cougar1

new at reps are poor, not enough effort put into improving them, the xxl above as gran showed is about the best of them. Alternatively have a look at http://www.puretimewatch.com/category/aqua-terra/ These http://www.puretimewatch.com/product/aqua-terra-annual-calendar-ss-black-dial-a21j/ and this http://www.puretimewatch.com/product/aqua-terra-chronograph-ss-white-dial-quartz/ are about as good as it gets, which isn't very good, size is all wrong etc, but still not ugly watches by any means. Also have a look on watcheden , he has tonnes of AT's of varying quality, some are better than others, get some pics of a gen and go through watchedens selection, one or two are not too bad, don't expect it to be identical to gen though. It certainly would be nice to see a high quality AT teak dial rep but it looks unlikely.

Nope, certainly not that, I love quartz, it gets a bad rap but it's hard to beat for grab and go situations, also the simplicity and lack of fuss and low maintenance and toughness is more than welcome on occasions. Very, very hard to beat a better watch bargain than a 2nd hand 2541 (as matt2302 nicely displays above ) or a 2264, and that includes reps! Just something about the new AT quartz is a bit odd, the auto has a better balanced dial or something, not quite sure!

Quartz AT again today, don't know if I can keep this or not, it's very nice wears well and looks good on the wrist but there's something odd about it!

Still the same info coming out of the forums, no real evidence that further levels up the scale (such as noob factory itself) have been shut, noobs 2nd tier factory was apparently caught up in the mess, which would mean delays from noob supplies but not completely taken offline. Who knows still all a bit of speculation with some tds saying it's nothing, others saying its massive. Shouldn't all this be resolved with a quick cash bribe to the local authorities and off we go again?

Explorer I 36mm and I 39mm are both very nice, as is the new IWC mark xvi, the new iwc portofino looks very good also. Lots of decent under 40mm reps, they just float under the radar. In fairness there should be lots more, such a pity they don't put as much effort into this size range as into 42mm+ reps.

The sinn today:

They'd rep any friggen thing, if it has a $ sign in front of it in the west it gets repped!

Pretty big takedown apparently one of the main rolex suppliers...not noob, has been involved, PO 42mm, some tag lady version and pam 300m gone down.

Did they arrest quarter the population of China? Seriously though, if three main factories were seized then it could be a delay for about a month in getting things back up to full swing! Doesn't bode well, wasn't there a big clampdown this time last year aswell and a mini clampdown last november, they are getting more frequent.

That looks stunning red, such a transformation from the original!

Heard about that story too Teejay, I can imagine how feelings towards a previously loved watch would change in accordance to how much was overpaid, even if the rep is a good one. Similar thing happened to my brother, he bought a 2nd hand breitling navitimer back in the mid nineties, he bought it through a newspaper ad and it came with boxes/cards and all the trimmings etc. It looked good to me, but then again at the time I had no idea what I was looking at, I was just getting into watches and starting to notice and admire the blue smp etc. Anyway he loved that watch, wore it constantly for about 6 months showing everyone his pride and joy when it suddenly stopped in work one day. He took it to a watchsmith and within seconds of opening the caseback and heard it was a rep...but a good one, his face dropped like he had been stabbed in the heart! I think it seriously put him off watches for life, not just reps but watches rep or gen. He wears a seiko diver these days and I doubt will ever pay over £200 for a watch again. I have tried to get him to get into reps or 2nd hand gens (through the proper channels ) but no way will he bother, it's not a hatred he has just a complete indifference now...strange! Still that is a different scenario from a person knowingly wearing a rep but would not admit it even to someone who is cool with reps, ever for fear of losing face. I can only put it down to a personality trait maybe, just insecurity or deeply defensive about it becoming known to the outside world.

Lovely, I'd never pull one of those off but they are quite special! Wear it well!

Yep, sweet, thought you'd appreciate these Gran, it's on the shortlist/wishlist here too!

These are real nice, thanks for the pics, first time seeing the new black dialed one, date wheel needs sorting alright, the white/silver dialed one looked really classy (review on one of the forums) Are these new attempts at a2892 movements or just the version that has been around for a few years? Pic robbed from Cronsell over on the geek, thank you Cronsell, hope you dont mind!

Oh noes, TTK is like fcukin Keyser Soze these days, I hope we didn't insult you Neil, anyone who offended Carl I'd advise you to go right now and hide your families, uncles, aunts, dogs whatever! He will hunt us all down. Do you know how many times this guy has died and come back?....I'm off....

Lovely watch, reps are great but if a watch really calls to you it's worth looking for decent AD reductions or 2nd hand gens. wear it well. They are definitely gone up in price even 2nd hand and not everyone is enamoured by the thickness of the 8500...it is stunning though.

Nice watches, well made, love the classic Bauhaus styling, if they are well priced they might be worth it, but $300 and the dealers can go jump. You're right Philfree the gens aren't that expensive, at least for the entry level Nomos, not sure on the pricing of the above auto gen. Gran that is gorgeous, never even knew Nomos did something like that! Edit: It's lovely Gran and quite expensive! http://www.nomos-store.com/en/Watches/world-time-indicator/Zuerich/Zuerich-Weltzeit-sapphire-crystal-back.html

I still can't understand exactly what he is looking for? Are you looking to find what is the latest and greatest rep(s) or just to start an argument? It seems the latter to me! ....If it happens to be the former then here's an old school idea for you......read the fcuking forum! Holier than thou [censored] gets you nowhere! You should know what rep forums are out there, this always was, and still is, the best forum, it has the perfect balance of serious rep/modding discussion intermingled with a nice laid back attitude and a great sense of humour. What more do you want?

Even aside from Clooney (who isn't a bad bloke in fairness) Omega just a couple of years ago could be had by any working joe with a bit of saving, you could have a quartz or auto smp or a moony or AT for around $1.5Kish. Just looking at the swatch line up the first 7 brands would be accessible to the man on the street, whereas probably only one or two of the lowest Richemont brands entry level offerings would be accessible. From a purely Horological standpoint Richemont has it, hard to beat Lange and VC, but swatch helped make watches cool again, even though they get a bad rap at times, we are probably a bit too hard on them. I don't like the way they are going recently though, huge price hikes etc.

What is this poll a competition or just looking for peoples opinions? It's a tough one and even though I love some of swatch group offerings even simply for being somewhat accessible to the 'average' joe (well at least they were upto recently anyway ), almost none of Richemont are in anyway accessible to the average punter! But I would have to say Richemont as some of their brands have sheer masterpieces in the range. Lange, VC, JLC and even some IWC. Yes Breguet have some exceptional pieces but hard to compete with Lange and VC, Blancpain don't do a whole lot for me for some reason, a few nice pieces but nothing outstanding afaik. GO are pretty special though!

I honestly couldn't care less about being called out, most of the time if I am, I will say a rep is a gen and a gen is a rep....that usually confuses them. Honestly most people don't care enough about watches to have any interest, if you are wearing a rolex rep and dressed in 'chav' clothing then you are probably asking for it. I have a few friends who are semi into watches, and they get the whole rep thing and have even bought a few they were so impressed with the quality. I do have one 'friend' well he is more a friend of a friend and one day a couple of years ago at a party he drunkenly tried to shiit on me and the rep game and 'Chinese' crap watches in a lame attention seeking attempt. I drew attention to his pride and joy Armani watch and told him that my piece of crap Chinese watch is much better made than his Chinese made Armani piece of crap bling fashion watch...that shut him up.

Looking great LC, nice work, did you do all that yourself? Fair play! What's wrong with the lume? .....that's the way it's supposed to be...like a frigging lighthouse

Sweet collection Gran, nicely varied, covers all wearing occasions. An ap roo would be a nice edition, or a classic IWC ingenieur auto which has a similar-ish style. What does the man who has all the angles covered buy?

Keep an eye on sites like http://www.watchrecon.com/?query=2264&last_days=31 http://www.elitedealseeker.com/index.cgi?searchword=2264&category=watches&ageupperlimit=28&function=Search ....and be patient and ready to pounce when you see a good one. You may have to join a few forums first as they are forum search portals. You will most likely get better deals and better condition than on ebay as ebay alot of the time listings have a premium tagged on to cover stupid fees and paypal etc. Alternatively search a few AD's or grey market sites, but these might be long sold out!