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Hello guys, I'd like to begin by introducing myself. I'm a watch lover, have owned a few gens (mostly Cartier) over the years, a newbie to the rep world, but am very intrigued by the quality of today's reps compared to gens. *Lengthy story below, bear with me* Here my first journey in this hobby begins: After closely examining and really studying up on good reps, trusted dealers, etc. I decided to make my first rep purchase from Trusty Time. I ordered a Hublot Ice Bang (I believe it was a V6 *noobie alert* with the platinum plated bridges and all) about a month ago now. About two or three days after ordering Andrew contacted me and let me know about the current situation with the factories, and the raids that seem to be plaguing them. He told me the Hublot factory was closed due to these raids and it could take 3-4 weeks for them to get my watch in stock and ready to ship. I told him this was no problem, I could wait. In the meantime, I had been looking at some PAMs and had read that the 111 M from Noob was a pretty good rep so I decided that while I waited for the Ice Bang I would order one of these to entertain myself with. Andrew confirmed it was in stock and a week after the order was placed he sent me QC pics, which I glanced over (noobie mistake) and approved, and then he sent it out. After waiting another two weeks for the delivery to arrive (held up an entire week in customs), I got the watch and absolutely loved it. However, upon further inspection I noticed that it was not an M Series like I had ordered, it was apparently an N, or so the case back reads. I loved the watch anyways, so despite having been sent the wrong Series (partly my fault, didn't notice the N serial in the QC pics) this didn't bother me much. I had read the Ns from Noob were great as well (perhaps better?). Anyways, having learned my lesson I decided that when the QC pics for the Ice Bang arrived I'd inspect them more carefully. They arrived a few hours ago, and I immediately noticed that the strap that it featured in the pics (gummy aligator) was not the one I'd asked for (I wanted the smooth rubber one) so no biggie, I informed Andrew and he said he'd change it. But then I noticed something that worried me. Now, remember I am very new to this so I may be terribly wrong about this but, I noticed that the ceramic case had a matte finish to it on the watch in the QC pics. Now to my understanding, the gen Ice Bang (numerals), be it with the tantalum or tungsten bezel has a kinda shiny/brushed black ceramic case, while the Ice Bang Evolution (stick markers) has the black matte case (like the All Black II). So I believe what I was looking at was kinda a rep hybrid featuring the Dial from the average Ice Bang (with numerals) inside the ceramic case of the Ice Bang Evolution (who's dial is supposed to be stick markers instead of numerals). Needless to say I informed Andrew. He then insisted that the case was correct, even after I sent him a stock QC picture from his website which I believe contradicted this. He then said that, that was the last watch left, that the factory had recently reopened for a couple of days and had been shut down again due to the raids, possibly for another two weeks. He said if I didn't want the watch he would offer me a refund. I took the refund. I may be new at this but my gut and a bit of research led me to believe that the watch wasn't right, not even in rep standards. I am awaiting the refund but I know Andrew is good for it. Well, now that I've told my story, my questions to the seasoned veterans on this board are as follows: 1. What do you make of the mix up with the PAM? 2. What do you think of the issue with the Hublot Ice Bang? 3. How much do you think the raids, lack of stock, etc. influenced the situation with both orders? 4. And most importantly, what trusted dealer can send me a proper Ice Bang V6 now? I've been looking forward to this watch for a month and am now completely lost as to how to get my hands on one.