TJGladeRaider

I wouldn't have a clue without knowing exactly how they work but the fact that they refer to "waterproof" suggests that they are ancient. Someone probably should invest in a waterproof tester and check watches for people. You could send them your watch (without band/bracelet) with a return fedex envelope and a [?$] bill and they could test it and give you some peace of mind. I don't have the time to be doing it, but it could be something someone else might want to do. Bill

As I have said many times, I PERSONALLY have no problem with wearing a rep SCUBA diving - but I do NOT recommend it. The reason is that SCUBA is a dynamic of time and pressure where everything is affected and once you become thoroughly comfortable with the interaction, and have the experience to know how it all works for you, a guy LIKE ME with 3000+ hours under water has no need for a watch under normal circumstances. I say LIKE ME not based so much on my experience, but more on personal limitations. At my age, I don't conserve air as effectively as I once did. In my teens, I could free dive to seventy feet and carry a conch to the surface - as a free diver yourself, can you imagine water so clear that you can see conchs seventy feet down? The water in Guantanamo was like that. That was a lifetime ago. These days, I play with the kids retrieving quarters off the bottom of a swimming pool. This is an article I wrote about the last time I actually needed a watch while diving - and I did not wear a rep although if I did it today I probably would just to test it (we had Randy's equipment to rely upon). The Blue Hole These days, I dive to retrieve an anchor, or whatever, generally diving alone (yeah I know). I am rarely underwater for more than thirty minutes at a time, and I haven't been down more than sixty feet in quite a while. So, "yes," I wear reps diving, but "no," I do not recommend it to anyone who is new enough to the sport that they should care what others recommend. As far as working on other people's watches, I really couldn't do that as I spend MUCH to much time screwing around with this stuff as is. I am currently working on mastering the perfect vintage Rolex . . . did I mention that, once upon a time, I used to manage a machine shop? LOL Bill

Is that a trick question . . . are you suggesting that there is some finite number? Bill

Could someone tell me where iss the best place to buy this watch, and what they cost? Bill

As I suspected - it is [censored]. First, the filing by Rolex with the Customs Service specifically authorizes the importation of TWO watches for personal use. Second (and I have just read all the related cases available via Lexis-Nexis, including Rolex v WalMart) there is no case - NONE - involving an individual making an international purchase for personal use. Someone apparently pulled that crap out of their ear. In fact, if you google that specific language used on the Customs web site, you will find that it occurs no place else except there, and watch sites that quote it. Personally, I find it very curious that RolexUSA has somehow managed to have the US Customs Service pubicly provlaim that US Citizens cannot buy a Rolex from anyone but them when I can find nothing whatsoever to support that. Bill

Frankly, I think that is complete [censored], and I suspect that some [censored] put it on there as a favor to Rolex. If that's the case, Internal Affairs should be looking into it. Bill

True dat. An expert . . . the most mathematically competent engineer . . . that is a man who can absolutely prove that bumblebees cannot fly. Bill

It was suggested that I repost this for the knowledge base so I have revised it a bit. Before we start, this is a bit complicated and people may choose to weigh in with different opinions and explanations. If you choose to invest the time and effort necessary to follow this, it is not wasted. I am a Dive Master with something in excess of 3000 HRs underwater, and my second academic pursuit was Mechanical Engineering. I understand Boyles Law perfectly well, PV=NRT is very basic to me, and I am perfectly well qualified to teach this. I say that because there were some differences of opinion last time this was discussed. Here we go. Understand that there is pressurized air inside your watch. If you are standing at sea level, it should be at about 14.7 psi - but we will say 15 to keep the math easy. It doesn't seem pressurized to us because everything is at 15psi - standard atmospheric pressure. If you took that watch into outer space while stuck inside a skin tight balloon, and popped the stem (or otherwise compromised the structural integrity of the case), air would come rushing out to expand the balloon. If you can understand that -- everything else that follows will be simple. Personally, I have no use for a watch that isn't genuinely water resistant. I test all of mine: I think I can say with some confidance that the prevailing belief that reps are not waterproof is a holdover from the old days when they came with cardboard spacers and Timex movements. To test a watch, you put the watch in the device - feel free to use paperclips, or whatever you need to help suspend the watch if you prefer to leave the bracelet on. To start with, there is no reason to go overboard, so pump the pressure up to TWO of atmospheres. Now, if you are really following along, you would know that you have added two atmoshperes worth of pressure (30 PSI) to the cylinder outside the watch for a total pressure outside the watch of 45 PSI (since everything started at 15 psi). Now, LET THE WATCH HANG THERE A FEW MINUTES TO EQUALIZE IF IT IS GOING TO (Hopefully, it won't) If the watch equalized while up in the air, that means it is not airtight. In other words, and this is the part to understand, there was a small volume of air at normal atmospheric pressure inside the watch going into the chamber (say for example purposes on cubic inch of air at 15 PSI) If you add two atmospheres of pressure, you have tripled the pressure from 1 to 3, but if the watch is airtight, NOTHING happens inside. That's why men can spend forever in a submarine at significant depths with no decompression issues, but if the watch was an airtight balloon, you would watch it shrink to a third it's size which is exactly what you do see if you take a balloon down underwater about 66 feet. If the watch is not airtight, the pressure will equalize inside the watch and that means that the amount of air inside the watch will triple - three times the pressure means that three times the volume of air fits into the same space, so what we need to know is, do we have one cubic inch of air inside that one cubic inch case at 15 PSI, or three cubic inches of air at 45PSI. Lower the watch into the water. SLOWLY release the pressure -- did I say SLOWLY!!!!!! DO NOT - NOT - NOT dump the pressure. SLOWLY releasing the pressure releases the pressure on the enitre system - the air, the water, and the watch. As the pressure releases, NOTHING happens inside the airtight watch - like the men in the submarine, they don't know the difference. On the other hand, if our little experiment packed three cubic inches of air into a one cubic inch space, releasing the pressure makes that air want to come right back out. At this point, let me focus you on something - think about the inside of the watch case - including the space between the dial and the crystal. Even though the watch looks like it is pretty much filled up with a movement, there is still a LOT of airspace in there. If you take that volume and add twice that volume to it - twice the volume of airspace inside that watch is a LOT of air. When you release it, it isn't going to be a few bubbles. More on that later. If air come's pouring out of that watch as you are SLOWLY releasing the pressure -- DO NOT STOP. DO NOT STOP, but even more importantly, DO NOT - NOT - NOT let the pressure go to zero. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! Pull that watch up out of the water while the pressure is slowly dropping and before it hits zero. IT MUST NOT GO TO ZERO while a leaky watch is under water becasue once the positive air pressure bleeds out, water can get in. No water can get in that leaky watch while the air pressure inside is bleeding out. Now, back to my point about volume. If you test your watches with bezels before reading this, you will report back that they all leak. Not so. When you pressurized the system, you did that by pumping in air. You stuffed three times the air into that system that was originally there so you pumped three times the air into the space beneath the bezel, where the lug holes are, etc that would be there without all that pressure. That little airbubble trapped under the bezel, or inside the lug hole, or wherever, is going to expand to three times its size as the pressure released and as it does, it won't fit there anymore. In other words, a few little bubbles are perfectly normal. Remember, when you pump in six atmospheres of pressure, you are compressing all the air inside that cylinder, forcing every space to hold seven times as much air as it held to start with. That is a HUGE differential. Watch the springbars and you will see bubbles coming from them, as well as from under the bezel, lug holes, from the underside of lugs . . . anywhere a tiny bubble could cling. When that bubble gets seven times as large, it will float up. Believe me, when seven times the vollume of air normally inside a watch case comes rushing out, nobody will have to tell you it leaked. If it passes just fine at two atm, repeat the process at five or six. You will find that any of the better quality reps does just fine. Good luck, Bill

I don't know how to move it to the knowledge base, but I can reporst as a new thread Coming up. Bill

