docblackrock

Joe, one I'm a little surprised you posted this as didn't I recall you posting a couple of days ago you were getting out of this hobby? Or was that a reaction to this issue here? FWIW I don't think there's been any dramatic rise in prices, just the steady trickle trickle increases over the past 18 months or so. $240 became $268 became $318 etc and so on. Cost of raw materials, weakness of US dollar, price-fixing by the Cartel dealers, whatever....it all amounts to the same thing in the end. I would however, say that the quality we're seeing now is now consistently a notch or so above what we saw 2 years ago, but in the end you either pay to play or you don't. I think we all know what is beyond the pale when it comes to pricing (the A7750 $600+ reps) and I think the makers have realised that, which is why we're seeing some excellent sub-400 reps - that seems to be the upper limit for high quality, high volume sales right now.

As was the last one, judging by the last recipients description. There may be no connection to the The Zigmeister project, but it seems suspect you have suffered this again so soon after, and for a similar high value loss. The connection/lack of coincidence I suggested may be the sender's address - someone may have flagged you that's all.

WTF is that thing?! Nice pics K, makes me sad I've not been away this summer - unlikely to either - all work and no play makes Doc very unhappy

Also, the makers are obsessed with having 'new' models - the gen CA has now been mothballed, so that rules it out. If anything the new Skyland will satisfy that market 10x more than a rerun of the CA, so they'll not produce anything that may take sales away from the Skyland. I know most of us would have both, but that's not how they see it. The only member-driven rerun I recall is Silix's Bond Subs - however, we're talking much smaller and cheaper scale.

Sadly I think you're all pissing into the wind here. This isn't just some model discontinuation for the sake of it, it's part of the apparent shutdown of all titanium watches. Seems Ti is just not as widely available anymore. Either that or the factories are just not working with it. The CA, even the second version, was pulled some time ago now, and even the Ti PAMs are now 'end of life'. As for IWC, the Ingenieur has gone, and the Aquatimer was never released in Ti format. I suspect the Skyland was an obvious choice given the demand for a new and accurate Aeromarine model, but I doubt we'll see the CA rear its beautiful matt grey head once again. Lucky I have one (old factory franken) already

Dani, sorry to hear this. But your last loss, outbound to The Zigmeister if I recall, was also nabbed en route. Possible this latest theft is no coincidence, and you've been flagged by some unscrupulous postal employee. Doesn't matter where in the world you are, there are always thieving bastards abound. Maybe in future, only deal within Europe or if you absolutely have to ship valuable stuff to/from the US, insist upon courier service (TNT, Fedex, UPS etc.) - you'll pay more and also possibly spring for tax, duty etc. (although a 'warranty' repair note can help avoid this) but you're less likely to experience theft. In my experience at least.

Excellent news

Sounds all too familiar.... Except I always play 'good cop'. Playing, chasing, feeding etc. Ms DBR does the vet visits, worming, pill popping etc. Guess who's more popular?

Indeed it does. Someone's cracked open their ceramic-bezelled GMT 116710 methinks

He didn't 'make it famous' the 1655 was merely his own personal watch as evidenced by archive photos of the man off-duty. Everyone goes on about the Monaco (which he did 'make famous') but he only wore that for the filming of Le Mans, never in real life. Similar issue with the Apollo mission flight-approved Omega Speedmasters which got all the resultant PR, when in fact archive photos and personal testimony revealed many of the astronauts also wore and, in fact preferred their own personal Rolex GMT's.

Freddy, you know those schematics in Skeet & Urul are almost certainly to scale, so knowing the case thickness/profile, you should be able to calculate the bezel height, total depth etc. Not ideal I know but short of finding someone with access to one of these '50s beauties and a pair of digital calipers, you're going to find it extremely difficult to source this exact information. Just a suggestion, but you could ask NDT or MY if they would be so kind to pass on the specs of their 'replacement' cases and see if it matches your calcs - I think Michael would be the most likely to do this for you if I had to pick.

Ten grand ha! Beggars belief that you could pick these up for a tenth of that only a few years ago...

Euno, I thought it was Ken who shafted you? Wasn't aware it was 'HQ'. Feel free to email me and spill the beans, also about the trip tube you enquired about

Actually I had an issue with my insert not being seated correctly. Not wanting to yank the insert out for fear of damage I looked at removing the entire bezel assembly, with the old masking tape, blade method. However, it was clearly not going to budge easily so I gave up, and gently using toothpicks worked around was able to snap the insert out. Cleaned off the excess DS tape, and she just snapped right back in place, snug as you like.

Not a PVD external coating but a titanium carbon nitride process that 'impregnates' into the metal. It's not scratch-proof, but more scratch-resistant than standard PVD.

Good eyes T! Admittedly not as stylish as your welder's goggles CS - yes indeedy, changed my mind at the last minute, ex-demo, vroom vroom....

It actually scares me a little, I swear there's an ominous hum emanating from the box. The Blacksteel doesn't sleep. It waits.

Normally I err on the side of benevolence over malevolence, you know the sort of thing... Good vs. Evil... Mac vs. PC... Pepsi vs. Coke... Liverpool vs. Chelsea... Lani vs. Wholesaleoutlet... etc. But you know what I'm tired of being 'good' and it stops right now! Seems you've all been seduced by the Force of the oh so shiny Skyland (Luke Skylander?). I'm sure it's very nice in a non-threatening way (likes puppies, helps little old ladies across the road, that sort of thing), but let me introduce you to the Dark Side my friends, what Lord Vader wears on his weekends away from the Death Star, maybe doing a little fishing, a round of golf, or mowing the lawn after being nagged by Lady Vader, who knows...? Mwahahahahaha...... Oh and it wasn't the only malevolent beast that arrived and possessed me this week, in an eerily similar shade of forbidding darkness

Ah a longtime lurker but avid collector I see.... Hola y bienvenudo!

Stephane there aren't actually that many variations of the gen 1655 - basically two in fact, early version (early 70s for a couple of years) with straight secs hand and smaller/thinner bezel font, and then mid-70s all the way to the 80s (standard 'bubble' second hand and larger/thicker bezel font). Of course there was the limited run on the rail dials in the mid/late 70s, but other than than any variations you see (4th hand colour) is down to ageing and the 'Law of Siegfried' (as described by Nanuq and I).

Very nice togasa, very nice indeed If you sell that franken, you'll have a lot of interest without doubt. That minty fresh lume is exactly how I like it. 'Tis a pity though that it lacks either of my two other favourite features of 1655 variants, ones I've seen in the flesh/metal on gens.......the early straight secs hand, or the later 'rail' dial.

my god man that thing's a BEAST! Would love some profile shots showing that domed sapphire crystal, and Ti caseback, not to mention the obligatory blue lume shot - all are used in the promo material but heavily manipulated images, would love to see 'real life' examples.