panerai153

Waiting on a gen bezel/insert for this one!!

I certainly don't do any watch modding, but i do alot of wood working, building and redoing stuff. I bought a flexible shaft Dremel several years ago. It's pretty good, variable speed motor and you don't have to hold the tool in your hand, just the end of the shaft. i agree with the Foredom flex shaft, i had one years ago when I was doing a lot of custom stock work on Rifles. I liked the foot pedal that allowed you to change the speed without moving your hands away from the work. unfortunately, it "got lost" in a move and I ended up not replacing it. If I remember right they were pretty expensive, even back in the early 1980's

Looking good!!

By-tor, brother you beat me too the punch. lukenorris, I hope you didn't pay too much for this one,because it's a pretty low grade "Chinatown" rep. it's not your photos so much as everything is fuzzy, that's low quality!! Genuine Rolex watches are crisp, everything is sharp, details stand out printing is perfect. Look at the bezel on this watch, then go find some photos of a genuine yachtie, or even photos of a WM9 or TC and compare those to yours. Here's a genuine for comparison

Ploplof 6538

Tuesday, GoldDay

I bet there were 20 guys lined up waitiing to volunteer to help with her cavity search!! " Mr TSA man is that a gun in your pocket are you just glad to see me"

If you want a "run of the mill" 6538 rep, this one is OK. it's not very accurate, and it's difficult to mod. It uses non gen construction and it's hard to get gen/aftermarket parts to fit. i would suggest that you read a lot before ordering anyrthing. there have been some awsome 6538 builds herem, but you need to read about what it takes to make and accurate "James Bond"

What a crock of BS !!! hand painted PVC (I thought PVC was pipe!!) I'm sure Rolex is not happy about this little maneuver, I can see Dewey Cheatum and Howe frothing at the mouth ready to pounce on this idiot. You know we always talk about folks not needing to worry about watches and customs at airports? Well, guess what if the INS agent at Passport control sees this, guess what, you are going to get "invited ' into another line and then a private room so customs can do a cavity search as well as tear all your bags to shreds looking for the brothers and sisters of that little leaf you have on your watch. Forget that connecting flight to Dubuque!! maybe tomorrow.

Jim, I'm certainly not going to argue with MD, he's the watchmaker. However ,I have a 2783 in a Tudor big crown 7924 and it's a really solid movement. In fact it was the movement found in some of the Tudor subs. 25j as opposed to 21j, probably of no real consequence, jst more jewels!! i don't think you could go wrong with either one, but both are old, old movements and they really should be serviced before you put them in a watch. send them to MD2020 he'll fix you up.

Hi Mike, good to see you back!! Lots of new faces around, but a few of us old codgers are still here.

there you go. I'm not much on facebook, but my daughte,r son in law and 3 grandkids live half a continent away. She posts almost all her photos on Facebook, so i was sort of forced to join to see the grandkids pix. i did set my privacy limits to only friends can view my facebook page. i'm not too keen on every Tom, Dick and Harriet looking over everything I say or post. There needs to remain some privacy in this world we live in. AFa posting watch photos, several dealers post on their facebook page, I wouldn't have any qualms about posting a photo of me wearing a rep.

the ingod 1675 dial is identical to the 6542 dial except the 1675 is flat w/ feet and the 6542 has the rolled over edge that is designed to snap into the 1030 movement. I believe a 2846 would be a better choice for a 6542, but if you're making a fantasy watch, who cares.As Marty said, a DW overlay is needed to get the ETA DW to line up with the date window.

Some of the reps are really hard to get water resistant. As you can see from my post above the main ones that failed were two PAM's that both leaked around the crown/crown gasket. the UN Maxi Marine is a really cheap rep that probably could be made WR with a little work. the DSSD probably didn't have the crystal seated properly, or the crystal gasket was crimped. the PT 1680 has non gen construction and I believe a glued on crystal, probably wasn't glued on properly. It came from a guy who scammed some folks here, I know he fooled around with it, tried to do a crystal replacement and probably didn't glue it properly.. all of these are pertty strauight forward fixes, but if you jumped in a pool with any one of them, they would more than likely have flooded. My 1665 has since gotten a replacement T-39 superdome, and it's fine. We found that it had a crack at the base of the crystal running up over the retaining ring to the edge of the bezel. i probably cracked it when I hit it against something.

Is the box leather? If it is, you can use Lexol leather cleaner, saddle soap, just be gentle, because you may end up with some areas that the dye comes off if you scrub too hard.I use Lexol frequebntly on car seats, leather items, and it's pretty good. You can pick it up at any Western Store, Saddle shop. you have plenty in Dallas, Cavenders,Boot barn, All those places have leather cleaners and conditioners.They also work great for cleaning sweaty leather watch bands!!

Too bad this project crashed, I know a few folks got crystals,The gen crystals are available from time to time, but they are expensive!! i bought one ovver a year ago for my GMT IIC and it was around 275.00USD. The nice thing about a gen, if it doesn't work out, you can usually sell it on one of the gen forums and get your money back.

Tudor Rose

Sort of like that Panerai debacle a few years ago when they sold a really expensive "Limited Edition" watch which came with the cheapest unadorned ETA movement (probably was an Asian Clone!!) They caught unshirted Hell for that one http://www.network54.com/Forum/353391/thread/1320595343/The+mysterious+PAM318 Interestingly, this watch was made for the NY Boutique opening, and guess what they have engraved on the caseback, the Brooklyn Bridge!! So if you buy this watch, I 've got a bridge I want to sell you

You hit the nail on the head!! If you watch is leaking air around the crystal, pushers, crown, etc. It is going to draw moisture in, especially if you go from extremes of temperature like from air conditioned environment and a cold watch, you take it into a really warm area, you could get condensation inside, BUT only if it's not sealed. While many reps are water resistant, some are not. I pressure tested several reps a couple of years ago, here is a link to the old post http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/123307-waterproof-testing-my-experiences/?hl=%2Bpressure+%2Btest+%2Bresults As you can see from the thread, I tested 9 watches, 5 failed!!, so don't assume they are water resistant until demonstrated that they are.

Only Rolex in the house that's less than 13 years old!!

Some of these like Cartier are mostly bluster and bullying. Probably don't ahve a legal leg to stand on. Some things that are clear patent infringements are a different story. Panerai has been pretty sucessful defending it's crown/crownguard/locking mechanism. Hardly ever see any watches with anythiing even similar on the genuine market. On the other hand you have things like Mercedes hands that Rolex uses, copied by hundreds of brands.I doubt that those hands were patentable or copyrighted, as they are not something unique that Rolex invented. Also over time patents expire and become public domain. that's why we have generic drugs, brand patents expire and others step in to make the same drug at 10% of the price.

Why don't you start visiting the Vintage Rolex Forum and their Vintage Rolex Market. Here is the link http://www.network54.com/Forum/207673/ Visit around over there for a fwew days, Always a GMT or two for sale. Post a "Want to buy" with specifics of what you are looking for i.e, "late 1675 or early matte dial 16750" I guarantee you will get some responses. Nice thing is there are a lot of guys on that forum that are dealers, they know Rolex watches. They have to because if they make a mistake, it could cost them thousands. So you know that what you are looking at is genuine.Most of them have a return policy, so you're pretty safe, not like Ebay where you may be getting a good deal, but you may be getting scammed! Also while prices are firm on some watches, they usually have a little latitude, so it doesn't hurt to ask them, "what's the best you can do on this watch" i saw one that Steve Mulholland had for sale for 5k that he told a potential buyer on his facebook page that he could go 4700, so there's some "horse trading" allowed.

Very nice. Is that cyclops AR'ed?

Off today, so trying to catch up on chores. Here's one of my "Chores" watches!!

First question, is your wife knowledgable enough about reps to be able to tell a good rep from a really bad one? Second is she knowledgable enough about rep prices to keep from getting scammed? Purses, no prob, I'm sure she can tell the difference between a "Good" LV rep handbag and a shoddy one from 20 feet away, but I seriously doubt that unless your wife shares your passion for reps, this will have a good outcome.