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Hey guys. Thought I would share some pics of my new arrival superocean abyss red Bought from toro. Arrived in about a week So far so good

Here is Andrew of Trustys gift after he saw the raffle. He knows my tasteand is a terrific guy, friend for many years. Below is the annual "Silly Walks" day in honor of Monty Python. You Brits send us pics of yourselves next year!

That whole ceramic bezel and pearl is such an awful design for an alleged "tool watch". Not that a real diver would ever wear one anyway. Even on reps people are constantly complaining about losing the pearl.

Hello guys, Want to share some project base on Vintage Panerai "Hornlug" Prototype with fantasy Holed bezel. Latest one waiting to assemble... Previous one for a member on HF : Another one finished by FK65 / frank on HF Thx for visitting guys...

It's getting bad. Ever since i saw the ennebi decima mas i liked the case. I have looked at the shapes on and off for some time, checked the piggy bank and come back disappointed. http://forums.watchuseek.com/f7/introducing-decima-mas-watches-26438.html Then came esdee's mille metri which cast a long shadow over all ennebis... Fast forward to 2013 and Maranez release the Bangla, very similar to the decima mas. Also as the bronze mille metri is the only variant i haven't owned (there are others now also!) I decided to go for the brass bangla. It arrives and boy it was a beast- here is is on its stock strap weighing in against river's steel mille metri one disappointment is the bezel is more conservative: unidirectional but is firm and beefy. Here is the naked mechanism: The bangla comes nicely packaged with 2 buckles, s2 straps and a very nice thick rubber "isofrane" type strap also. I had a nice 24mm one ready to go and a bronze sub-buckle so off with the stock ones! Also i wanted to patinate the case so tried liver of suplur... 2 hours very little so had to resort to more drastic alchemy. Here is the patinated case with strap and buckle: Barely on one hour the image and the ennebi started to haunt once again. It's at this point you realise you have a problem- new watch in less than a day ad it's being taken apart. Anyway managed to get a few hours on my own (rarity) and..... The Maranez Decima mas was born!!!! Probably as close as I will get to the original for a few years... Here is patinated finished reshape WRISTIE

Gave myself a little watch storage cabinets when rebuilding our home storage system for the renovation. There are two cabinets with pull out shelves - one side tall and the other short. This is the short side... And this is the tall side. There are still unoccupied shelves with enough space for 20-watch boxes, currently used for my watch-related books. How did I convince the missus to let me build this? I let her build half a wardrobe of cabinets for her handbags.

So I am very new to this hobby . only a couple of months in .... bought about 10 watches straight off - Faux Chrono jobbies / Quartz reps - all sub $110 watches .... Now I am selling them off and already ordering $250 - $300 watches !!! at first I thought, oh well there cheap enough its just a bit of fun .... and now its .... oooo I like that lume ...... ooo those hands look better ---- ooo that strap is much nicer ..... .. oh dear ........... time to start hiding things :-) Familiar story Im sure !! Brilliant Brilliant forum here ... Good work all !! Steve

This is my second Full on Franken 1655 and i learned a lot from the original Phong case based build and wanted to make this even better. Enjoy and excuse the dust! Specs are - Gen non hacking Rolex 1575 GMT movement correct for a mk2 modded CG ingod44 fully engraved mk2 mid case/ correctly stamped case back Phong mk2 bezel CWP mk straight seconds hand set/ correct long tailed Ornage hand Mq mk3 Rail dial Gen 6mm crown and tube Sternkruez T116 Fully waterproofed to 30m

And say 'Hello' again!! Been away for a while but now back... Looking forward to speaking to you all at some point... Hopefully!

lol whats the best sub ha .noob v3

greenshot download

For some time, I've wanted to get some of my reps out of cases and into a cabinet. Now the colder weather has set in, I've finally got around to doing it. Here are the results -

Seamaster

Today feels right from some Fiddy on limited edition Gunny leather

And....... there's a lot of really, really bad music out there.

Prometheus Sailfish on Brady strap sailcloth! Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

YESSSSSS!!

Soooooo, what DOES a fox say?

IWC Cousteau for a lazy sunday:

updated it with a new (old) dial and matching hands

There is a small update to this speculation here: http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/164998-new-navitimer-update/page-4#entry1314284

So I was chatting to Andrew @TrustyTime regarding the most recent Navitimer 01. Obviously it is much improved but has a couple of big issues in the form of the low-beat movement and sunken date wheel. There has been speculation of a new version and the timings given have been reducing every time they've been mentioned. This has led me to think maybe we genuinely are about to receive the most awesome Navi ever! I thought I'd ask Andrew straight, here's the conversation, I'm sure he won't mind me sharing it. I should also mention that I was asking off the back of an order for the current Navi so it was definitely in his interests NOT to mention a new release and secure a sale of the current one which he has now lost (temporarily)... On Sun, Feb 23, 2014 at 8:48 AM, Dommysam wrote: Hi Andrew, I just heard that there is a 28,800 version of this Navitimer with the sunken date wheel issue fixed due out in the next few months. I assume this will be based on a 7753 movement. ------- On 23 Feb 2014, at 01:13 am, Trusty Time Admin <trustytime@gmail.com> wrote: No.. Thats not true because Asia 7753 cannot have the date change at the crown at all. Andrew --- On Feb 23, 2014, at 15:59, Dommysam wrote: Hi Andrew, I know but I heard on RepGeek that the high beat version was coming soon. Apparently someone heard it from you and Josh @Perfect Clones? Not having a quick date set would be fine for most people if they got a perfect Navi! Dom --- On 23 Feb 2014, at 08:09 am, TTW888 Admin - Andrew <trustytime@gmail.com> wrote: Its a project by Joshua and myself for the Navitimer. More details will be released later. Thanks Regards, Andrew --- On Feb 23, 2014, at 16:21, Dommysam wrote: Hi Andrew, That sounds very interesting! What sort of timeframe are we looking at? Dom --- On 23 Feb 2014, at 09:34 am, TTW888 Admin - Andrew <trustytime@gmail.com> wrote: It should be out maybe in 1-2 months time. Many thanks Andrew --- On Feb 23, 2014, at 16:40, Dommysam wrote: Thanks for confirming Andrew, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain! So, just to be sure, will this new version be a high beat? Which movement and will it use and will there be any improvement to the sunken date wheel? Dom --- On 23 Feb 2014, at 11:49 am, TTW888 Admin - Andrew <trustytime@gmail.com> wrote: It will be a high beat movement. We will have a surprise for all. Thanks Regards, Andrew

