Hello from the Midwest - US...

[tedp]

Hello and thanks for the great wealth of information provided by this community.

I was bitten by the watch bug early on as my father is a watch FREAK (I think he has somewhere near 200 watches - seriously...mostly reputable brands - Seiko, Citizen, etc. - nothing high-end) and then my Uncle has a taste for high-watches (gens), mostly Rolex - so combine the two and here I am. My first serious watch was a gen Rolex President, 18k yellow gold, diamond bezel - given to me by my Uncle because he thought it was "too flashy" (which it is, not a lot of places to wear that as a guys watch - looks good on my wife though..) - he recently acquired a Rolex Daytona and I just loved the watch - so since my income level and his are at a considerable difference, I started looking at replicas. Got burned big time by stmichaelwatches.com (total scammers, I learned several hundred dollars later...) -- watch broken when I received it, hands had fallen off as well, it wasn't pretty...) and that just soured me to the whole concept.

Then, while doing research to see if I had ANY recourse against what had happened to me, I came across Joshua's site, which eventually led me here. Needless to say, the experience with Joshua and the scammers was night and day (my review of the experience is here: http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=179752 along with some photos of the Daytona I ended up with.) - and now I'm completely addicted. I came here not even knowing what a Panerai was - and now I MUST HAVE A 111N!

Anyway, thanks for having me, I've thoroughly enjoyed everything I've read up to now and I look forward to becoming a participating member in this community. Thanks! -- Ted

[pietia]

Welcome from Italy mate

[tedp]

Grazie mille!

[KrisOK]

Welcome to the forum Ted! Sorry to hear that you found us after being scammed. RepGeek along with a very few other rep forums are really the only safe havens from the scammers. It's a big wild scary internet out there, and there are probably 10 scammers for every honest rep dealer. If you stick to the Trusted Dealers you are pretty much guarenteed not to get scammed. That's not so say that there are never problems, but the dealers will work with you to make things right.

I'd warn you to beware of how addictive this hobby is, but with your dad's collection, you know all about that!

I also had not heard of Panerai when I found RG. At first I just didn't GET it, and had no intention of ever getting one. LOL Now I have 12!

Anyway, jump right in and join the conversations. For the most part we're a friendly bunch, and don't bite....much.

Kris

[tedp]

Thanks Kris! Good to know that I'm not the only one who came here thinking "pane-who?". So far everyone has been super patient and gracious. I'm reading a lot and learning a ton. The scam was just a side-step to end up here. And here I've found a great community and a great resource - plus my first successful rep purchase. So I can't complain. I'm sure many have been taken for a lot more, so I just consider it a life lesson.

Thanks for taking the time to welcome a noob and look forward to more interactions here. Since you're a PAM guy, I may just have to pick your brain! --T

[markmelheim]

welcome to the site, its great

[tedp]

Thanks Mark - enjoying it immensely!

[raywj]

Welcome from California!

[tedp]

Thanks Raywj - appreciate it. Really loving this forum - one of my go-to reads first thing in the morning...