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A tip: you do not need to practice assembling and disassembling the keyless.... you can teach a monkey to do that. You need to learn about the mechanics and how the parts interact. If you know that ....your keyless problems are over for good as the keyless on every movement, although designed differently, functions the same way. Learn the 'why' not the 'how'. 'Why' does the keyless on a 2836 pop faster than a 7750... 'Why' is the hand wind position the best position on a 2836 to remove the crown... 'Why' does a keyless pop?... Etc.

Shock & Awe: Jaeger LeCoultre’s Master Compressor Navy SEALs automatic diver watch. Quite possibly one of the finest replica watches made….to date! It’s not often that I’m bowled over by a reps attention to detail and quality of finishing. Having owned and handled many gens, I am spoiled by precision Swiss engineering, limits and fits. Some replica watches really impress me, and in the past I’ve been compelled to create a review to enthuse about it. This is one of those watches, and this is the time for me to enthuse! Let me pass my regards to Joshua and the Perfect Clones team who supplied me with this watch. As usual, their service and efficiency was first class. Many thanks. OK, so this rep has been out for a couple of months now, and this probably isn’t the first review. All the details about the gen are available on the internet, of course. There is a superb review of the gen here: hxxp://www.thedivewatchconnection.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=16251 Now, people will inevitably complain about this watch being utilitarian and boring, others will pick out tiny, tiny flaws which in my opinion are irrelevant. No one is anal enough to even care, in the real world. This is just my celebration of yet another superbly executed rep. Ooo-ra. This reps dimensions are: Case diameter: 42.18mm incl. crown: 48.05mm Case height: 13.07mm Distance between lug ends: 49.49mm Strap width: 22mm Let’s start with the dial side. Very high contrast and legible, isn’t it? This is exactly what JLC & the SEALs wanted, and this has been carried through to the rep. It is said to use colourless AR, inside only. I’ve never seen this combination on a rep before, but it does remind me of Seiko anti reflective sapphire… which is also colourless, inside only. When I look at gen pics and look at this rep I really struggle to see any significant differences on the dial. I’m sure someone will, but damn, it’s close! The lume is strong, not too far from superlume. Blue on the dial and green on the bezel. The gen reviewer says his is all blue, and the prototype possibly with the green one? Anyway, lume application is really neat. All printing is clean and crisp. Date window has nice depth to it, like the gen. Some have commented on colour differences with the grey, although this could be due to lighting, camera, photo editing etc. I don’t see anything glaringly obvious. It has been said that the rep has a few sharp edges here & there. I would agree – they exist on the coin edge bezel and on the JL marked clasp centre. Not a big deal, easily rectified if needed. Apparently the sharp bezel edge exists on the gen too. Case lugs have the polished edges which accurately mimic the gen. A nice & welcome touch to an otherwise very sombre watch. On the picture below you will see how the ceramic bezel insert protrudes from the steel slightly. As per the gen. I presume that this offers some protection from jarring to the bezel edge and more importantly, the crystal. The crown on the gen is DLC treated steel. This appears to be the same. It doesn’t feel like plastic? Look at the case brushing and crease line after the lug. Nice hey? The Compressor device rotates nice & smooth, under friction. The crown pulls out as normal. On to the bracelet. It is a combination of soft touch anti dust rubber, hard resin inside and a steel or titanium frame. The 2 connecting link screws are accommodated by the threaded steel frame. Very easy to resize and very comfortable to wear. Has the flexibility of a bracelet but the weight and comfort of soft leather. The definition on every link is amazing. A rubber strap (band) is definitely not needed for this rep. Perhaps some will try to obtain the gen leather, which will be interesting to see. Butterfly type clasp has 2 pairs of buttons to release it. The level of detail and fitment of this clasp assembly is one of the watches major highlights. So intricate, yet so precise! Each side of the bracelet can further expand by 4mm (8mm in total). The full link length between pivots is 10mm. The movement. An asian 2824 clone automatic. No gold JLC rotor here! I took the opportunity to regulate this better whilst the back was off. Lovely. The case back. Contentious issue for some, not for me! I think it’s great. The engraving/etching is so clear and defined. The SEALs crest could be a gnats whisker shallower than gen, but I don’t like deep engravings. They feel abrasive. The flat caseback sits very comfortably on the wrist. So there you have it. I’ve showed you in pictures what this watch is all about. Forget the miniscule nuances. You know the genuine watch and its development. Now you know the rep. Considering the amount of engineering that has gone into this watch, I’d say that it was worth the outlay. It doesn’t really look expensive, but neither does the gen. It does feel like a high quality watch and that’s what matters. I’d rather pay $380ish for this than $6-7k for the gen. So what are you waiting for? Get it bought!!

Finding nice genuine alligator straps for our Big Pilots at a reasonable price is a problem most of us encounter I believe.... No rep, or used gen strap can give me satisfaction, and I won't pay 400+ euros for a strap I'll have to change a year or two later.... I found a maker in China who is offering to make gen american alligator straps for apx 100 euros per strap, with all markings, if a minimum order of 50 straps is placed at once. I for one would buy two : a black and a brown, but I'm short of 48 straps here. I have purchased one first strap from them to see if the quality is good enough, and I must say I was very pleased when I got it. I posted pics below of my 5002 to share with you. I tried to catch all angles to clearly show all the details of the strap, the quality of the rubber finishing and the stitching. The marking could be improved, but overall this strap is a knock out for me ! By the way, they also can make rep panerai straps in gen alligator..... I will do the same post on the Panerai area later to see the response. Thanks for reading me !!!!!

This is my latest built. I called it TC LV Sub Type III. It's basically what I have been passing on to members for the past few months. I just haven't had time to update it in my blog until now. It features TC 2824 movement, TC Date Wheel Overlay V3, and TC 93250 V4 bracelet, and TC Sub Bezel Assembly with my custom made TC click spring. First thing, apologies for the lengthy turnaround time to members who placed orders on TC LV Sub in the past couple of months due to the development on TC DWO V3. But the way TC DWO V3 turned out is nothing short of the most gen like Date Wheel Overlay, a terrific milestone to the pursue of the perfect sub. I am sure we can all agree the wait was well worth it. It was not long after I post the progress update "TC DWO V3 Completed" I found out I was running low on the good 16610LV dials. For those who follows my blog you all should remember the same incident happened about an year ago on the 16610 dials while I was building TC 16610 Subs for members. The shortage of good 16610 dials and the reluctance of the dial maker making new rep dials, read "Bumps in the road, 16610 dial maker" lead to the discontinuation of TC 16610, leaving me with only TC 16610LV to offer to members. Without the good dials, there will be no use of hands, watch cases, bracelets, movements, and other parts. Earlier this year, I recommended members who wanted a classic 16610 Submariner to buy a pack of 6 16610 dials (damaged) from me to complete the build by themselves or by a modder on the forum. Read "$35 Damaged 16610 dial." I did not wish to take on the dial picking/piecing job because it is VERY time consuming. As I'm now out of good 16610LV dials, a strange feeling struck me that my little hobby which has supported me since my divorce might come to a halt unless I can solve this dial supply issue. I spent a few nights sorting and picked out only a few dozen 16610 and 16610LV dials without scratches or dents on the surface from the rejected ones which can be used as the base. Those dials without scratches or dents on the surface all have bad indices or misaligned 6 o'clock or 9 o'clock indices. I took off the bad indices and replaced them from the rest of the rejected dials with good indices. Piecing together a good 16610 or a 16610LV dial from the knock offs consumes a lot of time. An extra hour and half to two hours is needed to piece together just one good dial. But once it is done, it looks just as good as a brand new one. TC LV Sub Type 3 is a great platform for members to put on a gen 16610 black or 16610LV green insert. It has all the gen features, gen profile, all it need is a good insert. I would recommend members to get a gen 16610 or 16610LV insert. Gen insert doesn't come cheap, but IMHO, it's worth every penny when put on a TC Sub. Type 3's TC Sub bezel assembly is gen insert ready. No sanding or trimming the insert rim is needed. The catch is you'll need a press tool to complete the job. Many members have installed gen inserts on their TC Subs. For more pictures of TC Sub with gen inserts, take a look at Member reviews of TC Subs. After note: Since I decided to take on picking/piecing the dials I am now able to offer both 16610 and 16610LV TC Subs in limited supplies until they run out. I will designate the 16610 version as TC 16610 Sub version V or TC Sub V5. TC Sub V5 is equivalently spec-ed as TC LV Sub Type III except TC Sub V5 houses the classic 16610 dial and hands. TC 8/17/13

Going for a hat-trick with the third consecutive day for the 372

Ingy, Ingy, Ingy! Can't go wrong with one http://www.ttw888.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=30_192&products_id=9477

I take them all off in one go as well using the levers. To be honest, I've never actually tried taking the hands off individually. I'd be too afraid of bending one of the hands.

The only gen I own

Sunday... Monster mix .

TC SUB today. Bracelet after lube "bath"

1675:

It's a horrible and frustrating feeling when things like that happen. One quick question; are you using a sheet of plastic (like a ziploc bag) over the dial before using the levers? I made my own hand-removing levers from a rod of silver-steel and although they are fairly crude, using the ziploc food bag had helped me avoid marking the dial (so far!) Thanks for the tip Rolexman, this will prove to be very useful.

I agree keyless are a pain in the tiits. I feel even when you've done it a 100 times there are just times when it pops that you feel like tearing your hair out and have to walk away. Also the keyless can be very finicky and temperamental on some reps for no apparent reason, bad cloning on some, loose or not smooth even when it is intact. It doesn't help that with some reps stems can be cut badly out of the box, which puts the Kw under more stress.

I feel your pain, but we have all been there many times. The best way to learn is by making mistakes (so you can fix them).

Thats so bloody true, I'm feeling like that too. My Carrera is still my favourite, but mainly due to me getting intimate with it when I frankened it. My Aquaracer is growing on me, but I don't have that personal connection yet as I have not really done anything to it.

All part of the learning curve mate. You will get to learn how to fix it too in time, there's loads of great help files, and threads here on fixing it.

Yep... Suck.

I've got to go with my 14270 franken'. jmb case, Clark crystal, WSO bezel, gen dial and crown,hodge podge bracelet all assembled by me: edit: pb tapped the case for gen spec tube studio screenshot greenshot screen capture image hosting photo bucket

feel ya pain mate

People hated the keyless works even 100 years ago. Check out "The Keyless Mechanism - A Practical Treatise on its Design and Repair" where the author complains about how a lot of keyless mechanisms suck.

Fraggle, I know that one for sure! Regards AJ

I love the PO's too. I ordered the 42mm, orange bezel, non-chrono from trusty last week. I'll do a full review when I get it. I decided on the 42mm because I have a 7" wrist and thought the 45mm version might look off (although I like the wider bezel grooves on the 45mm version much better than the smaller ones on the 42mm). Also, I like the way the face of some of the chrono's look, but very rarely, if ever, have I needed to time something. And if I did, I would want to use my G-Shock, which would time it precisely down to the 100th of a second while telling me when high tide was, what phase the moon was in, what time it was in Kandahar, and if I am in daylight saving time, all while syncing to the atomic clock signal to update the exact time. I'm just messing around, but I have 6 chronograph watches that I love, but have never once used the chronograph feature on a single one of them.