crystalcranium

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Thank you

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Anyone know how to remove the caseback on this watch? I tried a "sticky ball" and twisted hard but to no avail. I looked pretty closely with a loop and I can't see a place to wedge in a knife. There are no obvious recesses for a tool. Anyone know how to do this? Ziggy??? You worked on this one for me a while ago...how do I get it open!!!!!!

Absolutely

I know many here have very strong feelings about

Yes I've got a time obsession in a bad way. I usually have most of my pieces running and hacked to the Naval Observitory clock. I love being able to say..."You don't have to change the channel...that show isn't on for another 40 seconds". I have an uncanny sense of travel time and usually arrive within a minute of my estimated time. To be honest, it drives me a little nuts sometimes. OCD can be wonderful but occasionally ugly.

Amazing work...photography and critical investigation and evaluation. I'm sure this would send a collective shock through the collectors who believe they can scam the buying public without them ever knowing they were taken. I hope a small number of us end up sending back less than satisfying pieces but if we have to, we are armed with ironclad evidence. I am always amazed by this micro machine world and the steady handed artists who take their craft very seriously. Rob...thank you so much my friend. You are a first rate craftsman and person.

I usually wear my Omega Seamaster Chrono genuine to an AD but when caught off guard, I usually don't have a problem. One time, I wore my Breitling Bently, one of the first super-reps a few years ago, into an AD looking for a genuine strap for it. I'll never forget the look on the face of the salesperson when he took the watch from me. Something wasn't right...he knew that (datewheel font, color of the subdials) but not enough to scream replica. My guess is it seemed too real to be a knock off so he chalked it up to variation in manufature.

I agree

The guy was a legend here. For a while he was the ONLY reliable source for the MBW line. I sent him $350 via Western Union wire transfer, had to suffer several anxious weeks without hearing anything from him, and was eventually rewarded with an incredible watch that I understand you can

I didnt know PVD Titanium nitride could be gold plated. This would seem to be a wonderful alterntive to gold fill which is 10k wrap with an overplating. TiN is VERY hard and durable, uese to coat drill bits and router bits and is very similar to gold in appearance. Wear of the actual gold plate would by much less noticble than it wearing off of a brass substrate. Stay away from home plating kits. I have had gold plated reps tarnish sitting in the box unworn!!! I have one plated watch, an F A Jones but little of the gold finish contacts skin as it has a clear caseback and a leather strap. It looks great.

I'm not trying to kiss anyone's butt here ...and I don't even know if Rob does work for the community anymore, (he has taken a hiatus or two through the years) but I want to be clear that we have been so lucky to have had his skills within our reach. I have employed many watch craftsman over the last 5 years, some of them working for very high end shops in major cities and Rob is by far the most highly skilled and most responsible. I find it reassuring that he turns down about 50% of the work I send him on original inspection because the watch is too far gone to attempt a repair he cannot guarantee. I had a local watchsmith who had a long resume working on vintage pocket watches and I sent a prized Hamilton Elinvar 992 to him for restoration. Within a year, it stopped and I sent it to Rob. The news was not good. The local guy had not properly seated two of the jewels and they fractured on reassembly. This craft is so delicate...the tolerances so small that it takes the best and the most responsible to get it right. Rob takes his craft VERY seriously and the fact that he will work on reps is an incredible bonus.

Hi Hi \\ Hi friends. Good to be back here after a long hiatus Work, family matters and life complications led to having to put the replica watch obsession down for a year or so but I'm happy to be getting back to the important stuff...debating the age old genuine/replica conundrum.

Beauty...I got my MBW 1665 several years ago from TTK and had Ziggy do a vintage lume, aftermarket case tube genuine crown replacement, and genuine springbars and lug hole drilling. I replaced the bezel and crystal with high quality aftermarket clones and I removed the paint from the caseback engravings. I love the watch. I have occasionally entertained the thought of selling it for around $600 but I can't part with it.

I agree with Kruz's postings. Wrapped gold is a marketing phrase intended to conjure up images of thick gold leaf treatment. True gold fill, which is the closest thing to the description of wrapped gold, is a thin layer of 10k gold bonded to a brass substrate plated with 14 or 18 K gold. Yes, those old Wadsworth pocket watch gold fill cases were 20 year guaranteed and that' s for everyday use in a wool lined pocket. If anyone believes this is what our Asian friends are doing to bracelet links...I've got a bridge to sell you!

Thanks it's great to be back. This replica bug is very infectious. Yes that is the beauty I'm interested in and it was your review that had me drooling!!

Got it. Not exactly a great choice for the carefully built albeit tenuous reputations among collectors here. It seems he left abruptly, without a definitive statement and apparently left some clients hanging. I'd be somewhat hesitant to deal with him even if he does return with that beautiful Sub in his inventory.

I haven't been around for a little over a year and at that time Chris was one of the new and great collectors. He had probably the best TT Blue dial Sub out there and I'm interested in one. Anyone know what has happened to him? From the discussions on his collector's forum, he claimed to be busy with other endeavors but the last posting there was in April and there were complaints about no shipments on orders. Any info???

It's going off to The Zigmeister at the end of the month for servicing and I expect to get years of reliable use. The $650 investment is borderline "not worth it" for me when it comes to a replica but this piece is so beautiful and was so desired that the expenditure makes sense to me.

There are tons of these available. Do an online search. Thay are often on the bay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ETA-2836-2-Watch-Movem...%3A1%7C294%3A50

Perfect size at 40mm. Same as the classic multi complication watches from PP and others. Bigger with this busy dial would look idiotic. Longines hit it right on the nose with this one. I'm glad the rep has the old 21k bph 7750 workhorse modified with the datewheels. This movement was tried and true and had a far better record of reliability before it was superceeded by the new 28K A7750. The regulator adjust mimics the genuine perfectly unlike the 7750 which does not sport the microadjuster and is something of a giveaway to those in the mechanical know that something is amiss here. My functions work perfectly and the watch has been keeping COSC time for about 2 weeks. I am so satisfied.

The reps I own are in the 99% category so people usually don't question their authenticity. When the occasional A-hole demands to see it and says "This is a fake" I usually reply "You think this is fake?" That's usually enough to get them to back down. If the person is knowlegable about reps (I've run into ONE in 10 years of collecting) we have a great conversation about the state of the replica art. I had a guy once demand to see my Breitling Bentley rep and he confidently declared "This thing is a fake...see...it says Bentley on the back...not Breitling!" What a brain!

Sorry for the old post bump but I just bought this rep and it is FANTASTIC!!!!! I debated buying the genuine for several years and I am absolutely satisfied with owning this replica. To me, this is what the replica business is all about. It's not about pulling the wool over someone's eyes or impressing friends or co-workers. The advent of these so called "super-reps" allows me to purchase beautifully designed watches for a fraction of their genuine cost. Buying this watch was a no brainer for me. All of the mechanical functions work perfectly so far. The bracelet is first rate and solid. Just a gorgeous watch.

I just ordered one from Josh. It looked like the best and most recent of the flurry of on the fly production modifications on this watch.