Now, I think that’s just clinched it. Did toy with a blue rubber strap on that Aquaracer as a potential option, but the green looks excellent too!

It’s a bit like the Kelly Slater Breitling combo of late.

Brown strap for my Seamaster is also on my list for some point.

Edit: what strap is that on the Aquaracer btw?

 

Got one of those too (not the one you're talking about, but this is one of the first couple Outerknown editions)

This is actually a gray Tropic. The reissue Tropics are very expensive, but are really really great.

 

Love that Superocean. Very nearly bought the Outerknown Heritage II version before the Seamaster. Lovely design on both.

Cheers for the heads up on the strap. Looked green to me, but can see it as grey now you point it out. Looks great.

 

I do, no issues with either my WAY211A (which went back to TH UK for warranty) or my night diver. There’s a risk they could get unlucky with a fake, but I think they’re trustworthy themselves.

 

The deed is done on the Orange. Won’t just be a Summer watch, as will be rocking this bad boy all Winter.

 

Congratulations, @bpsmith. I really enjoy mine, and like the conversation above, @abrod520 was similarly helpful when I was making the same decision during the summer.

 

By the time I'm done all of you will have orange aquaracers lol

I haven't been wearing mine as much as the weather's gone chillier and shorts/boat shoes have given way to jeans and boots, but it's gonna be a kickass vacation watch when we go away in Feb!

 

Indeed. Thanks for all your helpful posts everyone.

 

I presume you had to pay 20% import/ custom duty? If not and less whoop whoop

 

I bought the WAY211A in those blissful days when we were in the EU, and the night diver slid through the cracks without paying any tax as we were stumbling out.

 

Yeah, I just wonder where these companies buy their stock from.... if it's not direct from TAG Heuer then how can they ever be sure what they are getting?

 

Im guessing a network of AD's that need to move stock in order to not be cut off as being allowed to be authorised dealers

 

I'd like to think that is the case, but I do wonder. I'm sure a lot of these companies think they are buying real stock from other companies, and it must be difficult to be sure because of the whole nature of the transaction. If today's fakes weren't so bloody perfect I would say to hell with it, but I don't think I'll ever buy grey market again. Better off buying pre-owned from a reputable source or buying new from an AD or boutique. If you need to worry about saving 15% then maybe you shouldn't be buying anyway... ?

 

Yes, again you are correct, poor people should not bother, they have no place in a luxury product collector space

 

Just out of interest, many of the well known grey dealers are in fact legit surely? Iconic, Montredo, Joma (apart from some only have warranty with them) unless I've missed them having fakes, whilst 2nd hand dealers, WF, Blowers & Ramsden (know this one thanks to your blog) could easily be duped, I know WF have been on Rolex.

I'd sooner trust all the above than eBay/ FaceBook or even from forums. (always buy the seller)

 

People can do what they want and I love a bargain as much as the next guy, but I'd rather not have doubt in my head.

 

Yes, at least you can send it back to them if TAG tell you it's fake. What I'm saying is, if I rang a grey dealer up and said 'Alright mate, I've got 50 Gulf F1s that I bought from 'Goldsmiths', do you wanna take them off my hands for £600 a piece?' do I trust them not to buy them? Even if they thought they were genuine, how would they go about checking with Goldsmiths? Because if they can fake watches they can sure as hell fake an invoice... you know what I'm saying? The whole grey dealer thing is so murky, it's wide open for fakes to get into the system.

Saying that, it occurred to me the other day that if I order a watch from TAG direct and then swap the back plates and send a fake back, would they notice? How much checking do they actually do of watches that are returned? Do they just check the serial number? And what if they then sell that watch to an AD? It's all very worrying.

Classic deterrents with Rolex are the crown etched into the glass and the ROLEX on the rehaut lining up with the numbers, can't help thinking other brands need to do similar things to make it more difficult, but then that would require high level QC on their own products too.

And as technology gets more and more advanced and available the fakes are only going to get better and better. Makes me wonder if the whole mid tier luxury watch sector will collapse eventually, and only the high end hard to fake stuff with hand polishing etc will survive?

 

In the end, does it even matter in the 'mid tier luxury' sector? Most parts come from the same factories in China right, and if fakes and genuine ones come from the same factories, with equal finish and quality. How do you determine what is fake and genuine these days Chinese labour can assemble and finish Chinese parts just as good as the Swiss labour can.

 

Well, yes exactly. Swiss watch industry be like:

 

And also, not that the mid tier sector watches have any finishing actually made by Swiss hands right so it is just the assembly and regulation? Some Breitling executive was on the ABTW podcast recently and he explained the reason companies like theirs get so crisp executions between brushed and polished surfaces is that they have automated robots doing it. So there is probably more handfinishing (i.e luxury?) with the Chinese versions