panerai153

Pretty amazing. Why don't buyers do a little homework. not only is the watch awful looking, that cyclops looks like a wart on the crystal!! All they have to do is spend 2 minutes on a google search to find out that the sticker on the back is for a SS?Gold Datejust and the bracelet numbers/lettersare ass backwards. the writing should be on the right side looking at the clasp, not the left and its a number for a SS/gold clasp anyway. Why,why,why! I truly don't feel sorry for fools that buy this junk thinking that they made "the deal of the century"

Very nice, Great photos.

Man, that's really too bad about the watch.It always worries me when i ship somethiing valuable. it's just too easy for some guy to take a package off the line somewhere, take it back into a dark corner, slit it open, take out the "Good stuff" and reseal it. a competent thief can probably do it just as fast or faster than I can type this.I hope that when Z filled out the customs declaration, he didn't use the word watch. Ziggy always warned folks sending packages to him to list it on the customs declaration as broken horological device for repair and return to sender. i would guess that most thieves would only see the word broken and pass on that package, at least I hope so. back to the 6542's When we tried using the PT (Puretime) case, I believe that joeyB said that if you shaved the rehaut down enough that it looked semi gen like, the dial would no longer fit as the opening would be too big. possibly the ingod44 dial will work. on his website, he says it's 26.5, It's not it's more like 27.3 or .4. If you can get your friend who is going to do your modding to shave the rehaut and find a dial to fit, no reason that watch wouldn't do OK. One thing when/if you buy one make sure you tell Angus absolutely make sure the one he sends you has the roulette date wheel (Red/Black numbers). The one he sent me had an all black numbered DW, which created another problem of making the correct DW. Ask for photos of the actual watch you are getting with several dates odd and even days.

You must have read Orchi's thread!! From the new photos, it looks better AFA the 502T's , they are to fit an Explorer or 16750. Saw a sealed set that sold last Oct for 125.00 USD, so not as pricy as 580's or 585's, but still have value

TC sub, and then you could go either way LV sub or a nice non date with the black no date and black insert. Movement, you need a fast beat, so I would say either a 2836 or a 2824 whichever fits the case better. Or you could use the movement and hands from the TC sub to blutack, Where do you propose finding a modern sub case? About as scarce as hens teeth. that's why all the guys here who are building superfrankens use a good rep case as the base for their builds.

I would say the Tudor, but as hartdoc said at 34mm it's going to look awfully small on your wrist. Also if you want to move it along later, it's going to be a hard sell. My wife wears a 34mm Tag, and it's nice on her wrist, but I couldn't wear it. i would keep looking if I were you. a lot of nice 39mm Tudors come up on Ebay and the Vintage Rolex market, and a lot of them are in that price range. Nice thing about a Tudor, it's very good quality, not well known, has an ETA movement which can be serviced easily by any competent watchmaker.

Is the bezel genuine construction on your trusty? If the midcase is genuine spec construction, then you have several alternatives, but if it's not, you may have trouble fitting a gen spec bezel on your watch.

building a 6542 is in a way sort of like building a superfranken Daytona, a long involved expensive task. Basically, before you embark on this build, I would read every thread about the 6542 that you can find. there are several avenues to a decent build, one that i would not advise is to try to use the puretime 6542 rep as a base. I started off with that one, and the only thing I was able to use was the movement. Case is bad, bracelet is bad, dial won't fit gen spec cases, so I ended up with and expensive movement and a bunch of non usable parts. IF one wants to try using that case, I have the case/bracelet thatI'll let go really cheap!! You could got the superfranken route like the Ming Quy watch for 4200.00USD or you could do as Freddy did, and start searching for parts to build one. I would say that if you go this route, be prepared to spend a lot and endure a lot of frustration. Freddy has lots and lots of contacts and resources that he was able to utilize for parts as he said above. If you don't, don't go this route. I wanted to put a genuine 1030 movement in mine, would have made the build a lot easier, but I could not find a movement. I searched for months, a few 1030.s but none with the 24 hour GMT gear train. I ended up using a ETA 2846 which creates more problems because of the date wheel location. Mine is still a work in progress because of the dial/ DW problem. JoeyB has built several really nice ones useing a rafflestime case and his own dial. He uses the DG3804 movement in his, others use the ETA 2846 I believe that the simplest build, not necressarily the cheapest would be a gen spec case set like the ming quy, an Ingod44 dial, JoeyB insert and date wheel overlay, ETA2846 or DG3804 movement (Factor in a movement service for sure with the 2846) rafflestime hand set, and someone with the time and patience to put it together. I believe that you would have a pretty presentable watch for less than 2K, of course a bracelet will set you back from 200.00USD (Rep) to 1k for a genuine rivet 7206 in good shape. So when you factor in the bracelet and a 1030 movement, the ming quy @ 4200.00 USD is probably not such a bad deal. DIY would of course spread the cost over time, because it's going to take you some time to come up with all the parts.

What would you expect from a seller with the name Lab-Made? Fake diamonds, fake watches. Zero feedback. This guy isn't even smart. Maybe this is one of those super rare 1803's that were produced with SS cases, LOL Probably won't sell before the hounds over on the Rolex Forum "Sniff out the fakes on Ebay" Department get all over this one. Of course since it's not a Sub,SD or Daytona, they probably can't tell it's fake!!

Could you possibly take a couple of cleared photos so that we can really see what's up? Put the watch down on something solid and take the photos with your camera steadied on something so that the shots are clear.Also, don't face the camera toward the light, get the light above and slightly behind the camera, or go outside and take the photos in natural light. That pearl does look like it's off a ceramic insert, need better phoots to tell.

Pretty neat looking watch for Ladies, excwept to me the rubies at 6 and 9 sort of give it and off balanced look. Better to stick with diamonds all around. My wife would wear one, but only if it were real!!

The coronet under the R appears on genuine jubilee 65210H clasps made in the 1980's. However thereare4 a lot of aftermarket clasps that also have the small coronet as well. So if it is aftermarket, you will have to depend on other "tells" to determine. Looking at your clasp, I don't think it is genuine. the tell I'm looking at is STEELINOX. I just looked at three genuine Rolex clasps as well as a genuine Tudor clasp and they are all spelled STEELINOX, one word none of them have the gap between STEEL INOX, the L and I are almost touching. STEELINOX. Unless yours is exactly like that and what I'm sseing is from the camera angle, it's not genuine. Here is a link to a very interesting discussion on the VRF (Vintage RolexForum) Orchi, quite frequenrtly opens up a "Can of worms" with his discussions. Pretty often his theories are shot down in flames by more experienced members, so read it and draw your own conclusions. http://www.network54.com/Forum/207593/thread/1288759930/1288922659/Orchi+believes+this+Odd+type+of+Rolex+%26quot%3BScroll%26quot%3B+Logo+on+Buckle-Clasps+is+aftermarket..%2B%2B

Happy Birthday MD2020 Stormy Sunday here Which one should I wear ? Lots of water outside, may need water resistance!!! Here's the one for today

radium was deadly!! it's a radioactive isotope. back around the late fifties, when the Radium "Scare ' was at it's height, Rolex actually tried to get back all the 6542's that had the bakelite bezel inserts because it was determiined that there was too much radium on the dial, hands and insert to be safe. I have seen copies of the letter that Rolex sent to watch owners urging them to return the watches for a bezel exchange. They were replaced with aluminum inserts like the later 1675's. No need to worry, all of the lume used today is non-radioactive and has been for many years. Someone asked for a photo of BGW9 here is a MKII Kingston with BGW9 lume.

great photos. Looks like this is a handy tool to take watch servicing to the next level.

Getting dresed up tonight, Mardi Gras Ball !!

Interesting how many folks here are so anti Tag. i really could care less, I'm not particularly fond of them, but that statement would probably be applicable to a hundred brands of watches, including some that are very expensive. . I can understand the WIS attitude toward Quartz watches, but guys, reality check, we comprise a micro miniscule part of the watch buying public. The vast majority of folks who buy watches especially those in the lower and mid range price brackets, don't care if its got a 48 jewel movement beating at 28800 or if its a got a 10 dollar quartz movement. they just want a watch that looks OK and is dependable. And the quartz movements are dependable. As long as the battery has juice, it runs, and it runs accurately. A case in point is my wife. When We got married she had a Quartz, watch. She sort of took a passing iterest in my watches, and from that she decided that she wanted a Rolex. Now my wife is definitely NOT into replicas! So for Christmas that year I gave here a nice gently used SS/18K lady Datejust with a Diamond bezel and MOP dial. She loves it, but she doesn't wear it often and she complains about having to reset the time and date. "I really want a nice Quartz",she told me. So I found here a nice SS/Gold Maurice Lacroix which she also likes, but it;s not "dressy" enough!! We were in a jewelry store in Destin Fl last summer, she spied a Tag mid size Lady Aquaracer, MOP dial, Diamond bezel. Love at first sight. First thing she asked the salesman is it Quartz? He told her it was and that pretty much sealed the deal. i talked her out of buying that one @ 3200.00 USD, but I promised her I would get one by our Anniversary. I was able ot find one that was a store display watch with a few tiny handling scratches for about half the price at the jewelry store. She got it for our anniversary and I promise it's not been off her wrist for 3 months, except to sleep and when she gets really dressed up and wears a old style Omega dress watch. So guys remember for most folks especially women who don't want to be bothered, the quartz is just the ticket.

Hayden, A lot of us don't do the modding ourselves. my expertise level is changing/sizing bracelets and straps. can open the back of one, but can't do anything once I'm inside except look!!!

hi Mike I have always preferred Miller blades. Started off with them in training, and never switched. On adults I use a Miller 3. we use a Kingvision or Glidescope on difficult ones.

I've been hearing that for the last 5 years and they are stilll readily available. I'll believe that when it actaully happens. No offense to TC but $130 for a Asian clone movement isn't going to be the beginning of a new ball game in the watch industry. I've been hearing the same thing, but from the recent readiingI have done, it looks like it is going to come to pass.Here is a link from the Promethus Wqatch company, which I am not that familiar with, but they do have a forum on WUS. http://www.prometheuswatch.com/how-etas-decision-to-stop-supplying-movements-affects-prometheus-watch-company-and-watch-industry/ Here are a couple of exerpts from that article: It has been announced for some time that ETA would stop supplying movements to third parties but consequences of that decision haven’t had been experienced till now. As a result of ETA’s decision supply of their movements has become scarce and prices have had increased considerably in market. Many movement brokers had got confirmations of supply from ETA that simply got cancelled without notice and as a result prices in 2012 for ETA movements have increased over 70% in markets managed by movement brokers. From our contacts in industry we got information that in 2013 situation will deteriorate further and expectations are that ETA may completely stop supply of movements to third parties. For 2012 we were able to secure ETA movements to be used in our limited editions already released and to be released this year. However usage of ETA movements will become more and more scarce and we find it hard to release new watch models featuring ETA movements. This is true for us and for any company not part of Swatch Group. And this is Really Interesting: We think that using ETA clone movements can be a plus. This enables usage of existing tooling for watch cases and hands and at same time peace of mind for our customers as will always be easy to find replacement parts for the movements or service those as majority of clone movements have interchangeable parts with the ETA counterpart. Although a few years ago questions would arise when using China Made movements such issues no longer exist in our opinion. We have been investigating this movements since 2008 as can be seen in this link at watchuseek watch forum where a comparison between the ETA 2824-2, Seagull ST2130 and Hangzhou 6300 has been made. Quality of Seagull and Hangzhou movements has improved in the last four years and quality keeps increasing with time. In terms of overall quality we place Hangzhou on pair with Seagull though for many Hangzhou is less known, this due to fact that Hangzhou only produces mechanical movements not full watches. Same for Shanghai with its 3LZF2 movement that has proved with time to be a reliable alternative to the Valjoux 7750 movement with some minor differences in terms of construction and dimensions. We embrace this changes in the watch world with an open mind and expect that with this changes watch collectors will appreciate increase of diversity and innovations to come.

What? MDA I'm and old one so I guess I'm an OMDA Maybe my user name should be gasdoc!! Actually a friend of mine already has that one as his email address and on his license plate on his car. I would rather fly under the radar. I'm really only an MD in the OR otherwise in a small town like this I'm happy to be just another guy in cowboy boots and jeans who drives an F-150 We also have a farming and cattle operation as well. (SometimesI think I should have been a vet!) So i'm just an old country boy.

Good advice, just not a good investment, but then how many watches are? Outside of most Rolex models and a select few exotic, one off or classics like Patek, Breguet, etc most watchex actually depreciate in value. If you don't believe it, go over to WUS or TZ and look at 95% of the watches for sale. most are selling at considerable discounts from their retail price when new. Buy em cause you love them, wear them cause you want to!! Any good investment counselor worth his/her salt will try their best to steer you away from Art, watches, exotic cars,etc, as investments. Most are fairly illiquid Is this a word?), especially when times are tough and high end markets are slow.I knew a guy back in the 80's who was into Ferraris, especially the really exotic ones, he was making money hand over fist bying and selling, and then all of asudden the Japanese market crashed, the Japanese quit buying, and he lost about 3.5 million in six months on cars he bought and had to unload at fire sale prices. the big buyers left and all that were left were the vultures to pick the bones of the dead and dying.

Your close Mike forgot the H in anesthesiologist. But you are way closer than most folks !!!

That's correct. I believe that he will probably be pretty selective with what he does and who he does it for, but as several of the others above have said, I think that he has finally reached the point where he can say adios to reps. I can't blame him, some of the stuff I've sent him over the years cerainly would try ones patience. However I have also sent him some really nice and interesting genuine watches to repair.He has been my go to guy for my Doxas over the years. Inicluding this one. It's not a 6538, but in it's own right, it's pretty special. It's the only example (to this point) of the Doxa submariner that was produced in the 1950's prior to the famous sub 300 watches. It was in pretty sad shaope when I found it, he overhauled the movement and stabilized the lume. Super job as usual.

And for 36 years, I have kept those people still so that the people mechanics can do their magic!! Also stamp out labor pain,(I'm your wife/girlfriends best friend, at least until the baby is born). Great job, every day is different, Would be even better if I didn't have to put up with surgeons! Can you guess what I do?