Rick James Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 (edited) So my buddy got a Submariner rep from Joshua a few months ago. I got to check it out yesterday. Pretty nice rep considering it was the lowest priced one that Joshua offers (like $130 or something.) It looks convincing from a distance, however once you start inspecting some things came to attention. One thing that really stood out for me from a reasonable distance was that the crystal (not sure if his cheap rep has sapphire or mineral) seemed tinted or cloudy. So I started comparing it to my genuine TAG Heuer F1 CAC111D. I got mine about 2 years ago from an official dealer and the sapphire is still perfect. On mine the sapphire is very very clear. From 1 ft away you can't tell anything is in front of the watch face unless you smudge it up with your fingers. It also doesn't glare or cast much reflection. If you want to see what I mean: http://i.imgur.com/SJtY2l.jpg His seems to cast a lot of glare and you can definitely tell there is some kind of mineral/sapphire in front of the face from a few ft away. The best way I can describe it is if you left the protective film on the watch, or another products that come sealed with protective film. So my question is if this is normal for reps? Is there some quality issue with the sapphire used in reps? I kind of figured they all (reps and genuine) use synthetic sapphire and I'd imagine that it's not hard to find high quality sapphire considering people have been making synthetic sapphire for quite a long time now. I want to get a TAG Carrera rep since I really can't bring myself to spend that kind of money on a genuine one and really love how it looks. I'm worried that the sapphire will be just like my buddy's rep and that would be a bit of a deal breaker. Any thoughts guys? Edited November 8, 2011 by Rick James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 I've seen cloudy rep crystals for sure. It definitely happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick James Posted November 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Is that pretty common with Joshua's higher end stuff? I decided to order the watch ($360 shipped), but hes gonna show me a QC photo so I can see first. I saw a few others that have been posted on this site (the 43MM TAG Carrera) and they seem fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 It's not Joshua's stuff, but it should be reasonable grounds for replacement if seen in a QC photo from any dealer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick James Posted November 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 chieftang, Thanks for the reply. I'll check the QC pics when I get em. I ordered a slightly different model, but this video on his site seems cloudy too: http://www.1-pc8838.com/tgca00111-carrera-43mm-chrono-ssss-a7750-p-5947.html Would you say that's representative of reps in general? My gen doesn't look that way on camera, irregardless of light. It's not the end of the world I guess, but just curious if it's normal. Wonder how much a gen or high quality crystal would cost and how much to replace . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted November 8, 2011 Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Not in general. Most crystals are fine. I think recently a fair number of Luminor crystals have been showing up cloudy. But over the years, with all the crystals I've handled for AR runs, cloudy crystals have been uncommon - an every once in a while occurrence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick James Posted November 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2011 Thank you for the insight! I'll be posting pics when I get my rep and do a few comparison photos . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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