Mitton Mar

I have it on good authority they 'they' are 'reps', but not the correct size. Unlike the TG which is of course the correct size....

Very nice and must say good pics too.

Z3Ko - Really liked your strap, and was a bit bored by the nylon one mine came with, don't have your contacts so: Took an old (battered and well used) leather 3717 strap I had kicking about in my parts drawer. Got me some red saddle thread and some leather needles: Careful putting it on: Has The IWC Buckle: It's better than the nylon I think. Still has some wax on the inside which will scrape off after a few days. First go at doing this, amazed how little time it took - about forty minutes from start to finish: Only trouble is - last night I let Mademoiselle Mitton (my better half) try it on and I think It is going to be nicked... Anyway thanks for the inspiration!

That is quite funny but not rare - an ignorant racist. IIII is absolutely fine, as any ten year old should know.

Not a rep, but appropriate?!

Seems appropriate:

That's very peculiar indeed, your seeing those rings that are on the V2 on a gen in an AD, because I went to an AD on Sunday afternoon where I tried on the gen and I looked very closely at the subdials and in absolutely excellent lighting conditions I could see no rings on the gen I tried on - none, right enough I AM A BIT BLIND (maybe I should get new glasses) and perhaps the one I tried on was V1 Gen and the one in your local AD is a V2 Gen? Possible I suppose?! But it seems that I am wrong, totally, and do need new glasses. As this is a Detail from a Jap Watch Site showing the rings clearly on a GEN : One small detail that is different (on the gen I tried on - not saying it is on all gens...) as can be seen above....is that that the middle pins on the subdial and main hand holders of the gen are silver(ish) coloured rather than brassy coloured like both V1 and V2, this is similar to the old IWC3717 problem of having dark coloured tipped pins as opposed to the gen's gold hued pins. These are very minor differences of course which can be ignored, biggest tells are (to me) the poor side engraving on the V1 Rep and the wrong colour crown on the V2, being markedly too dark. Interestin' stuff, great model this V1 or 2

Great review! I've been hanging around RWG waiting to see this. I do like the photographs. Thanks for sharing, the engraving is better on V2 as is the strap, and to these eyes the dial overall on V1 is better, but there are faults on both maker's efforts. One thing though, I am a little surprised about your comments about the Concentric Rings (which look like they have been lifted from a Moonwatch) on the subdials, as detailed in your pics: Should they be there at all? I say that because from evverything I've seen Genuine Watch does not appear to have any concentric rings, here's a couple of pretty detailed pair of pics of two different gens: I dunno if that's a fair comment, as to the naked eye the rings on V2 will be invisible, but thought I'd mention it. Well, at least we'll know in the future which one is which on the sales boards. Thanks for sharing again. Mitton

RG visitor here: Are you trying to give us an inferiority complex? Great Post, thanks for re-posting. Great pics as well. Q - How long have you been modding? Coz this seems a lot beyond what I would attempt. EVER

Thanks Chris, well answered, I've always recommended you to others and I always check your site when I am 'shopping'... Good Luck.

Am I wrong or has there been a serious hike in your pricing? Just lookin' at various models at random it seems prices have gone up at $30 to $40 and for the same models as others offer. With the present climate and the recent problems I don't really get that. Correct me if I am wrong.

I've got a rep and a gen: Here''s a few comparison shots I did a while back. In the above foto you see my gen has SWISS and not SWISS MADE, that's because it is an older gen. As you can see the rep is not fantastically accurate and has used a SD case, the movement is a weird one as well it's a ETA 2783 which keeps PERFECT time. BTW I know about the movement now... I do not know about the ones on offer from the links above, but the rep I have, inaccurate as it is, is a great watch and to tell you the truth no one has ever been knowledgeable enough to tell when I am wearing the rep or the gen. I only bought the gen because I can't wear reps at work, and I did want a gen Rolex to fill out my gen collection. If you like this model, my advice would be to go for a rep, see if it suits you then buy a second-hand gen, the new ones are wildly expensive, I got mine for about half what a new one costs.

You do have a point, .... in the land of the blind .... though this is informative this post, I'd never seen the reversed thing before so it is interesting.

