss movements in reps of last few years, they were a bit more consistent a few years ago, they seem to be getting worse as time goes on. Saying that even 2824 in most gens don't always give consistent winding feel, some are much more stubborn than others. Overall the 2892 (called 2846 in some reps) isn't a hugely more complex or expensive movement, it just feels so much better when winding and using, more sturdy and refined.

Yep follow link and go through the steps, doesn't take too long.

Yep, never had an issue winding up the non chrono eta 28xx movements, if it fails then it's just crap, nothing much can be done about that but they are fine to wind. The clutch is there for a reason. Not too gone on winding the 775X or a21j though, something feels not quite comfortable when winding them. Vandal.tbh, I'm no watchmaker but the increased resistance shouldn't be too much of a problem unless you are getting significant increased resistance along with a really gritty grinding feel, sort of like a sensation like you are strangling a bag of cats . Now it could lack oil or mabye grit or dirt that was in the watch finally made it's way into the winding mechanism, common enough issue. A few things to check. Does the watch start on it's own from stopped? For instance can you put it on the wrist stopped and it starts up then set time and leave it on? Does it stop somewhere while wearing? Also from a stopped position wind it up about 40 or 50 times and set time and leave it down again, how long does it last before stopping? Also check how well it's keeping time against a quartz, is it losing or gaining significant time over 24 hrs? If it passes all these with flying colours it is probably ok. It may loosen up a little with use again. Some eta and clone eta feel better than others, it can be pretty random, some are buttery smooth, others feel like stiff like locking a WWII submarine hatch. If it's keeping good time and auto winding as well as manual winding don't worry too much about it. If the worst happens then they are pretty easy swap out. The Seagull ST2130 is cheap as chips and a straight swap out. Let us know how it goes!

That one is seriously drool worthy! Hamilton have put out some cracking watches in the past few years, they are superb value for money at the moment. The are presumably in the long term being primed to fill Longines old position in the market and price range, while Longines make a move up market to fill Omega's 'old' spot, while they have notions of competing next to Rolex. The Jazzmaster range really does punch well above it's price point! Thanks for the pics Utheman!

Lots of great reps out of the box out there, but if the ones you really really want, aren't that great, you will have to get into modding or else having them modded, then a whole new world opens up!

freddy333 makes a good point about registered mail services being under lock and key at all times, this is definitely a safer method than most couriers. It can get a bit hairy when travelling over international boundaries as the insurance value covered can change somewhat compared internal registered mail. It's still a very good option though, unless you can either third party insurer and still go registered which is even better. If you can get the seller to sign up to something like parcelpro you would sleep happy knowing it's fully covered, it's not an easy process though. Lookup UPS also to provide something similar to what panerai153 described above. Don't use Fedex, they have left many people high and dry on gen forums in the past, they are very difficult to deal with in the event of a claim on things like this. Alot depends on where you are getting it from? Anyway hope the whole thing doesn't put you off purchasing a grail etc, better to be cautious on this occasion, it's not too often you'd do a cross country purchase of this magnitude.

Be extremely careful about whether the insurance truly covers the item in the package, most carriers will insure upto any value, but you need to read the fineprint and make sure the insurance includes watches, jewellery, gold, silver etc. Most don't want to deal with these items, and if the watch gets lost they'll just show you T&C's rule xx subsection xx, paragraph x, and you will find yourself out of money and a watch with no comeback. Tbh, for a watch of this value, you would need a third party precious metals insurer. I wouldn't trust any carrier insurance, they are a bunch of monkeys handling packages. No way I would declare full watch value on a package written on the outside!!! It's almost the annual salary of some of these guys, no offense to them. You may well get your watch intact, but your are taking an enormous risk, unless you know it's fully covered!

Hamilton do some lovely watches! That's classy!

shenns, there's loads of threads about the mod on the forum and guides aswell, covering all the trials and tribulations of those who done it and any potential problems along the way. The search function is your friend just lookup 'tube swap', 'tube crown' etc, don't even have to put in PO, most of the tube/crown swaps have been for the PO and it's the same process for 5th gen as it was for 4th gen etc. If you run into any hiccups let us know, good luck with the mod! Patience is the key, deep breaths etc, if you find yourself gritting your teeth, leave it for a half hour and approach it again Right I'll go now

This just arrived in the post, surprised it took me so long to get one of these as I've wanted one for a long time. First impressions, exceptional rep out of the box, the dial and AR are stunning, really surprised at how good a rep it is, ....we've all seen the reviews and feedback on these so I was expecting a bloody good rep, but it is lovely to open the package and be even more impressed than you had hoped! I'm off to resize this keeper, just hope the movement doesn't kick it!

Lol, yeah I was reluctant to even mention it ...but it was easy to find just sort forum by 'most replies' above and there it appears near the top, all 18 pages of craziness

Looks lovely mate, nice pickup!

Check out the other dealers, plenty of them listed you can go for Andrew/Josh (more support, faster comms) or the likes of Trevor (cheaper) and you'll get what you want. Or any of the other dealers inbetween. Thickness: 42mm cal 2500 is 14.2mm thick, 45.5mm cal 2500 is 15.5mm thick (I'm sure reps are similar, haven't actually ever checked heights! Not sure exactly what rochest was offering you, it may be reconditioned returns.. what sort of price were they quoting?. Refer to this thread, it may help somewhat:

Hehe, yeah sorry, I haven't got that rep, but I can't seem to get away from it lately, it's getting rave reviews and all that.

Yeah if you don't have a rep on the forums it's difficult, (not a postcount) an actual selling reputation. As above you could offer a face to face and or possible agree to have it authenticated at an AD or similar, these sort of things help put a potential buyers mind at rest a little, even just saying them helps. Other options are selling directly to grey market online dealers, similar to watchfinder, iconicwatches like we have in EU, these aren't recommended though, not because it is unsafe, but because they offer shiit value if selling directly to them, some sell it for you on a commission basis however. Watchfinder were handy upto recently they just asked 10%...in the past few months they've raised it to 20%...greedy bstards! I know I'm speaking from an EU standpoint but I'm sure ye have similar in the US!

Looks fantastic, If you ever think of parting with it, let me know

Lovely pics Concepta, that spitfire is amazing. Maybe the AR is having an effect then, but I do think the gen vs rep dial shade is more than just AR differences, Gen is definitely darker, hard to see from pics, I needed side by side to confirm, clearer more transparent AR would certainly help bring them closer, that's for sure.

Excellent, two classics! Love those old Heuer chronos, built like a tank. The speedy goes fantastic on that coloured nato, you must let me know where you picked up that shade nato!

I think the gold AR that Uwe does is superb, I have it on a cheaper franken PO, goes great with black strap! Also I was sure some other modder somewhere on one of the fourms did a blue tint AR, if I find details I let you know!