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Rolex Gmt Master Ii:


jacobsen1

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Just got my first rep in:

WOW!

184545-6306.jpg

It's obviously a Rolex GMT-MASTER II.

It's my first rep.

It's great. It looks awesome and I've shown it to 3 co workers already this AM. One owns a (very old) genuine rolex and he was blown away by this rep. He couldn't believe it was this good for what I paid for it. The other guys, who's always wanted a rolex and "knows about reps" was also blown away with the quality. The third guy has just ordered the "perfect" (but just walked in and it's out of stock :lol: )... SO yeah, it's impressive to non watch people and even people who know about watches, just not the specific details of reps versus gens... The only bad news in this whole thing is now I'm hooked for sure. Any spare $$$ I have will be going into this new hobby.

wrist shot:

184545-6307.jpg

So a question about the crown and setting the watch. I set the GMT hand to 5 hours before my time because I'm on the east coast so that's right. Set the date moving the crown the other way at that "stop". Then I pull it out (pretty hard) to fully out and set the time (which reset the GMT hand) so then I go back in to reset the GMT... It's all set. But then to screw the crown back in, it's sort of and awkward push while turning/spinning/screwing motion. Is that right? Also should it be pretty firm moving the crown in and out to the 3 different positions (unscrewed, GMT/date, and time)? I guess tight is always better than lose though... Also as for band size, I move the adjuster in the clasp to fully tight with is close to right... But if I need to take a link out, I just unscrew the screw on both sides of the link and I'm all set? My previous swiss is a push out pin style so I've never dealt with this with the screws...

Also another question... What's the legality of owning/buying one of these... I was thinking about that since I ordered it. Is it legal to buy this as a replica? Is it legal to own it as a replica? I'm sure making them is not so good, but they do that in china where they don't go by the rules anyway... Just curious.

Thanks!

Ben

You can go here to see the images bigger, for some reason hot linking the bigger pic ain't working right now:

http://www.pbase.com/benjacobsen/rwgcc

Edited by jacobsen1
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Welcome to this awful hobby. You'll be spending a lot of money and time, my friend. To pour oil on fire, your version of GMT is not the best. There's a correct hand stack version with an independently adjustable hour hand (instead of GMT hand), correct date window/cyclop position, smaller CGs, like the gen. Paul, Andrew, and EddieLee carry that.

-bm

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Welcome to this awful hobby. You'll be spending a lot of money and time, my friend. To pour oil on fire, your version of GMT is not the best. There's a correct hand stack version with an independently adjustable hour hand (instead of GMT hand), correct date window/cyclop position, smaller CGs, like the gen. Paul, Andrew, and EddieLee carry that.

-bm

Link?

I've seen the perfects on watchwindersworld (but not of the pepsi GMT):

http://watchwindersworld.com/rlss10006-per...iss-p-1335.html

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Maybe it's just because I'm new to reps, but how is that any different from what I just ordered from Joshua?

http://watchwindersworld.com/rlgs10003-mas...8362-p-413.html

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yours: look at the cyclop being more to the right than Paul's. You can't even see the 3 o'clock indice mark. The date window is also bigger, more square than rectangular. The hand stack from the dial is GMT, hour, minute, second. The correct stack is hour, GMT, minute, second. And then the circle around the pin hole of the GMT hand is too big which is the biggest eyesore to me. Note Josh's description that it's GMT hand adjustable instead of hour hand adjustable. Functionally it's very different. With the adjustable hand version, you adjust the hour hand in 1 hour increment. So when you go between time zones, all you have to do is change the hour hand 1 hour, 2 hours, etc. The movement maintains the hour/minute hands relationship for you.

184988-6242.jpg

184988-6243.jpg

Paul's and Trusty's:

184988-6244.jpg

Edited by bklm1234
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yours: look at the cyclop being more to the right than Paul's. You can't even see the 3 o'clock indice mark. The date window is also bigger, more square than rectangular. The hand stack from the dial is GMT, hour, minute, second. The correct stack is hour, GMT, minute, second. And then the circle around the pin hole of the GMT hand is too big which is the biggest eyesore to me. Note Josh's description that it's GMT hand adjustable instead of hour hand adjustable. Functionally it's very different. With the adjustable hand version, you adjust the hour hand in 1 hour increment. So when you go between time zones, all you have to do is change the hour hand 1 hour, 2 hours, etc. The movement maintains the hour/minute hands relationship for you.

Wow, thanks for all the info... I never noticed any of that after studying all the images at all 3 of those sites. Guess that shows how good you guys are with your watches. Very impressive.

So can you explain the movement of the hands to me again... (I can see all the visual differences now that you pointed them out). When you say "the GMT hand is adjustable instead of the hour hand" what does that mean, because I can adjust both? So the actual hour hand (not the GMT hand) adjusts one hour at a time independently of the minutes when at the first click of the crown? How do you adjust the GMT hand then? Not sure if it would have made a difference in where I ordered the watch had I know this, but I did ask the difference back before I ordered:

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=18771&hl=

I ended up with Joshua because he has the better reputation from what I read and he took paypal which is a lot easier for me. At the time I was under the impression the watches were "the same" though. Live and learn I guess. I'm still very happy with the watch but now I know a little more of what to look for before buying my next watch!