Hi Eddhead, I do appreciate your level-headed and eloquent reply, and believe me I do empathise with any suffering that may be reported in the article, it has hit a nerve with you, and I will not argue further on the point that it is not just China - you appear to accept that as I accept that you are only bringing this up in this forum because you feel it is directly related to this rep hobby. I do hope, however, that you may empathise with someone who is heartily sick of China being continually depicted in a negative light, while the great things that China is doing are all but ignored, I've seen this for years and I feel, with some justification that such coverage such as the NYT article is indeed negative propaganda which is never counter-balanced by an equal amount of coverage on the massive strides that China has taken in improving their people' lives. There are gullible people out there who do not think for themselves and swallow this nonsense, you, it appears are not among them. Personally, the thing that bothers me more is the FAKE trade in general. I recently watched a National Geographic (PBS) programme from the states which was shocking and another equally disturbing programme from the UK's Channel 4, it's not just watches, trainers and fake handbags and it's not just China, it's medicines, car parts, wine, foodstuffs, electronics and even spare parts for planes - that, more than reports of bonded slaves working in Chinese factories has made me ponder on this rep thing.... that is much more distressing, because it is growing, worldwide. Take care Mitton

Hi eddhead, I am not attacking you personally I am pointing out that you appear to me to be insular, I have read the article and your comments very carefully and I while it is a pity, regrettable and in a perfect world it would not happen, the fact is that is the way the world works - not just China. I object EVER SO STRONGLY to western media criticising China without any thought of balancing the argument by pointing out the absolute FACT that children and adults in so-called civilised nations such as the UK, in Europe, and the USA are kidnapped and sold into forced labour every day of the week. You don't seem to be posting about that or mentioning it either? Why post about a report from China? Just GOOGLE stories about the sex-trade in the UK where thousands of Eastern European children have been sold to brothels here over the last few years, or the hundreds of cases of immigrants coming into Europe have to pay-off their 'fare' by working for "gangmasters". In the USA it happens as well - with sex trade workers and agricultural workers as well as tens of thousands of illegal immigrants working for unscrupulous bosses in every branch of the economy. If you do not think this is true, or choose to think this only happens in China, Africa or India think again. The report was badly written, poorly researched and REEKS of some other anti-Chinese agenda. Please note that I have been to China over twenty times in the last ten years and I am not so naive as to think that the 'socially-audited' factories are the only ones whose goods who end up on Western shelves. But I have seen a massive rise in both living standards and indeed in social conditions, believe me, China is tackling social problems, but they have 1.1 billion people to feed and it is a slow process there will be horror stories for years to come, but you have to look at the bigger picture. You should support the efforts of the Chinese people, not swallow the propoganda you read in the NY Times. I know you will not agree with me, but please do think about the relevance of this ONE article and the complete omission of a balanced view.

Exactly. If the original poster is so naive to think that stopping buying replica watches will in any way influence child labour in China, I am AMAZED that such insularity still exists.. do people like this no longer think for themselves? What's the reason for the article? It is certainly bugger all to do with influencing Chinese policy, it has a lot more to do with a drip drip of anti-Chinese sentiment. I mean to say The NY TIMES! as if there are NOT MILLIONS of illegal immigrants in the States being exploited every bit as badly as workers in China. People read about that in the Beijing Times all the time I am sure. Reality is that Child Labour and serfdom and tied labour is rife in China - and we all know it so do the bosses of Walmart and Tesco and Carrefour and all the others - so this idiotic article in the NYT is just a rehash of a rehash of a rehash. The ONLY way to make things better is to develop the standard of living for the Chinese people and that is EXACTLY what the Chinese Government is doing, it will take time, GOOD LUCK to them.

That rep with the metal logo is one among a couple I picked up in Shenzen in January, it has faux chronos as well, but is totally waterproof and I use it swimming three times a week and for wild Friday nights here in the murder capital of Europe. Great watch for the money. I'm going to get a Ruby one though.... no idea personally if both versions are available.... Never heard of the word "rehaut" before, thanks for that. Worms? Can? Good Lord I hope so....

