docblackrock Posted July 23, 2008 Report Share Posted July 23, 2008 If you mean Honpo, you might suggest that he improve his customer service skills & contact the Admin to discuss his becoming a collector here. With roughly 13,000 rep buyers currently on board, it would be to everyone's benefit were he to make his wares available (on a reliable basis) to RWG members. I know I would be 1 of the 1st in line to purchase 1 of his 7750-powered asymmetrical 6239 Daytonas (pics on 1st page of this thread). Amen to that. He also has a very decent 1655 Explorer II that would be a good base for mods I'd be interested in picking up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flex Posted July 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 24, 2008 tomorrow is the day - looking forward to it. Talk later great communication skills...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astig Posted July 25, 2008 Report Share Posted July 25, 2008 good luck and post pics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dluddy Posted July 25, 2008 Report Share Posted July 25, 2008 Good luck. Would be great to have him on-board here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eunomians Posted July 25, 2008 Report Share Posted July 25, 2008 Oh no, here we go again... STAY AWAY He will not hesitate to rip you off if he thinks he can get away with it. He is dishonest & not to be trusted. He's ripped off old members here, too. You have all been forewarned. BTW Flex, when you meet him in person, tell him that there's a few of us who'd like him to take a long walk on a short pier. Next time I'm in Japan... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted July 25, 2008 Report Share Posted July 25, 2008 Oh no, here we go again... STAY AWAY He will not hesitate to rip you off if he thinks he can get away with it. He is dishonest & not to be trusted. He's ripped off old members here, too. You have all been forewarned. BTW Flex, when you meet him in person, tell him that there's a few of us who'd like him to take a long walk on a short pier. Next time I'm in Japan... Euno, I thought it was Ken who shafted you? Wasn't aware it was 'HQ'. Feel free to email me and spill the beans, also about the trip tube you enquired about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flex Posted July 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2008 Euno, i checked your bank account info and his company.. two completely person / company.. these people are based in japan with mizuho bank acct .. they speak almost no english...totally different people... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watchmeister Posted July 27, 2008 Report Share Posted July 27, 2008 Ken had nothing to do with Honpo. He was simply a guy who lived in Florida and traveled to Japan frequently. I used to speak with him from time to time. What he did was his business. Honpo has never had interest shipping outside of Japan. And I know they are still highly regarded by Rep collectors in Japan even after their forced move of operations offshore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rek001 Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 I'm reviving this thread - so, what happened, flex? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 I am curious also. What happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephane Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Amen to that. He also has a very decent 1655 Explorer II that would be a good base for mods I'd be interested in picking up. Indeed Pitty he seems to be not reliable though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flex Posted August 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 My Japanese collague and I did meet with him in the train station. My collague drove me there. We just chatted for a couple of minutes. it seems that he has no intersts to deal with a non-japanese guy. He was a late 30 or early 40 years old man, he said he now only lives in China now but goto Japan from time to time. he wore a black Channel watch. I didn't get anything off him. because he only brought one watch at tha time. he said he didnt have any 6263 or any vintage daytona for that matter. But he promised to meet me again, if I do send him an email. I asked for his phone number, he said he forgot his own number (it was a calling card)...hmmm...........he only reads and writes japanese.......Since my Japanese collague did all the talking, i know nothing abt what he said. It seems that he is only interested in the japanese market. I am planning to get 1 Pam Titaninum (it seems he has only 1 left) for a member of this board when I meet honpo on August 9 or Sep 8 (even his email in japanese is hard to understand , he replied once every few weeks)..he did get my mobile number though. i wrote it in the email i sent him, before we met. oh, by the way, my collague did buy a DRSD off him, the material feels solid.. but nothing that you cannot get from other collectors. i only got to play with my staff's watch for a while while i was in his car, so I cannot gurantee the quality of his product. 1 thing I noticed in his website is that his 116510 does have the flat case back. other than that, i got no idea what to get. he also called me last week and asked how my watch (my collague's one) was (if it is running fine).. typical japnese customer service. i just said "good good", in very simple english...since i dont speak japanese, i had to quickly found my collague again and telecon together to do translation for me. i needed a pam titanimum. hmm.. also, japanese people do not like fake stuff, so my collague wanted me to keep it as a secret that he bought a rep ddsd. he even wanted honpo to believe that it was me who bought the watch.. so, amongst Japanese, i guess it is sort of a shame to own fake products (?) Also while in japan, my Japanese friend said his friend had 2 X 6263 case sets.for sale.. immediately noticed that the dial are different than DWs and the material of the case set. he only had two at that time.. and i needed to get some sourvneris in Japan! and i havent spent any of my per diem (travel allowance) at all. so i bought them all at around US $1,600. the material is well polished and mateeral is very strong compared to DWs. no scratches or antyhing. the crown on the dial is thinner and a bit better than DW's. but the bakelist bezel/ the t swiss t on the dial was too close to the subdial at 6, but i didn't care. every dial from what i have seen have glaring flaws in distinct. in the quest of movment, I asked around in HK. my friend a collector of vintage rolex gen and rep who bulids excellent rep vintage rolexes sold some movements out of his tool box to me. he also mentioend that these things were around $6,000 hkd back in 2003, but only avilable in limited quantity..were only avilable to certain people (mainly second hand rolex watch shop) for a few months..then suppliers suddnely disappeared.. he said that the japanese wants to control the quality so they would not allow 6263 case to be sold outside of the Japan HQ. i asked my firned if the quality of the case set were any good , his comment was "everything is made in China these days, do you seriously think that it was made in Japan?". anyway. another interesting thing i foudn out from my friend is that alot HQ of some rep factories were based in HK..he promised to help find me 16520 case set. here is the movement that I managed to get in HK..and apparently these case sets were available in HK 5 years ago..but now ,according to my friend, the factories that make them do not supply to outside market (only to his customer).. just yesterday i bought crystal and tube/ crown, but proven to be the wrong ref#.. i 'll have to go back to exchange them all on monday sorry for the long note. boring i know. but wrap up what i did for the last week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 flex - If/when you speak or meet with Honpo again, would it be possible to order 1 or 2 of his Daytonas for me (this 1 or this 1)? PM sent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flex Posted August 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 one last thing forgot to mention... i tend to think that the DW 6263 materials are the 'factory seconds', because the material used in DW and japense case set are very different. Same serial number, but the bulid is well polished, and does not look that 'dark'..can't explain in words, they do look and feel different. i have had owned a japanese bulit 6263 before and compare it with my DW, they just dont compare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rek001 Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Very interesting, thanks for the response. So now I'm curious about the japanese rep collectors, how many are there and are they typically as fanatic about reps as they are about golf? Freddy, so you're going to pop for the vintage Daytona? Lucky you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 one last thing forgot to mention... i tend to think that the DW 6263 materials are the 'factory seconds', because the material used in DW and japense case set are very different. Same serial number, but the bulid is well polished, and does not look that 'dark'..can't explain in words, they do look and feel different. i have had owned a japanese bulit 6263 before and compare it with my DW, they just dont compare. flex - I may be misreading this, but which do you feel has the better finish or polish -- DW or Honpo? I have never handled 1 of Honpo's vintage Daytona reps, but I have built a number of DWs & the finish of his casework is quite gen-like (the fit, on the other hand, is quite variable). If anything, it may be too good (many modders choose to 'vintagize' DW's cases so they look worse than they do when they arrive). Based on Honpo's pictures, his cases look to be from the same source as DW's. Or, at least, they appear to be made to the same specs. Freddy, so you're going to pop for the vintage Daytona? Lucky you. 2 of them actually. As long as they can be gotten. The cases are the same that DW has, but I have never seen those particular dials (accurately made) from any other source (other than Rolex). And I think those 2 Honpos would look nice dangling off my bar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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