Thought I'd post about picking up a shitter GMT-master from Canal St in NYC in case anyone else thinks about doing the same thing...
I was in Canal St NYC today and there are fake watches everywhere. Either out in the open from Africans or from Chinese mostly women with printouts. I mean they are everywhere. The asking price was generally around $80 from the street guys (I'm sure they would take anything).
I did a quick Google to better understand what others had said, which led me to a few threads that said there are better quality reps if you go into a store (generally a souvenir or electronics) that has watches on display out front. So I went into one and immediate a guy comes up to me and asks what I'm looking for. I say a rolex, but not the crap in the window. So he says follow me and takes me to the back of the store where he has a case of watches covered under a cloth (like he was hiding it). In the case is a bunch of Rolex (and AP) reps. I look at a black submariner and it's crap. I tell him these are the same crap as everyone else has. And he asks if I want a better one? I said yes, show me the good ones. He then proceeds to get a second case, under another piece of cloth and it has other Rolex reps. He says these ones are $150. I compared a "better" submariner to the first one he showed me, and I must admit it was definitely better. I found a GMT master Batman rep and it looked pretty good. It had a 904L label on the bracelet and had all the plastic wrap that a Chinese factory rep would have on it. At first glance it looked pretty good. And I thought because the Sub was actually better, maybe the GMT would be too.
I've always wanted a GMT or submariner rep, so I haggled the price to around $80. Thought I would buy it to see if I liked it. This is a rep of a 126710BLNR with jubilee bracelet.
So here's the good:
Note I do have a Clean Daytona 126500LN which I love so that is my comparison and obviously night and day difference.
Some pics.
Ok now you can give me shit.
I was in Canal St NYC today and there are fake watches everywhere. Either out in the open from Africans or from Chinese mostly women with printouts. I mean they are everywhere. The asking price was generally around $80 from the street guys (I'm sure they would take anything).
I did a quick Google to better understand what others had said, which led me to a few threads that said there are better quality reps if you go into a store (generally a souvenir or electronics) that has watches on display out front. So I went into one and immediate a guy comes up to me and asks what I'm looking for. I say a rolex, but not the crap in the window. So he says follow me and takes me to the back of the store where he has a case of watches covered under a cloth (like he was hiding it). In the case is a bunch of Rolex (and AP) reps. I look at a black submariner and it's crap. I tell him these are the same crap as everyone else has. And he asks if I want a better one? I said yes, show me the good ones. He then proceeds to get a second case, under another piece of cloth and it has other Rolex reps. He says these ones are $150. I compared a "better" submariner to the first one he showed me, and I must admit it was definitely better. I found a GMT master Batman rep and it looked pretty good. It had a 904L label on the bracelet and had all the plastic wrap that a Chinese factory rep would have on it. At first glance it looked pretty good. And I thought because the Sub was actually better, maybe the GMT would be too.
I've always wanted a GMT or submariner rep, so I haggled the price to around $80. Thought I would buy it to see if I liked it. This is a rep of a 126710BLNR with jubilee bracelet.
So here's the good:
- Overall it looks decent. I compared to a picture of a gen online, it looks good enough for what I paid for it. I know I will get crap for saying that, but it's "good enough" for me.
- I actually don't know how the gen time setting works, but this watch has three positions - 1st is winding, 2nd is GMT hand in one direction and date in other direction, and 3rd is regular time setting.
- The crystal clarity seems good enough and the watch is "shiny" enough to look good (enough) to me
- There was enough lume that I could see it in the dark (only was in the dark for 15 mins, so no idea how long it lasts)
- The magnifier seems to be centered and the date numbers are all centered. The markers and text all seem like they are in the right place.
- It hasn't stopped working since I bought it today LOL
- Well, once I got all the plastic off, it's definitely NOT 904 steel LOL. It's cheap metal, reminds me of a Pagani Design bracelet. Shitty feeling, loose and light. In my defense, I couldn't tell with all the plastic on it (and it did say 904L!)
- The clasp is something else. It requires so much force to open it, I think I'm going to either break it or cut my fingers open. You really have to pull a lot to open it
- The bezel does not have a great feeling when turning. It's sticky (feels like it's catching on something) and doesn't have a good clicky feel. It does turn at least.
Note I do have a Clean Daytona 126500LN which I love so that is my comparison and obviously night and day difference.
Some pics.
Ok now you can give me shit.
. I reverse image searched it and it looks like a 2813 movement. So maybe a year’s worth of use? I don’t care, I like it. 