Hi Pugwash, I CANNOT believe you got rid of that rep! That the one you had in the 'goes to the moon' post? I was hoping to see it one day (along with your STUNNING 3717) if anyone ever organises a get together here in the frozen north....... BTW at the Robert Bigger Pawnshop down on Argyl Street, they had a Moonwatch in stock about three weeks' ago, (1972 Vintage - real beauty) I went in because they had a sign "ALL WATCHES -20% Today"... Price was

Very good post, can't think why no one else has replied. The Speedmaster Professional is a fabulous watch to sport on your wrist, it is possibly the easiest to read the time with I've ever had - the reason I like it so much, plus its history of course. I've had three reps - including a 50th anniversary model which has now moved on, and kept wearing them all the time over all my other reps and gens, however because I can't wear a rep at work (I work with Patents and if I were found to be wearing a fake I would be in trouble), but unable to rid myself of my Speedmaster Addiction (and that is what it is) and wanting to wear one at work I bought a gen 3570, and wear it almost every weekday to work. One thing, your comments on the size above are not quite right, the gen Pro Moonwatch is significantly larger than the reps that are available, it might not be noticeable to an uninformed glance, and indeed at first I had to take a few seconds at first when telling them apart from a distance, but now that I am much more familiar with the gen, there is a huge difference to the trained eye, especially from a side-on angle where the gen look much flatter due to the long slope of the hesalite crystal. The other big difference is in the lugs, the gen has narrower lugs than the reps I have or the ones on offer above. However the biggest difference is the proportion of the face as you rightly point out, the gen has a wide look compared to the rep fotos above - and also to tell you the truth the gen dial is much more of a very dark charcoal grey colour rather than jet black. The printing on the back of the watch (FIRST WATCH WORN ON THE MOON NASA ET...) is also lighter in colour than jet black. Great post, thanks for all the work you did, and do enjoy your watch. One thing, though, have you thought about the hit you are taking on a rep? I mean to say

Dogs are not eaten all year around in China, there is a dog eating season and it is late Autumn to the end of the year. Restaurants run specisla dn do promotions. You are not going to stop it. Just like you are not going to stop Argentinians eating Guinea Pigs, French eating snails and frogs, Scottish people almost hunting the wild haggis to extinction. You might not belive this but it is TRUE: A mate of mine has a Shenzen factory and he had an Alsatian guard dog on duty to dissuade people from stealing his stock of highly expensive machines and stock. In December thieves broke in, guess what they stole? Yup. The dog. And yes, it was eaten.

FANTASTIC, like you I bought a real one (though mine is the basic 3570.50.00, yours is the 3577.50.00) You will grow to love that watch, and want another and then another..... If I were you I would get a rep as well, for Friday nights doon the pub..... Mitton

Good choices all of them. And a great thread. I have a genuine MW.... my main work watch, it's fantastic (and the more I wear it the more I like it), I HAD to buy it because I can't wear a rep at work (my work is a lot to do with patents and trademarks and to wear a rep would not go down well at all). HOWEVER, must say that the recent new reps of the Day Date have been playing on my mind and I can't wait for mine to get here. If it makes me feel as good as I think it will - if I am going to wear it for work I'll have to get a genuine - SO, my choice would be: This is a pic of an old one form the web, there is something intriguing and manly about this watch, in the same way as the moon watch, it's substantial, it's stylish, it has weight, Omega is a brand you can wear anywhere and it says a lot about you, but most of all I love the look of the thing. I do not dive or sail so a real PO Seamaster would be a bit daft, but THIS? This is a watch I could wear and flaunt and bore people silly with constant left arm movement. The other thing is because the logo is offset and not in the usual position it is not entirely apparent at first glance which brand it is - means more people will ask you - a plus. ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE LOOK OF THIS DESIGN, anyone know the history? When it was introduced? Who designed it?

Fake yes and it went for

I am an iPOD NUTTER and use the On Stage system from JBL - always something playing: Last few days: Led Zeppelin at the O2, my own re-mix (equalisation boosted) of the FLAC bootleg, awesome show - I got it originally to see how bad they were compared to the gushing reviews, was amazingly surprised at how powerful they sounded (right enough a fair bit of moolah was spent on the sound system), and have hardly gone a day without listening to at least part of it. Page is 64 years old FFS.... what a guitarist and that bass player isn't bad either. I felt the sound was a little middly so I boosted the EQ, sounds much better and sharper. Kashmir.... For Your Life.... Black Dog... In My Time of Dying..... to me are the highlights. Stairway is f&$%ing awful however.... The Monkees - Daydream Believer Collection 1 - Great comp... Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac (1975 album) (First time I have listened to this since I was at school - sounds fresh and not of its time) Have not been listening to RUSH.... though might dig out La Villa Strangiaaaawhatever it is called soon.... (has the benefit of no singing....!) Mitton