cougar1

Great post Bamcky, It takes a fair whelp of cash to get an almost external full franken of a PO (either 42mm or 45mm) and I agree with you, I'm not sure if it's worth it in monetary terms to go 'full'. The prices add up very quickly, in UK prices you can find yourself approaching £1K for a complete external franken, (with a rep movement and dodgy serial no!) ...and then when you see the prices of 2nd hand good conditioned ones going for around £1400 you would grit your teeth a few times(regardless of the love of the 'build' argument)....no doubt about it! Anyway my take on it is this....(keeping aside the fact that they look great out of the box!) ...that despite the claim of 1:1 on these reps, they are not as close to gen side by side as we think, they need lume, AR and possibly bezel to get an almost true 1:1 look. Yes 99.9% of the general public won't notice anything, thats fine, and you'll hear people say 'I don't need lume' or the rep lume is fine for me etc.....but you do if you want an accurate looking PO, The lume is so prominent it is noticeable in daylight! The PO is all about lume, it shines in daylight, when you walk indoors from being outdoors in the sun, the watch dial is Glowing! So to get one close as cheap as possible is the best option. Either have the dial lumed and the crystal AR'd with a decent rep bezel/pearl and you are good to go....this is a major noticeable improvement over the out of the box lume/AR. Or be patient and buy some new, some2nd hand gen parts and try to keep the whole purchase around or under about £500. Then it is a worthwhile franken! I agree the TH 500m, smp chrono and B superocean are more accurate out of the box. Edit: Sorry Ade just seeing your post, I agree the lume isn't that bad for standard rep lume, and quite good in comparison to some other rep watches like the noob etc..... but in comparison to gen dial PO lume (probably one of the best and brightest lumed watches ever) then it is lacking...seriously lacking.

Great slickdick, that's what I wanted to hear, thanks Prices are right aswell!

Chrgod, did you ever get the movement in this sorted out? Any update?

Here is the I think Sea-gull ST2130: (Or possibly the Hangzhou 6300) ? on cousins, I think it's the sea-gull but their reference numbers are so obscure on that site it's hard to know. My question is anybody use these in place of either the rep eta or clones without issues?....I assume it is a straight swap without any surprises? ETA are too bloody expensive lately these seem to be a better option for dead or dying 2824? All the Ligne numbers etc are equal. Anybody ever try the ST1801 (2892-2 clone)?

Yeah not worth the effort, just buy an asian clone eta if you want to do a swap or any mods down the line. The dg4814 is great out of the box, but a movement swap is about as far as modding should go with it! It's doable as jkay said but the chance of f*&%ing things up is higher due to the other work arounds!

Yep I've no problem with the 2nd lot of pics, not that it's my problem anyway, but at least we can see the watch front on now and have more potential qc issues apparent to us. Most qc pics are perfectly fine and do the job requested, just lately I see a kind of careless approach to the pics at times as if its a major chore on their behalf and they are prepared to fire out anything. We don't want to let that level drop. Believe me some QC pics from some dealers are superb in detail (Andrew and Josh qc pics would just be fair compared to some....i.e. MR, Toro, asian7750.com, Angus) Believe me Chou, I seriously welcome any qc pics, there was a time not so long ago when there were none and it was pot luck as to what you'd receive...they are great! Anyway never mind the last post above, that was just a pish-take Nwolf enjoy the watch, let us know how you like it when you receive it!

Chou, i do get what you're saying and I totally agree with the details on rwi, but in this case it's a slightly different scenario, rather than nitpicking over the details we are complaining that we can't nitpick because the pics were not good enough. They need less artistically angled shots and pay simple attention to getting in at least one or two shots where the watch can be clearly seen. But really what I'm thinking is I see a chance and an opening to organise an overhaul of the whole QC pic format with the dealers, it's gonna be amazing, we are going down the full artistic route, here are some previews of how qc will look in the near future: Water shots are always good, instils confidence and longing in the buyer! The addition of ropes and beach stones always add a rugged outdoor look and feel What female could resist this, warm and homely: Hmmm Chocolate: Rugged, hard rich bstard would wear this: We are even gonna hire some clooney lookalikes to model our reps: And a team of artists will provide a drawing of the new rep for a small charge:

Thanks Gran, it certainly is! Having doubts about letting it go. It's a watch that just looks so classy on the wrist!

To all you crazy people thinking of selling your 42mm to upgrade to 45mm PO,, just to give you heads up, there seems to be a pretty good deal on an almost full franken 45mm over on repgeek, I have no affiliation with the seller whatsoever and he is stateside so convenient for ye! He said there is a slight problem with the crown, it screws but not great....an easy cheap fix with new crown/tube. (I may look at it again and think it's not such a good deal, so don't shoot the messenger ) http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=165971 $750 shipped seems pretty good considering an unmodded rep goes for $318 "-swiss eta 2824 with anti magnetic cover,fully serviced and keeps time like a charm!! -gen dial -gen hands -gen crown -gen tube -gen he valve -gen crystal(recoated) -gen rubber strap -gen buckle -moded pearl and relumed by vac -waterproofed(tested)"

Said I'd throw this on today, maybe the last day I wear it so farewell Raily!

Looks great, err not exactly what I'd call a straight on shot but a much better attempt than the first, no doubt ....it looks great, go for it! You are happy with it...it looks fine, thats all that matters!

PMSL Brilliant!

Excellent, great story. It pays to do research into reps!

