longshot

if you really want to follow the traditional rules, wristwatches are not worn to formal occasions for most of the history of mens formal wear it was considered bad form to be looking at a watch and worrying about the time. until fairly recently the only acceptable jewelry with formal attire was your wedding band and a very nice set of matching studs and cuff links. and real cuff links, with the design on both sides, not the cheaper modern version with a design on one side and that silly rotating pin. if you are going to wear a watch with formal wear it should be the thinnest and smallest possible plain gold watch on a black strap

i had the black dial for a short while, from ttk i think? for me (just my opinion) the negatives were: very loud rotor, really blue AR that made the dial and markers look more blue than black and the very long second hand really seemed to accentuate the slight stutter in the movement. i doubt the movement was any less smooth than that i a noobmariner or some other watches but the dial on this one is so big and the sweep is so long it just kind of bothered me. not a bad watch really and a good value for the money, just didn't do it for me

neil awwwww man, that sucks. i guess i'll have to get skype now so we can chat again i'm in the early stages of planning a trip to thailand next winter and am counting on you to keep me out of trouble! take care, lanny

personally i think that post is.... odd. and can understand The Zigmeister's reaction. if it were his watch and he was just excited about it (i sure would be!) and he asked The Zigmeister's permission then it's absolutely no harm/no foul. but if it's not his watch, or or his pictures, and he did not have permission to use them, then the post makes no sense? why even post it? let the owner post The Zigmeister's pics after getting permission. or let the owner take his own and post them when the watch arrives. IMO, part of the fun of having watches modded, or even getting a new watch, is posting the "look what i got!!!" pictures

great pics, thanks! i ordered the brown on tuesday the hardest part of the decision was color. i like the blue a lot, but love my brown pam 036 and thought having another brown dial would be cool. was also tempted by the asian movement version but really wanted AR. nice to hear the AR is good! jay says the ocean racer rubber strap will be available soon in all three colors

very cool and i just happened to be wearing my old factory 036 tonight! thanks very cool and i just happened to be wearing my old factory 036 tonight! thanks

i bought my gen pam at the same time as a friend who was studying at the bowman watchmaking school in pennsylvania. and he sold his before i sold mine. after more than one of his instructors used the term "$1500 watch" to describe any handwind pam the interesting thing is; he replaced his gen pam with a grand seiko. which he still has and is very happy with...

having owned a genuine pam in 2001-2002 i would have to say (IMHO) they are overpriced. i first saw them popping up on the knife forums in the late 90's and thought they were unbelievably cool. so i sold off a couple thing and bought an 001. and decided it was just not that special. and not very accurate. so it got sold. for me, i get 95% of the pleasure i got from my gen pam with my reps. at a fraction of the cost and to suggest that "panerai could be the next rolex" is kind of absurd. rolex has been around for a long time and is one of the most recognizable brand names on earth. i have been wearing gen (and later rep) pams for 7 years now and have run into exactly two people who recognized my watch as a pam. honestly i think if you covered the logos on a pam and asked 100 average americans what it was you would be extremely lucky to fine one that could identify the watch.

the only thing i see different is the 'rolex rolex rolex' etched on the rehaut, which i don't like anyway. no maxi dial, no fat hand? sorry, don't see any LV added here...

joshua has both the stainless and ti version and i'm just trying to decide between them yes the subdials are off but it's still (IMHO) the most classically beautiful of any of the new 7750 clone chronos!

