w0lf

Sorry to hear this, Mark. You have the most important things - your health, your family and your wits. Just remember that this situation is temporary and it may seem scary, but it could be a blessing in disguise just like many have already noted. A friend lost an executive job of 11 years, his wife was in third trimester with their second child, they had closed on their new home a month prior and were in the middle of major renovations. To top it all off USCIS had lost wife's paperwork for permanent residence and started deportation proceedings. Seems like a mathematical improbability that so many things can go wrong at the same time, but it sure happened! Now, a year later the family is in great shape. Husband picked up what he thought was a temporary consulting gig that opened some phenomenal opportunities. They were able to keep their new home, hired an attorney and straitened all the immigration stuff out, eventually finished all renovations, but most importantly even before all that wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Just know that everyone had similar events happen to them, some folks are going through them right now, always seems dire but personally I'm a much happier, more productive and caring person because of what it took to deal with these things throughout my life.

Never seen a st36 or a hz9000 that ran in excess of 60 hours, they're usually right around 48-55 hours.

Could be a '60s vintage 14k gold-filled case Omega Seamaster, Deville, Geneve or a Constellation, they all had models with square cases with no lugs or very small lugs and had this type of markers.

You need to set up your notification preferences and double check your email address. I stopped getting new thread/subscription notifications about a year or so ago after the forum software was upgraded but realized that I just needed to refresh all of my preferences.

I'm getting PM notifications now, so someone is def. working on the issue.

Not getting email notifications on PM messages either.

In for one 6 box USA

Evening gentlemen and an occasional lady, Before we begin our submersion, if you're not sure what the big whoop about whole case nomenclature is but want to know, take a quick look here. Tonight's segment is about a Panerai case, that in my opinion is King among the stalwarts of the early to mid. '90s Panerai and certainly is a quite unique interpretation of the Bettarini Luminor design. It is among the rarest, most Italian and most "transitional" of Pre-Vendome creations, the CORO or as its more widely known, the OP6500 case. Its manufacture was contracted out by Panerai to an Italian concern CORO Spa with final fitting and detail by Fabiano Alessi's company Croem. Some make the mistake of referring to the OP6500 as a PreA only case; though Panerai did deliver their PreA models 01,02,04,09 in OP6500 under Cartier/Vendome in 1997, it actually first premiered on Pre-Vendome models 5218-209 and 5218-210. In the very beginning of Cartier's reign right after the takeover of Officine Panerai by Vendome Group, the new company didn't immediately move away from the OP6500 design, later referred to as "Lacking" by A.Bonatti. Instead, they ordered 500 more sets from CORO, possibly to case up the remaining inventory of dials and watches. The key features that set this case apart from other cases is the combination of its unique lug shape, soft mid case detail, lack of any strap lip like the earlier Montres Valgine made cases. It's also just a hair, almost imperceptibly so to an untrained eye, larger than a contemporary Luminor case in its stance. A piece with a pretty interesting story that came out in OP6500 that deserves a mention is the 5218-218A. It certainly merits a separate discussion, but in the interest of keeping this somewhat laconic, the things that stand out about it are: -While often referred to as a Pre-Vendome model, the 5218-218A was actually finished under Cartier in 1997 -It used a Montres Valgine double screwhead strap change like the classic-Pre Vendome models 5218-201/A, -202/A, etc. and unlike every other model cased in OP6500. -It has a unique color and type of Nitride PVD applied to it. A few photos of genuine PreA model profiles for some perspective. Albeit, most are shot with a lot of lens distortion but should still provide distinct and useful elements: As I wrote in my last year's case article, in my opinion OP6500 has really no equivalent in rep form aside from the very obscure old PAM111F that was sold back around 2004-2005. So naturally when I managed to get a hold of one of these pieces, the only thing its case was going to be used for was, yes - you guessed it. As it stood the case still needed a lot of work, but after about a month of nights and weekends of research and careful sculpting, here's my finished piece. As you can see it's double bored to become a 5218-218A after some very special PVD coating. Thank you for reading and good night.

Very cool indeed!

I'll go further and say don't even service the movement. You can roughly estimate how a watch will run from QC pics, if not sure how to read timegrapher results check: http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/143934-how-to-read-timegrapher-results/; refuse QC until you get a good one. What's the point of spending more than 50% of the cost of a brand new watch on movement service? The way I see it a full movement service is warranted only if: 1) You can do it yourself and you already have all the tools and expendables to do it. 2) It's a watch that you absolutely love and want to keep long term and there are no cost efficient Swiss movement alternatives, ex. 775x based flybacks and rattrapante chronos or 7754 based GMTs. 3) It's a high value franken that you already have exactly as you wanted. 4) It's one of those $598 reps, at which point it might become cost prohibitive to tie up so much money in them. Otherwise with $300 reps you'll come out ahead even if your watch craps out tomorrow. Just buy the same model and you'll have it in two weeks as opposed to trying to get on a watchmaker's schedule, which can be anywhere from a month to infinity until you get it back. Also, when you buy a new watch, you can try a new strap, get a cooler serial number caseback or swap case parts with your old watch if the tolerances were better. Sell the dead one for parts at a steep discount - you can sell any current factory PAM with a dead movement for 50% of its cost under an hour on this or any other rep board.

Second one is fake too. I'm not going to go over the more difficult to spot things like the stitching, the tile, the liner, fonts on the baggie sticker, etc. - those are harder to spot. However, few are the instances where you will see these combinations: 1) A a brand new gator on a brand new depoloyant go for less than $500 2) A brand new strap mounted on brand new deployant. Who does that and if they did unpack and mount everything up for you convenience, why would they include a strap baggie and not a deployant box? Most arrangements like this that are genuine will come with a visibly worn strap and no packaging.

Stunning, very well done!

I once had a MBW PAM48K tested to 600m in Omega dry chamber just for kicks - it passed.

i like peat so bowmore islay, lagavulin, laphroaig. i also enjoy quality blends, compass box's bottles, their oak cross in particular, have been a good old standby and a good way to break someone in thats unfamiliar with scotch.

Evening gentlemen, I've been looking forward to this build for many reasons. First there's something about models designations that read both ways: 22, 55, 88, 111... well, maybe I didn't think this logic through because 33 is hideous... But in any case, I like the number, it's also in the title of one of my favorite of Heller's books and the Officine Panerai Luminor 22 is a damn fine timepiece! It's a rare model and I'm not talking about the readily available over-the-counter rep stuff right now. I'm talking prime time, big kahuna, genuine dial franken so sweet that there was only one ever to cross the forum channels on its trajectory from Singapore to Korea. So naturally, when I got a line on a genuine "B" year marker dial, I had to have it, nevermind the cost. The build was already coming together in my head as I hit the payment button when I realized that there's never been a good destro contemporary crownguard. Sure there was a somewhat decent one on the discontinued PAM239, but finding one for sale and still ending up with a part that would not mate an OEM spec case and crown I was planning to use was less than ideal. So rather then wait and hope something would turn up I just decided to make a custom destro CG. In addition I tried to incorporate all of the usual parts tweaks along some fresh ones that I've been meaning to try in a build so you be the judge and if anyone is interested in the final parts list I can add that later. After the crownguard spherical taper was milled and the final luster put on, I started on the lever with the usual pin sleeve: A facet near the lever tip for mating with the sloping surface inside crownguard body: Finally beveled the edges: A bit of caring touch goes a long way in the looks department. Nothing says OEM CG better than the above details along with an ever so slightly recessed and perfectly flat and polished lever pin: With an absolute mint, immaculate dial like this: You simply cannot skimp on other parts or details, no matter how small. So a gold plated brass HW was used as in the genuine. A nickel plated HW on anything other than PreV models is a big giveaway. After about two weeks of tweaking all the bits and getting them to look the biz, I'm in the home stretch, ready to assemble: You can see the JimmyZFu case crown tube finishing its curing in bottom right. The crown is finished, albeit I forgot to take pics of the re-beveling process, promise I'll include in the next one. Time to put her together. There's just not enough hours in a weekday night to do it all so I let her rest for the night, will pick up tomorrow: All put together with a fully serviced movement and ready to wear on my favorite B-series calf. Look at that amplitude! And she goes on the wrist; you just can't top a genuine dial build:

Great stuff, a must for all franken Sub builders. Thank you for sharing!

There isn't one out there for the chronograph models by any major factory but you can get a DSN Daylight CG for $50 and reshape its lever to fit. It's a lot of work though.

^ And this is why I use a Foredom flexshaft with high quality rouges from menzerna for small detail work and a Baldor lathe with full kit of wheels and mops for larger geometries. I have a dremel too but that's reserved for home DIY projects, not watches.

All I'm going to say is - you get what you pay for both in terms of looks and how the strap wears. I went through several thousand dollars worth of various aftermarket straps of in different styles and hides, not all of them exotics of course but in the end I recommend OEM because of these simple reasons: o Comfort: I don't need a reminder that I'm wearing a big heavy watch every minute of the day. With OEM straps I'm never in-between holes, or have a feeling that I signed up for a bondage club. The straps break in quick and match my wrist well, they're not too thick and they wear in a way that I forget that I have a watch on. o Safety: I don't have to worry that the hide came from a poacher and was tanned using weird chemicals. There have been numerous instances involving long-standing and well known strap makers whose strap caused rashes or allergic reactions. o Quality and Durability: I have five OEM alligator straps and half a dozen calfs most of which I've worn in regular rotation for about 4-5 years together with my wife; they have held up really well and still have a lot of life left. o Resale value: I can sell pretty much any OEM strap in almost any condition within 24 hours and not lose a bundle. In some cases I can even end up making money because OEM strap prices keep climbing every year.

I would only recommend OEM Officine Panerai alligator straps. You will not find anything remotely approaching OEM quality (made by Hirsch Armbander GmbH) for significantly less. Some other high quality exotics come from Atelier du Braslet Parisien and Atelier Camille Fournet but they can cost quite a bit more than OEM from new.

Looks great on you too, W These MBW/MBK PAMs are really quite well executed to begin with, but paired up with an OEM blue dial they're just too legit to quit!

From what I know about metal fab in China, AISI/SUS316 stock is very hard to get for small runs production. What we get in reps and most designer watch brands with extremely rare exceptions (that are more of an idiosyncrasy than a rule) is 304 powder steels that are very common in China. They are sintered into intermediate blanks and then machined and finished to spec. It's a very advanced process by now and has low rejection rates; it allows for very quick production set up and enormous cost savings vs. the traditional megaton stamping from billet. As an aside, it's shown to increase the mtbf cycle of the machinery because the initial blanks can be sintered with good precision requiring less milling. Sintered steels are also easier on the tooling, specifically the cutters. As far as I'm concerned, the dealers can write whatever they want on their sites because every refinisher worth their salt knows how to work cutting and finishing compounds to give you close to any luster you want with a 304. They can certainly make it look a little "whiter" like a 316F alloy. Until there's a metal spectrometer report from an independent source, I simply disregard whatever they have to say about any technical characteristics of the steel used in reps.

Both look stunning, W!

Pure class!

It's really doubtful that anything coming out of China is 316L, most likely sintered 304.