kanerich

It's actually not a simple fix if the tube strips, at least until such a time as Davidsen offers replacements. Dealers do not have replacement crowns or tubes as far as anyone knows. Your local watchsmith is not going to have a replica black seal tube or crown. All you can do is send your watch to a watchsmith and have him remove the spring and shorten the stem a little, so it sits correctly. Bye-bye any water resistance though.

I have an extra Luminor marina crystal with A/R from a 118 and was wondering if I could swap that into my old Black Seal, with no A/R on the crystal. Is that possible or are these two completely different crystals?

I personally prefer the hollow-link reps. The fact is that the watch balances better on the wrist with the lighter bracelet, and that is what Rolex intends. This is true with my gen Explorer II, and it's true with my reps. I have a solid mid link YM rep from abay that feels nice and solid when you heft it in your hand, but it is simply less comfortable to wear.

My guess is that none of these watches are sold out in truth, since they are all being offered on the Japanese website. The price premium charged to overseas buyers seems a bit excessive though, considering it amounts to almost double the Japanese MSRP. You'd have to want a $550 watch pretty badly to pay $1000 for it.

Good luck, jimmyzfu used to sell CG's on ebay, don't think he does anymore. Too bad, I got one for my 005 rep and it's a nice piece. davidsenjpn sells entire case/CG combos so he CAN get the part, although he probably won't sell you just a lever. I've been trying to get a titanium CG/lever for a while now to upgrade my old 118. It's interesting how hard it is to get upgrade parts. I went to a couple of dealers from whom I've bought at least 1/2 dozen reps from each, figuring they'd help out a good customer. I figured wrong. I offered to pay up to $50 for a frigging CG and they're like "sorry, it is impossible to get that." I can't believe somebody in China can't get out of bed for the easiest $50 he'll ever make, but them's the breaks.

Also consider using an ink eraser (that is, a rubber eraser for removing pen ink). It leaves a very nice, fine brushed finish on stainless steel. That's what I used for my 005 and I'm happy with the results.

Don't bother with the 118 . . . nice rep 1 1/2 years ago, but the CG, CG lever and crown are pretty outdated. There may have been an update but not on any dealer pics I've seen. The tobacco dial is accurate though, so that's not the problem. If you can source 036 or 177 CG and CG lever for cheap it might be worth considering. I do like the AR (ok fake AR) on mine. Why can't the makers just put AR on all the reps instead of playing this "sometimes/sometimes not" game? What does it add, like a dollar to the cost?

You know, it is possible to buy one rep at a time, or so I am told. It cuts down on the initial outlay.

Much of the Pam popularity is due to people jumping on the bandwagon, but IMO it's also because most of the other brand reps are not getting any better or more interesting. Omega and Rolex reps got to a certain point a couple of years ago, and they've pretty much been stuck there or even regressed. Rolex bashing is all well and good, but I bet more people get introduced to this hobby looking for a 16610 rep than for any other reason, so you gotta thank them for that anyway.

I have the serie speciale. The date window is too small and not beveled as with the gen, and the date font is incorrect and too small. The bracelet is not bad but it is a bit cheap-feeling and looking compared to the real thing IMO. On the other hand, the AR is nicely done and the overall quality is high. The dial is nice, other than the date window. I agree with the previous post that this is a very good rep, but it is far from indistinguishable from the gen in terms of look and feel.

bump