I don't know, but that nonsense winds me up, and I suspect that the government is out of line on this one. The following is a verbatim copy of my correspondence to the US Customs Service. ______________________________________ A discussion on one of the newsgroups I belong to struck me as very odd, but I find that the statement that was quoted and attributed to you does indeed exist on the USCS web site. I am a former Special Agent, United States Department of the Treasury, and I cannot imagine how it could be unlawful for anyone to buy a genuine Rolex from anyone, anywhere for their own personal use and I do not have a clue what law would allow RolexUSA to exercise that kind of control over US Citizens - especially in light of the fact that there has been an injunction in place since 1960 prohibiting RolexUSA from engaging in this sort of conspiracy to control prices by unlawful restraint of trade. On October 19, 1954, the United States filed an anti-trust complaint in the United States District Court, Southern District of New York, under Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1, alleging a wide-ranging conspiracy between Swiss and United States watch companies to fix prices, terms, and conditions of the sale of watches and watch parts, restrict the manufacturing of watches and watch parts in the United States, and control the export of watches and watch parts into the United States. The complaint named more than twenty defendants, including Rolex's predecessor ­ the American Rolex Watch Corporation. On March 9, 1960, the United States, and eleven of the defendants named in the complaint (all of whom were United States importers of Swiss watches or watch parts), including the American Rolex Watch Corporation, entered into the Final Judgment. I would appreciate it if you would review the facts of this ongoing case as presented on my web site at http://www.fraudsandscams.com/Rolex/Rolex.htm and explain to me how it is that the USCS appears to be acting as the enforcement arm for a private corporation, apparently enforcing the very conduct and activities that the US DOJ has determined to be illegal. The following statement appears on your web site and I am soon to include it on mine, along with the fact that I have submitted this question to you.

Maybe I can help -- I have one of those testers too, and I have tested a LOT of my watches so far. I hope you read this before testing, or you will be unnecessarily depressed. Before we start, this is a bit complicated and people may choose to weigh in with different opinions and explanations. If you choose to invest the time and effort necessary to follow this, it is not wasted. I am a Dive Master with something in excess of 3000 HRs underwater, and my second academic pursuit was Mechanical Engineering. I understand Boyles Law perfectly well, PV=NRT is very basic to me, and I am perfectly well qualified to teach this. I say that because there were some differences of opinion last time this was discussed. Here we go. Understand that there is pressurized air inside your watch. If you are standing at sea level, it should be at about 14.7 psi - but we will say 15 to keep the math easy. It doesn't seem pressurized to us because everything is at 15psi - standard atmospheric pressure. If you took that watch into outer space while stuck inside a skin tight balloon, and popped the stem (or otherwise compromised the structural integrity of the case), air would come rushing out to expand the balloon. If you can understand that -- everything else that follows will be simple. Meanwhile, back at the oasis . . . put the watch in the device just like you are doing. Feel free to use paperclips, or whatever you need to help suspend the watch if you prefer to leave the bracelet on. Pump the pressure up to TWO of atmospheres. Now, if you are really following along, you would know that you have added two atmoshperes worth of pressure (30 PSI) to the cylinder outside the watch for a total pressure outside the watch of 45 PSI (since everything started at 15 psi). Now, LET THE WATCH SET A FEW MINUTES TO EQUALIZE IF IT IS GOING TO (Hopefully, it won't) If the watch equalized while up in the air, that means it is not airtight. In other words, and this is the part to understand, there was a small volume of air at normal atmospheric pressure inside the watch going into the chamber (say for example purposes on cubic inch of air at 15 PSI) If you add two atmospheres of pressure, you have tripled the pressure from 1 to 3, but if the watch is airtight, NOTHING happens inside. That's why men can spend forever in a submarine at significant depths with no decompression issues, but if the watch was an airtight balloon, you would watch it shrink to a third it's size which is exactly what you do see if you take a balloon down underwater about 66 feet. If the watch is not airtight, the pressure will equalize inside the watch and that means that the amount of air inside the watch will triple - three times the pressure means that three times the volume of air fits into the same space, so what we need to know is, do we have one cubic inch of air inside that one cubic inch case at 15 PSI, or three cubic inches of air at 45PSI. Lower the watch into the water. SLOWLY release the pressure -- did I say SLOWLY!!!!!! DO NOT - NOT - NOT dump the pressure. SLOWLY releasing the pressure releases the pressure on the enitre system - the air, the water, and the watch. As the pressure releases, NOTHING happens inside the airtight watch - like the men in the submarine, they don't know the difference. On the other hand, if our little experiment packed three cubic inches of air into a one cubic inch space, releasing the pressure makes that air want to come right back out. At this point, let me focus you on something - think about the inside of the watch case - including the space between the dial and the crystal. Even though the watch is filled up with a movement, there is still a LOT of airspace in there. If you take that volume and add twice that volume to it - twice the volume of airspace inside that watch is a LOT of air. When you release it, it isn't going to be a few bubbles. More on that later. If air come's pouring out of that watch as you are SLOWLY releasing the pressure -- DO NOT STOP. DO NOT STOP, but even more importantly, DO NOT - NOT - NOT let the pressure go to zero. NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! Pull that watch up out of the water while the pressure is slowly dropping and before it hits zero. IT MUST NOT GO TO ZERO while a leaky watch is under water becasue once the positive air pressure bleeds out, water can get in. No water can get in that leaky watch while the air pressure inside is bleeding out. Now, back to my point about volume. If you test your watches with bezels before reading this, you will report back that they all leak. Not so. When you pressurized the system, you did that by pumping in air. You stuffed three times the air into that system that was originally there so you pumped three times the air into the space beneath the bezel, where the lug holes are, etc that would be there without all that pressure. That little airbubble trapped under the bezel, or inside the lug hole, or wherever, is going to expand to three times its size as the pressure released and as it does, it won't fit there anymore. In other words, a few little bubbles are perfectly normal. Remember, when you pump in six atmospheres of pressure, you are compressing all the air inside that cylinder, forcing every space to hold seven times as much air as it held to start with. That is a HUGE differential. Watch the springbars and you will see bubbles coming from them, as well as from under the bezel, lug holes, from the underside of lugs . . . anywhere a tiny bubble could cling. When that bubble gets seven times as large, it will float up. Believe me, when seven times the vollume of air normally inside a watch case comes rushing out, nobody will have to tell you it leaked. If it passes just fine at two atm, repeat the process at five or six. As for the obvious question that you will have - "Did I damage my watches doing it the wrong way," I don't know, but you could not have damaged them unless they leak and no matter what you may have heard, these reps do not generally leak. If you test a watch and find that it does leak very badly, you should probably have it serviced. Good luck, Bill

Sounds to me like I am a couple of months ahead of you. If you are going to dril the lugs, I suggest you do that first - it is a real misery to see a beautiful CG job go in the trash because you broke off a bit in a lug hole. You need a: Case back opener - don't get the super cheapee as it is a POS 1.2mm screw driver to release the stem - don't even think about using anything else GOOD set of jewelers screw drivers. Everyone needs one of these if they are going to do anything on a watch. Set of good Swiss files - even the really good ones don't cost much. Do use files, not a Dremel - it doesn't take long by hand and you'll do a more precise job. Dremel Vise - you can get on Amazon, It is a small, table top vise with rubber in the jaws that will hold your watch still very nicely, and makes an effective tool to press bezel rings into place with the right adapter. Magnifying glass of some sort to inspect your work. Dremel and polishing accesories to polish up after you are done. The vertical mill accesory makes it nice. Crown guard tube insertion tool - new style, 6mm - assuming you are replacing the tube/crown with OEM Silicone grease for O-Rings Swiss Army knife for removing bezels, crystal retaining rings, etc. A patient wife. I may edit this later -- telephone conference so gotta go Bill

Damn!! You just beat me to that! Bill

My dear Sir, loathe as I am to bring this to your attention, as I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I fear that you should consider counseling as you are, unfortunately, delusional. Whatever you saw or thought you saw, was probably just "spiders and snakes," but if you abstain from alcohol long enough the DTs will subside. I personally prefer a few stiff shots of bourbon in the morning as that pretty much keeps the DTs at bay until the Martini Hour . . . but alack and alas, we all must find our own way. Bill

