panerai153

I never pay any attention to the Rehaut engraving either. If it's really bad, I probably would, or not own the watch, but in reality, it's so small, and practically invisible unless the watch is held in certain positions with good lighting. Heck, I have trouble taking photos of it, even when I'm trying.

No idea, but there have been a lot of guys on the MKII forum that have been begging Bill to reintroduce the Vantage. Don't think it's going to happen however, too much on his plate already.

I'm afraid that your choices are going to be limited at that price range. Maybe a croc or alligator print, but nothing genuine. I bought a genuine croc for my 1803 and it was 20/16. I'll look tomorrow and see where I bought it, they may have alligator grain as well. How big do you, need wrist size wise?

Older non hacking movement, or the hack mechanism is messed up. Not sure when Rolex went from a non hack to a hacking movement, but you can find that out either here from some of the Rolex experts, or do some Internet research.

This is pretty standard procedure, and the reason why I never send a watch internationally with out a full declared value on the customs declaration. I have lost sales because the buyer wanted the watch declared for 100.00 USD to avoid customs duty and taxes, but if it's lost,stolen or damaged, the buyer expects either another watch, or his money back, and I'm now out my watch and the money!!

Thanks Mike and nanug.I believe this will be the best way to handle this, as the thread has lost all focus, and is deteriorating into a flame war. Personally, I got an email from Mike yesterday relative to my Daytona, so as long as he and I are communicating, I see no need for my participation in the new PM setup, but my sincere thanks to both of you for stepping up and trying to get this resolved to the best resolution for everyone involved. And for everyone else, we can move on and get back to discussions about watches.

Although the second one may show some "character ", it also looks like the dial plots have been doctored, or have moisture exposure. If it's the latter, the damage may be worse inside. I would certainly want the case opened and everything looked at by a competent watchmaker. You have a lovely 1675 already, why trade a known quantity for and unknown ? Fat font nicely aged inserts come up for sale on the VRF all the time. Better to change the insert on yours than buy a "pig in a poke"

16750

I know that we are all anal about the % of authenticity with our reps, but sometimes we forget that 99.9% of the population truly cannot tell a Rolex from a Times, and furthermore they don't care. I live in a small town, and over the past 35+ years that I have lived here, I bet I haven't seen over 50 Rolex watches on the wrist of folks here, including visitors. I have seen exactly one GMT outside of mine and that was owned by and orthopedic surgeon, and he's no longer here. I suppose if you live in a big city, and/or you are in a situation where you are surrounded by a lot of guys wearing high end watches, you would either have to wear genuine watches, very accurate reps, or walk around with your hand in your pocket all the time!! I doubt that 80% of the guys who own a genuine Rolex GMT could tell you the hand stack sequence without looking down at their watch. I would love to have a good reliable CHS movement, but to me the more obvious tells on this watch are the bezel/insert and crystal, some dials and the lume. AFA the hand stack, only two times a day when the hour hand passes over the GMT hand on the IHS movement is the inaccuracy noticeable, otherwise it requires a real close look at the watch to notice the hand stack. I'm not saying this is inconsequential, but it wouldn't prevent me wearing my GMT out in a crowd.

Another Rolex 1680 and 1665 and 6263 that I foolishly sold/traded many moons ago. I know that's not one, but those would be my choices.

Red White and Blue

Guys, all this rhetoric and threats isn't going to get anyone's watches back any faster. All it does is incite others that don't have a "skin in this game" to chime in and make things worse. If Mike is having email problems, he will get them corrected. Sometimes problems crop up unexpectedly out of nowhere. Yesterday, my Outlook mail program kept showing a dialog box asking for my password, I would type it in, close the box and hit send receive, the damn box pops up again! After about 20 minutes,I gave up and went to work, came back home and my email was working fine. No idea as to what caused the problem,or what solved it, but it was very frustrating to say the least.

I believe that FedEx and UPS try to make a diligent effort to screen the folks that work for them, but they are both huge, multinational companies, and like any large organization, probably have their fair share of crooks,thieves and scammers.

Never heard of them!!! Lots of scam rep sales sites on the Internet, stick with the dealers on the forums if for nothing else,the peace of mind.

First off did you take any photos of the package, especially where it was taped? Contact the seller. Also I would contact FedEx customer service or the manager of your local FedEx, tell them what happened and get their response. Biggest problem her is where did the watch go missing? Did the seller not put it in the package, did it get stolen at a sorting facility, or did a loader or driver steal it? Very hard to come up with and answer. This is the reason I insure every package for close to real value.