A bit over one year has passed since I entered into this fantastic scene, after receiving my first Explorer 1016 (a MBW version). Finally I managed to gather enough courage, equipment and not at last knowledge & parts, thanks to this forum and its members, to try to build (put together) my own Franken! A big thank you members (too many names to mention)! Thanks to the nice posts from lhooq, JMB and a few more members, the new project was all clear to be an Explorer 1016 build, based on the "famous JMB Datejust 16200 case", including a flatter Clark Tropic 25-22 crystal, JMB´s special bezel and a few more specialities. The mission was to get a few more steps closer to the gen by keeping the budget at a reasonable level. I personally see the vintage watch (re)building as sort of restoration of an oldtimer car, where most of the parts for it need to be recreated, because they are no longer produced. It is "almost" the same case with the building of the vintage Explorer 1016 for example. The whole process of gathering parts from all over the world, do months of research and talk to a lot of helpful members here on the forums, make the project so interesting. It is the road to the destination in combination with the destination (the Explorer 1016) that motivates. Well, after straight two months of searching and ordering parts, patience and a lot of luck, I was forced to let the project lay aside another two months, because of a hectic professional life, but that´s a different story. The past few days were so thrilling as I got the chance to return to the Explorer 1016 project and build it. It was in fact my first Franken and of course doing it was way more difficult and tricky than my initial thoughts (I had been warned before ). But I knew I can do it, because of my previous trainings with vintage Seiko restoration. The more important is to keep calm even if something does not go as planned, do a new research, rethink and it will work out well. Here I present you some pictures of the Explorer 1016: and some side by side with my other favourite Explorer 1016 version My new 1016 build (In the background is the MBW Explorer 1016) The MBW Explorer 1016. Side profiles (each version has its Pro´s and Con´s, but I love both of them!) *The MBW 1016 is on the right side. I would keep myself away from commenting all the differences between both 1016´s, but one major difference I´d like to mention is the appeal of the crystals! Both crystals (in terms of shape and profile) we see above, have been used in the gen in the course of about two decades, experts my correct me. The Datejust based 1016 has a Tropic 25-22 crystal, that is gen spec.(Clark´s). The MBW on the other side has a domed crystal that is not gen specification but is quite close to the gen domed Tropic, in terms of visual appearance (in my opinion). Nevertheless I personally prefer the Tropic 25-22 crystal as it is much flatter and makes the dial "come into shine" in a different way, it also makes the dial look wider, compared to the domed crystal. A question for the experts: Would a Tropic 25-22 crystal fit on the MBW 1016 case without modifications? * (I only know that the MBW crystal bezel is not compatible with the Tropic crystals) Bonus info on the build itself, not really a step by step, but would like to highlight some special details. Some of the parts involved in no particular order. That dial is one of the most important parts of the project itself. This version is, in my opinion, quite a good alternative, considering the current market situation for Explorer 1016 dials (rep or gen)! It is also budget friendly. The ones of you that are long enough on the forums, would recognise what origin the dial has From the start of the project I knew I had three alternatives for attaching the dial to the movement, as the dial has its dial feet placed for an 1570 movement. The first alternative would be to use dial dots (round double sided tape). Fast and really budget friendly. The second version is to glue the dial on to the movement spacer, that comes with the case. Problem is that the dial and spacer pass/fit from different sides the movement. This way locking the dial on the movement, when the dial and spacer ring are glued. And what if you screw up the keyless works (like I did a couple of times) and need to remove the dial and reassemble the Keyless?! Maybe there are some other methods of attaching the dial in a secure, service friendly way ... Third alternative, is to place the dial on the movement using dial feet (that was always my favourite one). The most important part of this method is to have proper "dial feet". The experience here on the forums and on other sites has shown that no one recommends this method, because the only alternatives are the Bergeon dial feet. They are in fact the most popular, but pricey and do not have a well sized basis/head, that can be glued on the dial. What I used and can recommend, are the so called "D109 Gents Dial Feet" ( I will not place any links as the supplier may easily be found on the internet). Some measurements and details: How I glued the dial on the dial feet? Therefore I have been looking for an ETA 2824 Main plate, luckily the member "1680" pointed me to one that was on sale for not much money. Then I took a common lighter apart and cut-fitted the mini gas outlet tube on to the ETA Main plate in order to have a cone type centre-alignment-helper for the dial. With the dial feet placed it was an easy task to centre and glue the dial with epoxy glue. Later I had to cut and file the glued dial feet, place and remove the crown stem by holding only the dial. The glue and feet stood rock solid on their place! The result: * The little epoxy that can be seen is really not a problem as it has the same height as the dial feet head. It would have been too risky to file down epoxy glue on that tiny dial edge. Hope I could bring in some new inspirations into the mighty Explorer 1016 Franken world

Hey there, although not as in depth as you are probably interested in, here is a brief overvif the rep process courtesy of PureTime. Scroll down to "How the average Maker (or Factory) works:" http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/149260-puretimes-mechanics-within-the-replica-watch-industry-v11-updated/

Hey I'm a direct descendant of the Vikings and my Grandfathers name is Ragnar, my Fathers middle name. This prediction was made during the night of celebrating the conquered west shores of Finland in 1694. The ships crew were practicing serious debauchery, drunkenness and total disregard to the rules of card games! The world will be okay. WTF?? just looked out my window and this massive fireball is growing larger, and coming right to our front porches,!!

I do love my new 372. Thanks again Andrew!

Congrats S, it's always nice to be first!

Will do, I actually made it a point to but from both manufacturers so I will post side by side pics. I'm told Angus has the better of the two.

Problem is he can't get the threaded pins out. if he could get one out on each end he could stick a toothpick or straight paper clip in from the other side and push the other one out. If the pin won't back out by unscrewing, it's going to be a real problem to get them out. once they are out, he can see if the threads are bad on the pin and the case, or just the pins or both. if it's just the pins, it would be easy to use a tap to clean out the threads and get new pins. If the threads are gone inside the lugs, if he taps them out bigger, then he would have to have pins made that would have the correct size threads. If this is a brand new watch, possibly contract the dealer and see what he says, maybe send it back and get it repaired (they would probably decase the movement and use all the parts in a new case. Maybe talk to one of the watch smiths/modders on the forum and see what they suggest. I feel sure this problem has happened before, but probably with only one threaded pin, so you could unscrew the other one and push the bad pin out from the other side. In this case they are all spinning, so you can't get any access to remove them.

