panerai153

Does it come with a hook to hang it on the wall!! Beautiful watch, but way too big for my skinny little arm.

the rep factories may actually use superlume, the problem is they use a thin application and that leads to the lessened "glow". lume is very much quantity related. watches that have more lume on the dial indices and hands will glow brighter and longer than watches with tiny dots of lume and thin strips of lume on the hands, like the difference between dive watches with big wide plongeur or sword hands, and dress watches with narrow delicate hands.

The problem is the end links don't fit. they are too short. Because they are too short, they try to flip over. look at other watches that have tight end links, the links are right up close to the case, on yours there is a huge gap which allows the end link to move up and down, which it shouldn't. Whoever "custom fitted " the bracelet should have realized that the end links didn't fit. I f you can fit fatter springbars, that might help, also as nanug suggested, gluing a thin strip of rubber to the inside edge of the end link would help take up the slack. You can't glue the end links to the case, that won't work Here is a photo of correct end link fit the end link should not move at all, the bracelet flex starts at the first link past the end link

That's all well and good going forward, the problem now is to clean up the backlog of unanswered emails and PM's. that can only be done by sitting down at the computer and grinding them out . I disagree as to PM'ing is a full time job. It's not necessary to write a dissertation in every response. Simply, your watch is 3rd in line for the work performed, expect to start tomorrow, will have it finished in 3 days ready to mail. Can even develop a "ticket" template with check boxes, etc. Not terribly time consuming If you are diligent in not letting PM's, emails pile up, then it becomes daunting! AFA using and assistant, that's a good idea, but expensive unless you have a "live in" assistant i.e. wife/girlfriend. Ziggy never corresponded with anyone, all of his correspondence was through Jennifer, who did a great job of answering emails. I'm sure Ziggy could tell her what was going on with a customers watch and she typed out the email and he never had to leave his bench. She also handled all the billing as well as scheduling watches in for repair or modding. But the key to that is having someone who is knowledgeable and is around all the time. Just hiring and assistant and then having to dictate or write out everything that you want to tell a customer is probably counterproductive, you can do that yourself in the same or less time, and it's expensive to hire someone.

I'm not impressed by the lume photo, certainly isn't conclusive. There are lots of variables with lume shots, including the amount and intensity of the light that you expose the dial to, the amount of time that elapses between exposing the dial to light and actually taking the photo, and finally the quality of the photo, which in this case is pretty poor. I would suspect that the seller bought the dial as a superlumed dial, and sold it as such. If you want to prove or disprove the lume, expose the dial to intense light like halogen or LED for a minute or two, take it inside a dark room, closet, etc. If it's superlumed, it will glow like a torch. leave the dial in the dark room, come back in and hour. If it's superlumed, it will still be glowing pretty brightly, if it's regular rep lume, it will have faded to a faint glow or no glow at all. Best bet, if you're not happy with the lume, send it off to someone and get it relumed. I really don't see that you have a case for a refund here, as you had a lume shot to look at before you purchased the dial. If you weren't happy wit the photo, you should have asked the seller for a better cleared photo of the lume before buying.

That is mighty, mighty nice!!!

1665 Day today

Better a "no show" and your money is still in your pocket than ending up with a replica at a gen price!!

That's the key to the whole situation. communication is the basis of trust. Most folks are very trusting, but when communications are cut off, people start to fear the worst. there are enough of us around that have been here long enough to remember some of the other guys who came on the forum, worked on watches with no problems and then either disappeared with folks money, or kept watches for months and then did a terrible hurry up job on the project. One constant with every one of the guys who have been a problem here was the lack of communication. PM's returned in seconds at first, and then suddenly, no response at all.I certainly don't put Mike in this category, but just and example of why folks are skeptical. All those fears could be put to rest by spending a little time getting everyone up to speed. And like Rolexman said, give folks the option of returning their watches if they are not happy with the time frame. I believe that it would be more productive to take a time out every day and sit down and answer emails and PM's. It is certainly less time consuming and certainly less frustrating than having to stamp out brush fires! I completely sympathize with you, as there have been times that my life has been in total chaos, and it seems like things are spinning out of control, but in the midst of all that, when you have a few moments, sit down and go through your PM list (I'm sure it's long and growing) and start with the oldest and eliminate them one at a time.

I PM'ed him yesterday, no 1680 cases and no more coming, didn't ask about the 5513's.

Looks pretty neat, if you like Red dialed watches. The fact that the guy wants to only do a face to face, plus he's willing to meet at a jeweler and let be authenticated means that he's selling a genuine Omega, or he is a super con man with balls of steel!!

I truly believe that Mike is honest, forthright, and is not trying to "cut and run". He has been thrust into a family situation that I'm sure at his age he had not the faintest idea that he would be involved with lawyers,wills and trying to go through probate. Even for folks that have had experience with this, it's still a time consuming procedure. It's also pretty exhausting, as you are trying to do something that one, you are not involved with on a regular basis, and second, most folks would rather be doing just about anything else besides sitting down and listen to a bunch of lawyers. Layer all of that stress on top of recent surgery and being sick, I'm sure he's running on fumes right now. Having said all that, when you are dealing with folks that really don't know you, except through the forum, people tend to start getting antsy when they don't get replies. Sometimes a quick PM of just a few words is all it takes to put customers at ease. I know that it is time consuming, and it takes time away from your bench, eating, sleeping and meeting with lawyers,but it's and important part of business. One of the positive things that will come out of this is you will know from the folks who are waiting for watches, who you will cull from your customer list. The other thing that I would bet that you take from this experience is not letting yourself get overloaded with work, as life's twists and turns always happen unexpectedly, and always at the worst time. The best part of this is like everything else in life, this too shall pass. In a few weeks, everyone who has a watch with you will have it back, hopefully most will be happy with the work and life will go on. And finally, What I find a little strange, if you send a genuine watch to the manufacturer for repair or restoration, it may take 3-6 months to get it back, and I can guarantee you, they don't tell you anything beyond what they are going to do and what the cost is!

