The 'Ultimate" Sub from Trustytime

[predfan2001]

I keep reading questions regarding this watch here and in RWI and wanted to give my opinion again for the newbies (and hopefully help those in search of a better Sub). Let me first say that I have had horrible experiences dealing with Trusytime and I don't buy from them anymore. I don't care what anyone says, there can't be any quality control and they have to be drop shipping. Over half of the watches I purchased from him had problems right out of the box. Yes, their customer service is ok, but the headaches of sending watches back overseas and waiting for replacements sucks. I've actually paid nearly $30.00 to send a watch back and they sent me another bad one. I'd be willing to say that I've wasted over $100.00 in overseas shipping dealing with Trustytime. I have since found other dealers and have had no problems.

I actually ended up with my "Ultimate" because of several issues I was having with their watches. I ordered a couple of watches from him that were d.o.a. so his offer was the "sell" me the Ultimate at a discounted price and exchange 1 of the bad watches. To be honest, I'm not so sure that this watch is not just your typical ETA rep with a high price tag and is offered to customers at a discount (which is still higher than most ETA reps) for an illusion of customer satisfaction. I have read the posts several people who own a Trusy Ultimate and state that they purchased it at a discounted price due to product and quality issues. Kind of like if you went into a McDonalds and your hamburger wasn't good. You complain and they say "well since the burger wasn't good, we can sell you a $20.00 "Ultimate" Big Mac for $8.00. You think, wow that's a huge savings and buy it. Then you realize you just got a regular Big Mac that sells for $3.00 but you just paid $8.00 for it!

When I received my ultimate, I couldn't believe how bad the rehaut was. This rehaut is where the whole "wokky rehaut" issue started. Some people call it "conical". I do think the dial is very nice but the cyclops is too far rt. This would be (and probably is) just an entry level ETA rep at best that should sell for well under $200.00. It doesn't hold a candle to the "Noobmariners" in overall appearance. I actually ended up never wearing mine because of the rehaut issue and swapped a Tudor dial into it. That was ok, but the dial was too small and I ended up putting the original dial back into it and using it as a beater. All and all that's about all this watch is good for to me, a beater. If you want a 16610 rep, look on past this one. Some of the "perfects" have a better rehaut, and of course your $488.00 would be better spent on a MBW.

New:

With the Tudor dial:

Now with yellowed markers and beat up a little:

Edited October 28, 2007 by predfan2001

[dax]

I can't comment on his subs, but I purchased an "ultimate" version ROLY YM from Trustytime and I would say I'm a good 95% happy with it.

I've got to mod the CGs and the bezel inlay (done the bezel this weekend) oh and cyclops (cyclops just slightly out of position). Everything else is as close to a GEN as possible.

One can't expect a 1:1 (I don't believe any exist, not off the shelf) but isn't this just part of buying a REP?

I can afford a GEN ROLY YM. But why spend 2-5kGBP on a GEN, when I can have a nice collection of reps and the fun of modding.

We all know a good proportion of dealers will drop ship, perhaps not all the time, but it does happen more often than not.

Not a lot you can do about it.

I know of at least one dealer who does not drop ship and collects their stock personally. I'm waiting for my order to arrive and will comment on it later.

I'm in the process of ordering from the most popular dealers - in my opinion - on the forum, so I can make up my own mind on who provides a good service and QC.

So far, for me, Andrew has always replied quickly and always offers to help with any problems. Hence I'll be ordering from him again in the near future.

From my experiences so far (only 12months) the cheap asians appear to have poor QC and are drop shipped.

The ETAs and 'Ultimate/Perfects' (whatever the dealers want to call them) have reasonable to good QC depending on the the Dealer.

For dealers to provide 100% QC all the time would cost them a lot and they would only pass the cost on to the buyer. The average cost of the REP suggests that QC is poor to average so I would estimate you have a 50-50 chance of a good REP.

The "ultimate/perfect" versions are almost double the cost of the average REP so this could be an indication of time/cost for QC to ensure a good REP.

MBW/MBK costs appear to start at the cost of the "ultimates/perfects" and then upwards...

One gets what one pays for... usually.

Personally, I'll never buy an asian again, as the one I bought was crap, what can one expect for 60GBP (120USD).

I have quartz mov watches that cost 5x that amount. So, can I expect quality for 60GBP, I don't think so. I use it for parts and practicing/experimenting on.

[mickyblues]

I totally agree I have had nothing but problems from TrustyTime and will never buy from him again. I bought many watches and 1/2 were faulty! I bought a DateJust from him that didn't work, I had to spend $30 to send it back and then he sent me another one and that didn't work. I haven't even emailed him about it because I doubt he will do anything for me.

There are definitley Quality Control issues, in fact there is no QC with him.

[Guest rafib]

I totally agree I have had nothing but problems from TrustyTime and will never buy from him again. I bought many watches and 1/2 were faulty! I bought a DateJust from him that didn't work, I had to spend $30 to send it back and then he sent me another one and that didn't work. I haven't even emailed him about it because I doubt he will do anything for me.

There are definitley Quality Control issues, in fact there is no QC with him.

Sorry about your problems with Trusty. I had only good experience with Andrew: purchased "Ultimate" BCE and a TAG Carrera and both are very good and accurate (small problem with the minute subdial of the BCE which I did not mention to him, probably could be fixed by servicing and does not bother me much), and lastly a SMP chrono which to my opinion is perfect with every respect: bezel alignment, chronograph function, and keeping exact time. It looks like this one for sure was QC'd before shipping (or I was lucky?). I will definitely continue buying from Andrew.

Edited October 27, 2007 by rafib

[predfan2001]

Sorry about your problems with Trusty. I had only good experience with Andrew: purchased "Ultimate" BCE and a TAG Carrera and both are very good and accurate (small problem with the minute subdial of the BCE which I did not mention to him, probably could be fixed by servicing and does not bother me much), and lastly a SMP chrono which to my opinion is perfect with every respect: bezel alignment, chronograph function, and keeping exact time. It looks like this one for sure was QC'd before shipping (or I was lucky?). I will definitely continue buying from Andrew.

Yes, I'd say lucky is more like it. I have a few keepers that were very nice watches from Trustytime, but I can get the same watches cheaper from other sites. Especially after his last price increase.

And to Dax, I understand that there aren't any perfect reps and I don't expect perfection. The point is that Trustytime is selling a $150.00 watch for $488.00 and billing it as the best there is. "A true 1:1 that has been reworked to perfection and waterproofed".....lol. An ETA "Noob" is far superior and less than half the money. It has just concerned me lately that I have read posts by Newbies actually thinking about ordering one of the Ultimates.

Edited October 28, 2007 by predfan2001