w0lf

Hello boys, I thought two and half years ago that this would be my last LOGO build. I don't build unless I can improve on the previous version. However, a few days ago, I took delivery of Rolli's latest 201/A dial. You can tell from the techniques and finishes used that no expense was spared. It took a lot of effort, persistence, and attention to detail; very impressive. I'm especially glad, that there are motivated guys out there that push the envelope on our beloved PreV models. Here are a few photos of the dial. They're all same/similar angles but different focus points to highlight the features that impressed me the most:

Spot on, Pete. The coinage machine die can put out impressions on a soft metal like bronze with great consistency. However, as the inside edge of the markers is burnished, when painted, it makes the index look wider due to creating additional surface area covered by the lume, rather than the black coat of the rest of the dial. It's an olde "paint within the lines" coloring book situation.

DSN

Some people on this forum will show you reps that lasted 20 years, but my bet is - you will find more for whom they lasted 20 days. The only reps that lasted for me were frankens I built with as few rep parts as was possible so my personal experince is non-indicative. I did, however, give out or help purchase my friends and family 50-60 reps, maybe more, I've lost count. They range from the cheap DG2813/3809 based ones to the 775x Corums, Superavengers, all sorts of GMTs and Daylight chronos. The timeframe is up to 8-9 years on the oldest examples and as recent as a year ago. Many, maybe most of these watches, had been back to me for something and some of them multiple times. Cheaper ones I just tell the owner to toss in the trash, as they are not worth spending time on. The watches that end up on my bench are usuall a sight to behold, whether gen or rep. I keep my watches in mechanically solid condition, clean and presentable but I'm not blowing every dust flake off of them either. It's interesting to see how much the average person doesn't sweat the condition of the watch though, from the cleanliness of the piece and its strap/bracelet, to the cracks, scratches and gouges, to sometimes missing parts. As long as it runs anything goes.

Gentlemen! I haven't done a vintage yet, but such preposterous frivolity has now been somewhat alleviated.

This is a broad question and there are valid points in everyone's responses. In my experience, replicas will last longer for enthusiast than for common folk. People with more exposure will generally do much better on average in the long run, because they will buy, take care of, and distill their collection down to better made, more dependable pieces. People that are approaching replicas strictly from a consumer perspective will generally do worse for many reasons. First, this demographic will purchase the least expensive version of the watch they are lusting after, and almost none will consider lack of complications as a plus. Even if you establish a baseline by assuming that both types of buyer acquire the same, generally considered good quality replica, there's a big difference in the way an enthusiast type and a consumer type deal with such a purchase. It's not that a consumer is someone who was raised by the wolves and never owned a watch before, it's just nobody but an enthusiast knows that when you get a watch from China, you may have to check for any of these and sometimes all of them: - Loose lug screws or spring bars, can slip off your wrist as soon as you put it on or a week later (Any rep) - Loose case screws (AP) - Loose crownguard screws (Pam) - Loose caseback or a caseback with a crushed gasket - Stripped threads on anything that functions as a screw (Any rep) - Missing crown or crown tube gasket (Pam, Rolex, Hublot) - Crushed crystal gasket (Rolex, Pam) - Junk, unlubricated or overlubricated movement (Any rep) - Etc., etc., etc. Add to this the fact that even if you get a good looking, perfectly running piece, the tolerances and materials of all the ancillary parts that make up a watch are not that high, and shortcuts were made where possible to save on costs. If you bought a rep and it worked like a charm for many years and you didn't buy several of the same watch, picked the best parts from all, looked under every nook and cranny, jiggled everything that can come undone, lubricated every seal and put it all lovingly together, maybe gambling could be a thing

Drury, - Bore out and ream the pin hole in the lever and install a silicone sleeve for firm and viscous lever closure feel - Flatten the lever pin and sink it just a hair below the CG body to set off the pin for definition - Add a small bevel to the edges of the lever and the semi-circles of CG body, to reflect direct light and give it pop - Mill a facet on the inside of the lever to mate with the interior of CG body where the screw-port is to make for proper closer and prevent the "protruding lever" syndrome. You can't see it all in the top-down view of the CG I pasted above, but most of these steps have corresponding images in this build thread: http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/157206-

When it comes to PAM36B, not having the lug engravings does not bother me personally. Watch is 17 years old by now and since it's Ti - a replaced case is not out of the question on some. In all likelihood there are more than a few shadow 36s out there, actually. PSC case replacement service pieces are shadow, promo material pieces used for catalog glamor shots are shadow, accolade watches (think Panerai regatta participants) are shadow. If having no lug engravings bothers you, then DSN's case is an OK alternative.

Another vote for a complete H-Factory PAM61D watch. With a little bit of refinishing, the H-Factory crownguard can be damn good. H-F side by side with OEM CG

PreV hour wheels are nickel plated brass. I'm not sure why the incorrect information is being attributed to me, but I have specifically stated that the PreV hour wheel is nickel plated brass. Gold plated / yellow brass hour wheels appear with ETA6497-2 derived calibers, beginning with PreA pieces. Please refer to post #8 here: http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/155538-111-modified-movement-complete/?p=1196556

The best combination is Chief cyclops on a MilitaryTime MM104 crystal http://www.jacksontse.com/mm104.html.%C2'> SpeedyG is the guy you want for cyclops instal, he's consistently done the best job on all of my 6mm cyclops installs. Genuine period correct 6mm cyclops crystal will not fit any rep case.

ETA6497-1 were only used in PAM 00318 Pre-Vendome watches use UT 6497 Panerai 183 uses an OPXI caliber based on ETA6497-2

The difference between H2 and H3 cp is 0.15mm. It doesn't matter what combination of pinions you use if your specific handset clears your specific dial and each other. Customarily, you either want to have the same pinion size throughout or to go up in height from the hand that's closest to the dial (H2 HW w/ H3 CP), but that should be obvious. It can also end up looking off with too much of a gap between hands as is the case with H1 HW w/ H3 CP. However, none of this is set in stone, for example if the minute hand tube is tall enough you can fit H3 HW with H2 CP but I would not recommend it. Two things: - There is no gold plated H3 hour wheel part for high beat movements that I can find, and all OPI,OPII,OPX & OPXI calibers have a gold-plated HW. It doesn't mean that gold plated H3 doesn't exist, but none of the European or US based shops I checked (Boley, Beco, JB, Ofrei, Startime, Casker, etc.) have it in their catalogs and it's also not shown in ETA documentation. - I worked on OPII and OPXI movements that had H2 sets in them. Again, it doesn't mean that all pieces will be H2, just that OP does use H2.

H2 HW & H2 or H3 CP. CP heights are used interchangeably by OP. HW part for -2 movement

Thanks. The dial and hands are a matching brand new customer service set; reason they look different is because I'm using daylight fluorescent lighting and balance on my camera. Compare to the natural lighting shots of the same watch (photos courtesy of Ubiquitous):

http://www.rwgforum.net/forum/72-davidsenjpn/

Evening folks, Fresh off the anvil, the eclectically elegant GMT Luminor 29 "B". The explorer bezel is a nod to Rolex while the tuxedo dial is all about early Panerai panache. Hope you like it, parts list at the bottom. Specifications: -Honpo original thin case 29 w/ full deco 2893-2 movement -Genuine dial -Genuine hands -Genuine crown -Genuine fat font bezel (A-Series) -MM104 crystal w/ Chief cyclops -Finepics DW -Custom SS crown tube -My usual CG mods (lever bushing, chamfering, bevel, etc.)

Good news everyone, I've not run out of parts yet! Here's my interpretation of one of the three kings of old school GMTs. The very underrated and beautifully balanced PAM63. I hope you like what I've come up with this time. This is the third version, v1 & v2 now belong to long-time forum friends. Big thanks to everyone who helped Specifications: -Honpo original thin case 63 w/ full deco 2893-2 movement -Genuine dial -Genuine hands -Genuine crown -Genuine bezel -MM104 crystal w/ Chief cyclops -Lello DW -Custom SS crown tube -My usual CG mods (lever bushing, chamfering, bevel, etc.)

More photos, please! This is quite an achievement and the dial looks to be in an excellent condition for its age. What else are you planning for this build?

It just keeps getting better and better! Beautiful shots and an amazing build

This is quite good indeed. First dial with a correct 2 in 12, serifs and lacquer fill. Proper texture can be accentuated with TS79. I love it!

Love it! Thanks for sharing

That's certainly a new development since KP has relumed hundreds of reps in the past.

I never really wanted a box for my build until now, Dexter. Awesome job!

And here I was thinking the love for Pre-V was dead; long live the King!