On crystals with a cyclops i usually line everything up and place it on the edge of a desk with the cyclops just hanging over and put my palm flat on the back and apply pressure until it "pops" into place.
The etching really bothered me on my SSD as well.. If I hadn't sold it, I was thinking of getting it polished out (I read a diamond polish should do it), you can actually feel it on the underside of the crystal.
I don't see myself getting another modern GMT II until they do make a good CHS movement. It REALLY bothers me. Every time the hour hand passes over the GMT hand it's like it's mocking me. Of course that hand stack is correct for a 1675 and 16750 with the transitional dial (correct me if I'm wrong).
I thought it was because the subdial at 6 runs all the time on the manual rep movements and on the gen it should only move when the chrono is running. Better for it not to run at all than run all the time.
It looks like a gen Quartz 500m. The quartz has a full orange hand and no "Calibre 5". To me it looks gen, since I don't think there are any decent reps of the quartz.
You could get him an MBW 1680 or 1665, that way when he sends it back to you it will be vintagized. Seriously, a 1665 on nato should be pretty resilient.
I have a few "Dream Cars". I suppose my all-time dream car is:
The 1985 Ferrari 308 GTSi (yes, the Magnum P.I. car. One of the best TV shows ever).
The next would have to be the Porsche 959:
A more modern dream car would be the Audi RS5:
This is what I'm currently driving (not my pic, mine is too dirty to show right now )
I was thinking the date looked low as well. The main thing to look for on these is the TAG logo to make sure it's not crooked. I'd like to get one of these with the bracelet.
Pretty soon you'll be going to someone's house to buy a rep Rolex and just as you are about to make the deal, Chris Hansen is going to round the corner and tell you to "Take a seat."
I like the Intercontinental Hotel at Chopin Plaza. It's quieter than South Beach, but easy to get there for some bar action. There is bar near the beach that has an ungodly amount of really cool beers on tap.. too bad I forget the name
I've had to reshape a bezel or two before.. I found it easiest to do on the edge of a table or desk... Also, if you put it on a train track, that will do the trick as well.