RickHiC

Just got my wife an FM crazy hour color dreams. It is now her favorite watch by far. And...the only one she's ever gotten comments on. Everyone wants to see the hour hand jump.

Can't come soon enough. I just put a big scratch across my 253 Thanks for keeping this project alive. Was there any talk of running the crystals by Chief after production? I wonder how the factory AR will turn out. As I recall the gen does have a slight blue hue.

Gotta love full-frame sensors. It cuts both ways for macro, however. The depth of field is sooo shallow, and the more you stop down, the more sharpness you lose to diffraction. Still, careful composition can mitigate this. One of my favorite parts about the D3 line: live-view with 10x mag. for macro focusing. You can't get any more precise than that.

Robert, are those images with stock rep strap? It looks way too good. By the way, if you say yes, I will be helpless against the purchase and therefore not liable to my wife. Hopefully she sees it that way.

I think I can work with that Pete. Thanks very much.

I'm building up a fiddy and am working on the hands. They were the traditional gold in appearance but after some polishing haven taken quite a lighter tone. I believe they are brass, and now I've got the polished trumpet look rather than the gold wedding ring look. Is that correct for gen? It's pretty much impossible to tell from photos without knowing the particular white balance and color cast.

You can search by his name, but any of the recent threads he started will return an error when you click on them. Older ones still work. Strange. Ok, I'm PMing a mod. Which mod?...

He had several for sale threads as of yesterday, and they are all gone today. I tried to PM him this morning about purchasing a B&R he had for sale, and the messaging system says "The member techlogik can not use the messaging system." Anyone know what's going on?

Ok, wristie from over Christmas. Here's my 253 on the beach in Spain. That strap is a cheapy panatime fake croc, but the stitching is a nice match.

Also, look at the caseback shot. It has the correct eta 7750 regulator and rotor bearing. I have seen that on some of Josh's other newer watches as well. Does anyone know if the delivered watches come like that? Not trying to threadjack, but it has an impact on whether I'd try to purchase new or just source the crystal.

Understood. I was talking about your second Breitling shot with the extreme distortion at the edges. The genuine Canon close-up adapter will have much better edge to edge sharpness as long as the subject is carefully positioned to be in the same focal plane (as in your shot). On the other hand, artistically, I think your image is very cool.

You can indeed add a close-up adapter to your lens to get decent macro performance, but if you want to minimize aberrations, you'll need a decent optic. Here is the Canon version that will fit your lens. It's not very cheap, but cheaper than a macro lens (although not as sharp). Canon 500D attachment

That's an awesome project. I might be inspired to try to air brush my hand if I could find the right blue. I did get lucky with my CG however. The pin holes are often rough on the standard reps and no amount of pin refinishing will help. This one had a nice tight fit. I just worked the CG to a satin finish with 1200 grit sand paper and flattened/polished the pin. Looks pretty decent IMO. Best luck I've had yet with plain rep CGs. slightly different angle: ...and here's a not very good shot of a gen 212 I took through the window at an AD Can't wait to see how the 253 crystal run turns out.

I'm otherwise very happy with my DSN 089, but the cyclops has the tell-tale rough edge/glue marks. First, is there consensus that the cartel ultimate 088/089 is the best crystal option, and second, will this drop in a DSN case? Also, how do you go about sourcing just a crystal from the dealers? I'm also thinking about trying to pop off my cyclops and refine the edge (I have 3m abrasive film in increments down to .5 micron), but I'm afraid I might make things worse. I can't tell if it's the cyclops edge itself or the glue job that's the problem.

I'd be in for one if the price is not too outrageous.

No kidding! Yeah I found that link to the manufacturer via google and I can't really say who is right or wrong. Interesting that the folks on ebay selling them have just fine feedback, so those devices must still work on some level for customers to be satisfied. Re: other posts, I've heard that a good AR coat can influence the water drop test. As far as the clink test, I think I listened to too much loud rock and roll as a teen. I can't seem to get consistent results with either of these comparing reps to my one gen with known sapphire (and no AR I think). That was the point for trying to find a cheap sure-fire tool.

I just went through 231 auctions on ebay looking for a non-fake "Diamond Selector II". This link shows the tells: http://www.gem.or.jp/culti/products/diafake.html As far as I can tell after reviewing the pictures, every auction on the bay, regardless of price, is selling the fake one. crazy. Are these "fake" ones still good enough to 100% reliably tell mineral from sapphire? I obviously don't care about diamonds. If this is the case, I'll spend the ~$20 for one from an HK auction. Otherwise, why bother.

I have my 5004 on HK Tan and love the strap, but wow those OEMs are nice. The only disappointment with my HKT is the rivets. They don't have that beautiful circular polished finish. It's just kind of stamped metal-looking. The standard rep strap is actually better in that one aspect. I want to try polishing them myself, but I'm afraid I will strip the chrome and see brass or something underneath. Thoughts? p.s. HK Tan was a pleasure to work with. I had heard of months and months delay for custom straps. The time from spec to delivery for me was just a couple of weeks.

Nice catch on the fake. Yeah watching that episode live, I spotted the daytona in that airplane sequence but couldn't tell if it was two-tone or all SS. There is another shot later in the episode where you can clearly see the gold sections. It seems like the watches on tv shows are getting better and better recently, or maybe I'm just more aware. Has anybody been watching Modern Family? The one father, Jay, always seems to have a nice watch on. His wife, Gloria I think, usually wears an all gold Daytona as well. I'd like to know what the large gold-cased one he wears is but haven't been able to find any information.

My 2c. I have two gold watches: B&R 02 with pvd case and gold bezel. I don't wear this a lot, but I can't find any silvering or blemishes anywhere. HBB rose gold: This I wear a fair amount and have banged it on things a few times. I can see micro-dents in the bezel and case, and they still retain the rose gold color. No silvering anywhere, even on the scratches and dents. I don't know if that factory uses a different material or what, or maybe I've just been lucky. caveat: I've only owned & worn these watches ~1 year.

Old thread resurrected. I removed the crystal on my standard cartel 112 and ruined the gasket. Checked with JacksonTse and he doesn't sell just gaskets. Anyone know where I can source one? I've done a lot of searching and seen only requests and no suppliers.

I'd love some vintage leather. I have access to an industrial sewing machine for stitching too, so it would be a fun project.

Just curious, how much did the gen crystal set you back? I really like watch, but I've already exploded one crystal.

I love that everybody has the same digital caliper. I got mine from neweggmall.com for dirt cheap on a special. That HBB is sweet. Can't wait to get my crystal back from Chief with some proper AR. I'm tempted to try to lume the hands while it's apart. I have proper rc tritec, but I don't know what composition is used on the gens. I'm so jealous of your rotor and movement.

I came really close to closing on a high value item like that once. Detailed pictures, very high feedback rating. Turns out it was a hacked ebay account. Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.