TJGladeRaider

This is one of the most recent Planet Oceans offered by Ms. King for a little over $200. She says the watches are waterproof to some extent and she shows them under water on her web site. In the first picture, you can see a small bubble that has come from under the bezel and let go at the 12:00 position as well as a smaller bubble at the bezel at 11:00. As tests with Gens proved, this is normal as air trapped between the bezel and the case expands and escapes. In the subsequent pics, you see another smaller bubble start to form just after the 1:00 position. The bubble at 11:00 grows as pressure is released but that's it. The final post shows the bubbles pouring out of the sharkskin band. I thought that was pretty interesting. The sharkskin shows no ill effect from the water and I MUCH prefer sharkskin with a deplyment clasp to the oyster style bands on any diving style watch that I wear. In a subsequent post, I'll show what a leaky watch looks like - you cannot mistake it. This watch is as it came from the bubble wrap. I am no rep expert so I will leave it to others to evaluate it's comparability to authentic. Looking at gen web sites, I see no differences. Very nice watch Ms. King, and a great value in my opinion. Bill

I think it is a glued on chrome or stainless emblem. It isn't something printed. Bill

Hi Jon, I am glad you brought that up as, being a collector who thiks ity is high adventure to unscrew a caseback and adjust the regulator, I didn't think to mention that. This watch is exactly as it came out of the bubble wrap. Bill

This is one of the 43mm Planet Oceans that Ms.King sells for a little over $200. I bought them in both Orange and Black. She claims that they are water proof to some degree and has pictures of them in an aquarium. I tested them in a pressure tester to 4 Bar, or the equivalent of a dive to 132 feet. This is how the machine sets up. Once the pressure is built up to 4Bar, the pressure is slowly released and the watch is dropped into the water. For a more complete explanation, see the first test. In the next pictures you can see an air bubble forcing itself out of the spring bar as it expands. You can also see a tiny bubble at the edge of the bezel at the 1:00 position. I interpreted that to be air bleeding out thru a leaky crystal (this is new to me) but I was mistaken. Just as air trapped in the spring bar bubbles out, air trapped under the bezel bubbles out too. I verified this with four factory fresh gen diving watches I have - a Stratosphere (I love that watch), a Luminox SEAL watch, and a couple of Seikos. Believe me, when you see a real leak, you know it, as I found out later with a junk Rolex Sub. The bubble at the 1:00 position isn't tiny anymore. You can't miss it now. The next two show that nothing much happens as the pressure is released. This is interesting. Note the bubbles in the notches for the removal tool. It almost looks like air is bleeding thru the case back - it's not of course. Those bubbles are tiny to the point that they aren't really visible when the watch is immersed and then they expand to four times that size as the pressure is released. That is the same thing that is going on under the bezel. Bottom line, a couple of bubbles attributable to air trapped that exanded - nothing compared to what I got from my Gens and being a high time DiveMaster (2000+ Hrs underwater), I know very well that the Seikos I tested are waterproof. This watch is exactly as it came out of the bubble wrap. Very nice watch Ms. King. Bill

I haven't got my lightbox yet, so my pics are not up to snuff - but you will get the idea. I got this PAM 029 from Joshua for a little more that $300 if I recall correctly. He assured me that I could have it out in the rain, even Everglades swamp rain which is worse than anything encountered in any shower. First, we have the Pam in the air over the water. Pressure applied to 4 Bar, or 132ft Once we have the pressure up, we crack the valve and let it bleed out slowly. Any air pumped into the watch thru a compromised seal will start to bleed out thru that seal as the presure drops. As soon as the pressure begins to drop, we immerse the watch in water to show us the bubbles as air bleeds out thru the compromised seal - no bubbles, but notice that tiny air bubble trapped above the crown in the inside corner of the crown cover. At 132, an air bubble is compressed to one fourth it's size - watch the bubble grow as we bring the watch up from the depths and you'll see why a scuba diver must never hold his breath coming up. Still no bubbles Still no bubbles Still no bubbles, but the tiny bubble has sure grown. The watch is then removed - if it showed signs of leaking, it must be removed from the water before the pressure bleeds to zero because no water can get in until the air stops bleeding out. Of all the watches I tested thus far, including a Gen Seiko Diver, and a Gen Stratosphere Diver, this was the only watch that tested perfect. Pretty damn fine considering that this is my favorite PAM (so far - PVD 028 coming). Your results may be entirely different, but probably not. I tested a bunch of reps, and I think they did much better than you would have thought. They sure surprised me. Bill

Whoaaaaaaaaaa there. VERY VERY bad choice of comparisons. First, feel free to send Rolex a picture of my collection - it's not that they choose to do nothing, there is nothing they can do. It is not just like drugs - buying, selling, using illegal drugs is a crime. Buying reps (here and now) is not a violation of any law at all. If it becomes illegal, I'm done. Bill

I don't know, but I talked to Ziggy about waterproofing watches and he was not very encouraging. I gotta say though, you talk to him and you know you are talking to a guy who genuinely knows what he is talking about, and there is no nonsense to him. If it turns out that I cannot buy the package I want, I'm gonna ship my favs to Ziggy and let him do what he can. Bill

I have one as well. I collect reps, but I don't do anything that involves opening the case - until now. Just for the fun of it, I thought I would try to adjust the timing - guess what, the Asian 7750 does not have the whachamacallit that the real Valjoux has for that. It does, however, have the little arm that can be moved with a small screw driver or a paperclip or something. I tinkered with it, adjusting it periodically for a few days, and now the thing keeps nearly perfect time. It is 2 seconds off after 4 days. I am going to play with some of my others. BTW, duct tape makes a great case opener. You wrap a piece around the palm of your hand, sticky side out, and you cannot believe what a grip you can get on a case back that way. Just press against the case back and turn, sort of like opening a jar. Bill

I am sure they know about these sites, but there isn't much they can do since collecting these things is perfectly legal - at least here in the US, and for now. If it ever becomes illegal to own reps, I am going to be sick! Forums for discussion are very hard to shut down, no matter what they discuss - for example, consider the most sad, sick bunch of mutts that ever assembled, "NAMBLA." I am not generally inclined toward the concept of vigilante justice, which is pretty much an oxymoron, but if a NAMBLA member lived next door to me, I'd not tolerate it. Still, they have their forums. Same with those who screw farm animals, and promote hate crimes. Personally, having spent almost thirty years in investigation/enforcement occupations myself, I think that the problem for gen manufacturers has grown to such an extent that they have either got to quit pretending there is some justfication for their ridiculous prices, shut down China's manufacturing system, or face extinction, and the only way to shut it down is thru political maneuvering. China isn't stupid. I thik they are going to deliberately continue to allow rep manufacturers to develop their art until it becomes the maximum political bargaining chip that it can grow to. Once it reaches critical mass, they will probably concede the point in exchange for some political concession that they want, and then shut the rep mans down. When they do that, it will be over - China can be very, very efficient at implementing social policy. Personally, I hope that the rep industry forces the gen manufacturers to price their products more realistically. I don't think the government owes it to them to make unrealistic trade practices possible. Bill

In referring to the abitur (allgemeine Hochschulreife), and your high school diploma, it seems clear that you are not pursuing graduate level academics at this time, although it may be that you are applying to one of our better US business colleges that may require a GMAT score for admission, as opposed to the more commonly required ACT or SAT. The way it generally works is, you take the ACT/SAT to see if you are adequately prepared for college and then, after completing the four your college program, you take the GMAT to see iif you are adequately prepared to pursue a graduate MBA in business. I think you are probably mistaken, but if you are correct, the GMAT is going to bust your balls. Try the following. http://www.testprepreview.com/gmat_practice.htm In any event, there are many free practice tests available on the Internet, and study materials offered as well. Bill

Once you put water in the machine - a little less than half full, you don't fill this cylinder - you put the watch in the cylinder, hanging it on that little device you can see just over top of the water and seal the device. Then you start pumping up the pressure inside. If you double the air pressue inside the cylinder, and the watch is not air tight, you also double the pressure inside the watch, which doesn't hurt anything. Let's say you pump it up to 5 atmospheres, the equivalent pressure that you would have when under water about 165 feet. With the pressure on, you start to SLOWLY release the pressure. As the pressure outside the watch drops, any extra air inside the watch will start to escape - while the pressure is dropping, you drop the watch into the water and see if bubbles are pouring out of it around the case, crystal, stem, pushers, etc. If bubbles are coming out, while the prssure is dropping, NO WATER GETS IN - just like having your head under water and blowing bubbles. If bubbles are coming out, the watch is not completely sealed so you look where the bubbles are coming from and have that properly sealed. As long as you remove the watch from the water before the pressure reaches zero, no water wll get in it. Pretty kewl device. Once my new light box gets here, I'll post some pics showing what happens as I test some of these watches. Bill

Buy from Joshua or Ms. King - you'll never have to deal with absurd BS like this. Bill

Since the testing device is set up so it cannot hurt the watch, I am going to run all my watches thru it, both gens and reps, and see how they do. It will test to 11 ATM so I figure if any watch is good to 3 ATM (about 100 ft) I can safely wear it swimming or anything but scuba. Bill

LOL -- what a concept . . . my wife's ultimate fantasy! I just collect these things, the money only flows one way, but if the watches come waterproof and properly regulated as promised, I'll feel like my money was better spent. Bill

Water intrusion has always been a serious problem with reps, and other than brief immerson, I have no faith that any of them will keep water out, and nobody claims they will - until recently. I notice that some are now being offered with a representation that they are water proof to 30m or so. That makes me wonder if they really are waterproof, but if they are - why not go the next step? Considering the quality of the reps these days, it frustrates me that they are as close to gens as they are (have you seen the new Planet Oceans), but you still cannot trust them to be accurate and waterproof as a gen. That seems silly to me because I have some very inexpensive watches that are completely waterproof, and a whole lot of higher end reps that are not. My lovely wife is a very patient woman. LOL Just suppose your favorite and most dependable rep dealer offered to source a few of the best available reps, and have a competent watch smith dissemble them, service them properly, time them accurately, waterproof them properly and test them before shipping to you - at a reasonable additional fee? I have ordered some that are represented to be waterproof from one source, and arranged to have some made up for me as described above by another. This is going to be interesting as I have a new toy. So whaddya tink? More to follow. ; ) Bill

Am I the only one who finds themselves sitting mesmerized by this guy's posts! That animated graphic is killing me. LOL Bill

Sorry for the malady, but being a charitable fellow, I am here to help. Just send me the offending Pam and I'll send you a box of bandaids and a tube of ointment. ; ) Bill