Nanuq

Dammit Freddy, I'd always thought of the Cellini as a gaudy super-sized quartz Timex. So following your advice I went looking and found a gorgeous "Cellini Time" with black lacquer dial in rose gold. My, my, my. What a looker. And there's no quartz there... inside beats a 3135 heart. They say once you buy into the Rolex way of "doing watches" you never pay for a watch again. The black dialed beauty is suggested at $15,000 and the dual time in 18k rose gold can be had for $17,250. Buy one and wear it all you want, and you'll be able to sell it again whenever you choose for what you paid, or more. Then there's the cachet of a "NIB" watch that was discontinued oh so long ago, "back when Rolex really knew how to make watches". We've all heard that song and dance. Maybe THESE are the good old days.

Dang what a beauty. Remember a few years ago someone was going to tear apart his Stingray and make a DW Daytona, and we had conniption fits?

Here are a couple that are guaranteed to go to stupid prices within a few years. The interest is starting to stir and they're cheap now. Bulova Devil Diver. https://www.ebay.com/itm/324762772250 Zodiac Sea Wolf. https://www.ebay.com/itm/165135566052

Yep, but the fly in the ointment is, Rolex easily sells every watch they make, at these prices. I personally said forget it, and turned my interests toward used/vintage pieces. They used to be pretty affordable and now they're going nuts... usually worse than the new ones. So now I'm playing with microbrands. There are some remarkably nice watches out there for giveaway prices. Take the Maranez divers for example. They cloned the Doxa diver look, and IMHO they are a better watch than the original Doxas were, for $175 shipped. Or you can go down the grow-your-own path and starting with a Seiko SRP, you can buy a handful of Yobokies, Dagaz, CrystalTimes and One-Second-Closer parts and make anything your heart desires. And if the movement craps out, replace it for $25. Behold the "Soxa" built for around $450.

Logically, the entire bezel would have to rotate because it's showing the abbreviated No-Decomp dive table. For example if you bottom at 120 feet you can be there 15 minutes and ignore decompression timing stops on the way back up. If the outer ring moved relative to the inner it would eliminate that feature. But on the V1 watch the outer ring is a "tachymetre" and it rotates separate from the inner, as it should, for that purpose. Bottom line, keep an eye on the website and see if they post a video about the V2 watch.

Great price! Mine’s not for sale.

It’s got a glorious low profile bezel, lots lower and heftier than the “top hat” bezels on the Maranez and Seesterns. Speaking of, let’s see some pics of your Seestern!

Tell ya what... send me $35,000 and I'll send you a spectacular plexi Daytona. Absolutely indistinguishable from the naked eye, with the caveat you don't get to open it. It will be gen, or it will be a great Franken. But it will look, act and feel like a gen in every way. I'll invest the difference from what it cost me (if there's any left over) and you enjoy the watch. After 5 years if it doesn't scratch the itch any more, send it back, I'll resell it for 20% more than I paid for it, and refund your money. I'll make out like a bandit and you'll have no way of knowing if it's real or not. It's a gamble, and it's NOT a gamble at the same time. (an illustration about intangibles and our unreasonable hearts)

Hold the presses! Hold the presses! Just in..... Heimdallr has updated the Tactical Frog again! Correct bezel, female endlinks connections and better dial. Hoooooooooooooooooooly smokes, do I need ANOTHER orange Tactical Frog?

Picked my replacement dial for the Tactical Frog....

Touched up the bezel with some orange paint.

Frank Zappa

Colt Python

"Exploring the Inner Wardrobe"

Johnny

Straps

Nice! Much better chance of seeing boobies on Bondi Beach than Portage Lake.

Sorry I missed that one and didn't delete the subforum for you. Gone now. And welcome back!

KB is back!!!! Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

How about a comparison in a parallel industry? I have a 1963 Colt Python in .357 magnum. Or you can buy a new Taurus .357 magnum for $330. Both go bang when you pull the trigger, the Taurus holds more rounds, the Python is a little more reliable and shoots a little better. But only one of them says PYTHON on the barrel, and it costs ten times as much. Is it ten times better as a pistol?

Here is perhaps the perfect example. I'm wearing this one today, And this one sits in a box in Seattle. Same movement, generally the same watch, but one is 50 to 100x the price of the other. One nice thing about buying a Rolex, once you've bought into the game, you can wear them forever for free. Plop down $1,800 for a GMT Master in the late 90s, early 2000s, and sell it today for 10x that amount. Unless it's a Clownmaster that nobody really wants, you'll only make money on the beasties.

That’s it, I can die a happy man. Hooooooooly smokes this is going to be a nice piece.

AOPA chrono, not quite a Breitling Navitimer, but more than a Datora. I’ve never seen another AOPA version like it.

Doxa SUB 300 "no T" Sharkhunter with US Divers logo.

Consider in the late 50s what Rolex had for competition, very few screw down crowns or substantial waterproofing or over engineered crystals and retainers. They were a little better than the competition and priced a little higher. My 6536/1 was issued to my late woodcutting partner as his dive timer in brown water adventures on peninsulas where they weren’t supposed to be. At the time it was the toughest watch they could get to supply the divers so it was the choice. Now compared to a G-Shock or contemporary diver it looks like a flimsy toy. Times change.