lhooq

Ah, nertz... I had to be the guy with the Panerai.

No AR that I can detect. Does the gen even have a coated sapphire? I'm reading through VC's press release for a few recent models of Overseas, and they make no mention of AR. This would be a great candidate for a treatment, though. Agree with red about the date window frame, though I do wonder if you could jimmy it off. Of course, I'm guessing there's going to be a mess underneath it!

calatrava: I've seen your rep/gen comparison of white VCOs on the other forum, and it was very good. I did find funny how some guys were calling minute differences on the dial (like the size of the cross) "dead giveaways"! Maybe in a direct-side-by-side with a gen, but how many reps can honestly withstand that level of scrutiny? It's very good in isolation, and that's how I feel about this Deep Stream rep. I tried hand-sanding the clasp but did little more than scratch the surface. My watchsmith took the clasp to a grinding wheel, shaved the corners off, then polished it back to a nice shine.

Phong's real name is Tom Vu.

Thanks, all! asf and red: It really is an excellent bracelet. A watch-collecting friend of mine tried it on when I first got it, and he kept running the links between his thumb and forefinger, nodding approvingly. Of course, he only wore the VCO for a few minutes, and didn't experience the loves bites you get after half a day's wear! But now that the clasp has been smoothed, it's my most comfortable big watch. The strap/deployant isn't nearly as comfortable for me.

Two days of Gran love! I must be doing something right! By the way, I just finished my review of this VCO rep.

Here's a rep that snuck up on a lot of people--including me: The Vacheron Constantin Overseas "Deep Stream". Please see redwatch's review of this same rep before proceeding. For one thing, he's got terrific pictures of the gen. I've long been a fan of the Vacheron Constantin Overseas, but felt I'd missed the boat by not buying the old rep based on the first-generation model of 1996. You've probably seen it before: It's the one with Arabic numerals circling the dial, date at 3, and a lovely caseback that wouldn't look out of place on a bottle of microbrew. I also seem to remember some sellers carrying a 1st-gen Overseas rep with stick markers, though I don't recall any reviews of one. In any case, it was a remarkable rep that disappeared too soon, and was elevated to the status of legend. Fast forward several years and there were at least two reps based on VC's 2004 update of the Overseas. This revamp bumped the diameter up to 42mm, and restyled the mid-case and bracelet to echo the brand's Maltese Cross logo. The dials were cleaned up: Numerals and sticks on a white or black guilloché background, date at 4:30, and a sloping minute track on the rehaut. The ideal build would involve taking the Cross appliance from one factory's dial and transplanting it onto the other factory's more accurate rep. I found it to be too much work and expense for a rep that didn't really grab hold of me. In 2009, VC refreshed the Overseas with a titanium bezel, an anthracite dial (read: gray sunburst), and an optional, integrated gray crocodile strap. For nebulous reasons, this model was codenamed or nicknamed "Deep Stream", which sounds more like a new Intel chipset than anything to do with haute horlogerie. But it's a good, catchy name that shows a bit more imagination than something like "Overseas Gray Themes". The first time I saw a rep of the Deep Stream was when diver_dylan put his own example up for sale a few months ago. None of the major sellers had listed this rep before, so I had no way of researching its quality or comparing its price. I started writing a PM to redwatch, who had once owned that legendary first-gen VCO. Before I could finish, I saw that red had bought the Deep Stream. And he loved it! (Boy, did S love it...) I kicked myself for weeks, but it seems I wasn't alone. Others were ringing their favorite dealers to see if there were more Deep Streams in China. There were. This one came from Tony at Asian7750.com (not an officially trusted dealer here, but is on other forums). I had never bought anything from Tony before, but others had confirmed that he had these in stock. This transaction was trouble-free: Good communications, fast shipment, would use again. For a small fee (+15%), I also ordered the gray "croc" strap and deployant, both of which you can see below. Let's go to the pictures! The Deep Stream is a beautiful rep with a tremendous amount of presence on the wrist. Switching from bracelet to croc tones down the flash considerably, but looks very impressive, nonetheless. It's a credible, subtle alternative to a ROO or HBB, both of which are too large for my 6.5" wrist, anyway. However, I hesitate to call this a super-rep. There's plenty of room for improvement when it comes to accuracy to the gen, though I have little problem with this rep in that respect. Where I am a bit disappointed is in the fit and finish, which aren't up to the standards we've come to expect in recent reps (e.g. Panerais in 2011). In many ways, this VCO represents the Old School of rep construction and compromised expectations. Here we see a bit of the good and bad. On the left: The jagged, blasted titanium bezel contrasts nicely with the straight-brushed surface. The slab sides of the steel mid-case are polished and well-chamfered. But look at the block under the crown: What's with the slanted brushing? redwatch's VCO is the same, so it's not a one-off accident. The undersized cross on the crown is another minor concern. On the right is the single ugliest part of this rep: the caseback. Once beautifully engraved on the 37mm rep, the Amerigo Vespucci is now a ghost ship sailing through the murk. Text and numbers are superficially etched, and what you can't see at the bottom is the mis-spelled "ANTIMACNETIC". Also notice the mangled heads of the caseback screws. (They came that way.) These screws are made of very soft steel, so make sure you use the drivers with the appropriate tips. The gray strap is stiff, and a pain in the ass to mount onto the head. You have to drive four long screws into a solid piece of plastic wedged inside the lug-tips of the strap. I ended up twirling a drill bit between my fingers to sink some guide holes. The strap does look good and remarkably credible, as does the half-cross clasp. Its geometry is best suited to larger wrists, though. Here are some examples of what I mean by poor fit and finish, going clockwise from the upper-left: Note the ragged line between the central portion of the mid-case, and the lugs. Close-up of the inside of the bracelet's clasp. Those are sharp edges and pointy corners on the pushbuttons, and they wear painfully on the wrist. I had my watchsmith grind these smooth. Mind the gap between the lugs and the rest of the mid-case, and the misaligned bevel. More rough edges that show up very clearly under certain lights. I fixed the worst cases with an emery board. Bog-standard Asian ETA, but guess what? It's lost 10 seconds in the last three days, making it one of the most accurate watches I own--rep or gen. I'm not sure how the gen is constructed, but do note the absence of any seals. (The caseback is similarly gasket-free.) Wet the VCO at your peril. Despite its 42mm size, the VCO wears like a smaller watch. It has a low center of gravity with a slim, low case that has a big contact patch on my wrist. With the most painful points of the clasp removed, the bracelet is one of the most comfortable I own. I just noticed the tiny fibers sticking out from the side of the bezel. The downside of this design is that all the sharp corners are fuzz magnets, but it's only obvious in macro photographs. The smart-looking and now-comfortable butterfly clasp. There's a half-link provided to aid in fitting, and every link of the bracelet can be unscrewed. The dial is absolutely stunning. The printing doesn't quite hold up at this level of magnification, but it looks great on the wrist. The framed date window is the biggest deviation from the gen, but to the rep factory's credit, it looks good and makes sense. That's more like it! Back away by even a few inches and the illusion of a $10,000 watch starts to materialize. I do wish that the weaknesses I listed would be addressed, and I would definitely pony up for a V2 in a heartbeat. But this is an excellent rep as it is, and has a bigger "Wow!" factor than many of my other watches. The thing to remember about this VCO rep is not to fixate on the details. This may run counter to many of our instincts as rep collectors, but do try to apprehend the overall look of the watch, instead. Let flash and beauty overwhelm the urge to pick nits that only you will notice. This is one great-looking watch!

After two days, I have a winner. All three were originally set at 12:00, so add 36 hours to the indicated times: The unsigned 7734 in my DW 7032 stopped at 45h07m. My recently-bought Wakmann gets 46h33m. The unmounted, unsigned movement I got from siesta181 last year runs for an impressive 48h48m!

[censored] the franken Daytona, and enjoy the Speedmaster! Congratulations!

It's a frigid 25°C over here. BRRR!!! Dim the lights, chill the Hammy:

All these vintages! "You're living in the past, Marge! Quit living in the past!" It's time to face the future... With a modified, late-70s design!

maxman: I encountered a Tissot very similar to that one when I took a trip to Singapore last year. I think it was a bit older, since it had a more ornate silvery/salmony dial, but same three-register layout and Lemania movement. It was selling for about USD 1200, and I sweated over buying it for three nights. I eventually passed--good thing, since I needed that chunk of cash to pay for that Heuer I'd been after for so long! Still, it would've made an excellent addition to the collection. Chronographs of the late 50s/early 60s are beautiful in their simplicity, and I love the neat old 'Tissot' script. If you can get it for a thousand... Do it!

For orange hands from the 70s (say, for a Tudor 7032 or a Heuer Carrera), I've gotten good results from Tamiya Enamel Orange X6. That's in a bottle. Tamiya's spray paints applied very well, but I couldn't find a suitable shade of day-glo orange. The fire-engine red of the sweep hand on George Lazenby's 6238 should be much easier to match.

M, I'm still watching those three 7734s that I fully wound yesterday afternoon. I'll be keeping tabs of when they stop, for my curiosity as much as yours, at this point.

Pointy

Ubi, come home! Not a color combo I would think of, but that's really nice. Give the Oyster a little vacation.

J, that chrono bridge is part #8500. One seller in Australia (who I've used before) has a couple at AUD 49 each. Not cheap!

Based on the shapes of the '4' and '5', doesn't this one look more like a "post-production" bezel? I hesitate to say Mk3 or Mk4, as I agree with wiesn089: Pace the Mazzariol book, there are definitely more than 4 distinct versions of the black Daytona bezel. For example: A rounded 'S' should indicate a service bezel, right? But I've seen examples with pointed '4's, and others without. Valerian's bezel tripped me up recently, due to the distance of the tachy marks to the inner rim. Turns out there's some variability in that respect, too, so that could mean 6 different sub-types of that bezel. And then there are the stainless steel bezels...

Val, I think Ronin's GMT is gen bloody everything! For February, a gold Wakmann chronograph on a rarely-seen blue Tropic:

All beautiful, but Olivier doesn't have a Paul Newman franken! You would be lucky to build one for less than $50,000, I think.

Here's another boring Rolex to go with yours, B:

Yesss!!! Now, everybody who posted in this thread has to send their watches to me!

What did my Blancpain ever do to you? Hang on... You didn't injure your wrist while prying that bezel off, did you? The 7032 looks just right on you! Hope I (well, K) can figure out a way around the crystal issues on the new build.

Unfathomably running the Rolex blockade: