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Introduction and my backstory!

Bsykes

Do not accept unsolicited offers
11/1/16
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After browsing around for a few weeks, I would like to take the time to do the mandatory introductions before delving any deeper into the wealth of knowledge this place offers.


I first came to appreciate watches about a few years back, starting off with a gen limited edition 50th anniversary Seiko SRP455 Diver. It was the first proper automatic watch that I ever purchased with my own money and I wanted it to have some form of symbolic meaning to it, thus the limited edition version. It was beautiful(to me at least), and I couldn't stop staring at the lume, playing around with the bezels(first diver as well), learning how to set the day, date and time on it. Contrary to many others, even winding and setting the time brought about a certain type of joy in me.(this has now turned into a chore for me expectedly haha!)


8e8qDNy.jpg



It went without saying that I knew my next watch was going to be an automatic one. I was looking at gen swiss made brands towards the likes of Tissot which were within my budget at that time. I didn't have a dress watch then and was preferably looking for one. I wanted something minimalistic, never fancied complicated dials. That's when I stumbled upon the beautiful Tissot Le Locle in RG and a black dial. From the front it was nothing impressive, but what really got me sucked in was the semi open case back(?). It was beautiful. The stylish engravings and design of the case back was absolutely stunning. It was something that can only be appreciated by the wearer, which was what I look for in watches. Needless to say, I purchased it as my first dress watch.

17w8N7Y.jpg%3F1


These two watches rotated between each other as my daily beaters for a few years while I saved up the money and looked into something more pricey like a Rolex or Panerai. I don't take extreme care of my watches and wear them everywhere, I believe that watches are meant to be enjoyed and not babysitted. They have thankfully survived the years with only a small amount of hairline scratches. The biggest "injury" that I've obtained so far is a big scuff of the case on my Tissot(painful reminder of a drunk night).

IrUgWVB.jpg




As you have probably noticed, these watches have a sentimental value to me.

Now, how did I come about finding this forum? I have been randomly lurking around in other gen forums, just looking at what people had on their wrists, considering what my next purchase would be once I had saved up enough. To be completely honest, I never thought about buying a rep before, I even detested the thought of it. I felt that it was an insult to horology.
The time came when I had enough money to spend on a watch costing around 7-10k. I was eyeing the Rolex Sub-C. A classic watch that would never go out of style and it was daily beater material suited to match every outfit. That's when I came across someone on a gen forum who posted something along the lines of, "Seeing all these wrist shots of you guys wearing different expensive watches everyday makes me question the authenticity, especially after finding out of how close to gen some reps can be" then he subsequently suggested to google a certain TD. Somehow, that sparked my curiosity.


I googled, and what I saw shocked me. I couldn't believe the rep market was so sophisticated. I've been to Thailand, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and held all kinds of rep watches before. And the reps on the website looked nothing like those sold on the streets. This intrigued me and I started to dig a little deeper for reviews and whatnot and that's how I came across RWI.


The rest is history, and I felt like my soul was sold to the devil of horology. I began to see reps in a whole new light. The amount of effort being people put into making the perfect rep(TC) and the appreciation of the finer details of a watch through comparisons between reps and gens. I was intrigued by the abundance of information on the various watches which kept me searching and reading for weeks.


A week ago, I dropped my cash on a Rolex 166110 Noob V5(mainly due to the price drop), and already I have a list of other watches I'm planning to get. The TC LV, PAM 111N v4, IWC Portugese 7 Days and the list will go on for sure.


IbDrzHb.jpg



I rarely ever muster up the energy to pen my thoughts down in a public space, and this place has compelled me to do so.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this forum and providing me with weeks worth of reading material!
 

Tucker

Lunnyfied by Raddave
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23/12/11
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Now that's an introduction.
 

Bsykes

Do not accept unsolicited offers
11/1/16
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Welcome...love that Seiko

Due to my subpar photography skills, the picture does not do it justice unfortunately, the colour of the dial really pops in person. Same goes for the caseback of the Tissot :)

lovely trio you have now :clap:

welcome to RWI :)

Hi friend.
Welcome to RWI from Spain.
I hope to see you soon in PAM Section

Regards.
ALE.
PAM Section Moderator.

