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Kent

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Everything posted by Kent

  1. Are you sure? There are plenty of Skeleton watches but I've never heard of a Skelton brand.
  2. [ I don't buy the investment argument - if you want to invest money for the future, there are far better ways to make more money - over 100 years you can pretty much guarantee a 7% pa increase on the stock market, turning £5000 into over 4 million quid. How many expensive watches are going to be worth that in 100 years time?The only argument I can understand is that what you are actually buying is a piece of jewellery, and the associated feelgood factor. It's an emotional purchase, not a rational one - hence the reason a logical engineer like myself can't see the point. Ian I agree with the investment point although 7% is a low estimate of a 100 year return and historical increases have been mostly in double figures. However I did not and would never recommend watches as a wise investment, I merely pointed out that unlike a car, which will probably have wasted away to nothing in 20/30 years, quality watches are built to last several lifetimes and can retain a very high percentage of original cost even allowing for inflation. In the meantime you have had decades of pleasure wearing them and showing them off to other watch buffs. Most house and car purchases are far more emotional than rational in my experience. Only investors and builders buy rationally. Most people, including me, take an area they can afford to buy in and then buy the house they fall in love with. I would bet that most people on this forum have bought at least one car which was not the most practical, wisest choice but had that "I want it and I want it now" factor. Kent.
  3. The original poster has now chosen his watch so its all a bit academic really but I would be interested to hear more about the "cheap" and unreliable Breitling movement. The three watches in the original shortlist all use the same base movement or "Ebauche", that is, the Valjoux 7750. This is the most common chronograph movement in the world and is used by dozens of quality watchmakers as a base module. It is recognised as an extremely robust, accurate and reliable movement throughout the watch world. The quality of the finished movement depends on the amount of personalisation that a Manufacturer puts into this base movement. Thus, a company such as IWC will modify and personalise to such a degree that it finishes up with a movement totally unrecognisable from the original. Tag Heuer, Breitling and others will not usually do very much at all with the original other than specifying the best quality materials and then adding a few swirlies to make it look good. hence the price differential. A lot of watch "snobs" won't buy a watch unless the movement is made in house and this helps to create the market for the Pateks of this world. "can't get my head round this at all. I would spend more money on an expensive car than a cheap car because it performs better, has more features or is bigger. I would spend money on a bigger house because it is better than a small house. But a £3000 hour is exactly the same as a £20 Casio hour. You have to adjust your watch twice a year anyway - who cares if it is 0.5seconds out each time." Ian Buying a high quality watch is not only for telling the time. The £20 Casio will be far more accurate than most mechanical watches anyway. An investment of £5K on a sought after timepiece will still be worth a lot of money in 50 years time and even more in 100 years time. My first good watch was my Fathers Rolex which I inherited many years ago. This started off my ruinously expensive passion for watches which, thank *** has now cooled to the extent that I now own only one really good watch and that is a Panerai (which incidently uses the Valjoux 7750 as its base movement) Spending more than £20 on a watch is not foolish. Who says a big house is better than a small house? or an expensive car is better than a cheap car? It depends surely on the quality/location. Almost anything I can think of comes in a variety of qualities and it just depends what you want from an item whether it is worth spending more on.
  4. Patek Phillipe are probably the finest watchmakers in the world but as I said, £3k is unlikely to buy one. They do the Nautilus and the Aquanaut models which are robust and suitable for those with an active lifestyle. Most of the Major Watchmakers have at least a few sports models in their inventory. I have owned a lot of watches in the past but I must admit that a Patek has always been out of my reach especially as some of them can cost as much as a new Lexus! Still, one day maybe! The Vacherin Constantin Overseas Model is another very very handsome sports style watch and is close to a budget of £3K if you import. As a previous poster pointed out, stainless steel offers the best value. Who wants to buy Gold or Platinum and then wrap it round a watch movement? Regards, Kent.
  5. Nothing more than around £3k. Thanks for all your input people. Just having a looook now at some of the suggestions. :D Just rang our local and only stockist in my town of good watches, Omega are reducing the number of stockists by 150 and have over time increased their watch prices to make them more exclusive. I have been very pleased with my Omega Seamaster, (plain one) and have lost very little money off mine in three years. Im still drawn towards the Omega more than anything else at present but not in a hurry to rule anything else out. :) With a budget of £3K I would forget any of the three that you have been looking at. Whist they are fine watches they are not in the same class as Panerai, Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, Breguet, Chopard (some), Glasshute, Frank Muller, IWC, Jaeger-le-Coultre and you might even find a Vacherin Constantin at £3K if you're lucky although you won't get an A. Lange & Sohne or a Patek Phillipe for that money. There are many others too numerous to mention here. A lot of these manufacturers still make their own in house movements and these are highly desireable pieces. £3K or less will buy you at least one model of most of the above or for that matter a Rolex with a lot of change. Take a look at www.collectorstime.com who has a great selection at very competitive prices and is also very trustworthy. (I have bought from him) Even if you get done for duties etc the favourable exchange rate will still make it cheap. There is virtually no watch in your budget that will show you a profit over time allowing for inflation unless you are lucky or wise enough to buy trade and sell retail (a bit like cars really). What you will get with a well looked after quality watch is a lifetime of service and minimum depreciation. I would absolutely agree that you should avoid all quartz watches and their like. Mechanical is the way to go and it does not matter whether it is automatic or hand wind. Hope this is helpful to you. Kent.
