Dudemeister

No question in my mind, Ebel 1911 Discovery. I'm wearing mine right now. There a couple others that look good, like the Daytona and the AP, but the Ebel is just a class act.

The film is extremely thin, and when applied using a special decal softening solution like the MicroSet stuff, it's nearly perfect, but under certain lighting and at certain angles you can see the sheen of the decal film. So to answer your question, yes, you should apply a coat of clear paint (flat, satin, gloss) what ever makes the surface look like the original. Not only does the clear coat blend the decal in, it also protects it from scratches. For example on a Panerai dial you'd use a flat coat. Two possible techniques to minimize the visible edges would be to either trim the decal as close as possible to the actual drawing/letters, etc, or alternately, have it cover the entire surface of the dial, edge to edge. That last one would work well on surfaces that have little or no textures or applique stuff (glued on markers or logos)

I have an Alps printer that can print among other things white, silver and gold. This printer is very commonly used to print decals (water slide type) which are waterproof, and if applied properly, can look like a silk screen job. These are opaque inks on transparent decal paper, much like you see in a model kit. I've done many decals for some of my other hobbies, but never for a watch. Considering how small the lettering can be on a dial, it would be interesting to try one. The printer does have a 1200dpi resolution, so it should work. I anyone is interested I can try to run a few tests. All I need is the artwork, in vector graphics format (Illustrator, Corel, eps, etc). Very high resolution bitmaps should work as well (1200dpi or better). I was thinking of doing a few date wheels, but I don't have access to the original lettering fonts or hi-res scans.

I'm what you might call a computer geek. I've been the product development engineering manager for a computer manufacturer in northern California for the past 15 years. Most of the time the jobs is fun, develop new computers, and play with the latest and the greatest hardware, etc. But it can also be very frustrating and high pressure as well (which probably accounts for premature my gray hair). But it beats digging ditches....

You can get a genuine ETA date wheel from Ofrei. I got mine from them for under $10. The only issue, is that it has the original ETA font, not a Rolex font. You'll have to gently peel off the date overlay from your existing one, and re-glue it on the new wheel (make sure you align it correctly).

I think you guys need to take another look at the picture. It looks like the chrono (hour-counting) wheel shaft is broken. It's still attached to the hand. This will require a disassembly of the movement and replacement of the hour-counting wheel.

Never mind... 2 minutes after I posted this I realized that if you take out the 5 screw on the front of the watch, the bezel comes off and the movement comes off from the top. Duh...

I'm trying to swap a flaky A7750 from my Ebel 1911 Discovery with a new one. But I can't get the movement out of the case. I have removed the stem and the 2 movement holder clips, I can even rotate the movement around (it's tight but it can rotate). However, It won't drop out, and even gentle attempts at prying it out have failed. Am I missing something that need to be removed first, or is there a trick to it? Thanks for your help

Actually, I wish I looked that good. I haven't been that thin since the 80's when I started working with computers.... Oh wait, I just realized that's probably about the time you were still pooping your diapers... No matter, thanks for the compliment. Obviously this thread has gone into the crapper. It was originally about the differences between the Mac and PCs, but obviously it degenerated to this name calling, so I'm done with it. If anyone has any intelligent things to say, ask or discuss on the subject I'm willing to participate into a conversation about computers, Macs, PC, etc. But not on this thread.

Well, the 2 posts above this, pretty much illustrate the juvenile and insecure mentality of the Mac "nay sayers". I'm not sure I'd want to call them Mac haters, because they're just silly little people with big insecurities. Yeah... look out for the big bad Steve, he's comin' after ya with a jar of Kool-Aid... :rofl:

You can check the OSX86 wiki. here's a link for 10.4.5, and you can go up from there all the way to present. OSX 10.4.5 installation It's always work in progress, even after the "final release" is out.

Yes, I'm a fan, but just because I can appreciate a Mac that doesn't make me a "fanatic", although the word fan comes from it I'm not religiously following an "Apple cult". I don't have every piece of hardware Apple releases, just the ones that are of use to me. So there's no reason to "slap me". Back on the Hackintosh subject. While it might be easy for someone "who knows what they're doing" to slap together a Hackintosh, it's not for everyone. Not everyone knows where to find and download the software, or load 3rd party drivers, or patch .kext files (with a "k" not "t"), and so on. Last but not least, the hacked versions of Mac OS X WORK just fine on the AMD platform, and they have since version 10.4.5 which was released back in 2006. So you're a bit behind the times.

