My First Replica Experience

[Wahoo]

This is my first post. I am more of a lurker and researcher than a poster. I have perused several of the forums and am trying to select one as home. I am using this first post to help me decide based on any responses. The forums have already proved invaluable with my first purchase. I just can't keep track of all of them.

OK, so I pulled the trigger on Eddie Lee's Explorer II with a white face. First, my experience with EL. Eddie's Exp II looked pretty good, but so did some others. I e-mailed a few dealers and got prompt responses from many of them. Eddie took the cake, though. He rarely took more than 30 minutes to respond and sometimes in less than 10. And it didn't matter what time of day or night, I don't think the man sleeps! He is very friendly and helpful in every e-mail. His watch was more expensive than most, but his responses to my questions sold me. I ordered the watch on a Tuesday, had a tracking number by Wednesday and received the watch by noon on Saturday! Four days! Eddie provides great service.

Now, for the watch. My first impression was that the indices were wrong. They are gunmetal and not black. I knew this might happen, but they looked great in the photos. Also, the red on the 24 hr hand is too dark, more of a maroon or burgundy. Those were the big things. On the nit-pick level: the lume on the indices looks kinda fake, noticeable only up close. The bezel is off by a fraction of a millimeter CCW and the cyclops is slightly crooked. When I first held it, the bracelet felt wrong somehow. However, I have worn it now for over two weeks and it feels just like my genuine Sub bracelet. Go figure. The fit and finish on the case and bracelet are excellent. Aside from those things mentioned above, the watch is gorgeous! I love it. I bought it to give my Sub a break and it is now my daily wearer. Unfortunately, I can't get a decent picture up close with my camera, so no photos. Maybe later.

Thanks Eddie Lee and all of you from the various forums!

[rower]

I would love to see some pictures of your watch. Are the hour markers ringed in black or silver? Does the GMT hand or the hour hand change? Do you know if it is water resistant?

Steve

[chrgod]

Good choice with the white face Explorer II! I bought one from Trusty two weeks ago and made a short review here ( adjustable hour hand version)

Does anybody know how the bezel is fastened to the case? It is possible to just "flick" it off to align the numbers..?

[rower]

Try heating it up with a hair dryer and then gently moving it to the proper alignment.

[Wahoo]

I would love to see some pictures of your watch. Are the hour markers ringed in black or silver? Does the GMT hand or the hour hand change? Do you know if it is water resistant?

Steve

I might get some good pictures when my wife gets back from travelling with her Nikon, in maybe a week. The hour markers are ringed in gunmetal as stated above, neither black nor silver. The hands are jet black and look good. It has the correct handstack for a GMT watch, so you can adjust the hour hand independantly. I can verify that it is a convenient feature since I have had to travel outside of my time zone already. The watch is supposed to be water resistant, but I won't wear it in the water with out a pressure test.

[Waxon Waxoff]

I'm glad your first experience was a good one. Like you, I've mostly been lurking, trying to get enough information to make informed decisions. I ended up buying some used reps, and I have to say that I'm pleased as punch with my purchases. Like you, I feel the quality of the reps is so good, even if they aren't 100% accurate to the models they're reproducing, they feel and look every bit as good as my gens.

[Wahoo]

Well, I was at a gen dealer yesterday looking at Date-Justs for my wife and I got a good look at the gen Explorer II. My rep didn't hold up as well as I had hoped. The case, bezel and bracelet are fine, but the hour markers are completely off. The crown was smaller on the gen also. The rep looks very close to the gen in photographs. However, the gen looks totally different in person. You just can't get the full impact of how dark black the hour markers are unless it's in front of you. I think they may also be larger. That said, the sales rep still thought I was wearing a gen. Am I going to stop wearing my rep? No way, but I might have it modded if someone could put a better dial in it. There are one or two in some of the dealers' galleries that look more authentic, but I'm not going to buy them all just to see. I still like my EL Explorer.