crystalcranium

How is the movement held in the case??

Mouth open...drooling....staring.....WOW

Thanks guys...I'm a little hesitant to try this on a replica dial. Aging one of those 30 years might make it ugly and ilegible. I have seen several 1665s on ebay and in pics on the web that have discolored original crystals. Most of them are far more ambered than this one. I wouldnt go any farther than I have with it though. The look I'm going for in my MBW is "I found this watch in my recently departed Uncle's dresser drawer where it sat for 25 years".

Be careful...i have no idea what this treatment would do to a replica dial....I would remove the crystal from the case or treat a purchased crystal prior to installation.

Pic's up

Congrats...overlap usages....just amazing!!!

Here's the link actually...it's $660 USD You can see the difference from the photographs...there's nothing like solid gold. http://www.perfectclones88.com/rdjmt10054-...8362-p-772.html

Just saw Nanuq's post that he's off in the wilderness for a few days... Man...this crystal is awesome! It's a smokey brownish yellow just like the 30 year old originals. The light source is a very powerful disinfectant UV light inside a bio-safety hood. I placed the crystal about 12 inches away from the light Friday afternoon and took it out Monday morning. It looks like 24 hours is equivalent to about 10 years of aging. Pic's up. My photography skills are lousy and the flash washed out some of the ambering. Around the edge, where the color is darker is actually more representative of how the crystal looks.

What you have to realize is that anything plated,...and all of these "wrapped" watches are plated, is going to fade sooner or later. There is absolutely no incentive for the replica industry in China to put any more gold on a watch than is necessary to keep you from complaining long enough to separate them from the sale far enough to be able to say..."It's not our problem anymore". As for the TT subs, they have a VERY spotty record in terms of accuracy of gold color, dial color....and weight is going to be a dead giveaway so keep it on your wrist. Josh has a beautiful TT Jubilee bracelet Datejust with stick markers in his listings for around $560 that sports solid 18K midlinks, bezel and crown. It's probably the best value in a gold piece I've seen and it wont break the bank.

Uhhhhhhh...what watch?? Congratulations on both of your lovely acquisitions!

See ya!!!!

I'll try to post some pictures tonight. The T-39 was left under a strong UV light source over the weekend and the result was a beautifully yellowed aged appearance this morning!!! Cant wait to get this puppy on my 1665!!!

I saw this in my web searches and I think I'll go for it. He sells really cheap 1665 inserts but claims a higher quality and more original design on this one.

So then the un-ringed, flush with the bezel pearl that comes with the MBW is more accurate than the ringed pearl aftermarket bezels being sold for the 1665? Should I have Ziggy just dab it with yellowed, aged tritium mimicking, super lume and leave it at that? In some threads, Ubi says a bezel replacement is a must leaving me to believe the stock MBW insert on the Great White is pretty inaccurate.

Ofrei sells all of the parts as a kit for you to "manufacture" your own Swiss watch. A couple of their 7750 chrono kits actually have beautiful cases. Price is a little high though....$650+++ for a 7750 kit that includes movement, case and crown, dial and hands. For that much, you can get a Hamilton, Tissot or Accutron 7750 chronograph.

Hi all Love my new MBW 1665 from TTK and it's ready to go out for Ziggy mods. I have been studying pics of 1665s on the antiquorium website and i can't figure out what vintage this MBW Great White is supposed to mimic. From the caseback engraving, it looks like a late 1970s to early 1980s SD...but the bezel pearl, which is without a surrounding ring, seems to be an early 1970s design. I'm sending it out for a vintage luming, new case tube/original crown, new flatter T-39 crystal (is this correct or did all 1665 come with a superdome?) and a lug hole drilling/springbar replacement. There are many aftermarket bezels advertised as replacements for the 1665 but I dont know which one is accurate. I'd hate to invest in lots of original and OEM parts only to have a watch that looks nothing like the vintage it's supposed to mimic. PMWF has aluminum 1665 inserts for around $50...but they have the ringed pearl...which might in fact be accurate. Any opinions Sub nuts out there...Steph, freddie, aligoat....????? help

It's at most a $200 watch and it can be found for less

That movement is a asian copy of the venus 175

I left a T-39 plastic aftermarket crystal under a disinfectant UV light Friday at work and I'll take a look at it on Monday. There might be some aging but usually it takes several weeks for plastic to yellow from UV. A science experiment....how exciting

Buy yourself a 3-5X inspection loupe....you'll see the difference. That's the great advantage of replicas...not too many people walk around with magnifying glasses in their pockets. I own an SMP Chrono genuine and it's an amazing watch. For $2300 new...there's little to separate it in function and toughness from watches costing many times more. I'd bet on it one on one with 5 figure watches like the Daytona and the VC Overseas Chrono in a survival test

That's just about right if you include all problems including owner/operator easily rectified problems. QC in reps is abysmal and follows an almost linear association with complexity. Simple reps with reliable Swiss movements are the most problem free....complex reps (HBB???????) with unreliable movements (A7750) are the least reliable.

Tough to say...it.s not a home brewed process...but the technology isn't that hard....many 100 year old pocket watches are gold filled. I would hope our replica friends would upgrade to "PVD golding" This is Physical Vapor Deposition of Titanium Nitride as the coating.....many times more abrasion resistant than gold plate (it's used as an abrasion resistance coating on tooling) and it looks just like 14 and 18K gold. Tissot, Hamilton, Baume and Mervier are among the watch manufacturers now using PVD golding. The plumbing industry has used the technology for years to plate plumbing fixtures for the bling bling bathroom crowd.

Easy answer...difficult to obtain I have a access to a bio-safety hood that has a disinfecting UV light. That light yellows any plastic items in very short order. You can get 30 year yellowing in about 2 weeks. Any strong, disinfecting UV lamp source...like those sold for outdoor water feature sterilization, will do.

So true....8 months ago I confidently declared I would never buy an MBW.......I'm polishing my 1665 GW right now!

That is your very thin gold plate gone and the brass base plating or metal tarnishing from your sweat. Gold does not tarnish or oxidize. If you attempt to polish or shine it, you will polish the brass (to tarnish again very quickly) and rub off more gold. As a contrast, my wife wore a gold plated braceleted Seiko everyday for 8 years before the bracelet and case showed signs of wear. Seiko plates to 5 microns. Dealers claim 5 micron platings but that's pure BS. As a poster said, there are a few better plated fake watches out there...some better because the color is better...some better because the plating is thicker...but they are few and far between. A grounding reality check is to lay your "hey, my plated watch looks as good as the day I bought it" watch down next to a new gold plated piece and you will be amazed at how much gold your eyes and brain fill in. Not to beat a dead horse...wrapped gold claims are absolute lies. A true gold wrap is known as gold fill. It is a thin 10K gold sheet bonded by heat and pressure to a brass substrate. That gold "wrapping" is then plated to 10 microns with a 14 or 18 karat plating. This is commonly known as 20 year gold. If anyone thinks our Asian friends are doing this....I've got some swamp land for you very cheap...