MacDad22

I have both an SSD v2 and an MBW SD.. they are both great watches, after a couple of minor mods... however if I had to choose today it would be the SSD.. Mac

I have traveled all over the world and usually have at least 2 if not 3 watches with me... I have never had a problem, except one time coming back from Hong Kong and going thru US customs at LAX I had an officer ask if I bought any fake watches in China and asked if the rollie I had on was purchased on my trip... luckilt my PT LV was used and I pointed that out.. I was a wee bit worried because I had a few spanking new reps in a suitcase from Nathan St dealers for friends... so out of 60 trips only this one issue.. Mac

last set of pics hope this helps.. Mac

i figured out how to turn on macro mode on my camera

one more Mac

Well this is 2nd attempt at some pics to post..of my GMT2 50th Anniv Gen.. I'm suprised at how good the rep looks like the gen.. The GMT with his friends on the same brand.. MacDad22

I'm an avid poker poker... play mostly local games in Dallas,, get to vegas 6 to 8 times a year, and play when i'm traveling for work and get close to a casino with a decent poker room.. and online sometime I started playin limit back in the mid 90's.. moved to NL holdem back in 2001.. took me two years to no longer donkey off my NL money.. now I play pot limit Omaha mostly.. always cash games but i do enter a WSOP event every year without any luck.. Mac

A couple of you have asked for pics of my gen to be used as comparisons to the rep when it comes in.. give me a few days and I will post a bunch of pics.. Mac Dallas, Tx

Hello everyone- I have a gen GMTIIc.. if someone wants to me send their rep I would be happy to take side by side pics and post them with comments and then ship you back your rep... I'm in Texas.. Mac

the only advice I can give you is wear a rep for the right reason and not the wrong one... right reasons: 1. you love the design of the OEM watch. 2. you love elegant, tasteful, and somewhat rare timepieces. 3. you either cannot afford or choose to spend your expendable cash on other items. 4. watch collecting is a hobby wrong reasons: 1. to impress or fool those who might notice, even though I agree that many people never notice or care. 2. to try to infer you have signicicantly more net worth than is you have for whatever the reason. 3. to pull off a scam. many of my friends and family, including myself, have many watches ( both oem and reps ). I love watches and cars... unfortunately my cars have to be OEM so many of my watches are not, but 5 are.

You never know.. with the US economy in a small recession that is affecting the pimp business.. selling their bling cheap... pimp's and rap stars might not be being iced out watches right now.. I might buy that watch if is was going to attend the "Playa's Ball" or "Pimps up Hoes Down" conferences this year.. Mac

Well since everyone else is putting in their 2 cents here is mine 1. I have never really like the current modern SS sub as I think the MAXI dial on the LV and 2008's are way better looking, more like the vintage 1680's and such.. The vintage 1680 sub is my favorite sub without a doubt. 2. The GMT 2 master 50th initially doesnt look so great in magazines and digital pics.. I suggest you go see one at an AD, you will be lucky to find a SS one, but he the TT and Solid 18k are generally in stock. They are all beautiful watches.. ceramic bezel insert and MAXI dials. Although I dont like the 18k green face, but I'm guessing those in Asia love it. I bought a SS GMT 2 Master 50th or current gen and paid full price for it.. it's truly a beautiful timepiece ( I had planned on buying a Smart 42 car this year, but got the watch instead :> ). I bet when the new DSSD and new subs show up they will bedazzle in person as well. 3. We are used to the norm and any change will meet resistance from this community, but in 2 years they will be accepted. It will be very interesting to see how long it takes joe chinaman to build ceramic bezel inserts. 4. It's funny how people talk about bling.. anytime I wear a pannie more people say "wow that's most biggest watch I've seen".. or "kewl bling".. 5. Rolex is making some big gambles, but lets face it.. they are Rolex.. even the crazy ass yachtmaster II will be successful.. just like any high end brand they can [censored] up a couple of products and probably wont kill them.. plus between gens and reps the consumer market might be literally saturated with current model subs and SD's.. I was in a meeting the other day that had 18 people in it and 16 peeps had a rolex on.. the first I wondered was how many where reps.. the second thing was depending on age of the person dictated sport vs.. daydate/datejust... I had on my MBW SWSD :> peace Mac

It appears to be modern as a vintage insert would have an acrylic pearl if it was NOS... Mac

You can see here how much bigger the new GMT is compared to vintage SD and Sub

Just to clear the air.. there has been for a couple of years replica bracelets around.. i bought one off of ebay.uk for $119 shipped to me in the US.. it fits flawlessly my MBW/WM vintage 1680 and 1665 cases... if it was not for the price I would have thought maybe it was NOS, plus someone in HK sent me a link to the seller's ebay id.. Mac

Guys- I broke down and bought a SS GMT IIc watch at local store this past week.. I've been drooling over this watch since seeing the first pics of it. My local dealer actually had one SS, one two tone, and one 18k with black face. He would move slightly on the two tone and gold one. This new watch is stunning and the ceramic bezel with the numbers being platinum enlay is amazing. Also the case is noticably larger than the sub. I have a seamaster and the case feels and looks closer to that size. Anyway after then going around to three other stores that have decent Rollie stock and none of them had any of these watches. In fact two of the stores said it was unlikely that they would receive any more this year. Worse yet they had waiting lists on the SS watch. This is my first OEM and gennie.. I've got a bunch of reps.. some of which are awesome in contrast and comparison to OEM. However I'm not hopeful that Joe Chinaman will make a rep of this watch that is affordable due to the following facts: 1. The ceramic bezel would have to be ceramic. Not sure how much additional cost this would be, but my salesguy told me short of a diamond the bezel should be almost as resistant to scratches as the sapphire crystal. 2. The case is clearly a new size, apparently to support the new Rolex movement for the GMT II 3. The bracelet and clasp are similar to the Daytona.. but I think somewhat different. Frankly it feels quality, like an SS Omaga vs. the typical Rollie Oyster bracelet. Well it was an impulsive/compulsive purchase. Now I've got 3 gen SS, and like 10 SS reps. I never thought I would buy a Rolex, but hey this watch was lust at first sight :> Good luck gents, Mac

Very nice watch-- a couple of questions as I have a WM great white 1665.. one I acquires a nive riveted rolex bracelet from our friend in the uk.. and also I have a knockoff superdome, but it looks nice.. after all the mods I did the damn bezel insert cost me the most. I'm guessing the SD is not what would have been on the white 1665, but the bracelet might have been.. i prefer to have a different look between my 1680 and 1665.. what is the straight dope, and again beautiful watch Mac

Excellent work.. I have a 1655 MBW white letter that I put an OEM insert and got a rivet bracelet from our UK friend. For about a month now I've worn this watch almost every day as I love it. All my other watches are not getting much wrist time. Also I've been told though that the white dial typically had a flat tropic vs. a dome.. Do you know if that is the case? Your watch is beautiful.. wear it well. Mac

MBW 1665 "White" SeaDweller w/ Mods

I've got one and I think it's the shizzle.. :>

Superman- Way to go.. those CG's look excellent and the first time I did my own CG's which was less than a month ago it gave me a great sense of self accomplishment. Mac

FYI I just received an "alleged" NOS genuine bezel insert for a 1680 from the ebay seller in HK for $125. It fitted perfectly on my MBW 1665, looks genuine, but I did have to glue it down as it did not snap in the bezel ring as other previous posts had claimed. That last reason is the only one that makes me a little suspicious. It looks really good. I still need another insert so if anyone has a hookup let me know. I'm also considering doing the ofrei luminous dot to see how that looks. MacDad

lions- where did you acquire the genuine pearl from? thanks, Chris

I routinely fly into and out of the US with multiple watches ( I originate in the US ). I've bought watches overseas and I think you might be interested to know that import duties on a single watch bought overseas is very low if it has a Swiss automatic movement in it. Earlier this year I bought an Omega Seamaster in Singapore and my duty when I re-entered the US was $11 on a $1400 watch ( nice :> ). Now on a couple of occasions when I hit LAX from China I have been queried about the watch on my wrist and was asked specifically if I bought any real or fake handbags, shoes, CD's, or watches on my trip. I usually have 2 or 3 watches in my travel bag and one my wrist. I've never had any issues. And sometimes there are two Rollies or Pollies :> Mac

