freddy333

If customs is holding the watch, they probably already know it is a fake. I do not know what the laws are in your country pertaining to the buying of contraband (fake trademarked) goods, but I suspect the watch was held for that reason. Therefore, I would either let them have the watch & contact the seller. If you really want it, I would find some way to claim it without admitting that you purchased it. Maybe send them a letter stating that you are a journalist and the watch was sent to you (by the watch company) to review for an article you are writing (make sure your letter is well-written & spell checked or they will never believe you are a journalist). That way, you have 'plausible deniability' & it is difficult for them to prove that you purchased contraband goods.

Does anyone know if the caseback from Josh's 7750-powered 6263 (Dia 39mm x 12.5mm Thk) will fit his 116520 (Dia 40mm x 13.5mm Thk) The reason I ask is because the caseback on all 1165xx rep watches is wrong -- they all come with a beveled caseback similar to this one (though the width of the bevel may vary) The caseback on gen Daytonas is completely flat across the back, similar to this (though 11652xx Daytonas are brushed instead of polished) Here is a picture of the caseback on 1 of the Daytonas given as prizes to the winners of the Daytona 500 race (note that this is a picture of a gen 'Winner' caseback, not the well-known rep with a similar, but fake engraving on a beveled caseback). Gen 1165xx casebacks look like this, but without the engraving I have 1 of these pre-Daytonas that Josh sells (Dia 37mm x 12.5mm Thk), which has the correct flat face, but its diameter is about 2mm's too small Fitting one of these flat casebacks to a modern Daytona rep would not only improve the appearance of our 1165xx reps (since the caseback would look the same as the gen), but, more importantly, it would allow the watch to sit lower on your wrist, which helps to offset the slightly thicker case used for most of these reps.

Ending the workweek with the beater (the weekend begins tomorrow, Saturday)

I am rarely able to make it through an entire album from most artists, but I have been listening to the Violent Femmes for most of the day, especially the song 'Blister in the Sun'. Great tune. At this very minute, I am listening to a demo recording of a tune I penned many moons ago that I just received from an old friend. With apologies to George Gershwin.......wacka-doo.......wacka-doo.

I hope your link is selling them for a more reasonable price than Phong's.............

You can also track ems via usps.com, but neither site is likely to update until the day (or day before) delivery. Whether a signature is required depends on how the package was shipped, but most of our collectors specify a signature in order to leave the package. If the local delivery company is unable to deliver the package, they will usually leave a note and attempt redelivery the next day. I think the policy is to make 2 delivery attempts & then the package is held at the local shipper's office for a week to give you time to contact them. If they are not contacted during that time, the package is returned to the sender. But check the ems site or your seller to be sure. Generally, about 1 week is the norm for delivery in the US.

That just stretches the stretch out even further. Seems pretty unlikely to me.

No. I thought of that, too.

You can try any epoxy that is made for steel (check your local hardware or automotive parts store), but my guess is that with such a small point of contact between the 2 parts & the frequency of stress they receive (whenever you use the clasp) it will probably break off again. The only permanent fix would be to weld the 2 pieces together or replace the broken parts with a single piece as on the gen bracelets. I do not wear modern Rolex watches, so I cannot be too specific, but you might check with some of the other collectors to see if they offer a better quality rep bracelet (or search ebay for a gen).

There are some Viet Nam sourced Sub & Seadweller cases that appear to, but I have not seen one of these in person.

Depending on the dial color & the amount of attention you can handle, you might try something a bit more bold (Red lizard Di-Modell with gen steel Rolex buckle)

Thank you Repaustria, but this I know. In nearly 25 years of collecting, I have never handled a Rolex movement that sounded like this 1. But I suppose it is possible that everything in the movement was recently serviced (as evidenced by its near pristine condition), with the exception of the automatic device module. But that sure seems like a stretch to me.

'Blue'?????? Take the filter off your monitor.......the 1601 dial is midnight black.

I bought it from a reliable reseller & he did not have any history on the watch. But I am still waiting to hear back from him about the 'swishing'. Judging from the fact that the hands & dial contain yellow gold & it resides in a steel case with a steel crown, the movement was obviously re-cased at some point. And if it was re-cased recently & the movement was serviced at that time, that could explain its near pristine condition. But I would just consider its pristine condition to be a bonus were it not for that ETA-like 'swishing' sound it makes when its manually wound. I have never seen a Rolex movement, especially 1 of these, that sounded like an ETA. In its favor, the gears & (blued) hairspring appear to be made of the right stuff & it reads more like a Rolex (very stable) than an ETA on my timer readings, which I would not expect to see with a clone. So I am truly stumped.

