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I used an emery board to dull the sharp edges on my 6263. It's a cheap and quick solution. Anything more comprehensive will need a repolish/rebrush of the case! My silver 7750s:

Superb build, wiesn089! I especially like the modded black dial, and it's got me thinking about experimenting on one. Is it also a DW case?

I can still smell the smoke! 6239 for today:

Ahh... Feels like coming home! Great work, Dear Admin!

On Robert Maron's site, there has long been a listing for a 6541 with a smooth bezel. I don't know its provenance, and if the bezel was original or a replacement. Further to freddy's comment, the smooth bezel in the OP looks far too thick (and, consequently, the dial far too small) to be legitimate. After all, the Tropic 32 is one of the biggest plastic crystals that Rolex made. (Biggest non-Panerai crystal, maybe?)

To commemorate Brother Orchi's ascension to greater levels of obsession, I think I will order a few items from FAKEEE.

There you go with the simple, obvious answer I never once considered!

RWR was my introduction to the modern rep scene, back when I didn't know what a Steelfish was, and was worried about mistakenly buying a fake. I read a few articles, searched for "By-Tor", found several rep forums, and voila... Here I am with a whole pile of fakes! Thanks, Richard.

Whillikers, it's already Tuesday here! 1016 for a late submission, then:

I've been talking to a couple of guys about ideas for modding the 214270 rep. Reluming in blue would be straightforward enough, but it might be possible to spray-matte the dial. I'm not sure if you would need to mask the applied markers, or if you could just wipe them off after. If someone mods it successfully, then I'll gladly copy what they did! Don't get me wrong, though: I think the rep looks fantastic as-is. My holding out for a V2 or Ultimate is just an excuse for being cheap.

Those under consideration are the new 42mm Omega PO, the V2 PloProf, the PAM 288K, the new 177, the Rolex 1655 Exp II, and the new 6541 Milgauss. I had just about crossed the PloProf and 288K off the list, on account of my small wrists. But I made the mistake of heading over to the ADs on my lunch break, and finding out that I could just about pull them off. Not helpful. But there's a very good chance it'll be none of the above, and that I blow everything on a vintage Rolex dial, bezel, or endlinks!

Ahh, that's good to know! I was trying a descriptive search, using "valve" and "helium".

The 42mm PO has case references of 168.1651 and 168.1653, but I can't find the He valve on Cousins, either. However, Ofrei does have it (086ST0115), listing at $69.

No, it has the same funny setup as the more recent Heuer Monaco reps: Quartz, but with a dummy crown on the left to represent a Cal.12 movement, or whatever they use in the new version. I like the overall look of the blue version, but I think this may be something I end up buying at some street market! Ditto for the Tudor rep. Speaking of which... I'm looking at that white dial THC again, and I think it might work if the homeplates and hands were lumed or painted black, sort of like on the 'blackout' 1019 Milgauss...

Also a brown strap/black dial day for me:

Beautiful, marsupilami! It's great to see a Monte Carlo with that black bezel. And it's easy to see why your wife would love that DD!

The "but" is a link to this thread:

ST4: Too many differences to list, but I think it would look credible at arm's length. (Better still: two arm-lengths!) Its main problem at first glance is how compressed the dial looks, relative to the case. As you mentioned, the subdials are too close to the center. Consequently, so are all the dial markings and the date window, leaving a big gray (or black) band between the white track and the rehaut. Also, the subdials would have been better without the concentric texture. That's the kind of thing that will leap out in certain lighting. Now I'm wondering if I should order this or the Heuer Silverstone rep! Anything I should know about ordering from Taobao?

Good rep overall, but...

My favorite Submariner! Beautiful work, Nick.

The white THC is a bit horrid and there's a long way to go for the others, but I'm glad to know they recognize the demand.

I was in Hanoi in 2009, and there was a small shop on Hang Bong Street that was filled with reps. They weren't top quality, but better than you'll find at Canal Street or in Hong Kong night markets. I'd say that these were the types of reps you'd find listing at USD 50-150 from trusted dealers. Prices were reasonable, especially once you subtract the cost of shipping. I didn't buy anything, but found it fun to look at all of them in one small space. There were more decent and interesting reps in that shop than in any of the shady backrooms I entered in Guangzhou. Which probably means I need better connections in Guangzhou!

Maybe it wasn't clear in my post, but it was the 2010 version (214270) that I tried on. And it is the 2010 Explorer that has a matte dial, as opposed to the deep gloss of the 14270 and 114270. Regarding the crystal height and case profile: As for the sheen of the dial, it's much more noticeable in person than in pictures, but here are a couple: The lower picture exaggerates the difference a bit. But under a direct light, the 214270's dial shows as a very dark shade grey, similar to the Milgauss's.

I tried the gen on recently. It's very nice in the metal, and a surprisingly big improvement over the two previous generations of the Explorer. The only thing I don't like is the length of the hands: they're too short. The rep looks good. Major flaws are the dial finish (glossy, not matte) and lume color (green, not blue). Less significant are the crystal height (slightly too high), and the overall shape of the case, though that's a common complaint with pretty much every Datejust rep.

You may be right, and I take back what I said about well founded concerns on the Dubois-Depraz module. They're issues I've read about for many years (mostly in relation to the module's use by Omega), but constant repetition on the Internet doesn't make it so. I think I might have conflated the DD hate with reports of actual failures of unrelated movements in newer Omegas. Sorry for the confusion. Until someone can explain the fundamental flaws of the design, or show a few broken modules, I would take the reliability/service complaints with a big grain of salt.