AP Gen owners- is it worth it? or rep is good enough (For what is worth)

[fana05]

Love the design but after reading that some people's new gen diver loses between 8 or 12 seconds a day and AP says it's within regulation... no gracias. I think, in general, that the swiss brands have gone off the deep end with their pricing and they're paying for it dearly right now reporting one of the worst quarters for sales globally. I spent 8.5K on a BLNR and, in retrospect, question my own sanity If I were to go the AP route, I'd only get one of the precious metal ROO chronographs

 

[andman]

+1. I used to own a decent collection of genuine AP ROOs. But movement issues, ridiculous maintenance costs, long turnaround times for repair and service and quality issues made me gradually switch camps from gens to frankens. One of my first gens was a rubberclad. The bezel got dinged badly after a bump against a wall and AP wanted me to pay $2200 for a replacement bezel. I ended up selling the watch at a loss to a dealer.
I have also encountered dial imperfections on my gen white themes and chrono issues on 2 of my other ROOs.
Building frankens are a lot economical by comparisons and gives a lot more satisfaction than simply buying and owning a gen IMHO.

You mention dial imperfections .....
This dial scratch is on my Gen Panda .... Was bought new unused .... still in warranty

Look at the tapisserie , beneath the 1 and adjacent to the 2 .....
We would all reject that on first round of QC

 

[peterpl]

^ Man that would annoy me for a $20k watch. Did you return it?

 

[andman]

^ Man that would annoy me for a $20k watch. Did you return it?

Funnily enough the movement stopped working when it was 6 months old and it went back to AP ...... Really sloppy of me but I didn't notice the dial damage till a year later as I simply didn't wear it again .... My rep Panda got all the wrist time .

I didn't send it back again. I should of ... I'll never know if it left the factory that way, or it was done while it was being repaired .

 

[peterpl]

^ I would return it now still as a defect or something. Its still under warranty yeah?

I cant believe the movement kacked out also after 6 months. Some of my AP ROO sec@12 have lasted me 2-3 years already with no issues.

 

[rcom440]

^ I would return it now still as a defect or something. Its still under warranty yeah?

I cant believe the movement kacked out also after 6 months. Some of my AP ROO sec@12 have lasted me 2-3 years already with no issues.

Funny thing is rep APs are more reliable than gen AP watches. I was actually thinking about buying 15400 but I was advised not to by people who own 15400 - it's a beautiful but too many problems.

 

[MrJonez]

Funny thing is rep APs are more reliable than gen AP watches. I was actually thinking about buying 15400 but I was advised not to by people who own 15400 - it's a beautiful but too many problems.

Bumping an oldie; but what problems have been brought up? Looking to pick one of these up very soon.

 

[nalomb]

Interesting to read your all's thoughts on Gen AP's. I've never owned an AP, but have owned gens in the same price range (Patek, Vacheron, IWC, etc). Just ordered my first AP rep and this thread has confirmed my thoughts that AP is like Panerai -- reps are the way to go!

 

[rcom440]

Bumping an oldie; but what problems have been brought up? Looking to pick one of these up very soon.

If you go for Gen 15400 from what I know after a while bracelet is basically falling apart. Also you want constantly tighten some screw if you don't want to loose that watch. There are also some problem with crown and movement but i don't know exactly.

When it comes to other AP watches, they are very very fragile watches. You don't want to drop them or bang them against thing if you don't want movement to crap on you.

 

[rcom440]

I think Patek is way to go. nautilus is beautiful and can be pulled by young and older people.

 

[nalomb]

When it comes to other AP watches, they are very very fragile watches. You don't want to drop them or bang them against thing if you don't want movement to crap on you.

Which is why I've never understood why so many golfers wear AP's -- granted that golf isn't MMA, but its not sipping a cocktail under a parasol in an ivory bath either ...

 

[rcom440]

Which is why I've never understood why so many golfers wear AP's -- granted that golf isn't MMA, but its not sipping a cocktail under a parasol in an ivory bath either ...

a) they get those watches for free to represent the brand.
b) some of them being paid to wear them.

Same comes with other sports and/or certain sport people.
For example,
Jose Mourinho is ambassador for Hublot. He gets them for free and he's being paid to wear them.

 

[nalomb]

a) they get those watches for free to represent the brand.
b) some of them being paid to wear them.

I understand and expect them to get them for free, but that doesn't change the practicality of it. You can give me a $1MM watch for free, but if its susceptible to damage in the course of business then its worthless and more of a hassle than a great piece of swag. Plus, if in the exercise of sponsoring players there are issues with your product, the exposure and reputation of your product that you have effectively purchased isn't going to last long.

 

[nalomb]

Perhaps I just value practicality over freebies haha.

 

[rcom440]

Btw, Frank Lampard stated collecting watches shortly after he recieved whole bunch of them during his carrier at Chelsea. He got nice collection of Pateks and APs.

 

[rcom440]

Perhaps I just value practicality over freebies haha.

Of course but if they keep giving them to you and if you being paid to wear them during interviews than why not?

 

[nalomb]

Of course but if they keep giving them to you and if you being paid to wear them during interviews than why not?

No doubt -- my thinking was about wearing them while playing, not necessarily extra-curriculars.

 

[hoanghung45]

Which is why I've never understood why so many golfers wear AP's -- granted that golf isn't MMA, but its not sipping a cocktail under a parasol in an ivory bath either ...

AP/RM is not Hublot. AP brand ambassadors are not pretty/famous faces, but athletes who test watches to the limits so be free to use them

 

[PecMan]

There is info here at rwi... there are gen vs rep threads with photos and owner's opinnions ... imo you dont even need a franken ... a replica out of the box with ar crystal and nice strap would make you really happy ..i think that some guys actually can not live with the idea of lying themself because they know it is a replica nonmatter how good it is ..

 

[mydnytrydr]

I've been to an AP AD in Vegas, and they encourage you to examine their watches with a jeweller's loop.. It's pretty amazing the level of craftsmanship that goes into an AP...