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blue blue blue...............

I'll start the day with my 2011-2012 grail recently accomplished:

They all came with a crap DW and the lello DW was the only solution. Red as far as I know there are 3 reps with the rehaut numerals Lumed as Ziggy did one along time ago. Uwe at sweetwatches.de did this one along with one I was working on for a friend. The mod on the bracelet pins is just a way of finishing what the Chinese started. It is those little things that make the difference to me on a quality watch. Red I love the photos and I do miss this one but I am happy it has gone to a good home. The gen for me does not have the charm of a modded rep so it will just sit in the safe untill I am gone and maybe by then my daughter will be able to pay for the gun carriage and 12 jet black stallions for my funeral with the proceeds. How she will pay for the 12 foot marble statue of me in the town square I have not idea though.

to franken or not to franken? what a question...is it worth the extra cash to buy and install genuine parts on the 45mm PO? or should you just wear and be happy as it comes-and buy yourself something else with the vast amount of cash you'll be saving? lets have a look.... now from the start of my watch obsession i've been drawn to omega as a brand, for the designs, the history, the bond connection and everything else thats good and cool about them-they just tick every box in regards to what i like from watches, and the planet ocean quickly became one of my top 5 favourite watches. the 45mm planet ocean rep is widely regarded as one of the best out of the box, it is indeed good, very good...but there are better straight from the go-the breitling superocean, omega smp chrono, tag aquaracer 500m etc are all closer to gen to start with, yet the planet ocean is so much more popular despite having more flaws... as pretty much everyone now knows, the upo (ultimate planet ocean) is great for accepting genuine parts-pretty much everything fits except for the bezel-but is it worth throwing money at the watch to rectify the flaws-especially as some of them are so small you would never notice? the rep dials date window and too small numbers/poor lume can be sorted by adding a genuine dial, great stuff i hear you cry! then you see the price of them new...£240 for the orange number version and £195 for the white number version (why the price difference? perhaps orange paint costs more...who knows??) thats the price of another great rep of your choice! especially as in use the date window isnt that noticeable-nor are the numbers being too small and you only see lume at night right? so no probs there really for daily use....BUT THIS IS ARGUMENT SIDE 1! on the flip side you get a real omega dial, with inset/boardered date window, perfect numerals and....SUPER LUME, and believe me it is super! one side would say dont bother not worth it, the other would say defo worth it because it looks amazing! after having both, i would say-im on the fence on this one, hmmm sure i love seeing the lume, the texture of the dial looks nicer, text is clearer etc but i still sometimes question myself as to if it was worth it. a quick one next-the hands, can be a straight swap if you have an eta 2824.2 or asian copy of, but in my experiance-not worth it, surprisingly even the lume is almost the same, size the same, looks the same so save the money...and buy- a gen crown and tube! one of the most popular upgrades it eliminates all the loose crown/stripped threads on tubes issues and is quite easy to do.looks no different mind, but feels different, buttery smooth to screw down and being so cheap it really is worth doing. so far then we have a 50/50 on using a gen dial, no to using the gen hands and yes to the crown and tube...what about anything else? crystal? straps? well...the gen crystal is superb, but again at almost £200 is it a pointless expense? remember that by now if you had gone for a gen dial, hands, crown, tube and then went for a crystal too you would be upto almost £600 with vat added (£780 with initial cost of the rep watch...) still considerably less than a gen PO but still a massive cost for what is still in effect a replica...add straps at around £175 for a gen rubber not including buckle or bracelet at over £480 and then you get close to a quality used gen PO, so ummm best to not go overboard! bezel, useless-unless you can machine yourself a ring to fit between case and bezel it wont fit...you can do what myself and others have done a bond it in place-but then you loose the function of the turning bezel...£200 quid for a part that doesnt work just to remedy a pearl thats a mm too low? nah, i'll put up with the pearl personally! ofcourse these prices are new prices, you can find cheaper used parts... anyway lets look at some pics, one is a franken, the other is straight from the box except for one cheap mod...but which is which? i will reveal all below... which one has the gen parts? yes it the black bezel one...but what does it have? could you tell? it has gen dial and hands, gen crown and tube (i aligned the crown so when it does up the omega logo lines up with the case-pointless but makes me happy...) and the buckle on the strap is genuine, the orange bezel one has an aftermarket bezel, apart from that its stock from the dealer...so looking at them both was the black version worth the extra cash? in my hand, on my wrist id have to say...I still dont know! sorry for a rubbish conclusion but it really is that close as to wether or not its worth it! on one hand you get gen parts, a watch you build yourself and one that looks well over 90% genuine to anyone-and on the other you have a great looking watch anyway straight from the word go and save alot of money... so there you have it-to franken or not to franken...its still the question, and as with all things comes down to personal choice, factor in cost, overall look your after etc and go from there! now the 5th generation 42mm...well thats almost perfection without any mods...but thats for another thread!

