owdeguy

I wish there was a parts breakdown for them. Took me a couple of hours to work out how the date change worked since all the pieces fell out on me. Eventually I got it, but the spring positions were somewhat puzzling without a single picture of what it was supposed to look like....

I just did eta wheels on mine, you can see pics of the difference at the geek. I also did an eta 7750 and gen dial too, since I plan on keeping it for a while.....

I have the broaches to open the hand up, if you're in Chicago...

Cool, bet that would work good with my R380. I never got around to getting a setup like that.

Thanks for clarifying Rodwc.! That makes sense now. Guess no paper for me! I'll live with it though since I have no plans on selling mine, its too desirable to me as its an unrepped model!

I have a Gen Chronomat Vitesse, and I am curious about this. Does your caseback have the COSC spelled out on the back or is it an early pre-COSC caseback? Mine is close to yours in manufacture date and I don't have the COSC on the caseback. I find it interesting and puzzling how they can give you a COSC cert if it was pre-cert days. I wouldn't mind having the paper, although it doesn't really matter too much to me. I've owned mine since new and it has been a great daily workhorse of a watch for the past 7 years for me... Pete

I was viewing a thread when I saw this pic, reminded me of this thread. Heres an example of what may happen using macro filters. (not sure if macro filters were/were not used on this shot, but the white lettering with offset blue is a perfect example of chromatic shift)

You should be able to get some nice shots, however the cheap add on lens way would be my least favorite. The reason being you buy a Nikon for the glass, they are famous for it. If you're putting something between your subject and camera thats an unknown, you'll get unknown results, like weird bokeh, chromatic shifting esp on the fringes, focusing issues. With either extension tubes or reverse rings the glass is still of whatever quality you use, that being your Nikkor lens. The only advantage I see to this is that you still get metering so you can run in an automatic mode. This may be off by 1-2 f stops however because light is being lost going through your add on lens, therefore you may need to compensate either with EV or by switching to manual. Good luck and happy shooting! BTW, I'm more of a motorsports photog than a Macro expert, these are just my ramblings from my years of doing photography.... Pete

Gens have been good to me over the years. I think to hedge value loss you have to be willing to buy pre-owned, and be selective. I would consider $700 to be low priced, and thats about what I paid for my Omega Schumacher back in 2002ish. I bought this because I liked Schuey and Ferrari, but also because I believed it would be a good long term investment watch. He was on his 4th championship win, so he was going to go down in the books as a legend which he did. That watch today is worth about 1500 with its strap, box and papers. So I've doubled my money on it. Now if I had gone out willy nilly buying I probably wouldn't have fared so well, but I liked Omegas and they were a watch that were selling undervalued at the time IMO. My Breitling was purchased new in 2000 for about 60% back from list which was 4100ish I think. I got lucky on some crazy deals available back then and picked it up, always hoping it wouldn't lose much value. its probably worth about 80% of what I paid for it, so while it hasn't made me money, it hasn't lost much in value. Its all about being selective in what you pick. I didn't even pick the popular brands like PAMs and rolex as they don't suit my style. And yes, I'm glad neither of my watches were ever replicated, I'd personally stay away from the buying a gen in a version where a super rep exists...

BTW, I took those shots with my Nikon 35-135 AF-D lens (reverse ringed) thats worth about 60-80 bux on ebay. Its an autofocus lens, so I'm sure you find a nikon manual focus lens it'd be even cheaper! the reverse ring adapter will run you 10-15bux so for under 100 you can have a pretty nice macro setup. Pete

If you don't want to spend alot, find a decent quality mid zoom, 28-35mm to 80-120mm ish range. Make sure its got a manual aperture ring, and then buy a reverse ring adapter for it. I'd bet if you ask around someone you know has an old 35mm slr camera with an inexpensive zoom lens in that range. It won't even matter what brand you get if you use a reverse ring adapter. Then learn to shoot in full manual mode and you can take shots like these...

But wheres the Lume!

Sterile being no panerai wording, trademarks, logos, etc.. I think.

I'm in Chicago as well!

As someone thats worked on genuine OEM stuff vs aftermarket I would charge the same for rep vs gen because standards are poor for rep stuff meaning what should take a second could take either a second or 10 minutes or an hour. Things not built to precision mean much higher probability for failure. So you remove a hand and the whole stem comes out, yuck. And then as the watchsmith you're in a very hard position of how to replace an aftermarket part that you have no supply chain for. I'm warehousing spare parts for the movements in my watches just in case. Just my counterpoint to why pricing may be high and why most smiths don't want to work on reps.

I'd like to buy this from you if he doesn't want it, I need some of the pieces for a PO project I'm starting on. Pete

I do believe that there is an XL gen band available that would probably go out to 8". This swiss BM is incredible looking btw. I'm working on my Black Ice with a few tweaks to make it look a little more proper. I have 3 spare 7750s and was thinking about putting one in, but maybe not if its really that much trouble..... BTW, does anyone know if The Zigmeister documented the issues he ran into doing this swap?

Best rep ever made? I'd say its a far cry from that with all the movement differences visible. The case itself is done very nicely. The best rep I've ever seen is the ferrari scuderia 008, as without a loupe there really is no tell on the watch. The case is 1:1 and even parts on it are replicated exactly. The AR even matches gen, I've compared them back to back and its scary... I own both a HBB and the 008 and the 008 with an aftermarket strap I would be secure enough to walk into an AD with. The only thing I've been able to find is one minute tell on the clasp that 99/100 people would never notice.

Looks like a gen to me.... I own a rep along with yet to be installed... gen dial, swiss eta 7750, and eta day date wheels...

Never repped that I know of....

Thats my Chronomat Vitesse, Bought it about 7 years ago... Its a gen btw. If you really are set on getting a DSLR, a few things. Plan on really learning photography to get good pictures out of it and plan on buying some macro lenses with the camera cost. A kit lens won't do much to take a nice watch shot as the minimum focusing distance is usually about 1 foot, which mean no nice full frame watch shots. Most point and shoots with a macro mode will get you about 3" minimum focusing distance so full frame glamour shots are no problem. If you were most well versed in photography, you could do some "tricks" to save money buy converting lenses with reverse rings or extension tubes. With a "hacked macro lens" setup you could do this however. But I have to shoot in full manual so understanding ISO, aperture, shutter speed is necessary.

Got any reps you want to trade one for? I have a collection of nice, newer cameras, too many as a matter of fact. I was collecting Panasonic cameras as I like the Leica Glass they use. I'd recommend just finding a nice point and shoot with a good macro mode. The most important thing is learning how to use the camera. A DSLR is overkill unless you want to do some crazy macro stuff, I know I have 2 DSLRs. Setting up the camera speed, white balance, and image stabilization(a tripod could reduce the importance of this) are the things you'll want to play with. A few Point and Shoot examples.

Perhaps your asian movement was based on a 2836 and the diameter is just slightly different on the datewheel? Just a guess...

Very interesting... I might look into some of this.

So I guess in the spirit of the soup guy on seinfeld, "No Watch Service for YOU!.. Next!" hehe Just trying to lighten things up