ammandel

Happy Birthday bro, all the best!

Sending the wristcheck from a different location today, this photo came out well though, still my camera phone! Guess the location!?

I don't understand why no one has bothered just having the white dialed ExpII's marker surrounds painted black by The Zigmeister during a relume/service/CG shave Exp II type thing.. Surely that'd make it as worthy as the franken!? Although I do hear apperently gen Twin Lock crown for Exp2 and GMTII are a disasterous impossibility to find!

sql, your travel pictures are absolutely incredible. I commend you for a number of things; having a gf that 'gets' all the watch-involved pictures, and being comfortable enough to take pictures of your wrist in public..! (especially on the eiffel tower! ha!) I feel like you really captured the 'spirit' of Paris in your pictures! I'm sure its some of our US and such's members dreams to travel to Paris.. Thanks for sharing! Id love to have a set of pics to post like this too! What kinda camera do you use?

They dont make this model yet no, its an "expected" (but still currently 'fantasy') replica!

I think personally I'd recommend getting the SOSF, purely based on the fact it sounds like you are purchasing your first rep of this quality level. I can't imagine a better way to begin than buying one of the famed reps for being high quality. It'd be a good kick start to the hobby as long as you realise that they won't all be "that good"

jnkay, great to hear your observations as yes - there is quite a few of us RWG'ers with a Gen GMT IIc now indeed.. For me, I wanted a Rolex with something extra, an extra complication that couldnt really be replicated in the same way. I think as a replica collector the appeal to have a gen with an extra 'edge' is definately more prominent as you know which gens are 'close' and which arent. I know that apart from the solid Rolex movement, the differences between a WM9v2 sub and a gen are minimal, really. Apart from of course, a gen is a gen.. (and those annoying SEL gaps) The movement in the GMT IIc is really awesome, I love the fact that it is so well built that you can cycle not only forwards through dates but also the date change mechanism engages to flip the date backwards as you cycle through also. The 'real' ceramic bezel with the platinum numerals is really something you appreciate with alot of observation, at times it looks white/off white and in the sun you can see an almost silver shine from the bezel numbers. Lets be honest, the rep of the ceramic bezel is just something thats not gonna come close in appearance with the difference of materials. For something like a sub, its a metal insert on the gen, and a metal insert on the rep.. same concept. Maybe these things seem like small details but in essense our whole hobby is about detail. By-Tor tries to tell people that theres no 'real' zen or 'superior' feeling about the gens when people hype the genuine article as if they are universes apart and I'm not about to turn into a 'Gens only for me guys!' person, I recognise very clearly the similarities and differences between gens and reps, and essentially they are both stainless steel watches, less accurate than a Casio. I did a couple of things that added to my experience for the GMT2 & first gen, and that was to not buy or have any experience with the rep. I think sometimes owning a close rep could ruin the 'new watch' feeling and I didn't want to ruin that experience, it'd be like how I imagine it'd feel if i bought a gen yellow seawolf, the rep is so close I doubt it'd feel that new and novel to me. That would be like buying the gen for the sake of it.. The other thing was I don't own any watches that have been superlumed by modders etc, yet I happen to consider lume one of the most fascinating and one of my favourite aspects of watches. I purposely saved this 'superlume' experience for my gen, as I knew it'd add to the experience also. As you can tell, I'd thought this all through alot in advance! I do think the way I did things really paid off in the end, I really, honestly, couldn't be more satisfied with my first gen.

b16a2, I love the composition, colour & jumper I think the milgauss rep can pass for gen really, the finish of it looks brilliant, I may get one soon. Plus it made me think of what it'd be like to wear it, the soft jumper & the soft lines and "uninterrupted" crystal of the Milguass (no cyclops to catch on). I'm not explaining this very well but I bet it was very 'smooth' and pleasant to wear. Pug, wow @ your shots.. heavy HDR in the 2nd?

It's my pleasure to be able to begin the wrist check with my most recent, and special piece: Thursday and Friday: Gen 116710LN GMT Master II aka Mr. "Never-Clean" (You know what I mean?!)

New skin I think looks better, because its more familiar.. however as mentioned this one is much too white, I think we all *liked* the off-white that RWG was before..

Thanks so much guys, I almost looked forward to sharing this with you guys as I did getting it myself!

