TJGladeRaider

Your best bet would be toapply for copies of your credit report from all three bureaus. You can find the information on how to do that on the net. They have to give you the info free. Bill

Nope. Completely unrelated. Just to illustrate my point in my prior note re leopards and spots, Scott Allen Hawkins is a 39 year old who has been twice sued by Rolex, USA. He was sued in US District Court in 2000 (Case Number 1:00cv2538) and he was sued again in 2004 (1:04cv400) There is also a collections agency after him - AAA Collectors is trying to collect a judgment entered in 2005 for $1774. There is also a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy Case under his social security number filed in Little Rock Arkansas in 1996 - since the SSN is a match, he apparently was an Arkansas resident prior to relocating to Colorado. Bill

Hi Joshua, As your own personal detective in residence, I gotta tell you that there is something odd about this. This guy isn't a dead beat. The guy you are referring to is Vincent M. Barone. I have his DOB, Colorado Driver's License Number and Social Security Number. He's a middle aged man with no history of litigation (other than divorcing his ex in 1994). He is remarried, and he owns a very nice home, with a significant mortgage. I considered the possibility that he might have a son by the same name, but if he did, there should be a drivers license showing a younger date of birth - there isn't. Further, nobody but him and his wife have vehicles registered to that address. In my experience, leopards do not change spots - if this guy was a petty scam artist, there should be all kinds of garbage out there like lawsuits, bankruptcy, tax liens, and that sort of thing. I think you should consider the possibility that he's telling you the truth. If so, and he does not know you as we do, he could easily be convinced that you are just another thief from the other side of the globe. Bill

Oh yeah, wonderful -- there's your answer. Let's just do away with pp so no buyer has any recourse whatsoever just because some twit turned out to be a thief. I not only us pp, I fund it with my American Express so if pp won't do right by me, I know Amex will. I probably should also mention that I have bought several hundred watches these last few years that way and only had problems twice - both with sellers on ebay, and neither having anything to do with reps. I do believe that exposing the puke was a wonderful idea; I'll see what I have on this mutt. Bill

$900? Lord did you make a smart move coming here. Try Ms. King at http://www.cclv.net/ Be patient with her English. She is a wonderful person to deal with, and she'll get your watch to you in a few weeks. You can e-mail here at Kingwatch999@hotmail.com The watch you want is her #263. I have bought more than a dozen watches from her myself and yo'll find that nobody on here has a bad word to say about her. You can also try Joshua at trinicon88@yahoo.com. He may charge you a couple of dollars more for the same watch, but the difference is generally negligible and his English is perfect. I have bought at least a dozen watches from him too. Bill

I think you did a wonderfully good job of ruining the watch - that has got to be the most singularly ugly looking POS I ever saw in my life. ; ) Bill

I just ordered one from them. Thanks, Bill

I'm guessing that is a Gen? It is sure an awesome looking watch. Bill

It will - sort of, but the teeth don't really engage and it wants to slip. I'm pretty stout, so I figure that if I cannot press it hard enough to grip, something is wrong. All I've actually got is like friction on the tips of the teeth. Bill

No name on the box - just says made in India. Bill

I bought a Rolex type case back tool on E-Bay and it came with a variety of serrated sockets. The largest, a "No.5" that is supposed to be "29.50" seems to be a hair too small. It does not seem to want to properly engage the teeth on the case back. Any ideas? Bill

Oooooooooops -- Disregard. I have too many Pams around here. Pam 029 does have L and number does start with a B so I guess that's OK Pam 028 has T Bill

On my Pam 28 it says: OP 6508 BB 977428 A194/500 Would the L be correct? Bill

I am a financial crimes investigator by profession; there will be no E-Gold for me. Don't get me wrong, I'd give Joshua cash in an envelope - it's the E-Gold I don't trust. Research Osgold and see what happened with them. TTK is quite correct. Money transmitters are federally regulated here and other "alternative currencies" have been busted or turned out to be scams. Bill

I got mine from Joshua or King - I forget which. The engraving seems very straight to me, and the GMT hand seems to adjust fine. I like to set it to the twelve or 6 position and then set the watch. Mine does say "L" rather than "T" -- but I had to see it with a loop. It is a very nice watch, keeps great time and tested to be perfectly watertight to 4ATM. I can live with the "L" Bill

On one of the other sections, the question was raised as to what size strap to use on an Omega SMP. Since I use straps on about a dozen or so diving style reps, I tried to post a picture but got an error message. I cannot post pics here either? Bill

I replace SS bracelets on my diving watches routinely - I don't like the weight or the the fact that they are always a little too loose or a little too snug. Stingray is especially nice on some watches. On my Omegas, I use 22mm shark or 22mm stingray. You can probably use 20mm, but 18 would look ridiculous. This is one of my Omega SMP GMTs. The band on this is a 22mm Black Alligator. It has not been trimmed in any way, and it has had a LOT of wrist time - much of which was pretty tough abuse. One thing I think is funny - in prior posts I have complained that no matter what I did I could not get the wavy lines on the dial to show. I picked this up, aimed a camera with integral flash at it and shot it - life can be amusing. I don't know why, but I tried to picture and got the message - "The requested file upload failed because suitable permissions have not been enabled on the 'uploads' directory. Please contact the board administrator and inform them of this error." Damn - the fates are against me. Look under "General Discussion" group and I'll try a posted pic there as "Omega SMP Strap." Bill

I have only bought a dozen or two from Joshua, but I can tell you that everything I bought was delivered quickly as promised. Bill

I don't know where all the pictures went. Anyway, you are all absolutely correct - I did not have the crown screwed in all the way. I'd have to check the pictures, but I probably did the WP test after synchronizing all the watches with the US Time Clock. Still, not so much as a bubble. That means the watch is airtight without the crown screwed in. I find that to be truly remarkable. If bubble had come rushing out like a blown air hose, no harm would have been done. If you note the time elapse, I bleed the air pressure very, very slowly. So long as you catch it while the air pressure is dropping and remove the watch, you won't get water incursion. It's been a few days now and the watches are all keeping time nicely, but I'll report at the end of the week. Bill

I agree - completely - but if you look at the waterproof test I did on the most recent SMP GMT, look closely at the crown. The watch passed without so much as a bubble, but I forgot to screw the crown down. I thought about retesting the watch, but I left it as was because it is really interesting to me that the watch passed without the crown screwed down. Bill

I modified the original post to include the waterproof tests Bill

I edited the original post to add the waterproof tests. Bill

Waterproof update added into the original by edit. Bill

A complete take down, cleaning, re-lube with proper lubricants, reassembly, set timing, etc. Bill

I have a serious problem with it - but I've been a criminal investigator for almost thiry years so what would you expect. I can justify rep collecting because it is legal (at least here and now) and it fascinates me. However, I am deeply concerned when I see the rep market make the leap from replicating a look, to laying the foundation for fraud. That serial number belongs to somebody - some one particular individual bought that particular serial numbered piece and it belongs to them. Manufacturers and seller/distributors don't care because they are committing a crime already - but buyers and collectors better be careful. I think you are begging for an indictment by merely possessing these pieces - screwing around with serial numbers is a completely different thing. For example, wearing a fake Rolex is legal in the State of Georgia, but don't get caught with a legit watch from some place like Ashford.com that removes the serial numbers. Possession of a watch with altered or removed serial numbers is a crime. I feel pretty sure that a rep withfake serial numbers could be prosecuted under that statute as well. Be careful Boys and Girls - if you have a watch with bogus serial numbers, I'd get a different case back and get rid of the one with the numbers. It's a chance I wouldn't take. I think reputable dealers should be mindful of this and give their Clients the choice. Bill