I sorta agree with ^tom . Daytona is such a masculine watch . I don't understand them going with this *tiffany blue* as my wife calls it Sent from SG Note-III using Tapatalk.

Just been asked for a break down in terms of cost, Not a cheap build but then its certainly not anything like the required $16,000 for the cost of a Gen, Then again are you ever 100% sure its the real deal? Lots of Frankens out there Gen 1575 non hacking movement $2000.00 - full service $200.00 ingod mid case/case back $350 Mq dial $350.00 CWP hand set $100.00 Phong bezel $250.00 Gen tube and crown $150.00

Yes, the insert was a standard (rolex) service replacement insert that was also glossy. It seems all the inserts have a solid glossy finish/ varnish so whenever i customise an insert i start with gently remove the glossy layer; i let is sit in bleach but only for a little while and then i use a mild scrubbing cloth to gently and evenly remove the glossy layer. Use bleach carefully as some sorts are very agressieve. I also put it in a box with screws and stones to give is many small scratches. After that i used cape cod to polish it to a semi-gloss finish. For the black insert this is were i stopped, hope this info helps; whatever you do; take your time because you can't go back and make the insert darker again and repeat the bleaching/ scrubbing process if needed

Time for a small update; I changed the insert for a another one; perfectly even faded from matt black on the inside to darkblue~blue on the outside, color of the pearl matching with the dial and hands I hope you enjoy the pics

The tired mantra "Buy the Seller" is BS imho. I got a few screw jobs from some "Big Time Top Rated Sellers" that everyone would recognize, the last time being 10-2-01 on a tutone 6694 with a rotted out case. It was professionally detailed to look like new but was JUNK (long story). I am not counting 'attempted screw jobs' after that date. I only count the screw jobs that did not result in my $$ being returned. Something else...when I sell a watch, I do not guarantee it against anything other than to be what I said it was. If they want it written down, I do it. Once the watch is out of my sight there is no telling what some damn idiot might do to it. Believe me...I have seen it all in the past 40+ years trading watches. Example...I sold a nib w/p Fortis Spacematic 623.22.32 last week to a guy who asked if I would guarantee it to be 200M WR etc. I said "No! You just paid $700US for a new in the box watch that retails for close to $2000 and sells for around $1600 on eBay. The price you paid is your guarantee. Take it or leave it." He took it and may buy another one.

Pretty sad that they police the VRF to the point that folks cannot get info out or people who have been scammed can't post. AFA Steve Mulholland, I had several dealings with him a few years ago, and all of them turned out fine. however he apparently went "off the reservation" big time about a year ago, scammed some folks for a bunch of high end Rolex vintage watches. I would imagine when it's all said and done, he was into folks for many thousands of dollars. His excuse was he got married, and his new bride cleaned out his watches, as well as his bank accounts. He was on the Rolex Forum and the VRF for a time, with his tales of woe, promised to get everything straightened out and make restitution to everyone, which apparently he didn't. Sort of sounds familiar doesn't it? Same song, second verse right here on RWG with our little modder/ repair person. Almost like he read Mulholland's Script and followed it to a "T"

It will. I have one in my jmb case. And yes...those are h5 wheels. I had the movement set up for something else. I may change it some day.

Had same one raffled it off but do have my V6 in now and you guys ain't getting it !

First of all, Merry Christmas to all the members, their families and beloved ones! This year Santa brought some special surprises under the tree, one of them being from Japan! That special present contains some historic information about one of my favourite Rolex models, the Explorer 1016! Long story short, what I was able to find inside that "present" was an all so important information about the Explorer dials that isn´t available anywhere else on the web. As an owner of two Explorer 1016 reps (the first being a MBW version and the second a Franken) I had a hard time understanding the dial of the MBW 1016 Explorer, as has been discussed a number of times. The main topic being, that the MBW Explorer dial is marked "Swiss Made" instead "Swiss - T<25" (Tritium radiation less than 25 mCi). Every time someone (me inclusive) has asked here on the forums, if an Explorer 1016 marked "Swiss Made" ever existed, the answer was: "No, never existed one ...". I managed to find that special dial that existed in the 1960´s ( Officially Certified Chronometer not SCOC): This "new" discovery would make some Explorer 1016 owners, having dials marked Swiss Made a bit more happy

Can't wait to see the difference the new crystal makes

I here are some pix of my Avenger v4 white numeral dial. I got from Perfect Clones.