Okay well, not much interest or this new forum format is making people miss threads (I know I havn't gotten used to it yet!!) maybe I should explain. I thought I'd post this up as an unassuming 'new arrival' and see if anyone 'calls me out' on it.. in the reverse kinda way Many of you know I've been hunting for my first gen for about 7 months or so now. Obsessing about it pretty much every day! My 21st birthday was last week (the 25th) and on the same day an ad for the GMT came up, saw it as a sign to finally make my move on it and collected it today. It's a bizarre feeling for me wanting something for so long, the GMT IIc was always my 'grail' and yet the huge cost always made me look for alternatives like Submariners and Explorer II's leaving me wondering whether it was worth getting anything other than my grail. Today was a great day as I finally went and picked it up, I'm almost paranoid about wearing it out of the house though! It is extremely difficult to photograph, but I'll try to do it justice and take some more over the next couple of days!

No one interested in this huh?

Another new arrival for me today! Looks great but I'm not sure if the bezel numbers are large enough and whether they are slightly greyer.. Rehaut engraving looks good though, what do you guys think?!

Hey L, wishing you a swift recovery and great to see you are finding humour, love and friendship to help you along the way!

A new arrival for me today!

Indeed, I use IE6 and almost none of the forum works in the browser, too many changes, too many changes!

Can't get used to this new forum at all! Early days though -.- It's funny, I was almost ready to sell this but now have just fallen back in love with it and realise it rounds my collection rather well! If only I could get a nice strap for it instead of this not so great moo-croc thingy!

Taken the stickers off this so I can wear it myself; ah my Uncle will never know..

It's so funny you've said that, I've actually contemplated convincing him to have the Sub off me instead already hahaha

Firstly; I'd like to thank Narikaa for the great service and quick communication he showed during our dealings, I literally only contacted him 2 days ago about purchasing a PO 42mm and it has arrived at my door today.. ! Background & A story I saw my uncle a couple of weeks ago at a family wedding, I only see him maybe twice a year maximum so we enjoy the time catching up and such, I was wearing my submariner and he commented on the watch and that it looked nice. I told him about the replicas and how there is a different, higher level of replica not just the crap you get at markets on holidays etc. He was intruiged and asked me if I could get more, I replied that I could and then asked him what he wanted. In true 90s orientated non WIS fashion he was talking about TAG's (with no doubt images of a 90's Tag Link in his mind, which was hugely popular back in the day). I told him about current watch fashions and again in true non WIS fashion he asked me which the 'James Bond one' was. It's interesting at this point to reflect on how advertising does seem to work and have an effect on the buying patterns of individuals, it seemed to me that he was aware of the watches/James Bond link but had no idea about what the watch was. How can he have made his mind up about that without knowing which manufacturer or model it was that he liked? Anyway, so - in my mind I already had made up my mind. I'd buy him the replica I'd heard about which I would call the perfect entry point, well priced and well built. The 42mm Planet Ocean from Narikaa. It's actually my 21st birthday this Saturday and I will be seeing my uncle for it, I wanted to be able to present him with it for when he came down. Narikaa was super helpful and assured me that it'd be here by Friday, of course - today is Wednesday and its here. To add; I knew that I had no tools and the PO is well known for being difficult to size. I cheekily asked Narikaa if he could fit it for my wrist, to me surprise he said he would, and I am extremely grateful for it. My uncles can't be that much larger anyway! and if it is, I have the extra links and I'll just tell him to take it to a small family jewellers that will deal with replicas. I can't imagine, actually.. I know that any other dealer wouldn't have sized the bracelet for me, and the fact that it arrived perfectly sized for my wrist actually felt like I just recieved a Gen! I think others would be surprised how much it adds to the experience turning up with a bracelet already sized to fit you. Although this is CERTAINLY not a standard practice in our hobby and don't take it personally if you do not recieve the same service! I was very very lucky to have a set of restrictive circumstances and a kind, helpful and fairly local dealer obliged to my needs! The replica itself Alot's been said about the watch itself, so I'll skip that and just show you some pictures I took and make some observations about this particular replica. The build quality is absolutely immense, for

Need to revisit and correct what I said here, it seems that the black inked engraving on the clasp is only on the DSSD and (maybe GMT IIc?), but the Gen Milgauss just has a deep but non painted engraving on the clasp! So this rep has it correct, and it is not a flaw as I stated before! Gen for reference:

On Saturday went to see the London Philharmonic Orchestra at an outdoor castle courtyard concert, they have them every year here and the event is great!

I think the only modern Datejust that come on Leather bands are precious metal series, so you're rep is likely to be a rep of a White Gold model rather than a stainless steel!