gdaddy

Several of the dealers supply the 196 with the 7753 installed. Wrong date wheel, but all else works.

Anything with mods: pick any of Ubi or Kruzer's watches

Any "out-of-the-box", then:

1. Franck Muller Casablanca solid 18 karat gold;

2. Franck Muller Long Island case, Crazy Color Dreams;

3. Panerai "Ferrari" grey dial 2-register chronograph;

4. Omega SMP Chrono.

I have the solid Casablanca and took it to the only AD in the area, and they gave me an appraisal for a genuine!

I think my choices for the most convincing are:

1. Solid 18k Casablanca

2. Pam 196 with Swiss ETA

3. Omega GMT (I have both dials one rep, one gen. I can't tell the two apart, aside from the color)

4. TAG Tiger Woods Professional Golf with the goofy strap closure

Twice Retired:

US Navy fighter pilot

Airline Captain

Now, full time grandfather.

Nice report The Zigmeister. I would have thought that a watch school graduate would be doing at least as well as an experienced machinist or other skilled trade.

If you like You Tube guitars, you might like

Over 12,000,000 hits on the primary post.

Because it's a prop. The guns aren't real, either.

Actually, most of the guns are real. The bullets, though, now those aren't real.

I always liked Eddie's take on the 300m watches. They will survive a 300m dash in moderate rain. I have always wondered how the pressure testers work, though. How do you test a watch without risking damage if it fails the test? Incompetent minds want to know.

PM sent.

Any late breaking on the Muller?

Damn! I hope she is 18. :hide

Who can guarantee that it's solid 14K gold. Sorry, but in the reps business it's always a huge risk.

I mean who would sell that much gold for that little money? Are yo usure it's 14K? Or is it Aspires special 5K solid with 14K wrap?

Just be careful and make SURE it is real full 14K gold - from the inside to the outside.

I'm pretty sure that Arch was talking about 18K. I've been looking at the Casablanca and now I'm getting excited. How much? How long?

Hurry!

I am a buyer for the 187 and 7753. Put me down. Deposits?

I would be interested. Not really my style, but for the FM, I would make an exception.

I haven't thought about the PAM184/5 because I can't think of what movement it would be? If we're lucky, maybe a modified ETA but which one? I think it'll be an Asian automatic, maybe even an Asian 7750 modified to have a GMT arm like the ETA 2836s, and then there are two crowns - I would think one is for the GMT and the other for the usual?

One turns the inner bezel, I think.

Very nice! That'a a 45mm, right?

Put my name on the list for the 7753.

Nice shot, ubiq; did you use a polarizing filter for any of those shots?

Please, Oh please! PAM 184

I never heard of anyone buying a car to match his watch, but my brother in law just bought an 05 Bentley convertible to go with his Breitling..I swear. He has an incredible genuine watch collection and has always driven exotic cars, so it wasn't the stretch you might imagine. Haven't seen it yet, (the watch, either) but I'll post picts when I can.

We had an equipment demo at the womens center (jokes galore here) and every salesman sans one had on a Rolex Datejust.

But I usually see high end watches ans sporting events around Dallas, Mavs, Cowboys, Rangers.

Another party tonight. An informal affair celebrating the 40th anniversary of my daughter's in-laws. Since we share grand children, we were invited. Forty or so mix of 50-70 year old couples and a few mid thirty somethings like my daughter. I would never have spent so much time looking at the watches a year ago, but I did a rough count of what was there. Two vintage Rolex Day Dates were the top line. At least six TT Datejusts. One steel Yachtmaster, (yeah, my son-in-law's rep) and the several ladies' presidents. I'm in my Andrew's quartz Brietling. Now, at least five of these people make seven figure incomes. (Actually, I know one of the heavies has at least one rep, but I've never seen him wear it.) No VC's, Pateks, RO's or any of the watches you would expect to see "rich" people wearing. I guess I am living in real "Millionaire Next Door" country. I think I'll save my Brueget rep until the next trip to Vegas.

The question: Where do you see people wearing the $25,000 genuine watches like the reps we buy?

My wife would wear it. She likes her Chanel J-12 a lot, though.

Avery Johnson's sporting one at the NBA championship series.

I took this watch to my watchmaker finally, it turns out that there was a piece of straw (or hay or something) stuck inside the movement. Of all things that could go wrong. Cost me $10 to fix.

Where did you find this watchmaker. I can't find one that will open the case for $10.

I haven't been into the rep hobby for very long, now, but I have enjoyed the ones I have bought. Last week, I was a guest at a golf tournament at a pretty exclusive country club in the town with the highest per capita income in the state. Having worn my rep Brietling for the first couple of days of the tournament, for the awards dinner, I decided to wear my genuine Corum Admiral's Cup, for no particular reason.

While having drinks and chatting with many of the members, including one who is on Forbes' wealthiest list, I paid a lot of attention to the watches being worn. Fifteen years ago, at least three of four would have had on Rolex Day/Dates. Saturday, I saw one well-worn Day Date, one TT Datejust and a beautiful gold Longines. But most interesting of all, was that probably 60% of the men weren't wearing watches at all. They are saying that they will just use the time displays on the ubiquitous cell phones. The TT Datejust was worn by the richest guy in the club...a name anyone in the US would recognize. (Last name anyway)

As luck would have it, I was at a table with the guy with the Day Date who, as it turned out, was a serious collector. He asked if he could look at the Corum. He didn't collect Corum and I don't know if he would have recognized a rep or not, but I was happy I had worn the real thing. Then he tells me that he had bought his son a Panerai for Christmas and that he had noticed my playing partner's Panerai...a rep that I had given him. I spent the rest of the night keeping between him and my partner to avoid his asking to see the Panerai.

Net of all the occasional drama, there were very few expensive watches. Many more on the women than the men. And everyone of these people could have afforded a gold Rolex and, in fact, might have had one in the drawer at home.

And the "collector" had a broker who located watches for him. He had been buying and selling for about 10-15 years and at this time, had about five watches, mostly Patek. He knew his watches and was impressed that I knew as much as I did...almost all of which info I've gotten from this and a couple of the other rep sites.

It was fun.