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SIX PAIRS! That's too funny, glad you got your money back, you actually made out in the deal and got free (albeit bad) glasses. Not a bad deal.

Acording to Angus the Costeau version will in fact have genuine wood on the back. He says it is not difficult to replicate that. Considering it is just a think peice of veneer which can easily be cut out on a CNC machine I think he is correct. My biggest worry with the wood would be using epoxy strong enough to make it stay in place.

Guys, watch the viedeo, he is not talking about a rough sweep, he is tralking about some crazy stuttering effect where the second hand stops for a second or two and then jumps forward again. I have never had this on ANY watch (even cheap asian movements) and I certainly would not call it normal or acceptable. In may not be uncommon as those Asian movements are low end, but I sure would not accept it. I'm glad to hear the dealer will correct it.

Thanks... good job and the new crown makes a BIG difference.

That is most certainly NOT normal in any way! The second hand should have a nice smooth sweep. As far as screwing it in goes, well welcome to the world of reps. You often will find that things like screw down crowns simply lack the silky feel or quality you might hope for, but they generally function fine. Sounds like you have a bad movement and it should be replaced no questions by the dealer.

A lot of the complaints about the MBW pieces show that this thread is NOT about "your worst piece of junk" or something like that but rather "Your biggest didsapointment". I think people build up a LOT of ecpectations for MBW watches and perhpas nothing can meet those, and thus the disapointment. You can get a perfectly fine watch and STILL be disapointed simply because it was not what you had expected or had hoped for. This is in keeping with the spirit of this thread... It is also very interesting to see that certain brands are commonly pointed to as the most dispointing for people.

What do you mean 'No watch no refund"? Are you saying you bought a watch and never got it OR your money back... because that sounds liek a major rip off for sure! Maybe "rip off" is not the right term for this thread anyway. Maybe hust "over paying" or "poor value". When I look back at what I was willig to pay 5 years ago versus now the difference is striking. Back then anything decent seemed like it was worth a mint. Today we can be pickey and there is real competition to keep prices in check.

We have a couple of other "best of" or "worst of" threads going so how about telling the tale of your biggest screw job. You know, before you found the forums you fell for the "Fine Swiss Replica" talk or what have you. I am lucky in that when I came around to these things I managed to stumble across RWCC (the very first "replica" watch board) within days of it's creation. This kept me abreast of what was happening very early on. I even got incredibly lucky enough to buy my first fake (a very bad Tag Monaco) from a web site that actually refunded my money! They are long gone but were called Chrono2000 I think. They were polite, quick and when I did not like the watch gave me a full refund... WOW, the opposite of being ripped off! While I do nto think I have ever been ripped off I certainly have overpaid. I would say among the worst for me is dropping about $400 or so on a Roadster that while accurate had the incorrect blue hands. I then needed to replace those for yet more cash. Probably into it $500 or so. At the time I thought "ETA movement, MUST be good!" Of course it does have a basic ETA in it that is worth $35, I paid I would guess double what I would today... maybe more. I count myself fairly lucky though, no horror stories.

I listed my disapointmenbts already but there are some universal things that really bug me about many watches. Whenever I get one with these items I will be disapointed: 1) Crappy bezel. I pretty much avoid any watch with a rotating bezel because they more or less all suck and then I feel like the watch is cheap and crappy. There are a few exceptions. My 2004 Bond 007 SM has a great bezel and my PAM 87 has a course click that is very similar to the gen (which is to say it is kind of crappy, but again so is the gen). 2) Metalic blue hands. I just hate the way these things look. Again, they always feel super cheap to me and scream FAKE WATCH! I know some gens have them and I cannot put my finger on it but somehow they seem different and I have never seen a fake with blue hands that I like. I made the mistake of buying a few in the past... no more. 3) Noisey movements. The Asian 7750 is notorious for this. On wrist it is not too bad but when you crack open that package and see the watch and then pick it up only to loudly hear "WRRRR, WRRRRR, WRRRR" in a course,m grating way... well it is hard to feel too good about the watch at that point.

Oh, I have the PERFECT one for this. I bought a Franck Muller vegas on a whim. It was under $20 in China and I figured what the hell, a func watch to wear out every once in a blue moon. As it turns out the damn thing is built really well and has kept great time. What blows my mind is that it has the same working complication as the gen. I don't wear it often but when I go out to dinner with friends or somehting it is fun to have on. Cool watch and a throw away price, I should of bout a dozen of them.

We have the opposite of this thread going on now so I thought I would start a new one on the biggest let down watch you have. In other words you were really excited to get it and then never wore it deu to size or quality or style or whatever. Or maybe you USED to love it and now it has lost favor. For me I have several watches I have NEVER worn and I don't even display. The two most notable I guess are a PAM 251 (I think that is what it is, a white faced 196) and a Cartier Santos 100. Both are nice watches but the PAM is a first gen with the off color face (more silver than white) and NON recessed sub dials. While I actually like the way it looks I just think it is TOO far from gen for me to wear. This is absolutely idiotic because no one knows what it should look like and I don't care if I fool anyone, and yet I don't wear it. Plus I never really found a good deployant for it. The Santos is a great looking watch but somehow to formal for me. I tend to dress very casually and since I work for myself in a casual setting I just don't wear suits and the like very often. Plus the strap issue is a problem, so again, it has NEVER been worn and just sits in a drawer. Another canidate may be the cartier Roadster. When I bought it years back I thought it might be a new classic yet I think it aged pretty quickly. I still like it and I am lucky to have the one really accurate version ever made (I did have to replace the hands to get it there) but because it is mostly POLISHED SS and I am more of a brished kind of guy I rarely if ever break it out. What about you guys?

