Mysterious thing in Paris
Apr 24th 2003, 10:54 am
#31
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Mysterious thing in Paris
"cb" wrote in message news:...
> I guess that also explains why there are so many "fakes" or imitations of
> these items. In fact they have honed it to such an art that "fakes" are even
> classified as "Class A", "Class B", etc where Class A are the "best"
> imitations and could probably pass as the "real McCoy". In fact, a friend of
> mine has a "Class A" Rolex imitation that has served him well for over 10
> years. Probably the same or even better than the real thing.
In New York City, you can buy two kinds of imitation Rolexes on Canal
Street, (according to 60 Minutes, the profits support the Mafia). The
self-winding ones cost about $50 and keep terrible time, but the
second hand sweeps smoothly like on a real Rolex. The ones with
quartz movements cost about $10-$15 and are very accurate(much less
than 1 minute error per month). You can also get them for much higher
prices at some of the other places where tourists concentrate, like
Times Square.
My friends with real Rolexes say that they are accurate to within a
few minutes per week, but that they have to spend over $100/year for
the annual cleaning and service. The quartz watches need a new $1
battery about once every five years.
> I guess that also explains why there are so many "fakes" or imitations of
> these items. In fact they have honed it to such an art that "fakes" are even
> classified as "Class A", "Class B", etc where Class A are the "best"
> imitations and could probably pass as the "real McCoy". In fact, a friend of
> mine has a "Class A" Rolex imitation that has served him well for over 10
> years. Probably the same or even better than the real thing.
In New York City, you can buy two kinds of imitation Rolexes on Canal
Street, (according to 60 Minutes, the profits support the Mafia). The
self-winding ones cost about $50 and keep terrible time, but the
second hand sweeps smoothly like on a real Rolex. The ones with
quartz movements cost about $10-$15 and are very accurate(much less
than 1 minute error per month). You can also get them for much higher
prices at some of the other places where tourists concentrate, like
Times Square.
My friends with real Rolexes say that they are accurate to within a
few minutes per week, but that they have to spend over $100/year for
the annual cleaning and service. The quartz watches need a new $1
battery about once every five years.
Apr 24th 2003, 12:44 pm
#32
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Mysterious thing in Paris
"Joseph Feng" a écrit dans le message de news:
[email protected]...
> My friends with real Rolexes say that they are
> accurate to within a few minutes per week ...
Accuracy at that level was achieved in the late 1600s. Not very impressive
for $5000.
> ... but that they have to spend over $100/year for
> the annual cleaning and service.
Why do people buy Rolexes? Certainly these are not people who need the
correct time.
> The quartz watches need a new $1
> battery about once every five years.
And if they are radio-controlled, like the one I'm wearing on my wrist, they
are off by no more than one second in three million years or so--just like
NTP on my UNIX server.
[email protected]...
> My friends with real Rolexes say that they are
> accurate to within a few minutes per week ...
Accuracy at that level was achieved in the late 1600s. Not very impressive
for $5000.
> ... but that they have to spend over $100/year for
> the annual cleaning and service.
Why do people buy Rolexes? Certainly these are not people who need the
correct time.
> The quartz watches need a new $1
> battery about once every five years.
And if they are radio-controlled, like the one I'm wearing on my wrist, they
are off by no more than one second in three million years or so--just like
NTP on my UNIX server.
Apr 25th 2003, 3:03 am
#33
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Mysterious thing in Paris
The Rolex company certainly doesn't have you in mind when they make their
watches. I suspect that we probably won't find you near a YSL or Vuiton
outlet any time soon either. To each his own and the other side of the camp
is probably wondering: why would anyone want a watch that is accurate to
"one second in three million years"? You don't want to be a nanosecond late
to some appointment. We certainly are slaves to our timepieces! Personally,
these super accurate watches don't anything for me, nor do the $10,000 Rolex
watches.
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Joseph Feng" a écrit dans le message de news:
> [email protected]...
> > My friends with real Rolexes say that they are
> > accurate to within a few minutes per week ...
> Accuracy at that level was achieved in the late 1600s. Not very
impressive
> for $5000.
> > ... but that they have to spend over $100/year for
> > the annual cleaning and service.
> Why do people buy Rolexes? Certainly these are not people who need the
> correct time.
> > The quartz watches need a new $1
> > battery about once every five years.
> And if they are radio-controlled, like the one I'm wearing on my wrist,
they
> are off by no more than one second in three million years or so--just like
> NTP on my UNIX server.
watches. I suspect that we probably won't find you near a YSL or Vuiton
outlet any time soon either. To each his own and the other side of the camp
is probably wondering: why would anyone want a watch that is accurate to
"one second in three million years"? You don't want to be a nanosecond late
to some appointment. We certainly are slaves to our timepieces! Personally,
these super accurate watches don't anything for me, nor do the $10,000 Rolex
watches.
"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Joseph Feng" a écrit dans le message de news:
> [email protected]...
> > My friends with real Rolexes say that they are
> > accurate to within a few minutes per week ...
> Accuracy at that level was achieved in the late 1600s. Not very
impressive
> for $5000.
> > ... but that they have to spend over $100/year for
> > the annual cleaning and service.
> Why do people buy Rolexes? Certainly these are not people who need the
> correct time.
> > The quartz watches need a new $1
> > battery about once every five years.
> And if they are radio-controlled, like the one I'm wearing on my wrist,
they
> are off by no more than one second in three million years or so--just like
> NTP on my UNIX server.
Apr 25th 2003, 8:18 am
#34
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Mysterious thing in Paris
"cb" a écrit dans le message de news:
[email protected]...
> The Rolex company certainly doesn't have you
> in mind when they make their watches.
True. I spend money on things of practical value, not pretty baubles.
> I suspect that we probably won't find you
> near a YSL or Vuiton outlet any time soon either.
True again.
> Personally, these super accurate watches don't
> anything for me, nor do the $10,000 Rolex
> watches.
So what kind of watch do you wear, if any?
[email protected]...
> The Rolex company certainly doesn't have you
> in mind when they make their watches.
True. I spend money on things of practical value, not pretty baubles.
> I suspect that we probably won't find you
> near a YSL or Vuiton outlet any time soon either.
True again.
> Personally, these super accurate watches don't
> anything for me, nor do the $10,000 Rolex
> watches.
So what kind of watch do you wear, if any?
Apr 25th 2003, 9:21 am
#35
Guest
Posts: n/a
Re: Mysterious thing in Paris
leek wrote:
> In article ,
> [email protected] (Christer) wrote:
> > This is what happened to me and my wife last week in Paris. We still
> > do not understand what really happened. On Champs Elysées two Asian
> > ladies came up to us. They seemed to be about 30 years old and looked
> > "normal". They explained that they had just bought a lady wallet in a
> > shop called Verges close to where we were. They wanted to have two
> > wallets, but the shop would only sell one because of some limitation.
> > So now they wanted us to go into this shop and buy another one for
> > them. They had already tried to go back but were refused to buy one
> > more. We said okay, we will help you.
> [snip]
> > I still do not understand why all this happened. I have come up with
> > three theories.
> >
> > 1 The money was false. This was a way of turning the money into
> > something legal.
> > 2 Money laundry.
> > 3 Let us say that these ladies were from Japan. Let us also say that
> > these very exclusive wallets would sell for 1000 Euros in Japan and
> > that YSL had decided to sell them in Paris only. You get the rest.
> It is number Three, sort of. Apparently the items sell for much more
> money in Asian stores, so some people make their living going to Europe,
> buying the items, then going home and selling them for more than they
> paid, but less than the stores in Asia charge.
I know that there are certain Chanel cosmetics items that are not sold in
the States (or some other countries). A friend of mine has had a flight
attendant friend of ours searching for several items now for over a year, to
no avail. The last time he did a Paris trip was shortly over a year ago,
and so he was able to find the item in Paris. But not since then in
Frankfurt, Tokyo, Rio, London, etc. (at least not in the duty frees).
--
Best
Greg
> In article ,
> [email protected] (Christer) wrote:
> > This is what happened to me and my wife last week in Paris. We still
> > do not understand what really happened. On Champs Elysées two Asian
> > ladies came up to us. They seemed to be about 30 years old and looked
> > "normal". They explained that they had just bought a lady wallet in a
> > shop called Verges close to where we were. They wanted to have two
> > wallets, but the shop would only sell one because of some limitation.
> > So now they wanted us to go into this shop and buy another one for
> > them. They had already tried to go back but were refused to buy one
> > more. We said okay, we will help you.
> [snip]
> > I still do not understand why all this happened. I have come up with
> > three theories.
> >
> > 1 The money was false. This was a way of turning the money into
> > something legal.
> > 2 Money laundry.
> > 3 Let us say that these ladies were from Japan. Let us also say that
> > these very exclusive wallets would sell for 1000 Euros in Japan and
> > that YSL had decided to sell them in Paris only. You get the rest.
> It is number Three, sort of. Apparently the items sell for much more
> money in Asian stores, so some people make their living going to Europe,
> buying the items, then going home and selling them for more than they
> paid, but less than the stores in Asia charge.
I know that there are certain Chanel cosmetics items that are not sold in
the States (or some other countries). A friend of mine has had a flight
attendant friend of ours searching for several items now for over a year, to
no avail. The last time he did a Paris trip was shortly over a year ago,
and so he was able to find the item in Paris. But not since then in
Frankfurt, Tokyo, Rio, London, etc. (at least not in the duty frees).
--
Best
Greg
