freddy333

Welcome to the fold. I have to assemble a mail server, so I have to keep this relatively brief....... Regarding decorating movements..... I had a relative who was a master watchmaker & he practiced for many years before he was comfortable doing that type of work on a watch movement. While basic watchmaking skills can be learned by anyone with the requisite inate mechanical skills (with practice), I think decoration requires a completely different set of skills that come with a significantly longer learning curve. I wish you luck with that. As for buying 'expensive' or 'solid gold' reps, personally, I would not do that. The reasons are many. For 1 thing, that is alot of money to spend on a watch that has no actual (legal) resale value. For another thing, unless you have the watch properly appraised by a trained jeweler, you never know whether your 'solid' gold watch is solid or plated. And trusting the marketing hype that has always surrounded reps usually leads to disappointment. In addition, considering the cost of gold these days, I am always suspicious of reps that claim gold on a watch that is being sold for significantly less than the scrap value of the gold itself. We each have our own set of qualifications, but my general rule of thumb for reps is that I will not spend more than 1/20th the cost of the gen watch for a rep. That is, while I will consider spending $2,000 buying the components to construct a franken copy of a $50,000+ rare vintage gen (like a Paul Newman Daytona), I would not spend $2,000 on a rep or franken copy of a $10,000 gen watch. To me, that just does not make economic sense. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule & each of us comes to the table with a different set of emotions that often get the best of our rules, but I would seriously re-consider spending 2,000+ pounds on a non-gen watch (unless you REALLY have to have it & no off-the-shelf rep makes your grade).

You got that right. The very gen-like ceramic bezel really makes this rep. Without it, I would have passed on this 1 (& without any regrets).

I hang around the nuclear medicine wing of hospitals & lick up the droppings as the patients are wheeled by. To get back on topic, I think Ziggy's procedure of drilling out a bit of an Ofrei illume dot & filling it with colored lume to match an aged tritium pearl is probably the best (reasonable) option. With a bit of experimentation, you could probably achieve a tritium-looking pearl by heating the standard illume dot in an oven for a bit. But, personally, I think the standard Ofrei dot is accurate since this is essentially what the pearls look like that RSCs fit during a service.

I have Watchmaster's old photo catalog from 2 years ago & he showed the 5513 MBW with the gilt dial only.

Your crown tube threads are worn, so you will need to replace the tube. If it is a Rolex rep, I would go with a gen crown & tube. Without knowing which Rolex model you have, I can only tell you that you can buy gen crowns & tubes on ebay (some of the watch parts houses also sell good quality, Swiss made aftermarket tubes). You will need to use a small file to remove the old tube. On some reps, a gen tube will screw into the existing hole in the case. On others, you may have to use a tap tool to clean and/or rethread the threads in the hole to fit a gen tube. Again, it depends on which model & which rep version you have (there is alot of inconsistency). If it is a non-Rolex rep, you might want to contact the seller for a replacement tube as I only work on Rolex models.

To modify Offshore's comments -- There is an old watchmaker's trick of placing 2 small screwdrivers (white & yellow) beneath the hand to be removed (after covering the dial), 180 degrees apart (opposite sides) & then slowly & gently twisting each blade in the opposite direction until the hand slides up & off its pivot. This is the way all watchmakers removed hands in the days before modern spring-loaded tools were commonly available. Most of the parts houses also sell 'swivel' forks, that accomplish a similar action (you slide each fork under the hand & rock the forks backwards. They are curved, so the front edge of the blade that sits below the hand will slide the hand up). But I find myself using 2 screwdrivers most of the time since they are handy & pretty fool-proof. I use a 2-step process for installing: Step 1. Place the hand (just barely) onto the pinion using rodico or delrin-tipped tweezers (you can also use standard metal tweezers, but you have to be very careful not to scratch the polished hands). Step 2. Use either an appropriately sized flat-holed staking bit or a BIC-style hand setter (Bergeon makes a nice set) to press the hand down once you have verified that it is located correctly (verifying that the date changes when the hands read midnight).

I think it is safe to say that using the hour hand setting function on the chs version is akin to playing Russian roulette. Therefore, other than my initial (successful) testing of the hour hand setting function upon the watch's arrival, the next time I use that function will be the next time I need to keep track of 2 time zones while traveling (never).

And, remember kids, behind every rain cloud lies another rainbow....

This should go without saying, but it appears that it needs to be said -- Please DO NOT post members' real names or details of how shipments are made.

Ofrei has them & they just raised the price -- Illumines Dot for Bezel Insert $20.00

I am not a yellow gold/twotone guy either, but By-Tor's pictures & reviews are always worth checking out.

I believe Ziggy is still working on watches. He is just not visiting/posting as frequently.

Hard to tell without inspecting the movement in person & I do not know much about TAGs, but if the watch is a gen, the ETA is a gen. If the watch is a rep that you purchased for less than $200, the ETA may be an Asian copy. Due to their relatively higher cost, I would not expect to find a decorated gen ETA in anything but a high end rep.

Interesting story & although it does not surprise me that customs personnel keep 'unclaimed' articles for themselves (that is common knowledge), I am VERY surprised to hear 1 of them being so willing to admit to doing so to a civilian. Based on your experience & the increasing number of packages I have received that have been 'Inspected for your protection' by US Customs & Border Security, I think that just as reps are beginning to enter a new phase of higher quality, governments are entering a new phase of greater intrusion & more effective monitoring of international shipments. This is why so many in the US are no longer willing to chance shipments of reps outside the continental US (CONUS).

Sorry to hear that. It is especially rough with such a rare & otherwise well made rep like the chs GMTIIC. Please keep us posted on your experience with the repair.

Most Rolex bracelets contain 4-6 links (on either side of the bracelet clasp) that are attached with simple screws. If you look on the edge of the bracelet near the clasp, you should see small screw heads in a few of the links along 1 edge/side (the other edge/side is just the blank opposite end of the screw coming through the other end of the link). It is important to use a good quality flat head screw driver that properly fits into the slot in the screw head without flopping around. Just remove 2 screws (1 at each end of a single link) & the link should come out. Then use only 1 of the screws to rejoin the remaining ends of the bracelet. If the bracelet is still too large, repeat the process to remove another link (or 2). This is definitely not rocket science & as long as you use a good screw driver of the proper size & you are careful not to apply too much force (snug the screws, do not tighten them) or let the screw driver blade slip out of the screw slot (which may scratch the bracelet), you should be alright.

Is this the new GMTIIC? If so, why is it in the shop? Beater (at left) for me today (Monday)

Ubi - I am not a snowflake fan (I prefer the rose Tudor subs), but I loved the walk through. I think I would have gone with the NOS dial though. The aged lume is nice, but a genuine dial with pristine white markers just ices the cake as far as I am concerned. So is that an NDTrading/Vietnamese case? It looks like it, but I am sure it will look alot better after it has been given the Ubi treatment (Ubi'd).

Bezel/insert are wrong for that model & the minute hand looks too long.

It is an aftermarket (not refinished gen) dial & the seller simply got 'busted'. I would guess, similar to POTR's conclusion, that the seller just decided to reduce the chance of after-sale issues based on authenticity.

Gotta love Tuesday.

It all depends on how lucky you are and/or how thorough the customs personnel you come into contact with are. I would not take the chance.

Let me add my voice to By-Tor's in welcoming Ubi back into the wrist checks. I would like to wear this tomorrow (Monday) But it will probably be this - the usual beater

I had the tv on while I was reading RWG & overheard Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes say the word 'watches', so I walked into the room where the tv is & happened to catch him talking about his watch collection. Unfortunately, I only caught the tail end of his segment, but I thought it was interesting that he used it to talk about watches. If you are on the west coast of the US, check it out at the end of tonight's 60 Minutes.