The "Pretty White Crap" you speak of makes the real difference, much in the same way there are diffeerences between a Rep watch and a Gen watch. If you want the real thing you buy the "pretty white crap", otherwise all you have is a replica that may, or may ot work like the original. "HACKINTOSH" Notes: THis is for those that don't know about "hackintoshes". You can't simply install Mac OSX on a PC as is alluded in guanaco's post. You must have a "hacked" version of it, you also have to have hardware that is specifically supported, since you can't simpy go and download drivers from the manufacturer like you can with a PC. Some hardware works, some doesn't, some sort of works. Then there's the issue of updates. You can't do updates, any updates from Apple will kill your installation. You must wait until someone releases another "hacked" version or update. Frankly its't not all that easy if you're not a "hacker" at heart, or into the "scene". It's a great to get your feet wet and get you interested and familiar with the OS, but if you really like the Mac OS, you eventually buy a real Mac. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE !

With respect to the "sheer amount" of software available for the PC, if you put games aside, then the main bulk of PC software is "shovelware". Filler junk that serves no real useful purpose. There are dozens if not hundreds of apps that exist on both platforms, there are hundreds more that are Mac Unique that simply have no equivalent on the PC, just as there are hundreds on the PC platform with no equivalent on the Mac. But here is the kicker, the Mac can run Windows just as well as a PC, but the reverse is not that well implemented. You're right there's no such thing as a perfect computer, but the Mac OS goes a long way toward that goal. The Mac IS more stable, and that is due to one reason: Apple's control over the hardware. I'm not saying that the CPUs and RAM and HDDs or VGA cards are better (although they have better quality control than most of other PC makers), NO, the reason the machines are more stable is because they (Apple) control the hardware. They specify which hardware goes into it, and they can tailor their software (kernel, GUI, apps, etc) to run on that hardware. By limiting the amount of hardware, they don't have to worry about whether or not some app will run with this video card or that audio card or whatever. Microsoft on the other hand tries to be compatible with every piece of hardware combination available and that's where it it all goes downhill. Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you'd ever owned a Mac and compared it to and equivalent PC, you'd see they're not the same. Yes, they may have similar components inside, but the design, construction, quality control and overall reliability of the Mac simply outshines the PC. How many PC owners here (me included) can say they had no problems with their PC, or held on to their PC for more than a year or two. Not many I'll bet. Now lets see what the Mac owners have to say about that. Over the past 30 years (when I bought my first Atari 800), I've owned probably more than 50 different computers, but the Macs have always been a premium product, and at the top of my list. For those that can appreciate it's elegance of design there's no substitute. And BTW, the price is not that high a premium. If you were to look at an equivalent PC machine, the price difference is relatively small. Here is a perfect example: the Mac Mini. See if you can put together an equivalent version (like the AOpen Mini) with the same features for less than $600.

Hackintoshes are NOT Macintoshes. But then again, we're on a Forum about replicas, so I guess that's what yopu have, a Mac Rep. I have real Macs, as well as a few PC notebooks with hacked Mac OS X on them. The problem is they never quite work like the real thing. There's always some device that doesn't work right, or is not properly, if at all supported (Power Management comes to mind). But at least it get's your fet wet with what it is to run OS X. BUt owning a Mac is a different story altogether. So the question is Gen Mac or Rep Mac??? BTW. unless oyu actually own real macs, your final line should read "Go Hack or Die"

You should be able to make your own peral. Get some glow in the dark paint or powder that you can mix with some clear pingernail polish. Then coat the inside of the pearl socket with some white paint, then when dry, apply a few coats of the glow-in-the-dark paint. The original pearl has a thin clear acrylic cover, which you could try to replicate. Look for a small clear fiberoptic type rod and cut a very small sliver and glue it in. Alternately, you could skip the acrylic cover, and use some epoxy to fill the pearl cavity (over the glow material), which would give it depth and protect it at the same time. Another possible solution is to go to a toy store or some place where they sell various gadgets made of glow-in-the-dark plastic (stick-on stars, haloween stuff, etc.), and carefully cut a tiny piece of that, that will fit the pearl cavity. Give it a try, you'll have fun. I had the same problem with the pearl on my 1665. Using the epoxy technique I fixed it and it came out OK, and it glows like a becon. Mine looks like a bubble because I wanted to have that bubbled shape, but you can also make sure it's flat while the epoxy is still liquid.

These watches look like they are based on low cost asian 21j movements, using cases made to resemble well known brads, but with a custom dial made for this company (Forzieri). For example the Forzieri Rhino is a blatant rip-off of a Richard Mille, The Stingray is a based off a Daytona PVD Pro Hunter, the Rivoli are SS Daytonas, Cruiser 270 is a Hublot, thern there are Cartier Tanks, Pashas, Omegas, IWC, and so on and so forth. I really love the fact that they NEVER EVER mention the movement, but by looking closely at some of the dials you can tell they're low cost autos a Quartz. The autos have "faux" chrono subdials (milirtary time, day and date), some may be working chronos but quartz. These are the same watches you find at the low end of the replica world, the stuff you find under $100, and because they don't have to actually replicate any existing high end watches, they can be made very cheaply (the Canal Street stuff). They claim these watches are made in Italy, that's pure BS, they might be re-packaged in Italy, but I doubt even that. These guys are making a fortune by selling cheap watches for a small fortune. Considering they buy direct and in quantity, they probably pay less than $30 for these in China, bring them in and and sell them for 10-12 times their cost.

Thank you for your comments. Like The Zigmeister, I used a ultra small oiling pike to apply the lume. That's about the only way it can be done. Brushes and toothpicks don't really work. As far as the pearl is concerned, all the photos I saw of the gen that my watch tries to copy show a metal ring around the pearl. Take a look at this set of photos of the real Comex 1665 with a "610m" dial. Comex 1665 The case already has lug holes. Why do they need to be drilled out? As for the crown guards, you're right, they should be thinner at the tips. However, that is not something I'm willing to tackle just yet. Here are some detail pics showing the lug holes, crown guards and pearl height.

THere already is a great interactive assembly/disassembly guide available at ETA's web site. It also describes the tools needed, adjustments and settings. You can find it here: ETA 7750 Guide

The other day I took my Comex Sea Dweller out of the box, only to find out that for some reason it wasn't working any longer. Upon opening and examining the movement, the problem was shown to be a broken piece on the balance wheel. I'm not exactly sure what this piece is called, but it is the little pin at the bottom of the balance wheel that engages the pallet fork and swings it back and forth. Anyway, I had previously planned on one day removing and replacing the 2836-2 ETA copy that was in there with a gen ETA with Perle

I guess I missed this one. You bet I'm in

I don't know exactly what you got, but I think that Link Chrono is one of the best reps out there. First I don't think that the real watch has any sort of AR, so from that respect, the watch is accurately reproduced. Secondly, the hands being slightly misaligned (not resetting to the exact 12:00 spot is an issue of QC (or lack thereof), not one of improper replication. That is also one of the simplest things to fix. The bracelet I have is nearly perfect, but one thing you should look into is whether the bracelet link inner pins are properly adjusted to the right length. I suggest you disassemble the links that bind and adjust the length of the screw. If it's to long, it will spread the 2 halves apart and they could bind against the other link. Also a bit of oil and working the links back and forth will loosen the links up. Anyway, the Tag Link bracelet is one the best bracelet replications out there. As for the crown logo not lining up straight when you screw it in, I don't think even the gens do that with any degree of success. The only issues that I can point out are the date is a bit too far to the right in the date window on 20> numbers. It centers OK on single digits and teens. The other issue is the lume. The gen has lume on the hour and minute hands, as well as the square hour markers on the inner graduated rehaut bezel. The rep only has lume on the hands. There is also a possible issue with the back. The Link I have is an older model, the Ayrton Senna version. I saw a photo of a gen with the Ayrton Sena signature in the case back, but supposedly some also had the normal case back like this. Here is a picture of mine.

I never cared much for Panerai watches, but this was a very nice and informative piece with great illustrations. Thank You.

Wundervoll, Fantastisch !!! I'm not a Panerai fan, but this, I would wear proudly. I love the 'gator strap.

Well, you know what they say... "Once you go Mac you can't go back"