BCE rep: story about buying in China (also request for help)

[p11c]

Hi,

I have recently become a member of the RWG. My post have two parts, first one is a short story, the second is a request for help with a small ( by size) problem. If it can be helped that is.

Part one.

I bought my BCE rep 2 years ago back in 2008 in Beijing Pearl Market. Buying it was quite an ordeal. It is a large building, There are several stalls on a main floor where there are tons of rep/fantasy rep and other watches. There are more on the upper floor (I think 3rd oh my memory... , watches electronic and jewelry) and then one above you have more store looking like shops with "better" quality merchandises (meaning that they do not have the very cheep stuff. I have done some research on reps and wanted BCE automatic. First I went to the upper most store, and after looking at the rep at the front store, I asked for better quality one. First they have said these were the best they had, but after bit of back and forth I (we) was led to a room behind where they had the real deal. They had 2 levels of quality the better one with AR coating, which they called "the swiss machine". The price asked was outrageous, equivalent of $2000 US but it went quickly down to ~ $500 US, at which point I have pretended I wanted leave when we found that the door was locked from the outside and my wife freak out, and there was no more bargaining!

Few days latter I have repeated the bargaining at one stall on the main floor (no doors which made my better half feel better) the difference being that after rejecting several examples, and asking for "even better quatity" the girl that was selling them told me that it would cost a lot, to which I have said that I can pay more for good quality, after which she called up and the watches were brought to her stall within 5 min.

The bargaining for "the Swiss machine" was similar, with exception that the initial drop to about $300 US was easier (but not easy) but ultimately she would not go lower then 1250 yuans = ~$200 US, all theatrics with leaving and coming back included. She was actually very calm and nice at it, after the deal was done I gave her 100 yuans "tip", she appeared very surprised and happy. What I got you can see on pictures below. Being called "Swiss machine" one would think it has ETA, but frankly I do not know. It is rather rare version (for gens) with Arabic numerals, has AR, it works very well, though bit fast did not measure it but ~+15 sec per day. I have used it as my primary watch for the last 10 months, after my Acutron got crashed. I have dunked it in the water sailing on many occasions (fresh water) and it works fine. Even though used regularly there are no scratches.

Now the funny part is that I took it to a local watchmaker to re-size the bracelet, first he admired it, then cursed it when trying to take apart the links calling it cheep Chinese fake, and that he did not wanted to brake his tool ON A FAKE. As it turned out he has never seen Breitling bracelet, I got video from Y-tube and did it myself in 10 min, as it turned out he did not take both screws out thinking it was a push link.

Part Two

When playing on a boat 15min marker must have gotten caught in a line and snapped away ( I kind of remember it). Initially I thought the screw went loose like a few from the brace before I locked threads, but no! the remaining of the screw shaft is there. I have found the gen replacement for ~$150 US (steel marker and screw), bit steep if you ask me.

The question is can somebody point to a source of replacement (marker plus screw or w while bezel) for this BCE? And while you at it, where can I get the screws for bracelet. (My local watchmaker is unlikely source of such info). Thanks for any info.

I wish I have found RWG before for there is so much good information here, including info about sellers, now I think I am ready to buy again, this time without 12 hours flight, tough for bit more money.

[exelonman]

Hi,

I have recently become a member of the RWG. My post have two parts, first one is a short story, the second is a request for help with a small ( by size) problem. If it can be helped that is.

Part one.

I bought my BCE rep 2 years ago back in 2008 in Beijing Pearl Market. Buying it was quite an ordeal. It is a large building, There are several stalls on a main floor where there are tons of rep/fantasy rep and other watches. There are more on the upper floor (I think 3rd oh my memory... , watches electronic and jewelry) and then one above you have more store looking like shops with "better" quality merchandises (meaning that they do not have the very cheep stuff. I have done some research on reps and wanted BCE automatic. First I went to the upper most store, and after looking at the rep at the front store, I asked for better quality one. First they have said these were the best they had, but after bit of back and forth I (we) was led to a room behind where they had the real deal. They had 2 levels of quality the better one with AR coating, which they called "the swiss machine". The price asked was outrageous, equivalent of $2000 US but it went quickly down to ~ $500 US, at which point I have pretended I wanted leave when we found that the door was locked from the outside and my wife freak out, and there was no more bargaining!

Few days latter I have repeated the bargaining at one stall on the main floor (no doors which made my better half feel better) the difference being that after rejecting several examples, and asking for "even better quatity" the girl that was selling them told me that it would cost a lot, to which I have said that I can pay more for good quality, after which she called up and the watches were brought to her stall within 5 min.

The bargaining for "the Swiss machine" was similar, with exception that the initial drop to about $300 US was easier (but not easy) but ultimately she would not go lower then 1250 yuans = ~$200 US, all theatrics with leaving and coming back included. She was actually very calm and nice at it, after the deal was done I gave her 100 yuans "tip", she appeared very surprised and happy. What I got you can see on pictures below. Being called "Swiss machine" one would think it has ETA, but frankly I do not know. It is rather rare version (for gens) with Arabic numerals, has AR, it works very well, though bit fast did not measure it but ~+15 sec per day. I have used it as my primary watch for the last 10 months, after my Acutron got crashed. I have dunked it in the water sailing on many occasions (fresh water) and it works fine. Even though used regularly there are no scratches.

