cougar1

Great looking watch, I'd love one, such a pity they are limited. I heard that they can only get hold of 40 pcs of eta vs the 500 pcs they asked for, could be a trickle release for these.

Be careful with watcheden though, I'd go so far as to say they are the worst culprits for listing watches that they don't have in stock. Over 70% of the website must be non existent, you will most likely get a 'not in stock' please choose another after you've paid, you will get a watch, just may have to choose another until they find something they can get... at least Josh/Andrew are telling you some truth. In regards to that exact watch, I have no idea, it's a fantasy and WE may have access to it, also check out timeshops and silix for such watches. The old semi good BA rep with blue hands from a few years ago definitely isn't available anymore.

The gen NOS cases are getting extremely expensive now , seeing prices around £800 GBP Interested in these rep cases, anybody get more feedback let us know. Rovin, where did you get the gen case? Did you do a full build?

Crazy ass cuban mofo What is the point of all this, I like ZK but this sort of childish tantrum gets nowhere, the mods here are probably the least trigger happy of almost any forum on the net I've come across. ZK walked a tightrope on a fair few occasions so he was bound to have a tumble sooner or later...... If he just cooled down and apologized and gave it some time he might have received another chance in due course. That looks unlikely now. Tomas, you make it sound like the world will crumble if he spills the beans, that won't really happen, but he still shouldn't do it as it is childish and unfair, like throwing the dolls out of the pram. Silly really! He shouldn't forget that people he has dealt with also have his address and once the lifetime subscription to Bestiality Monthly magazine comes flying through his door he might regret his actions.

No(o)b factory yesterday: A spokesman says: "we are not closing at all, on the contrary due to the massive rise in demand we are rapidly expanding."

It seems all the 42mm black bezel CPO reps and the LM 45mm reps have pearl a little lowish, some better than others. The 45mm are better and the pumpkin also. You might get a little better if you reject and reject but unlikely. I seriously hope noobs upcoming releases of these Ceramic POs deal with the location of the pearl once and for all.

+1 Another update today, lots of teasing, they are getting there at least DW, dial texture, bracelet so far all look much improved over the BP factory version. Will be interesting on release. No AR on the crystals so far but great improvements in the little areas vs gen.

http://youtu.be/KaOC9danxNo

Some updates the other day from Angus, previews of the bracelet for the 42mm. Looks really excellent construction. Repost for those on visiting RG:

Great collection Pihlippe!

Hey Teejay, good to see you back man. Always enjoyed your posts mate.

The CPO bezels are a bugger to try get off. I have been using a standard rubber bezel remover for all old V5 PO's, and it never failed me once. But I could not remove the bezel on the cpo with it. I just gave up as I really didn't need to remove the bezel, just wanted to have a look at construction. Two options, old xacto knife method for removing bezels, tape up sticking in in the base and work way around. Can be dodgy if you slip. And the other is decase the internals and pop out the crystal and then you have full access to the insert, it's easy remove from there.

Classic Joe Pesci and the sesame street version can't go without a mention:

Honestly I can hardly see it, it is noticeable on the 3rd pic now that you mention it but still just looks like dust on the xtal as it is not noticeable in the others, so is difficult to single out in qc. What is it? Any better pics? I wouldn't send back a watch over that, the best thing to do is have a watchmaker uncase and clean it off if it is dust on the hand, .....if it is a scratch and it really bothers you then ask the dealer for a replacement hand. Gen hands aren't an option, not available!

I was beginning to think these would be released on the twelfth of never, but it seems there is some evidence to suggest they are in production. Angus gives some details that they will be released this summer: Some very limited sneaks, the dials and crystals are not done yet:

btw kashayar, a different factory (noob) are releasing a 45mm on rubber strap in the nearish future, might be worth holding off on the gen strap to see how the rep looks. It's in black though.

Nice Noel, impressive looking watch.

Yep I love that scene, always pmsl laughing at it, two great actors.

Yep cape cod has abrasive polishing particles and no doubt would do damage, but it takes a fair bit of elbow grease to remove AR with it, or to remove paint from an alum bezel with it....you kinda have to want to remove it....so really still left wondering how much abuse these inserts can take. We'll have to get a doner insert and throw the kitchen sink at it see how much abuse it can take.

As mentioned above by cornerstone, don't take the watch to an AD Khashayar. It just brings attention to the reps and is frowned upon. Most ADs/boutiques are just sales staff and are not skilled at spotting replicas so you may have got away this time without any notice. Even if he did notice he may be just being polite. These watches may look nice and gen like from the front but one flip upside down and even an unskilled sales rep who is familiar with handling the gen would notice a difference between gen and rep. If you are getting a rubber strap, just pick it up without wearing the watch. Just easier and less hassle.

He's the guy who took the pics. It was a sale, with a replacement insert for the one above. He said he was cleaning a mark on the watch polished parts (lugs), with cape cod or similar, after he noticed some fading on some of the numbers, which he wiped and they came off more, he then tried to clean it and it was uneven, so he evened it up. I don't know for sure how hard he went at it. I think I'll ask a dealer for a replacement insert to see just how durable these numbers are.

Yes not good, I was surprised at the fading. I asked ianm what happened and he said some polishing abrasive got on it which he mistakenly tried to wipe off. He expected some fading but didn't expect the results shown. Moral of the story is even though some fading was expected they seem to be much less durable than the paint on the aluminium bezels and won't take much abuse. I wonder if it is just bad paint or is it the down to the way it's bonding to the matte ceramic inserts? It doesn't seem to work on the black as well as on the orange/blue. Will try and push a few dealers to sort it out, I would expect better out of a $300+ rep tbh.

Some pics by ianm yesterday which show the extent of the problem on the black bezel inserts, pretty shocking tbh, I expected better: Really surprised at how bad these bezel inserts are fading. When originally bought the reps this sort of thing wasn't apparent on a new watch, then in the following weeks there were some pics on the forums showing pearl triangle fade etc, nothing extreme but still noticeable....These pics really show how extreme it can get. I'm pretty disappointed at just how poor that rep paint is. These seriously need a correction. The blue and orange don't seem to be having the same issues as the black.

The thing I'm wondering is, there are many variations of gensteins out there, mainly the 3717, and many were assembled early on by conceptas watchmaker or other watchmakers. Many buyers also self built from parts. But there are a few that were IWC built, and came fully assembled by IWC. Now I still wouldn't take any chances as all the serials might be blacklisted but what sort of status would they have with IWC now? Would they be considered grey or (cough) stolen even. I was under the impression that some were models that were excess stock that never went out to AD's and had to be cleared from the factory somehow. ??

Wondering now aswell, you're right, definitely looks single in the later pics above?.