lhooq

For me, the benchmark Daytona was Ubi's (now chieftang's) incredible 6265, with its pristine "Big Red" service dial. But wiesn089 really went whole-hog on his build, and scored several major coups with that sigma dial and the gen bezels. I was staggered by his commitment to get everything absolutely right, and, frankly, shocked to learn that he was letting it go. Daniel: If I ever meet you at a GTG, I will be driving a windowless van and clutching a chloroform-soaked rag...

I can clearly remember the eBay listings for each of the manual-wind dials. You outbid me on the silver one in April. Very nice collection.

Earlier this year, ChiMan modded one of these newer cartel Daytonas to take an IG dial (plopped onto the ST19). Putting a V72 into an ST-19-sized hole would leave you with a bit of space to work with, I'd imagine. Alternatively, you could sit back, relax, and wait for members to PM you offers for that V72.

Is Jeremy Renner wearing a Sub, then?

I don't think there is a non-chrono version of the modern Fifty Fathoms, despite the number of people who have been asking for one for several years now. Subdial spacing is off and the bezel teeth could be better, but otherwise I think it's a good rep. I've handled one of these, and it was nice--very solid feel.

Congratulations again, Daniel, and great comparison shots! That dial alone is a real jewel, but the whole watch was put together with a lot of thought and care. I really don't think you could do much better, short of buying a gen. Regarding DW's dials, his final batch was a case of one step forward, two steps back. The coronet is an improvement over previous efforts, and I bet it looks even better on the wrist than in macros (which show that the definition of the tines and sharpness of the pearls have some way to go). However, DW's dial supplier dropped the ball on the subdials: The concentric circles reach all the way to the outer edge, while the conical "dishing" in the center has been replaced with a flat plateau. Nitpicking, maybe, but I think it looks weird from some ways off. Check out a couple of DW's 7750 dials from two years ago. Even the one with crap printing gets the registers right: The 6239 dial is the newest of the three. Pretty nice, except for the pronounced ring in the subdials, and some tatty hour markers. If you check out some of the older DW/V72 builds, you'll see even more variations in dial quality.

Oh no... So now when I put on my DW 7032, people are going to ask me if I'm a Tom Cruise fan. This is why I never bought an IWC Top Gun!

Nothing but Space-Dweller for me this weekend:

Thanks! I'm at home, but that shot is from my Greatest Hits collection, taken last year. Speaking of great shots, I really like Frank's!

I remember reading that there are minor differences between the two cases. I think it was RolexAddict who wrote about this in the past.

I'm getting very jealous of these 6/9/12 Tudor chronos... 1016 here:

I agree with Frank: That's definitely not a genuine/original/correct dial or handset.

Lots of blue content today, but mine is monochrome:

Does alligoat know what he's talking about? Oh, you'd better believe alligoat knows what he's talking about!

Carpe diem, Cats! It's an honor to be in the company of people like yourself, and the ones who put that lovely gift together.

Get up and go! Get up and go! Get up and go back home.

+1 on the Polaris, one of my all-time favorites. The Tribute is around 2K above your budget, but oh-so-worth-it.

Great points, grifter. This year's Panerai rep arms race claimed me as one of its victims, to the tune of a few hundred bucks. Maybe more, if that 386 is halfway decent... I do wonder why that urgent, wartime pace of R&D can't apply to Rolex. I think my most anticipated release this year was the cartel's 1675, and... Well, the less that's said about that, the better. Think I'll go fry some kropek now.

Congrats, siesta! Just don't drop your 6152/1 on it, or there'll be nothing left!

Get the NOS Mk 4 that wiesn089's selling, instead. It's a bargain by comparison, and from a trustworthy source.

At least it isn't Scooby Doo on the caseback! On a similar note, I love WatchEden's "Ehh... Why bother?" approach to the Moon-to-Mars Speedy.

The Orange Hand of Tudor:

For iconic dress watches along the lines of the Reverso, the most obvious choices would be the Cartier Tank and Dunhill Facet. On average, these would fall under your given price range, but you should be able to find pricier examples of each e.g. the JLC-powered Facet. You could also try a pre-owned Vacheron Patrimony or Patek Calatrava.

Nice one, E! i can only imagine how much one of those Schedoni bags would cost new at a Ferrari store.

Thanks, sgtguk! It's a huge watch for me, but I can live with it.