JoJo35

oldtools, horologist, jcagara08, and timelord, thank you for your kind comments. I wasn’t sure what to write, I had the watch in my hand and was thinking of my father, remembering him and remembering being here a lot, and getting together with members here from around the globe more than once. I took a nice picture of the watch and posted it, but afterwards I deleted it when I saw that someone had gone into my post without notifying me and altered something I said. I don’t think I broke any forum rules, and it certainly wasn’t appreciated. I probably would have deleted my entire thread at that point if I was able to. However, it is nice to touch base with old friends. I’ll miss talking with Bob, he loved details as much as I do.

I haven’t been here in a very long time. A little over ten years ago, I built my last rep project as a gift for my father. It has been such a long time since then, I can’t recall everything I did to this watch. I can remember it has a WM9 case, an ETA movement, Rolex dial, bezel and insert, tube, and crown. This was the last of my “builds”, actually put together by The Zigmeister. Almost two years ago, while in the process of cleaning out my father’s home, deciding what gets thrown out, and what gets divided up between my sisters and I, I came across the watch. It appeared that my dad never wore it much, and it cleaned up easily. Now I wear it pretty regularly, mostly in memory of my father, but also in memory of the time of learning here on RWG, and the friends I made here.

David, I'd like to express my most sincere condolences to you and your family. Although I haven't been active on the forum in years, Bob was a great friend here when I was learning about watches years ago. I recall your dad had an eye for art, and it was reflected in the beautiful photos of his watches that were taken in some of the most scenic places on earth. Again, my prayers for you and family.

it's a fake

All Chuck Norris would have to do is look at those hedges and they would tremble so much they'd trim themselves

$1500 is reasonable for a freshly serviced one. IMO, go lower than that and you'll be taking your chances on getting a pos that will need a complete overhaul, plus expensive vintage parts that are nearly impossible to find.

I bought this one and another Watchmaster at nearly the same time, about three or four years ago. Never wore them after I started my Rollie collection and they pretty much sat in the watchbox all that time. I know you're an expert W, have you seen a case like this before?

Actually it's a Marina Militare. I've had this custom vintage for a long time now, and I wasn't sure where the case originally came from. It does have similarities to the Watchmaster I own, and I thought it might have been one of his. The thickness of the case, the sapphire rear glass, the deep engravings, the hands/dial, and the movement choice all remind me of Kenzo's. Other than that, the strap pins screw from each end, which is something different than most cases for sure. Here's some pics, thanks for any input from senior members:

Lost my VIP!

I've got a NOS silver one, PM me if interested

I've got an old MBW 5513 bezel. PM me if interested

No reason not to wear a piece like this, it's a good starter daytona

Nice piece, are you thinking of picking it up?

Not so nice: obvious artificially aged, stay away

The one thing you can do, and IMO your best option, is to set up your account preferences over there so the automatic assistant will initiate a UPI dispute after four days with no payment. The good part about letting the process start through the assistant is that a buyer cannot give negative feedback while the process is ongoing. You just have to hope that he doesn't pay for it. I've learned that if you start the UPI dispute manually, the buyer could still neg feedback you immediately.

Thanks for your input guys, it certainly is appreciated. Here's a little tidbit of info regarding scumbag #3 from my above scenario: Four days had passed, and I initiated an unpaid item dispute. So, idiot #3 retaliates with some very nasty negative feedback. I quickly got on the phone and explained the situation to a fleabay rep, and luckily I had the feedback removed.

For the most part over the past ten years or so, I've been a buyer on the bay, and I've had mostly good luck having found a couple really rare pieces for a steal. However, recently it looks like my luck on the bay may have changed. Either that, or there's just more scumbags lurking around out there. Anyway, I had found a beautiful underline tt op a couple years ago that was absolutely mint. I had it serviced by RG, and for the most part after that it sat in my watch box since I was still looking for a correct rivet tt bracelet for it. I had just about given up when I found a whole watch with the bracelet on the bay. I sniped it and won, but in return I received an empty box in the mail with newspaper shoved in it. Round and round I went, and in the end I lost a considerable amount of $$$. Ok, one bad experience, I thought to myself it's probably just the law of averages since after all I had some pretty good luck up til then. Round number two: I go to sell a rather beat bezel insert for a whole ten bucks starting price, and the winner ends up another scammer and pp deletes my funds directly from my account because he used a fake id or stolen credit card. PP never told me the real reason, although I had shipped the item immediately after confirmed payment. The only silver lining was that the buyers address was incorrect, and I got my gen insert returned to sender. Round number three: Ok, this is really starting to suck at this point. I sold some collectible car stuff I had that was still in the original boxes. Scumbag number three bids on my item and wins it, only to email me the next day and try to renegotiate the shipping cost to near nothing while threatening feedback retaliation if I didn't do it. So, I took the time to report him to the bay for policy violation of feedback extortion, while setting up my automatic 4 day unpaid item assistant through fleabay preferences. I'm just wondering if anyone else has similar experiences? It's starting to look like the scammers have really taken over fleabay.

Just my humble opinion, but DO NOT LUME THE DIAL! ..and installing a fake bracelet on that watch kinda makes me cringe, but hey, that's just me If I were you, I would only replace the missing pieces with genuine parts; in the end, it will be well worth it. Buying fake stuff is only a waste of money.

Perfect find! & I've got a new WM9 retainer ring I could let go. All he'll need to do is trim the bottom of the insert & a bit off the top of the retainer and he'll be good as gold

looks all fake to me !

Very nice piece, vly.

Gotta gen case if you need it

Nice sigma, R! Rarer than your average datejust, nice everyday piece you have there

Here's one from a sunny summer day long ago...