TJGladeRaider

If you ever have a gen crown/tube installed, you will ALWAYS have them installed in any watch you are serious about. I promise you that you could put ten reps in front of you, five with gen and five stock and you would identify the gen tube/crown watches blindfolded 100% of the time. Bill

Hi Marty, What's the difference between lawyers and whores? S C R O L L D O W N Hookers won't screw dead people. ; ) Cheer up, it either gets better or you die. Either way it feels better! Bill

I have been trying to stick to my 12 step Program . . . "I am Bill W and I am a repaholic." Some of the stuff that's out there these days sure is tempting. Makes me wanna sell all these nasty old MBWs and start all over again but ... nahhhhhhhhh, if I did that, a certain sick, demented perv that we all know and love who's up there hanging out with the Polar Bears might buy them and subject them to his "ageing" techniques. If he "vintaged" one of my MBWs, . . . I swear, he's crazy enough to put one in a blender! ; ) Bill

Life's been good Ubi - how's things been with you? I have been pretty busy with work. The economy goes in the crapper and suddenly there are lots of fraud cases for me to work. What do you think of the new vintages that Josh and Andrew think are better than the old MBWs? Bill

Funny you should mention that. I see that Josh is selling vintages that he says are much better than the old stuff and Andrew is selling them saying they are the best vintages ever made. Naturally, I would HATE to believe that since I have more than a dozen MBWs I spent a fortune for. Have any of our regular experts done an eval on these new vintages? Bill

Hey Kruzer -- how ya been? Someday, you got to get yourself down here for a visit. Anything really fabulous come out since I been away? I read the Ubi review of the new DSSD and I guess I gotta have one. Bill

[snicker] Long-time no see. Hope all my friends are well. Sure looks like the new DSSD is a big hit. Ciao Bill

That's totally nutz. The biggest proble I'd have with an intruder is deciding what to kill him with. Assault weapons, shotguns, rifles, pistols . . . Lord love our 2nd Amendment! ; ) Bill

Well, let me just make your day. I have a water tester (see the pinned article) and I test all my reps (see archives - I have more than 100). All the good ones water test just fine, and I have actually been scuba diving with some of the best ones. Unless you got one that is defective, it will certainly perform just fine in a swimming pool. Bill

Yep, that thread really confused me. I thought I started that thread, and it took me a while to figure out that we both started very nearly the same thread at almost the same time. It is interesting to me that the watch is represented as being a better watch than the MBWs were, but this one is marketed with the Asian movement. The lug holes definitely look too low, nbut that may not be too big a deal since it would be possible to "raise" the centers when reboring for the larger springbars - possible, but I'd leave it to JMB, our Machinist in Residence, to tell us what would be involved in that. My concern would be that it would change the center axis of the springbars, which would result in a bracelet that wouldn't fit. I'll also be real curious to see what Ziggy says once he has had one in for mods. Josh says the case is a better material than the MBWs - 316F Stainless. Bill

Yep, that thread really confused me. I thought I started that thread, and it took me a while to figure out that we both started very nearly the same thread at almost the same time. It is interesting to me that the watch is represented as being a better watch than the MBWs were, but this one is marketed with the Asian movement. The lug holes definitely look too low, nbut that may not be too big a deal since it would be possible to "raise" the centers when reboring for the larger springbars - possible, but I'd leave it to JMB, our Machinist in Residence, to tell us what would be involved in that. My concern would be that it would change the center axis of the springbars, which would result in a bracelet that wouldn't fit. I'll also be real curious to see what Ziggy says once he has had one in for mods. Josh says the case is a better material than the MBWs - 316F Stainless. Bill

Josh is advertising a new version of the Vintages that some of us are so fond of. Josh says they created this line by using a gen - supposed to be able to use real parts like the old MBW's did. Has anyone seen one of these? http://www.jpc8118.com/0466-p-7595.html Inquiring minds wanna know! Bill

Thnks so much, that actually answers my question perfectly. I am dealing with a guy who seems legit, all evidence of everything he claims to be, but the clear case back concerned me, as I thought that might be an obvious "tell." Since it is not, no worries -- under these circumstances, it would have been very worrisome for this particular guy to be lying to me. Wearing a rep wouldn't be the issue - it was the rather involved story he told me about a royal family giving it to him as a goft. Thanks, Bill

