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At last we are seeing some SWISS alternatives to ETA and Sellita The Soprod 'Alternance 10' or A-10 is a high end mechanical movement, reputedly better than the ETA 2892: Soprod A-10 is a direct replacement for ETA 2892. The width dimensions are the same between the 2892, 2824, and A-10, so the same hands and dials one used for ETA movements can also be used for the A-10, but the A-10 is 1 mm thicker than the 2824, so casing modifications may be necessary. It has a 42 hour power reserve and hacking seconds. Specs 25.6mm by 3.6mm, 11.5 ligne Automatic, bidirectional winding Quickset date at 3h 25 jewels, Incabloc hacking and Handwinding Adjusted to 4 positions Power reserve 42 hours 28,800 vph Options include big date, visible balance and various customizations. Soprod is one of the very few Swiss movement makers who'll sell in small quantities, which makes this a good choice if you're starting a watch company. LINK: http://www.soprod.ch/mouvement-montre/sop-143.html http://www.tz-uk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=112219

Last time I wear my Copper U-Boat before it goes off to it's new home.

I'm speedin' through the day -

Yeah, the waiting is the hardest part in this game... With Andrew you're in the best hands, he's a great dealer with lighting fast responses, so just sit back, take a drink and reeelaaaaax..

If you're not a fan of the sword hands why do a 5517? The sword hands (and 60 min bezel) are the distinguishing hallmarks of the 5517 vs. a 5513. A little eye candy since we're talking Milsubs....

Hi Sgt! Even tho I've emptied half my messages it's still full. After my med deal I still can't afford to reup my VIP yet Soon though! Good to see everyone and I'm feelin better! Apologies to op!

6238

Howdy

Bloody hell mate I think my modem just burnt out you take some cracking pics mate, I for one really appreciate you taking the time to do so I'm sure lots of members appreciate it too! Bracelet does look good and the clasp too, must admit though I'm still on my V2/V3 mix and loving it

Congrats Marti, I'll be a little while getting there myself. Today I am wearing my Citizen Skyhawk for a coworker who is interested in taking a look at it.

Wow that U-Boat looks awesome, is it already sold? I'm wearing my Hublot Big Bang Stainless Steel today for my 1000th post! Thanks for the great time (exactly 8 months) over here RWG!

Correction, only insert

Wouldn't the total income from all the entries bring in more money than selling all the watches individually? Plus, giving an incentive for donations is always a good idea.

This is inevitable. parts that haven't been made for 20-50+ years are not a renewable resource. There is a finite supply of everything old floating around. look at the problems folks have finding parts for 1030 movements and old Tudor 390's. Parts are getting scarcer and scarcer, and on top of that some of the parts that are for sale are worn out . This reminds me of the vintage car restorers, it's not at all uncommon for some of the very old and rarer models to have almost no parts available. the only way restorers can get the car into running and drivable shape is to make the parts. Fortunately for us, there are in the Rolex world some very good quality aftermarket parts already available. my prediction is in another 15-20 years, you will either have to use aftermarket parts on your old 1680, 1665, 6542,etc, or it will be unusable. I suppose the purists could have their old Daytonas encased in a plastic cube and use it for a paperweight, all it will be good for. I can imagine the conversation at a Vintage Rolex Show or Get together in the year 2040, "Say sir, that's a might impressive collection of vintage Rolex watches you have there, are any for sale? Sure son, they are all for sale, would you like to look at anything in particular? Well sir, I've always had my heart set on a 1680 Submariner, I see you have several in your collection. Well, I do have a few, most are in pretty nice shape. What do you have in mind? Well sir, I would like one that has a good movement, nice dial, hands and a bracelet that has not too much stretch, anything here that fills the bill? Well sorry son, actually, none of mine are running, I've been looking for around 10 years trying to find parts for these old 1570 movements, and I just can't find anything, even the old cheaper Rolex watches have all been cannibalized for movements. Sorry to say, mine are all just for decoration now, the last one running was that old SeaDweller over there, and it gave up the ghost a couple of years back. I'm sorry I just can't help you. Well sir, that's too bad, I understand that there are a lot of aftermarket movements that will drop right in one of these old watches, why don't you try to get then running with a good Chinese clone movement, I hear they are really, really good now, can't tell the difference inside the watch now can you? Son. I would rather run over these watches with a steamroller rather than make a fake watch out of them with a Chinese movement. That's blasphemous talk around here. If anyone here caught me doing that, I would be drummed out of the VRF. Say, what is this VRF? Well son, it used to be a really great organization of guys like me who loved and treasured our vintage Rolex watches, we had and internet forum and all, had a lot of get together's, watch shows, great stuff. but now there are just three of us left. All the others have dropped out of sight, I suppose they decided long ago that they would rather have a running half Rolex than no Rolex at all. Not me though, I'm sticking it out to the bitter end. We keep hearing rumors that Rolex is going to start making parts for these old watches again, and we are holding out for that. Well sir, how true are the rumors do you think? I just don't know son, they were flying pretty hot and heavy about 2012, or maybe it was 2008, can't remember. Sir, that was 30 years ago!! I know son,. but you know Rolex works pretty slow, you can never tell, they could start making parts any day now, just don't know. Well sir, thanks for your time, by the way, what's that watch you're wearing? Son, don't spread this around, but it's a Seiko. Sort of looks like and old submariner doesn't it? Sir, hope you find those parts, thanks and have a great day".

I ordered one for disection.

Hehehe. Their choice of forum software says it all. They are stuck almost 2 decades in the past. I have a vision of VRF running on an old Compaq Proliant Pentium II server with SCSI drives. LOL.

....and as the members are caught out modding their watches into frankens and getting banned for showing them, the membership will dwindle to the last remaining guy with the deepest parts stash. The rest of the guys will wind up over here with us.

To answer the crown/stem question... I did have an issue. I should point out that I ordered the Asia2892 clone, not the swiss 2824. The issue I had... was that the stem was too long and it was taking a LOT of pressure to push the crown in and screw it back in. I saw this becoming a problem possibly ruining the treads prematurely, so I opened her up, took the setting stem off, put it on a vise, and the pin broke lol. Fortunately genuine 2892A2 stems are available on eBay and I ordered a new one (wore my vintage Ingy Laureus on a mesh strap, and my superrep Connie in the meantime). A week later I cut the stem 1 mm short of where it was, and it went back in without issues and without undue force. As far as the crown and tube itself, I didn't examine them closely but they feel SOLID and well built. The only flaws on my watch are the insert is slightly off (the way they glued it is not centered perfectly), the caseback is about 1 mm too thick for the slim 2892 bullet rotor, and the omega symbol is not perfectly level with the OMEGA applique. The watch looks VERY well built, feels well built, I don't think I have any AR on the outside (seems others do, from the pics I've seen), and the 2892 runs very well, and is very precise. All in all I love the watch--I definitely want the blue but will wait for others' reviews. Blue would've been my first choice but I had no idea it was coming lol. The non exhibition caseback in the black/blue is truly an artist's impression of the real one, which it appears they saw on a picture because it is waaaaaaaay off. The bezel is not a huge deal to me, but I do believe the gen looks the same until you examine it up close. I think there's a filler material (clear silica?) that appears to be smoothly baked with the rest of the bezel hence the confusion on engraved vs painted. it is BOTH lol.

It is just Sunday here, can't choose.

I wouldn't mind a SW 500 for the chrono reps at all. I like the SW 200 series alot, but I heard they're starting to clone these too. As for Rolex snatching up an Invicta/SW 500 movement- I tend to doubt it too. I don't think you can believe all the hype those TV guys talk.I've seen those 2 together, it's pretty hilarius. Invicta has always been a Rolex wannabe.