Usil

Good to hear on the improvements. Thanks for this. And good to hear about using super lume. On Pams, I hope you can also put the thicker crown on. Usil

This was where I hoped this was all going from the Pugwash thread. Usil

I was eating lunch with our engineers yesterday and noticed that one of them was wearing an IWC SS GST. The next day (today) I decided to wear mine. We had lunch but did not have time to talk. I went to his office this afternoon as we work together on some projects and flashed him my watch next to his. We took them off and started comparing. His was about 10 years old, a Gen and had the dark face mine had but the stop watch second hand was white. From a first look, this was the only visible difference I could see. He knows I buy reps but he could not believe the exactness, especially since he paid over 3000€ for his and I paid 275 USD. When I hefted the two, his was heavier. The SS shine and look was identical. The dimensions looked the same, the strap was a marvel and you could not tell the two apart except for the clasp. His gen had a tooled clasp, heavier in construction and swirled from the metal tooling. The rep clasp was plain and thiner. Adjusting the links for both was exactly the same. He immediately took my watch and went heading down the corrider to show it to another friend. The rep was a marvel to both of them. Highly impressed. So, from a quick look on the wrist, the only noticable difference was the white stop watch second hand which may have changed to silver on newer models but I am not sure. Holding both, the Gen is heavier. The clasp is the biggest difference but this would not be noticable unless you took it off and did what we did. I was amazed myself and felt pretty lucky to have my great looking rep. Thanks to Neil for this one. Usil

Seeeeek ------ ouuuuuut --------- Panerai. Usil

I love the look of stainless steel in the morning. Usil

Thanks for the info. I hesitate to start trying to get the insert off because I know how easy they are to warp or bend. I wanted to weigh this against the possibility of losing it all together. And from what you said, it looks like I should consider removing and re-gluing it. Usil

I just wanted to be certain what popped off meant which now looks like this could happen while just wearing it and bumping it against something. Usil

I know there is a trick to this that is used by those that work on cars. When they do a two tone paint job (one color next to another) , they want a 'finished' edge between them. I just don't know the trick. Anybody here have a car hobby know how to do this? Usil

Can't send a PM so I will ask, how did you take the insert off? Heat up first or just pick off? I ask this in case I need to reglue mine when it arrives. Usil

Great DIY. Be careful on earlier versions of the PO when removing the bezel as there are differences. Mine has a very small part in a small recess of the case that has a spring behind it that provides the clicks on the wrachet. Spring that across the room and it is gone forever. Usil

If you removed the tape immediately after spraying (still wet) would this eliminate the fracture edges left from dryed paint? Usil

I would put lock-tite on all those little screws. Hate to see one go missing. Some report on similar Bret bezels this has happened. Usil

Welcome to the forum. Lots of nice reps to choose from so hold on to your wallet. Usil

This for the weekend. Usil

Welcome to the group. What kind of mods? Usil

JB weld is epoxy based and would work but it is an ugly grey and if you screw up in the slightest you have a grey blob on your watch. If you screw up with a clear epoxy, at least it will not be so noticable. Use a loop for the process and a tiny amount of epoxy applied using the sharp tip of a toothpick. The loop is so that you can see that you only apply a tiny amount. Usil

This is a very good project review. Thanks very much for thinking about us when describing the steps you took. Usil

It would look good on you. Get it. Usil

Welcome to the group. There are some nice Omegas from our dealers. Usil

I'll second that. Usil

My 98.00 USD IWC Big Pilot. Usil

The big issue every time a new operating system upgrade comes out is lack of drivers. It is not an operating issue per say but it is an issue until all the software companies get their acts together. This can take time. Me, I like to wait for version 2 and this is what I did for XP profesional. By that time, drivers were not an issue and everything was optimised. As for Vista, XP pro works fine for me. I am on line 24 hours a day and with my fire wall, spyware program and Norton antivirus, I have no issues (I know - I should just get an Apple) and my friends using Linux say the same for their operating system. I don't really know what Vista will bring me so I will wait and see. Unlike Windows 98, XP-pro seems to have a long life and works for me in everything I need and do. I think I will wait and do it when I do a motherboard change with a quad core, new super duper ATI graphics card, 'ridiculous speed' hard drives and latest sound card. That should be my next project in 2008. Usil

You are lucky it did not pop off never to be seen again. Structural epoxy or JB Weld will fix it just fine. Usil

Glad he is going to replace it but that looks terrible. Usil

My Black and white panda is going strong and is accurate, in fact I am wearing it today. Usil