lhooq

I knew I'd heard it on good authority! Thanks, M! dublinlad: I think the Commando is 34mm--a size fit for an Air-King.

Didn't KR transform a 16520 dial into a 6263-a-like for that "Daytona Heritage" project earlier this year?

More Rolex:

E: Here's another good shot of the Commando:

None for now. I had a big plan to turn it into a 1950s-era WWW, but decided to enjoy it as-is.

Santé!

Nice lume on the HMT, whoever! And that 7031 is always gorgeous, B. I guess I went through the Holy Trinity of divers this week! SM300, Sub, and now the Fifty Fathoms:

Don't bother buying reps in Hong Kong. You can wander the night markets and even be led up to some shady, smoke-filled rooms, but you'll still wind up overpaying for crap. You should have no problem having reps delivered from China to HK. Shipping will take a day or two, and there are no customs fees. Some dealers may be able to reduce your shipping charges appropriately. If you have a free day, take the train from Kowloon to Guangzhou. That's a two-hour trip, but there's a high-speed, Shenzhen-Guangzhou line in the works that will reduce travel time considerably. Unfortunately, I don't know when it opens. It might have been delayed in the aftermath of the derailment last year. Do make arrangements with one of the trusted dealers to show you around. Otherwise, you could spend a day wandering aimlessly among mountains of crappy reps.

I've been amazed by the OOTB quality of the recent batch of Panerais. I bought a 288 and a 026 this year, and even their straps are decent. That would be unimaginable not so long ago.

Chief, I had the same experience on my 6239 build. I used a 6265 bezel on it, and every time we pressed it onto the crystal, it would pop right up again. Trimmed a hair (confirmed: a hair) off the inside, and everything worked out great. I'm glad to know it's not just a problem with DW's cases.

That's something DSN uses, but I've never tried it. That sucks, since I was planning to buy spares.

Announced via his rep on the other RWG. I'm trying to get confirmation from the horse's mouth...

Thanks, guys! Another detail I love on this watch: The area where the PCG, the bezel, and the backside of the Twinlock meet. So nice... B: You still have to tell us "What Seems Odd" about that 10pastten listing!

Chi-Mariner:

I'm not sure, B, though my eyes have been in poor shape this week. Is it the open '6'?

chief: Ugh, what a beauty. Put a 6263 bezel on it, and I'll plotz! Meshy Wednesday:

Not to be a stick-in-the-mud pedant, but the plastic Daytona bezels are acrylic, not Bakelite. If they were Bakelite, most of them would look like crap by now!

Great Sub, R, but I'm going to jump on the IWC bandwagon today:

Nico: All of the Datejusts, including the 1600 series, have 20mm lug widths--the same as the 1016. I compared some of the DJ cases you could use for an Explorer project in this thread.

Thanks, R (and GH)! I took that one while on vacation last year, but never got around to using it. Time to dig through the gigabytes of past photos...

Beautiful! The pedigree of that piece is legendary!

Monday means Oyster Cosmograph:

Ugh, I don't know what's wrong with my eyes. Yes, the absence of text in the lower half is highly unusual, to say the least. The dial doesn't appear to be an aftermarket item, and the application of the lume suggests a 1980s service unit. But it's an odd one.

You paid a fantastic price for a very clean -genuine- service dial. Well done! My only reservations are with the slightly crooked EXPLORER and the fuzzy halo around LORER. It's almost like the line was printed incorrectly, then fixed afterward.

Yes, yes... but Alex Ghotbi said it was Hysek in 2008 -AND- 2009! Q.E.D. To be precise, it was the writer of the '07 article (Wei Koh) who made the Genta-222 link, not JC Torres himself. However, the article was "brought to you by Vacheron Constantin" which I consider more credible than hearsay.