[mikeliao]

Nice choice on the Seamaster GMT. I bought one when they first came out about 6 years ago, and its still my daily watch. Easy to read and one of the best luminous face out there. Very very durable and fits in everywhere. Don't worry about taking it swimming or working on the car or just to the office. I've scuba dived and sky dived with it. Worked in the shop with it and wore a tux with it. It just fits in well.

In 6 years, I've had it in for repairs once. Dropped from second story onto a wood patio deck...don't ask. The hands came loose, but nothing else was wrong. The repair person just reattched the hands and gave it a quick tune up. 4 years since tune up and its runs about 10 seconds/day slow. Another tune up would probably fix that but advancing it about 5 minutes once a month works for me.

In 6 years, the crystal is still scratch free...and I do not treat this watch nicely. The bezel is a little looser than new, but still clicks in place well. Main body has 2 major scratches (power tool accidents...don't ask either) but none of those annoying fine scratches. The wristband however, scratches easily. You may want to polish the band 2 or 3 times a year to keep it looking nice. Other than that, I just soap it up once in a while when I'm washing my hands and it looks as good as new.

The only major complaint about the watch is the wristband. Besides scratching easily, the release button is sometimes too easily pressed. During daily tasks, no problems, but in active sports with a long sleeve shirt or jacket, the button will depress and the band will unclasp. Well, you really shouldn't wear a mechnical watch during active sports anyway, but if it gets to be a problem, you can increase the spring pressure on the button. Undoing the tiny tiny screw next to the button disassembles the release. Find something suitable small and durable to wedge in the spring well (I used a tiny length of wire) and reassemble.

Have an IWC and some other watches as well. None I would consider daily watches mostly because they look easy to break or scratch.

 

[mikeliao]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvin China can reverse engineer microchips, something like the Sky Moon Tourbillion would be child's play. Design complexity isn't why it cost so much, the amount of man hours required to machine the parts, fit them, and asssemble the watch is. So while you can't technically mass produce them, MIM parts combined with cheap Chinese labor could crank out these things at a reasonable price.

Chinese labor is cheap in the giant factories and countryside. Extremely detailed and highly skilled labor in China is far more expensive and rare. Then trying to retain them is next to impossible.

Anway, copies of rare watches are common around China. Not your $5 Rolex, but the $100-$200 grand complications, and turbillions. All are hand assembled from mass produced parts. Each part is polished and tuned by hand before being assembled by reasonably experienced craftsman. They run reasonable well in the +-1 minute/day range when new and from a distance look like the real things.

Problem is when you look at one up close, you can tell they're fake. In the fine details like the same sheen across the entire surface, or texture of the pigment on the face lettering, you'll immediately notice. They're also notorious for working well when new, but become highly inaccurate after two or three years. And you can't exactly take them back for servicing.

 

[adhoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MuZI I'll admit Patek's are high quality... but I doubt they're worth that much.

That's the thing - value is relative.

Have you ever examined the finish on a Philippe Dufour Simplicity? It's... incredible.

 

[AlanY]

Quote:

Originally Posted by adhoc Have you ever examined the finish on a Philippe Dufour Simplicity? It's... incredible.

Here's a page with a dissection of the Philippe Dufour Simplicity:
http://people.timezone.com/mdisher/d...ocumentary.htm

Totally incredible.

 

[nomdeguerre]

I'm very fond of the Speedmaster... however even the reduced version is gigantic on my tiny wrist.

Jag, aren't you still in high school? I've contemplated buying a nice watch every once in a while, but I've always come to the following conclusions: the watch would be too showoff-y for high school, the majority of the school would probably suspect it being a grade a fake, and the teachers wuoldn't be too fond of a student that has a watch beter than them. (my math teacher wears a Fossil as a daily) Also, I've come to a conclusion that my money is better spent on other things at this age