Jkay

Five years or less for service intervals. You're in Washington State? So in Continental USA, there are two people I know of who explicitly accept 775x movements .. Vaccum in Florida and George in Texas. If you are already a customer of the Zigmeister, I'm sure he would be happy to service it as well, but he's in Canada. The 3-hander can go to one of several people, since it's less complex. And yes, you can buy a used swiss ETA movement on eBay or some such place for $120 or less (in a watch or loose in a package) but will it need a service, too? And who will swap it into your watch for free? You'd have to pay for that too.

The range among our trusted watch service people is from under 100 to under 150 USD for service on a 3 handed watch.

As an aside, if you are being charged $200 for simple 3-handed service, you are being robbed. And $300 for Chrono ... again .. ridiculous prices.

Chrono movements are like vintage automobiles. To collect them and keep them running is a money pit. That's why I always shake my head when a forum newb grabs a 7750 as his very first purchase.

Many merchants don't display the good ones unless you ask. It's to prevent the police from taking them.

I am posting this because I expect to have it back from the Zigmeister today. It's been gone a few weeks, so I can't wait to wear it again in it's new, improved condition. This will be a complete surprise, since I haven't seen it since he gave it the full treatment. edit - and I was right; it just arrived.

I have to wonder if this is a photo of the genuine watch. There are replicas of this model out there but they all look like crap compared to your pictures. It should be an $88 watch, by the way. They certainly use genuine photos in the IWC area on that replica site.

I can tell you that the description is complete crap. Folding clasp? Sapphire crystal? Swiss automatic movement?? It says the case material is Stainless, PVD, 18K gold ... ok .... let me see if I can find this on a trusted dealer site. The price seems to be double fair price as well.

Maria was not a factory; only a dealer. The watches are available as "MBK" pieces, their other name. MBK is the name of the shopping bazaar in Thailand where they can be had by dealers and members.

Maria was a dealer. He hasn't been around for years. The watches are still available, of course.

Yes that's correct. You need to buy a vintage ETA movement with a lower beat rate and place it into this watch for greater authenticity. An $80 eBay purchase inside of a beat up old watch.

Yes, no matter how little you put on there, the actual correct amount is a lot less, and it spreads all over the movement screwing it up.

Ken is a member here on this forum, He also has a storefront on this forum. Look at Bergie's sub-forum here. It has a small sample of items he can supply. Simply send a message to user KB and tell him what you need. He will get back to you with availability and price.

If you lubricate the rotor on your own, as an unskilled watch enthusiast, the over-oiled bearing will spread across the entire interior of the watch. Certain trusted forum watch technicians have noted that they have to dispose of their entire batch of cleaning solution from their vibrosonic cleaning machine, due to the junk with which people lube their watches.

The dealers are not the factories. The dealers all have access to the same watches either via a direct factory delivery or sending a runner to the watch bazaars to pick one up. I suppose what you want to know is which version of the Ploprof (V1, V2, and is there a V3??) is the best, and is that best version still in production.

This one today. I was able to wrestle it back from my wife for 24 hours.

The watch dial looks like suede. Really marvellous

ASCIWhite, you have a beautiful collection of modded vintage Panerai. What's your parts source? I'd love to see a build list for these attractive watches.

Trusty is very good, but again, I must say that the dealer is not the factory. Trusty has no control over the conditions at the factory. Yes you got a great watch but it is the same watch you can buy from any trusted dealer. Choose a dealer based on price and service. They all sell the same watch.

The modded 500M today

I thought I recognized that black photo setting. That is how she always takes her QC pics.

The "last Olympics" was in Canada. You don't want anything like the last Olympics. Now that was a terrible show.

Welcome aboard. Im sure you already know to read all the info you can, since there is a mountain of it. Ask any questions you may have and enjoy your time here.

I guess I didnt see the same thing you were seeing, txcollector. I thought it was highly entertaining. If you want to talk about something shamefully disastrous, look at Canada. Maybe it's generational. Maybe you are too young to feel the strong connection of the UK to the western rock n roll culture which the event designer was heavily mining. Yes China has billions of drumming sweaty guys but England has The Beatles, The Who, David Bowie, The Clash .. Sorry China! Game, set, match.