panerai153

I agree with you to and some extent,. but I've been on this forum for almost 7 years,and was on the old TRC for probably 4-5 years before that. Do you know how many posts I have seen like the one above. Obviously someone who has come on here and not done any research, read any reviews, but wants me to find him a watch. If you are truly interested in the forum, you will make your first posts pertinent within a forum that interests you. If you are interested in a Rolex 16610, then go to the Rolex forum and ask questions there, Not who has the best 16610, but why is a TC sub better than a Puretime sub? Or can I expect better accuracy, longevity, etc from and ETA movement rather than a Asian clone? Obviously you have been reading and researching, which I admire. What you now face is the dilema of who to believe. When the scam sites call us a scam site,it's just their feeble attempt to steer you away from the truth. they don't want you over here interacting with more experienced rep lovers because we will expose them for what they are.

and again!!

Unfortunately, even if you find the culprit, it's going to be pretty hard to pin anything on him unless one of the surveillence cameras got the whole thing on tape. all he isx going to say is "I don't know what you're talking about, I was never in that parking lot, and by the time you file a charge for hit and run damage, his car will be spotless, no paint ,no damage and never been there. i'm afraid this as freddy said "another part of the rich pagent of life". Park further away next time. I try to park as far out in a parking lot as possible, unless it's at night and I park closer for security reasons. The Fat asses in their minivans aren't going to bother you if your park 40 acres away from the front door!!

There are a lot of folks here on this forum who are gen owners. In fact I have at the moment 14 gens and 6 reps. there have been times when the numbers were reversed, and a few years ago, I sold all of my reps except 2 and only had gens.I got back into reps about 5-6 years ago, and for the most part have only modded/franken ones. Quite frankly, I have never worried about other people and what they thought about my watches either gen or rep. As Krusty said, at some point in your life you realize that no one cares, no one really knows, and unless you are working with a bunch of Rolex addicts, the average person can't tell a Rolex from a Timex. When you have that epiphany in your life where you quit worrying about what others think, or what others percieve, it is a truly refreshing feeling. I don't worry about fakes of anything. At my age and my profession, I can carry off just about any watch, except for something like Nadal's Richard Mille!!!! My feelings are the folks who really look down on reps are probably for the most part, pretty vain shallow folks who are lacking in self confidence, and use their cars, clothes, watches, etc. as pretty lame attempts to be something they aren't. I know around here, back in the early 80's the Rolex Day Dates were very popular. We had a lot of people in the Oil and gas business, and wearing a Gold "President" was a symbol to everyone that "you had arrived". unfortunately, the price of oil and gas fell through hte floor, lots of the independents went under, and before long the pawn shops were full of Gold Day Dates!! I bet most of the guys who hocked their watches, realized after a while that the Seiko or Bulova did just as good a job of keeping time, and that not a soul noticed that they were Rolexless!! One of the things that has gotten me a little more interested in Gens is some of the small makers like MKII and Ocean7 are producing some pretty neat watches at a very good price point. Another thing, the gens are easier to get worked on. Any competent watchmaker can take an ETA movement down and parts are readily available. Most of them are very water resistant right out the box, so you don't have to do anything to them except wear them.

There is no way that watch could look this good after being worn,even carefully worn for a few years. Either it's been sealed inside a. time capsule, or it's been "enhanced"!!! Looks like it was picked up new at the local AD today

WOW,'That store has some serious bling!! What's so crazy, if you add the cost of a case, bezel and 18K bracelet, you are already at the cost of a genuine 18038. I'm not talking about one with diamonds, etc. A plain yellow gold Day Date with regular fluted bezel and the 18K President bracelet. If you add the cost of a genuine movement,crystal, dial, hands, this one would be more than a gen.

My feelings are laser welding in itself is not something that is completely taboo. Someone mentioned in the VRF thread that Patek uses laser welding to restore old cases that have been over polished or damaged.What is wrong is misrepresenting the watch as "untouched, pristine,NOS", or whatever catch phrase you want to use to lure unsuspecting buyers into a overpriced watch. That's what is going on here. Lying and deceit to make the watch worth more money, with absolutely no disclosure to the buyer. I wonder how many of those "NOS subs in his showcase will be sold now at the prices he'sa asking? Even though nothing is proven, the seeds of doubt have been sown!!! And boy, if they do get a few Xrayed, and show laser welds, he might as well move to Ebay, where all of his ilk should be anyway. BTW there is now a second thread going Return to Index We've had an offer of access to sophisticated X ray equipment...

1665

I tried to email spin a week or so ago,wanting info on a gold 6263. No reply either. Maybe it has something to do with CNY? If you can't get in touch with spin,possibly MD2020 would have a look. Is yours an A7750 with the rotor and autowind mechanism removed?

why doesn't that movement have a regulator? It's listed as a Swiss ETA 2836 modified??

Not a particular fan of either, however the Monaco is pretty interesting. the PO is to me just another black face dive watch. however in the end, I tend to think that the WOW factor of the Tag will fade while the PO will still be a well liked watch. i would have to vote for the PO

It's gonna get interesting!!! Yesterday a watch lover that's high up in a big professional Radiology group offered the use of their equipment to Xray watches that were bought from the Hong Kong Source. Ogf course if the watch was sold say 2-3 years ago, the seller could always say that the present owner had the watch laser welded, but if they fiind a few, I believe that it's going to come down hard on the seller. Complete loss of trust among the collecting crowd. Pretty hard to sell this type of high end vintage watches if others in the community don't vouch for you.

AFA GMT's are concerned,I'm not sure that you are going to find one that's good enough to passs muster "out the box" . As I said before vintage 1675's and some modded GMTIIC's are pretty darn good, like the 1675 Zeleni pictured. The hand stack problem is probably the only thing that will be a tell on a later Rolex GMT, AR'ed crystals are avaialble, the bezel markers can be repainted with platinum paint, so it's doable, not just straight from the factory however

Unless you guys are both in the same country, i still believe that shipping and customs problems are far more likely to occur than the seller heading for Brazil with the proceeds. If you look at the VRF sales, just about everyone asks for the proceeds to be wire transfered. I'm sure that because of what PayPal extracts for their services, a 10,000 dollar sale will be short several hundred dollars if PayPal is used. I have very mixed views, as a seller I would prefer the funds be transfered by bank wire, while as a buyer I would prefer to use Paypal. Simply because as a seller, if the buyer suffers from buyer remorse, and wants to return the watch, if you refuse, he will probably concoct some story and file a Paypal dispute. On the other hand, when you wire money, once it's gone, it's gone, no recourse. Before you consumate the deal, both you and the seller should have some serious conversations about all the "what if's" especiallty since you have some misgivings about the deal. Decide on a shipping method, Freddy suggests Registered mail, which if it's good enough for Rolex, I suppose it's good enough for me. It's dreadfully slow however, because as has been mentioned in other posts, it's the lowest priority of all mail, but because it's under lock and key, signed in and out, It's probably worth the wait, for safety. I didn't think about what Freddy said about insurance before I saw his post, but I'm sure the USPS is not going to send you a check for 5k for a lost watch without some proof that there was actually a 5k watch in the package. This may be problematic with a rep, no matter how much it cost to build.

MKII Kingston This afternoon

I believe that you guys did a super job of sorting out the problem. actually made something that could have gotten into a big hash up and made it really simple, "send me the owners address, I'll send it right out to him, he can do the same for me". Was proper that the seller sent you a few bucks to handle the shipping, as it really wasn't your fault that the watch(s) went to the wrong place. I have always had a horror of doing just that. Couple of times I sold several watches at one time, and I obsessed about making sure the right one got in the right box and it was addressed to the right buyer. It certanly could happen, and you guys worked it out just great

There is/was a PAM 029 for sale on the sales forum, it has been extensively modded., but it's as close to gen as you are going to get. Another option, but not "off the shelf" is the older Rolex 1675. It uses the same hand stack as the rep's with ETA movements, so it's very close, if the right guy builds it.

Mike, Now don't you let those PAM guys lead you down that primrose path to their den of iniquity!! I know, I tasted that elixir and heard the sirens song, but after a while, the Coronet kept sending out signals,and finally I was able to escape!!

Great post Pete!! Sadly, a great number of the noobs who come on the forum have exactly that mindset. Too darn lazy or too stupid to use the search function. It amazes me that they were able to find RWG. Our problem is we are helpful and gentle with the noobs, we spoon feed them, thinking this is a good guy, he's really interested in reps, wants to learn more, yada,yada,yada. When in fact he is none of the above, he's a wannabe who is trying to find a great rep so he can impress his loser friends with his "genuine Rolex". Actually he's too lazy to find one himself, he wants me to spend my time lookinig for him. "I'm too busy to search the forum,dealers websites ,etc, just send me the links" I believe that what we should do with all the "one posters" is answer their requesat with one word- SEARCH!!!!!

Thats easy !! Get thy self down to your local AD and pick out the one you want.

Another weird one

Never heard of him. Probably didn't post on the Rolex forum. I'm sure he is just like lots of us, interest waxes and wanes. Folks have like issues that force this watch addiction into a back corner or closet for a while. Some folks just lose interest entirely. I'm sure there are quite a few folks who come on here and stay around for a while and buy a few watches and in the long run possibly have some problematic reps, aren't happy with their longevity or accuracy and gravitate back to gens. Another thing, which wouldn't account for his absence, but lots of sellers have made it clear that there are quite a few people who act like they are all set to buy a watch, post "I'll take it", Pm the seller for Paypal info, and then suddenly just disappear. Don't return PM's and drop out of sight. It's happened to me a few times, and it's very frustrating. Hopefully someone will chime in and let you know what's going on

Man, that's great. by the way I saw two sets of 6538 hands on sale on the VRM today. One set looked pretty good, the second one was a little more "worn" but certainly usable.

great photos, and you are right. Back in the old days when I was young and foolish and really thought people noticed what you wore, drove or lived in, I had a couple of gen day/dates with the 18k yellow gold "president" bracelet. Now that I'm older, I realize that I really don't care for that much bling. In fact I stayed away from the Day dates for a long, long time, because i felt like they were just a little too flashy. lately, I have been seeing more and more come up over on the VRM either as head only, or on a nice strap. I thought I would try one on for size. Not a gen this time, but a built just for me y/g, gen champagne dial, gen crystal crown and bezel. Should be here Friday or Saturday when it gets here, I'll post some photos. I have always liked Rolex sport models on a s/s bracelet, but I tend to think that dress watches look better on leather, just my preference.

You know the worst part, is now this really introduces a sense of mistrust toward the vintage crowd as a whole, and I know that there are loads of guys on the VRF that are as honest as the day is long, and would never knowingly do anything that even leans toward misrepresentation. the big problem to me is who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? If i had the money today to buy any watch(s) that I wanted, I would be in a real dilemma as to who to turn to to find what I want