Maligned Marketing: Apple Tactics
As a product enthusiast I tend to have very strong opinions regarding how a company presents itself. Marketing and sales tactics, while not necessarily consumer friendly conversation is one of the most important parts of doing business. We have all had good and bad experiences with a company, for no business is perfect. However, when a company imbues anti-consumer sentiment right into their sales method and product development, I get really pissed off.So is the case with my continuing dislike (verging on hatred) of Apple. I will forgo talking about many of the things I like to point out that Apple does wrong and stick with the iPhone for this conversation. Apple really turned something that should have been really exciting into a pain.Last week while at a trade show I was lucky enough to win an 8gb iPhone via a fish bowl business card drawing. I was very surprised to say that least, and it was ironic, because not a week before I had signed up with AT&T. Because I loved the phone I

Aftermarket AP deployment clasp and straps
HiSo my birthday is coming up and my girlfriend wanted to get me a strap for my AP Panda. It's currently on a bracelet. Not sure how much I would like the straps and after she did some research she realized that the deployment clasp alone is almost $1000 plus the strap and tools needed for strap changing and removal. I know most of you are against this type of thing. But is there any aftermarket AP deployment clasps that anyone would recommend. Yes I know most of you will say how can you spend so much money on a watch and skimp out on the strap. My reason is Im not sure I will even like it on a strap and my girlfriend doesn't want to spend around $1500 to see if I do or don't. I know I can go with a tang buckle as well. I'm open to any after market AP tang buckle and straps as well. Also what is the best tool to do strap and bracelet changed in my AP.

FC & Ceramic
Can someone enlighten me as to the pros & cons of FC & Ceramic? How does ceramic compare to FC? Which material would you say is more preferred?Thanks!

Patek Updates
Just picked up the 5711 and thought I should probe a bit about sales and how much softening they were seeing:a). Production will reduce to about 50000;B). They have been asked to provide purchasers names on most preorders. C). Attempt to clamp down on grey market and certain models will have the warranty cars produced by PP with the buyers name in itD). Possibly holding warranty cards for 5 years on certain models - not sure how that will work??E). Nautilus 40th will be underwhelming. PP just had 175 and 40 not that important. They trying to do nothing but consumers expect a lot so will be 2 models but expect to be underwhelmed. A request for a 5711P as an anniversary piece declined by Geneva already. F). PP is reducing dealers (guess on lower production cake slices need to be maintained) therefore AD will be reluctant to offer discounts that could cause them to lose favor or their franchise. Mentioned they rather lose a deal if someone can getter better elsewhere!

PP 5164 Service Intervals
Hey guys,I am considering buying a PP 5164 Travel Time and the watch in question is approximately 18 months old. I am wondering what the service intervals are on a watch like this.For my Rolex watches I push the service intervals out to around 7-8 years (some as far as 10) and I have never had any issues. Because the PP is a completely different animal, I am wondering if I am going to need to send this particular watch away 2-3 years after I buy it because it is mint preowned.Another question I have is about PP service in general. I have owned a couple APs and they have excellent customer service and fairly quick service turnaround times. It seems that the consensus on PP is that service is glacially slow and fairly expensive. Is warranty work quicker? Do most owners just accept this fact as part of the ownership experience?The last thing I want to do is buy this Patek, get two years wear out of it and then have to send it away for an 8 month service.Any insight is greatly appreciated!