freddy333

What an idiot is right! The Moderators/Admins probably already know this (ignore the rest of this post if you do), but RWG is regularly spidered & indexed by google, yahoo & most of the other major search engines & web indexes. Many of the pages here (along with our posts & pictures (I believe this is how some of my pictures got pinched & reused for ebay auctions)) are easily found via a google or yahoo search. And if it is not already being done, I would encourage the Admins to block access to ALL spiders by placing a robots.txt file into the root directory of the website. Again, I am sure you already know (or do) this, but just in case, you can copy/paste the following into a text file & rename it as 'robots.txt' # robots.txt to block ALL search engine spiders User-agent: * Disallow: / Disallow: / As an alternative, you can block spider access per page by adding the following metatags to the html code <meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow"> -or- <meta name="robots" content="none"> Of course, blocking spiders from indexing RWG will make it more difficult for the general public to find us, which can be good & bad. But I happen to side with those who prefer to keep our little hobby a secret & let word spread by mouth. Otherwise, I think you just tempt fate (and trouble). I will say it again -- right now, the gen makers are too busy making money (selling lots of gens) to be interested in devoting much effort into giving rep boards a hard time. But when their sales begin to decline, they will quickly turn their sights (& lawyers) in our direction.

It is still difficult to make out what is going on with the supplied picture, but it looks like the bezel may have been cemented into the case. That is the best I can tell you with what I can see. If you do not see evidence of cement in or around the bezel or mating surfaces in the case, I would take it to a watchmaker or contact Citizen.

Can you be more specific as to the type of watch it is? Some crystals are cemented in and others are designed to be removed with one of these (though these types of watches usually have non-removable casebacks)

Wearing the Daytona beater today (but it looks better on my friend's wrist) Either you love it or you hate it

Beater

With a bit of help, that case/caseback could pass for a gen. But alot of Phong's prices are outrageous ($1,450 for the 1665 case, aftermarket steel Daytona strap buckle $150 (my gen cost less than that), Daytona pushers for $75/each (same ones I get from Ofrei for $12/ea)).

Looks like either a Baume & Mercier or Bulgari. And I believe Batali wears an Ernst Benz, a watch brand for which he has been conscripted to act as an ambassador (they give him watches & he wears them for publicity) (Leonid Khankin, Managing Director and Chief Creative Officer of the Ernst Benz brand at left, Batali at right)

Today is a workday, so I come prepared to fight But when day turns to night........I follow the light

I would take the watch to a watchmaker. Without seeing clear, detailed views of the underside of the bezel and topside of the case (where the bezel attaches), that is the best I can do.

Something warm & tasty for a Sunday brunch -- Audemars Piguet's Edward Piguet Tourbillon

Ziggy - Unless I am misunderstanding you, how do you get the epoxy onto the sub dial hand (I assume you apply it to the underside of the hand where it comes into contact with the tube) without getting the epoxy on either the dial or inside the tube (so the hand gets cemented to the pinion)? I have used epoxy to fix loose tubes on a number of hands, but always with the hand removed from the dial.

Never been a big fan of watches with colored bezels like the GMT, but I may have to rethink that. Great photos of a great collection.

2 reasons -- It is difficult to get just the right amount of squeeze without damaging the hand tube & I feel like I have more control over the operation (as well as the hand) when I can feel it between my fingers. I have a hand holder, but every hand I have needed to resize was too small to fit.

That is the right way to do it. However, I achieve similar results using a pair of smooth-jawed pliers & a set of broaches. Perhaps not quite as elegant, but it generally gets the job done.

PM sent.

Thanks, but the 'dirt' is actually oil that was applied by the factory to retard rust. I was going to clean it off, but I decided I would rather have to wash my hands than to have the set rust.

I use a 4-5 year old Canon PowerShot A80 (4 megapixel) & Paint Shop Pro 10 (or Photoshop CS) for cropping & contrast adjustments.

Thanks all.

I am far from being a professional & a number of other members have more skill/experience than I will ever have, but I think there are 3 components to taking great pictures -- (camera) stability, good (diffuse) lighting & compelling composition (as I was taught, you should learn the 'Rule of Thirds' & then learn how & when to break the rule). The camera's megapixel rating relates to how large the photos can be sized before they begin to visibly pixelate (loose sharpness & edge clarity). For online work, I think 4mp is probably an acceptable minimum (for 1024x768 or smaller image sizes (measured in pixels or picture elements)). Beyond this, it is important to learn your camera's functions & as others have said practice, practice, practice & take lots of pictures. Most photographers will take dozens or hundreds of pictures to get that one shot that works. No matter how steady you are, you will never be able to match the sharpness & focus of pictures taken with a (motionless) camera mounted on a stable surface or tripod, and under optimal lighting conditions (note that optimal is a variable). Finally, you can hide alot of technical sins with provocative & compelling image compositions. This is more art than science & where talent comes into play. Some people are just able to compose objects within a rectangular space and/or mate them with other objects/colors/textures that seem to compliment & produce a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. Using my own pictures as an example, I think this is a respectable picture of a watch But I think this picture of the same watch is considerably more compelling than the 1st one, even though the quality is not as good (of course the pictures were intended to relay different information) (Both pics taken with the same point-and-shoot camera)

Congratulations & looking forward to your next (and next and next......).

Display & presentation -- all part of marketing.

Sure. As long as you use the same quality rhodium as used on the gen & completely cover the underlying steel, the two should then look similar. But unless you refinish the underlying steel (before plating it), it will not reflect light the same way the gen does. Take the bracelet from a Daytona 1165xx into any AD and compare the finish of the polished center sections to the same area on the gen bracelet (it is the same for all rep watches, but I used the Daytona as an example because I am much more familiar with the issue as it relates to this particular model). You will immediately see what I am talking about. Some people have commented that my 116520 looks too chrome-like But it looks that way because I have polished the bezel (dremel with green rouge) to remove most of the surface imperfections (small pits & waviness in the metal) that exist in rep watches (this is one of the differences between the metal used to make a $250 rep & the higher quality metal & finish used for an $8,000 gen). After polishing, the bezel more closely matches the bezel on the gen watch. But it will never look exactly the same because the metals are of differing qualities (316L stainless steel (at best) for the rep & 904L, which contains less nickel, in current gens). I have yet to do the center portions of the bracelet (maybe this weekend).

No. I have found this same movement in 2 secs at 6 Daytonas. Both were the '3rd version' of this model (which has the pointed 'A' DAYTONA font & thicker case that most current secs at 6 Daytona reps come with) that I mentioned in several previous posts. The overall construction quality & feel of these movements differs from the other 2 7750s (1 of these has the 'Daytona' signed/vented rotor & the other has a plain rotor) I have found in secs at 6 Daytonas. That is, I have seen 3 different 7750 movements in secs at 6 Daytonas, so be sure of what you are getting (and read Ziggy's 7750 reviews) before you click the Buy button.

The lighting in most ADs makes watches in the store sparkle And while this type of lighting makes all watches generally more attractive & eye-catching, it will not make the generally low luster metals used on most rep watches glimmer & sparkle like the finely polished finishes found on most gen watches. And no matter of lighting can make stainless steel (used on rep watches in place of precious metal) reflect light the same way that white gold does.

What to buy is easy -- I buy what I like. I have 3 requirements for reps that I wear keeps good time fits my style of dress (classic & understated) looks/functions like the gen when viewed from this distance (about an arm's length)