Now the funny part is that I took it to a local watchmaker to re-size the bracelet, first he admired it, then cursed it when trying to take apart the links calling it cheep Chinese fake, and that he did not wanted to brake his tool ON A FAKE. As it turned out he has never seen Breitling bracelet, I got video from Y-tube and did it myself in 10 min, as it turned out he did not take both screws out thinking it was a push link.

Part Two

When playing on a boat 15min marker must have gotten caught in a line and snapped away ( I kind of remember it). Initially I thought the screw went loose like a few from the brace before I locked threads, but no! the remaining of the screw shaft is there. I have found the gen replacement for ~$150 US (steel marker and screw), bit steep if you ask me.

The question is can somebody point to a source of replacement (marker plus screw or w while bezel) for this BCE? And while you at it, where can I get the screws for bracelet. (My local watchmaker is unlikely source of such info). Thanks for any info.

I wish I have found RWG before for there is so much good information here, including info about sellers, now I think I am ready to buy again, this time without 12 hours flight, tough for bit more money.

Nice watch! I purchased some reps while in Guangzhou adopting our daughter and it was "fun". I would contact Mary or Ruby and they should be able to find you a complete bezel.

[Toadtorrent]

Welcome aboard...and a great tale of rep buying in China. As far as hassle goes...you are unfortunately, better off to buy from the dealers here than from the markets in China. This has been proven time and time again by folks going to all the main rep markets in China. Sad that mail order is the way to go.

Thanks for sharing this...it's nice to hear other people's stories of finding this forum.

You just found yourself the best watch forum around. I hope you continue to share great stories like these.

[lanikai]

I have screws .. not sure if I have a spare tab ..

it always helps to use the blue Loctite on the screws.. it secures them in place... but can still be removed.

[Bike Mike]

Welcome!

Is it me or does it appear that the screw head has sheared off and the screw body is still inside the bezel?

Usually a Easy-out does the trick to remove screws, but I can not say I have ever seen one small enough to a sscrew this size. I know there is a watch markers tool that is used to remove broken screws from movement bridges, but don't know if that will help here.

You might want to try a fine tip carbid dremel bit and score a slot in it, that way you can use a screwdriver to extract it. Regardless, best of luck!

[p11c]

Welcome!

Is it me or does it appear that the screw head has sheared off and the screw body is still inside the bezel?

You are right, the screw body is still there, and a minute part of it is out.

[p11c]

Welcome aboard...and a great tale of rep buying in China. As far as hassle goes...you are unfortunately, better off to buy from the dealers here than from the markets in China. This has been proven time and time again by folks going to all the main rep markets in China. Sad that mail order is the way to go.

........... .

Hi Toadtorrent, thanks for your kind words.

This is indeed a great forum, at first I was just looking to get more info on reliable online dealers, but after I started digging deeper, I was stunned by the information here.

China is a great country to visit, and putting their system aside, in general the people there are actually rather friendly, even in Beijing the westerners are few in between and at only in a few places there (downtown, markets, few clubs, etc.), but the farther from tourist place you go, the better it gets. To be honest even the bargaining bit is not really that bad, it is just a colorful part of the process there, but also in India, Middle East etc. (and NA car dealerships. Now that I think about it you can get better bargains there then in our car dealerships). China is actually very safe for us, the violence against tourist is unheard off, even in that locked room I did not feel threaten (my wife apparently did), they locked it for theatrics, "expensive" watches, secret chamber, all that jazz, LOL. Petty crime maybe, I have not experienced any, while several times there, I had waitresses running after me from restaurants to give me back tips I have left on a table, (thinking that I have forgotten my money, it is generally not a custom to tip there unless you go to "for Westerners" joint or a high end hotel. But if you want to part with money by buying overpriced stuff it is a fair game. If you actually roughly know the worth, it is on the other hand just like playing with cards "face-up", in my experiences anyway, and bargaining about the last 100 yuen ... it is just a few bucks really. Business on a larger scale I think would be much more difficult.

It can be a hard work for the sellers, I took pictures below during a river cruise. These guys board tourist boats trying to sell their stuff, cheap rep watches including, perhaps having better luck on sunny days.

.

These guys had better working conditions, there were 5-6 guys with reps standing right in front of this AD

.

But you are right, all in all it can be a bother, sometimes a big one, it takes time from doing more fun stuff, furthermore how realistic it is to go abroad when a fancy strikes you to buy a one watch or three. So for people like me finding a reliable dealer is fantastic in itself. However on this forum, as I am in the process of finding it out, the information is much deeper, and chance for interaction much greater; it looks that I am going to stick around. I may even get few reps and start "popping the back open", at least I can find here how.

So many thanks again!

[opti]

Great photos and cool story

[lanikai]

That some cool pics ... capitalism .. reaching new heights on the waterways

[danander11]

I have screws .. not sure if I have a spare tab ..

it always helps to use the blue Loctite on the screws.. it secures them in place... but can still be removed.

If you look around, Loctite also makes a 'purple' (I cannot recall the number), that is specifically for tiny screws and such. I think it's might be more appropriate for something like this than blue.. (will hold things in place but easier to unfasten later).

[spooky driver]

p11c i just wanted to say i really enjoyed your tale of adventure....thanks for sharing

sorry but i cant help about your watch