Timepiece

It's thick enough, a bit reddish brown but just not my colour of leather. I will take some pics tomorrow.

Thanks!! Darn, wrong topic title: should have been Greystoke...

So here it is. My shiny new slate grey Skyland from Angus. (Man, I will need a cloth close at hand to keep the bling all day...) It feels chunky, but sits comfortably on your wrist without rolling up and down. The AR is as good as the one on my Super(rep)ocean Steelfish from PT. (The pics maybe show more blue than you will see in reality.) The Breitling style leather strap I ordered from Angus is light of colour and not matching my skin complexion. I will try it on my 22mm distressed brown HKTAN that is currently on the IWC 3717. The Skyland bezel and datewheel are better centered. Lume is decent. Chrono's work smoothly, better than on my IWC 3717 that require a firm push. The bracelet clasp needs some firm closing and opening. Links come off easily. Some more artistic shots... And some comparison pics to combine Sky, Land and Ocean... Thanks for looking! :D (soon some more shots on different straps, when I will get the push pins out!)

My slate grey one from Angus arrived yesterday!! Wow, very shiny and very thick, compared to my Superocean. AR is good. The colour of the delivered leather strap is too light for my skin complexion... I will try it on my 22mm HKTAN though! I will be posting a nice high res photo review somewhere this weekend. Here is the first low res pic.

Gen version of my SMP Bond. Goes with all occasions. Also w/o hesitation the Speedy moonwatch; this Apollo one for me please ...if it really exists: I can not decide on these next ones to compliment the two mentioned above: And something more dressy:

I hope somebody will show up with a Skyland with a slate grey dial looking like this:

If you like that (and w/o endorsing anything), check out HKTAN's bad ass version of a black and red strap on the blacksteel. Notice the red sides! sssss...

Still on a quest for dark watches..., I would make it look devilish like this: Which would make a nice match in any watchbox next to a PAM 253 rep dressed like this:

Yeah, nothing OEM rep beats a K2222 or Chieftang treatment right! I can tell with my by Jakub treated SMP Bond (still have to update my avatar pic though). I will probably look for a version with non treated AR crystal and send the case to Jakub. But seeing all the alarming posts, I would not be pleased with repetitive cracking crystals...

There seem to be 26mm Calico Jacks. A guy called Shane on another board mentioned this: "ask to speak with Grant A.K.A. Plonky, at granthilder@bigpond.com.au " (Check my NATO topic in my signature for more info on NATO/G10 straps)

It takes some tricks to scroll to the bottom of his Panerai submenu where the PAM253 is listed But I just asked him by e-mail to send me more details and a pic: The answer: "FRONT GLASS: Mineral Glass with Super AR"

In the case of a sapphire crystal versus a glass crystal, the sapphire is more scratch resistant but considerably more brittle. As a result, a sapphire crystal is more likely to chip or crack than is glass counterpart if both are subjected to an equally hostile stress (banging, etc.). Dealer PAM111 is claiming that his 4 versions (Asia, Swiss, Asia + AR, Swiss + AR) of PAM 253 all have sapphire crystals. At least they still have the serif subdial date font... PT informed me that his version has 2 Black recessed subdials and claims that to be an 'Improved version'. It has also super AR. If that is as good as on my PT Superocean Steelfish I would be happy!!

Can't that be fixed with a relume? P.s. Although I am thinking about a Manifatture Sport Tech strap, has anybody got good tips for 'non-dusty' PAM rubber?

After two years and one (sold) 40mm PAM I finally know what I want: a PAM 253 Regatta flyback!! BUT... the question is who is selling the rep with a correct dial font (sans serif) at 3, like this: I asked Silix, but no reply. I checked PT Swiss, Sash and Joshua, but all their pics show a subdial with a serif '10'. Anybody recently successful?

My Porto is still one of my favourite reps. During its wristtime I have put it on several different straps. From OEM rep strap to a more padded reddish moo-croc: To black gator: And finally on a natural brown calf with white stitches: Now I especially like the colour of that last one, but it has the wrong lug width (18mm iso 20mm). So I am looking for a strap like for example this brown one with golden stitches or something similar: Who has a good recommendation for a nice fitting, padded brown strap for my Porto? THANX!

Yes, that's actually one thing I hoped Palpatine would have fixed reluming it... (but hey, I didn't ask so only me to blame) But who can help me with a good solution (without having to experiment myself with lume ;-) ? Can the pearl be replaced by me or a watchsmith, or should I ask a dealer for a new bezel insert?

Well I already got to admire the work of K2222 up close: see my recent topic in the Omega area on my SMP Bond.

Hmm, I read something about difficulties with treating already AR treated crystals?! This crystal was already treated OEM Rep. Do you have good experience with that.

This is the transcript from my e-mail order towards Aaron: Hi Aaron, I will order the IWC Pilot Style strap if you can confirm that it will be like in this picture you published earlier: http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l202/gro...edWeather-1.jpg Best regards, [Timepiece] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hi [Timepiece], The IWC Pilot Leather Strap is - $119 Custom Made. I take order via paypal at

ad i) OEM as in: came with the Porto rep strap (left one in this pic): I measured the width as 18mm. ad ii) Price paid for the HKTAN strap based on the pic below was: $119,00 USD shipped to EU. Good luck (and patience)!!

And here some wristshots (sorry, bit shaky without tripod...)

Thanks! At that time I was looking specifically for distressed brown leather. Had I known that the announced 40 working days would become a lot more I might have reconsidered and this could have been a good alternative!

Ah, besides my long awaited HKTAN strap for my IWC 3717, I received my treasured SMP Bond after a trip for AR coating. K2222 did an EXCELLENT job I was always a bit bothered by the glare and reflection of light in the slightly domed crystal. I just wanted to see the wavy dial all the time... So now I have: - old school HE valve position - pieced link bracelet - relumed dial - AR coating And that is enough for me (any more modifications would make it too expensive as a rep for me). So you can find me gazing at my wrist a lot these days!!! Reference picture of the BEFORE situation: And the AFTER pictures: In comparison to a similar domed untreated crystal on my Tag Link GMT: And in comparison with an OEM AR treated crystal on my IWC 3717: Shot in daylight in self made lighttent: Shot in cloudy sky daylight (light tent cover removed): Just beautiful...

Well I almost thought I was never going to see my money's worth... Ordered on Jan 31st of this year, it arrived today end of May, my custom made HKTAN brown distressed leather strap for my 3717. This is what it looked like before on a black gator; mmhhh, bit of a gap there right due to the 20mm strap! ...and this is what it looks like now: At least 21 mm, just beautiful thick leather with cream stitches. I think it gives the watch the more rugged old-school look I was looking for. I put on the buckle/tang from my oem Portuguese rep strap since it arrived without any. THIS IS THICK !!!

Oops, correct no 250, I just took a better look on the Paneristi site...