freddy333

Ditto that.

A friend just posed an interesting question after seeing some of the watches in my collection that I never or rarely ever wear - I thought it a reasonable question & 1 of the few that I do not recall seeing posted on RWG before, so I thought I would start a thread to investigate why we keep these hidden gems in our collections that might never see the light of day. In my case (no pun intended), I have 2 distinct collections of watches - those that I love & wear (even if only on special occasions) and those that have an attractive design or technological feature that I respect, but that I am not generally comfortable wearing - at least, not in public. People who view my collection are often surprised to see a number of watches they have never seen before or that do not fit within my general theme of classic (vintage), all steel models. A couple notable exceptions are -- The Vacheron Constantin 'Jumping Hours' - big & yellow gold watches look silly on me, but the extraordinary beauty & execution of this rep are undeniable. The rarity of the gen also makes it difficult to spot as a rep. It is also a design that, like most Breguets, would lose its magic if constructed out of steel. The Audemars Piguet Edward Piguet Tourbillon - yellow gold is definitely not my thing, but the execution of this rep is nearly flawless (note - there are other versions of this rep that are not nearly as well crafted as this version). Manual wind with a reasonable facsimile of the gen's decorated movement visible through the back. The Correct Hand Stack Rolex GMTII Ceramic - big, bulky & slightly blingy, a modern Rolex design with metalized index markers that is definitely not my usual style. But the overall accuracy of this rep is so good that it became a legend almost overnight (in spite of having a pickly movement). This rep is also noteworthy because it is the 1st (and only) rep that although it does not fit my usual requirements for a wearable watch, I have come to find that it is quite wearable (with weekend wear only). And there is a space reserved in 1 of my cases for the Rolex Deepsea if/when a 'super' rep becomes available. Big & boisterous to the point of being cartoonishly funny (unless paired with SCUBA gear), but an engineering marvel & sure to become another must-have model after the initial complaints subside & a few big name celebrities appear in the media wearing theirs.

If the hand always stops at the same place (off by a hair), then it was simply installed that way (off by a hair) & needs to be removed/reinstalled in a more accurate position -- a 10 minute job for a watchmaker. But if it resets at different points, then the hand may be loose & requires repair as indicated above. Because the chrono on most watches (all rep watches) shares the mainspring with the clock portion of the movement, running the chrono constantly will reduce the watch's power reserve. The exact amount depends on your watch, the mainspring installed &, if it is an auto-wind movement, your lifestyle. Other than that, you are also accelerating wear on the chrono components, which should not be too much of a problem as long as the movement is serviced regularly (every 5-7 years). On a rep watch (especially those with relocated running seconds), I would use the chrono as little as possible (if at all) unless it has been properly serviced & the watchmaker gave you the green light use it.

A common malady & 1 that afflicts us all. But it is more acute with newbies because there is so much to learn & even professional appraisers do not know it all. I have been collecting for more than 25 years & learn something new almost weekly. Especially, when it comes to companies like Rolex, who have made a science (or is it an art) out of confounding specialists for years. Can you spot all the differences between these Or these You can narrow the gap between what you know & what you need to know to make an informed buying decision by researching the gen you are interested in before you even begin your search for that 'perfect' rep.

This picture may help to illustrate what Ziggy & Lewis are talking about If you look closely at the center of the hand, you can see where the hand's shaft runs up & through the hole in the hand & the shaft 'skin' is folded over onto the surface of the hand, forming a riveted joint. The problem occurs when that joint is either not firmly made by the factory or it is loosened when the hand is installed onto the pinion in a haphazard manner. This can be fixed, as Ziggy suggested, by adding a wee dab of epoxy to the joint where the tube intersects with the underside of the hand. This pic (original pic courtesy of Avitt) illustrates the location of the epoxy You often see similar problems with the chrono hands

I believe he is on vacation until next month, but you might contact Ziggyzumba (this may require you to upgrade your membership to Supporter status) & ask him to include the graphite treatment as part of his general 7750 overhaul service. Or try Francisco, who wrote a follow-up to the original powdered graphite tutorial.

What can I say other than you have my deepest sympathies.

I guess you have picked up a few non-chronos also. The Rado is pretty cool. I remember seeing 1 of those a long time ago. The dial was black, I think.

Welcome & I would be happy to help you. Decide which DeWitt model or models you want & then go to dewitt's website & download as many pictures of the model you like to your computer as you can find (also search google for pics). If there is a DeWitt dealer near you, go to that store & try on the DeWitt models you want so you can see how the genuine watches look & feel on your wrist. Ask the dealer for DeWitt catalogs & take those home with you (catalogs often contain case sizes, type of movement (auto-wind or manual-wind) & other specs that you can use to compare the accuracy of a rep to the gen watch). Then, after you are familiar with the genuine watches, compare the pics & specs on King's website with the pics & specs you have for the gen watches. The rep that has the fewest mistakes (all rep watches have mistakes when you compare them to the gen) is the 1 you should buy. Good luck.

