What time is it? Watches and horology

discount expired and don't have enough interest free to pay on Paypal anyway, which is good.

Dont stress it, Helson have specials/discounts regularly. Follow them on Insta.

Nah I wouldn't do it. 40mm is the best size imo and I have quite big wrists.

I think the 42mm is the best size...

Finding these quasi-bimetal Certinas confusingly pleasant. Very yachty.

Also Helson's bronze is way more expensive than I remembered.

More expensive movement than the Brass version IIRC.

But a Helson is definitely a watch you need in your life.

I wonder how much the Helsons of this world overlap with the replica industry? I bet they are sharing parts and materials and workshops and staff. The economies of scale are impossible to resist. Rep manufacture is spread over several sites. Unbranded parts are made openly. Branded bits are made in secret. Watches don't become 'illegal' until the last stage, when the branded parts are added.

OOF. #truthurtz

Btw I'm not anti-reps, I have half a dozen.

Speaking of reps, there were a number of raids recently, right? Theory on Reddit is that a few factories flew a bit too close to the sun and as a result some of the most popular reps have almost doubled in price, people willing to pay big money for NOS of some of the ‘best’ reps.

Which is weird

people willing to pay big money for NOS of some of the ‘best’ reps.

Lol watches oh you

Needs a meme picture for that

There are too many hysterical teenagers in that Reddit. You'll get a more nuanced view at rwg.bz, which is the more intelligent of the rep fora.

Opinions of outsiders differ, and the insiders never broadcast what is really going on. The whole rep industry is very opaque. The manufacturers/assemblers have various soubriquets but it's impossible to know who or where they are, or whether two outfits are actually one, or four.

The police like to spread pictures of raids and people in handcuffs, but they're many times more corrupt than the British bobby. Noob, a big name high quality manufacturer, has apparently been shut down, but it might have reopened under a new name.

The only certainties are that the quality of the product has improved and prices have increased a great deal. (By 'product' I mean the best reps of Rolex sports models and a handful of other things with mass appeal, e.g. sports models from Breitling, AP, Omega and so on. Nearly everything else is a bit second division, not hugely convincing and much cheaper.)

Availability has suffered a great deal, hence the rise in prices. Nobody knows how much of this is because of Covid and how much because of the police. Everyone is waiting to see if availability improves next year and prices come down. Right now the best Subs from the most reliable dealers are $250 - $750. The best Daytonas are $750 - $950. Lots of enthusiasts have stopped buying new and are mostly trading with each other.

Lol at paying a bag for a fake

Anti-floss

Is it me or do batteries from the factory last longer in watches than when I get them changed at secondary watch repair spots (either market of even Alsal)?

I'm with @Tenderloin

Like you said, same factory as Helson but a fake rolly... Meh... You pay hand over foot for a basic sea-gull movement.

https://youtu.be/d24KVT4SGqM

Hamilton JazzmasterViewmatic Automatic | 44mm | RRP995

1 Attachment

paying a bag for a fake

If you've seen the Matrix too often, you're easily persuaded that Noob was shut down because their Sub had become indistinguishable from a Rolex. Parity had been achieved. The threat to the System became too great. This forced The Man (Xi Jinping) to deny the Noob to the masses. Ergo a Noob Sub is now a collectible. Even at $1,000 it offers a real world saving of $14,000.

I have no idea what you’re talking about but I’m fairly sure I definitely do not agree

https://youtu.be/d24KVT4SGqM

I'm very underwhelmed by that selection, except for the Marathon. Let's hear it for Ralf Tech! Also, Gucci dive watches, which are made by Girard-Perregaux. £500 gets you a lot https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2505460.m570.l1311&_nkw=gucci+dive+watch&_sacat=0 To me they are sort of the new Tag Heuer. I'm harking back to the '80s when all the public schoolboys in Fulham had a Golf GTi and a Tag Heuer 2000. I'd happily wear a Gucci if it only had weekday.

What on earth would drive you to buy one of those over a Seiko insert reference here? Wild.

Not sure about the real world saving there. Because you won’t own a Rolex lol. Driving a Subaru instead of a Ferrari offers me a real world saving of $100+k. But similarly, I don’t own a Ferrari.

Innit

If it took a Ferrari tech to tell the difference between your Subaru and the real thing, would the difference matter?