Jetsons

Considering there is zero QC on these watches, at least check it beforehand. Remove the case back and make sure there is a rubber gasket there. Coat it with a thin film of silicone grease and properly tighten the case. As SR mentioned, the case backs frequently arrive loose from the factory. Also, lightly coat the crown rubber O ring with the same. Without having it pressure tested, it's a gamble. The above can be easily done and and would certainly help seal the case.

I think this is a one day only deal, as in today. Best price I have ever seen on this. [urlb=http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox?tag2=aintitcoolcoa-20]http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox?tag2=aintitcoolcoa-20 Added: Poof, deal gone.

I would guess the bottom right is the gen. Dial lume matches the pearl perfectly. The pearl lume on the other two seems to be MIA. Nice glow for rep dials. I wish mine were remotely in the same ball park.

section8, nice budget! In this price range, I would suggest looking hard at time pieces with in-house built movements. In your range, this would include Jaeger LeCoultre, Zenith (El Primero) & Rolex to name a few. The Omega can be argued that it has plus their movements are very nicely finished and modified. BTW, TZ sales corner is a great place to look for minty second hand examples & save anywhere from 40-50% off MSRP. It is also a great way to gauge resale value, if that's an issue. I don't mind looking at watches that are repped for the simple reason that I can give them a test drive for a few weeks or months and decide if I would be happy with the purchase over the long term. Best of luck in your hunt!

I've read of this issue with rlx movements (lack of bearings on the rotor) but I would have never thought it could be this severe. I believe some of the older GMT movements use bearings and would not have this problem.....someone correct me if I'm wrong on this. The good news is that it looks like your in good hands and your dealer is sorting things out. I can just picture a rep noob buyer that received a watch with a similar problem. One could only imagine the contents of the post and all for a $200 watch. Best of luck, Kurt!

"There is no worse crime than being a watch aficionado without the cash to pay for it." WOW! Most watch aficionados probably fit the bill at one time or another. This chap needs to seek serious help ASAP. Just to think he may be a member of our forums.

Excellent work putting the franken Tudor together. A vintage acrylic pearl on the insert would be a great finishing touch. How were you able to source a 1:1 reproduction case? I look far and wide for parts but have yet to run across this. Enjoy!

I'm with you, Kruzer. I've been slow and very selective at adding to the collection and so far so good. I have noticed a drop in QC & increased reported problems in the past few months. While reps have become more accurate, there seems to be a drop off in the overall quality and reliability of the watches. I don't have anything new except the 42mm PO (second hand so checked out by the original owner) and they have all been perfect....knock on wood. chad, very sorry to hear about your experiences. Hope it gets sorted out to your satisfaction.

Great work, Ken! This type of garbage has no place here or anywhere else for that matter. I read the original post and for the life of me, I could not find any reason to trigger this type of behavior. What a thankless POS! Neil, terrific to see that you haven't lost your magic touch.

Tourbi, when they were avialable, I believe price was on par with the 2893-2 Pams, around $400-$450. They had the lug hole TW best case and a nice thick sapphire crystal. It's a hell of a watch specially if the dial is swapped with a more accurate version (gen would be nice) and intalling a correct length GMT hand.

Sure. Photo of the 2893-2 on my GMT Master: b

The four that I'm aware of: TW Best/MBW GMT Master & Explorer II Pam 029 Pam 063 These resemble my collection. Fantastic movement....highly recommended!

Great post, Bill! Excluding the boat incident (very sorry about that), it was one entertaining read. The OEM cown/tube addition is a pretty amazing improvement. All of the sudden, the watch doesn't feel so much like a rep! I'm with you on the aging of these watches....I like them to look on the new side as well. Heck, I have a 52 year old watch that does not look much different from the day it left the factory & others in the 20-40 age group with very little patina on the T-dials. Glad you are enjoying the new Zig torches!

Thank you for taking the time & effort to do this for us, Rob! As always, a joy to read and very informative. All we need to do is identify the watches that are equiped with this ETA clone movement. Hopefully, this is a trend of things to come and not a brief aberration. It seems that a CN manufacturer(s) may have purchased an ETA fabrication facilty or at least the equipment.....I believe a Russian company did the same with an old Swiss based company movement fab plant (Longines?).

Darn, you're good at sourcing parts. I had a hunch your old dial was not as sharp as it should be and thought it was the photos or needed to have my eyes checked. Good to know my vision is okay. Glad you found your dial. The Daytona looks perfecto mundo! BTW, I think that new dial adds a tad more than just 1%. Enjoy!

Excellent work and terrific watch! The great white dials are my fave. Which crystal did you end up using? Is it a T-19?

Sub, for the forseeable future, stay mainly with USA "large cap" invested mutual funds. They benefit the most from overseas growth w/o having to invest in foreign markets. Those funds should pay a healthy dividend as well. I would avoid small caps. With your company matching 100%, I would invest the MAX amount ASAP. Darn good deal and a terrific way to save. Added: Based on the descriptions, large cap based funds would be #2 (Alliance Bernstein) & #10 (T. Rowe Price). You can probably research their respective historical ratings at mornigstar.com and at the company's web site.

Wow, first time to read this thread! I thought it was just another of those guessing games which I'm not very good at. For the record, I would have guessed gen or an MBW with a butt load of OEM parts and one fantastic aging process. On these guys, without opening her up and checking the serials between the lugs it's sometimes difficult to know for sure. Fantastic watch, Omega & congrats! Nothing beats the genuine article and the pride of ownership that goes owning a piece of history, specially such as this. You may have to change your forum signature now. Enjoy!

Thanks for the compliment! It's the old TW best cased GMT with the 2893-2. A forum member was kind enough to offer an extra.

The gen TT photo looks very familiar. Ditto for the MBW/TW GMT Master. It's the first thing that catches my eye on these guys. 16610. Looks much better now that I've finally installed the OEM spring bars. b

Keep searching, TT. The photo you had to work with was poor at best. This one was also posted on TZ a few weeks ago and not much doubt about its origins. As I recall, the price was also fair considering the condition plus it included all the factory goodies. Seller is highly reputable and regularly posts tasty rlx offerings. What a gorgeous watch & terrific photos!

TW 16610 which probably also came from the bottom of Tutima's drawer.

Darn good advice, Pug! I've had both and the white dial the more accurate with better print and last but not least, easier to wear. The gen rr is one rare bird and usually only found safely slumbering in a bomb proof safe.

The MBW by a long shot. Gen rr for comparison:

I would say go for the MBW specially if you're considering the 1665. It's better to have one fantastic rep that you'll wear and enjoy over the long term than a few that might eventually become watch box queens. Comparison shots of the components used in the MBW and CN 1665 might shed some light on the subject. These photos are compliments of RWG1 old timer and super Franken builder Saabin....It would be fantastic to see him here. Dial print quality. Super thick case and back of the MBW 1665: Bezel assembly of the MBW same as the gen as is the crystal installation: