Nanuq

Sad to say Ziggy retired several years ago. That was a big loss, his skill is legendary.

Screw the bevels, any piece that old will not have sharp bevels, especially out at the ends of the pieces that get the most buffing from shirt sleeves. Look instead at the lugs and the gap where the end links fit. Those are darn sharp edges there. Think about 40 years of wiping it on your pants or shirt sleeve... those would be a little rounded over. Same goes with any sharp edges anywhere. Great piece!

Five (think Brubeck)

Here's an old story from awhile back... repeated just for fun. This happened on one of those harbor tours out of Seward, Alaska. This is what reps are for! I was with my brother on one of those glacier cruises where the boat takes you right up to the face of a glacier and toots the horn so the thing calves off big chunks of ice and scares the hell out of the tourists. I was wearing a newer model Sea Dweller from Andrew, and we were all up on top of the boat, there were lots of tourists milling around in gore-tex and down parkas. I had already noticed a few times that the watch would leak and fog up, and I hate that. So I nudged me baby brudder and whispered "watch this". I held my arm up to ostentatiously check the time, and Rolex Stainless Steel glistened and glittered in the sun like God's Own Bling. I then sucked in my breath in alarm and said "IT STOPPED! Look, this thing stopped again!" and showed it to my brother. He clucked his tongue, shook his head, and said something about "as expensive as that thing was, you'd think it would work!" and I agreed loudly. A couple of heads turned toward us. So I shook my wrist a few times, and held it up to my ear. Shaking my head in disgust, I took it off and waved my hand around wildly to "wind it" and got lots more people glancing at me nervously. Then I unscrewed the crown and wound it up madly with exaggerated motions, elbows flying, and listened again. "It's STILL dead!!!" I said to him, and I could see him suppressing a laugh. More people looked, so I tapped it a couple times on the railing, and held it to my ear again. DING DING DINGGGG!! He was dying by now, trying not to laugh. When I tapped the railing the metal pipe sort of rang a little, and more people looked. I listened to the watch again and said "This bloody piece of @#!*$%" and hit it harder on the railing. He was biting his lip and people were starting to stare. I held it up to my ear again and said loudly "YOU MISERABLE LOUSY CHEAP ROLEX!!!" and I turned and bashed it really really hard on the railing 5 or 6 times, WHANG WHANG WHANG WHANG!!! and the pipe was ringing and people were stepping back. Everyone was staring, and I held it up to my ear for a moment, the pipe was still ringing, and I shouted "YOU LOUSY PIECE OF SWISS CRAP!!!!" and I drew my arm back, big pause for effect, and threw that watch as far as I could out into the ocean. It made a really nice high arc, glittering in the sun, and landed with a nice big splash. My brother was nearly wetting himself, tears were rolling down his cheeks, and I stormed down the steps to the lower deck as people parted and let me through, their mouths gaping in astonishment. It was glorious.

There are things you can't un-see. Let me try to wash the horror from your mind.

That's a great Soxa! Nicely done.

I'll see your "real men" Sea Dweller and raise you.

Gear

Everybody has in their mind's eye what the "perfect" example of a model looks like. So they build it like that and to them, it looks perfect. But to the next guy, a detail is wrong, so it's not perfect. Example: a vintage Sea Dweller can have a high dome or service dome tropic 39 crystal. Half the people like the high dome, the other half want the low dome. Both are correct. But to your eye one won't be "perfect". If you want it "perfect" you're going to have to source the best raw parts you can find, then decide what the finished piece will look like, and find a builder to make it exactly like that. When it's done, to you it will be "perfect". But to the next guy it won't.

Likewise back to the OP's question, I'm fairly hard on my reps and they never fail. I wore an MBW Sea Dweller to hockey practice for years. One time a solid hour practicing slapshots rotated the minutes hand backward by 15 minutes, and that was the only "damage". I regularly toss a watch in the deep end of the pool and challenge kids to fetch it. No problems. I mountain bike 4-5 times/week with a watch and my left wrist has a perma-bruise from the watch beating my arm to death over bumps. Happy happy. I cut 3-4 cords of firewood with a saw affectionately known as The Fear of God then split and stack it by hand. The Sea Dweller, Frosty Flake and Big Gonzo have all taken their turn and survived just fine. I take a couple to Hawaii a couple times per year and subject them to blazing hot sand, seawater, spilled icy beers, you name it. No problem. I neglect to rinse out the salt until the bezels refuse to turn, and they don't corrode. This summer I re-roofed my shed, built another shed, built a garage and re-leveled my deck with hand tools, and the watches ticked happily without missing a beat.

Pfffffffffft! You just gotta do it where it's soft and fluffy when you fall.

Well done, Legend! That was a hoot.

You might enjoy this old topic: http://rwg.cc/topic/2412-how-tough-is-a-rep-submariner/

Do you remember what your user ID was back then, or your old email address? If I can find your old ID, I can set you back up again.

Heh, the only points I see around here are on my olde beastie.

When you know you're looking for.... Right is gen.

Ephry dude, where have you been?! Welcome back.

Hey AJ, I can add 2+2 so let's have a Daytona coming this way. Black please. [emoji12]

Pressure

Happy almost new year! Still 6.5 hours to go here...

Mars

Dude! You da man! Alright folks, there's your opportunity to double your contribution to the forum... sign up for VIP and Legend ponies up big. Who's first?!

From Raven's the Deadman Reach is best. Even better is our local Kaladi Brothers, get the Red Goat. http://www.kaladistore.com/allproducts.aspx

The Nastymariner lives!