freddy333

Excellent work, Sylar. Obviously, the missing AR on the cyclops is a give-away, but is the cyclops a bit larger on the rep, or is it just the way it looks in the pictures? Other than that, the most obvious difference to me is the finish of the polished sections of the bracelets. Rolex watches are always mirror smooth, while the polished sections on reps always have a bit of texture to the underlying metal. Sometimes, this can be improved with a bit of rouge & dremeling, sometimes not. The only thing missing is a close-up comparison of the date fonts (days 3, 13, 23 & 31) to see if the fonts (& lens magnification) pass muster. The rep could definitely use a gen crown & a wee bit of CG work. But, as is, this rep is quite an impressive piece of work. And the photographer did a good job too. Minus the texture in the polished sections, I doubt I would be able to ID the rep on its own from the distance of a few feet, which meets my benchmark & the deciding factor for my hitting the Buy button for a model I do not particularly like that much. You just cannot argue with quality.

Lani - I have to be honest & say that whatever 'crossover' I may have experienced is due more to my expectation of this rep's future rarity & potential iconic status than to any specific attraction to the model design. Although I can appreciate the mechanical artistry that went in to copying the ceramic bezel (quite a feat), the overall design of this watch leaves me lukewarm (like most modern watches). But who knows, it may change my mind once I get it on my wrist.

The Rolex pictures are all gens.

Based on the picture, I am not impressed. It does not look like what I would expect from MBW. But more & better pics may change my opinion.

I just returned from my 2nd reconnaissance trip to my local AD to see & try on 1 of these GMTIICs, and..... Now I may very well be proven wrong, but something tells me that the (correct hand stack) version of the GMTIIC Anniversary may turn out to become a classic rep that attains iconic status in the future. And 1 day many of us will think back on this weekend in time & thoughts of self-flagellation will creep into our minds as we admonish ourselves for not jumping on the bandwagon before it was too late. So, with that in mind & even though I remain thoroughly unmoved by most modern Rolex watches (including this 1), I just bought 1 of these GMTIICs reps. May the good lord have mercy on my vintage soul. Others have posted pics of the gen version of the GMTIIC recently, but none of those, to my eye, truly portray this watch correctly. So I perused my hard drive archives for a couple of good, clear pics of the gen GMTIIC. Here they are (note especially the effect of the AR coating on the underside of the cyclops & the way the detail below it is revealed) Those of you who just received the rep version, how does it compare?

Click here for TT Daytona pics

The Vietnamese case is the closest to the gen, but it is designed to fit a gen movement. So if you are going to use an ETA, you will probably need to use a spacer ring & I do not know if any of the existing spacers will fit those cases without some modifications???????

I just saw this thread. The crown & date are the give-aways. Never seen a rep that came with a gen crown & correctly serif'd & centered date font. Nice catch.

I am completely with Nanuq on this 1. The case is Vietnamese, the crown (yes, too wide), bezel & insert are wrong (poor aftermarket). However, the dial almost fooled me, because it is the same 1 I have for my next DRSD franken (the slightly too-narrow 6 & 9 index markers are the give-away) But I think I like their lume better (they relumed it to match the Mark I on doubleredseadweller, which I would like to do as well).

Yeah, I re-read the original post a couple of times & still was not sure whether he was posting pics of his gen or his rep. My mistake I guess, which explains why the 'rep' pictured above looks so much like a gen (because it is).

A date wheel is a date wheel is a date wheel, no matter what watch it is on. But it helps to have good guiding angels.

Great video. Is it me or is there a bit too much space between the 1 & 3 of the date in the static picture?

JoJo -- The best 5510 franken I have seen to date. (Or is it a 5508?) Absolutely awesome piece. My hat goes off to you (with the usual tilt to The Master).

Ok, with this pic, NOW I get what all the hullabaloo is about over this rep. Still not a big fan of the model, but the visual presence of this rep is outstanding & I just tried 1 of the gens on at my local AD this evening. Well done.

DuDro -- That is 1 of the most incredible-looking watches I have ever seen. Not my style for a daily wearer, but there is something about the total package that just works. Well done.

No new models to display here, but I am definitely enjoying your eye candy, By-Tor. I am working on something special, which will be making its debut in a future Wrist Check. But, for the time being, I am hanging with the usual beater

I am not really a fan of this model, but what I can see in your pics looks very good. Still, I would hold final judgment until someone can shoot them in person, side-by-side, under the same lighting conditions & with the same camera.

I just spoke with Borel & they expect to have the aftermarket DWs pictured on their site in stock within a few days......& the 3035 DW is supposed to have flat 3s!!!!!! So you can guess who will be placing an early order if they do.......

I hate to say this, but that thing looks like the same piece of crap I got from Mr. Slime Ball in Texas (Wholesaleoutlet), which had half the numbers printed off-center (relative to the teeth) so those dates appeared off-center in the date window. If you compare the location of the teeth to the top of each set of numbers you will see that some of the numbers are printed higher or lower relative to those teeth, which was the problem with the DWs (2 of them) I got from Mr. Slime Ball. All of the numbers on the gen DWs should be in the same locations relative to the teeth, otherwise, they do not appear correctly in the date window. Edit -- If you look closely, you can see that some of the teeth are properly 'U' shaped, while others have a flat side (just like the Slime Ball's DWs) that causes the DW to get stuck between dates (which usually happens on the few dates where the numbers were printed correctly). I would pass on that, especially since it is in Italy & is not in a sealed Rolex pack.

Borel refers the 3055 date disc to another part number, but I cannot locate the other part number anywhere on their site. Has anyone tracked this down? Clark's (a reliable ebay seller) has the closed font 3055 DW listed for $130 if anyone really needs 1. Hard to tell for sure since the pics are so small, but the font looks very similar to the fonts on my gen 16014 DW (at right) (Ignore the bending seconds hand - pic taken on flatbed scanner)

Looks great guys -- both watch & pictures (even if you consider them 'dirty', By-Tor). The best part is the bezel/crystal relationship. It does look pretty close to perfect from here. Once I complete a couple of projects, a GMT is definitely next on the list.

I like how you displayed both the watches & the pictures. Very nice, professional-looking presentation. I have often thought of doing something similar, but, for security reasons, I do not like to leave a number of watches sitting out in the open.

I was cleaning out my computer & found this old pic that some might find interesting (the word 'rep' is a bit misleading since the DW is a V72-powered franken)

Clean & lubricate the auto-wind module & it will work fine after that.