trailboss

I'm with The Zigmeister on this one. The following is a quote from one of our dealers. One whose words can be trusted. His comment on the sec@6: "the factory of the IWC didn't really mention much of an improvement" there you go, sounds like the Portuguese MVT hasn't changed much if any.And that's from someone who gets to talk to the makers. Col.

AHW over at The Dark Side is into makeing pens by wood turning. Some quite nice ones too. Pop over there and leave her a PM. Col.

Cool, he's on the wrong side of the world for me but he sounds like a nice guy so if he's good at what he does and is reasonably well priced folks should know about it. Good watchsmiths who will do rep work are so thin on the ground there must be a heap of people siying back and waiting for some one else to go first. It only takes a cpl of good reports and work should flow for the guy and the forums have another watchmaker. Not a bad thing since poor old The Zigmeister is usualy backed up to the eyeballs with jobs. Remember, this guy does lume as well for those needing it. Col.

Can we have the millspec divers version now? Preety please? These were French navel issue (think it was French) and are the origenal BP "Fifty". Note the large red 3H indercating a very high level of Tritium lume (the highest permissible in fact). When new these things would have glowed like a jack'o'lanten. Never did work out the totaly blank ('cept for the "12" triangle) rotating bezel on a pro dive watch tho. Col.

Actualy Robbie Australia has the only population of wild camels in the world. We export them to the Middle East! They were brought to Australia by Afghan camel drivers in the 1800s. These guys and their beasts opened up much of inland Australia the same way the prarie wagon did in the US. This is a photo of the last Afgan camel train mail run in Australia in 1925. It worked an area on the edge of the desert where a single sheep station )ranch) could cover a half million square kilometers and your nearest neighbours a couple hundred klicks or more away. When rail took over (one of the best train rides in Oz is the Ghan from Adelaide header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> to Alice Springs) the camels were simply let go. Since they have fared rather well indeed to the point that culls are unfortunatly sometimes needed even tho we sell a thousand or more a year overseas. The best racing camels in the world come from Austraila. And here is the new breed of road train. This one's fuel so it's relitivy short. The big buggers are up to seven 42-48 ft trailers! Try passing that one a dirt road at 70+mph! Col.

Ouch! My guess would be that that is one VERY expensive clipboard! Gerd has too much time on his hands these days. Aperantly. Col.

Dems and Hunter S . . . .OMFG! Now THAT would be a night to remember, if you could! rya posted? I missd it, damn That would be the first time in a long time. Col.

At least real spamers have . . . Boobies! Someone drag him away. Col.

Fakey ole' son, Christmas is over. Time for an avatar switch. BTW, so what if I like ser#s between my lugs? I wear my watches for me and I know it's there and that's what counts. Doesn't meen I'm gunna try to screw the local pawn shop for a gee and a half! Col.

SPAM FACTS * In America, it's consumed at the rate of 3.8 cans a second by more than 60 million Americans. * It's trademarked in 92 countries, and sold in 45, from Anguilla to Zimbabwe * If laid end-to-end, 5 billion cans would encircle the earth 12 1/2 times * 5 billion cans of SPAM would feed a family of four, three meals a day, for 4,566,210 years * You can grill more than 29 billion Spamburgers with it, and that supply would last 5.4 days if everyone on Earth ate one spamburger for dinner each night * Each year, 100 million pounds (45 million kg) of Spam are sold around the world. * SPAM is made in two U.S. locations - Austin, Minnesota, and Fremont, Nebraska - and seven other countries: England, Australia, Denmark, Phillipines, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. * The average consumers of Spam are families with several children, especially in the southeastern U.S. * In 1989, the U.S. armed forces bought 3.3 million pounds of SPAM. * Hawaii, Alaska, Arkansas, Texas, and Alabama rate the highest in spam consumption respectively. * Among the 50 foreign countries where Spam is sold, the UK and South Korea are the largest markets. * In South Korea, SPAM is considered an upscale food and one of the most popular American imports. The Wall Street Journal recently spotted a Seoul executive in search of the perfect gift. The executive deliberately skipped over traditional gift items such as wine and chocolates in favor of SPAM, explaining, "It is an impressive gift." * Hormel PR man Allen Krejci says: "SPAM has endured because of it's convenience and versatility. You can eat it hot or cold. You slice, dice, or cube it. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks. In fact, the only thing that limits your use of SPAM is your imagination." * Nikita Krushchev once credited SPAM with the survival of the WWII Russian army. ''Without SPAM, we wouldn't have been able to feed our army,'' he said. * Senator Robert Byrd of West Viginia eats a sandwich of SPAM and mayonnaise on white bread three times a week. * Number of miles a snowmobile must drive at -30 F to fully brown a can of Spam wired to the engine: 35 (Source: The Iditarod [heard on a Madison, WI radio report for "National Canned Luncheon Meat Day, '96]) There, much more usefull than the OP.! Col.

