jkerouac

I'll bet after finishing your Lasik surgery, you'll be thirsty. Fortunately these people have a solution for you: Buy Dehydrated Water I'll be this would be a great franchise in Nanug-land! All of these ideas must come from the ultimate Internet innovators: Huh Corp.

And to think, I wouldn't even trust myself to do surgery on a watch: Lasik@Home

Thanks for the reminder. I needed a Christmas and New Years fix.

An article in the Seattle paper recently put the median home price of houses sold in King County (city of Seattle and immediate suburbs) during March at $405,000. Perhaps that is a one-month blip...I don't know. Properties in good neighborhoods near downtown (such as ours) are doing even better. But as amazing as that number is to me, I'm even more amazed when I read California papers advising people priced out of their housing markets to look in Seattle (among other places) because there are still bargains (by their standards) to be found. Fortunately no one is talking about a bubble yet. Prices increased even when our economy was not doing very well, and right now the economic outlook is very strong. But as I remind my wife, you have to sell in order to realize the gain, and you still have to live somewhere.

We all like to talk about shiny new watches delivered to our door, how they are "spot on" and exceed our expectations. But we seldom talk about the watches that turn out to be of poor quality or that simply make us ask the question "What was I thinking when I imagined I could wear this thing or fully appreciate it?" So I thought it might be interesting and instructive for people to comment on their least favorite watches, biggest disappointments, or watches that the purchased that they realized for one reason or another are not right for them. Here are my nominees: 1) Black Seamaster GMT -- Strike one is that it turned out to be a faux GMT. It has a strange moray in the wave pattern, a misaligned bezel, and other visual inaccuracies. It's saving grace, and chief selling point, is that it was on sale for under $100 and I purchased it as a What the F**k (WTF) impulse item, and learned that I really like the black Seamaster GMT. For a few months it served me very well as my designated beater. Unfortunately it died after a few months , and isn't worth servicing. 2) is a JLC fantasy "Master Geographic" that I also bought as a WTF during an RWG charity auction. I started off bidding on an AP chrono, but decided that I didn't really want to take a chance on a cheap chrono. Rather than weasel out of a charity auction, I changed my bid to this watch. In many respects it's a nice watch, it's heavy and has a superb custom bracelet and a rich, reflective blue dial -- plus an unusual date indicator, as well as month and day of week dials, plus a moon phase dial -- but this watch is not designed for readability; it's hard to read. Plus, after a few months it stopped turning over at midnight -- I suspect that this is a function of an inexpensive movement trying to drive too many subdials. But this watch also was under $100 and supported several good causes. I'm sure that it could be serviced and returned to reliable service. But I don't think the service cost would be realistic. Two otherwise good watches that are somewhat disappointing: 1) My first rep, an Omega Speedmaster from abay/Aspire. This watch has an excellent Venus/Lemania movement, and I wanted a white dial and sapphire crystal. It turns out that the white hands against a white background bug me and are hard to read. This watch keeps great time, and is comfortable to wear. But my tastes have evolved. This watch now looks ordinary to me. This has become my weekend chore/beater. 2) VC Perpetual Calendar in Rose Gold from Neil. Nice watch. Good price. But I have few occasions to wear it, find it slightly hard to read (the date, day of week, and month hands stand out more than the hour and minutes hands), and one of the pusher dials stopped functioning. I also prefer watches that have seconds hands. [by the way, I don't include abay/Aspire or Neil in this report as commentary on their quality or service, because my experiences with both has been positive. I include them just to provide reference points that board members can relate to. Abay/aspire has provided me with good reps at many price points. Neil offers wonderful watch designs at (in my opinion) remarkable price points.] So what are your "dogs" or disappointing watches -- and why do they disappoint you? After all, no one makes all perfect choices, and we learn as much from each others' mistakes as from our successes. Cheers.

Congratulations, Diego on two perfect deliveries. I join our board mates in wishing you and your family the very best. A toast: May your children have wealthy, healthy, and happy parents. May good fortunate always be with you.

Congrats. But didn't you lease an Aston Martin last year? What's the status of that?

