bklm1234

Excellent. Why should anybody get any other ETA sub? So ready to go without mods. -bk

It looks exactly like my River's TW Best. Left side of the case has rounded edges. -bk

don't see josh carry this GMT II anymore. too bad. -bk

Be careful when you ask for honest review, you might hear things you don't want to hear. -bk

Was it superlumed? I like the blueish color. Most of my sub reps have greenish lume out of the box. -bk

me too, i like it too. probably not in production anymore. -bk

Does King have good service for you? Nice piece. -bk

if you want that sub, buy it from River for $250 shipped. I have that and a MBW coming. Will post pics when that comes. -bk

great sub, tribal. did you have to replace the cyclop? my 2 mbw and 1 tw best cyclops all have too much magnification. thanks. -bk

cool, stephane. the CGs don't have bad cut on the bottom. nice. looks like they need minimal sanding only. the date font shouldn't be a problem. it appears bold because the cyclop mag is too much. my tw best's date font used to look that but after i changed the cyclop, it looks alright. also, the rehaut isn't conical (well a little bit as the gen's is also slightly conical). here's my mbw lv i bought from toni. i doubt the factory changed the rehaut shape.

good stuff, stephane. I have one coming from TTK too. I was hoping you have more shots of the CGs. The reason is George's batch of MBW 16610 (at least the LV) looks like the top CG's bottom has a bad cut. From the side pic of yours, the CGs look fine. Thank God. I know very well what things to improve on this watch: - the cyclop has too much magnification just like the TW Best from River. I changed that on my TW Best already. I bought Toni's legendary MBW 16610 LV (modded by palpatine). Its cyclop also has too much mag. I now have 2 MBW to change their cyclops. - replace the insert pearl. watchmaterial's inserts have really good pearl, shinny and has good lume. - put a noobmariner bracelet on it. My TW Best and MBW LV both have it. The fit is unbelievably, as if it's made for the heads. - changed to a longer second hand. Same problem in TW Best. - sand the inside of the CGs - mill the insert thinner so it sits slightly recessed in the bezel. I milled a gen for the TW Best. Gosh I burnt a lot of elbow grease. the crown looks alright.

Is tritec superluminova? Thanks. - Bert

forget ofrei, got myself a couple, the magnification is too weak. try asking if any other member has one he doesn't use. Joe (rbj69) changed out mine. Ask him if he can sell you one. - Bert

it's a rep. crown too low. - Bert

Thanks. - Bert

Her jugs are a little sagging though or maybe it's gravity. -B

very nice but I settle for my mbw with mods (gen insert, noob dial and bracelet, correct cyclop, correct second hand, superlumed hands and dial, DIY CG reshape), total costing $732, poor man's super-high-quality-almost-like-a-gen sub rep 'cause I can't afford $3000 to get a used gen. Sh**, I spent over $700 on a rep? Does it make sense anymore? rubbish. Don't know. I enjoy the hunt though. -Bert

I just checked, from California to China is still $14 (even for $500 but don't know if $500 is the cutoff for a higher fee). So my bad, maybe it's always that much, $34 for $350 from California to Thailand. That sucks. - Bert

I've sent as much as $500 for $14 from California (to China) in February. The dealer takes MoneyBooker too but it allows less than $350 upload per 60 days with credit cards (not enough to pay for the watch) and bank transfer requires a wiring fee (at least initial verification?) which is around $45 at my bank, I think. - Bert

I'm modding a modern 16610 (no lug holes) to a 14060. I'm going to drill lug holes. I will get a non-SEL bracelet to get the correct look. I want to know what spring bars to use. Do I use the springbars from the 16610 or 14060 uses a different type of springbars. Thanks. - Bert

I just bought a watch with WU. The WU fee from California to Thailand is $34 (previously I thought it went from $14 to $34 but $14 is for going to China which hasn't changed). Son of a [censored]. -Bert

I wrote a GZ report last october/november. It's a great place for tools. As for reps, there is a lot of junk. Only very few dealers have some good stuff. I was able to get a IWC Ti GST Chrono that seems to be the same watch as our dealers (forgot, no more dealer section) carry. I saw a 4th PO which is also the same as what our old dealers carry. I didn't see any noobmariners but a whole of other crappy ETA submariners and rollies. The pannies were really awful and so were the Breitlings. My conclusion (could be totally wrong) is our old dealers have all the good stuff. Recently, I asked my brother who lives in HK to find me a Super Ocean or a Big Bang. He talked to everyone there and nobody has them. So GZ watch market is definitely a great place for the likes of us. Bring your watches to service there. It's really cheap. You can watch while you wait. It's a lot of fun. $6 to service a ETA. Might not be a full service but a good amount of parts are cleaned. Anyway, the old dealers are way better way to shop for reps. -Bert

the only people who know a rep right off are us. When I bought my first cn sub, I held it next to my friend's gen. The only I noticed wrong was the insert pearl and over magnification of the cyclop. I didn't know the bezel wasn't thick enough, the date window and cyclop too far to the right, the crown not centered, etc., etc. It takes time to learn all that. -bm

The VIPmariner's rehaut is slightly overly conical, not bad at all, esp. compared to the Josh's $188/Silix's/Angus'/Ruby's/King's/Andrew's $400+ subs. The bezel teeth and thin crystal gasket are another strong points. The dial hole is actually slightly bigger than the noobmariner's but the noob dial will still fit. The SELs are longer. I don't think you can just swap in a noob bracelet. Mine's crystal wasn't installed evenly but it's of the correct size. I removed it and reinstalled it and it's sitting evenly. It's really a beginner sub that needs a bit of modding but the end result is better than a noob or a josh after modding because of the rehaut and the bezel. The CGs are longer so you have metal to work with while on the other 2, the CGs were too short which gives you no chance to make them right. Cheif's formual is really good. I wish the bracelet from the noob could fit. I hope somebody can prove me wrong. Here's my VIPmariner with mods (swapped in a no date dial, ETA movement, swapped in a watchmaterial pearl, reshaped CGs):

Sure, as soon as I got the watch back from Joe. -bm