They didn't work right. I'n no Ziggy, I haven't a clue - all I can tell you is the watches kept time perfectly but the GMT hands had minds all their own. For example, set the watch to twelve noon - all hands straight up, GMT straight down. The next day, at noon, the GMT hand might say it's 9:30. I wish I could better describe the problem, but all I know is, I only have two 2836's that worked right. One is in a Pam 29, the other in an Omega SMP GMT. Of the ones that did not work right, Omega, Rolex and Pam were included. Bill

Personally, I'll never buy another GMT that doesn't have a GMT movement. I have had nothing but trouble out of these bastardized 2836's. The 2893s are wonderful! Bill

I suggested, in no uncertain terms, that the Burberry Bimbette refund my PayPal account forthwith. All I got back was run around. I made it clear to Twit Wit that I would cause her a great deal of grief if she did not comply immediately - all I got was [censored]. Oh well, no regrets, remorse or recriminations -- those who believe in the sacred PayPal account concept, flame on. I have reported each and every fake this twit has for sale on EBAY to EBAY security. I have reported each and every fake this twit has for sale on EBAY to PayPal security. I have filed a complaint with PayPal - "I thought I got an incredible deal on a Rolex, and damned if this thing doesn't have plastic inside and all my friends are laughing at me." I have reached out to various former buyers suggesting that they have someone examine their watches. In sum, I have done my very best to put this brain dead bimbette out of business for giving the rep community a bad name! Bill Next pics I shoot, I'll snap a couple of these. Bill

I have a bunch of watches that need this treatment. How do you get the grit out of the link internals. Is there a specific procedure that works? I usually just switch the bracelets on the Subs I wear to stingray with deployment clasps but some nice bracelets would be very cool too. Bill

I disagree, although I should say that I have no doubt that the subs do have the movement they are advertised to have. To me, the bottom line is this - I don't care if the sub was advertised to have a lime green rotor made of a petrified frog turd . . . if that's what the thing was advertised to have, and I paid for it, I believe I'd have a right to [censored] if it came with a real Rolex movement instead. But that's just me. Bill

Well boys and girls, I didn't think it was possible that I could buy a watch like nothing in my collection from BurberryLucy -- but I was wrong. The cheap piece of junk she sent me was like nothing in my collection, nothing I would have in my collection, and nothing I would have bought on Canal Street for $35. It does have a wonderfully deep rehaut . . . because of an ugly plastic white spacer The "Swiss Movement," isn't. The bracelet is . . . how shall i put this . . . let's just say you don't want it. The date font is not 2.5 BurberryLucy is not being helpful . . . I trust that nobody will condemn me to terribly badly for roasting her on feedback and charging back her account. If anyone is inclined to point this twit out to EBay as a dealer in counterfeits, the more the merrier I always say. Bill

MBW has the COMEX. WatchMaster also has one in stock for sale. Bill

It is RaymondLeeJewelers.com and tell them Bill from Naples, FL recomended them! LOL I just bought a couple of dozen inserts from them and they fit fine. Bill

I bought one - I'll let you know. Bill

Replica or not, an AD has no lawful authority to seize, or destroy private property, any more than the customer has a right to knock out his front teeth . . . LOL Bill

Are you reading my mind . . . do you have spies in my workshop perhaps! LOL Let me tell you something about bezel inserts - nobody knows. I did what any tool & die man would do - I used a caliper to mic them and I found that a 5513, or a 1680 by one supplier may be much different than the ones being offered by another. When you consider that a bezel ring is is press fit, with very little interference, any difference is HUGE. As for the factory bezel assembly, when dealing with the vintage watches, everything depends upon the crystal. The crystal retaining ring is press fit to the crystal, and the bezel itself snaps to the ring with a spring washer in between. There again, you must have a micrometer of some kind if you are going to hope to make your own fitment, as well as a complete catalog of crystals with measurements. Good luck Bill