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I was recently approached by a third generation acquaintance of the family who has always known me for my passion for timepieces. He asked me why there is a shortage of Rolex merchandise from our local authorized dealers! I gave him my short simple answer " to create an artificial shortage so that it can justify any price increases and entice those to want them" Well that was my interpretation of how I see the trend with everything else as well.!!! (As a disclaimer I will call it my opinion and only my opinion) Make it hard to get and it becomes a rarity that will attract potential buyers to want it and therefore rise both; a demand and a price increase! Simple!!! Basic high school economics with the law of demand and supply!! Sure enough there are other agendas behind this shortage, but that was my take on it!! His family are quite wealthy and I helped him buy his first 16610 back in 1997 from the AD who I knew well at the time as I got him quite a good deal for it. Not so the case now with the new owners and of course the agendas!!! He asked me how my submariner was going. I replied which one? "The one I purchased from the same AD or the one I assembled myself. I no longer have the one I got from the AD but I have this one" ( the noobmariner I built from sources kindly directed to me by members of this forum). He looked at it and all he said was" Did it end up cheaper to build it than to buy from the AD?" I replied "Yes at the time it was" Then I realized that he had not worked out that it was a replica as he does speak his mind and so I kept quiet about it. Had he asked if it was the real deal, I would have been straight out open about it and divulged it was a replica!!. Now he owns the real McCoy and by now you would have expected for him to have noticed that there are subtle differences between them. This leads to my rationale about WHY WOULD I WANT TO lock away so much money into an item for where there is a close substitute and then risk; losing it, getting damaged, spending an arm and a leg to maintain it from a cartel type business having a monopoly on parts, as independent watchmakers can no longer get parts etc, etc. Now, most of us here do or probably own a genuine Rolex (perhaps more than one), but would rather prefer to keep them as investments in their safety deposit box, (occasionally using them on special occasions) but instead have a beater that closely resembles what they have - minus the risks. Lets be honest, they will never be tick for tack representatives of each other, but for the price one pays and gets, it way justifies this move!!!! I don't expect that my noobmariner is a 1:1 clone of the authentic product, but enjoy it for what it represents and for what it is!!! Period!!! . I have my noobmariner since 2008 and have treated it like any other genuine watch giving me just as much satisfaction minus the cost and risks of the real deal. As for QC, I am not bothered as I have bought high end products that have been through many QC checks and still give me grief from something that may have been overlooked anyway. Myth in my opinion!!! I didn't see any issues with my noobmariner. It hasn't fallen apart, it hasn't crumbled, neither lost anything from it, has survived water resistance ( with replacement of quality seals from time to time) and even better - has no case corrosion when I consider the environments I exposed it to. I wasn't worried, it is a beater but has shown to be a true test against all punishment!! I guess that is why we are here as we can see and appreciate a cutting edge that the average bear doesn't see.!! I have met and conversed with members here from all over the world from all walks of life and have never had a similar pleasurable experience in any other fraternity.!!! The thrill of building and modifying something to represent something that it is not, is an art in it's own right which very few can do and appreciate!! I cannot remember who said it, but in an interview with a world famous mathematical physicist, a comment was made that 8 out of 10 people cannot put 2 and 2 together!!!. What he meant was that if you present the facts on the left and the same facts disguised on the right, most would not see that they are the same.!!!! That is an alarming figure, especially with what has happened lately in most of the world trends. My interpretation of what makes us unique here and enables us to look outside the square!!! (post dedicated in memory of my first watch enthusiast friend "Frank Ricci" who passed away 20 years ago today!!! )

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I picked up this beauty at the end of April, absolutely love the sunburst dial.

Model 1003 from early 1960s... Case is 34mm, cal 1560, Yuki dial, ST hands, GS crystal. I've posted this one before iirc, ran across it when hunting for the AKs. One Air-King (!) and one Air-King (?) Upper one is 100% a genuine 14000M with 3130 and the lower one is a replica '14000' with swiss ETA 2836/sapphire. The nos replica 'AK' has a 36mm case with 20mm hoods and the slightly used genuine AK has a 34mm case with 19mm hoods. The replica keeps time as close as the genuine model and the running reserve is about the same. Do not know what made the zit at 49 min, the bezel is fine. Posted the 14000M before, please excuse the ratty pics. Nos Daffy Diver from 1994. Daffy Duck was 'born' in the late 1930s. J3/Amc