Lol, how could you not, i must have been sleeping I can imagine them taking various pics above, with headphones on.....totally oblivious to the screw bouncing around in the case. In the end anyway the customer pointed it out to the dealer, who was profusely apologetic. He is quite a big dealer also

Lol, it took me a bit of time to notice aswell...I think we are looking at watches so much at times we can't 'see the wood for the trees'. Anyway have a look at the movement in the top left hand corner-ish...see the blue screw ! I agree with you Ade, Josh and Andrew are great dealers, nwolf will be be sorted out sure enough!

Absolutely, it just saves a lot of hassle to do it semi right the first time! Yep they can leave the artistic images for the owners when they receive the watch. The bee in my bonnet is that I had a very similar issue to the one above with a completely different dealer, not even on this forum (but trusted highly elsewhere) about a year ago. Same sort of thing, this issue was crooked markers at 12 and 6. Poor skewed, badly angled, pics but the watch looked great....only I couldn't see these markers dead on. Anyway it went.. me: "These markers are off I want some straight pics" dealer: "No watch is fine, markers straight" me: "No they are not, can I get another picture or two from the front" dealer: "Here's another photo" (Just to add pic was as bad as the others, couldn't tell anything!) me: I still can't see from that photo, can I get another watch? dealer: we don't have more in stock atm, can you wait 3 more weeks. me: No just send me the watch, I'll fix the crooked markers myself. dealer: ok, markers not crooked! 10 days later watch arrives, markers crooked as I expected...no big deal I just popped the movement, hands dial and refixed them, but I wouldn't have liked to have done that as a first off purchase. Needless to say I won't be dealing with that particular dealer again, mainly because of the honesty issue. Anyway on a completely side note but similar, these are qc pics I saw today on another forum from another dealer to someone else: Can you see what's wrong with it? are they so overworked they are sleepwalking around at times? Anyway sorry for the hijack OP, Pay no attention to our side rant! It happens from time to time but generally all is good!

I agree Ade, he should just ask for a new one, I didn't mean to put a newb off just as he was about to start. But I do think the same thing is relevant to all of us...I wasn't having a go at josh here, he is my main dealer aswell, this is a problem with a lot of dealers at times, especially lately. I may have taken things a little off topic for a first time buyer and maybe it deserves a thread of it's own but I do think it's relevant when we (all of us) receive pics like above, and we mention a potential problem(which the op did)....only to be told the watch is fine, implying.... "you just cant see it from the pics" .....It brings to mind the question....'well what the f are qc pics for in the first place then?' Just say a dealer comes back with a new watch with qc just as bad as the first lot....where do things stand then? They need to tidy up their act a little methinks! As far as I can see, one pic like this below reveals more about a watch in terms of QC to me than the last 3 of Joshes pics above: Sorry for the rant, normal service resumed, I'm sure you'll be sorted out when you receive the next watch nwolf, he will pay attention next time!

No it's still the same as far as I recall, it's one of those great anomalies of the rep game, fix one thing, fcuk up another

Yep that's another odd looking photo, the rubber strap here won't let the watch 'sit' straight on, and they've done their best to take the photo angled rather than straight on....so again it is skewed, I'd forgive them on that one tho as the shipping shots arent really for QC, more just to prove the numbered watch and address it is going to match up. Hard to know for sure, you'd need front shots fairly straight on to know for certain. If you aren't happy then fully press him for another watch, he'll give you one. In general, I do wish they'd sort out the odd angled photos though...we are not looking for studio quality pics, just a reference point we can judge things correctly!

Is it me or are Qc pics at times becoming more 'careless' with lots of dealers on all fora lately? They are going to the bother of photographing the watch but they can't get a straight on or lined up shot on anything any more? The 3rd pic on the OP's list has the crown pointing east south east, ...would it be too hard for them to straigten it up a little? Also worse is the 2nd and 4th pic, I've no problem with the positioning of the watch here, but why is the camera about 2 inches above the height of the watch, would it not be too difficult for them to take these shots with the centre of the watch levelled with the camera lense? I know they criticise us for nitpicking at times but sometimes is there any reason why we wouldn't go back looking for better or more pics when presented with a set of pics at every odd angle except straight on? Right, I'll stop talking to myself then!

Thanks, any info on where you got it? looks like a really good aftermarket strap....would go with many watches!

yeah, I'm sort of on the side of it's fine here, although can't be sure without more and better pics. These bezels on PO can make the numbers look off or with a slight skew to them depending on how the watch is photographed, lighting, reflections and the curvature of the bezel itself can throw it...etc sometimes they are perfectly straight but it can give the illusion of being 'off' ...the (in)famous '20' on the gen stock omega pics is a prime example! With the pearl, then that's upto yourself if you want to reject because of it...bare in mind all 45mm pearls are [censored], and worse even than 42mm pearls...none of them are centred, all are in the bottom portion of the triangle, the best you can hope for is that it is at least central in the bottom portion of the triangle, yours looks ever so slightly to the right, but again the photos aren't helping, ask for more straight on photos and not ridiculous angles like the ones you received. My 2c anyway! Do the 20 and 30 look off...sure they do, but they aren't! Same here look at that 20....bent as fcuk...not really

That looks cool chubbchubb, whats the strap on that?

That was a good result, a new movement is probably the ideal option for you that you are going franken. I wouldn't worry too much about conquering the servicing of etas just yet, but it definitely works out very well for you, ....you could practise hand removal and fitting on it(especially the second hand), dial removal, datewheel removal and refitting and getting the stem in and out multiple times without tripping the keyless, and then purposely tripping the keyless in order to reset it You'd be perfectly set up to do your own franken then without any surprises when you have all the parts. Fair play to andrew, couldn't ask for better service than that!