If you want good QC try Chriss at Eurotimez. He has built his reputation on good QC. He may be a little more expensive but he's worth every cent of it. Col.

Those small Chinese manufacturers should sue for slander! I'm sick of hearing this one. The gen folk know just mention a terrorist link and reps become "baaad, mmkay?". Prove it Rolex et al. If you can, I'll stop buying. Col.

Good question BT. If it's a Sea-Gull (the name is hyphonated BTW) it's a mystery to me. AFIK the only ladies size MVT they make is the 8 3/4L (19.8mm) ST6D1 (and it's hand wind and skel variations) which is no ETA clone by a long shot. Answers anyone? Col.

Love the noob shot BT. Classy! Col.

Schweeeet! Keep 'em comming mate. Col.

It's worth it guys. Even if you just get an explanitian and Jakob gets a bit of a shock. Prob thinks he has no hope of being found. Too many times this sort of thing is forgoten. If it were me down a grand or so I would not be giving up easily even if it cost me money. Under the circumstances I think you are quite entiteled to hand over what info you have. If you have his mums phone number it should be an easy trail for a compenent PI to follow from there. Col.

The noob will do me and is on my list. I just love that blue dial. The black is a classy watch but the blue is something special IMO. Maybe after the Ebel. That's asuming the Aussie peaso ever recovers enough against the USD to make buying any reps pratical again. It's just too painfull at sixty something cents in the dollar. As for music. I got a bit of Jello Biafra playing ATM. Some of his post DK stuff mixed with some of his speach recordings. "When the President comes to town" just finished.I think there's a John Cooper Clarke compliation cued up next and before Jello was some Buffett. Gotta love Jimmy! Um, yeah, I have mixed tastes! Col.

Great collection BT. Gotta get that Ebel! On the subject of straps let me share a cpl of pics showing how different things can look on a strap. This is the second time today I'v pinched KBHs pic of his Sea Master on carbon. I just love this. These Brietlings look good too, and different. A gen with deployent from "some guy at Breitling Source" SA on Brown. Pics from JohnG. All three have taken on a entirly different charecter on leather/carbon compared to the steel they came on. Like geting an extra watch for the price of the strap. Col.

Fingers still crossed but still going and looking good to stay that way. Yeah, five min fix that Seiko wanted 500 bucks for! Now I just gotta wait untill you master that new timeing machine and the Seiko and the sub are due for another visit to "Uncle Offshore". Col.

Oh and arn't we just a smartybum! Acording to Seiko it should only require batteries and seals over it's 50 year service life. It looks like the problem with mine was as minor as a dirty gear somwhere in the train. I,v been doing a lot of reading on them and they realy are an amazing MVT. Far better than anything Seiko make today. This is the same MVT as the RAF Seikos including the Vulcan special that is one of the most colectable quartz watches of all. It was only issued to the crews of longrange nuclear bombers. Some of the RAF specials are ilistrated below with the Vulcan at the botom. Good examples of the various RAF chronos start at about $180 and rise to 'round $500 for the rarer ones. IF you stumble across an example of the Vulcan for anything less than 1000USD, buy it. The one above went for $1280. Col.

The price seems oke. If that is indeed a Sea-Gull MVT it wasn't PVD'd by the factory so some one had to strip and reasemble the dang thing so I wouldn't expect it to be super cheap. Col.

The Million Smarts sold by Homer use the Liaoning 5010 as the base MVT not the Sea-Gull ST80. Tho a cheaper MVT there is nothing wrong with the 5010. It is a reliable MVT and spares are redialy available inc thru Homer himself. Homer can also service and repair these MVTs. The ST80 is a more expensive MVT and more acurate however the 5010 can still be regulated to within COSOC, the ST80 to well within and the Beijing Watch Factory TB01-2 is reputed to approch some Euro Tourbys in accuracy. Here are the basics on current China Tourby production. Current Chinese Developments Beijing TB01-2 In 2000, the Beijing Watch Factory revisited the tourbillon concept and reworked it for limited production. The result was the TB01-2 flying carrousel-tourbillon, currently the most expensive production Chinese tourbillon on the market. It features a titanium flying tourbillon cage, and is usually elaborately decorated on both dial and movement. Beijing have also developed a double-tourbillon. Liaoning 5010 Costing much less and thus reaching a much wider market, this calibre has enjoyed great success cased-up by http://www.tractionink.com/watch_wiki/inde...art_EnterprisesMillion Smart Enterprises for a variety of new international brands. Shanghai The Shanghai Watch Industry Corporation launched their Classic Tourbillon as an exclusive Shanghai-branded product only, however they have since followed the trend and offered this somewhat expensive movement for sale to other watch companies. Returning to Breguet's original idea, this movement features a large balance-wheel on a common axis to the tourbillon cage. In 2007 Shanghai revealed their amazing Orbital Tourbillon, which features either one or two tourbillons mounted on a 12-hour carrousel platform. PTS Resources FD-3032 This was the first Chinese tourbillon to be reviewed online. Clearly built to a budget, and featuring components from the humble Standard movement, it is nonetheless as impressive as any tourbillon that actually works. In 2007 PTS presented a prototype '12 Hour Karrousel' movement of unusual design and much higher grade. Sea-Gull ST80 Most Chinese tourbillons owe something to the Blancpain flying carrousel-tourbillon design, but this is the one with the closest physical resemblance. Of higher quality than all but the TB01-2, the ST80 is still ery competitively priced. The newer ST82 features a common axis tourbillon similar to the Shanghai. Auto-winding is now available on both. In 2006 Sea-Gull released their ST8080 double tourbillon withone carrousel-tourbillon and one common axis. Dixmont DG-8000 A latecomer to the field, Dixmont-Guangzhou have focussed on auto-winding on their tourbillons. The escapement appears so similar to that of the ST80 that it is likely that they buy Sea-Gull parts for their movements. The DG-8001 is similar but with a common-axis tourbillon. Regards, Col.

You need to get in touch with HU and see if his mates are still oke with paying this guy a visit. He pffered some time ago. No doubt slinging them some beer money for their effort would go a long way. IF not, there's a lot of you who are owed money/watches by the man. some of you have a grand or more out there. Get to gether, sling in 50bucks each and hire somone! Even Poland has PIs these days. Col.

Phoband: I seriously doubt that truer words have ever been spake on these pages. If he fails (and I hope to God he doesn't) we are all in deep, deep doodoo. Congrats to the US on your new POTUS. Along with most of the rest of the world I belive you have made the right choice for our new President. I say "our" because what POTUS does and the policys he sets influence the entire planet in ways the no other person can hope to. They don't call him the leader of the free world for nothing. As Klink would say, time will tell. Col.