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Big, heavy watches for Monday!

The quality of reps available in Hong Kong is pretty poor. You can try your luck at the night markets (try Temple Street in Jordan, after you've gone to the Ladies Market as freeflow suggests), but I wouldn't count on getting the model you want. Here's a better alternative: Order a Navitimer from one of the trusted dealers here and have it delivered to your hotel. You should get it in 1-2 days, and save yourself a few bucks in shipping and a whole lot of headaches. Unless you arrive during Chinese New Year, in which case you're S.O.L.* *And I don't mean SuperOcean Limited!

The good news is that I will never feel your pain. The bad news is that I might wind up on an episode of Hoarders.

I've used goin6633 twice for non-Panerai lume jobs and some other mods (fitting a plexi crystal on the Hanhart, matting the Explorer dial). I don't think he does AR, but I'm very happy with the work he did for me. FYI: The Hanhart used to have greenish lume, while the 1016 dial had yellow lume.

The brown and blue make a perfect pair. Lovely Subs!

I remember seeing this a while back. Good information, but the misleading title and weaselly, passive-aggressive, first and last sentences ("Hey, it's a free world, but...") always left a bad taste in my mouth. A bit more spine would have been appreciated. The article should have been titled, "In Defense of Rolex" and structured accordingly. But, hey, it's a free world, and I'm not Mr. Dowling's editor...

It's one of Yuki's best dials, and it's a shame their current 5500 gilt dial isn't anywhere near as nice.

jmb: Is it me or is the collection you posted a bit... abridged? I could've sworn you had a few dozen examples of Rolex/Tudor by now! Stephane: Thanks for the compliment! I chose that picture, because I still go swimming with that rep at least three times a week. It really takes a beating. So many nice Rolexes (and Tudors!) in this thread, and many others that I wish I could see. (Any new pictures, Flex?)

Excellent find, but very depressing. I've been looking for an old Heuer Carrera, and discovered that an example of the exact model I'm searching for was sold a month ago. WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME ABOUT THIS EARLIER?! WHAT ELSE ARE YOU HIDING?!

I posted a description in my Space-Dweller thread. As I told redwatch, it's a bit haphazard, and it isn't pretty!

Pace freddy, I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing your ridiculously huge Rolex collections. That's the reason why I'm here at RWG! Anyhow... My Rolex story begins in 1996. I was but a boy, and my thoughts naturally gravitated toward Boy's Size Datejusts. Here's the cheapo I bought at a Hong Kong night market: (I still love blue sunburst dials, and a franken DJ is definitely a future project. If only I knew someone who could help me with that...) Then I had a lean decade, in which I didn't much care for watches, but always wore a $100 Bulova on my wrist. Then a few years back, watches were on the brain again. And just like that, I was back into reps, and my fondness for the basic Datejust morphed into an unnatural attraction to the 1016 Explorer. This was my first Explorer rep, from Hont. It looks cheap, but I found it pricey at the time at almost $200. Not long after, I had my sole Sub experience, with a $90 DRSD from Trevor. To my shame, this is the only Submariner I own: Then the breakthrough! After months of wandering, I finally settled in RWG and wallowed in all things Rolex. My first post here marked my first build, based on a $100 Narikaa Explorer: Shortly after, I discovered (via something ChiMan12 wrote in RG about a $75 kit) the wonders of the DW Daytona: Yeesh! Is that what you used to look like? Nevertheless, I was thrilled to bits to have it on my wrist. After months of work and loads of headaches, the 6263 eventually became reliable and turned into this: In the meantime, my Hont 1016 got a facelift, courtesy of an MBW dial from Lanikai: After that minor spruce-up, everything went quiet for the middle of the year. And suddenly Fall 2010 became my Frankenstein season: Starting with the 1601-based Space-Dweller collaboration with Chi and Justin: A parallel project to the Space-Dweller was the 16203-based Explorer, completed a month later: Almost simultaneously, I wrapped up a very quick DW 6239 project, seen here with a relative: Finally, I started a Tudor 7032 project at the end of September. By mid-October I had a running example: But it wasn't until the end of the year when I could call it finished: Not shown above are pictures of my vanished funds.

Just beautiful, Andei. It's amazing how much character can be transferred by a few gen parts.

Pete, after my impromptu meet-up with sssurfer in Rome, I've had Panerai thoughts rattling around the back of my head. And just when I was wrapping up my Tudor Monte Carlo, THIS gorgeous rep shows up! As for the yellowish lume in that pic, it's due to the yellowish light in my hotel room and my neglecting to adjust the white balance accordingly. I really ought to keep Photoshop on my laptop for such emergencies... Nico: It's trick photography!

Hello there. I'm not a frequent poster on the Panerai subforum, but do bear in mind that this is only my second Panerai. Ever. Having tiny 6.5" wrists tends to make one scurry for the safety of tiny old Rolexes. This is not a review. If it's a full review you want, please read babola's excellent post. It only took me three, slow, read-throughs to convince me that I had to have a Radiomir Chrono. I ordered this one from Mary at Watch International, and it only took one day for the package to arrive. OK, so I was in Hong Kong on business, but it's still a thrill not having to wait. (Apologies to anyone still trapped in EMS purgatory.) Here it is in my luxurious hotel room, minutes after I'd ripped the package apart with a Pilot pen (I always forget to pack my box cutters when I travel): Big, heavy, wobbly on my small wrist, immaculately finished (though the movement needed a good cleaning), and an absolute stunner. I guess that sentence makes this a review, then! So, on with the rest of the pretty pictures: It's right on the limit of watch sizes I can pull off, but inconspicuous it ain't. Really nice caseback, really good deployant. Ignore the crooked 'Panerai' engraving; it just means it's hand-made! Dig those sharp edges, and the swell crown. This is why I could never buy a DSN Radiomir. The dial is a revelation, and a future benchmark. Lume may not be torch-like, but it's useful enough. The strap, incidentally, is calfskin. I've heard great things about the croc option, but that's hand-made, custom strap money we're talking about. This is the first out-of-the-box rep I've bought in a year (last purchase: IWC GST Titanium chrono). It feels great buying a watch that looks this good right off the bat. It might get a fancy-shmancy strap down the road, so keep posting your 288 photos so I can steal an idea or two. Thanks for looking.

It's like everyone's got a great-looking GMT these days. WHERE'S MY GMT?!?! Ahem. A Radiomir for Thursday:

Instant classic! Melvin would be proud of you!

Ugh... Weren't those the same guys trying to sell a DRSD for six figures last year?

I've got to say, it feels rather nice being mentioned as one of ubi's inspirations! Now that I'm at home and seeing all the pictures, it's looking incredibly good. I didn't think 2mm holes in a 1601 were doable, but there they are! And the tritium on that dial is just about the cleanest and most well-behaved I've ever seen. Love it, love it, love it! Dizzy: Unfortunately, the quality of Yuki's 1016 dials (and, recently, also their 5500 Explorer dials) has taken a nosedive in the past few months. Numerals and text are all over the place, lume application is sloppy, and they still sell for $130-170! Based on current pictures on the Yuki website, the only decent one available is the gilt 1016 dial. (But for how much longer?)

Wrist shot? Excellent result, j.

They're OK, but the way some people fawn and obsess over them is a bit off-putting... I'm dying here, since my workplace firewall is blocking all pictures. Ubiquitous + 1016 is something I desperately want to see, and I can only imagine the final product being finished to R's exacting standards. I'm already very curious as to how you can drill 2mm holes into a 1601 without "coloring over the lines". Have you decided on a movement yet?

The Polaris is still one of my dream watches! Good value, too--it comes with an extra crystal! To be honest, I was sort of hoping that JLC would reissue the Polaris II in blue... We've had reps with alarms before, haven't we? Wasn't the rep of the Vulcain Cricket GMT a fully functional one? I'm still kicking myself for not buying one back when dealers were unloading them.

Still Dwelling: