Emperor Penguin Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 I'm [censored]. I bought King's AP ROO for $490, and I decided to change it from a bracelet to a strap. OK, so I next shelled out $70 to King to send me the rubber strap so I can get the AP deployant clasp, then bought from AP Bands a conversion kit for $180 and an alligator strap for $250. This totals to about a thousand bucks for a watch. Yesterday morning, I found that Josh and Andrew have new products in their Audemars Piguet line: Royal Oak Offshores (seconds at 12) with hornback crocodile straps! I spent the past two days kicking myself for not waiting, because instead of modding my way to a great watch, I could have waited and bought the completed target watch from Josh and Andrew for about $600 including shipping. The only consolation I have is that I know my AP Bands straps are among the finest you can buy, and I chose alligator with black stitching, and that would be a gorgeous strap. Furthermore, the strap is made of real alligator hide. I can only speculate that the straps that come with Josh and Andrew's watches are made of printed leather instead of alligator or crocodile because it would be cheaper for the Chinese watchmakers to make real alligator or crocodile. (They charge the same for either bracelet or strap.) Until somebody buys one of these new watches and compares the strap of it to that of the genuine or AP Bands, we can only assume for now that AP Bands would be better strap quality. Heck, I gotta rationalize somehow if I've already wasted this money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elisiX Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 I noticed this yesterday as im looking to grab an APROO and mod the bracelet to hornback and so on. IMO the AP bands strap will walk all over that from Josh/Andrew. I dont doubt that for a second. Where I do see the real value in buying from J/A is that you will get a conversion kit for free essentially. They're not asking anymore for the LE variant over the SS I believe. So still grab yourself an APbands strap, but save $180 on the conversion kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dani Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 ap bands are way better then most out their. but their coversions kits are a scam to be honest check out oracle straps. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertieng Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Not sure if the conversion kit comes with the rep will fit the AP Band. I think the kits have different specs. My gut feeling tells me that kit from AP Band has a way better quality /finish than the rep set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gillorin Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 If you're after the best, which it definitely sounds like you are, you got it. The quality of the AP strap will be way ahead of the rep. strap and if you're already spending that much you may as well have spent the extra to get a fantastic and much more convincing strap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emperor Penguin Posted October 20, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Not sure if the conversion kit comes with the rep will fit the AP Band. I think the kits have different specs. My gut feeling tells me that kit from AP Band has a way better quality /finish than the rep set. Well I don't know first hand, but the consensus here is that an Oracle conversion kit is designed for an Oracle strap, the rep endlinks fit the rep strap, and AP Bands' conversion kit is true OEM (original equipment manufacturer), and an AP Bands strap, of course, fits the AP Bands conversion kit. After all, AP Bands are designed for genuine Audemars Piguet watches. I don't know about using an Oracle conversion kit with a different strap. I saw one thread where a guy used an Oracle conversion kit and a cheap rep strap from one of the dealers here. You can see a very wide gap between the end of the links and the straps. I can only assume that conversion kits differ up to a millimeter or so at the endlinks, and the corresponding strap will only fit that particular conversion kit. Joewatch at RepGeek did the right thing and bought AP Bands conversion kit and an AP Bands hornback strap, like I did, and there are absolutely no gaps between his endlinks and strap slots. Still, the only way I can feel good about jumping the gun is when somebody buys one of these new watches from Josh/Andrew and give a report on the quality of strap compared to real alligator or crocodile. I would bet money that the quality would not be good because there is no price difference ($568 vs. $568) between the stainless-steel bracelet and the Chinese hornback strap. They must be made of cheap, printed leather. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dani Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 Well I don't know first hand, but the consensus here is that an Oracle conversion kit is designed for an Oracle strap, the rep endlinks fit the rep strap, and AP Bands' conversion kit is true OEM (original equipment manufacturer), and an AP Bands strap, of course, fits the AP Bands conversion kit. After all, AP Bands are designed for genuine Audemars Piguet watches. I don't know about using an Oracle conversion kit with a different strap. I saw one thread where a guy used an Oracle conversion kit and a cheap rep strap from one of the dealers here. You can see a very wide gap between the end of the links and the straps. I can only assume that conversion kits differ up to a millimeter or so at the endlinks, and the corresponding strap will only fit that particular conversion kit. Joewatch at RepGeek did the right thing and bought AP Bands conversion kit and an AP Bands hornback strap, like I did, and there are absolutely no gaps between his endlinks and strap slots. Still, the only way I can feel good about jumping the gun is when somebody buys one of these new watches from Josh/Andrew and give a report on the quality of strap compared to real alligator or crocodile. I would bet money that the quality would not be good because there is no price difference ($568 vs. $568) between the stainless-steel bracelet and the Chinese hornback strap. They must be made of cheap, printed leather. uhh ok, i have fitted gen strap on my oracle coversion adapters no problem and straplux gator. Not to mention have awfull the people behinde ap bands are that alone is good anuff reason to avoid them, their is a reason they are banned here. I think you are folling your self to think more you pay the better it is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecsm Posted October 20, 2008 Report Share Posted October 20, 2008 (edited) uhh ok, i have fitted gen strap on my oracle coversion adapters no problem and straplux gator. Not to mention have awfull the people behinde ap bands are that alone is good anuff reason to avoid them, their is a reason they are banned here. I think you are folling your self to think more you pay the better it is I think the AP bands conversion adaptors fit more straps. I have an oracle strap with conversion kit and I suspect it doesn't work with all straps. I took out the oracle adaptors and tried to fit it onto an MBW rubber strap with deployant and it won't fit. The end of the adaptor that's supposed to connect to the strap isn't flush like the AP bands conversion kit. Could it just be me? None the less, Oracle straps are great! Edited October 20, 2008 by ecsm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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