crystalcranium

Beautiful and......... Will never happen. It's funny how so many responders reacted to this like.."Oh My God...we get to build the watch of our dreams...Custom?????" I want a A Lange and Sohne retrograde large date, engraved balance [censored] kryptonite powered........ But, since I mentioned the brand... Classy, sophisticated and uncomplicated.

I've been told to not mess with the beat adjustment unless I have a vibrograph to set it exactly for what the watch movement is designed for. I was told when you mess with beat, you affect how the pallet stones strike the pallet wheel and can cause excessive wear. 90 seconds a day should be a simple regulation adjustment which means you are varying the legnth of the regulator spring, not changing the beat. How exactly did you oil this watch????? I'm smelling watch movement skills close to mine in you and that means I fear the worst!!!!! Movement oiling is a VERY delecate precise operation requiring disassembly of the movement and the use of special oils. Hope you didn't give it a shot with WD-40

The lume on just about every rep is at best marginal. The best ones I have are my SS Sub from Paul and the hands, but not the dial on my Bentley GT. Nothing glows for hours like the lume on inexpensive genuines. The reality problem is that the lume on the expensive genuines these reps mimic is often excellent. Re luming with SuperLuminova is about a $40-$50 service and SL lasts a lifetime. By its' chemical nature, it never will loose it's ability to absorb and radiate light energy. Some reps now come with "Super Lume" treatment but they are few and far between. In my dreams, some day, all my reps glow all night long.

And a killer hangover is from Vodka!!! Good luck tomorrow. Glad you got home safe. Sleep well

No shame in being a one. After I posted the original scale, it occurred to me "Hey moron, no one is going to admit to being a novice". Thanks for being honest. You can still be a watch lover and not want to be a watch craftsman.

I'll ask again since I didn't see an answer to it. Is the 4 oclock crown on the GP Seahawk a movementbased deal killer? Can any of the mentioned movements be modified? Not that another IWC isn't welcome, but there's such a paucity of GP replicas I'd love to see one well done well.

On what?????? You didn't just shoot yourself did you???? Just how much did you drink tonight?

Wow ....that is a lot to drink!!!! Hope you feel OK tomorrow!

Then I'd consider you a 5+ or a 6-. Anyone who has gotten into the guts of a movement, no matter how simple, and reassembled a watch that lived to talk about it, is in rarified 6ish range to me.

I have a wonderful hidden gem about a 30 minute drive from my house in suburban Philadelphia. The RGM watchmaking company in Lancaster, Pennsylvania resides in the old Hamilton USA watchmaking center. The Bowman School of watchmaking is located in Lancaster as well. It's the Le Locle of the eastern seaboard of the United States. The company turns out a low number of very high quality pieces adhering to the Swiss Traditions of fine watchmaking. Look at the decoration on this $23,000 chronograph. I looks like the kind of engraving you would find on an A Lange and Sohne movement but for 1/3 the price. http://www.rgmwatches.com/

I should have included that disclaimer to my #4 claim as well. I have one watch sitting in a drawer that I can't press the second hand back onto.

Great!!!! I love the fact that not all of us here are hard core but love watches none the less! I guess I should have included springbar work and bracelet modification on the list somewhere. How about #2.5

We have a hard core group of modders here and the one and only Ziggy. My question is where would you rate yourself on the following scale #1. Never attempted to work on or want to know anything about how to service a watch. Pulling out the crown and setting the time or advancing the date is somewhat challenging. #2. I've opened a caseback and looked inside. Several times I've actually taken the initiative to change the battery in a quartz watch but the works in a mechanical look intimidating. #3. I've worked on the insides to a very minimum extent. I've regulated a watch, attached a rotor that has fallen off, replaced or greased a gasket etc.....and I'd love to know more and do more. #4. All the skills of #3 and I've changed a movement/dial which means I've removed a crown and stem, removed and remounted a movement from a case, pulled and remounted hands and dials. #5. #4 level skills and I have done some serious modifications to watch cases. Grinding, re-shaping cases and drilling doesnt intimidate me. Crown swaps, re-tapping of cases for new oem case tubes etc are all a part of my resume. I'll also include in this date wheel repairs/replacements and overlays. #6. Zigmeister status. Full teardowns and rebuilds. I considermyself a watchmaker/craftsman. Personally, to quote a Woody Allen film Bananas, I'm a #4...with an explaination. I've changed dials and swapped out movements but without a loop. I'd hate to get a close up of my LV's hands at 25X

I think it's time to poll Richard.

Beautiful, understated, classy, elegant..... Makes me think twice about this gauche chronograph I'm wearing. Another thought about Josh's AT. The one you show looks like its on croc grained leather. On the website, it shows the watch below and says it's genuine croc. The band looks like lizzard to me. But all in all, $268 for a Seagul 2892-A2 on a reptile band is pretty good.

Don't get a Daytona with running seconds at six with either the Asian or Swiss 7750. They carry no less than 11 extra gears to shift the subdials around and probably have the most notorious reputation for reliability on this site.

Don't pre distress it. A year on your Dad's wrist will give it all the wear it needs to look like a worn and loved vintage. I build custom furniture in my spare time and distressing is easily overdone. A little bit goes a long way especially on something that is going to be used. Most of my customer requested heavily distressed gathering or harvest tables look like junk after several years of everyday use.

The hands are not interchangeable. The Asian 21j is something of a workhorse. Its' reputation is sound. The only limiting factors are reparability, (but at $100, it's a disposable watch) and second hand smoothness. It does beat slower than the ETAs in our watches. This might be an issue for you as some see a 5 beat/sec second hand vas an 8 beat/sec movement as a fatal rep flaw. And just to get this out of the way for you. The Asian 21j and the Swiss ETA you are debating over are both Chinese manufactured movements. ETA has it's movements produced in China before they shine them up and perform the requisite amount of post manufacturing handeling to legally call them "Swiss Made" We get access to them prior to this final transformstion. Everything I've read suggests this is nothing more than a formality to satisfy the legal requirements for a "Swiss Made" trademark and does not affect performance but don't have any fantasies your "Swiss Made" ETA was produced in Switzerland.

Wow,...all of these "out of the closet" pics are incredible. The transparent dial Accutron is beautiful.

It's not the cost. It's the convience. I doubt the bulk of watch consumers would be willing to trade the accuracy and aesthetics of a sweeping quartz second hand for the PIA of having to replace the battery every 9-12 months. Remember, when it comes to driving the technology, we're (the WIS crowd)insignificant.

Is the Seahawk crown at 4 oclock a problem that is insurmountable with these movements????

If it's a true collectable, desireable genuine, I can be sold after the process I would think unless the repping requires a tear apart.

This might sound confusing but its a Chinese made Swiss ETA with a Panerai rotor overlay!!!!!! This is as Swiss as these replicas get. The prevailing wisdom here is that our "Swiss ETA's" are the high quality movements the Chinese make for the Swiss company, but without the applied spit polish in Switzerland.

A Limited Edition???????Let's not forget the plan here is to buy one to rep one!

I don't think this is about investment and return. It's about custom niche creation. Richard is essentially asking us what kind of gourmet meal we would like a hired 4 star chef to make us. Asking for the perfect submariner is like asking for a perfect hamburger. Not that that watch, a truly perfect 1-1 OEM interchangeable Sub isn't many enthusiasts idea of the holy grail. It certainly has crossed my mind once or twice but this seems like a special, limited engagement. Let's get something unique and beautiful.