alt.watch.obsessive

Thanks to Martyd3 and RWG for a spare crown and tube. Problem solved. Also snapped in a gen insert from Justasgood and I'm ready to go.

Looks OK to me. This is a tough model to tell.

I could be wrong, but I don't recall seeing any decent Blancpain reps.

Here's the cheapo version. Asian FM Casablanca from Josh with a beat up $15 gen Sunset dial. Not too bad for $140 out of pocket, even if it is "SWISS MAI" LOL. If only it had better hands. The gold version is super sharp, and I agree a fair value. I wish I had jumped at Eddie's group buy way back when.

Great. You have PM (or will in a second or two).

Thanks guys. I've never used a tap or countersink so I would like to try to find a rep tube to keep things simple on this one. Hopefully someone will have a rep tube left after replacing theirs. Otherwise I'll go the gen route.

I snapped the tube in two reinserting it. Just got done with all the mods and then this. Does anyone have a rep SSD tube that they might part with/sell? I would really appreciate it. Thanks.

At least the Muller cases are reasonably accurate. On the other hand, you can put a gen Sunset dial in Josh's (ahem) white gold cheapo Asian model Casablanca which now has a good crown and hands and have 99% of this for under $150 easy.

Oddly enough I'll be in downtown Seattle that weekend as well, but with the wife. I can't risk her finding out these reps don't cost $40 each

Wow. Good thing you're mechanically inclined Congrats.

I'm the guy at RWI who turns every post to how stuck up the people at RWG are. How anyone can stand that place is beyond me.

I believe I have one of these crowns (used) at home if anyone needs it. I paid $65ish from a reputable seller in NY but never used it. If someone posts interest here I'll check it out. Mine is the odd size for the original 1665, 1680 etc. which I believe this is, correct?

In US law there is a principle illustrated as follows: You toss a penny at a man's head, which happens to have the thickness of an eggshell. You could not have known this. He dies. As long as the act was illegal and intentional (i.e. the tossing which is an assualt) you are fully responsible. Or, I'm remembering this all wrong ;-).

I gather these fakes and the Blancpains are not made in China...hence we can't get them. It really makes me mad to see people paying upwards of two grand for that same fake BP that comes up every few weeks. Looks like a Precista case plus a custom dial. We have members who frequent the infamous German boards. Perhaps they know the source?

Right up there with my favorite sign of all time... "Free Dirt"

I have some atoms that were once part of a Patek Philippe. May need some restoration to get them back in working order. Very reasonable reserve. I'll bet battery acid can do more damage

I was under the impression Heuer's Cal 11 beat Zenith.

I miss the real Paul...before he was killed by gangsters as a result of the crazy sale and replaced with today's Paul.

Most people just do the inside and it looks OK. I'm of the opinion that the SSD is very difficult to make correct relative to (say) a noob sub. The problem is that the tip of the CG is so close to the crown that if you trim it away it will be too thin and you lose to much curvature when viewed from the side. Maybe a gen crown helps--I stuck with the rep crown.

I also received one of Stilty's first batch and they are very well made. Highly recommended.

"why in the world do they use rhodium plating?" Corrosion resistance I would imagine. Most "white" jewelry items are plated in palladium or rhodium I believe. I have mixed emotions about this video from Patek's perspective. These things are not quite as "handmade" as one might think. I would have featured a lot more of the assembly than the CNC machine. In addition, I would have reshot the scene of the balance wheel placement until it looked like it takes incredible precision. As it is, the assembler kind of throws it in there and shoves it in place. I was pleased to see they install the second hand the same way I do

LOL!

Thin ties, small watches, they just try to get you to keep updating. On the other hand, if you've ever been in a serious meeting where someone is flashing a power watch about, it is somewhat annoying.

Check out the new Portifino chrono. The quality looks to be very good.

I'd like to know who the buyers are. Rolex seems too disorganized to care, but I could see some large collectors bidding things up at this exceptionally visable auction. Spend an extra 50 grand on a watch...all of a sudden your whole collection is worth a lot more. Edit: I guess we should remember any price in USD will be much higher these days due to the weak dollar. Hard to get used to that.