Thanks,

Ben

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On the genuine (I used to have 2 genuine Explorer II which has the same movement as the GMT II) and the correct hand stack version, the GMT hand is not adjustable. It just follows the minute hand. So that relationship (GMT and minute hands) is fixed and maintained by the movement. Most people use the GMT hand for home time. So when setting the time on the watch, I first set the GMT time by turning the minute hand. I set it to PST because I'm in California. And then I set my hour hand to PST as well because I haven't travelled out. As I travel between time zones, the watch allows me to set the hour hand independently with the crown pulled out one click, in one hour increment. The other 2 hands don't move at all. I set the hour hand to the local time zone I've travelled to. That's very convenient. I believe (I don't have the watch with me at the moment because I sent it to Joe to mod the CG) when you adjust the hour hand, it doesn't effect any date change either. If I'm right, your GMT hand doesn't adjust in increments so it's your job to maintain the proper GMT/hour/minute hand relationship.

The GMT Master, with it's turnable bezel, can keep a third time. Many people think you should set the bezel to actual Greenwich Mean Time. Here's a link for your enjoyment. I wouldn't do it 'cause I don't have a need to keep a 3rd time zone and I kind of like having the bezel's 24 at 12 of the dial.

http://www.koniaris.com/rolex/

Sorry I didn't read your other post. I would have advised you to buy the correct hand stack version. It's still a very good watch what you got. Just get the correct hand stack version for explorer II which is a even better rep (its brushed bezel is perfect unlike the GMT's bezel insert having the wrong colors. Yes your pepsi bezel has the wrong colors. Sorry). The white one at Wo-mart for $169 (be careful Paul carries the other version too) is a great deal. Belial2k carries both black and white $190 shipped. Trusty has them for about $250 shipped. And then send it to Joe to do a CG mod and make the bezel flush with the case making the crystal sit high and nice, it will be a stunning 99.9% like the gen. Don't let one purchase upset you and it's not a bad one anyway. I bought a similar version of your GMT. I sold it. Most of us have many versions of the same watches LOL.

Edited by bklm1234
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I ended up with Joshua because he has the better reputation from what I read and he took paypal which is a lot easier for me. At the time I was under the impression the watches were "the same" though. Live and learn I guess. I'm still very happy with the watch but now I know a little more of what to look for before buying my next watch!

Thanks,

Ben

Ben, don't feel too bad, here's why: There is a glaring problem with those other GMT's that Joshua's doesn't seem to have. The font and size of the word "ROLEX" is too small on all those other examples and it sticks out like a sore thumb. Look at a genuine GMT II and you will see the R in ROLEX is over the "E" in OYSTER below it, and the "X" is over the "D" in DATE. Not to mention the crown above ROLEX is also much too small. It appears correctly on Josh's. It was the first thing I noticed.

I would go with Josh's GMT if I had the choice of the watches shown. The error in the font size on the others is just too obvious to me.

Edited by simmons3d
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On the genuine (I used to have 2 genuine Explorer II which has the same movement as the GMT II) and the correct hand stack version, the GMT hand is not adjustable. It just follows the minute hand. So that relationship (GMT and minute hands) is fixed and maintained by the movement. Most people use the GMT hand for home time. So when setting the time on the watch, I first set the GMT time by turning the minute hand. I set it to PST because I'm in California. And then I set my hour hand to PST as well because I haven't travelled out. As I travel between time zones, the watch allows me to set the hour hand independently with the crown pulled out one click, in one hour increment. The other 2 hands don't move at all. I set the hour hand to the local time zone I've travelled to. That's very convenient. I believe (I don't have the watch with me at the moment because I sent it to Joe to mod the CG) when you adjust the hour hand, it doesn't effect any date change either. If I'm right, your GMT hand doesn't adjust in increments so it's your job to maintain the proper GMT/hour/minute hand relationship.

The GMT Master, with it's turnable bezel, can keep a third time. Many people think you should set the bezel to actual Greenwich Mean Time. Here's a link for your enjoyment. I wouldn't do it 'cause I don't have a need to keep a 3rd time zone and I kind of like having the bezel's 24 at 12 of the dial.

http://www.koniaris.com/rolex/

Sorry I didn't read your other post. I would have advised you to buy the correct hand stack version. It's still a very good watch what you got. Just get the correct hand stack version for explorer II which is a even better rep (its brushed bezel is perfect unlike the GMT's bezel insert having the wrong colors. Yes your pepsi bezel has the wrong colors. Sorry). The white one at Wo-mart for $169 (be careful Paul carries the other version too) is a great deal. Belial2k carries both black and white $190 shipped. Trusty has them for about $250 shipped. And then send it to Joe to do a CG mod and make the bezel flush with the case making the crystal sit high and nice, it will be a stunning 99.9% like the gen. Don't let one purchase upset you and it's not a bad one anyway. I bought a similar version of your GMT. I sold it. Most of us have many versions of the same watches LOL.

Thanks for the additional info. Don't worry I'm not bummed with my purchase at all. I'm just soaking in all the info. I have about 50 other watches bookmarked at this point that I want, so now I know more details to look at in the future. I'll keep this GMT II as it's good enough as my first Rep, and again it's details only watch nuts will pick up on so I don't care. I'm not trying to fool anyone into thinking this is a real rolex as I'd personally be embarrassed to wear a $5k watch. I just wanted to get a decent $200 watch with a swiss movement, and this was a very fun/interesting option over another swiss army or hamilton.

I really appreciate the help though. That's what I love about this site. Now I just need to save up another $200 so I can get my next rep... :lol:

Thanks,

Ben

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