That's really too bad. PayPal is definitely the 800 pound Gorilla when it comes to payment systems. With their relationship wifh Ebay, they feel like they control the money transfer market, which they do, now. Big problem for them though, in the world of the internet, it's darn hard to stay at the top of the heap, and when Amazon gets their system up to speed, Paypal is going to have a formidable opponent!! Of course that doesn't solve the immediate problem, but whatever is decided, I will be behind it, and support the forum as always.

The key to me is to know the camera you are using, and that only comes from reading the manual and taking lots of photos.Great photos have been taken with simple point and shoot cameras, and awful photos have been taken with a 10K setup. So as Freddy says, it's not the camera, it's your eye. That's the neat thing about digital photography, you can take a thousand photos for the same price as 10!! I can remember not so fondly, going out and sitting in a photo blind with a Nikon F4 and a 300mm 2.8 and a 500mm 5.6. I would usually shoot 10-15 rolls of 36 exposure slide film. After developing, those 360-500 slides would usually yield around 5-10 really outstanding shots, about 20-25 OK shots and the rest went in the trash!! Pretty expensive photography. Now you can sit there and shoot till your batteries run dead or your card fills up, and the cost is nil. Another very important factor is light. one of the secrets to many of these really wonderful watch photos is plenty of light, but diffuse so that glare is minimized. You can use a light box with all sorts of different lights, but an overcast day has the same effect. The right light can turn a routine photograph into something spectacular, the wrong light can ruin even the best efforts. There are literally thousands of "how to" books on photography, find ones that pertain to the things you are interested in, and read and practice.

Very easy , either use a spring bar remover with a plain end or a big paperclip, depress one side of the springbar, hold tension to move the springbar away from the lug hole. Repeat on the other side. Much easier to remove bracelets on watches with open lugholes.

6542

I would agree with the M2M sales. in most cases the watch will have all of the "kinks" worked out, or they are disclosed in the sales thread. Another thing, frequently the watch will have some modding done, such as gen dial, gen crown/tube sometimes a genuine movement as well. Looking back over the years of sales of modded watches, very seldom does the seller get his money back on the watch + gen parts + cost of having everything put together, so it's usually cheaper to buy one already modded than to try to find the parts and have it modded yourself.

Leica made/makes the best lenses, hands down. That's why just about every photojournalist in the world used Leica cameras and lenses. Carl Zeiss glass is wonderful as well, but there is something about the photos taken with Leicas that are just a cut above.

Beautiful Saturday, A little respite from the crushing heat. Cutting grass and smoking a brisket!! Grass cutting watch

I can vouch for the expensive part. I bought an old TW best 16613 several months ago, only to find out that the case is not close to gen like, and it wouldn't even accept a gen crystal. So, I bit the bullet picked up a gen construction case, and sent the watch over to mymanmatt for the case transplant. We ended up finding a brand new 18k aftermarket bezel on Ebay for about 200 USD less than the ones are selling for from WSO and a few others. had to change the tube, as Matt couldn't get the old one out the case. So I have now a gen like case, aftermarket 18K bezel, gen insert, crystal retaining ring, washer and click spring, gen dial, gen crystal, gen crown/tube and springbars. It looks very nice, but I have a ton in this watch now, haven't even gotten up the courage to try to tally up the costs!!! Still at matt's but he sent me a photo today, as it's complete. Sad part, of the old TW Best, the only thing left is the movement and bracelet. I would have been a whole lot better off building this one from parts rather than starting out with a watch that was not gen spec.

Unfortunately, that's a problem with some reps. If the lugholes aren't drilled in precisely the same place top to bottom and from the case edge to the springbar, you might have problems. different rep makers put the holes in different places and it doesn't take much to make it impossible to fit the bracelet. Much bigger problem today with SEL's than back with the old sheet metal endlinks. I had the same problem with my GMT IIC sneed12 changed the case to a gen construction case, but sent me my old bracelet back. Wouldn't fit, I tried using a Dremel to shave off some of the front edge to get it in closer, but that didn't work. I ended up emailing him and asking for the bracelet that came with the watch, when I got it, I fitted it and of course it fit fine. Really not sure how you can solve the problem, if you use thin springbars, it might give you enough slack to get the springbars in the lugholes, but that is going to make your bracelet fit loosely, as there will be room for movement inside the springbar. Check the case that the bracelet came off of, and then check the case you are trying to fit the bracelet to, see where the springbars are in relationship to each other.

Very nice, so tell us about the build?

PM mymanmatt, he has some nice ones. they are plated, but they are heavy, well made and plated well.

I got the 93150 as well as the 585 endlinks from sellers on the vintage Rolex Market. Pearls came from a guy on VRM as well, but I contacted him well after he posted some for sale. I believe he was picking them up at watch shows. Just be patient and watch the VRM, also I believe the ofrei pearls are from the same place that supplied Rolex, but not sure about this. Freddy could clarify that for you, I'm sure. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Photo is attached now. Having a lot of trouble with my internet connection. Price you pay for living out in the country!! AFA the prices, I posted a spreadsheet of my build, with all costs, I'll try to find it and post a link. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD