freddy333

The COSC rating is & has always been little more than a marketing tool developed by the Swiss watch industry (with Rolex being the most prominent player) in an attempt to stem Japan's (mainly Seiko's) growing encroachment into the watch market during the 60s. As further evidence, note that none of the following high end brands submit their watches to COSC - Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Lange, IWC, Breguet & Piaget.

You have 31 days to find it.

There are scores of threads about jewelryandwatch.com. Use the Search feature up top.

Admittedly, I am better with vintage (non-metalized index marker) models, but the only thing that looked wrong (non-gen) IS the crown. Fitted with a gen crown, the rest of the watch could have fooled me. Nice.

Wearing this today

I think it also needs to be said that it is not the average retail sales person that deserves our scorn here. They are what they are. If anyone deserves criticism it is us, we watch nuts, who think (wrongly) that it is 'normal' to expend so much time, energy & money on a mechanical device that just tells the time .

I disagree completely. Ralph Lauren built his clothing business (more of an empire) on a lifestyle -- The Ralph Lauren Lifestyle, which epitomizes traditional luxury. And Lauren has always been associated with Rolex, Mercedes & similarly traditional luxury brands. Fitting a Swatch or Seiko, although both are quality brands, to 1 of his mannequin's wrists would not promote the image that RL is trying to infer.

I can only surmise as to Lange's reasoning behind the 31's creation...... But, unlike Rolex, Lange does aim at the collector/WIS market &, as we all know, we WISs tend to be quite fond of unique technology. And with the popularity of pocket watch-sized wrist watches (many of IWC's popular wrist watches actually contain a pocket watch movement), I think Lange felt (correctly) that if Panerai, IWC, Breitling, et al, can sell so many big watches that have no technological requirement for their over-sized cases, then Lange could probably find a number of high end buyers who would be interested in a similarly oversized watch that does. And, with designs such as the Lange 1, I think most would agree that Lange has never been 1 to shy away from thinking outside the box.

As much as I hate to say it, US Customs & Border Security are becoming increasingly more invasive & effective in monitoring what enters & leaves the continental United States (CONUS). Roughly half the packages I have imported from outside the CONUS over the past year have been 'Examined by U.S. Customs & Border Security' Fortunately, during this time, I have been buying more gen parts (to build frankens) than reps, so this has not been an issue for me. However, a dial I recently sent to Canada (via USPS) was hit with an additional $47 import duty (by the Canadian govt), which was unexpected. So the reason I am hesitant to ship anything outside the CONUS is because of the growing risk of having the items pinched by the US govt, or having fines levied against me (for the amount of the gen equivalents), or ending up on the US govt's master list that would cause ALL of my future shipments to be inspected for contraband. And that would definitely cramp my style. I would guess that other members have similar reasons for limiting the pool of potential buyers to the CONUS.

I have dated 2 women that worked for ADs & neither had the slightest interest in watches. And from what they told me, the male full-timers are not much more knowledgeable than they are. Most of the people who work in ADs work there because there was an opening & they got hired. It is just a retail sales job to them. I think the counter help in my local Sears Tire Store is more knowledgeable about tires than the average AD's counter staff is about watches.

Great pics of beautiful subject matter.

I think you are all missing the point. Rolex has never directed their designs at the WIS or collector market. Quite the contrary, they design high quality watches for mass market appeal. And, currently, the mass market wants bigger, gaudier more techno-glamour watches, which is what Rolex is producing. Not my cup of tea (which is 1 of the reasons I prefer vintage models), but, based on the waiting lists for these 'ugly' new designs (that have not even hit the store shelves yet), I expect they will have great appeal to their target market - the average Rolex buyer (this is the guy WHO KNOWS NOTHING about watches other than the name in the dial).

Let me clarify the purpose of my posting this -- It is not meant as a critique of those who know little about the expensive watches they wear, but, instead, points out (to those who often suggest that their rep must be passable for a gen because it fooled someone who owns 1) that compliments coming from the average luxury watch owner are, at best, false praise & not a good barometer of your rep's visual or functional accuracy to the gen it is based on.

Never assume anything (about the quality of your Rolex rep) just because it fooled someone who owns a gen. Read This

My thoughts exactly.

I do not have alot of experience with yellow gold or tt cases online, so take my comments about the bracelet with a grain of salt. The caseback & appearance of the gold looks a bit off to me. Engraving looks a bit large & underlying finish of the gold is not as smooth as I would like to see. Add to this the fact that all of the seller's previous sales are marked 'private', so you cannot see what he sold or if the buyers are legit. But, on the other hand, he is selling a number of other watches that appear to be gen, so it may be fine.

If you can afford a 31, you can afford to hire an extra large arm to wear it.

100% gen.

Avitt's is a model 6265 & mine are model 6239, 6263 & 6241, respectively. All are DW frankens (there are scores of threads dedicated to DW Daytonas that you can find by way of the Search tool) &, with the exception of my 6263 (which was purchased whole, but modded with gen parts), were constructed by their owners with the same base chronograph movements & many of the gen parts used in the original gen watches.

For those of you who were not aware, this is the subject of a feature article in the current (May 08) issue of International Watch (IW) magazine.

The 47mm Lange 31 is so named for its huge 31-day power reserve To attain such large power reserves requires the movement be fitted with an unusually large barrel. The barrel alone takes up 2/3 of the case & requires a separate winding key to charge the gargantuan mainspring (the crown is used for time/date-setting only)

For my money, it just does not get any better than this. I know that, technically, this is a franken, but it is still the highest form of pure horological art, in every sense of the word. And for any members who are not already aware, it was Avitt's watch (along with its black-dialed brother) that inspired/prompted these I normally have no idea what watch I will wear in the future, but I think I will have to make a point of wearing this 1 tomorrow

I have never used Everest, but Universal did a couple of dials for me, which took a couple of months & the work was beautiful. They did, however, return all of my calls. You might try phoning instead of emailing. If they have had your parts for more than 2 months or do not return your calls for 48 hours (2 business days), I would begin to worry.

I doubt the watch is salvageable. At least, not without having to replace virtually every component at a cost that would equal or exceed the actual value of the watch. Too bad........it looks like it was probably a nice watch.

Remove the movement from the case. If you still hear the noise, then the rotor or bearings are at fault. I would try cleaning & re-lubricating the rotor (& auto-wind module, if you are comfortable & have the tools to do so). If the noise is gone, then the rotor may be scraping against the inside of the caseback, which can happen if you tighten the caseback too much or if the rotor is installed incorrectly (the gear teeth do not intersect properly). It can also happen if the watch or rotor were machined poorly, leaving insufficient clearance between the rotor & the caseback (remember there is little or no QC with reps & the movements contained within them).