panerai153

I believe the Safari is going to be my next purchase. I've been looking at a lot of Safari photos, and this is the best yet!! beautiful watch and wonderful photos. I'm sure you have a fortune in this one, considering all the gen parts and the bulletproof movement. Still only a fraction of the cost of a gen. I'm still very much an AP noob, but with Rolex It's pretty much not considered a franken unless the dial is genuine, yours definitely qualifies for super franken status, for sure.

The reason you can't post in that section is it clearly states that you have to be a VIP or platinum member to post there. You need to upgrade your membership to post WTB, or any sales thread where you are the seller.

they are going to be Damn disappointed then hopping mad when they find out they spent 6K on a 2k rep (if it has a gen 1570 movement).

I would definitely send it back, as something in the movement is amiss. Very well could have occurred in transit, as we all know the folks handling packages are not known for their gentle touch and finesse!! I feel sure Vac can sort everything out for you and get it back to running correctly. I can appreciate your concern, not only is it expensive to ship back and forth half way around the world, but every time you put something in the mail or with a courier service, it increases the likelihood of it getting lost, stolen or nabbed by customs. Unfortunately, unless you can find someone in Sydney that works on AP reps, you don't have any alternatives. As another poster said, that sec@ 12 movement might be a problem with a lot of watchmakers. Probably would be easy to get someone to work on a 2824-2 or 2836-2 ETA, but these are different, and not many folks want to tackle them.

Don't know a thing about Hublot's and pretty much a noob when it comes to AP. I do have two AP's the FC Diver V3 and the S/S diver V5. Both of the divers are around 14mm high which to me is about what a "normal" watch would be at this size (44mm) . the ROO models are around 16+ mm thick so they sit higher on your wrist. My feelings personally that the 44mm AP watches are at the very limits size wise for my wrist which is a little over 7", maybe 7.25. I have seen a fair number of them for sale on the forums with the reason for sale listed as "just too big for my wrist". These were generally being sold by guys who have 6-6.5" wrists. Personally, I don't believe that watches whose lugs hang over the sides of the wrist and are massive in size look good on the wrist at all. If your watch looks like you have an alarm clock strapped to your wrist, them it's too big. Everyone has to make their own decision as to what looks correct and what looks silly. Another factor is comfort. With a narrow wrist, these big top heavy watches are always trying to "Turn turtle", which means that they are always trying to slip around and end up on the bottom of your wrist. To combat that, you have to wear the strap so tight that it's not comfortable. Best thing would be to try to find an AP dealer and try on a genuine ROO for size. only problem there is the genuine ROO chronos are about 2mm thinner than the reps, or about the thickness of the rep Divers. They are thinner, but you could get a good idea as to how they look and feel on your wrist. You might also want to post this over on the AP forum, you might get more responses and different answers. Look under Brand name watches and the Audemars Piguet forums is the first at the top

I agree with you 100% if you have a franken, it should be sold as a franken, not passed off as genuine. Even watches that started out as 100% genuine but have had aftermarket parts added, like bezel inserts, crystals, whatever, should be disclosed as such, and most reputable sellers try their best to make full disclosure. If you are in the business of selling high end watches , antiques, art, etc. business success depends on honesty and integrity. If you get the reputation of selling things that aren't as described, at some point it's going to severely impact your business. Like yo usaid, if the seller doesn't know that this is a replica watch, then he needs to do some research on vintage Rolex watches. What happens when he sells a watch like this to and individual and the buyer takes it to a Rolex Service Center to get the endlinks replaced or a new bracelet. they take the watch in to the back and a few minutes later come back and tell the guy, sorry sir your watch is a fake!! the only part of the watch that is genuine Rolex is the movement and the bracelet, and it's wrong for this watch. I promise you if I were the buyer and shelled out 6K for this watch, I would be seeking legal action against the seller as well as notifying eBay that the guy was selling rep Rolex as genuine. Sellers don't want bad reviews and negative feedback. A couple of negative feedbacks with "the seller sold me a fake Rolex that was confirmed by my local RSC" sure isn't going to help his reputation!!

That is a idea worth exploring. Thanks I actually believe that is what happened here, over time the crystal was changed out and trying to get it over a crystal that was really tight might have stretched it a bit.

+1 no pics

Dbane. I haven't tried getting the crystal off, but it doesn't appear to be loose. cc, I'll contact phong and see if he can help. Thanks for the help guys.

Well guys that's the nice thing about this forum, you read and learn. Need to sic the Rolex police over. On the Rolex forum on this seller!

