tabularasa415 Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 So, here goes my first official post... Being new to the forum, I want to make sure that I contribute to the community. While new, I've been reading non-stop and I have to say this a group of really good people. I joined because there are a few watches that I wanted to research before I purchase reps of, and boy am I glad I joined! I've learned a lot very quickly. This particular post, however, is about my purchase of a (supposedly) genuine Tag Heuer Carrera Calibre 5 Automatic from ebay. Also, it should be noted that this would be my first purchase of a watch from ebay due to all of the horror stories I've read about. Here is a link to the still-fresh auction I won -- ebay auction I live by the phrase "buy the seller first." I sent a couple of e-mails to this fellow and felt him out a bit. As you can see, he doesn't buy and sell a lot of watches which I took to be a good sign. In the first e-mail I'd sent him I complemented the watch and asked him what he was replacing it with and he replied with a Grand Carrera. I took that he knew something about TAGs to be a good sign. Even though the pictures are far from decent, I thought the fact that this watch had, what seemed to me, a non-google-able serial# was a good sign as well. The rest is obviously history. I received the watch in a condition described by the seller. The bracelet had definitely seen some action. I decided to take it to my local AD for a professional polish and to seek out the head nod from their master watchmaker. Now, I asked my sales person to make sure the watchmaker was sure that it was a gen before I shelled out the $$$ to polish the bracelet and I was told he called the AD to tell them he was sure it was, but would have to charge me $75 for a formal appraisal if I wanted it in writing (which I really didn't want to do). I had chatted here with signumboy who had unfortunately purchased a rep model identical to mine off of ebay under the pretense that it was a genuine. He gave me a few "tells" to look for and when I went to the AD to pick up my watch I took my loupe with me. An aside: Have you ever noticed how nervous jewelers become when they're trying to sell you a piece and you pull out your own loupe? Anyhow, signumboy told me the first tell was the serial# as most all of the reps he had been privy to had the same serial#. Obviously my watch passed that first test. The others were the second hands on the gen were slightly longer than on the rep and the markers on the gen are slightly broader. Also, the date window should be beveled. Well, I forced my sales associate to pull a gen out of the case for me and sat there and compared them for about 10 minutes. Everything seemed as though it should and everything looked the same under the loupe. To sum it up, I think I was very LUCKY. Here are the pictures of my watch. Note how nicely the bracelet came out, but now I'm noticing tiny little scratches on the case! I guess I'll have to have it done as well :-) By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By tabularasa415 at 2011-01-20 By the way, I would like to thank signumboy for his consulting as well as Drulee for his sage advice and wisdom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Excellent pics, excellent purchase. You got it for a good price! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabularasa415 Posted January 20, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Excellent pics, excellent purchase. You got it for a good price! Woot! I was waiting for just one person to say that and make me feel good about the purchase! haha. Thank you, kind sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
signumboy Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Nice watch , a gen for sure. It's surprising how close the rep is to this watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automatics Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 just wondering. i always though the gen movements didn't have visible jagged teeth. For the central gear/bearings around which the rotor pivots? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automatics Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Be glad to be told otherwise. cos I've always admired the tag carrera chronos. but the rep centre rotor always had teeth. and that was distinctly different from the Gens I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobyboy Posted February 4, 2011 Report Share Posted February 4, 2011 After a lot of search, I have some questions because this specific model, it isn't very popular so: How accurate is the rep out of the box? Anyone bought it? Flaws on the date window,movement...? Which is best:this one or the Link? Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tabularasa415 Posted March 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2011 The rep is pretty accurate. From what I've learned the big tells of the rep are slightly shorter hands, lack of beveling on the date window, and if you find the best version of it ::cough-cough:: Joshua ::cough::, while the rotor does have the "TAG Heuer Swiss Made" text, the space between Swiss and Made is a little too much. But honestly, it's a pretty darn good replica in all respects. I've seen enough pictures of the reps and compared them to my gen. It really is a nice effort. I don't think I could call you out on it unless I were shaking your hand and staring down at your wrist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seafoam Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 (edited) I love these!! Great choice and first post. Looks fantastic. Good photos as well. seafoam edit: just saw the price. Score for sure Edited March 9, 2011 by seafoam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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