'designer' jeans are frankly... crap if you really want 'good' jeans that are about what denim is supposed to be about go to the japanese companies like sugar cane or flat head or ironheart or apc, or even nudie. raw true indigo denim made on short looms like pre 1981 or so levi's with selvage that ages properly i met steve mcqueen a dozen times over the years at motorcycle races and never saw him wearing anything but lee 1/2 selvage cowboy's or levi's XX 501's. he would have opened a can of beer and laughed at the idea of 'designer jeans'. he is what created the whole japanese collectors market for vintage lee and levi's and led to the companies listed above to buying the old cone mills looms and re-creating the classic cut levi's and lee jeans from the 1950's-60' and 70's. in fact mcqueen's #2 levi jacket sold at auction last year for something like $45,000US. i have the identical jacket and wear it a lot. if you look at photos taken of him over the years he is wearing classic american denim. it looks cool because it was cool. and because he was cool

i have been a seiko collector since the mid 1990's and used to be a really active poster on the seiko forum. over the last couple years i've sold off quite a few, but kept some my favorites. actually there is no record of seiko's ever being issued during the viet nam war. lot's were bought at base exchanges and even more were bought on r and r in japan where the strong dollar made them a great bargain. dozens of models of 5's and diamatics and sportsmatics and pressmatics could be found worn by american soldiers. the model most connected with americans in viet nam were the early symmetrical case 6105-8000 divers and the later asymmetrical case 6105-811X divers. this was the watch worn by martin sheene as capt. willard in apocalypse now here are a few of my seiko keepers and a rare citizen all from the viet nam era:

i am absolutely in for a 9411 that does not need a bunch of modding

it's a real chrono and works just fine. the 3:00 subdial is a 24 hour dial. the 6:00 is the running seconds (yes it does 'tick' one a second. quartz after all). the 9:00 counts minutes up to an hour and the center seconds is the chrono seconds hand. the top button starts and stops the chrono and the bottom re-sets it. i use it all the time

i can be as fanatic as the next rep collector about accuracy. that's why my old factory black SMP has a gen insert and crown and tube and hands! but rep collecting is also about fun to me. trying watches you could never own, or are not even sure you like i've never been a huge speedmaster fan but thought i might like to try one someday. so when a member listed this one a few weeks ago at a terrific price, i jumped on it. yes, is is a complete fantasy. the subdials are wrong and it's even quartz (a reliable japanese citizen that works and re-sets every time and is plus 3 seconds in 2 weeks). and i like it and it's a cool/fun beater and it cracks me up that the rep maker even marked on the back that it is a quartz movement. guess they did not want to be dishonest! i just got a dimodell imperator waterproof strap in honey crock from my friend walt at lone star (cost almost as much as the watch) that i'll be putting on it later today

ditto on the surefires i have an old 6P, an E1e, and E2eHA, and an A2 aviator. you might also check out longbow. i have the 2310 micra. a great 1w led pocket light, better once you swap the lens and reflector for after market candlepowerforums is a dangerous place!

personally i love the simplicity of it! if a better version comes out with the rubber strap i am all over it. i was considering the new bell and ross but i like the classic looks of this one much better

a friend who knows i'm into watches sent me this link the 332 page catalog from the antiquorum auction on 12/05/2007, and it's even down loadable! http://www.antiquorum.com/catalog_pdf/index.html

my question exactly looks really cool except for that!

personally i don't trust a man who can't handle a drink or two... and i find it unseemly to have a president who brags that he can't handle his booze

i would absolutely buy one. probably my all time favorite flieger style watch next to the big pilot, and much easier to get 'right'

wow! otherwise speechless

it does not need a 'beefier' crown. auto pams have a thinner crown than manual wind pams. if people would do a bit of research besides just skimming the board and plagiarizing what they read, that info is readily available i have sat at lunch with friends from the knife boards (one who owns 15 gen pams...) wearing my old factory 036 and the crown is thicker than on the gen 40mm or 44mm auto pams i have held up to it. the real problem with the rep crowns is that they have too few teeth. and the most common after market replacement has the correct number of teeth, but an incorrect bevel on the edge. the 229 looks great the only reason i didn't get a davidsen 089 is because it was ti and too close to my 036. this one is different enough from my 5218 and 036 and 029 to justify the purchase!

and $30,000 US for a 5517 dial only? :wacko: 330200372635

if every a watch can scream "look at me, look at how clever i am"... that one does every single element on it is taken from another design and zero harmony. we can only hope, say, the non chrono aquatimer is repped before that! oh my, i just noticed the "i am so cool" writing in french on the caseback, wtf