Usil

I used a knife edge case remover under the bezel and the crystal and bezel came right off as one unit. Hand pressed back on and as good as new. Usil

This is just a small personal review of my Breitlings but mainly I am writing this because through all of this, as much as I was loving to expand my Breitling collection, I was also searching for the perfect size for my wrist.. A few weeks ago it was Breitling Week in Paris. There were Breitling posters everywhere as they made a blitz in advertising. The month before last I was in Zermatt, Switzerland with the family and not only Breitling but many watch company posters were present all over town, on the lift and at the top of Klein Matterhorn. It was the Breitling posters that got my attention. I have always liked the looks of the Navitimer pilot styling. I started out with a Navitimer Series Speciale for my first rep, late in 2005. I had a friend pick it up in Jakarta when she visited there last year. It was a Navitimer with a quartz movement and it ran perfectly and gave me a lot of satisfaction. I found RWG shortly after and the fun began. I gave the Quartz Navitimer to my daughter who really wanted it and bought myself the Series Speciale. I have a 7

My Railmaster XXL and UPO both came with pretty good lum. Usil

Picky, Picky, Picky. They all have some issues and many you site are arn't worth worrying about. Besides this is a hobby for many of us and we just take the issues as challenges to work on. We learn somthing on each watch, we make the improvements and we get satisfation on the project. Great hobby. Great watches - far better than the swatch. Usil

I can anwer two of your questions. The Super Lume applied after market is way better than the standard lume on the reps but it depends on what you want or like or if you are willing to part with 100-150 USD to get the relume job. It is all about personal taste for this choice. As for the 'functional' part of the swan neck, earlier rep PAM models had what looked like a swan neck but it was not positioned to function. Newer models, the swan neck actually allowed for fine regulation adjustments of the watch. Usil

A word about my rotor question. The reason I asked is that I killed a bad replica once by removing the rotor. The race seperated and all these little teeny weenie microscopic ball bearings fell out. Just one more thing to worry about. Thanks again for the tutorial. I will be using this but right now the 3717 is so expensive I can not afford it. Usil

I really needed this. Thanks for taking the time to instruct us. This should be a sticky. A question - is it necessary to remove the rotor? and - did you ever find that spring or did you have to get another one? Usil

No one has bought one yet??? Usil

Unless I missed a post, has anyone bought one of these? Can you report on it with pictures? Usil

I have gotten some good deals from members and yes, they do move very quickly so you have to be fast. As for price, any sale is a good deal when the customer and the seller are happy. There is a car dealer I used to hear on the radio that I thought was humerous. He would extoll the virutes of his cars and always end by saying - '...and I ain't married to none of them'. A good philosophy when we get rid of things - get the best price we can for them and move on. Usil

Ok, you guys talked me into it. I will be in the states in September and I can get it fixed there. Thanks for the support. usil

Sale withdrawn. Usil

Gore's movie was a docu-drama and not a documentary. If it were a true documentary it would have had the other side of these arguments rather than trying to get us to believe that no one seriously diasagrees wtth his position. Climate changes all the time and will continue to do so driven by the varrying energy of our local sun. It is funny that he does not even mention the biggest green house gas is WATER VAPOR. But since we can not do anythign about that they do not discuss it choosing to discuss a tiny part of the total green house gasses in our atmosphere. Do some homework before jumping into this camp with both feet. Usil

Wearing this all week. Usil

I swear - that was what I was thinking too. Usil

Did they invent the Pope-mobile? Usil

pwygant is right. Risky business getting something for a friend. Especially a woos who wants others to make their choices for them. I would tell him to visit an AD and do some window shopping. Usil

There is no doubt that the US model is chaotic, corrupt and out of control. It scares me as I approach retirement age. When I was a lot younger working as a hospital orderly I used to check patients out and stop them by the 'Cashiers office'. I saw entire savings wiped out for older people who worked hard all their lives to secure their retirement. Then, when I went back up stairs, I took care of patients I knew to be indegent, homeless and broke getting the same care. With no fear of payment as they had nothing. This is just not right but the move to socialized medicine is not free as you know the tax burden is high. Then there is the 'do you really trust the government to do this efficiently??'. The problem now for the US is how do you move to socialized medicine in the current state? People are afraid to consider what will come from the process. As far as private coverage in England - I don't think it is the amenities that turn people to buy private insurance but that they are looking for faster treatment and shorter timing on critical surgeries, cancer treatment, transplants etc... where there are waiting lists to pass through to finally get scheduled treatment. With out private insurance, you do get treatment eventually if you are still alive. No easy answer in the US. Usil

Anticipation of crossing into Mexico is building. Do you speak Spanish? Any concerns in Central America? When you finally get to Panama, will you continue south a little so you can say you reached South America by bicycle? Usil

IWC bracelets are very well manufactured and very comfortable. Usil

Ximenes: Yeah, thats what I want too. I am going to try to adapt a 24 mm bracelet to the 187 by creating a spacer. Have not had time but will work on it later this year. Usil

Stop fretting. Unless you are digging ditches with your watch - forget the toothbrush and toothpaste. Just use a soft jewlers cloth, the kind that has a light polish in the cloth. But just use a plain cloth on the crystal so you don't wear off he AR coating. Go out and enjoy the watch. Usil

The Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean, Panerai 111h and the Rolex Submariner were among my first purchases, all with Asian movements and all are going strong (over 1 year old). Welcome to the forum. Usil

Being an American living in Paris for the past 4 years, I can speak to the differences for driving in Europe and the US. After you have been driving for a few years, it becomes an automatic response - relegated to the non-thinking parts of the brain, much like walking or using your hands. You become used to the flow of traffic and there are certain expectations you have for other drivers in most routine circumstances. This is for normal driving. Anything that disrupts the normal pattern of driving is dangerous and you all of a sudden require considerably more attention and action. Moving to Paris and driving in Europe required me to shift out of automatic mode and shift into thinking mode. Driving patterns are different, city driving is different, light patterns at intersections can be different, round abouts are different, cars gathering at lighted street corners are different, drivers expectations in certain circumstances are different and traffic flow is different on many streets where street lines are non existent. All of this required me to adjust my pre-existing driving patterns and skills to the new conditions. It took about 6 months before I completely adjusted to the differences and became comfortable driving here. It actually helped that I had bought a motorcycle when I arrived and used this for my city transportation. People who come visit are nervous in the car as I drive through the city as they see the differences I listed. Now I find myself returning to the States in a few months and I cringe at going back to driving in the US. I find that driving in Europe is much more safe and the drivers are, in general, more courteous to your needs as you try to navigate in congestion. Similar circumstances in the US are such that drivers near you would rather see you crash and burn before letting you merge or maneuver is tight places or heaven forbid you get in front of them. I know that I paint with a broad brush when I say these things but I have experienced these conditions many times and it is not an exaggeration. I am not looking forward to returning to driving in the States where I have to quickly check the rear view mirror at every stop light to see if some idiot is actually accelerating toward the changing red light to get across the intersection from 100 meters back. I have been rear ended twice in the last two years I lived in the states by idiots doing exactly that and once I narrowly escaped collision after I had stopped and the light was actually red - I looked up and see this hugh pickup truck barreling towards me at high speed (towards my little Mazda MX-5). Seeing the intersection was clear, I started to drive forward and by doing so narrowly averted him crashing into me. I am not looking forward to going back to this. Usil

I don't like to tempt fate of theft or customs so I usually wear my PO or 111h when I travel. I never take a second watch. I like the Ingy AMG Ti for travel too as it just feels very comfortable. As a rule, don't wear what you would not mind loosing. Usil