ubiquitous

I've seen the full size auto 2531 Bond 300's sell for $1400 US new quite regularly, so the price vric posted is inline with that figure. For used, count on 40% depreciation, and you have $840, which is right around where I mentioned prior.

Wow.... Pretty funky looking strap.

Kenzo's watches are worth the price for admission. His custom PAMs are peerless.

Nice! The PVD looks like a natural addition to your hardware

I don't think one exists, Robert. I've seen 40mm power reserve models (125/126) and of course the 48/49/50/51's, but that seems to be about it for the 40mm Luminors?

Damn, that decorated 6498 makes all the difference!! VERY nice!!

No link or item number to reference...?

Happy birthday!

I've seen autos, in fairly good shape for $800US. As a matter of fact, I almost pulled the trigger on one until this came along...

Wow... Even though the cases measure the same diameter across, the 187 makes the 127 look a bit small (I suspect because of the height)...

Being the fickle sort I am with too many choices, I think I'll go with this one instead...

Kung Pao: Enter the Fist? Wasn't that a porno flick, Warr?

I've seen a few on the secondary and pre-owned market for as little as $800US...

I dunno... I kinda like it

You mean this old thing?

If I recall correct, Robert's City of Sails was a TTK special

Heh... I'd like to see a comparison shot between this monster and a standard 44mm Luminor. Better yet, I'd like to see how much the 187 dwarfs a Rolex Sub or SD!

And, sometimes it's simply a matter of the factories using what parts they have on hand. Who knows- The casebacks might be from the assembly line of a different watch in production over a year ago! Factories are going to try to get away with spending as little as possible into operating and production expense as it cuts down on their overhead and adds to the profit margin. If they've already paid for these casebacks and simply have them laying around in their inventory (and of course, they work with the cases that they are using), it would probably make more sense to them to use those up before buying or tooling for a new batch.

I think, perhaps this one today...

As this particular case directly impacts the servicing of genuine Rolex watches, I am certain that the specific topic of parts supply may be of more interest to the genuine Rolex enthusiast. The parties that have the most vested interest in the matter would be the owners of genuine vintage Sports models. Here's my logic and reasoning behind my statement- As Rolex Service Centers start turning away watches from the 60's/70's (i.e. 1520/5, 1570/5 etc. based watches), the collectors of said watches are going to have to start using resources outside of the typical RSC chain of command; i.e. independant watchmakers. If there are no genuine parts available (only aftermarket), then you can bet that most of the purists will begin dumping their watches and moving on to the manufacturers that actually support their vintage customers. This is already happening to a small degree as many of the serious collectors start moving towards Patek and AP (among many other brands). It's only a matter of time before more people start moving on, and then the vintage bubble will burst, which may have a ripple effect to sales of their modern lines as well (though not in a large impact, as Rolex will always have sales to some extent- There will always be those who want the brand purely for status reasons).

Hmmmm... Looks to me like all that needs to be done is to have the seconds hand pressed back on. The 'pin' that the second hand is pressed onto is indeed part of the movement, and shouldn't be removed (as that would indeed be a bad thing). If you can, check to make sure that there isn't part of the pin/shaft still lodged in the seconds hand. If not, and you can still see part of the seconds hand pinion sticking up past the hinute hand, it should be a very simple fix.

Indeed! That 47mm 3646 is top notch!! I'd be all over those if my wrists could handle a 47mm behemoth...

kruz- I agree with you on the continuous evolution of modifications and upgrades to favorite pieces. I don't know how many different dials, movements, crystals, bezels I've been through on my favorites, but I'm always looking for improvements where possible (though in many cases it's hard to beat genuine parts! ) tmark- It's always difficult to say how long certain versions stay in production. A lot depends on how popular a specific model is. Seems that the mainstream models like the Subs, Seamasters, PAM's, etc are always cycling through evolution, and it's not uncommon to see a lot of overlap with watches of various points of origin and creation, while the more unique pieces like the IWC's, may not see any revisions or updates for a very long time.

Excellent review with beautiful pics and great commentary!

Indeed. With some revisions come great improvements and corrections to flaws that were present. However, one can most surely count on a number of features that were perfectly fine from prior versions to now be flawed. Apparently the old saying 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' isn't taken into account when making updates to popular designs Take 2 steps forward, then take 10 steps back... I find that in certain (many) cases, it almost pays to take several different revisions and combine them into one near perfect example, using the best of the best parts from each watch...