RickHiC

There's no harm in keeping the chrono running if you always want the center seconds. How about something like a rad 288.

Mine popped out as well, except I lost the parts. No worries, I just use spring-bars from panatime for that watch.

No no no no. No. I haven't bought a rep in almost a year. Now I am ruined.

Wife is going to be [censored]...

But stuck here instead...

...

Hey at least you have a desk lamp! I wish...

I don't disagree at all on having realistic expectations. It's the rep game after all. And loctite is of course a great idea, but I have several clasps/etc. of cheap steel that wear out very fast, and then what do you do?

All that said, I think I have maybe 90% of my watches wearable at any given time which isn't bad. But dammit I need a friggin crystal gasket! or two or three.

This drives me crazy too. RIght now I have an omega planet ocean I can't wear due to screw missing from bracelet, a panerai base with a new crystal but destroyed gasket (and those seem impossible to get), a PAM 127 with missing CG screws that seem to be some oddball size, the list goes on. And my wife is mad at be because her favorite FM crazy hours now has a clasp that won't stay shut.

Ok, I will stare at the 029M on my wrist and take deep breaths. That gets me calm pretty quick.

I caught the crabs on a city bus once...a long time ago ...but I dont think the video has anything to do with that.

Mike

Yes, yes. It was the bus. So you keep telling your wife.

I think the chopped seconds "time-bomb" is a little overblown as well. I'm not disagreeing with Zig, I'm just saying a $200 purchase that could possibly only last a few months but still might run a very long time is not quite what I could call a "time-bomb" in the grand scheme of things. Having a watch that stops ticking is a little different than getting blown up in Afghanistan.

I've got a couple of $30 sterile 6497s sitting in a drawer right now. If my 112 stops, I'm not afraid to try hacking on one of those to try to get it working again. Or, heaven forbid, I'll just wear a different watch. Or buy the new model that will undoubtedly be released by then that makes my current one look like crap. Just have fun with it

My asian movt one runs a little fast but has one of the smoothest sweeps of any of my reps. No complaints here at all. If it ever dies (and I have a couple asian 2836 w/GMT reps around that are still running after a couple years), I'll just drop in another movement. No worries.

FRANK is sooooo good!

Damn I like the shoe too!

Between all of the watches between us, my wife's crazy hours gets the most comments by far. It seems without fail that we'll go out to a nice restaurant and somebody will give a quick glance at whatever AP/Panerai/Hublot/IWC/etc. I've got on, and then proceed to ask her all about her watch.

This is interesting info, but personally I would prefer the double-sided AR. I know that's not gen-like, but it just looks so damn good. I haven't had much of a problem with scratching either, but I suppose you have to be careful.

Zig,

...your "after" pic is obviously what I am striving for. Since my CG is brushed, I was thinking that I could push the pin out the "top", ever so slightly. With the CG off, put sand paper on a flat surface, and sand down the head of the pin in one direction. Probably hitting the CG in the process, but since it's brushed, I think I could even out the finish.

Maybe I try the back side first to see what happens.

I would say DO NOT try to sand it by hand. You will end up with a more rounded pin than you started (and you'll nick the CG all over the place).

I don't have anything fancy like a lathe, but I get decent results doing the following: Push out pin and carefully place in the chuck of an electric drill (you'll need a decent one with no wobble). Then I run the drill very lightly against a very flat surface with sandpaper on it (a plate of glass or tile works well) being super careful to keep it at 90 degrees (if I had a drill press I would be using that). I start at 600 grit, then to 1200. By then it's should be looking pretty flat and shiny with a very square edge. You could probably stop there, but since I have them, I move to 3M abrasive films all the way down to 0.3 micron. At that point, if I've been steady and careful, it looks like a mirror, flat and spotless, even under my 20x microscope.

Looks great IMO, did you also get a tang buckle for it, or did you keep it on the deployant?

Please let me know, and is the quality of the strap worth the price?

Thanks a lot!!

I kept it on deployant. As far as quality, it's nice. I don't think it's worth that price, but you don't have much choice. Probably still a lot cheaper than a gen rubber strap.

Ok managed to get a pic off my phone. It's not very quality, but you get the idea.

My apbands white strap arrived. It looks pretty darn nice I think. I wasn't sure if I could pull off white, but my wife says it looks "sporty." (I think that means good?)

I'm trying to upload a photo but my phone is being a b*tch.

If you don't mind me asking, where are you getting the white strap from?

Please let me know.

Thanks.

The white rubber strap is coming from APbands.com

Damn expensive, but what can you do?

Ok one more cuz it's fun.

I received mine over the weekend and took a few shots. White strap is on the way as well. I think this one is going to be a keeper.

Dial closeup:

Face:

Full view:

Thanks for the code on the straps. I really can't decide between black or white rubber. I want a proper horn back but am not ready to shell out for that yet.

I got my watch over the weekend and it's just fantastic. The strap looks quite good, but it is not going to fool anybody whatsoever who knows what real croc looks like. That's too bad.

I'll try to post some pictures that do it proper justice when I get the chance.

Quick question on the white strap. Does anybody have experience with these? My major concern is that it will stain/get dirty. My wife has a hublot with white rubber strap and she wore a red sweater *one time* and we still can't the color out of the band. That sort of ruins the whole thing.

Want want want!

I guess this implies you need to own the gen AP watch to order one of those straps?

I'm looking at my options now. jacobstraps.com looks very nice, but I really want the teal stitching to be right, and I don't know if he can do that without a watch sample in hand.

I just got my QC pics and they are looking good! I can't wait for it to arrive and I can get some good pictures.

Order placed. OMG I haven't been this excited about a watch since the a7753 panerais came out.

Soooooo sick. I loved this watch since it came out but then fell in love again when Lebron was wearing it on the cover GQ or something recently.

Anybody know the process of ordering from toro? I sent him a pm on the geek.

In my experience, I had to push the buttons pretty darn hard (harder than a toothpick would allow), and then push the pin to the side very very hard. After the first change it got easier, but it's still quite a pain. I don't know, maybe I'm doing something wrong. I'd like to know, as I enjoy swapping bracelet/strap on my 236 and straps on my 359.

Kill the cats jk

That is an option , but sign-off from the wife is not likely.