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Yes, but, to be fair, you're seeing it at its best angle! Viewed head-on and at real-world distances, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference. [censored]: I think it looks fine, but have you experimented to see what happens to the bezel with a bit of a Polywatch polish? EDIT: Mr. Browne's name is censored? That's hilarious!

I've always been fond of the fussy blue/white 6234 dial that puts the design firmly in the 1950s. I would love to see this watch with skinnier subdial hands, though. Silver 6238 is my second choice. After all, it's a Bond watch!

Love the color. What a maroon! Wear it well and enjoy!

I don't know where the OP got his $29 Daytona from, but I bought mine here in the Philippines, at a shopping center that is famous for selling fake goods. 95% of the reps there are assorted crap, while the few good pieces are terribly overpriced. It's nice to be able to see them up close, though.

Mary from Watch International said she looked around the Guangzhou markets, but didn't spot any bracelets like them. Oh well, there's always the ones I can get for $600 and up on eBay!

I let my watchmaker take care of the actual gluing, but even he expressed some concern about fixing the subdial hand, since the epoxy would have to be applied precisely to such a small target. He was able to manage it in the end, but I think this is something that requires the rock-steady hand of the Waco Kid.

Not at all. My interest in this type of watch actually predates any love I developed for old Tudors--I got that from hanging around you lot! For most of 2008, my dream watch was a TAG-Heuer Targa Florio. This Poljot/Hanhart was a pretty close substitute at a fraction of the price. That said, you do see Russian chronos selling on eBay for peanuts, while even the ugliest 7734s are now going for $200 minimum. A cheap alternative to genuine Valjoux would have been nice, but someone on Timezone made a good comparison of the two movements and concluded that straight swaps would be impossible. I got mine from RusCamera Store on eBay exactly one year ago. I believe he still has the one you're looking for (which does look a lot more like the old nickel/brass cases), but it's selling for a ridiculous $500. A few months ago it was listing at $289, and there's no way a brushed finish, red reset button and display back are worth that much extra. His stock does change from month-to-month, so I'd keep watching. I think the best option for now is the tachy/tele Hanhart, which is reasonably close to the gen, save for that ugly date window. I like the West German Junghans, too. I wish I'd seen your thread two years ago! I was scouring eBay for any "poljot hanhart" and "poljot tutima" hits for months (and nearly overbid for a second-hand model) before I stumbled upon RusCamera.

Just loosen it little by little until you're good to go! You shouldn't reach a point at which the caseback's purchase on the threads feels precarious or unsteady. If you want to be certain that the caseback is really causing your problem, just take it off and see how the chrono runs for a bit. And FxrAndy's right: It could be solved by getting rid of a little bit of metal. Unfortunately, I am mechanically retarded.

I bought this one last year, before I was an RWG regular. It's a Poljot factory replica of the early-WW2 (i.e. pre-B-uhr) Hanhart pilot's watch. Alternatively, it can be viewed as a re-branded Poljot Kirova, which is a modern reissue of the First Moscow Watch Factory Kirova, which was a post-war watch manufactured using equipment appropriated from Glashutte Tutima, which produced a similar -and many say superior- chronograph to the Hanhart. Confused? In a nutshell, the Red Army brought this German chronograph back to the Soviet Union as spoils of war. The earlier 1MWFs were even powered by Russian clones of the UROFA 58/59, which was the beautiful and legendary chrono movement of the Glashutte Group. By the time the reissues were released in the 1990s, Poljot (renamed from 1MWF in the 1960s, in honor of Yuri Gagarin) was committed to its workhorse movement, the manual-wind 3133: Look familiar? It's a licensed clone of the Valjoux 7734, if, by clone, you mean, "superficially similar, but with no interchangeable parts whatsoever, and there's no way in hell you can use this in your Tudor Monte Carlo rep." Not long after the Kirova reissues emerged, someone at Poljot had the bright idea of re-dialing the watches to incorporate vanquished brands e.g. Hanhart, Tutima, even Junghans (Poljot made a decent copy of the Cal.88 chrono, as used by the post-war Luftwaffe). Unfortunately for Poljot, these brands had survived the separation and reunification of Germany, and were preparing to increase their own watch production. The Russians may have defeated Paulus and Manstein, but international copyright law is something else; there's a reason why fake Rolexes are assembled in small backrooms in China! Anyway, this is pure speculation on my part as no details of any legal action have ever been revealed. So enough with the history lessons and on with the rep. The watch is by no means a perfect rep of any vintage or modern Hanhart, but it's a simple, satisfying design that's very evocative of its era. The case is well-finished, and the polished coin-edge bezel looks spectacular. The 3133 movement is near-bombproof, and it winds smoother than any other watch I have. The strap that came with the watch was, like those on many of our Chinese reps, crap, so I replaced it with a reasonably priced, untreated leather Flieger strap from Stowa. However, there were still a couple of things that bugged me about this rep: First was the flat glass, which looked too modern for something so steeped in the 1930s. Second was the puke-green and weak-ass lume, particularly on the hands, which ought to be brighter than everything else! The greenness of the lume may not be so obvious in the pictures above, but trust me: it wasn't pretty. You may have seen Goin's threads on the Panerai forum. I'd never considered a relume before, but 1) Goin was in Taiwan, which is basically in my neighborhood and 2) the work he did on those sausage dials looked really good. I contacted him about fixing my green Hanhart and possibly replacing the flat mineral glass with a plexiglas dome I'd ordered from Ofrei. He delivered on both requests: This is a tricky dial, with many more digits than any Panerai, but the application was precise. In the dark, the lume shines as brightly as the indices on my gen Speedmaster: If you ever considered a relume, do send Goin a message. For now, this Hanhart is going back on my wrist.

