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Part I of II A member asked me if I could cost down a little bit as spending $500 plus for a rep watch is extreme. While I was at my seller's place I turned this question to him and I got an answer to this. See gen ETA 2824 is retailing for $180 nowadays and the price will only go up. Gen ETA 2678 is only retailing for $80. This is a lady's size automatic movement that functions all the same like 2824 or 2836. The power reserve is 38 hours, but it performs nothing less than its bigger brothers. So I brought back several 2678s and the movement retaining rings that is designed dedicated to house the small movement into a gen construction TC Sub watchcase. Here are the parts: we've got the watchcase, the case back, the bezel assembly, crystal, dial and hands set, the bezel insert, gen ETA 2678 with the movement retaining ring a.k.a movement holder, and crown/tube set. The movement holder is of an ingenious design! It secures the 2678 movement by movement's own screws that were used to secure the clamps. The assembled movement and movement holder works like a full size watch movement that flushes into the watchcase. Then the screws fastened the whole gut to the watchcase like a gen 3135 does to a gen watchcase. Notice there's no clamps here whatsorever. This is by far the most advanced way I have seen to house a movement, only seen in a Rolex. No big brands, not even Omega or Pams have adapted such an ingenious way to house the movement in their watchcases. A side note on observation, this movement holder is made of a chunk of solid bronze. It feels quite heavy. When assembled with the 2678 movement, the whole piece weighs very similar like holding a bare gen 3135 movement. I will ask the seller if they have made this particular movement holder out of gen 3135's weight or if the weight of the complete watch ever considered when they first designed it. The movement holder costs $20. It comes with 2 generic Rolex style screws to mount holder to watchcase. My seller offers a collections of movement holders, for 2678, for 2000, for 2824, for 2834, for 2836, and for 2892 and etc. Let's take a look at TC's date wheel overlay (DWO). I was told to place double sided tape on the ridge of the movement holder on dial's side. By doing so, it'll give enough room for date wheel overlay to jump through just beneath the dial. This is what I did. I fixed the DWO to 2678's date disc also by double sided tape. At date 30, there is a printed indicator. All I have to do is to align the indicator to the stem of the 2678 movement then press down. Let's take a closer look at the DWO. Notice how each date is finely printed the Rolex font date is raised high gloss like gen. The DWO costs $15. The maker of the DWO has a MOQ of 200. I got this DWO through my case seller's connection. I then installed the dial. There is no cutting feet, no modding needed. I just installed the dial and made micro adjustments by gently tapping the edge of the dial so the date is positioned in the center of dial's date window. Let me show you how good this DWO is: End of Part I

Here's a rep that snuck up on a lot of people--including me: The Vacheron Constantin Overseas "Deep Stream". Please see redwatch's review of this same rep before proceeding. For one thing, he's got terrific pictures of the gen. I've long been a fan of the Vacheron Constantin Overseas, but felt I'd missed the boat by not buying the old rep based on the first-generation model of 1996. You've probably seen it before: It's the one with Arabic numerals circling the dial, date at 3, and a lovely caseback that wouldn't look out of place on a bottle of microbrew. I also seem to remember some sellers carrying a 1st-gen Overseas rep with stick markers, though I don't recall any reviews of one. In any case, it was a remarkable rep that disappeared too soon, and was elevated to the status of legend. Fast forward several years and there were at least two reps based on VC's 2004 update of the Overseas. This revamp bumped the diameter up to 42mm, and restyled the mid-case and bracelet to echo the brand's Maltese Cross logo. The dials were cleaned up: Numerals and sticks on a white or black guilloché background, date at 4:30, and a sloping minute track on the rehaut. The ideal build would involve taking the Cross appliance from one factory's dial and transplanting it onto the other factory's more accurate rep. I found it to be too much work and expense for a rep that didn't really grab hold of me. In 2009, VC refreshed the Overseas with a titanium bezel, an anthracite dial (read: gray sunburst), and an optional, integrated gray crocodile strap. For nebulous reasons, this model was codenamed or nicknamed "Deep Stream", which sounds more like a new Intel chipset than anything to do with haute horlogerie. But it's a good, catchy name that shows a bit more imagination than something like "Overseas Gray Themes". The first time I saw a rep of the Deep Stream was when diver_dylan put his own example up for sale a few months ago. None of the major sellers had listed this rep before, so I had no way of researching its quality or comparing its price. I started writing a PM to redwatch, who had once owned that legendary first-gen VCO. Before I could finish, I saw that red had bought the Deep Stream. And he loved it! (Boy, did S love it...) I kicked myself for weeks, but it seems I wasn't alone. Others were ringing their favorite dealers to see if there were more Deep Streams in China. There were. This one came from Tony at Asian7750.com (not an officially trusted dealer here, but is on other forums). I had never bought anything from Tony before, but others had confirmed that he had these in stock. This transaction was trouble-free: Good communications, fast shipment, would use again. For a small fee (+15%), I also ordered the gray "croc" strap and deployant, both of which you can see below. Let's go to the pictures! The Deep Stream is a beautiful rep with a tremendous amount of presence on the wrist. Switching from bracelet to croc tones down the flash considerably, but looks very impressive, nonetheless. It's a credible, subtle alternative to a ROO or HBB, both of which are too large for my 6.5" wrist, anyway. However, I hesitate to call this a super-rep. There's plenty of room for improvement when it comes to accuracy to the gen, though I have little problem with this rep in that respect. Where I am a bit disappointed is in the fit and finish, which aren't up to the standards we've come to expect in recent reps (e.g. Panerais in 2011). In many ways, this VCO represents the Old School of rep construction and compromised expectations. Here we see a bit of the good and bad. On the left: The jagged, blasted titanium bezel contrasts nicely with the straight-brushed surface. The slab sides of the steel mid-case are polished and well-chamfered. But look at the block under the crown: What's with the slanted brushing? redwatch's VCO is the same, so it's not a one-off accident. The undersized cross on the crown is another minor concern. On the right is the single ugliest part of this rep: the caseback. Once beautifully engraved on the 37mm rep, the Amerigo Vespucci is now a ghost ship sailing through the murk. Text and numbers are superficially etched, and what you can't see at the bottom is the mis-spelled "ANTIMACNETIC". Also notice the mangled heads of the caseback screws. (They came that way.) These screws are made of very soft steel, so make sure you use the drivers with the appropriate tips. The gray strap is stiff, and a pain in the ass to mount onto the head. You have to drive four long screws into a solid piece of plastic wedged inside the lug-tips of the strap. I ended up twirling a drill bit between my fingers to sink some guide holes. The strap does look good and remarkably credible, as does the half-cross clasp. Its geometry is best suited to larger wrists, though. Here are some examples of what I mean by poor fit and finish, going clockwise from the upper-left: Note the ragged line between the central portion of the mid-case, and the lugs. Close-up of the inside of the bracelet's clasp. Those are sharp edges and pointy corners on the pushbuttons, and they wear painfully on the wrist. I had my watchsmith grind these smooth. Mind the gap between the lugs and the rest of the mid-case, and the misaligned bevel. More rough edges that show up very clearly under certain lights. I fixed the worst cases with an emery board. Bog-standard Asian ETA, but guess what? It's lost 10 seconds in the last three days, making it one of the most accurate watches I own--rep or gen. I'm not sure how the gen is constructed, but do note the absence of any seals. (The caseback is similarly gasket-free.) Wet the VCO at your peril. Despite its 42mm size, the VCO wears like a smaller watch. It has a low center of gravity with a slim, low case that has a big contact patch on my wrist. With the most painful points of the clasp removed, the bracelet is one of the most comfortable I own. I just noticed the tiny fibers sticking out from the side of the bezel. The downside of this design is that all the sharp corners are fuzz magnets, but it's only obvious in macro photographs. The smart-looking and now-comfortable butterfly clasp. There's a half-link provided to aid in fitting, and every link of the bracelet can be unscrewed. The dial is absolutely stunning. The printing doesn't quite hold up at this level of magnification, but it looks great on the wrist. The framed date window is the biggest deviation from the gen, but to the rep factory's credit, it looks good and makes sense. That's more like it! Back away by even a few inches and the illusion of a $10,000 watch starts to materialize. I do wish that the weaknesses I listed would be addressed, and I would definitely pony up for a V2 in a heartbeat. But this is an excellent rep as it is, and has a bigger "Wow!" factor than many of my other watches. The thing to remember about this VCO rep is not to fixate on the details. This may run counter to many of our instincts as rep collectors, but do try to apprehend the overall look of the watch, instead. Let flash and beauty overwhelm the urge to pick nits that only you will notice. This is one great-looking watch!

Here you go: I do forget who I got it from but believe it was the old rebel, TTK

Alright- My PO's on it's way!

Now thats a ROLEX worth wearing

vintage Rollie for Saturday: