graman 2 Posted December 9, 2009 I've thought about this a great deal since I became a watch whore, and I'm always interested in finding out how others ended up with a marlin hook in their mouth....so I thought..time to start a thread on why we love watches. It started for me when I bought a quartz tissot for my wife's birthday. Vast amounts of research went into that watch, finding the best value for money that I could afford. Then...got interested just in timepieces in general....I had to tinker and I loved the feel of some watches. Found some of my Dad's discards. 1960 Omega seamaster (now fully restored) 1964 Seiko world time (partially restored) 1968 Tissot Seastar - Not restored as yet. 1921 Omega Grand prix - My Grandfather's watch. I loved the way they ticked. I loved the way they had a soul of their own and seemed to breathe when you watched them running. Mechanics...systems....a supply chain powered by a great engine, and regulated by a fickle customer (the escapement), to regulate it's output and drip feed the world it's activity, so that it displayed time. Then came the styling.... I loved the way they were put together...the cases..the dials and the finishes you could get on them....the hands ..the aesthetic of the whole package...yep...I was hooked. I started buying watch magazines.....Man!..you could find some AWESOME watches out there! Then I discovered IWC and Panerai, in particular....Wow...amazing engineering...new materials being used... Some of those watches were really ugly too...and inspired revulsion, but others...yep...loved them, but hated the price tag. I started doing internet searches on replicas....lots of shonky sites that you'd NEVER use in a million years....then one day, after I had been talking to a couple of crims on email and deciding against them, I found a link...google showed me this site called replica watches guide... The forum was free......I jumped in...lurked for a while....and said g'day. The rest was history. Discovered Joshua & other recommended dealers.... Met some of you guys..., Dems & Clive....Johnnyboy... Went to Malaysia and bought a fiddy in Chinatown....that was it.....I was hooked and have been ever since. The cash flow isn't high, but every now and then, I pick up a new watch when I'm given shore leave from the banker to pick one up. Well...that's my story... What's yours? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
andy66 81 Posted December 9, 2009 I got a Tag Formula ONE for Christmas off my mum back in the 80's and ive loved watches ever since. Then one of my mates brought a PO(rep) back from Thailand for me a few years ago and since then ive been hunting around for more but i was always too wary of the sites i came across to buy anything. On one of my searches a few months ago i found a review by By Tor and it led me to these forums and a box full of watches...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
greg_r 83 Posted December 9, 2009 It was the boobies.... Okay, seriously... I've been into watches since I was a kid - inherited the interest from my paternal Grandfather, who was a watch nut (albeit on a pretty small budget). As an adult I went from standard budget fare to some pretty decent mid-range gens as my income improved - and even picked up a few pocketwatches as I could afford them. The watch that REALLY appealed, however, was out of my price range. I wanted a Rolex Day/Date. Badly. So, about 8-10 years ago I started looking at reps. They were pretty easy to find on the street here at that time, but stuff available from market traders was pretty crappy so I began to look online. At the time, eBay wasn't cracking down too hard on fake watches and I managed to pick up several quite decent Rolex reps from a variety of mostly UK sellers. One was that bit better quality than the others, having a gen ETA movement and I ended up wearing that all the time so gradually sold the rest on - along with a couple of remaining gens, which I just never wore any more. However, a couple of years ago my Day/Date had gotten to the point where it badly needed a service. Whilst it was a nicely made watch, the fact is that the dial wasn't as accurate as it might have been and I just didn't see the point in spending money on it - so I started scouring the internet for a replacement. I avoided getting suckered in by Global Replicas and their fake review sites simply because I smelt a rat and did a little digging into ownership of the various sites - which was quite revealing. I eventually stumbled over RWG1 and the rest was kinda inevitable Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dingle 57 Posted December 9, 2009 It was the boobies.... Okay, seriously... I've been into watches since I was a kid - inherited the interest from my paternal Grandfather, who was a watch nut (albeit on a pretty small budget). As an adult I went from standard