If a watch is poorly made or in a poorly state, manual winding will only exacerbate an already bad situation. Otherwise, I am not aware of any problems inherent in manually winding an automatic watch. I have 3 or 4 self-winders that lost their rotors (because I removed them) which have been wound at least weekly (though not daily) for up to 4 years without any ill effects. This is 1 of those questions like 'Which is worse - running my watch on a winder for long periods or letting it wind down & sit idle?' -- opinions vary.

This is a gen Daytona 1165xx caseback. For the time being, ignore the engraving & notice how the entire middle section (the circular area within the notches for the caseback tool) is flat & not beveled like most rep Daytona 1165xx casebacks. This is basically a slightly larger & brushed version of the same caseback that is fitted on the vintage Daytonas that many of our collectors sell (which is designed correctly). But, unfortunately, the vintage casebacks are about 2mm too small to fit a modern 1165xx Daytona case. If you know of a source for these (preferably without the engraving, but I would be interested either way), please PM me with the collector's name or a URL to the webpage where it is listed for sale.

Could be a cheap/defective tool. But it could be the way the tool is being used. Are you applying oil to the hole before & during the tapping & are you using back-and-forth motions -- going in, then coming out a bit, then going in a bit further, then coming back out a bit & so on when running the tap through? If not, any tap may break.

I gave a friend 1 of my old Daytona 116520 reps & her wrists are very small (she is 4'11"), but I was able to get it to fit tightly around her wrist by removing all but 1 of the removable links. In fact, I ended up putting 1 of the links back in because she said it was too tight. I am not familar with Silix's bracelets, but be sure you have removed all of the removable links from both sides of the clasp (most bracelets have 2-3 removable links on each side) & adjusted the pin in the clasp all the way to the end. If you have, then you may be out of luck. Have you considered a strap? These watches look quite chic with a strap that matches 1 of the colors in the bezel (black/red or blue/red, etc.).

I may do that, but it is testing well & keeping proper time now, so I may wait a year or two.

Hacking, but not quick-set. And I thought it looked a bit too pristine myself, which is why I mused it might be some type of new Asian-made Rolex movement? I have not heard anything about anything like this (yet), but if they can copy a 7750, why not a 1570/5? And if they did, aside from the 'swishing' sound & nearly pristine appearance of a 30-40 year old movement, it could have fooled me.

Thank you. And here is the story of how the watch came to be............... One day, the Flytimer & the 16014 went on a date to see 'Titanic' together. But they ended up missing most of the movie because they got freaky in the back of the theater Then, some time later, whichever one is the female (who can tell these days) gave birth to this And they all lived happily ever after..............

If Rolex serviced your vintage Seadweller (GW or DRSD) today, it would leave with a flat T39. As far as I know, the DRSD was the only Seadweller that originally left the factory (the Swiss one) fitted with a superdome.

Nanuq did a picture comparison of several crystals, including a gen superdome here. The pictures are not coming up for me, so you might PM him to see if he moved them or can repost the images. It would probably be a good idea to repost since there are alot of new members who would be interested in the same info.

A major toy company once tried to sue our company for trademark infringement after finding a page on our website that contained a single image of one of their products. They located us (along with many, many other companies) by googleing the name of their toy. They then had their lawyers contact every website operator listed on the first 10 pages of search results on the major search engines (google, yahoo, excite, etc.) & then serve each one with papers outlining the suit. They also wanted access to our server log files to track down every visitor who may have viewed the image. Believe me, these guys are serious & they do not play nice. Fortunately, in our case, we were able to come to an agreement with the toy company & avoid more serious legal entanglements. The RIAA did something similar when they went after Napster & the other music/file sharing sites a few years ago. I believe that RWG has already been visited by execs from at least 1 major watch brand, so we are already known to them. And with RWG coming up so prominently in google searches, I do not think we should assume we are just a small fish anymore. The way I see it, the bomb is slowly ticking away, but it may speed up if/when the current economic slowdown begins to seriously effect the gen's bottom line.

I have something black & mysterious & new (to me) peering out at the world from under my sleeve