doug

Okay, boys, I'm not lazy. Did my due diligence on Google and various forum searches and came up with some information. But not enough. I have long lusted after an Omega Speedmaster Professional, aka the Moon watch but there seems to be all kinds of versions out there. The two I have found that look the most authentic to me, and I am probably near the bottom of the RWG chain when it comes to this kind of knowledge are those offered by Andrew and Pure-Time (Watch-International?) with the advantage going to the latter. Of the many versions Andrew has, the one that looks closest to the Neil watch, is only 36mm (vs what I think is 40mm for the gen) and has the open exhibition case back. Pure-Time's is listed at 39mm, so closer, and the photos show the solid engraved ""First Watch on the Moon" caseback. Do any of you have either the Andrew or Pure-Time version, or even one from another vendor, that you can recommend? At this point, I am inclined to score one from Pure-Time as it seems the better of the two I've found. Any guidance hugely appreciated. Oh, I did find a few references to a review of one of these watches by a forum member, but so far all I can find are replies to it, not the review itself. Thanks, Doug

Thanks, tomhorn. How do I contact Mike on a Bike? I haven't been on site for quite a while, so could use some navigation help.

I have tried multiple times to pay for a VIP upgrade, but have been unable to do so. I have tried two credit cards and using my PayPal balance. I cannot get a payment to go through and I keep getting returned to the Submit Payment page. I am using Safari on an iMac, so this could be the issue, I thought. So I decided to try Firefox and could not connect, to the payment page, getting instead a huge "This Is A Secure Site" message. I decided not to click on the "I'll Take the Risk" window option. Has anyone else here successly used Firefox for the upgrade payment? I have done all I can think of to upgrade, but just can't get to the final Payment Sent stage, hence no VIP membership. If anyone out there can serve up a solution, I'd be grateful. Thanks. Doug

Okay, though I NEVER received a Payment Made or any indication that my payment had gone through, but kept being sent back to do the process all over again, I've now received 3 emails telling me that I have been charged $5.00 for the monthly VIP membership, each of these with its own transaction number. So, even though I never received any kind of payment confirmation message, I have now been charged 3 times for the same monthly fee, so $15. So I somehow need to get 2 of these things cancelled and 10 bucks refunded to me. Worse, when I go to the Watch Trade forum, I cannot get in and get a message telling me that I need to upgrade to VIP. Which I have done now. Three times. Color me confused.

I have been trying now for almost 20 minutes to upgrade to VIP. I have tried two credit cards, both valid, and then PayPal to have the payment withdrawn from my PP balance. All have failed. I get to the Submit Payment button, click on it, and am returned to the same page. Over and over and over. It's an unending and frustrating loop. All I have done is follow the on screen instructions, correctly typed in all account numbers and passwords, but . . . nada. I don't see any contact information, so I am just posting here out of sheer desperation. So, what do I do? Thanks. Doug

Tony has a nice-looking rep of this Paneraii; anyone out there have one of these I(from Tony or anyone)? Also the 130 GPF. Thanks

I've searched the forum and can't find the answer. The watch Obama is currently wearing is huge, but I can't get a clean, closeup shot of it. My guess based on shape and size is a Montblanc. Anyone know for sure? Also, what about Keith Olbermann's watch. Also big, but unidentified.

Victoria, perhaps one more shot, backed away a bit to reveal more of the strap. From what I can see, yes, I like it a lot. As for wrists, mine is likely not much larger than yours, a miniscule 6.5", but I think my PAM 183, Arktos, and pair of IWC Joneses look fine on it. Ditto my tiny Patek 3919 and Jules Audermars 3120, both in the 35mm range. I like the way all of them look; different, yes, but neither necessarily better or worse than the other. Just a different look. And now. Another photo or two, please.

To echo Star's appraisal, I have ordered several straps from panatime over the past year: excellent quality, large inventory and price/materials range, great value, fast shipping, good communication. Happy to see them on board.

Superb watch, Victoria. It's always nice to see a white dial PAM, particularly this one set off by the polished CG. Are you going to hook this baby up to a dark British tan strap w/contrast stitching? I imagine this baby will cover a substantial part of your wrist. And lower forearm. I was happy to read that you were finally able to resolve your gym watch conundrum with minimal anguish. I wore my Chopard GT XL (from Wacko) to the gym today, my Chronoswiss Kairos yesterday and my PAM Arktos Saturday. Makes no difference as I leave them safely sequested (concealed beneath a sock in one of my street shoes) in my locker. Never wear one on the floor as there are clocks on every wall. I spend a lot of time on my road bike and there I use a quartz Torelli chronograph as my "bike watch". Nice-looking, distinctive (white dial, black subs, black rubber strap), functional. And if I crash (3x last year. Yikes.) and smash it, there's always my little Casio Oceanus chrono to fall back on.

