Epanoui

I was in your position a month ago, and made the wrong choice, so I'll let you know what I learned throughout the process. 1st thing you have to know is the choice is ONLY between EL's and Davidsen's. I won't discuss Joshua's, Andrew's or Angus' because they all have two many errors to even be in my consideration. Also, Andrew and Joshua seem to get their watches from the same dealer, just FYI. I went with Davidsen's primarily because I thought it was the closest to the Gen. The pictures I found on his photo album seemed to be really close to the gen, except one thing, it was missing the swan neck. However, when I began to ask him questions, he swore up and down that it does have the swan neck, so I went ahead with the purchase. I was a little dissatisfied with it once it arrived and here are the reasons. 1. The movement does indeed have the swan neck, but it doesn't look like the one from the photo album at all. It's the newer H series movement with the special beveled bridges instead of the engraved bridges. So, any idiot practically can look at the watch and tell there's something seriously wrong. A huge error IMO. 2. Davidsen's font on the Fiddy is wrong. The text that says "LUMINOR PANERAI" and "1950" is too thin. It's a slight difference, but very noticeable once you have it in hand and are comparing it with pictures of the gen. The typeface weight should almost match the dial markers, but instead it is significantly lighter giving it a totally different appearance. 3. This probably doesn't apply to all his Fiddy's, it could have just been a mistake, but mine had a totally wrong caseback. First, it says 117/1000 which is wrong, since they made 1950 of these models, not 1000. Also, even if you get the 117/1950 caseback, the text 117/1950 has a small brushed background to it and the text is inset in that. This is completely off from the gen. The limited # on the gen is just engraved like the rest of the text on the caseback. 4. Davidsen is known for his good lume, but somehow my lume is mediocre. Not what I expected at all. This is after being outside all day. Can't see it? Me neither. So, at the end, I ended up with a watch that pretty much screams "fake." HOWEVER, and it's a big however, Davidsen's quality is unmatched. The case is amazing, the crystal is the correct 2mm thick crystal, the AR is great, the hands are perfect, the pin is not recessed at all, crown and crown guard feel great, etc... So, even though the watch is totally far off from the gen, it is a completely outstanding made watch. Eddie Lee's Fiddy doesn't have most of these issues. His font is correct, the movement engraving is near perfect, etc... The only things wrong with his are: 1. The recessed pin problem. 2. Less than stellar lume. 3. Some inconsistancies with the swan neck. 4. There has been some rumors that the movement, while a base swiss, has a lot of swapped parts, etc.. (so kind a thrown together). 5. Thinner crystal. Note that almost every single one of these problems has a simply fix. My plan is to within the next couple months, get EL's best Fiddy and then send both of mine off to The Zigmeister so he can mix and match both of them into 1 ultimate Fiddy. So, back to your question, if I was looking for one now, which one would I get? EL's for sure. Then I would order a crystal from Davidsen. Then I'd send the watch off to The Zigmeister to get the crystal put in, the pin fixed and get a nice lume job. Then you have the best Fiddy available, by far. EDIT: Updated with some pictures for clarification.

That all has nothing to do with the design price. Companies will still pay thousands of dollars for a good logo, because it's a lot more than just a pretty typeface. There is a lot that goes in to the typography, the logo itself, making it printable etc... It's a very laborious, hard and creative process that can take a lot of time.

The 112H for sure. I just sent you a PM on one.

Oh for sure. Why do you think I'm here?? I'm not a rich celebrity, hehe. But yeah, it'd be nice to be that huge and have the financial ability to be such an avid collector. He owns some crazy watches, including tons of Big Pilots, even the platinum versions. He also sports some cool Pams, a Daytona, Sub, and just about everything else out there.

So I'm a musician and a huge John Mayer fan. He's got a thing for vintage guitars and sweet watches, two things I am passionate about as well. But anyway... he just posted the sweetest blog post: http://blog.honeyee.com/john/archives/2006...ometer_lov.html Read the last paragraph for the good info. Wow!!!! That is so hot.

A couple of fast mockups, will do something a little cleaner in awhile...

I thought it was a great movie, but was really bummed there was no Q and no cool gadgets.

To me, that is a little sneaky. Once payment is made, that should be the end of it. Period. But, I see where the seller is coming from. There are some really poor buyers on these forums who are looking to take advantage of people trying to sell their watches for cheap. They offer really really stupid prices, way below the watches market value, hoping to get a great deal. Often, a forum member will agree to the sale for fear that they're watch won't sell unless they say yes to this person, unknowing that there are other people out there willing to pay more, they just need to be more patient. I recently had a situation like this, where someone made me an offer. 200 shipped on a watch that cost me 280. That's ridiculous. I got them to go up in price a little, but only if I waited 2 weeks for them to get a paycheck or something. So I just simply told them that it would still be fore sale, and if in two weeks it was still here, it was there's, but if someone made a better offer, then I would sell it off. And that's exactly what happened. I posted what the offer was and then someone came up with a counter offer that beat it, and I sold to them. But they key thing is, I never told the other person that it was sold, and never accepted any money. I think that is taking it too far. I think this community would really benefit from two types of sales. If someone wants to set a firm price on watch, then fine. Sell if for that price, firm, and don't accept any offers. But another approach would be to simply open a thread up auction style. Sort of a RWGBay, set up and ending date and time, and whoever has the highest price (past a starting or reserve price) in the thread wins when it closes. This would really be a good way to make sure that the seller gets the best price. But then I like to keep everything open and honest, I don't like the backdealing stuff. But yea Dev, accepting your offer and taking payment is too far, and I'm sorry to hear it's happened to you on 2 occasions. I'd write a review on them for sure, if nothing else, it's at least a warning message to other buyers that might have to go through the same thing.

I'm considering buying this watch that is for sale over at RWI, however, I can't seem to find any references to the Gen and the seller doesn't know either. Has anyone ever seen this before or can identify what it is? I'd love some good shots of the Gen for a comparison if anyone know where some are located. I've gone the usual routes, google, Patek's site, etc... with no luck. Help me out RWG!

Okay, there is some really good information in this thread about TTk and dealer communication in general. But as to the original topic... has anyone even considered that he might just be doing it to get a free watch? I love how everyone is like "I don't see how he would just do it without trying to settle it first." Where do you see anywhere that he wants to settle anything? There has been no communication. No emails like "hey where is my watch." That tells me this dude has figured out how to get a free watch, and he's following through with it. Silly people.

That is the best one available. No others exist.

Do you know if it would be possible to get a correct serious movement from Andrew and do a "drop in" to Davidsen's Fiddy? Cheers, Joshua

Actually I just ordered a Fiddy from Davidsen, his latest greatest version and he swears up and down that it includes a swan neck. Go figure. This now means that Davidsen by far has the best Fiddy in the business. I paid a pretty penny for it too, but it's totally worth it if it turns out to be as good as I think it will.

You and me both man. Unfortunately, since it requires quite a custom movement, I doubt we are going to see a good one for a very long time.

Tourb, Thanks a ton!!!!! Any chance there is a rep of this available anywhere??

It's from 24, Season 3, 8:00am to 9:00am. Carlos Bernard aka Tony Almeida is sporting this one. I am pretty sure he wears this watch during the whole season, but these are the closest shots I have seen of it. He does have very large thick wrists, so this is a pretty big watch... I would guess at least 45 - 47mm. I took a couple more shots to maybe help out... They are from the same angle, but who knows, maybe someone will see something recognizable: Oooo, you were close, only 1 off.

Really? I thought the dial layout with the half circles might be unique enough for someone to recognize it.... It was a capture from a DVD I was watching and couldn't get a much closer shot.

Yeah it really has turned into a cesspool. Funny thing is they are all so egotistical over there they don't even realize it. It's kinda nice though, keeps them away from the good boards.

I talked to him late last week and I think he is going to be shipping out current orders for the first couple weeks, i.e., people that already ordered 005's that he didn't ship cause he wanted to wait for the updated stuff to get in. If you order 1 now you will get the updated stuff, just make sure and email him and tell him that you care about that and want it. Mine should be here this week or next, I'll post pics when it comes.

Something tells me given all these complications that we are going to be sorely disappointed when this "eta Big Pilot" comes out.

My first post in a "wrist check" thread. Also my first Panerai.

I think we should leave the dealer un-named. It's really nice of the dealer to do such things, but calling it out in the open public might promote an attitude of expectation to such generosity, something we should never expect. It's 100% our risk, not theirs.

I better send mine back then, I don't even have a date

Well at least someone's at my level. Guess he just needed to get it off his chest.