asiparks

so... searching back through the posts here, i see that this watch has a fairly poor reputation for reliability and that it's been dropped from most of the dealers sites...however it is a very, very lovely looking piece and I see that Ruby has a few on her site and I am sorely tempted to try one, so I wondered if anybody has bought one of these lately or if it might be improved over the earlier version ? Or will i be the guinea pig for this one...

I'd be in for one too

Ruby may have some, I got my 2nd 3717 from her a couple of weeks ago as a gift for my wife and it was a V1 , the lume was only on the hands and 12,3,6 and 9 batons and the subdials were nicely recessed. The first one i got from her was a V2 with all the numbers lumed, although it still had nicely recessed subdials .. It might be a crapshoot to which she can source for you, i think she just takes the first available one but at least she sends pics of the actual watch first and you can clearly make out the more raised lumed digits on the V2 and reject it. Still worth it to try asking her. I actually prefer the incorrect V2. I like the glowing numbers

er...colourful like the 07 better and the 06 much better....

I think he's referring to the fact that you can read all about the "gas escape blah blah" without having to turn the watch face down interesting looking clasp and divers extension, wonder how they'll do repping that....

we have a couple kicking around our office for the jetsetters, it's nice and all, but i'll stick with my macbook pro,the extra functionality is well worth the extra 3 or so lbs

it looks way better on the wrist than it does in the publicity pics ! Still not keen on the "original gas..." bit, but still... how about a shot showing the blue lume ?

are we at lunch time yet ?

what time is it ? is it lunch time yet ? need pics, sample pics..lots of sample pics... in hi-rez...your camera has macro, yes.....? is it lunch time yet...... ? C'MON !!!!

...or not... the GMT hand is red rather green, ( although the dial and bezel are listed as green, so that's maybe why) and the bezel engravings don't look quite as deep.....

Sooooo..... took the watch into the local USPS office with customs dec and registered package form filled out... the desk clerk entered the details into his computer and it returned a message saying that watches are specifically prohibited from being shipped to China!! he called his supervisor and she confirmed that if i were to send it, US customs would, on seeing the contents listed as "watch, returned for repairs", send it back to me... anybody else had this happen ?

My dream Chrono...

dammit ! i'm actually starting to like this watch. A bit. Just out of interest, how's the lume ?

yup, if this was ~$300 i'd be all over it, but $758 ?!!? C'mon now !

I'll do that then... Thanks all ! PS that's a big bastard squirrel ! Hate to see your racoons......

erm, wow ! makes me want to go and hug a Graham......

Howdy...I have to return a watch to Hong Kong for exchange, from the US, and was wondering what to put on the customs form...Anybody done this and have some words of wisdom ? cheers

OOB :how about the new Breitling SOH ? nice new datewheel, excellent dial, no pearl to bugger up.... movement very nicely finished inside...

yup, my asian IHS GMT hand stops seemingly at random intervals, but the watch keeps very good time, so I'm loathe to return it at the mo...that said it doesn't get a huge amount of wrist time as my Breitling SOH makes the rollie look, well, rather petite and girly....

I'm not so sure unless the cases/crystals are being sourced from a same 3rd party, they appear to be exactly the same in every way, pushers, crown, polish and brushed areas, outer ring (fixed) with the minute markers...R's dial looks nicer, the various indices are more consistantly ( and better ) finished ,the alignment of all the parts was better, as was the softer tactile feel of the inner bezel and the strap is way nicer, A's has more correct date font, better looking and lumed inner bezel, more accurate "bent" hands and a more reassuringly crisp chrono, so maybe a better movement. R's is $30 cheaper $50 if you include A's shipping. Of course the next person to buy one from either might get something utterly different.....

Trusty has this one... and Angus has this one, which is likely identical... and here's Josh's which is probably not that different... and here's Silix's..

actually the rings are not cut that deep, here's another shot... you can see how subtle the rings are in earlier wrist shot...(scroll down) going by the pics in Toadtorrents review, I'd say R's is closer to gen. The hour batons look to be of higher quality too.. R's strap also looks to be more accurate, and i don't know enough about correct date fonts, but R's looks nicer. Not playing favorites here and again I am far from expert on the details, so there is a good chance i'm quite wrong about many of them

It's a small country between Jermany and Frans.....

Hi all, first a bit of background... a while back I got an 06 CD from Ruby, loved the watch, was a bit miffed that it didn't have lume on the inner bezel, but as it had great day/date/inner bezel alignment, I wasn't too upset... well, I buggered it. I had the back off, messing around with it and it went and fell off my desk It did not land happily... I put it all back together, but something, somewhere got somewhat buggered, the crown wouldn't operate the day/date/hour change correctly and it refused to start ticking so it's as good as dead... As it's my favoritest watch, I went about ordering another, and as Ruby said she couldn't get the ones with the bezel lume, I contacted Angus and asked him if his had it... He said yes, so in short order I had another 06 CD in hand. My understanding is that these come from the same factory, that said, there are quite a few differences, some big, some not so...I have no idea which is the most accurate, just telling you how each differs...and sorry for the crap pics BTW... Straps: This was the most immediately obvious difference, Ruby's is quite a bit darker, much softer and more flexible and it smalls better. Not of vanilla, just better. Much more comfortable on the wrist... The buckle has a smaller, more engraved looking IWC logo the dial: Ruby's dial has very clear, well defined concentric rings on the subdial, Angus's appear to be completely flat... Ruby's had a crooked marker at 3, Angus had crooked markers at 12. Ruby's markers have slightly thicker silver outlines and appear smoother. Note the mis-aligned day wheel and the bad looking date wheel on Angus's, plus the blobby orange paint on the second hand and minute totalizer. Here's a pic of Ruby's date wheel. It looks (looked ? ) much nicer and both it and the day wheel consistantly aligned correctly. The hands on R's had better paint, but the minute and second hands didn't have the bent ends, whereas A's did. Backs... Nothing to choose between the "wood"s except A's was not centered as well. here's A's : and R's R's had deeper, more engraved looking lettering. Movements: A's is plain R's has an engraved logo and blue painted screws: Inner bezels: A's has lume and squarish dots between the digits, R's has an odd puckered lume-less paint with taller "dashes" between the digits. Other notes: The inner bezel on A's had the alignment problem, where you have to turn it back about 1/2 a click to get it to line up at 12. R's aligned perfectly, but had a much less defined click. A's kind of goes "twoing" as you pass each detent, R's made just a soft click. R's chrono reset was soft and mushy, A's has nice crisp chrono buttons. Both watches keep and kept excellent time. the lume on both watches is pretty good, even that on A's inner bezel Now I'm on a mission to swap parts between the two, Ruby's strap, rotor, day/date wheels, dial and hands are going to get transplanted onto A's watch which should give me the best of all worlds, a good chrono movement and lumed bezel with a nicer dial and strap. cheers

That is interesting... I've got a 3717 coming from Ruby, whom was reportedly shipping out version 2 with the lumed numbers, however in the pictures she's sent me, the subdials are very clearly recessed a la version 1...it should be here any day now, so I'll post when it arrives....