Thanks for all the help and advice cc, this unfortunately isn't a budget build. This is a Ming Quy case and I have spent a bundle on this watch, mainly with movement problems. It's a 2846 and it has had it's a share of problems. Joey, I sent it to Mike if I remember right for another problem, I would have to go back and look at my old emails to get my facts correct. I may have asked him to try a genuine crystal, but as you said it wouldn't fit and he went back to a Clark, which should have worked, which it did as I wore the watch regularly for almost a year. Long story short, I need to get it fixed, that's why I posted this thread. I may get in touch with JMB and see if he can possibly make a new retaining ring that will fit a crystal tight enough to work. Looks like the only other alternative is to try different crystals and hope to find one that is thicker and fits. Any other suggestions appreciated.

Take the advice of those who posted here. DO NOT POST FAKE WATCHES ON GEN FORUMS,PERIOD!!! Second, if you frequent gen forums, it's a lot better to have different user names for the gen forums. As mike said, those guys are often the same folks who are frequenting the rep forums, some are here because they have both gen and rep watches, others, the rep haters are here , just to see what the rep folks are up to. If I belong to a few different forums, how long do you think it takes for me to type your gen forum name into the "members" section here. If I get a hit, I can visit your threads, and sure enough, there is the guy posting the same rep watches that he posted on the gen forum. I know you are new here, but even as a noob, you need to use a little common sense, and read the rules.

Lions,You very well may be right. It does have some strange things about it. First off, I would never in a million years buy a Rolex anywhere besides a dealer without looking at the movement. Another thing, this watch is a mishmash of parts on the outside, so it is suspect to me. Interesting that a dealer that has a bunch of high end watches on Ebay would have a watch like this for sale, but I have heard that even the big dealers get caught on occasion. Positive on this deal is the seller has a good money back guarantee, so it's not like buying from someone with no sales history and no return.

Not sure how the acrylic insert was installed, JoeyB installed it. I don't know if his snaps in or is glued in. I tried putting it back on this afternoon, and it feels like the retaining ring is sliding down over the crystal all the way to the case. If that is the case, then the crystal is too small, or the retaining ring is too big, correct? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

looks a lot better, but I would definitely do the relume.

16613 for today

Terrible rainy afternoon here, so I was taking some watch photos. I picked up my 6542 out of the watch box, and the bezel assembly came off in my hand. It looks like the retaining ring is attached to the bezel. The crystal is OK, I didn't look closely, but it doesn't look like it has any cracks or chipped off edges. I would like to get this fixed, anyone know who I might contact to get it repaired. It's possible the crystal is too small in diameter, or the retaining ring is too big, but I really don't see what caused the problem. Here are some photos of what it looks like. It's not wearable in this condition, so I need to get it fixed.

these watches are getting older and older, most have been worn and worn hard, so finding a "safe queen" sports model is tough. Another thing, the vintage guys are like an exclusive country club, "members only" I can guarantee when someone finds a pristine watch, if it's not what they are collecting, they call a friend who is a collector of that particular model. the guy who finds it expects the same courtesy in return, so if the other person happens on something he calls his friend. most of the really good stuff never sees the light of day, those guys grab it and it's in a collection somewhere. Only the nice, but not collector quality gets on the VRF marketplace. Not to say their aren't some really nice watches that come through there, but the really, really special ones don't get sold that way, at least among members of the "Club". Another thing, when crazy money gets into anything, be it vintage watches , vintage cars, Art, antique furniture, the prices are going to go up, because those folks don't flinch one bit at paying top dollar for what they want. they have plenty of money, and they want more "things".

You might be correct, the bezel may have been changed at some point in time. Correct again on the end links, they are definitely wrong. Needs a set of 550 end links to be correct, however the 550 is for fat spring bars and the jubilee on this watch will not accept fat bars. this is a bracelet that was taken off a Datejust. the jubilee bracelet that is used on the GMT has a 50 stamped on the last end link next to the springbars, this designates "fat springbars welcome here"!!! So what we have here is a GMT that for whatever reason over the years has been clapped together with aftermarket and incorrect Rolex parts. Probably not to deceive, but to keep the old watch running and on some owners wrist. I'm afraid the seller is going to have a lot of explaining as to why he didn't disclose all those problems in his description?