I am currently in Paris on assignment. It is important that I assess the credibility of an individual I am dealing with. He seems to be very rich, but I noticed that his Patek Phillipe has a see thru back, and his Louis Vuitton case seems a little frayed for something so expensive. Do any of you know FOR SURE whether a Gen Patek Phillipe would have a see thru back? It has what appeared to be a manual wind movement with Patek Phillipe on the bridge. I may be spelling that wrong. If any of you know the answer, please e-mail me at TJGladeRaider@aol.com. This is the case I am working on here. The target was reminded to a particularly nasty prison yesterday. Obviously, he is a fraud, but there is another person involved whose credibility is important to assess. http://www.fraudsandscams.com/TroyStratos/TroyDavidStratos.htm Thanks much. Bill

One other thing -- while nobody is likely to ever "call me out," I shall share with you the perfect answer: "I dunno, I took it off a dead guy." Considering the activities and associates of my younger days, that is rather believable. Bill

I really liked this post - I thought it captured my thoughts pretty well, especially the parts I quoted. I love the vintage Rollies, and I think I may have one of the best collections around - two or more each of all the MBWs from back when they were at their best. The irony is, I could have bought the gens back when they sold them in the Navy Exchange for less than I have in these "Ziggied" reps. Frankly I think these are better watches in many ways than the gens - an ETA movement isn't junk, the qwik set date is a great convenience, and they glow like a torch. The prior comment by someone about it being stupid to buy cars was unfortunate . . . I doubt that they thought that thru. I understand the depreciation issue, and I understand tax consequences - it most certainly is not stupid to buy cars outright. STOOPID is saddling oneself with a payment they cannot be sure they will always be able to afford, or entering into a finance agreement with an unreasonable interest rate. The bottom line is, I have been a diver for almost forty years. I own all the coolest toys (Scarab, Vette, Harley), my career path takes me to fascinating places, as does my social life (ever attend a formal Single Malt Scotch Society event in a kilt?), so these vintage Rollies "fit" me perfectly. Bill

If one of those Seiko fans is interested in one of those numbered Seiko titanium diving watches they made (in 2005 I think), I have one new in the box that I'll never wear. It was supposed to be a real collectors edition, and I bought it in a weak moment. http://www.watches88.com/pd_seiko_titanium_divers.cfm That's the watch. Bill

You people are just sick! And to think, we haven't even heard from Nanuq yet. I heard he went and bought one of those little cement mixers so he could fill it up with gravel and dump his watches in it. Arghhhhhhhhhh Bill

As I look at my wrist, it takes me WAY beyond your question. Rather than talk in terms of a $300 rep, why did I pay about $500 for a vintage COMEX, just to send it straight to Ziggy and spend another $500 on it, when $1000 will buy a VERY nice gen with a warranty. I suppose it is because I have several gens in that price range that sit in a drawer, and I don't even bother to display them next to the collection of MBWs, TD Bests, and so forth that I really like. If wearing a $1000 gen, where would you go to talk about it? Where would you go to find people anxious to examine pictures of it? Why would I bother when my I-Phone keeps perfect time? I think hobbies are called hobbies because they don't need to make sense. Bill

Fear not, the sleuth is rapidly tracking this misguided miscreant down. The decision to hunt him down and kill him has been made . . . I will consider thoughts and suggestions as to the degree of pain involved. Does this guy molest children for an encore? Bill

I investigate financial crime - international schemes to defraud, investment fraud recovery, that sort of thing. I also do some limited criminal defense work re Money Laundering and Tax Fraud. Bill

Oh Lord yes . . . but Panama City is better. You can really hurt yourself! I should add that my last post was meant to be more playful jab than the punch in the gut that it looked like re-reading it. That's the problem with the printed word, you can't see the giggling behind it. Just teasing there mate! Bill

This was a "one of the most beautiful experiences available to a group of men?" I'm confused. In my world, a first rate prime rib, setting around a fire, shooting shit, and sharing Havana's (I opt for a pipe myself), with some 37 year-old MacAllan might be categorized as as a men's group beautiful experience. Costa Rican chocolate wrestling, on the other hend, hardly seems sufficiently refined to fit that rubric. Having spent my share of time in Costa Rica, Panama, and various other delightful places, busted a move or three on the red devil busses, and squandered a lot of energy at golden time, it seems to me that this is the sort of thing that one enjoys individually, albeit in public, although I am not so sheltered that I could not envision a certain potential for sharing. On the other hand, that shrill whining about crapping on "one of the most beautiful experiences available to a group of men," sounds a little fey to me. You ever spend any time in Bankok? [snicker] Bill

Hello Nanuq, my Brudda from de udda mudda . . . send me an e-mail at TJGladeRaider@aol.com. I think I have something here you might like. Bill

Some of you guys plumb amaze me. Bill