babola

How could he tell ?!

Nope, unfortunatelly they still have the same problem - short cannon pinion and hour hand wheel. However you should be able to order the watch with the correct sized pinion as custom, from Davidsen for exam[ple, or send it to The Zigmeister for a 'fix'. cheers, babola

Hiya, Eddie Lee might have just solved your problem with his latest 111H, see the link below: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=11366 This is the 'next' generation Asian/Chinese Unitas 6497, extremely hard to diferentiate by a naked untrained eye from the original ETA 6497. Not only they did away with the blue sticky plastic Officine Panerai letters on the bridge (they're now engraved like on the Swiss ETA), but they finally decorated both winding wheels with beveled edges like Swiss, as well as included a nice bonus - working swan-neck movement ! I don't know about you, but in my books this is as good as it gets in Asian 6497 with CDG, swan-neck etc... ...and at the price of just over $240 delivered - I wouldn't wait too long (well, if I didn't already buy Eddie's 111H with Swiss ETA, that is) :-) enjoy, babola

Mate, I'd still send it over for replacement if I were you. See if you can sort out some kind of a refund for high shipping fee with the dealer. Most of the times they're fine with refunding postage in full if it was their/manufacturers fault, and sometimes they agree splitting the fee. Believe me you'll be much better off returning the watch than trying to fix it yourself. 7750 are not the most complicated movements but they require certain level of skill and experience for even such a 'simple' task like yours. What worries me is the claim from the vendor/dealer that he hasn't heard of such problem before ?! Running 6 o'clock subdial hand when chrono is stopped is such a common problem with rep 7750 and 7750b1 mov'ts. Also, not sure if you really got an updated (the latest) Asian 7750 mov't at all if you're still experiencing such a problem. cheers, babola

Just received confirmation from Paul, YES he does support PayPal as well, but the process will be manual, and not thru the ordering wizard on his Web site. Basicaly, once you make initial contact with Paul, he will send you his PayPal email, and instruction on how to complete the payment and what details to include. BTW, that PAM250 Daylight he sells on his site (WO-MART) comes with AR coated sapphire (he missed this little info within product description). The movement is an updated 2006 Asia Valjoux 7750 (7753 mock-up) @ 28,800bpm! To me it looks exactly like the one Josh & Eddie sell, but I could be wrong. This one is currently going for $219 on bracelet, hard to beat that... cheers, babola

What is the usual cost to buyers with moneybookers ? cheers, babola

Eddie Lee now stocks an updated version of PAM111H with Swiss ETA 6497 with CDG bridges and swan neck regulator (cosmetic, non-operable). The case is 1:1, much better in finish and quality than 111G which I sold to get the 111H. It also comes with sapphire crystal with AR coating (nice blue hue), correct serial number on caseback, correct OFFICINE PANERAI font on the caseback rim etc. The movement is very nice however lacklustre compared to the original, the blue engraved officine panerai on the CDG bridge is still wrong size and font, but I believe this is left intentionally, and don't think it will change any time soon. My watchmaker had a look at the movement and said - perfect, no oiling or servicing required at this stage. He did have to take the bridgess off, but didn't charge me for work since he was just interested to see what's the current replica quality out there... Dial is also 1:1 now, dial lume is crap with capital "C", so be aware of this... Hands still suffer 'recessed cannon pinion" problem, the hour hand is too close to the dial so it's slightly bent upwards to avoid the contact with the second hand at 9 o'clock, almost touching the minute hand as it passes over it. The distance between hour and minute hand is quite big, almost 1.5 mm, and as such easily spotted by looking the the crystal at even the slightest angle. Hands lume is OK. Crown is so-so, better then the previous version, but still too beveled, had they decreased the bevel edge it would be close to the original. Crown guard is a real improvement, 1:1 - in my eyes, it's perfect. I guess, if you get this watch and take it to The Zigmeister for a 'spa' treatment, relume the lume disc, including recessed pin fix and minute hand re-sizing, and you'll have an almost perfect specimen. Hope this helps a bit in your final decision making ... cheers, babola