Guest TheDude Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Hey people. I'm new here. My name is Craig. I purchased my first replica watch last week from a UK site and am now tracking it's postal progress from the Philippines, yeah i know, i don't know why it's coming from there either. Anyway. I did quite a bit of looking around the net before i bought this and was honestly looking with the idea that any site i look at is gonna be a scam to some degree considering the kind of item i'm after. I finally decided on Topswiss. They do a cheap version Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 Just got an email back from them regarding the watch coming from the Philippines. Apparently if they run low on stock they order direct from their depot which i'm assuming is in the Philippines. I do have a tracking number and i can track it on Fedex so atleast something is on it's way to me. My only real concern is have i spent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red Posted October 21, 2008 Report Share Posted October 21, 2008 You overpaid by about 150 pounds. Check the dealers we have here and you will soon learn. The Carrera goes for about $270 shipped from a number of reliable dealers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Oh well. You live and learn i suppose Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Just seen a couple of Hublot watches on Puretime for $650. What makes those so expensive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 The materials is what would affect the price of the watch. $650 might have to do with the watch having a ceramic bezel. Hoblots are still overpriced in my opinion, but they are of better quality then what you will normally find. Read some of the reviews and you will get a better idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Cheers Red. According to Fedex, my watch is now in Paris as of an hour ago. I am a little concerned about customs charges. I emailed Topswiss about this and they told me if i get a charge to refuse the package and get the paperwork and send it to them and they will sort the charge out, then go pick the package up. It's a lot of bloody messin around to get a watch. I doubt i'll be ordering from them again. The dealers on here seem to have their act together a lot more. Are customs charges a common thing when getting a watch into the UK? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importr Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 No, there are tried and tested ways to get a rep watch into most countries. Using FEDEX and UPS are not recommended. If you do get what was advertised, its a great watch - so i hope you enjoy it! ;o) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Well the thing is between the cheap one and the more expensive one, the only difference i would be able to tell is the glass back. Other than that i have no idea. Says it's a AAAA grade replica. I've never seen 4 A's on another site to show quality or any A's if i remember. What things should i look out for to tell that it's a good quality Carrera replica. When i reset the stop watch, should the timer flick right back to the 12 mark like the original? Or do reps not do that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenacious_b Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Not to be mean spirited at all, but it's almost worth opening a betting pool on whether or not you will receive your watch based on fedex alone. Historically Fedex just has not worked out well. Best of luck - hope you come through this learning experience unscathed, and with your watch, albeit overpriced, in hand, and functioning satisfactorily. Read around....lots of good, reliable sources here offering a wide range of prices and customer service. You have arrived, now dig in and enjoy! Cheers, Bryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Not worked out well in what way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadtorrent Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Customs seizures coming into EU based countries. If you do your research on this forum, you will find many people will not use a collector (aka dealer) that doesn't ship from within Europe purely for this reason. Do your research, and you will find there is no such thing as a Grade 1, A, AA, AAA, AAAAA, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA grade watch. It's an unregulated, underground conterfeit industry...so there is no such thing as a Fake Watch Standards Bureau. They advertised you would get a Swiss Automatic movement for that price, but the pic seems to show an Asian based 7750 movement...based on Valjoux 7750's not using blue painted screws. People have experienced problems with watches being seized via Fedex using our trusted collectors here...so Fedex is not TopSwiss' issue. Their issue (or the issue that the learned people on this forum would say) is that: They lied about using Swiss Automatic...it's almost assuredly an Asian A7750There is no such things as Grade 1, AA, AAA++++, etcThey overchargedThey use Royal Mail...I'll bet you 99.99% of their watches come drop-shipped from the Philippines or China...that's the way they operate.So, in the worst case scenario...the watch doesn't arrive...the vendor doesn't stand by a guaranteed shipping promise, and you are out the money unless you dispute it with your credit card company. Best case scenario is that the watch arrives...it is of the same quality as the collectors here can provide...but waaaay overcharged. Middle case scenario is that you get a lower quality product, at an extremely over-inflated price. The bottom line is: no lives were lost...nobody got hurt even in the worst case scenario...it's the rep game...equal parts entertainment and anticipation and enjoyment of the watch. Even better...you found RWG which has MORE information than you will have time to absorb. Many have done the mistake you have and bought from TS, Replica Center, etc, etc. Search Scam Sites on this forum for more info. You are here now...read...relax, learn. And if you find the information here useful (which you will I guarantee you)...consider upgrading your membership to a paid subscription to ensure the life of the forum, and the availability of the information in the future. If you buy another rep ever...RWG will save you oodles!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arrin Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 As it's already been mentioned, I won't go into the overpaying bit anymore. However after owning the gen of the exact same watch, accuracy wise the one you picked is a lot closer to the genuine article. Both internal and external wise. The one you picked even though that claimed "swiss" uses the asian 7750 where the cheaper alternative uses the asian 21J, its not a proper chronograph movement so you wouldn't have the subdials working as in the genuine. Also the cheaper one is not close to the genuine externally either. From briefly looking at the cheaper alternative atleast subdial spacing, caseback, clasp and the whole bracelet are wrong. You might want to read By-Tor's guide to Tag's which include the better watch: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...ide+to+best+tag Also in the guide there is a link to Colinmgzt's comparison of the watch against a genuine. As he says in his article, quite much the only things that are different in the rep are the rings around the subdials on 6 and 12, the datefont and decoration in the movement base. Also the genuine one I had didn't have any