Easy. No. Someone (it may have been me) posted a 'How to spot' comparison of a gen vs aftermarket Newman dial a couple of years ago, but I cannot locate it now. There are a number of inaccuracies on this dial, but suffice it to say that there are 2 glaringly obvious mistakes on almost every aftermarket Newman that you can spot easily, once you are aware of them & know what to look for. 1st, the stroke used to create the 'O' in ROLEX must have a variable thickness. The stroke should be narrower at the top/bottom & wider at the sides. The 'O' should appear like this - O, not like this - O. Also, many aftermarket Daytona dials have a flat, square-edged crown (the gen crown is noticeably rounded) 2nd, the gen '3' in the minute totalizer always has a longer 'tail' than all the other 3s on the dial. No aftermarket Newman dial (including DWs) ever gets this right I have yet to find a single aftermarket Newman that gets all of these details right.

I prefer to keep them looking new (or looking fresh from the RSC), but of all the diy insert vintaginzing efforts I have seen, this is the only 1 that looks like it got that way from overexposure to sun, sea & use (by a diver). Fitted to a 'well worn' case (like some of Nanuq's), this insert would fool me.

Amid the usual crowd of Japanese Rolex magazines listed for sale on ebay, there is 1 that always seems to come up when I am not looking for it, but now that I want it, I cannot find it. The Japanese magazine I am looking for contains several pages of case dimensions for most of the vintage & modern models. This is a scan from 1 page of the book to show the type of specs I am looking for To be clear, I am looking the entire magazine or at least the missing pages that contain the case dimensions of vintage models (6542, 1665, 6239, etc.). Anyone know which magazine I am talking about or which seller sells it? TIA

I had to appear on camera today & after wearing either my beater or the black thing for the past 2 days, I decided to go for something completely different. So I tried the VC Jumping Hours Nice, but no horseshoe. So I decided to go gen Better, but I still wasn't feelin' it. So, being the clever guy I am, I decided to try a completely different gen But, in the end, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. I left with the black thing on my wrist

Most likely, the stem is too short (requires replacement) or the keyless works (the set of gears that transfer/translate the action of the crown/stem to the movement) is not functioning properly. Either way, the watch requires service.

If anyone ever figures out how to make an accurate Lange 1 rep (all of the existing reps are rubbish), they will make a killing.

While gazing at Ubi's tagline ('quality over quantity') as I was responding to his post about our addition to watches/reps, I began thinking about the amount of money I have tied up in my Daytona collection (let's not even get into the non-Daytonas) (This 1 did not make the picture above) It suddenly dawned on me that for the money I spent to construct these 8 watches, I could have bought 1 new gen Daytona 116520 (with a good chunk of scratch left over) or a pre-owned Daytona 116509. Knowing that, the obvious follow-up question is whether I would have been happier with the 1 gen than I am with these reps/frankens? I then started to search through some old threads where a few members announced their decision to sell off all or significant portions of their large rep/franken collections in order to transition over to a smaller number of gens; or, at least, to re-establish their collection around a much smaller, gen-centric theme. Having considered both sides of the question & after much thought I have come to the conclusion that I made the right decision in the 1st place. My reasoning is this -- as the overall quality of reps have improved, so have my watchsmithing skills. Most of the Daytonas in my collection will easily pass my benchmark for plausibility in that, when viewed with the naked eye from the distance of about an arm's length, they look & function, for all intents & purposes, like gens. While knowing that I am always wearing a watch which would pass the muster of the most scholarly professional Rolex appraiser armed with a loupe & a Rolex caseback remover would be nice (assuming I went for the single gen), I am quite confident that I can wear most of these watches into just about any real-world environment with complete confidence. So the answer, for me at least, is no. I would not trade all of my reps/frankens in for 1 gen.

When I began collecting reps, my daily activities often focused around my mailbox & my mailman's daily delivery schedule. I was like a kid on Christmas eve every day until my 'gift' finally arrived. It was rough, but the payoff usually made the discomfort of the long waits worthwhile. These days, I am often working on multiple projects simultaneously & while I love the thrill/exercise of the 'hunt' (now, mostly for gen parts), I tend to concentrate my building/collecting efforts on watches that have been targets for a long time (1 of the benefits of having a preference for vintage steel Rolex over modern whatever). So, for me, the problem is more often a fight over which watch in my existing collection sees wrist time (when not wearing either of my 2 beaters - DRSD or 6263) than of taking the current lineup for granted in favor of something new -- whether on-hand or in transit. While I have purchased only 1 new rep over the past year (chs GMTIIC), I have 4 vintage franken projects in various stages of completion & I am too neurotic about tracking parts to have any reason to check my mailbox on those extraneous days where no parts deliveries are scheduled or expected. Or, maybe, I have just been doing this too long to want to expend the energy required to check.

Sorry to hear that, Ubi. Get well soon!

Lange 1 pt Lange 31 pt

My beater today (Tuesday)

I have purchased Rolex parts (through a friend) from an AD in the UK after several US ADs, as well as the NY & BH RSCs, told me to pack sand. EU ADs operate under a much more customer friendly set of (parts) sales & servicing rules than do US ADs.

How clean is TwoTone's left nut?

The trick is to order alot of stuff & keep the pipeline full. That way, instead of worrying about the status of this 1, you always have 13 others in various states of arrival or departure to obsess over.