By-Tor Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Hey... I went through my old Photobucket albums and found pics of the best Rollie reps from the mid-decade. Joshua CN Sub with mods by "Palpatine". Absolutely laughable. Wrong dw position, bad bracelet, medicore dial. Very sought-after "TW Best" model from River. Felt more substantial than the CN version. It was the only one with correct dw position but everything else was very inaccurate. Very expensive MBW "Red" 1680. Good base watch for mods but very inaccurate. The dial was totally wrong. CN 16710 GMT Master II. Nice crown & guards, the rest was... well, medicore at best. Again, wrong dw position. This might have been my worst Rollie rep ever... look at the grey hour markers and misplaced date wheel. Man they were absolutely AWFUL. And we were paying big bucks for these... and wearing them proudly. Repeat after me "new members are spoiled". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Not quite there yet, but we have certainly come a long way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irolexu Posted October 23, 2012 Report Share Posted October 23, 2012 Ya now we have watches that if not careful can even fool it's owner! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praetor Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 good thing the first rolex i bought was a wm9 v2, saves me a lot of money. But then I got addicted to vintage rolex fml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relaxman Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I owned them all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 The venerable Red 1680 with the mammoth Vampire Killer 12:00 dagger. Can you imagine what Palpatine could do now, with the stuff we have available? Heck, LOL, even RBJ could make one look good. LOL LOL ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w0lf Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 joe and his famous "genuine dial dusting". legendary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted October 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I was buying a gen insert from Joe once and I asked if I could send the PayPal payment in Euros. Joe asked "What are the Euros? Are they like Dollars?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nanuq Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 LOL! LOL! LOL! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relaxman Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I still own my Infamous Joe $600 Rolex LV. Oh the memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce79 Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Those were the ones that started it for me. I went back and forth between the CN & TW so many times. Spent so much money on mods. And the classic epic rants between The Zigmeister and RBJ that used to go on for pages and pages and pages. I think RBJ still lurks around RWI, I know he has an account open. These are certainly much simpler times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rek001 Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Ya well I sent RBJ a TT Sub to mod and give it his "spa" treatment - I was stupid enought to enclose $250 cash in the package. When I didn't get an e-mail from him for awhile I called him, remember he gave out his home phone number? Anyway, I call him, asking if he safely got my package, he tells me his entire dining room is filled with unopened packages, laughing, he thought it was funny. No log for when the package came in, nothing. He had to dig to find my package and call me back, it took him another 4 months until I got my watch from him. I was not impressed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieselpower Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 I went through trials and tribualtions with RBJ too! Thankfully I actually ended up with a passable 1665 DRSD which I still wear, reckon I was lucky! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relaxman Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 My RBJ The EL 183 that started it all for me. Bought it on Ioffer before I knew who he was and before I knew of this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milesd Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Wow, I still can't tell the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 I had a very bad experience with RBJ as well. He completely screwed up a 1665.Thankfully,The Zigmeister was able to fix all the problems and I ended up with a pretty nice watch. Not long after that RBJ disappeared from TRC.I wonder if he is still alive, what with all of his ailments tthat he constantly used as and excuse for not getting watches done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 I managed to avoid Red Big Joe. But in truth we all owe him a big thank you. The Zigmeister was so incensed at the time I got him to do the very first Ziggy MBW'S for a fraction of the $750 RBJ used to charge. But to Palpatine's credit The Daytona seconds at 6 I got from him years and years avoids still running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inertiadrifter Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 That is why I'm so lucky getting in to reps on the right time with all this super reps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I'm not saying the reps back then were shite. That CN Sub in the 1st picture was the most accurate one. Watcher even posted a gen vs. rep comparison and everyone was praising how accurate the rep was. Now the reps are insanely accurate. Take something like WM9/TC Subs with some mods... you gotta be a SUPER NERD to be able to call them out. They're so good. To be honest, I have enjoyed some of the less accurate reps the most (like Ebel BTR and Speedmaster Broad Arrow). They both felt like high quality watches and could "fool" anyone. BTR was the best quality rep I ever owned and I loved the Speedy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triplehd Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 Wow - the old CN and TW models....i remember those where the top dogs back in the day and then throw in the originals MBWs..... BT - you've been showing some blasts from the past...makes me wanna lurk at my old album to see photos...but it may make me sad knowing that a number of pieces are long gone from my collection Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
By-Tor Posted October 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I'm not missing any of my old Rollies... after WM9/TC they became completely meaningless. The only great Rolex super rep (from the old days) was the Noob version ExpII, which was almost as accurate as WM9/TC. It never got the recognition and respect it deserved. These were awesome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
relaxman Posted October 26, 2012 Report Share Posted October 26, 2012 I bought the Speedy on your recommendation way back when. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sneed12 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 RBJ just popped back up again on RepGeek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted March 31, 2013 Report Share Posted March 31, 2013 WOW, This old thread brings back memories, not all of them good!! So RBJ is back, hopefully those folks have heard enough of the stories to stay clear of him. It's hard to realize in the past 7-8 years how far reps have come. back then you had to mod the hell out of a good base rep to get a 90% believable watch, now they are 90+% out the box and with the right mods they are 97-99% If hindsight were 20-20, most of us would have stocked up on parts and even watches. back then Tudors were not very popular at all, a good condition Tudor sub could be had for the price of a 93150 bracelet now!! Here is a MBW 1665 DRSD that first went to RBJ who really messed it up andZiggy was able to get it right. i can't remember what all the mods were, but I know the CG's were reshaped, I believe it had a gen crown/tube, Swiss ETA movement (didn't they all back then!!) and the rivet bracelet was genuine. Here is my present one, I've got about 3X the money in this one, but It's probably more believable. Gen mvmt,DW, crown,tube, insert, bracelet endlinks anda much better dial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.