longshot

The bracelet rocks after tightening ALL the screws and a clean and oil and polish, but every screw on the watch was loose. Honestly, even with my glasses on it's hard to see the details of the cross so it does not bother me at all! So far it's +2 seconds in 24 hours. There is also a lot of cool detail in the dial that's hard to see. The edges of the markers are polished but the arabics are a matte aluminum finish. All the printing is very crisp and clear, as good as my ETA 2893 FM Conquistador. It's also much less bling than I expected with a lot more brush finish and less high polish. I think it would benefit from taking the bezel off (if that's possible) and giving the front of the case a good re-brush and then some Flitz or Semichrome. I was kind of surprised when I looked at the pics as the fit and finish looks much, much better in person than it does at 5X life size For me if I did it over again I would get the black dial. I'm a really casual guy and even though it's a dress/sport watch the white/silver dial is a maybe little too formal for me. I've actually emailed Josh to see if there is anyway I could get a black dial and chapter ring for it

Here's some quick pics Hopefully I'll have some better tomorrwow

Mine arrived yesterday and it's a stunner! I spent what time I had last night polishing it and cleaning and oiling the bracelet (and putting Loctite on the screws) but will get some pics this weekend. The bracelet does appear to be diamond cut and the dial does have a silverish kind of sheen

Mine cleared US C*stoms today Hopefully will be here tomorrow or Friday and I can give a hands on report

I agree the cross looks better and the trapezoid date wheel cut out is correct. But I am curious about the reasons for the six extra screws on the caseback? Ther are two near each lug instead of one and two by the crown. That seems odd?

My thoughts exactly, that's why I ordered one Sat night just after Joshua sent me a heads up It appears to be almost as good, if not as good, as my FM Conquistador rep and I've worn that one in to 3-4 high end watch AD's and no one has ever questioned it. I agree the Maltese Cross does not look perfect but to me the big plus of the newest version is that it appears thinner and more like the gen. I've only seen one gen Overseas and what appealed to me about it was that it was large at 42mm, but slim. The older version rep looks thicker and a bit clunkier (at least to me).

I ordered one from Joshua last night It still has a few flaws, but since the chances of my running in to someone who has ever even seen a gen are almost zero I'm excited about this one! Between my white/siver dial FM Conquistador and this one, the 'dress watch' portion of my collection will be complete

My wrist is just under 7" or so. Here's a wrist shot of a Pam111h on a (very beefy) Bob 24X24 strap

In America we pay prison guards more than school teachers, generally much more. Plus you don't even need a college degree to be a prison guard Maybe that's why the high school drop out rate in increasing almost as fast as the percentage of young Americans in jail or on parole or probation?

Ten days ago I gassed up our Saab here in California for $2.69US a gallon. Yesterday it was $3.26US a gallon at the same station and the same pump. Luckily I ride my bike to work most days, as does my wife But hey, the Bush/Republicans are giving the oil companies big tax breaks so I'm sure the prices will come down soon

Joshua only has pics of the white dial SS Super Avenger with the Citizen quartz movement and after bugging him about the black a few times he sent me this pic Yeah, it's only a quartz movement but since the sweep should only run while timing something, the step in the hand movement is not so noticable. Plus no Asian 7750 movement quality issues, and it's cheap too I'm a bit worried about the size at 48mm, but can't help but think how cool it will look on a 24mm 2-piece Martac Zulu strap. As soon as the newest VC Overseas becomes available I'll be placing an order and I think I need one of these too!

I've been involved with the Burningman Project since 1998 or so (see link here http://www.burningman.com/ ). In 1999 I decided to volunteer as a Black Rock Ranger and since you can't have 8 guys named John talking on the radio in the middle of a white out in the desert at 3:00am with 35,000 freaks going off and flame and explosions everywhere Rangers have to have an individual 'call sign' that needs to be easy to understand on a radio. I was kind of stumped for a call sign and went shooting one day with a bunch of the Rangers before the event, and I guess I impressed them with what a Steyr SSG can do to ferocious attacking grapefruit at 300-400m Also since my initials are L.S. and to many of my friends it was an extreme 'long shot' that they would ever get me to actually go with them to the "freak fest in the desert ", when someone suggested 'longshot' I decided to go with it as my call sign and have used it on-line too ever since

Dang it looks like I won't be able to make it... One of the knife/watch/gear forums I'm on is having their first ever Nor-Cal meet up that day and it's 6 blocks from my house. I'm commiteed to that one. You all have a GREAT time