I had a very good run with this watch since March. I experienced no extraordinary stoppages, time kept was reasonable, and the chrono worked great, with all hands resetting to zero. Then a couple of weeks ago, I decided to upgrade to a genuine crown and tube, and it was as if the movement had an allergic reaction to air. Today it's back from the shop, and under close observation. I don't know when DW's vintage Daytonas first showed up on RWG (4-5 years ago?), but the breadth of accumulated experience on this forum is tremendous. I don't think there are any new problems left to be discovered--just new people who run into the old ones! I've only had mine since December, so I definitely fall into that group. So for the benefit of other new and newish DW Daytona owners, here's a breakdown of issues I experienced recently, plus solutions: 1. Sloppy Winding Winding the de-rotored 7750 with DW's crown felt like dealing with a slipping clutch in an automobile. If I didn't give the crown a little bit of an outward pull while winding, I would feel a little pop in the movement and start imagining something horrible going on inside. Ubi describes the problem perfectly in this thread. At the time I read Ubi's post, I had fortunately already ordered a crown and tube by the time I read Ubi's post. Of course, I'd bought them purely for aesthetic reasons, so... bonus! Needless to say, the winding action now feels firm and efficient. As far as looks go, please compare: If the poor impression of a coronet doesn't frighten you, the Triplock bumps will! I've never been much of a "Crown Man" until now, but it's not something I will be ignoring in the future. 2. Busy Hands After installing the new crown, the first problems I had were wandering sweep and minute counter hands on reset. My watchmaker was going nuts: After each reset, he would remove the two hands, re-center and re-attach them. Then he'd bite his tongue when the next reset would show 1:03 elapsed! I didn't remember it at the time, but I came back the next day with a printout of freddy333's post about the epoxy fix (see page 1 of this thread). He followed the instructions, and glued both hands to their tubes. I've reset the chrono a couple dozen times. So far, problem solved! 3. Chrono Stoppages I was happy to have a functioning chronograph again, so I left it running to see if it could get through a 12-hour cycle with no problems. Unfortunately, it would bog down between 30-40s on the dial. It wouldn't happen every minute, but the sweep hand would be set back in motion with two clicks of the top pusher or a tap to the case. Well, this is one problem even I know how to solve, as I've run into it a bunch of times since December. Loosen the caseback until the sweep hand moves unimpeded. Mind you, it's only been working for the past hour, but I'm an optimist.

Progress looks good, TeeJay! Maybe 2011? My 6263 is back in action with a new crown and a very old bracelet:

Last year, I bought a $30 all-gold Daytona (with pusher-powered subdials and an unstoppable sweep hand) to complete an 'old skool rap' costume for a party. It is a very low-quality rep, but the wrist presence is immense. It got more comments that evening than my beloved DW6263 ever received in the past six months. You just can't beat a big gold Rolex!

Some time ago, there were discussions here and on VRF about the emergence of fake 7836 bracelets. They looked good, fooled many people (out of hundreds of dollars, unfortunately), but never showed up on the mainstream rep markets. Last week I checked in on Honpo's site and saw that they carried a very nice 7836 for a reasonable JPY 9000. At that price, I'd buy a handful! Do any of our known dealers carry this rep bracelet? Or, as with so many other items on the Honpo site, will I have to sit tight until I've made a new pen pal in Japan?

If I pay you $600, could you hold a one-day seminar that explains these steps to me slowly and with PowerPoint slides?

Maradona loves his 'blot.

I think Comrade Nanuchka would prefer the Amphibia 1967 Re-edition: Pricier, but bigger! 42mm vs. the original's 39mm.

Please note that Omega never made a regulateur. If you see one (out of hundreds) being sold on eBay, it's probably from Ukraine and definitely fake.

It looks terrific, and seeing it in the green box makes it a little bit more special! I only wish that I can locate a movement of my own someday, and have the patience/cash to see the project through!

Were I to purchase a low-end gen, I think the decision would be based primarily on utilitarian reasons. Of course, I'd leave a little bit of room for style, which is why I'd lean toward, say, a Seiko or a Suunto, rather than a Timex or a Casio. However, my watch purchases are dominated by emotional and, er, irrational reasons. High-end reps and frankens win out, since they deliver the historical designs I love within a limited budget. That, and I'm an insecure poseur with a broken moral compass and no respect for intellectual properties!

Haven't worn my GST in a while. Just imagine it reading "DON 10":

It looks like... a FOSSIL!

That was a very nice surprise, especially for those who might want to save up a bit before splurging on the gen! Do you have an incoming dial?

I haven't seen the Yuki SM300 case up close, so I can't comment on the accuracy or quality. However, that pickle-colored bezel insert doesn't look so hot. My bigger concern would be the total cost of the build versus the price of a vintage gen. Some examples will still sell for $1,000-$1,500, as hard as that may be to believe given the inflated prices seen on eBay. Personally, I would save my ~$600 for use toward a nice gen. That said, this guy is selling a couple of 565 movements for $90-120.

Weekend Diver: