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Thanks for that, Joey! What I'd like to know is where I can buy a "Psstt! Hey buddy..." trench coat. These travel cases can get expensive!

ghost: I gather that you're trying to preserve the 1016 service dial you have. (Lord knows the most painful part of my own build was snipping the dial feet off..) Just be aware that you'd be spending a lot more on this project--several times more, depending on how much you pay for that Datejust. Assuming you go down the gen Datejust-->1016 route, you would be best off with a 16xx, 160xx, or 162xxx Datejust. Then add the cost of everything that jmb described, minus the lughole drilling if you're really keen on having the ability to undo all mods.

Huh! So that's why you call yourself HikeUSA! And I thought you just liked throwing footballs between your legs. Good luck, F, and be sure to take the mother of all wristies at the summit!

I got mine from Mary (Watch International) almost two years ago. It's supposed to be a lot harder to find nowadays, but it doesn't hurt to ask around.

Love what you did to that dial, ww! It looks like one of the moons of Saturn!

Today we commemorate the shaving of Natalie Portman's head. I shall do so with a 3707:

Lovely pair, red! Great job with the lume.

Bless you for responding, tx! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this a bit fishy. I find it distasteful how the writer of your linked post takes Ghotbi's claims as established fact, then uses it to cast aspersions on GG's character: "I find Genta's response to the question suspiciously vague." "I like Genta's comment: he takes credit without saying anything!!!" "I don't know why Genta is happy to let people believe that he created the watch (after all that he's accomplished, does he really need the extra credz?)" Members of that forum need a heavy dose of skepticism. Did "Post proof or retract!" die with Usenet?

Thanks! For anonymity, you'll find a picture of me on the back of the dustjacket, smoking a pipe while wearing a ski mask like Subcomandante Marcos.

Too esoteric, eh? Well... Can't blame a guy for trying!

Those are sigmas, and they indicate the presence of white gold markers. These are extra-special dials, and only the five richest kings of Europe can afford them. Also, wiesn089.

Like Hike, it's a Daytona day for me:

Some time ago, I ordered both a Flightmaster and a Chronostop sweep. I'll have to check my notes, but one of them was a very close match to the genuine Tudor sweep's dimensions. Unfortunately, I didn't have any success fitting it onto the 7734. Also, Omega's orange is much more day-glo than the shade Tudor uses, though that's nothing a little paint won't fix. By the way, have you seen the Phong 7031 bezels that are floating around on eBay now?

I can still remember when FAP casebacks were selling for EUR 2500... five months ago!

Thanks, B! Hope you got lots of candy.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a Cousins/Ofrei/Clark set to compare them with! I can say that the gen pushers are far superior to DW's, but that would be so stupidly obvious that reading this sentence would be a complete waste of time...

Also, I need to pay more taxes. The government has been so good to me.

Don't stop me if you've heard this one: Conventional WIS knowledge held that Gerald Genta was responsible for four of the most iconic integrated-bracelet designs of the late 1970s: the PP Nautilus, the IWC Ingenieur SL, the AP Royal Oak, and the VC 222 (which later morphed into the current Overseas). A few years ago, the narrative changed to say that Genta's association was a "myth", and that it was actually Jorg Hysek who was behind the 222 (according to "VC insiders"). Google "vacheron genta hysek" and you'll see that this is now the accepted wisdom on several websites. But is it substantiated? Almost every post on the topic leads back to the moderator of one forum, who said "Genta had nothing to do with the 222" and that "my info comes straight from the horse's mouth: the people at VC who worked on the 222 project." Reading these posts reminds me of the scene near the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark: Eaton: We have top men working on the Ark. Indy: [Challenging] Who? Eaton: Top. Men. Similarly, the claim regarding Hysek's involvement also begins and ends with that same moderator. There are no named sources from within VC, let alone scans of company records. Does anyone know if "The Genta Myth" is itself a myth?

Belated Halloween-ish shot:

Thanks, guys. robertk: I was afraid that the vintagizing process would turn my FF into a "BLAN PAIN" like yours!

A long, long time ago, I can still remember when I bought my first real rep. And by "real" I mean a quality piece costing more than a hundred bucks, rather than a for-peanuts fake, bought furtively in a dark Kowloon alley, with a lifespan measurable in months. Instead of going the usual Noobmariner route, I decided that I wanted a Panerai rep by Davidsen. (Recall that DSN was near the leading edge of PAM reps at the time!) But while going through his photobucket, I saw that he'd started selling vintage Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, which is a watch I've long dreamed of owning. One wire transfer and a few weeks later, and I had it. I was happy, and wrote my first rep review (on RWI). Fast forward a couple of years and I noticed that I wasn't wearing the FF as much as I used to. I'd changed straps and bracelets countless times in an attempt to get the old spark back. It wasn't working; I'd been spoiled by newer, more accurate and labor-intensive builds like my Explorers and Daytonas. It also didn't help that the Blancpain's factory-fresh finish contradicted its supposed age. What to do? I got my first bit of inspiration after seeing pictures of the Helson Skindiver, which is a Fifty Fathoms homage released earlier this year. It's a terrific looking watch, and a better FF proxy than the MkII Stingray or the Precista PRS-50, in my opinion. (Also the Corvus Bradley, which is really more of a TR-900 homage.) One detail I especially liked was the bezel: It was as (inaccurately) beefy as on the other modern homages, but its circumference was indented to suggest the delicate, jutting bezels of the original Blancpains. And when I think "machined round metal objects", my first instinct is to contact jmb. So off the FF went to Justin, who protested that it was the ugliest watch he's ever worked on. (Blancpain fans, please send your letters to him.) Prying the bezel off was a tricky ordeal, which explains the tool marks. Nevertheless, the bezel was eventually removed, trimmed, and re-installed. It's still too tall, but the shelf visually thins it from most angles: I also wanted to replace the crystal to make the bezel appear even less thick. Unfortunately, I had no luck finding suitable domes. Next step: Age the dial. The vintage Blancpains had glossy black dials, but very few maintain a perfect sheen today. I reached out to the man who put the patina on my 4-line 5512, and ChiMan said yes. I sent him a few pictures of gens, hoping that one of them could serve as his model. This turned out to be the winner: I was planning a vacation through the Rockies in September/October, and I'd made plans to meet up with C in Calgary. As soon as J finished his work on the case, he sent it up north. It arrived with one day to spare, and C amazingly finished his patination process in just one night. Fine, fine work for a rush job! Even under the weak lights of The Keg, I was able to admire the quality. The Fifty Fathoms is now near the top of my rotation again, thanks to a couple of very good guys. Big thanks to ChiMan and jmb for helping me out yet again.

Sometimes, a watch is just too big for you to pull off:

Thanks, R and E! Also, I forgot to mention that Young Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorites. Though if it comes down to it, I'm really more of a Blazing Saddles sort of guy. Guess we'll need a "Wristogram for Mongo" one of these days!

Sunrise, sunset. Swiftly flow the days.