GA-100 Problems

[Dr_jinG]

I just received my new to me (used) GA-100. I'm a little concerned about its legitimacy, however. First, the painted notches on the face are not perfect. I can live with that, but when I tried to adjust the time, the A button (which should allow me to change time) triggered the light and holding it for three seconds did nothing. When I try to push the D button (4 o'clock position) nothing happens when I expect it to advance the time zone forward.

So, did I buy a very good fake, or is there something I can do to make this thing work correctly?

Thank you!

 

[Dr_jinG]

Being impatient, I opened it up. I have a pit in my stomach at this point. Can anyone confirm if this is legitimate, or a fake?

 

[Dr_jinG]

OK, mucking with it some more, it seems that the watch functions are rotated 90 degrees counter clockwise. Adjust (A) turns on the light and reverses, which is what Reverse (B) should do. Reverse (B) does what Forward should do. Etc. When I adjusted the time to 4:30 PM, the hands moved like they should, but stopped at 10:15, which would not be the equivalent of 4:30pm tilted 90 degrees.

One of the back screws stripped the case plastic as I removed it, and is now no longer fastening properly.

I'm VERY inclined to think I received a defective fake. I'll hold off on working with the seller, though, until I get input here.

Thank you.

 

[Dr_jinG]

OK, it's definitely a fake. It's a very good fake, but definitely a fake. Comparing the dial face against other pictures I've found on the net, the quality of what I have doesn't come close to the precision of a real one. The application of paint on the small dials is crude compared to the crispness of the real watch. The hands on mine are very close, but not exactly like the real watch, and are not painted all the way to the pivot point. Lastly, the dial at 12 o'clock DOESN'T EVEN MOVE!!! It's molded into the face. Hahaha!



Yeesh. I'm hoping that the seller (I'm sure that they didn't know that it was a fake) will allow me to return it and refund my money.

 

[Dr_jinG]

Final update on this, in case anyone is interested: The seller has refunded my money, in full. I will be destroying this watch so that no one else ever ends up with this fake.