Hendricks 0 Posted January 21, 2013 Yo, watch hounds! Let's look at my new Silix Econo Navimimer. My 1st rep purchase. I won't be knocking its' shortcomings in the authentication department because I'm not qualified nor particularly concerned. First off, I'll tell you why I would wear this rep. For most of us, wearing a rep might be akin to showing up at an official event with the proverbial blonde on our arm. Looks great but, "please dear...let me do the talking." Not so with this basic Navitimer. Not only does she have a decent enough face but this blonde bombshell sports a science degree with a major in physics. She could board Air Force One and advise the pilot of their ground speed, miles per minute, fuel consumption, rate of altitude change, distance travelled during that change, and, "Captain...would you like that in nautical or statute miles?" If you're presently in between invites to airplane cockpits, your Nav will at least help impress the waitress and your companions when it comes time to doing a 7-way split of your dinner and bar tab. You are, afterall, wearing a calculator. ..and doing it "old school" in very cool! Download the manual direct from Breitling here: http://www.breitling.../slide_rule.zip The Nav design likely has the most uncluttered moving outer bezel in the world...this one, a mere 1.3mm from edge to crystal. All the clutter is served under glass, just where you would want it, nicely protected. Rotating the bezel revolves the outer rule (along with entire crystal)about the stationary inner on the dial, providing you with a god-like sense of the infinite number of calculations possible. At risk of revealing too much...if you are feeling a little down on yourself, glance down, grab bezel, twist, and feel for a moment like Einstein reincarnated...cheap therapy and drug-free. (We shall, hence forth, refer to this activity as watch wanking.) My point, thus far has been that, at street walker prices you you can wake up in the morning with the Carleton County Potato Festival Queen. Here's the actual sample I received. Is it luck or did Silix divine the fact that I love activity kits?! Although my Nav came tightly wrapped in plastic, once released it quickly fell into 4 separate pieces. The fun of discovery is just beginning here...as I was fumbling excitedly with the kit parts I noticed a golden glint from a single inner link piece. Could it be??? I ran my nail file along the flat to be certain and sure enough...under a thin layer of silvery coating is solid gold!!! See! And special gold too, without the bothersome heaviness of ordinary gold. Pushing my luck to the max I removed one end of the bracelet and, lo and behold, a solid gold case was revealed! Equally and as cleverly disguised as stainless. The loose end links already had clattered the chrome off the case between the lugs. God Bless Silix-Prime.co! As I was calculating my wealth a doubting thought penetrated..."Local Man Arrested for Gold Smuggling", and, "Canada Post Pissed Removes Man's Mailbox". Gripped by thoughts of impending incarceration and being parted from my beloved Nav until such time as my release, I fired an email off to Michelle for legal advice. Without delay, he fired back: "...the factory said it is stainless steel , i have no idea about that , as can not take it to test . the fees is dear." Brilliant! We blame it all on the factory! We are innocent if caught! My lawyer would have charged $50 consultation for that. Guys...as long as our stories are the same, we will be OK. Corner the gold market and order away. Breathing easy now I return to thoughts of converting my gold into more rep watches! Now that we are "golden" with materials, let's look at the fit and function. As mentioned, the bracelet was loose between the lugs and loudly announced my approach sounding exactly like Clint Eastwood's spurs. Easy fix. All dial functions were as expected: hands move as time progresses but a little slow, about 5 minutes per day. Yippee! I get to open the case to do an adjustment. The subs do work, as promised on the website. There seems to be no power reserve to speak of. She runs down in about 18 hours when not worn. The chrono sub at 3 is for show, turning one grad with each press of the lower operator and with a cool "click". I intend to use this as my manually adjustable month indicator. Looking forward to February 1st when I will enjoy that sound, advancing the sub hand from "1" to "2". Can also employ it in lieu of worry beads should I forget to wear them. The day sub at 9 adequately performs. The lumes aren't bad at all and the fake tourbillon does a nice job of featuring the polished gold balance wheel which I truly enjoy. The jewelled balance support holds a bright ruby cradled within a golden shock absorbing setting and is secured with two screws that happen to color-match the dial. I love the date windows at 12, completing the aesthetically well-balanced dial and tourbillon complications. Functionally, however, seems they added an extra 9 days to our month...going from 31 to 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 00. Finally, I have time to read "War & Peace". One last thing about the dial...see the white snow flake that appears above the outer "14" mark, stuck under the glass? That is, I believe, Asian polishing cloth fibre(toilet paper). Now there are two reasons that it pays to buy the best polishing cloth(toilet paper) that you can afford. Another, yippee moment...Get to disassemble my watch! Wait now, that