The one rep that did you in...the Flipside

[mezzanine]

This is a mirror-thread to the one that has already been posted and discusses whether there is a rep that has eclipsed all others.

Except....this topic is about whether you've had a rep that almost 'broke' you of the replica watch collecting hobby. I'm curious whether any members have ecountered a watch or a project that almost made you want to give up collecting reps out of a negative experience?

I think that there are probably a group of folks out there that were probably budding collectors, but may have had a bad experience with a particular watch, and been put off the hobby all together. I know that if a newb was to get burned on his first experience or two, it would be enough to likely contaminate that individual for other purchases.

In buying/selling a few reps since starting, I have come to value the feedback and reputation of the person I'm dealing with for precisely this reason. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in obtaining a rep. I don't think a lot of value is really built into the process of buying a watch from a reputable person, and that's what has caused me to soften some of my attitude towards some of the dealers, and the flack they catch for building the fickle-ness of rep buyers into their profit margin.

The watch that has almost put me off the hobby is a supposedly fully modded Pam that I was sold that was a scam attempt. If I lose $600 on that one, it might just [censored] me to off to the degree that I become much more careful about where the watches I get come from. I fear there are a lot of those types of experiences that have complicated the nature of the hobby...

[chad]

My consecutive orders as follows lead me to buy a gen pam 005

1. pam daylight swiss - top pusher did not work

2. HBB - Screws falling out like crazy (replaced by dealer, replacement taken by customs)

3. Ingy - hands misaligned so that 12:00 was both hands together at 1 clock

4. Two DOA Bell and Ross 03's

(forgot to add)

5. Gave up on the Bell and Ross and dealer agreed to exchange for the PAM Ti GMT with some cash. I asked 4 times if it was going to be the updated dial with the stick marker at 9. (They said "of course, of course my friend) The only "of course" was that I got an old dial version

Of course the "collector" agreed to replace these but not without the whole "oh no, I never have defective watches" email.

I fixed most of them myself.

I do not fault the two dealers these watches came from since they dropship. I fault the suppliers and the fact they know we will still pay 800 for an HBB even if the screws fall out. Why would they care? One thing I have noticed two on getting defective watches replaced, they most times send you the old version or old stock as a replacement or one that has been sent back before.

Now I just get ones I really want and get them worked on.

So quality control almost "broke" me.

That said I like my modded watches as much as a gen.

This is a mirror-thread to the one that has already been posted and discusses whether there is a rep that has eclipsed all others.

Except....this topic is about whether you've had a rep that almost 'broke' you of the replica watch collecting hobby. I'm curious whether any members have ecountered a watch or a project that almost made you want to give up collecting reps out of a negative experience?

I think that there are probably a group of folks out there that were probably budding collectors, but may have had a bad experience with a particular watch, and been put off the hobby all together. I know that if a newb was to get burned on his first experience or two, it would be enough to likely contaminate that individual for other purchases.

In buying/selling a few reps since starting, I have come to value the feedback and reputation of the person I'm dealing with for precisely this reason. There are a lot of things that can go wrong in obtaining a rep. I don't think a lot of value is really built into the process of buying a watch from a reputable person, and that's what has caused me to soften some of my attitude towards some of the dealers, and the flack they catch for building the fickle-ness of rep buyers into their profit margin.

The watch that has almost put me off the hobby is a supposedly fully modded Pam that I was sold that was a scam attempt. If I lose $600 on that one, it might just [censored] me to off to the degree that I become much more careful about where the watches I get come from. I fear there are a lot of those types of experiences that have complicated the nature of the hobby...

[Estaban]

That's easy. My 187. Worked well for a while and then the chrono pushers stopped working. Sent to The Zigmeister for relumed dial and service. Found out that the movement was toast. It's being sent back to me DOA. Done with Asian 7750 CHRONO watchs. I've had two Asian 7750s that were great in non-chronos.

Anyone want a donor 187 for parts (including relumed hands and bezel pearl)?

[LordRasta]

Yeah I have one of those too. It's some sort of PP complication model that I swear if you stare at it hard enough and use the force the rotor spins. The problem is that the damn thing sounds like a jet spooling up it's engines. Impossible to wear, I actually stuck it in my pocket the last time I wore it to work. Between that one and a sub that some member who claimed he could mod then stole made me leave the hobby for about 2 years. It wasn't even a good sub!

[OiRogers]

That's easy. My 187. Worked well for a while and then the chrono pushers stopped working. Sent to The Zigmeister for relumed dial and service. Found out that the movement was toast. It's being sent back to me DOA. Done with Asian 7750 CHRONO watchs. I've had two Asian 7750s that were great in non-chronos.

Anyone want a donor 187 for parts (including relumed hands and bezel pearl)?

Strangly enough my Pam 186 is the watch that came the closest to doing me in...

GMT modded 7750 ran great for about a year, losing about 2 sec a month. Then one fateful day the rotor started making big time noise.... "Ka'Thud, Clang, Doing" etc... Easy fix me thinks, rotor screw prolly worked itself loose.

Popped my caseback and found the screw sheared and the top got lodged underneath the rotor and bogarted the balance.... So i find myself in need of parts for a 7750... if your offer is serious Estaban let me know, I could use your movement for parts and between the two hopefully come up with one working movement.

My wrist misses my 186 even if it is the old version with the messed up caseback, crappy gmt-hand and non-existant magnification on the cyclops. I've never had an issue anything like this with a gen, but I've had a pretty good pile of mechanical wierdness from my reps. I've learned a mess about the movements by necessity, had to fix something minor in almost every rep i've ended up with. For instance, why does EVERY SINGLE rollie rep drop a lume marker roughly every 13 hours of wear.... YEESH. And how many movement holders/screws can work loose and end up in a movement?...

Single issue? nah... many issues leading up to a final straw?.... yep I'm pretty close to that.

[therebel]

There was one instance that almost made me switch back to gens, just to eliminate the hassle.

About 6 months ago I purchased a rep from one of the collectors. After waiting months for even a communication reply he sent me the tracking number. The watch arrives about 7 days later at my doorstep and its the wrong gd watch. We went back and forth in e-mails with him calling me a liar and saying that I got what I asked for.

This almost pushed me back to saving up and just buying a couple gens. I just didn't want to deal w/ the bs, but there is a happy ending. After ordering from every deal out there I've narrowed my list down to a faithful few who have made me enjoy this hobby again.

[hambone]

I suppose I am lucky in that none of my rep purchases have caused me to consider quitting the hobby out of discouragement.

To the contrary, each purchase has propelled my brain to further seek out new and better watches. Dear God I need help!

[Corgi]

The watch arrives about 7 days later at my doorstep and its the wrong gd watch.

Y'know, why is it that whenever this happens, the watch you get is always somehow inferior to the one you ordered? They never "slip up" and accidentally send you say... a solid gold DayDate or Rose Gold HBB, but some quartz sub with supa dupa invisible lume and offset p-p-p-pearl

[kdx_time]

I just need to be able to afford a brand new gen Sub or GMT on one of my future commissions, and I think I'm done for, for a while.

The reason the reps didn't do it for me is that I didn't want to go through the time and expense modding the CGs, reluminizing and adjusting for accuracy, all while doing a water seal. I'd happily buy a gen to get all of that rather then go through all that hassle for something that is essentially a fake. This is why a Davidsen PAM appealed to me.

Now if there were "Davidsen-like" already modded Subs in the market, I may be up for that.