This is a great thread.. so here is my story and perception.. As a kid my father was into pens and my grandfather was into stamps. Both in a big way and a collection by anyone's standards. Now me as a young man I was fascinated with swiss time pieces. At 20 I had a decent job and bought my first high end watch ( Tag Heuer ) for about $1100. As my career progressed I bought all my close relatives Tag watches. A few laters when I sold my first business I went out and bought a solid gold Tag 6000. In my late twenties I bought I couple of Omega's. I had kind of lost my fascination with watches, although I had always kept up with the latest Cartier, Rolex, and Breitling models. Two years ago my father came over to my house and was sporting a new Submariner. Of course I noticed it about 5 minutes after he came in. I said nice watch and he took if off for me to admire / inspect. At that time I was clearly ignorant to CG's, Pearls, Rehaut depth, Date mag etc.. My parents are not weathtly, but he certainly could afford a Rollie if he chose to do so. My dad told after I inspected it that it was a fake. In fact a fake he spent $750 on via COD with idealwatches.. I was flabergasted on two counts. One that the watch was fake as it was beautiful and had a gem like quality and two that he had spent so much on a watch he could have bought used for ~ $2k. Well I've been fortunate over the past decade to have a successful career. Now I'm no jetmid by any means, nor am I independently weathly, but my income is very considerable. No one that knows me would ever question the authenticity of a watch I was wearing ( of course when you wear a 5k to 25k different watch every day for a couple of weeks people wonder a little about your sanity ). I'm not intending to brag here by any means. Since then I bought at least 20 watches. I've sold a couple of really great ones to friends. I've recently been modding some on my own. The only expensive reps I had until recently was my original yachtmaster from Ideal ( it was quite expesive ). Of course I found RWG about 24 hours after receipt of that watch. I have sent one Sub LV off to RBJ last year and he did a very good job on it and in teh end I had $540 in that rep. Over the past couple of months I've been picking up vintage MBW's and been buying OEM parts. I'm pretty sure both of those will have ~$700-$800 in them when I'm done. I have spent about 10 hours a week on RWG1, RWG2, TRC, RWI browsing since the beginning. I have loved reading and interacting with members here and elsewhere. My wife of course thinks I have and OCD problem and maybe I do. That same OCD has allowed me to provide very well for my family and me. I've spent a large amount of reps. I've bought plenty of shitty ones just to get a feel before I ordered a better version from EL, Joshua, PT, or WM and in a couple of cases I would out and acquire the genuine. Now the real question is what are the residual value of a rep. My personal belief is the money is gone as they are worthless day one in terms of resale value, however many of them are great timepieces and should last a VERY VERY long time. As for resale value I think for most watches it's [censored]. If you do a simple time value of money or net present value calculation you can see owning any other reasonable investment is probably better for your future net worth. The real question here is what brings you joy? Anyone who asks me about my watch I let them inspect. If they ask if it's real I usually respond with it was real expensive. If I know the person well enough or sometime I tell them it's a fake and made in China". Most people laugh at me and say "Yeah right, just like you car is made in China. If I dont know the person well I will leave it that. If they are really interested in the watch I will offer to sell it to them right there on the spot for 50% of what I paid for it. It's always nice to buy a new rep right? Anyway this hobby brings me a lot of joy. Right now I'm trying to find parts for MBW White SD 1665 and waiting on a couple of parts for my 1680 ( although I screwed up the keyless system for the crown stem so it's off to The Zigmeister soon ). Just yesterday I got a kickass MBW modern sub in from another member on RWI for a co-worker of mine that own 5 gen Rollies. He wanted this one because he doesnt has a modern Sub. I'm watching for spingbars for Pan and a strap for a Santon 100.. this is great. Lastly, I have learned so much from people all over the world that share in this hobby. Also I've met mostly very reputable people ( alot that have helped me with this hobby and I try to pay it forward when I can ). In summart,, I would do $2k max for an 18k watch and about 800 for a SS watch Cheer, Mac