To get info about PAM replicas read:
"Reference PAM REVIEW-GUIDE" - Replica Search, Identification, Evaluation & Selection.
https://forum.replica-watch.info/vb...earch-Identification-Evaluation-amp-Selection

welcome to RWI! :)

Now that's an introduction.

Good on you mate. Welcome!

-Andrew


Thank you all for the very warm welcome, I appreciate it :)
 

peteins

Getting To Know The Place
4/12/14
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Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this forum and providing me with weeks worth of reading material!


Weeks? There is years of reading material here! Hah

Excellent intro and welcome! Take a look at the RWG too, we won't bite!


Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Tapatalk
 

C Master

General RWI Dogsbody
Staff member
Administrator
Certified
7/10/15
78,436
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Wow that is a great introductory post [MENTION=118907]Bsykes[/MENTION]. Welcome to to Obsession.
 

DJ-Pir

Getting To Know The Place
4/1/16
54
0
0
Netherlands
Good welcome story, and a nice set of watches to start out with.

There is so much good information to be found here, it could indeed be years of reading time to get it all . . . . .

Have fun collecting and wearing all the nice watches to come !
 

Bsykes

Do not accept unsolicited offers
11/1/16
6
0
0
Weeks? There is years of reading material here! Hah

Excellent intro and welcome! Take a look at the RWG too, we won't bite!


Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Tapatalk

Wow that is a great introductory post @Bsykes. Welcome to to Obsession.

Good welcome story, and a nice set of watches to start out with.

There is so much good information to be found here, it could indeed be years of reading time to get it all . . . . .

Have fun collecting and wearing all the nice watches to come !

Glad you all enjoyed it, I rarely have the opportunity to share my thoughts on the watches I own.

I'm learning more every day, that's for sure :thumbup:
 

wizzzard

Known Member
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18/3/13
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Welcome! Thanks for sharing the story... There's so much to learn and read about. And if nothing else, appreciate all the fine pics of other member purchases.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

sjg1970

Do not accept unsolicited offers
DO NOT TRADE WITH ME
22/1/16
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I'm also new to this forum and rep world. I have been collecting watches for about 20yrs. Started with a seiko diver (which I still own) then a Breathing, Date-Just, GMT then a Sub...all used. I Then discovered one of the dealers I had been dealing with had sold me a fake Panera PAM196. I had it for at least 4 years, not even as much as a second look. I always took care of it, never swam with it etc...it had a leather strap so not a diver anyway. So I took it to a very reputable repair shop in NYC and they told me they would not work on it because it was a copy!! I told them they were crazy then they were nice enough to point out the flaws. Well the guy of course said he didn't know and I had no real leg to stand on. This was around 2004. I had about 11 watches. If I had not gone to this repair shop I don't think I would have ever found the world of rep watches. Now the first daytona i purchased was horrible, broke in 2 months and they wouldn't take it back etc. I purchased a few more and was hit and miss. Then I stopped because I had spent like $2,500 on fakes and hated myself because I could have purchased something real, vintage perhaps. A few years had passed and I found myself one night online looking for an IWC Pilot. I came across this site that had one, I looked at the pics and said I'm buying it no matter what. When I looked to see what the price was I couldn't believe what i saw...$400. I struggled with the purchase as I've been burned in the past, there are so many people that take pics of the genuine article then send you crap...but I went ahead and did it. 3 weeks went by, all of my emails were not answered and I just chalked it up to being an idiot and I deserved it. 5 days later it showed up IN A PROPER BOX. I was blown away by what was in my hands. I took it to torneau in NYC, put it right up next to the real thing and there was visibly no way to tell the difference and from then on the game had changed for me. All that said I've prob bought 30 - 40 watches from 2005 till now, always best quality etc. All brands from Rolex to AP, Corum, Chopard you name it i bought it. The most expensive I bought was the AP Diver for $588 which too is as real as can be. Of the watches I've bought, esp recently have not been the ones in the photos so I started looking for new sites and I came across this which is like gold to me. I've probably wasted $5k on crap, non pictured, and plain not functional watches in the past few years and thinking about it now, i continued to go back to the same site because I did not know about this. I'm amazed at some of the pics I've seen on this site and have looked at a few dealers and wanted to know who had what to say about whom. The dealers on this site seem to have/sell exactly what is pictured. I'm very excited to be a part of this forum and looking forward to buying many more, higher quality watches.