object seems to have disappeared...I think it landed on the dial and was deep fried in oil. Yup, within a couple of days I noticed oil seeping in on the outer edges of the dial. At the time of this writing, oil covers all the right side dial outer graduations and too, at the bottom, right up to the edge of the tourbillon opening. My watch might never rust! Still, dried oil will ruin the dial, so, once again, yippee...screwdriver time! The clot on the glass plopped down just to the left of 12 near the white arrow but can't be seen in the photos I took. The factory really put the oil to the bezel. A thin grease or a thicker oil is preferred to prevent it from flowing away. You watchmakers know that as many as 4 grades are used in the oiling process. Suspect only one all-purpose grade is used by this supplier in all their movements. In summary, this watch is cheap fun and provides a low cost education into the rep world. I intend to have more fun with it. I expect to post a Part II where I will be dumping out Navs' inerds to adjust, clean the dial and generally poke around in search of new surprises! Or, I may just sell my gold and reinvest in this hobby. Cheers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luthier 1 Posted January 21, 2013 So, you got a piece of crap, fantasy watch with non-chrono mov't, and you wrote a poem to it? I like your spirit, man! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
James. 4 Posted January 21, 2013 The only thing that matters is that you like it. Nice detailed write up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bowtiefanatc 16 Posted January 21, 2013 Looks like $35 too much to me Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Realism 72 Posted January 21, 2013 That $35 would have been better as a VIP upgrade lol Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Waipio Jeff 0 Posted January 21, 2013 Best tongue in cheek review of a total piece of shit watch I have ever read. Kudos Sent via mental telepathy from my Samsung Galaxy SIII with Tapatalk 2. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HeavyKrush 16 Posted January 21, 2013 Shit, got your $35 worth out of the write up alone. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
court 12 Posted January 21, 2013 I can tell you're a bit of a glass half full kinda guy. Personally I'm more of a "Why is my glass twice as big as it needs to be?" guy myself but every credit to ya. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nisv 0 Posted January 21, 2013 Too many words. Congrats, enjoy............right? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mystery Shopper 5,887 Posted January 21, 2013 In summary, this watch is cheap fun and provides a low cost education into the rep world. It is what it is! Next? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
beathead 0 Posted January 22, 2013 Brilliant! That has just made my morning, great write up! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rolexrudy 0 Posted January 23, 2013 Dang I have this watch enroute , and I'm kina bummed now ... Anyone know a good strap to replace this with ? Damn .... Maybe I'll put a superocean rubber strap if I can find one (been searching) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vexorg 0 Posted January 23, 2013 I have one of those watches and it is worth the $35. This watch should never be a first purchase! If I had one of these as my first i would never have bought again. Do yourself a favor and spend some $$$ on a good watch as your first you'll be glad you did. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rolexrudy 0 Posted January 23, 2013 I have a better watch from another dealer coming but still ... I'd like to change the strap on this one :/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rolexrudy 0 Posted January 23, 2013 I'm ordering a blue rubber strap from Josh's perfect clones. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rolexrudy 0 Posted January 23, 2013 What size is the lug on this for a replacement strap Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stooee21 0 Posted January 23, 2013 Hahaha loving this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jose Betancur 0 Posted January 23, 2013 Hahahahah love this post! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hendricks 0 Posted February 2, 2013 I like everyone's comments. The creative writing course paid off. The brain surgery did not. What a great forum! Guys sharing their experiences of consorting and transacting with known international criminals. We do enjoy living vicariously. Hi RolexRudy. Let me know how you like yours. The lug space is 22mm. Michelle is replacing strap with black leather with logo buckle. I will likely toss the "leather" and use the buckle on a strap from Star Time. Ordered 4 watches all together, mid December. This was the only one that showed. I'm patient because no hurry for more disappointment. It sure wasn't the Breitling I had originally ordered. Please note that with Silix, many models are no longer available or have major cosmetic changes. Site is never updated. No mention of this at order time. And "stainless steel" means it will be shiny. Thinking of building my own gen no-name diver starting with a solid steel case, dropping in new swiss automatic movement. Else use a diver chrono case and put an A7750 under the hood. A7750's in the US are really expensive...around $180. Gens are about $380. Just dreaming. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