I think Kruzer and myself must be reading each other's minds because the PAM 36 would rate VERY high on this list for me as well. I bought it mainly because it was inexpensive (at the markets in Guangzhou) was titanium and had a GREAT crown (plus NON recessed pin). I mean it was nice for sure but I already had many PAMs including virtually idenitcal models such as the 111. So I really thought it would be an ocassional at best watch (especially with a brown dial and all). As it turns out it is one of the few non gens that I wear often. I love the look and thw wieght of it and I find it to be my "fall" watch. I know it is odd but the colors just really fit colors I tend to wear in the fall and I love it. It also gets the most compliments of ANY watch I wear, even much "fancier" gens.

I don't know if the case and CG are TRULY 1:1 or not but they certainly are visually identical to the gen. Now I am talking about the model that came out last 2005 and seems to be in short supply, not the one now availbale. They are very similar but not the same. Still, even the current model is very nice.

It's tough because obviously you would not purchase a watch unless you thought you would enjoy it to begin with! So it is easier to choose a watch you THOUGHT you woudl love, only to end up NEVER wearing. But I guess one that I really enjoy a lot more than I even expected in my Paul Newman Daytona. It's a pain being manual wind with such a small crown and all, and it is small, and yet whenever I wear it I juts love how it looks. It is NOT an every day beater for me because I think it is somewhat fragile, but a really cool watch nonetheless.

Calling the lume not very good may be the understatement of the year. For a LONG time I thought mine had NO lume whatsoever...NONE. Then after it sat under a light for about 30 minutes and I went into a dark room I noticed the slightest of slight little shimmers... next to nothing but there was SOME lume. But as you say re-lumes are fairly simple and fix it right up.

It is true that the value of a watch will PLUMMET the second you buy it. However it is also true that MANY if not MOST peopel on the net selling used watches are trying to scam you. Fakes, frankenwatches etc. So whiel it makes sense finicailly I would be very warry about buying a gen from the used market unless you REALLYknow who you are buying from. I am not suggesting that you would not know it was fake AFTER you got it, but at that point it may just be too late. So because of that I buy gens from authorized dealers.

I have no idea if tha hands should be gold or silver but I can assure you that gold hands CAN photograph as silver quite easily. It is true that it is more common to see silver come out gold looking (this is because poor white balance can cause a tungsten light color cast which is a warm goldish yellow color. In other words if you are white balanced for day light or strobes and an ambient tungtesn light is prsent it can cause that warm cast.) However is it quite possible to overexpose a light gold hand and have it look silver. Not that this does or does not directly apply to the shots above but it is something to keep in mind. Omni: I thnk you make a good point that age DOES matter with watches. Being 60 you can "get away' with a lot more than say a 25 year old could. Not only would a 15K gold watch just look stupid on most 25 year olds but it more often then not would not be realistic. On a 60 year old gold somehow (to me) seems more fitting.

I can understand prefering the rose gold version. though I am NOT a "gold guy" at all even I think that the RG version is quite striking. Like you Omni I am not out to "fool" anyone. I ALWAYS tell people that it is a fake, even if they just casually mention my watches and 90% of the time I wear gens anyway, so to me it is much more about collecting and not at all about fooling. With that said the faux carbon fiber still bugs me for some reason. I agree with you that I think it will look just fine on the wrist and the back has bigger flaws as far as that goes, but it still just bothers me... not sure why. I also would be a little concerned about the plating. Of course these are not watches that one wears forever but I still would prefer something that lasts. But if you prefer the RG I guess there really is no choice and I am sure it will wear well.

I agree with Admin on this one, porr (in my opinion) looking stamped plastic "carbob fiber" dial is a deal breaker for me. Plus I would never buy a plated gold anything, just asking for trouble. The S.S. version however looks GREAT, I hope the movement holds up.

Yup, I have that glorious "perfect PAM 36" and is is probably my favorite watch, I put it on a gen OEM dark brown gator and it is REALLY great looking. In fact i have more compliments on it than any other watch by far. But where did the idea of only 200 come from? I bought mine at the watch markets in China and while I only saw the one I would guess I could of had as many as I like.

>>>does anyone remember the pam036 from late 2005?? that one had a perfect crown 1:1 it was limited.. and it even had a flush center pin/cannon, and AR.. man i wich i could find one of those.. :-(<<< There are DIFFERENT versions of the PAM 36 and the ONLY one with the correct crown, BROWN dial and NON reccessed pin were briefly available at the end of 2005. I was lucky to grab on in China and have not seen one that can match it since.

And so the dump off begins...

Just got the e-mail... thanks, sorry for jumping the gun.

Angus: Not to be too annoying but have you started to send out the e-mails telling us how much and how to order? I repsonded to your pre-purchase message via e-mail but have not heard anything back from you. I just want to make sure that I am on "the list". thanks

It's a freaking box! A box that will sit in a drawer and take up space. You have already given it to your wife so there is not even any presentation factor left. Sure, she probably SHOULD replace it but you have to pick your fights. Do you REALLY care about a fake watch box that costs pennies to produce?