RickHiC

I recently acquired a very nice 183 with slightly recessed canon pinion. No problem, I searched around here (although The Zigmeister's comprehensive canon pinion guide has apparently been pulled; any links to it are dead) and got what I thought I needed. Ordered up the eta parts from cousins uk (new 2.15 mm hour wheel, 3.15 mm canon pinion (6497-3 240 and 250 part numbers I believe off the top of my head). Anyway, I pulled things apart and noticed the old canon pinion looked an awful lot like the new one. Did the new install anyway, and darned if it's not still recessed. I pulled it apart and measured everything with a digital caliper and both the old and new wheel and pinion are 2.15 mm and 3.15 mm exactly. I installed again and pressed everything down (sandwich dial to movement, hands to pinion) very firmly. I can't see any kind of dial gap from the side with a loupe. I even sanded the minute hand down a tiny bit and reinstalled, but the pinion is still recessed. Any thoughts? I suppose I could remove the dial and try to sand the back of either/both dials down .25 mm or so, but that will be very tricky to do evenly, and I don't want to damage the tiny mounting studs. Looking at the hands, it doesn't look like I have much room at all on the above dial side (hour hand is bent slightly up and still barely clears seconds at 9). About how far should the hands stand above the dial? I suppose I need to post a pic for experts to judge. I'll try to see if I can capture one. Then maybe folks can tell if I can realistically sand the hands more, or if I need to do something else.

I dug up my picture from a few weeks back. It was shot through a Cartier store window, so not ideal, but it's an example in a normal light setting. The crop is a tiny tiny portion of the original image, but it's from a good camera. Note the haphazard bezel screws but perfect crystal beveling. Your sample has got to be gen for sure. Good price?

The KISS thing is an interesting case of supply and demand. That doesn't make the current prices in any way reasonable, but you know, there are a fixed amount of seats per show, and that's what people are willing to pay. Plus of course ticketmaster runs a nice monopoly ring, etc. etc. Watches and other luxury goods are a goofy in-between however. They have turned supply and demand on it's head. The marketplace is so contorted that people believe what is essentially a commodity (ok, flame away) is something ultra-valuable. Of course that's the result of all the hard work they do creating brands and building up the "lifestyle" image. I imagine that is where most of the money goes, and maybe they even have to justify their crazy watch prices to keep the whole great circle of bullsh$t in the sky spinning. If I opened up a shop in switzerland, CNCed up a decent looking chrono watch, dropped a 7750 movement in it, gave every microscopic piece certified tender polishing and love, and decided to call it, say, "Hublow", how much could I charge? Certainly not $20k. I might have the same product but I gots no brand. I feel bad for Hamiliton. I love the look of some of those Khakis, and they're what, $1400? Some are cooler to me than a lot of other 7750-spawned watches costing crap-tons more. Ok don't pick me apart too much. I don't mean to sound like a total asshat. I do go back and forth on this issue in my head a lot. I can say that I love this whole fake brand racket, and I love my "fake" brand "real" products, from clothes to glasses to watches. And as a devout lifehacker, it's my opinion that fake luxury is way cooler than real luxury.

P.S. Are you the real Sly Stallone??? Ha! Busted! No wonder you have so many great pans. They are reps!

I've often wondered this too. With my DSN and also standard reps. I'm not talking about deep depth testing. I'm not diving to the center of the earth. I just want to swim and/or take a shower at the gym. We're talking whopping depths of ~1 meter max here. Except I don't want to find out by destroying a watch or having it fog over. Hehe, that's a call-out if I've ever seen one. I've got a beautiful B&R 1000(!!!) meter dive watch, and I'm afraid to wear it into the pool.

I have not seen a rep with "automatic" in the correct position on the dial like that. The standard rep has "automatic" and "Cartier" too close to the center. Also, reps with caseback off reveal a plastic holder for the movement instead of that nice SS. I supposed this stuff could be sourced. I for one would kill for a correct dial however. I've been trolling ebay for months. That crystal is very good as well. The reps don't have those perfect beveled edges. Re: the bezel screws, I think the gen has them similarly in different rotations (not all lined up). I have some recent pics from a cartier store window that I can double-check with (but not while at work). Beautiful watch in any case. I would say it's a franken with a lot of money in it, or it's (more likely) straight gen.

I'm no expert, but it also sounds like your keyless works could be sticky. I've had a similar problem rebuilding a 7750 where the little L-shaped hack slider did not want to slide very well. The symptoms were similar. It isn't too difficult to get at the works if you are willing to tear down your watch a bit. I'm not sure on that movement if it's easier to get to from dial side or back side. From that point however, I was stuck. I tried adding a drop of standard synthetic watch oil to the works and hack, and it didn't seem to change anything. Still sticky. I could slide things gently with a tweezers, but pushing/pulling the crown alone wouldn't do it. If you were planning on ordering a new movement anyway however, it couldn't really hurt (except of course be very careful with your dial and hands). It's fun to tinker and see how the pieces work.

I'm man enough, baby! I think it would look good with a fine suit where the arms have been cut/torn off above the elbow. Perhaps I should start my modeling career. I can just see this on a couture fashion runway.

On slask's point however: You can meta tag a thread so google will not index it. There is a difference between jpc's crap photos which tend to the hide the beauty and accuracy of his pieces versus what we could produce. I've kind of had those same thoughts when I've seen rwg come up in many a google search. The whole site could be made non-indexed just as easily. Is removing rwg results from search engines a good or bad idea, I'm not sure. Certainly there are pros and cons.

Your 111 has absolute crown guard perfection in that pic. Is it some kind of franken? Beautiful collection overall. This collecting stuff is scary business. I only started in Dec. 2008, and I'm already about to outgrow my first winder/watch box. And of course next it's the endless modding...

Also crazy; don't the crowns look like they are going to rub their neighbors in that case setup? Setting the case down hard could be a very expensive mistake. It must be funny when he walks into his AD. "Oh hello again, Bob. Hey, did you know that Rolex makes other watches too? Some of them are actually quite nice."

This is pretty old news in the photography world, but I thought about it the other day in terms of watch crystals. The article is about Nikon's Nano Crystal coating for lenses and how they brought it to market. Kind of fun if you're into photography. http://imaging.nikon.com/products/imaging/...ne/20/index.htm Here's a quickie pic from the article. A nikon digital camera sensor is visible at the end of a tube containing 28 optical surfaces. The left side shows with the new coating, the right without. They had this demo during the announcements at a photo trade show, and folks on the floor said it was crazy. It looked like you could reach your hand right to the bottom even though there is obviously a pretty insane amount of glass in between. I believe Canon has something similar now as well. So I got to thinking, sure the likelyhood of us sending a off a crystal run to Nikon Japan for a special nano AR run is pretty slim. But... I happen to own a couple of Nikon lenses bearing the "N" badge that I could pillage in the name of science and watch perfection. Sure, the lens elements would likely require considerable machining to achieve correct size and such of a particular watch crystal, and there is that problem of the cheapest donor lens costing upwards of $1400, but, hey, that is a small price to pay. In the mean time I will keep dreaming... Oh, and Chieftang, if you want to meet with some Nikon execs and work up a deal, I'm totally down for a run.

Nobody's mentioned this?! Rock Band 2 baby! Just a little more practice, and I will audition for Metallica's new drummer. Also this is the only game I can get my wife to play. She sings; I practice my rock stance and drum face. Still working on getting her to let me wear leather pants.

Super Secret crystal removal tip: (I've seen this on other forums but not here.) 1) Remove the caseback. 2) Press the stem release button and carefully pull out stem. 3) Not required, but very strongly recommended: Unscrew clips holding movement in, and carefully remove movement assembly. 4) Re-install caseback, carefully aligning threads, and making sure o-ring seal is seated properly. (You need the watch to be air-tight). 5) This is the fun one. Locate fancy bergeon blower bulb with pointy tip or something similar that you can squeeze while holding flush to the crown tube (hole in side of case). I've used a plunger for inkjet printer refills that has a perfectly sized small plastic tip. A regular blower bulb might work if you can keep the contact tight. I've also considered a bicycle tire pump with presta-style valve end. (Yes, I'm that crazy). 6) Hold your plunger/bulb flush to the crown/stem hole and start slowly squeezing. It takes less pressure than you would think. You get a loud pop, and the crystal flies out with varying force. Make sure not to lose the seal. For me it has always stayed intact in the watch. Yes this sounds risky, as stuff is going to fly around a bit. On the other hand, the perfectly even pressure from the inside on the crystal should in theory be ideal. I've found I don't need a press for the re-install. Just do it very very carefully and slowly. Place the crystal flat on the case. Keep methodically pressing while making sure it's absolutely level all around. I keep rotating the case while checking the depth with a loupe, then I press a bit at a time with my palm. Eventually it pops into place. Note that these are my completely ghetto, "Tools? We don't need no stinkin' tools!" tips for the adventurer type. If something tragic happens, I first try to learn from the mistake, then I work hard to completely repress the memory of the accident. There are now at least a few blank spots in my past. The repression gets easier with practice. Also, there are meds that can help. Ask your doctor. p.s. Don't skip step 3. I did that once (removed stem but left everything else in the watch intact), and the hands blasted off during the pop along with the crystal. No damage amazingly, but a huge scare. And I had to find that tiny sub-second hand somewhere far off in my room (I did eventually).

Sorry to threadjack, but are the bergeon hand pullers worth it? They are on ebay for around $50 per size(!), and I imagine you'd need multiples to cover the normal range of hands. Meanwhile the knockoffs are around $5-10. Yes, I know you get what you pay for, but I would definitely cover the dial with something protective and be very very careful about what the little grabbers are touching. I dig quality and swiss-ness, but I'm all about function. For example, my $90 usd 50mm f/1.8 nikkor lens absolutely crushes any low mag. loupe out there, swiss or otherwise. Double-gauss design, 6 multi-coated elements, one of the sharpest lenses for 35mm available. Yet who thinks to look through an SLR camera lens backwards. I need to rig up a headband for it.

I know some folks have been through this. I'm US located and about to pull the trigger on some super luminova. (Yes, I know, luming is better left to the experts, but I'm set on experimenting.) I have the bank info coordinated with tritec, but I just can't find an efficient way to do it. The best I can do with my bank is a minimum $40 international wire fee, plus a crappy exchange to swiss francs, plus possible misc. fees at the other end. I'm possibly paying more on fees+shipping than I am for product. Is there any other way? Western Union doesn't seem to do bank transfer to Switzerland (wtf?) I have a moneygram account but that seems to be the same way. I have a local UBS branch (rc tritec has UBS swiss as their bank), but they said they either can't collaborate with their main swiss branches and also I'd need an account anyway (again wtf?, I can't just walk in to the UBS teller with cash/check/money order, nor can I bank-to-bank from my bank to UBS USA, then wire from UBS USA to UBS Swiss (either should in theory result in lower fees)). Ok, sorry for ranting. I'm just hoping somebody here in my situation has come up with a better solution. I know I can registered mail a US bank check to Switzerland, but some googling seems to indicate that this can take somewhere from many weeks to infinity to finally clear.

Another thing to consider is the curved crystal of this watch (and pans in general) distorts the dial no matter how you view it. And then consequently, a dealer can have a perfectly repped dial to gen, but if the rep crystal is slightly different in thickness or refractive index (both likely), that perfect dial now appears to be off. Here are two pics of my 253 from Josh from different angles. Head on, it's pretty clear that things are too thin, but on the wrist it's usually not so bad. In any case, when I'm wearing it, the only thing it screams to me is "this is a nice watch." I am very happy with it overall, but my level of WIS is certainly lower than some others'. In that vein, if it really bothered you, I'll bet The Zigmeister or someone else skilled with a brush could apply a little lume to thicken up the numbers.