Just when it was becoming safer to visit this neighborhood without giving in to temptation.... Best of luck, Joshua. My guess is that this will significantly boost your volume as you make it easier for newbies and veterans alike to consider new purchases. I am sure that the entire board (make that boards) wish you success with your Web site. But please, no crazy sale.

Looks great. I've been enjoying mine as well, although my wrist is not as smooth or hair-free as yours. It must be the botox injections. Nice case also. Be sure to check that the pushers are screwed on securely. I almost lost one, and I've heard that others have had the same problem.

It was the first day of school and a new student named Pedro Martinez,the son of a Mexican restaurateur, entered the fourth grade. The teacher said, "Let's begin by reviewing some American history. "Who said 'Give me Liberty, or give me Death?' " She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Pedro, who had his hand up. "Patrick Henry, 1775." "Very good!" apprised the teacher. "Now, who said, "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth?" Again, no response except from Pedro: "Abraham Lincoln, 1863." The teacher snapped at the class, "Class, you should be ashamed! Pedro, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do!" She heard a loud whisper: "Screw the Mexicans!" "Who said that?" she demanded. Pedro put his hand up. "Jim Bowie, 1836." At that point, a student in the back said, "I'm gonna puke." The teacher glared and a! sked, "All right! Now, who said that?" Again, Pedro answered, "George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991. "Now furious, another student yelled, "Oh yeah? Suck this!" Pedro jumped out of his chair waving his hand and shouting to the teacher, "Bill Clinton to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!" Now, with almost a mob hysteria, teacher said, "You little [censored]. If you say anything else, I'll kill you!" Pedro frantically yelled at the top of his voice, "Gary Condit to Chandra Levy, 2001." The teacher fainted, and as the class gathered around her on the floor, Someone said, "Oh [censored], we're in BIG trouble now!" Pedro whispered, "Saddam Hussein, 2003." Finally someone throws a eraser at Pedro, someone else shouts "Duck"! The Teacher, just waking, asked "Who said that? Pedro yells out, [censored] Cheney 2006!

ETA is one of the better movements available, but there are others as well. And even the Asian (generic) automatics used in many of the lower priced reps offered through the board can work reliably for many years. Read the forums and learn about the movements. Then, read the forums and learn about the dealers. In the end, I wouldn't trust a lot of sites to deliver the movements that they came are in their reps (genuine hand-assembled Swiss ETA....yea, sure, right). But if Joshua, Andrew, Neil, Eddie or River says this is the movement, then they are staking their hard-earned reputations on that statement. As for the number of styles that are available through the board, realize that certain brands and models are more popular than others. Consequently, the rep factories are only going to take pains to reasonably rep the brands and models that will sell the best. Less popular models may contain parts (hands, cases, etc.) that were actually produced for another model. That is not to say that only the more popular models are accurately repped, or that these are the only models you ought to consider. If you like a watch and are convinced that it is reasonably well made, then go for it. The world would be pretty dull if people only wore Blue Seamaster Pros or Black Submariners. Feel free to express yourself and explore your tastes.

Actually I thought the game was fairly entertaining. But UCLA did look out-classed. Perhaps if they had gone into a slow-down, high percentage shot offense they might have had a chance. But they simply could not keep up with a faster, more aggressive Florida team. Besides, UCLA had one other big disadvantage --> I was rooting for them. :cc_surrender:

King's AP's with Swiss movements have received favorable reviews -- that is, they are reasonably accurate for the price. In particular, her AP 039 with the blue face seems to be a popular choice. Two key criteria are thickness -- you won't get a really thin rep until you spring for a higher price -- and the color of the bezel screws. You don't want screaming yellow gold, such as on 33, although I seem to recall some people having success at lightening yellow gold screws so they look a bit more like white gold.

I beg to differ. Perhaps the best looking bracelet that I have. Absolutely gorgeous, but you have to work harder to polish the diamond cut gaps. A few screws loosened initially, but an easy problem to fix as described by others in this thread. Comfortable. Solid. The clasp is good and the clasp cover is no worse than on other watches I own (although apparently not true to the original). Only the IWC bracelet is more comfortable. But the Overseas is the best looking. In my collection, I rate my bracelets as follows: 1 (tie) VC Overseas for looks (first for looks, second for comfort) 1 (tie) IWC GST for comfort (first for comfort, second for looks) 3) Panerai 192 (strong contender on both looks and comfort) 4) Omega Speedmaster (aBay/Aspire) 5) Rolex Yachtmaster (aBay/Aspire) (has a lightweight clasp cover similar to the Overseas) 6) Omega Seamaster PO (Narikaa) I'd be curious to see how other members rate (relatively) their bracelets

Great combination, Joe. I like the distressed strap with that watch. I don't get excited by the submersible, but in combination with that strap it looks awesome. It's springtime in the northwest as well. We're almost caught up with our spring yard cleanup, which is something of a record. In the next few weeks, this is what it will look like just north of Seattle.

Best solution --> Commit to wearing each watch at least once a month. Of course you may end up wearing one watch to read the paper on Saturday/Sunday morning, a second while doing chores, a third after you've cleaned up again, and perhaps a fourth if you're going out on the town. But watches exist to keep time and be worn. I'm at a stage now where one factor in every new purchase is the impact it will have on my ability to wear each one at some point during the month.

Free watch (surprise) is not so bad -- but write a review before you place your order?? Classic... or scary. Somebody there is on drugs. They apparently recognize that they have lost contact with the boards, but then show no understanding of what or who the boards represent. In the past I have been skeptical when people suggested that perhaps Paul had sold his business. Now I think that might be exactly what happened.

How about doing a poll on the best rep of the year 2007? Then when the thread is resurrected in 9, 12, 18 months from now we can at least see whether we were remotely close to the truth.

One other point. If this site were driven by one or even a small handful of people posting fake information under fake personas, they would have to be incredibly, incredibly busy. Hundreds or even thousands of posts a day, every day, on an incredible variety of subjects both watch and non-watch related, and in a vast variety of personalities, and occasionally even languages. Then there are the variety of photographs and degrees of photographic skills. I'd like to meet the person ... or team... that could pull off that elaborate a hoax.

It may be that he sold out all of his existing offers and deleted them to deter people from trying to order watches that he no longer has. You should know that Neil doesn't particularly like extraneous mail.

DNS record -- think 'address information' . We use "friendly" addresses such as www.rwg.cc , but computers rely on more specific IP or internet protocol addresses to route your request. 'root level domain servers' --think 'phone directories'. When you move or change phone numbers, it can take up to a year for a new phone book to reflect your new information, but slightly less time (presumably) for directory assistance to get this new information. But even directory assistance doesn't get these updates instantly.

The Tom Friedman book The World is Flat has a good slant on this question. He concedes that China has gained tremendously from its status as manufacturer to the world. And he also acknowledges that counterfeits hurt western businesses. But in the long run he argues that the biggest loser may be China itself, by relegating itself to the low end of the world economy, and by reducing the incentive for its native inventors and innovators. Why innovate, his argument goes, if the Chinese economic system provides no protection to my work or ideas? As long as the West provides stronger protection for creativity and innovation, Friedman's argument goes, China can never step up to first tier or economic powers.

Hey, what about the people below? You couldn't prevent all mis-hit balls from getting past any safety netting. Next thing you know someone will want to drive golf balls off the top of the Empire State.

As good -- or bad -- a time as any to update this thread. What a difference a few days make. I started to root for Gonzaga, and they lost by one point after UCLA scored the last nine. BC lost by one point in OT. After leading most of the way, their play softened, but I couldn't help seeing how much Villanova was assisted by dubious calls. I was so [censored] at the end of that game that I decided not to watch the Washington - Connecticut matchup. Good thing. UW lost .... by one point in OT. News reports (and not just the home paper) say the refs had a lot to do with the outcome. See a pattern here? Hint: Take my picks, and put your money on the opponent. (More proof? I was for the Seahawks all the way in the Super Bowl). So when World Cup time comes, I'll be happy to sell you my picks -- so you know which teams to avoid. Back to your regularly scheduled program.

Welcome Birdman, and enjoy your new watch, as well as those to come. Consider posting pics and reviews of your new watches.