Ahhhh, Victoria. My profound sympathies. A bad bowl year for ACC fans. V-Tech got hammered by Kansas, Virginia blew a sure win in the last 2 minutes, Florida State lost half their team to a cheating scandal and then a bowl game to Kentucky, Clemson went down, ditto Maryland to Oregon State. Yikes. Only Boston College, which ended up 10th in the final BCS bowl, brought any measure of joy to ACC acolytes. But at least Notre Dame had a sloshing bedban of a year. Even Touchdown Jesus was holding his nose.

Moscow Store is interesting, indeed, Victoria, one of my first discoveries and ventures into the world of reps. Maybe 3 years ago, long before I stumbled onto the forums, I ordered a pair of watches from MS, though I can't recall exactly what they were. One was an ALS, I know that, but don't recall the other. Whatever, both watches LOOKED splendid in the photos, and the descriptions were equally alluring. So I ordered 2, each about $130 or so, somewhere in there, plus about $30 for shipping. I waited and waited and finally about 6 weeks later I received the package, 2 watches wrapped in straw. Yes, straw. They were hideous cubed. The ALS was about the size of a PAM and had this yellow-greenish cast (think the color of liver bile) to the dial. And it was quartz, even though the description specified automatic. The other one (damn, I wish I could remember what it was; maybe a JLC?) was even worse. Also quartz. I mean, positively grotesque. Sub-Canal Street. So I emailed them, saying that neither watch was what I had ordered, and that neither was even remotely like the posted photos and description. No problem, they emailed back, just return them for a refund. So I did, and waited. And waited. And, lo, finally after another 6 weeks, there was the refund posted right there on my online VISA statement. So all this little misadventure ended up costing me was about $50 for the shipping double header. But the watches, out of the box and first-time in hand, were enough to induce apoplexy. So. There you go. You might want to try some faux Russian Orthodox icons, or Notre Dame bobbleheads. But pass on the watches.

Ditto on Joshua. Ruby also has this watch, as does Trevor, both reliable dealers. I bought mine from Trevor about 6 months ago and it's running fine. And this really is a stunning watch. You'll be very happy with it no matter from whom you buy it.

Agree completely with the assessments of Naarika and TTK. This is a spectacular rep and, even though the dial details are not all that spot-on vis a viz the gen, all the complications nonetheless work. My sole complaint is the short battery life of the reverse side; as for the movement, I found it the same as any other quartz movement, that is jerky/hoppy; I suppose "one-legges sailor" is an accurate metaphor, but it would also apply to every quartz movement. I've had mine for going on 2 years and it has not disintegrated. We have to acknowledge that these are $100-150 reps, that quality control is a crap shoot and that, consequently, some unlucky buyer is going to receive a dud. This doesn't diminish the reality that most of these reps, Sky-Moon included, are remarkable reproductions. As Naarika says: $150 for a reasonable fascimile of a $1.3 million dollar timepice, what'dya want?

Exquisite photos, Victoria. I, too, have this watch; bought it from Joshua well over a year ago, perhaps for the same reasons you purchased yours: It is such a stunning, complex piece, even in its rep incarnation. I think its wrist time consists of maybe 3 wearings, but I am still not unhappy I bought it. I regard mine almost more as sculpture, as a kind of museum piece more than a watch. It's just enjoyable to look at and handle. One thing: I have replaced the battery for the quartz sky/constellation backside twice, and it is currently dead. Since the back has to e popped off and cemented anew once the battery has been swapped, I decided not to replace it again. Maybe there is something in the movement of this particular watch that drains the battery so quickly. Thanks for yet another excellent photo essay.

Check out Ruby's Cartier Tank Americaine, ladies. I just received one, and it's a beauty. $89 plus shipping. Most women want a watch that is as much jewelry as timepiece, and this Tank looks like a beautiful linked bracelet with a watch in the middle.

Nice choice, jmt. I put a similar carbon strap on a white-faced Chopard GT XL and thought it looked great, but it looks even better with the black-on-white dial of the GMT. HUGE improvement over that rubber thing.

Victoria. Interesting semantic point regarding the "sub" dial on the Lange 1; perhaps it should more accurately be referrred to as the "smaller dial", period. Yet, since the main, or larger, dial has no sweep second hand, the smaller dial on the Lange has the same function as that on, say, the Portuguese chrono where the running seconds at 6 is referred to as a subdial. Whatever, on the gen Lange the smaller dial is for running seconds, but undoubtedly was impossible to replicate with an Asian 21J. Nothing anyone is going to notice since ALS's are terra incognita even to many rep collectors. You're right about a Lange AD; would have spotted either of mine as a fake in 3.2 seconds, even from a few feet away. All mall jewelers know about Lange, if they've even heard of it, is that they are a) unique, and expensive as hell. Hence, they were impressed. Probably thought I was a crack dealer. Yes, I bought both of these maybe 3 years ago, in the earliest months of the addiction. I rarely see them at all anymore. I had a non-moonphase version, too, but sold that to a friend about a year ago. Agree with you on Blancpain. I've long lusted after a good BP rep. Dave Gates, who used to be a regular on this forum, had one but wouldn't sell it.

Excellent photo review, Victoria. Superb photos. The only real flaw (other than the fact that the rep case is larger than that of the gen) is that the running seconds subdial (gen) is a 24-hour dial on the rep. I have 2 of these watches, one gold, one stainless steel, but the moonphase version, that is identical to yours but with a moonphase arch at the top of the subdial which, like yours, is a 24-hour register. Also, neither of mine have the cities around the perimeter, are just the "standard" ALS Lange 1 Moonphase. Both are handsome watches, and the stainless version set off a near frenzy in one of the local mall jewelers when I wore it in there. No one noticed the absence of the running seconds, but all 3 all but drooled openly during their foot-and-a-half distance inspection. These are rare watches, and I'm surprised we don't see more of them. Every time I wear one, I am impressed anew at the quality of workmanship and detailing in an Asian 21J watch. Thanks again for the fine photos of a classic timepiece.

Spot on with all your comments, Victoria. Yes, women (my wife, anyhow) just wants to be able to pick up the watch, put it on, and be done with it; doesn't want to have to set the time, wind it, etc. Hence, quartz is all I would buy her. The plus with the Tank Americaine is no sweep second hand, so who's to know? And what if the quartz movement is somehow detected? Not an issue as the gen also comes with quartz. And yes, to most (many?) women, a watch is more a piece of jewelry than a precise timepiece, another reason why the Americaine works so well in that the case and bracelet are the same width so the overall appearance is that of a beautiful linked bracelet. I think this is maybe her 3rd watch: horological poverty to me, excess to her. Thanks for posting your thoughts.

I suppose it's okay if it's a really, really dark brown strap but the general rule when it comes to dressing is "match leathers", that is black shoes mean black leater belt and black leather watch strap. But what the hell, wear what you like also works.

Excellent review and photos, By-Tor, as is the norm for you. I looked long at this watch for my wife, but finally opted for a ladies Cartier Tank Americaine from Ruby. It's a virtual exact copy of the gen from what I can tell and, like the gen, quartz. Hard to believe that Cartier, and others, can charge what they do for quartz movement watches; yeah, it's "Swiss" quartz, but so what? I actually found a Tank Americaine in white gold with a list price of $18,000. For a quartz watch. Absurd. Same thing with the real vs. gen TAGs, just a smaller price gap. Thanks once more for this review, and for all your previous ones. An incalculable asset for this forum.

It used to be www.kingshowbox.com

Just watched last night's final episode a second time. Wow. Those final 5 or 10 minutes with Norah Jones's plaintive "American Anthem" (America, America, I gave my best to you . . .) in the background and the photos of all those young faces, one after the other. If that didn't put a walnut in your throat, you had to be comatose. Bravo, Mr. Burns.

ryy. For clarification, yes, WW II was a "good" war in the sense that we fought and defeated pure Evil, that our cause was, undeniably, a good one in every moral sense. My point was that perhaps "necessary" was a more accurate description in that, if any war ever HAD to be fought, it was this one. To echo a point made by another member in this thread, I think too many Americans look back and see ONLY "goodness" in our effort during WW II, ignoring the unconscionable treatment of African-Americans and Japanese-Americans by our government and many of our people. I think our disagreement here is more one of semantics than of substance; in the latter, we are, I'm sure, on the same page. I thought the final 10 minutes or so of last night's final episode was heartbreakingly poignant.