blued screws in the movement. I'd assume your watch is the same one as reviewed, even though on the pictures of your link the rings on 6 and 12 subdials seem thinner and more glossy. I guess you'll find out when you get your watch. Never seen a different one that comes with the A7750. I live in the UK and haven't had any of my watches being caught in customs yet. So my picture of UK customs is that they are not quite as strict as many of the other EU countries. (I live partially in Finland, MUCH more strict.) To end my rant, here's some pics of the gen I had. It is a nice watch. Hope you get yours okay and wear it well! - Arrin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Cheers for all the info people. I'll be honest. If i get a watch that is at least the quality of a regular Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadtorrent Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Cheers for all the info people. I'll be honest. If i get a watch that is at least the quality of a regular Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 22, 2008 Report Share Posted October 22, 2008 Hey Toad. I emailed them your post and asked for their comments on it. This is the reply Hi Craig, I can see that you're being paranoid now. I dont blame you for that. Do not worry, for now lets just wait for your shipment to arrive and see if what you have ordered is that one on our website and its fully functional. If all are false, then we will ask you to return the item to our Philippines depot and give you refund. You are protected by both Nochex and your bank, so dont worry It has now reached Stansted. Maybe i'll have it tomorrow. i'll be sure to post some pics of it to round this thread up happily hopefully. All i really need to do when i get it is carefully adjust the bracelet. I did this for the first time a few months back on my Accurist watch. If it's just a case of knocking a few pins out and back in again i should be fine. Anyone know where i can get a nice round leather case like what Arrin posted to keep the watch in??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 Ok who is The Zigmeister and how do i get in touch with him/her about keeping the watch in good nick after i get it. Do i post it off to this The Zigmeister every so often and what is the price for a service? Yes i know i can probably find all this by searching. Indulge me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadtorrent Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 Hah hah!! The Zigmeister is "The Zigmeisterzumba"...a fellow board member who happens to be a watchmaker by hobby. He has at various times posted some excellent info and breakdowns on various movements on this forum...most notably the 3 major variants of the A7750. He is without a doubt, the A7750 repair-and-maintenance master. He is also one of the best if not the best lume guys around. Who is The Zigmeister and How To Find Him Read the thread above...the easiest route for finding a repair guy if you're new to the board, is really to pop into malls locally, and talking with repair guys to see if they will work on rep watches. 9/10 times they may say no...but eventually you'll find somebody. In Toronto, there happen to be at least 4 watchsmiths I know of that work on reps, so it's not a problem to find them. The issue is that working on 7750 movements in general is tricky...working on reps can be trickier because parts are hard to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 (edited) Most recent communication just 5 minutes ago. I email them expressing my concerns sayin they they aren't exactly a high street store and the UK watch that is now coming from the Philippines and so on. Hi Craig, We totally understand your side. Please wait and see for yourself. This is our shipment process below, so you would understand more about Topswiss.co.uk We import from different manufacturers in Switzerland. All stocks go to Philippines from Switzerland. We then ship all stocks to our UK branch office to be sold as UK stock to customers. The reason why we dont import directly from Switzerland to UK is because of the customs problems. Thats is why need to make a detour. In some cases, we have low stock in Class AAA ones (high end watches) in UK thats why we inform our depot in Philippines to just ship directly to the customer to save time although it is more costly for us. As we dont want our customers to keep on waiting Now. It's 2:55am. They say they are based in the UK. Who apart from weirdos like me would be awake at this time of the morning. In the Philippines it just happens to be 11am, Bit more of a respectable business time don't ya think. I hope if anything comes from this thread it will inform people about Topswiss. Because i have been able to find very little about them online negative or positive. Edited October 23, 2008 by TheDude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadtorrent Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 That's quite a funny letter back. A Swiss factory shipping things via the Philippines?? Very funny. The company itself may well be located in the UK. At least their domain is hosted there. They've had the domain registered a little < 1 year. The odds of them dealing with a factory in Switzerland are almost next to nothing... Drop shipping is not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of decent dealers here have been accused of drop-shipping (to which they've responded no way)...and I've ordered multiple times from said dealers without issues. QC/QA can be a problem in some cases...so ordering from European based dealers like Eurotimez, Homer, etc for a few extra dollars can save a lot of grief and hassle and stress...but I haven't encountered any problems that couldn't be sorted out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TheDude Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 That you Toad. You've been very helpful. I truly appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corgi Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 At least they are communicating with him and (hopefully) sending him a watch. There are worse scammers out there who simply "take the money and run". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shundi Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 Dear God...what will they think of next. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TwoTone Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 Young Grasshopper wrote: As for looking up info on here, i've been a member, actually a founding member of a motorcycle forum here in Northern Ireland for the past 3 years, and in my experience trying to search for info on a forum takes a lot longer than just asking someone in a post. You end up having to wade through post after post after post. Ahh... But that's where the learning comes in... You not only find what you were looking for, but you find many other golden nuggets along the way... I think Toad said it best [selective editing by myself of course]: If you do your research on this forum Do your research, and you will find... You are here now...read... find the information here useful G'Day Mate... Double T . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toadtorrent Posted October 23, 2008 Report Share Posted October 23, 2008 I think Toad said it best [selective editing by myself of course]: G'Day Mate... I sound like a naughty lymeric...but without the naughtiness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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