I did it all wrong but it worked out (for me)

[julian2002]

Hi everyone,
First a bit of my history.
I'm a total newbie to the Rep world but have lurked here for a while and done a lot of reading both here and elsewhere . My previous experience with Reps came in the early 00's buying a couple of really bad Tag Monaco for me and some mates and a DJ for my dad in a Bangkok market. Only my Monaco survives and it only winds via the rotor and so I consigned Reps to the 'tried it, didn't work out' bin for a decade or more.
A few years ago I became more interested in horology in general and spotted a Parnis Portuguese homage that tickled my fancy for not much money and gave it a go. The quality was way above the Tags I bought and on reading further I discovered that reps in general had stepped up their game hmm interesting....

So on the the main thrust of this post. I love Audemars Piguet, specifically the RO Diver and RO 15400 boutique blue dial. Sadly my champagne tastes are not even backed up by a lemonade budget, council pop is more my speed given the young family, mortgage, credit cards, etc that modern life deems we must have, so once again the idea of a rep raised it's head. Looking into things A JF factory Ap Rep would be brilliant but at 3-500 UKP it's still out of my price range (or what she who must be obeyed will let me spend anyway) so I started wading out into the murky waters of a certain Chinese sales site (can I mention D*Gate? not sure on the forum rules here, I'm not going to mention sellers anyway so hope it's ok).
Most of my reading said don't do it but I like a bargain and taking a change so though I'll give it a go and if I get a bad 'un then I'll consider it paying for an education.
I decided on a 15400 at this price range as I'd read that some divers did not have the rotating bezel etc. working correctly and searched the site for something appropriate. Best advice here is to buy the seller, look for one that has a lot of transactions and good feedback. Eventually I zeroed in on one, pressed the button and waited... and waited.. and waited... china post is slow isn't it? Eventually a package arrived and I got my watch.
Generally to my novice eye quality seems good.
* Bracelet is nice.
* Date ticks over bob on midnight.
* All indeces and logos look straight.
* Hands line up on markers.
* Screw heads align correctly.

Bad points?
* Rotor is loud.
* White printing on dial and date wheel is a bit 'flimsy'
* Some edges are a bit 'sharp'

And the cost of all this? A massive 58 UKP.

Here are some pics

First the beauty shot.

Bracelet and Rear

Closeup front

So I'm pretty chuffed with it, I'm sure the experts could pick out many places where it's awful but I love wearing it, I've already had a few compliments regarding it, just as it being a nice watch from people who have no idea what an AP is and feel I've been very lucky to get what I consider to be more than what i paid for.

So what have I done now? Well in the quest to see just how far I can push things I've ordered a Cartier 100xl and Rolex Exporer for the combined princely sum of 18 UKP. I fully expect things to be just awful but I was just curious how low a price would still get me something that i'd willingly wear on my wrist.

 

[ETAWatchlover]

A lot of gents here are wearing these cheaper reps since most folks can't tell the difference between this and a gen .And people who know this stuff will call out high and low end reps .(even though it is harder with the high end ones)
Wear and enjoy it
​​​​

 

[julian2002]

UPDATE:

So... that experiment didn't end well.... so a resounding 'told you so' for me.
Both watches were 'shipped' to the wrong address so they could be flagged as delivered, opened a dispute with dhgate and both were refunded so not a terrible experience with DHgate themselves.

In the interim I'd ordered a GMTM2 BLRO or £44 and a AP ROO Diver for £91 from different sellers.
The GMTM arrived and looks fine but the movement is toast so have another dispute in with that. We'll see what happens.
I think the diver will be the last one I try via DHG as a 25% success rate isn't that great hopefully the diver will be ok and that'll become 40% which isn;t bad but it's a hassle I'm willing to pay to avoid so it's TD's for me from now on...

 

[DanRep]

hope you have better luck from here on out. I ordered from Lucy and it was great experience

 

[psssniper]

On our next door neighbors RWG there is a subforum that deals with DaGate and all the fun involved in the search.

 

[julian2002]

Update 2:
The ROO Diver has landed - N8 factory (never heard of them and nothing on the web) cost £90, came well packaged and runs ok so far (been on my wrist for about 2 hours now) everything seems to work ok even the 'compressor' style internal dive timer on the rehaut rotated using the 10 o'clock crown. Second hand sweep is even and bezel screws are aligned, not proud and do not feel like they will fall out. This addresses most of the issues common to cheaper ROO Diver reps I believe.

The seller for the GMTM came back with a 50% refund via PP offer and keep the watch. I'll probably take it and see if it's a simple fix (most instances of a sticking movement seem to be due to a hand that's tilted in transit and is sticking on the crystal or other hands. I have some toold but wil need to find something that will get hte back off a rolex rep.

So 3 out of 5 arrived, 2 good, 1 useless but 50% refund. I'll call that 50% success so may try this again with some other watches next year. My play funds are now spent but for the grand total of £170 I have 2 decent Royal Oaks and a bracelet that looks like a GMTM BLRO.

I'll have a look on RWG psssniper, thanks for pointing that out.