+1 to Freddy's suggestion. If it's been a few years since the last service, it could probably use a movement service. Where are you located? That might determine where you can get it repaired. Their are several very good Rolex watch smiths around, they could easily do that as well as a service. The only problem with a RSC, is they tend to want to do too much. If his watch us well aged, they will suggest a new crown/tube, crystal and gaskets, possibly even a luminova service dial and hands. Big bill for all that, and he might not want the watch to look like brand new.

He has retired, no longer accepting any work. He may however still be doing some work on gen watches, but definitely no reps.

Another beautiful PP. you have and amazing collection of those wonderful, timeless watches. I would love to find one from the early 40's for a birthdate watch. Not much out there that goes back that far, I'm afraid. I believe I remember this one from your "sort if"sales thread, but the new dial really makes it!

nanug, Man you nailed this one. absolutely true. It's just amazing what some folks will say when they are secure with the idea that no one will ever come knocking on their door and drag them out into their front yard and beat the living piss out of them. About 99% of the remarks and "tough guy" stances on the anonymous internet would never happen in face to face conversations. I have to agree with kbh, it serves a purpose to keep this thread open, even though on two occasions, I have advocated closing it. I do believe though that most of the inflammatory remarks have come from folks here who don't have a "skin in the game". Certainly fine to read the comments, and form your own opinion about Mike, but when you come on here and throw gas on and already roaring fire, nothing is solved.

You are correct, I realized my mistake a few minutes after I. Posted. I suppose the USA is about the only ones using 120V AC.

interesting that you got that shorted out box, and your breaker didn't trip? Usually when they get a load like that they trip and cut the power. maybe other countries that use 220 DC, rather than 120 AC have different setups. Here if something is tripping a breaker, it's a good idea to trace out that circuit and see what's wrong. As someone above said, loose connectors inside of boxes are a big source of problems, the connection isn't good to begin with and it loosens up over time, usually the clue is a light that's on that line will flicker, off and on, but that's not always the case.Biggest problem here in the USA outside of crappy electricians that don't wire to code specs is the use of aluminum wire back in the 1950's and early 60's. Aluminum will oxidize if exposed to moisture and air, as well as folks who run too many lights and or devices on a circuit that was not designed for the load. Luck that you smelled the burning plastic and got it fixed. Middle of the night, a few too many drinks, and you really could wake up dead!!

Amazing watches, not very practical as a regular wearer. Tudors look nice though. Are they being reintroduced through Rolex AD's or does Tudor have it's own USA network of dealers. Sort of hate to see them back in the USA, in the sense that better name recognition will push the prices of vintage Tudors even higher. Purely selfish reasoning, I know!!

And then the watchmaker told him what it would be worth if restored to running, serviceable condition, and the guy nearly died again, but not before he muttered "fix it"!! while he searched for a credit card. It's all about perspective, the average Rolex owner buys a new Rolex, and is really happy with it, until as Freddy said it dies, then it's a big decision to decide is it really worth it to send it off to a RSC and possibly spend almost as much as the watch originally cost to get it back to really nice condition, or sell it and buy something else. Vintage Rolexes are a totally different breed of cat. The really desirable ones are definitely worth fixing correctly, just a matter of finding the right person to do it, and the right parts to do it correctly.

Prices are insane, but they are only insane because someone, somewhere will buy the part, watch, movement, etc. I suppose if you had a nice 6542 sitting in a drawer and the movement was past repairable, you might well pay 7K+ for a movement if it resulted in a 40K watch. The caseback, not so sure, as it is really insane!! The big problem here is the prices will eventually drive the average Rolex owner into using aftermarket parts. I know that is heresy to the died in the wool vintage owners, but they probably comprise 1/10th of 1% of all Rolex owners. I can't tell you how many fairly nice Rolex watches(vintage) that I have seen with aftermarket drugstore bracelets and straps. My late father in law had a nice TT DJ that his wife gave him on their 30th wedding anniversary. Over the next 10-15 years, he wore the TT Jubilee out, literally the midlinks were so thin, it wasn't safe to wear. He took the watch to his local Rolex dealer, and was quoted a price for a new bracelet, of maybe 100-200 USD (this was probably 20 years ago so the prices were tiny compared to today. He was flabbergasted by the price, refused to buy a new bracelet, and literally went to another jewelry store, bought a Speidel Twist-O-Flex bracelet, and wore that one for several years!. The bottom line is most of the folks that wear Rolex watches could care less if the parts are not Rolex, if the watch is 10-20 years old, they are just as likely to purchase an aftermarket replacement as a replacement from Rolex. They are not watch fanatics like us, and could care less. This is evidenced by the number of supply houses and other sellers that are selling replacement parts for Rolex, and obviously selling enough that they continue to carry and even expand their Rolex replacement parts lists.