I own one, and it's a stunning watch in person. Much nicer then the pics IMHO, it's a far better watch than a Sub (but I still love my Sub reps!). It's also much larger and heavier and the bracelet is a work of art in itself. As far as Seiko divers all being Sub clones, [censored] Here's a link to the site for Tokunaga-san who has designed all the serious Seiko dive watches for decades. Just take a look at some of the new technologies Seiko has brought out. The first titanium dive watch, the first quartz dive watch, the 'L-Shaped' gasket that allows 300m WR and greater without the need for an HE release valve etc: http://www.tokunaga.ne.jp/en/museum/list.html Here's a couple pics of some Seiko vintage divers from my collection

Great story! I got in to reps because I had been lusting after a Pam for a long time and a friend who is in watchmakers school in Pennsylvania told me he sold his gen Pam to buy a rep, and showed me where to buy one There is no way I would get enough extra enjoyment of of wearing a gen to justify even a fraction of the price difference!

Uh, you have a busy schedule and not a lot of time to research, but are buying a fake Rolex to see your clients? First off, we all don't have the time to do your research for you. It's a hobby. Doing the research is part of the fun. If you are so busy and don't have time to do research on reps, then walk into an AD with your platinum card and buy a genuine Second, even a cursory amount of critical thinking would tell you that; if one dealer had "the best Rolex" then we would all buy our watches from that one dealer and the others would be out of business. Do some research. Find out at least what makes a second hand sweep, and that Rolex has no monopoly on a sweeping second hand. Then after doing some research so you have a clue what you are talking about, ask intelligent questions and anyone on any hobby forum will be willing to help you

Just can't seem to take this one off yet

The Kampfschwimmer dial was evidently used by the German military in WWII in some watches and has long been prized by collectors. Bill Yao (who makes custom Seiko and ETA dials and hands and some custom mil-style watches) under the MK II label made a modern version a couple years ago that sold out instantly and is now impossible to find. Personally I could take it or leave it

8 rep (+15 genuine) so lets call it = 610

Ditto here! Or a Sinn 656 seems it would be soooooooooo easy to rep

I just received my SS Breitling Avenger Seawolf from Joshua today and it's an impressive beast I realize there is go genuine SS Seawolf (and how many people really know that anyway?) but I generally don't like ti watches. I've had 7-8 and only the Japan market Citizen's with the Duratect coating have held up well at all. I don't mind scuffs and scratches on my ti bicycles or even my ti wedding band, but they bug me on watches! Overall I'm very happy with the Seawolf and I've tightened the bezel screws and made sure all the bracelet screws are tight, but honestly the bezel feels like crap. It's tinny feeling and loose and I would almost worry about it coming off Is this something our resident guru's can fix fairly easily?

I'm very tempted by one of these, but I did receive an email from Andrew today and he say's that as far as he knows it does NOT have a screw down crown :yucky: I hope he's wrong!

Michael Kobold is a spoiled rich kid whose father (a wealthy German industrialist, see Kobold Instruments) gave him a few million dollars to start a watch compeny. His father is also very close friends with Helmut Sinn. When his watches were a reasonable value I owned one and it was nice enough. Then he more then doubled the prices in an effort to move upmarket, but did not change anything. They are just another ETA movement recased, at Rolex pricing. He has also been arrested for impersonating a police officer and part of his 'tough guy' persona Then he tried the 'Navy Seals', 'Mall Ninja' marketing ploy, which failed. Navy Seals wear G-Shocks as they can't afford $4000 watches! But the best part to me is... Look at the dial of the watch pictured. On his f'lagship' model Surveyor is MISSPELLED THey were made aware of the problam and did not bother to fix it!!!!!!!!! Maybe if the rep makers made one with CORRECT spelling on the dial I would buy the rep

New Pam111h that just arrived from Luckyyy yesterday! For now on a BOB Antik brown buffalo 24X24 but waiting on a tan suede 24x24 'Historic' from DonG

I've never seen a gen, but I also have the silver/white guilloche dial 2892 version from Joshua and it's the nicest rep I own. It's stunning and keeps COSC time. I wore it into a Rolex, Breitling, Omega, Patek AD last weekend here in town and the salesmen were falling over themselves to show me gold Daytonas I told them I was looking for stainless and would just get one on the web...