Thanks guys. Those look great. I also heard back from Davidsen and he confirmed his anthracite is the correct gray. Now on to payment. I've so far hassled through moneybookers and moneygram with no luck. They do not seem to be very keen on US residents sending international. The first I finally resorted to tech support, who said they just plain don't support person to person US to international. The second suspended my account instantly as soon as I created it. Western Union will probably work, but the fees are crazy high. I never thought of putting that on a blue strap, but it has me thinking... I may order a blue croc and brown croc and see which I like better with Ti.

Oh this is fun! I am thinking Rolex Gaytona:

I noticed Josh's site has the anthracite dial with corrected tick mark at 9 now. I know that was a flaw in the past. The strap however looks like crap. DSN is going to likely have better lume, etc., but his dial looks off. I searched and searched on this and haven't found an answer. Is his dial blue, or is it just the light/angle of pic? I have googled up lots of gens, and they do indeed vary quite a bit from image to image. I like DSN's strap a lot better, and actually I like the all around look of that piece better, whether it matches gen or not. But it sure would be nice to have something not completely off. So..... anybody out there with a DSN 89? The last thread I found wrapped up with a bunch of questions and no answers or pics. I would love some help as I'm ready to pull the trigger. p.s. tried contacting him directly. No reponse yet.

If you watch Iron Chef America specifically, all the chefs and hosts seem to be sporting nice stuff. The other day I saw Bobby Flay on with the above mentioned gold rolex, and Alton had on a Cartier Santos 100. The others I couldn't make out. Alton in particular has quite the stable however. Every episode it's something different.

I've got the one from Josh you sited. There are some problems with the dial, but it looks better in person than in his pictures. The one from Josh has a faintly guilloched finish, and at least the current gens at Cartier ADs don't. Not sure if they did in the past. My wife and I were in the AD with hers on wrist however, and at least with the gen behind the glass, it was very hard to tell them apart. I think "swiss" and other font spacing is slightly off on the rep, but I actually like the dial finish better on the rep than gen. The hands are pretty good as well. The "sapphire" on the rep crown is goofy, but I've seen gen pics online that vary from piece to piece, so who knows. The watch is so petite in real life that most of this is moot, depending on your level of WIS. My wife is certainly happy.

I'm about to pull the trigger on this watch from Josh, but I want to make sure I get the incorrect hand stack for reliability (unless the CHS has improved?). I emailed him, and this is the link he provided. here It's the new anniversary edition with independently adjustable GMT hand. I'm totally hooked on this model, but is this one the safe movement or the time-bomb one? I want a watch that will last, and the hand stack matters little to me. I search and searched, and I can't tell which style Josh's current offerings are. It's also down to the wire for orders to make it to conus by Valentine's day. Any suggestions for a simple lady watch? The wife likes small, simple, and silver. Preferably black leather or rubber strap. The Chanel J12 makes her want to throw up. I got her a tank francaise for Christmas and she was over the moon, but now she wants something non-metal bracelet, semi-formal to sporty. She likes some of the Diors and Chopards, but I'm like to find something with a semblance of accuracy. Anybody have any suggestions? Sorry to get OT.

I have the gear, being a part-time pro photog, so I thought I'd have a go at this. Here's a macro shot (actually 8 images focus-stacked) of everybody's favorite movement I like it as a wallpaper, but the full-size original has a lot more bite. I'm actually getting ready to make a 12x18 inch print to mount on my wall.

I have a MB fountain on the way from Josh. I'll let you know how it turns out. The bar is not that high really, my gen $350 USD pelican fountain still leaks and gets ink all over my hands. But that's not the point of course. Fountain pens are like fine mechanical movements, whereas rollerballs are japanese quartz. I'm proud to use it at all my conference room meetings, etc., messy fingers be damned.