I contacted Lawrence, one of Replica Watches Guide (RWG)'s Trusted Dealers regarding a Spectre rep.
I was specifically looking for one with the steel bracelet as opposed to the strap as cloth doesn't appeal to me. I checked with a couple of RWI's TD's but they were out of stock.
Lawrence does not have a website with shopping cart. He has a collection of photo/description offerings and you communicate with him via email. Rather than spending time looking at photos of things that might not be in stock, I just emailed him to get the ball rolling.
My initial contact was on Mon, 8/15/16 @ 6pm New York time asking if he could source it and what did he think of it. At 8pm that same day, Lawrence responded indicating that the OMG-685 is quite new a model and he had not sold many so did not have any buyer feedback to report yet. He indicated that with this new upgraded automatic 2813, it shouldn't give any problems other than the timing might run a bit off in time. He quoted USD 160.00 + $15 for registered mail delivery, and offered a warranty of 3 months. He said to expect 2-3 weeks arrival following payment via WU. By 9:30pm that evening I was provided details necessary to process WU and made my payment.
On Monday, August 22, 2016 @ 2:23 AM QC photos were made available to me. No Timegrapher capture was offered or or specifically requested. I reviewed the QC's and approved them later that day.
On Wednesday, August 24, 2016 8:44 PM I received notice that the package had shipped and Lawrence was waiting for a tracking number to go active.
On Wednesday, August 31, 2016 I contacted Lawrence to remind him about the tracking number (its absence really hadn't worried me). I got a tracking number a couple hours later - but it didn't work (which is not uncommon)
On Thursday, September 8, 2016 @ 4:00 PM the watch was delivered by USPS requesting signature. The package was properly addressed by hand. It was declared "gift" with a 30 value. The envelope was unmolested. Inside the outer envelope was a padded and taped inner envelope and within that was the watch with bracelet laid flat, still in its assembler-provided scratch protection, then wrapped in plastic, then encased in a tube of bubble-wrap. The bracelet screws removed so it would lie flat were in a tiny envelope beneath the wrap.
Its appearance is exactly what I saw in the photos - not a 1:1 rep - but what is. Its exactly what I expected.
I hand-wound the watch when it arrived, and have been wearing it since - taking a three mile walk with it on. My hearing is not great, but I can't hear it ticking so nothing unusual there.
Just prior to doing this write-up, I put it on my Timegrapher. In six (6) positions it is showing an *average* of +2s/d with a 319 amplitude and a beat error of 0.3ms.
I'll probably post some photos of the watch on the Brand forums over the next couple days. I wanted to focus this review solely upon the dealer and a rather basic yes/no for whether the product was what it was represented to be.
Thats a YES. My expectations were met by Lawrence and by his product. I'm quite pleased.
I was specifically looking for one with the steel bracelet as opposed to the strap as cloth doesn't appeal to me. I checked with a couple of RWI's TD's but they were out of stock.
Lawrence does not have a website with shopping cart. He has a collection of photo/description offerings and you communicate with him via email. Rather than spending time looking at photos of things that might not be in stock, I just emailed him to get the ball rolling.
My initial contact was on Mon, 8/15/16 @ 6pm New York time asking if he could source it and what did he think of it. At 8pm that same day, Lawrence responded indicating that the OMG-685 is quite new a model and he had not sold many so did not have any buyer feedback to report yet. He indicated that with this new upgraded automatic 2813, it shouldn't give any problems other than the timing might run a bit off in time. He quoted USD 160.00 + $15 for registered mail delivery, and offered a warranty of 3 months. He said to expect 2-3 weeks arrival following payment via WU. By 9:30pm that evening I was provided details necessary to process WU and made my payment.
On Monday, August 22, 2016 @ 2:23 AM QC photos were made available to me. No Timegrapher capture was offered or or specifically requested. I reviewed the QC's and approved them later that day.
On Wednesday, August 24, 2016 8:44 PM I received notice that the package had shipped and Lawrence was waiting for a tracking number to go active.
On Wednesday, August 31, 2016 I contacted Lawrence to remind him about the tracking number (its absence really hadn't worried me). I got a tracking number a couple hours later - but it didn't work (which is not uncommon)
On Thursday, September 8, 2016 @ 4:00 PM the watch was delivered by USPS requesting signature. The package was properly addressed by hand. It was declared "gift" with a 30 value. The envelope was unmolested. Inside the outer envelope was a padded and taped inner envelope and within that was the watch with bracelet laid flat, still in its assembler-provided scratch protection, then wrapped in plastic, then encased in a tube of bubble-wrap. The bracelet screws removed so it would lie flat were in a tiny envelope beneath the wrap.
Its appearance is exactly what I saw in the photos - not a 1:1 rep - but what is. Its exactly what I expected.
I hand-wound the watch when it arrived, and have been wearing it since - taking a three mile walk with it on. My hearing is not great, but I can't hear it ticking so nothing unusual there.
Just prior to doing this write-up, I put it on my Timegrapher. In six (6) positions it is showing an *average* of +2s/d with a 319 amplitude and a beat error of 0.3ms.
I'll probably post some photos of the watch on the Brand forums over the next couple days. I wanted to focus this review solely upon the dealer and a rather basic yes/no for whether the product was what it was represented to be.
Thats a YES. My expectations were met by Lawrence and by his product. I'm quite pleased.