  6. And the truly sad thing is that having voted them in three times our wonderful electorate will probably vote them in again. I know it's called democracy but It still offends me that so many people are institutionally brainwashed into voting Labour no matter what. Whilst it is too much to hope that people might actually vote for the opposition, surely this lot are so completely discredited that even the most diehard supporter should consider abstaining. Another 10 years of them and we will be an almost exact mirror of the old Soviet Union. To quote Richard Littlejohn et al " You really couldn't make it up" With apologies to all the brothers. No personal offence intended. Just a very honest opinion. And yes I did vote labour once. Changed my mind for life when I was first forced to join a trade union under a closed shop arrangement. I watched first hand as militants systematically tried to destroy the company and if their members suffered constant loss of wages then, that was just tough.
  7. I do sympathise with you and agree about the £4K markup being pretty stiff. But this is only for the naive. All prestige car dealers do the same. As you are aware of the difference in Glass's then if you wanted to buy that car from the dealer you would negotiate a price which left you both happy (or walk away). Main dealers need at least a £2k margin or they would be out of business but £4K is just a tester usually. Glass's retail guide price is just that, a guide, and it applies to small businesses as well as very large ones. A small reputable garage may well be happy to turn a grand on a car even though they will generally ask a very full price to start with.
  8. If it is a DVD system then Toyota disks might work. It worked for me in my IS 300. I have no experience of the CD versions though.
  9. Neighbours are still in the stone age and still believe in hunting their food LMFAO So i guess i am safe but will do just in case one of them has inspiration. I too have Netgear in the Hotel and it reaches pretty far with an additional aerial. I agree about the WEP key. It is possible for neighbours quite far away from you pick up your broadband or even anybody parked nearby.
  10. Its about right for a forecourt price although if you wanted to sell him that car his offer (if he wanted it) would be £7K tops. A £3K+ mark up on prestige cars like this is pretty normal in the trade but unless he is the worlds greatest salesman he is not going to refuse an offer a good deal less. No SatNav either. Yes it is a minter but so it should be even if it had done 100K or more.
  11. I did one in 1991. Cost me £10 and was around 90 odd questions in 60 minutes. According to Mensa my results showed that my IQ was in the top 1% of the population and full membership would require attendance for several hours in Manchester after which I would be told my exact IQ. Mensa membership is open to those whose IQ places them in the top 2% of the population and is not based on a fixed IQ. At that time an IQ of 128 or more placed you in the 2% category and 135 or more for the top 1%. After a few silly moments thinking about it I came to my senses and agreed with my wife. "If you're so f***g smart then why are you still working for a (very modest) living and why do you have absolutely no common sense?" Case closed and end of Mensa conversation in our house. I am so smart that when I did this one I gave a false e-mail address and so am unable to get my results. Better put me down as a 94 I think Ahmet.
  12. http://www.twhawkins.co.uk/vehicle-details...ID=65161&popup= I bet you could get it for £29500 no problem. I don't know how this compares to a new one but does it have any significance re the sales of the new Lexus? What do you think?
  13. Many thanks to all. Only 59 and still saving for an SC430
  14. Also i think the L3XUS is on the dvla website at around £15,000 big money L3XUS is advertised today in the Times for £9,000!!!
  15. To make a sale easier then I would put the private plate on a retention certificate and restore the RX to its original X plate. This will get you more money and not hold a sale up. I would do this now. If my IS 300 sells in the next couple of weeks then I would definitely be interested in yours. Here's hoping. Kent.
  16. :tsktsk: With ANPR, he will not need it any more ;-) Have a look at this, if you've got time: _http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/policies/Data/anpr_strat_2005-08_march05_12x04x05.doc (copy & paste link) I was going to pick out the good bits, but there are too many. And people, remember, ‘Think crime, think car, think ANPR’ I was going to read it all but with Richard Brunstrom being the main architect of this paper I didn't bother. Never has there been a more sadly mistaken man as this in a position of power and influence. He typifies almost everything that is wrong with todays police force. The utopian theme of the paper, "denying criminals the use of the roads" and the unchallenged benefits he claims will ensue, is laughable. Another case of the overwhelming honest majority of the public being subjected to a grossly obscene level of scrutiny allegedly in the name of catching criminals. I bet that a committee of LOC members could sort out the tax, insurance and MOT dodgers without too much trouble. Tax? Go French I say, abolish it altogether and adjust fuel duty, the more you drive, the more you pay. Insurance? The French motorict has to display it on his windscreen much as we do with road tax. MOT? why not ensure that it has to last and be in tandem with, the insurance? In that way displaying valid insurance automatically means a valid MOT which would be renewable along with insurance annually. Criminals? well I am somewhere to the right of Hitler here I'm afraid. There is just no real deterrent is there? Anybody got any suggestions as to what to do with them? :tsktsk:
  17. I agree absolutely with the principle. But given the limitations on police manpower I would put a number plate offence close to the bottom of my list of priorities. This Government is determined to interfere in everything we do and have sucessfully politicised the police to that aim. It's not the fault of the average policeman but too many Chief Constables are turning their officers into quasi social workers. I do have a very close relative who has been a policeman for over twenty years and if I didn't know him better I would not believe some of the things he tells me. You truly couldn't make it up.
  18. I too have had a good reduction in the past by adding a gold plated named driver. But! there's always a but! The Insurance company could conceiveably claim that if there was no intention for the second driver to actually drive the car then you have obtained cheaper insurance by devious means. Not quite sure how they would prove it but there is no depth to which they will not sink to avoid paying out. Probably they would just refuse and leave you with the expensive and possibly futile task of persuading them that both named drivers shared the risk by driving the car at least some of the time. I havn't heard of a case yet but as far as Insurance companies go I bracket them with politicians when it comes to honesty and integrity.
  19. Absolutely. Not a chance that the insurers will lower premiums. Still a good idea though, if the police enforce it properly.
  20. No, not in favour at all. I have had several 4x4s none of which has had them. Nor would I consider fitting them although if I bought a vehicle with them already fitted I would probably leave things as they were. My objection is the interference of people who seem to be anti everything and try to justify their arguments by quoting one sided, meaningless so called surveys and statistics. Bad enough that we have a deeply untrustworthy and dishonest Government without the rest of us getting involved in other peoples business. Nobody is perfect and we all probably do some things that others disagree with. Look at any opinion poll on any subject and wonder at the diametrically opposed points of view expressed in them. If somebody wants to fit reasonably modest Bars to their vehicle whether as protection or just "bling" then It's none of my business and I will defend their right to do so. The original poster simply asked about legality and was quickly swamped by a barrage of anti bullbar invective. Not what he asked for or was expecting I suppose. Still, I do not take it too seriously as there are far more important things in life and at the end of the day it's only a difference of opinion. Happy Christmas and New Year to all.
  21. Can anyone here quote a scientific one? ← How about this then? "Analysis of accident records showed that 2-3 fatalities, and about forty serious injuries, at a cost of some £6M a year caused by bull bars" The full report is HERE ← Yes, I have read that report which was commissioned in 1995 (now ten years out of date) by the Government at a cost to the taxpayer of £74,000. It is a typical mix of guesses, estimates and assumptions and all pertaining to the use of dangerous metal bullbars. They do acknowledge that the more modern, soft bullbars are actually safer than some vehicles without bullbars but they also say that their estimates are on the conservative side but are subject to a large degree of uncertainty. So, not exactly scientific then but what is? How can you possibly scientifically estimate what effect a bullbar has in an accident that was going to result in someone being hit by the front of a large vehicle? Interesting that the reports summary estimated the cost of additional injuries/fatalities allegedly caused by bullbars to be £6M per annum. How the hell do they come to that conclusion and does that not prove that their remit was financial and not safety related.
  22. And you can quote as many surveys as you like to support your case but as I said, the 4x4 people could quote you many so called "surveys" that would "prove" the opposite. Surveys are commissioned by those who want a particular answer and they usually get the answer they want by limiting the terms of reference. There never seems to be any admission, for instance that some bullbars (particularly the newer soft type) will have lessened the degree of injury. It is universally recognised that some bullbars are safer than the front of the vehicle to which they are fitted and some are more dangerous. No doubt the dangerous ones should not be fitted so why have our wonderful government not legislated properly on these things. It's not rocket science. Either they represent an additional danger or they do not. Most 4x4 owners mainly resent those who pass opinions on what they drive, how they drive it and what cosmetic additions are added for no other reason than they want to mind somebody elses business. How would it be if they said that everbody who fitted a performance booster to their car was nuts? I will eat my car if everybody who adds a supercharger is truly capable of handling the extra power. It probably makes most of them drive a bit faster and there are plenty of "surveys" proving that speed kills. Live and let live and if you really want safer roads then bullbar legislation is pretty much at the bottom of most peoples list.
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