budget fare to some pretty decent mid-range gens as my income improved - and even picked up a few pocketwatches as I could afford them. The watch that REALLY appealed, however, was out of my price range. I wanted a Rolex Day/Date. Badly. So, about 8 years ago I started looking at reps. They were pretty easy to find on the street here at that time, but stuff available from market traders was pretty crappy so I began to look online. At the time, eBay wasn't cracking down too hard on fake watches and I managed to pick up several quite decent Rolex reps from a variety of mostly UK sellers. One was that bit better quality than the others, having a gen ETA movement and I ended up wearing that all the time so gradually sold the rest on - along with a couple of remaining gens, which I just never wore any more. However, a couple of years ago my Day/Date had gotten to the point where it badly needed a service. Whilst it was a nicely made watch, the fact is that the dial wasn't as accurate as it might have been and I just didn't see the point in spending money on it - so I started scouring the internet for a replacement. I avoided getting suckered in by Global Replicas and their fake review sites simply because I smelt a rat and did a little digging into ownership of the various sites - which was quite revealing. I eventually stumbled over RWG1 and the rest was kinda inevitable ^^^^what he said......except it was only 4 months ago and the website was repgeek. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AllergyDoc 40 Posted December 9, 2009 I thought I should move away from digital watches when I began practicing--no need to calculate the cost of a can of beans per ounce anymore. And I didn't need something to beep every hour, to remind me I was still alive. I did get taken by Best Swiss. I can still remember the telephone conversation with "James." He sounded quite wary at first, but warmed right up when I told him what I wanted: the model with the "Moissanite" diamonds. That watch was great, and so was the bling DJ I got for my wife from one of the other sites. It was when I got ripped off by Go-Replica that I started searching for better sources. I think I just Googled my way to RWG1. As a kid I had one of those watches with the band that pinched your skin. Wasn't all that interested in watches after that. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Novesh 0 Posted December 9, 2009 my overall dislike for the typical rolex watch person. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sconehead 5 Posted December 9, 2009 my overall dislike for the typical rolex watch person. I own a gen sub... :irish_dance: mind you I don't class myself as typical... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dingle 57 Posted December 9, 2009 my overall dislike for the typical rolex watch person. I own a gen sub... :irish_dance: mind you I don't class myself as typical... nobody does. Hard to put a monkey in a class. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sconehead 5 Posted December 9, 2009 my overall dislike for the typical rolex watch person. I own a gen sub... :irish_dance: mind you I don't class myself as typical... nobody does. Hard to put a monkey in a class. Not really... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dingle 57 Posted December 9, 2009 my overall dislike for the typical rolex watch person. I own a gen sub... :irish_dance: mind you I don't class myself as typical... nobody does. Hard to put a monkey in a class. Not really... which one is you? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Member X 91 Posted December 9, 2009 I was approaching a 'big' birthday and was thinking that it would be nice to get a watch to mark the occasion, seeing as I'd got a new watch on two previous 'big' occasions I had been looking at B&R but they were completely out of my price range so had been looking at Big Pilot watches/homages and was trying to find one that wasn't over much provisional £300 budget, when someone on another forum I was on pointed me towards RWG2. After almost jumping straight in I held back before ordering anything, eventually ordering my IWC Portuguese 1939 from Eurotimez as my first watch. After some issues with QC and slow communications I got it, and I am very happy with it Since then I've added another 10 or so watches to the collection! Mostly Parnis and cheapies (because I'm skint ) but I've also got the BK/WM9 SD on order B) so am very much looking forward to getting that one, even if it will probably be this time next year! People say "Why do you need so many watches?" to which I reply "Why do women need so many shoes or bags?". As men we struggle to express ourselves in our workwear, especially when confined to an office environment, so the ability to change a watch depending on my mood is great It just feels wrong to put on a B&R homage when I'm in a PAM homage mood etc - how do people wear the same watch every day?! I know I did it for years but now I've realised that it's something I can have options with, I don't think I can ever go back to just having one watch. Variety is good! and reps/homages offer the ability to get great designs at a considerably more reasonable price than most gen watches go for Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JoeyB 0 Posted December 9, 2009 "Rick, why did you come to Casablanca?" "I came for the water." "But Rick, we're in the middle of a desert!" "I was misinformed." I was never much up on watches, needed accuracy so the best tool for me was a quartz. I didn't even know what a Rolex was though many I knew had them. Then a good friend came back home from Taipei with a Rolex SS Day-Date pearl white face with diamond markers. I loved it. It had a Seiko quartz movement, was $25 bucks in the early `80s. That's when I found out about Rolex. One of my friends had bought a genuine submariner, new for $600. Ha! I'd never pay that much, and $25 makes more sense to me! I wore that watch for over 10 years, still have it, and it gains about 2-3 seconds every 6 months. Great watch. Then I discovered the GMT. I needed to know times in other zones so this would be a good thing. Had a couple of cheap knockoffs, bought one 'better one' for about $100 on line. That one was stolen out of my hotel room. Went on line and saw the reps for $600-$1000 with Swiss movements and thought I'd be better off to buy a gen. Then I ran into the old RWG site. read up all I could find, went to the other sites and read more. PM'd By-Tor and BK who told me that the best for me to get was the Retro from Josh. I did and love it. The new Rolex ceramic was already out but not repped yet, then about two weeks after I got the Retro the rep Ceramic came out. I waited and read all the posts, figured if there were any bugs or problems I'd order when they were sorted out. Got the Ceramic from Josh, and haven't stopped buying since searching for the 'best' GMT. Now I'm into a project building a 'Franken' Rolex GMT Master 6542. We'll see if that puts me over the edge of sanity. If it turns out good I'll be in big trouble and want to build more! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
10:10 Watch Repair 1 Posted December 9, 2009 The witty banter on the forums, of course. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Massimo 53 Posted December 9, 2009 I've always liked watches and got through quite a few wearing each one for a few years. About four years ago I decided to treat myself to a decent watch and looked around for something I liked. I ended up with a 1967 Omega Constellation from eBay. Nice watch, which I still love. I wore that for a few months but the bug had started to bite and I kept looking at watches on eBay, then ended up with another couple of Omegas, an old Rado and a couple of old Seikos. After a few months I remembered a bad Rolex copy that I'd had from years ago, quartz and very lightweight, but I couldn't find it, and decided to replace it. Luckily I found RWG and narrowly avoided the scam sites, after having spent some time wondering whether to go for the AAAAA Italian Replica So that was it, I got my lovely GMT Master II and here I am three years later with 4 Rolex reps, and various others, finding it increasingly difficult to decide which one to wear in a morning, but still trying hard to limit myself to buying only one watch each month. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
10:10 Watch Repair 1 Posted December 10, 2009 OK, I need to get my post count up. It started on a trip to Belgium when I was 21. My first nice watch was a Raymond Weil. In a few years, after making a little bit of money, I invested in a Rolex Datejust. Doesn't every 20 something with a little cash buy a Rolex to impress friends and girls in bars? I learned to service watches, started fooling around with movements, and in no time was restoring vintage Rolexes and Tudors and reselling. Everything was done on ebay back then and it was easy to get decent non running Rolexes for <$300. I took my watch knowledge and used to give great presents. I would buy a good vintage swiss watch and restore it. My wife still has a few. Then, on a trip to Milan, my girlfriend (now wife) wanted me to go to this little watch shop on the corner of Via Montenapoleone, maybe it was Via Senato. The place looks like the Panerai shop in Florenece although at the time I had no idea what Panerai was. She wanted me to see this "big" watch they had. I remember looking at this clock on my wrist thinking: 1. it's too big and 2. who would pay almost $3000 for a watch. The guy who owns the place told me it was a good buy, because next year, Cartier was taking over and who knows what would happen to the quality. Yeah, right, nice sales pitch, what are the chances of some $3000 clock watch going up in value... Some time later, I got frustrated with Rolex 710 hunters and ebay buyers, and threw away, yes, threw away all of my tools. I took my entire stash of Rolex parts and gave them to a local watchmaker, who BTW, didn't even seem to care. Several years later, a friend of mine shows up with a Panerai 111, and I can't get it out of my mind. I really want the watch, but can't justify spending $4000, so I start shopping the internet. After a while, I stumble on the original RWG. I'm still not sure what's for real, but I take a chance and buy a 111 from Andrew. Like every noob, I check tracking every day, probably every hour. The thing arrives, and at first, I can't tell the difference. Then, the sickness begins. I try to learn everything about the flaws. I take it apart... a lot. I work on some mods (in case anyone cares, I took out the CG pin, couldn't get it to sit in snugly, tried to crazy glue it, over glued it, and voila, no floppy lever. Posted my mod on RWG and the rest is history. Yes, now every modder claims they had a technique to fix your floppy lever that they invented.) The bug never went away. This year I bought a 111. With all the past talk about this flaw and that, I expected some holy grail to jump out of the box, but what I got was disappointment. The gen was great, but it showed me how great the reps were. I pulled out my PAM rep and got back on the internet. I discovered my old home at RWG was dead. Where did everybody go? RG, was a revelation. This hobby has come a long way. The advancements are incredible. I am now inspired by the vintage side of things. I am quickly re-buying tools and adding some new stuff. I now have a manual pantograph, and just put together a CNC 3D mill. The guys over here at RWG1.1 are pretty cool and I will set up home base here. Pretty soon, I will be manufacturing small parts, and modding. Still, it's just a hobby. I will always be happy to share what I know, what I do, and how I do it. More to come soon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mad dawg 0 Posted December 10, 2009 Well I’m a bloke and by definition all blokes like football, cars, motorbikes, women and watches. Over the last 20 years I have owned low gens by Citizen, Seiko, Oris and Tag. I like the more expensive watches but, like most people I have other priorities for my hard earned. I tried really hard to like PMWF but it just didn’t light my fire. Then about 6 months ago when my Tag chronotimer annoyed me one last time, and not being able to justify the Rolex, IWC or Panerai, I started researching the web for reps. A couple of work colleges gave me www sites (eg dhgate) but these were dodgy and the customer feedback was obviously fictitious. Therefore I started looking for rep reviews, which lead me to RWI, RG and RWG. First I was suspicious of these forums being used to attract punters to the dodgy www sites. Fortunately after reviewing the posts I found them to be sincere and very informative. I settled on RWG1.1 because it includes homages and I can keep up with all the posts and posters. Apart from modding (I don’t really have the time or patience) my favourite part of reps is experimenting with all the designs. If I see a nice watch (rep) then it’s affordable to buy and try, therefore its fun. Believe it or not I have purchased 11 reps/homages in 6 months (6 for me personally) and those same work colleges are now buying from the sites I recommend! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
graman 2 Posted December 10, 2009 I'm loving these stories! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sconehead 5 Posted December 10, 2009 What attracted you to reps & rep forums? I was always into watches, a couple of expensive Seikos later I decided to buy a gen SMP for Christmas, 20% down and interest free credit. I surfed the net for the best deals and stumbled across the original RWG and TRC after googling ''Omega Seamaster Professional'', this then led me to RWI and RG. After reading up on the forums I realised I could buy a rep SMP and an LV sub for the same price as my gen deposit...the rest, as they say, is history... All the above is a big lie, I started on the rep forums because of Dave123's awesomeness...didn't we all??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dingle 57 Posted December 10, 2009 What attracted you to reps & rep forums? I was always into watches, a couple of expensive Seikos later I decided to buy a gen SMP for Christmas, 20% down and interest free credit. I surfed the net for the best deals and stumbled across the original RWG and TRC after googling ''Omega Seamaster Professional'', this then led me to RWI and RG. After reading up on the forums I realised I could buy a rep SMP and an LV sub for the same price as my gen deposit...the rest, as they say, is history... All the above is a big lie, I started on the rep forums because of Dave123's awesomeness...didn't we all??? NO. I did not even know he existed. Who the hell is Dave123 anyway? better yet, who cares? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sconehead 5 Posted December 10, 2009 What attracted you to reps & rep forums? I was always into watches, a couple of expensive Seikos later I decided to buy a gen SMP for Christmas, 20% down and interest free credit. I surfed the net for the best deals and stumbled across the original RWG and TRC after googling ''Omega Seamaster Professional'', this then led me to RWI and RG. After reading up on the forums I realised I could buy a rep SMP and an LV sub for the same price as my gen deposit...the rest, as they say, is history... All the above is a big lie, I started on the rep forums because of Dave123's awesomeness...didn't we all??? NO. I did not even know he existed. Who the hell is Dave123 anyway? better yet, who cares? Your Canadian man-love partner? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dingle 57 Posted December 10, 2009 What attracted you to reps & rep forums? I was always into watches, a couple of expensive Seikos later I decided to buy a gen SMP for Christmas, 20% down and interest free credit. I surfed the net for the best deals and stumbled across the original RWG and TRC after googling ''Omega Seamaster Professional'', this then led me to RWI and RG. After reading up on the forums I realised I could buy a rep SMP and an LV sub for the same price as my gen deposit...the rest, as they say, is history... All the above is a big lie, I started on the rep forums because of Dave123's awesomeness...didn't we all??? NO. I did not even know he existed. Who the hell is Dave123 anyway? better yet, who cares? Your Canadian man-love partner? that'll be what we call in da south, a big ol' "NEGATIVE". my street is an "exit only' street. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sconehead 5 Posted December 10, 2009 What attracted you to reps & rep forums? I was always into watches, a couple of expensive Seikos later I decided to buy a gen SMP for Christmas, 20% down and interest free credit. I surfed the net for the best deals and stumbled across the original RWG and TRC after googling ''Omega Seamaster Professional'', this then led me to RWI and RG. After reading up on the forums I realised I could buy a rep SMP and an LV sub for the same price as my gen deposit...the rest, as they say, is history... All the above is a big lie, I started on the rep forums because of Dave123's awesomeness...didn't we all??? NO. I did not even know he existed. Who the hell is Dave123 anyway? better yet, who cares? Your Canadian man-love partner? that'll be what we call in da south, a big ol' "NEGATIVE". my street is an "exit only' street. ...well I wish you'd stop leaving those 'exit signs' on the sidewalk... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dingle 57 Posted December 10, 2009 What attracted you to reps & rep forums? I was always into watches, a couple of expensive Seikos later I decided to buy a gen SMP for Christmas, 20% down and interest free credit. I surfed the net for the best deals and stumbled across the original RWG and TRC after googling ''Omega Seamaster Professional'', this then led me to RWI and RG. After reading up on the forums I realised I could buy a rep SMP and an LV sub for the same price as my gen deposit...the rest, as they say, is history... All the above is a big lie, I started on the rep forums because of Dave123's awesomeness...didn't we all??? NO. I did not even know he existed. Who the hell is Dave123 anyway? better yet, who cares? Your Canadian man-love partner? that'll be what we call in da south, a big ol' "NEGATIVE". my street is an "exit only' street. ...well I wish you'd stop leaving those 'exit signs' on the sidewalk... skidmarks? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sconehead 5 Posted December 10, 2009 What attracted you to reps & rep forums? I was always into watches, a couple of expensive Seikos later I decided to buy a gen SMP for Christmas, 20% down and interest free credit. I surfed the net for the best deals and stumbled across the original RWG and TRC after googling ''Omega Seamaster Professional'', this then led me to RWI and RG. After reading up on the forums I realised I could buy a rep SMP and an LV sub for the same price as my gen deposit...the rest, as they say, is history... All the above is a big lie, I started on the rep forums because of Dave123's awesomeness...didn't we all??? NO. I did not even know he existed. Who the hell is Dave123 anyway? better yet, who cares? Your Canadian man-love partner? that'll be what we call in da south, a big ol' "NEGATIVE". my street is an "exit only' street. ...well I wish you'd stop leaving those 'exit signs' on the sidewalk... skidmarks? correct... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