I believe that at the very least the insert needs to be changed, and better if the whole bezel assembly is changed. Also a gen crystal is still better than the AR'ed rep crystals. I suppose the biggest tell of all is the incorrect hand stack. If you can get one with the correct hand stack, that would be a plus. If you can get that movement in one that will accept genuine parts, that's another BIG plus. Here are a couple of photos of my GMTIIC. Case that accepts gen parts, genuine bezel and insert, genuine crystal and soon to have a genuine dial as well. Just waiting for the word from my guru. I don't have the CHS movement. My watchmaker says that it may be a problem to fit a genuine dial on the CHS movement, as the gen dial is thicker and the CHS movement is taller. "Black Hole" effect of genuine AR'ed Cyclops Bezel comparison, genuine on Right, note the bolder numbers. Platinum color different from the Painted numbers on rep bezel insert. Also the bezel is more robust

Looks like the lume might need a little attention. Overall it looks pretty nice. It looks like they have improved the bezel numbers, some of the early GMT IIC's had numbers that were too shallow, not bold enough. What movement did you get?

It's still up, I just looked at the photos. I'm sitting here with my gen 16750 in hand comparing. To me the watch is genuine, the case looks good, the 5.3mm crown fits correctly between the CG's which is a big tell with most rep cases, because the rep 1675's use 6mm crowns. When you fit a 5.3mm crown in a rep case there is a big gap between the crown and the caseguards. Dial looks good, However, the GMT hand is not correct. I have looked at a lot of photos of the 1675/16750's and I have never seen a genuine GMT that has that arrowhead shape. Personally, I would not touch this watch with a bargepole, at least not before seeing some really good movement photos. This could very well be a gen case and dial with a rep movement/ hands. Or it could be all gen but the hands. Someone could have replaced them with aftermarket hands a long time back, AFA the Cyclops, mine is a tiny bit crooked as well, probably when the watch was serviced last, the watchmaker didn't get it perfect. The endlinks fit is terrible, mainly because these are not proper GMT endlinks. The 555 endlinks are for a Datejust, they are shorter and the holes had to be opened up for the bigger springbars. What this whole deal looks to me like is and old Rolex that someone(s) over time replaced worn out parts with incorrect parts. Probably took the watch in because the old bracelet and endlinks were worn out and replaced it with another Jubilee with the wrong endlinks, just using what he had, or could afford. same thing with the GMT hand, may have been replaced at some point by a watchmaker who used these hands rather than genuine Rolex parts. That is a best case scenario, because if everything is really genuine except the hands, it would be a pretty easy task to get it back right. Worse case scenario, it's got an ETA or Chinese movement inside and it's a franken. Even considering best case scenario, it's way overpriced for a GMT with incorrect parts. What you have to remember guys is there are tons of old Rolex watches lying around that folks bought back in the 1960's,70's and even 80's, that were bought for 500-1500 USD. The owner wears the watch for a lot of years, and then it stops. Needs a service, he takes it in to and AD and finds out that a trip back to a RSC is going to cost 500-1000 USD, maybe more than he paid for the watch years back. can't affords that so he takes it to a local watchmaker who can do the service, but doesn't have a Rolex parts account, so he tells the owner, "I can put it back to just like new for 200.00 USD, but the parts I use won't be Rolex, but they look the same". This guy isn't a Rolex fanatic, he just likes his old Rolex, but he can't/won't spend 1K on a service, so the local watchmaker gets it back running and the owner is satisfied. Years later he or his wife or children decide to sell the old watch. They sell it and it gets advertised like this one. Eagle eyed Rolex fanatics spot the problems and the watch is suspect, which it should be until proven otherwise. In a lot of cases, the buyer doesn't see the faults until they are pointed out. Sometimes the original buyer gets caught like this. If the buyer knew about the bad endlinks, non Rolex hands, etc. and he didn't disclose the problems, then he is a crook, because he is concealing known defects. If on the other hand, he didn't know, then he is innocent, but gullible. He didn't do his due diligence before he bought or traded for this watch. At any rate, he has a watch that isn't correct that he's trying to sell for a pristine 100% correct watch price. Good luck with that!!

I don't think he's trying to backdoor a sale (I hope he isn't anyway!!) I believe he wants to get his ducks in a row about the movement before he sells the watch. Worst thing that can happen is he lists it with a genuine Swiss ETA movement, someone buys it opens the back, takes one look and then posts that he was cheated by the seller because it has a "crappy" Asian copy movement. Just saw this happen on the sales forum a few days ago where the seller posted photos, thought the movement was ETA, seller who bought the watch probably had next morning buyers remorse and told the seller the movement was not an ETA. The seller luckily hadn't posted the watch, so he refunded the buyer, rather than start a big brouhaha over the movement. Better to post photos and let the experts chime in especially if you don't know what you have.

Here you go: http://www.prometheuswatch.com/diver-watch-collection/prometheus-sailfish/#!/~/category/id=7120166&offset=0&sort=normal Nice looking watch with a Seiko movement. I don't care for the hands though, look like they belong on a pilot watch.