freddy333

No verbal compliments from any wait staff. But once, several years ago, a waiter called me out on a rep I was wearing (quite embarrassing), which was the turning point for my never again wearing either a 'fantasy' watch or any rep that I knew had obvious problems. The Newmans receive unsolicited compliments almost every time I wear them, but I only wear them on special occasions and/or to places where I am likely to encounter other people wearing similarly rare and/or expensive watches However, my gen Datejust 1601 receives far more compliments than all the others combined, which is 1 of the reasons I ultimately chose not to steal its 1570 for use in my DRSD even though that was the sole reason I purchased it. I often catch numerous pairs of eyes in a restaurant (including the wait staff) following my wrist movements with rather more interest than one normally gets. It is actually quite odd, but, then, the dial in this watch is not called 'The Mystery Dial' for nothing In general, I would never recommend the version of the Daytona you got, but women can wear obvious fakes with little or no loss of face. Several months ago, someone posted a thread asking whether it was appropriate to give a rep as a gift & I mentioned that I had recently given a female friend 1 of my old & very obviously fake Daytona reps & she loves & has worn it every day since (replaced a quite nice gen Swiss Army diver's watch).

Same thing happened to me a few days ago. Logged in & my mailbox was suddenly full (and locked) too. It would be nice if the system automatically sent out PMs a week or so before your membership renewal was due.

I agree, mostly. In the hands of a competent modder, the MBW case (with the addition of a working Hev) is so accurate & well constructed that only the most knowledgeable Rolex specialist would even know what to look for to see the very minor differences between the MBW and Viet Nam (or gen) cases. Certainly, the average Rolex owner or 'man on the street' is unlikely to be able to call this out The 1 item I take exception with is the caseback since the Viet Nam part is noticeably more accurate than the MBW. With a bit of sanding/polishing, I doubt that even a specialist would be able to call this part out by sight alone (Note the deeper/wider engraving & proper location of the dot between the 'T' in Patent & the 'E' in Valve) Here is my modded MBW DRSD caseback for reference (Since these pics were taken, the end links have been swapped for gen 580s) But, at $450 (Phong's price), I do not see THAT much of an improvement over the MBW caseback. However, when the Viet Nam sellers come to their senses & start selling these parts for a more reasonable price ($200 or less), I would swap casebacks in a heartbeat. The dials continue to be the weak part of the equation & since the dial is the most important part of a watch, it is difficult to rationalize spending around $1,000+ for a case that is only few percent improved over the MBW. Long ago, Avitt convinced me to go with the MBW dial over an NDtrading dial & I continue to pat myself on the back for listening to him. However, I have since found an improved dial that, while still not perfect, corrects many of the sins of the NDtrading dial which make it, I believe, a quite suitable replacement (and improvement) for the original MBW DRSD dial. The only obvious flaws on this dial are the still slightly too narrow 6 & 9 index markers & questionable color of the lume. On the other hand, the crown, date window & text all look within spec to me

Thank you, but TGIF is all it is. After a long week with nose to grindstone, I generally like to dine out somewhere special on Friday nights. And I usually wear a nice watch when I am out on the town. Today, on the other hand, I am updating accounts & wearing the good old beater But I will probably be going out to dinner with a friend this evening. The tentatively scheduled eating hole is located directly below a high end watch dealer, so it is not at all unusual to find rarefied timepieces on the wrists of restaurant patrons. It is for that reason that I often do my watch 'test drives' at this establishment. So I will probably be wearing 1 of these Most likely, either this this or this (note that this is not the eating establishment mentioned above)

Ziggyzumba can help you, but you will need to upgrade your membership to access his area.

Beater today JLC tonight

click me

Looks good. Enjoy your new toy.

Thanks for the great review Stilty. After reading Ziggy's comments & recommendation of the Horotec, I decided to do a bit of poking around myself. I compared my current set of Bergeon drivers to a 40 year old set that I got from an old watchmaker & the differences (not favorable) are pretty dramatic, especially when comparing the quality of the tips. The 40 year old Bergeon drivers & tips seem to be made of sturdier stuff than the current tools. I have also noticed that I have been replacing tips with greater frequency than ever before. So my next set of tips will be Horotecs. And for anyone needing to purchase a new set of drivers, I have to agree with Stilty (and Ziggy) that the Horotecs seem to be the best way to go (if you can afford the premium price).

Rob -- Unfortunately, my Supporter status expired today (without notice!) & my renewal payment has not yet been processed, so my mailbox remains locked & unusable. Otherwise, you would have a PM. Help will be forthcoming as soon as the RWG gears allow it to be. In the meantime, please PM me if you are able to. TT -- If you are reading this, I hope that you will wave whatever magic wands are at your disposal to expedite the process.

Enjoy your trip, but it is probably not a good idea to return with a suitcase full of 'stuff' (watches). Homeland Security is likely to nab the stuff, charge you both with trafficking in contraband & for the full retail (gen) prices of the watches. But lots of pictures would be welcome.

If you are serious about the mechanics and/or repair of watch movements, I would strongly recommend taking both levels of the TZ course. By themselves, they will not teach you how to repair watches, but they will teach you how to take them apart & give you the basic skills to reassemble a basic movement. From there, I would recommend reading 1 of the classic watch repair books. My favorite is Donald de Carle's excellent 'Practical Watch Repairing', but it is probably not the best book to begin with if you have not completed both levels of the TZ course.

The usual beater today But switching to the 2nd watch from the end (116520) when I meet an old friend for dinner this evening

julesborel.com

Nice work on both watches. I agree about the bracelet (get a gen or at least replace the clasp with a gen clasp) & would also recommend that you consider installing a working He valve since the existing etching in the side of the case is a dead giveaway.

Interesting & it might work also. But since powdered graphite seems to be 100% effective on the watches treated so far & our watches contain no aluminum (or water), I think graphite, which is available at most auto parts stores, is probably the better way to go.

I have to agree with Avitt that the local price for these cases is probably closer to $100 than $600 (or higher). The prices being charged by most of the sellers that deal in Viet Nam made parts are completely unrealistic. For example, Phong is selling non-Oyster Daytona pushers for $75/ea (which he recently lowered from $150/ea), but these are the same ones that Ofrei sells for $12/ea (yes, the exact same parts). There is a huge markup by these sellers, which will probably drop, alot, as the Viet Nam made parts get distributed more widely (or group sales occur).

I am only guessing here, but I do not think graphite would not harm anything. But I would expect that the watch would run erratically and/or too fast because the parts are designed to fit together with a layer of oil between them, which adds a limited amount of drag on the movement. Without the additional drag, the watch would run fast.

I have a 7" wrist & I got the Arkade 5 or 6 years ago from a website that is no longer online, but I am pretty sure I have seen the same version of this watch (rose gold with black dial) from 1 of the regular RWG collectors within the past year. You might check their listings.

If I remember correctly, Jaeger uses powdered graphite to lubricate the mainspring barrel of 1 of their new high end watches that are touted as never requiring re-lubrication. But, otherwise, it is not really suited for use in other areas of watch movements. As Francisco mentioned, watches are designed for liquid lubricants that adhere to jewels & other lubricated surfaces by means of capillary action & powered graphite is not really suitable because of this. There are liquid forms of graphite, but the graphite tends to settle out of the liquid suspension & would need to be shaken constantly to keep it suspended.

By definition, a dress watch is small & simple

Off to dinner with good friends & a Grand Arkade TGIF everyone.

I will be ending the week staring at this When I would rather be staring back at you from this So I will be wearing this & dreaming for another day

How much do you want to bet that if the rep makers repped this watch, the 1st version dial would come back saying 'Rolex' (by mistake).

Food for thought