A graham cappuccino maker for today:

WTF? Who da[censored] is Wet.Work? Who are you and what you did with WetWork?

029m today

(2772225)^1/2

Hey, the Toyota Crown is a great car! But, yeah, there's a reason why you don't see them outside Japan anymore. The Volkswagen Phaeton is barely alive. On the other hand, Maybach is dead again... Bloody marketing. Anyhow, since this is turning into a Seiko love-in, let me post a shot I took last week of a friend's NOS 6139-6002:

1665 + 15 = Have a nice day Cats

5514 - 2 =

Kudos to Seiko who Is always at the forefront of the Indurstry. While the great Swiss watch makers still rest on there laurels year after year... using modified ETA's, Seiko continually produces Improvements In the world of horology. With over 1.000 prototypes,and nearly 40 years In development....here we have the amazing Seiko Spring Drive movement. With fit and finish second to none,and a movement which Is far more technical and precise than Swiss COSE..... Spring Drives are certainly a very special movement. Now.. Im not saying that Seiko is a better watch than this or that brand...what I am saying is.. Seiko established In 1881.. has had a profound effect on the watch making world...and deserves to be respected In this reguard. Mike

5514 for Thurs:

I think they're overpriced replicas and you're not likely to receive what you're paying for (if anything at all) if you send them your money. I still can't figure out why anyone wanting a replica watch would go anywhere but the Trusted Dealers listed on the Forums. OR from other members in the members Sales Threads. Why take the chance ??

Nice review buddy! A franken project is great when you buy gen parts cheap of great guys on the forum cheers again bud! I wouldn't have personally put gen dial hands ect in my upo if I had to pay full whack for them, like you say you can get carried away buying all the gen parts and rack up a massive bill, you'd be better off putting money away in the bank every month and buy a gen. It's deffinatly all about the lume!! It is amazing! I don't know why but it's deffinatly the best mod on the rep, if I didn't buy a gen dial I would deffinatly get a re lume on the rep dial and hands I think as the look of the dials gen vs rep are very close. Personally I love my franken upo because i built it and 6 months ago a didn't even know the first thing about movements,keyless works ect and can only thank you guys and rwg

Maybe you could try one of these, only $ 76,63 for a complete set ex. the insert. It looks good http://store.startim...-Bezel-Plastsub

totally agree about hurting a gen-a mate of mine badly damaged his gen PO a while back, hes a royal marine commando and battered it while on op's...then he got faced with a 900 quid repair bill with servicing a rep replacement woulda been a fraction of the cost! now as ive said im not anit-franken atall, far from it! its just after spending so much cash, time, frustration etc to finally get one im happy with i coulda just picked up a used one...but again your right that the first generation co-ax movement did face quite a few problems...and the cheap ones you could pick up for not much more than a franken would be about 4 to 5 years old and therefore would need a service soon... its a tough call is it not?! i loved building mine too, i learnt a hell of alot from doing them, and can now happily change a dial/hands, swap a movement, change bezels, reset keyless works, change date wheels etc quite quickly and easily and all from just taking the plunge and doing the work myself-so that side of it is superb especially in this hobby! i just had to ask the question is it viable money wise and effort wise to franken the PO anymore?. just a few years back the smp chrono was all about the franken, now with prices as low as £1200 for a used gen people dont seem to bother...i just wonder if it'll be the same for the original planet ocean? a good conclusion for me after owning a full franken and numerous upo reps was this: gen crown and tube is a must, dial is worth it 100% if you have the cash-if not a relume is a great alternative, hands are'nt essential in my honest opinion, bezel doesnt fit so useless, he valve not really worth it, gen crystal is great but cheaper to get the rep one ar'd if you can-its pretty good as is though, gen rubber/leather strap and buckle is a great addition-although the rep rubber is 98% gen like so again not worth it if you dont want it. all in all i think its all about perspective, in all honesty a great looking rep can be a superb one just by adding the gen dial and nothing else...in total that would be £200 for the dial and £180 for the watch-so £380 in total for an excellant looking watch...consider then adding other parts over the months ahead maybe? pros and cons of all aspects i guess-just like everything in life!

Hi Scoobs If I'm not mistaken the latest (and best to date) version is from H-factory: http://www.rwg.cc/topic/133961-upgraded-pam-177-m-series/ Needs to be confirmed, though. Val.