panerai153

Hard to post after Freddy, everything he has is sooooo good!!! My old 1665 DRSD Since these photos, New crystal (managed to crack my old superdome) as well as a new crown/tube.

Depending on the amount of money involved, this could be considered a felony theft of goods and services. If you have a PO address, sometimes the DA's office can get the info from the USPS. To rent a PO box, you have to have a name, physical address and phone number. I believe when I first rented my company PO box, i had to give them my Drivers License so they could copy it. Another thing, If you have a full name, often you can find the person by doing a white pages search. Of course if his name is Mike Smith or Joe Jones, and he lives in Houston or another large Texas city, that won't be much good as there may be a bunch of folks with the same name. How about getting the mods involved here. When the individual registers on RWG, does he not have to register under his name and address? Can't remember as it has been so long since I registered. Sorry about getting scammed. It always feels like a sucker punch in the gut when someone you trusted takes your money and runs.

I agree, it's sort of like the first scratch on your new car. It seems like the end of the world, but a few months down the road and a little more wear and tear, and you won't even notice the dings. I'm one of those Rolexheads. I wear my watches under every circumstance, and they get scratched and dinged. I don't go out of the way to abuse them, but I'm and outside person. and I have a pretty good bit of acerage to take care of, all this requires encounters with tractors, lawnmowers, power tools, dirt, dust. oil, grease amd diesel. So mine are definitely not safe queens. I hate to see the first scratch on a new watch, but it's soon forgotten

I have been pretty consistent in getting my reps serviced before a problem occurs. I usually send them to The Zigmeister for a service and lume, as I have never been impresed with the lume on any of my reps. I factor in the cost of service as part of the price. I pretty much use the same rule of thumb that rolexman states in his post. If I am not sure, I wait, If I'm sort of torn between selling or keeping, I still wait, but If I plan on keeping a watch, it gets serviced. Another thing to consider, if you have reps that you really like and plan to keep, and they happen to have real Swiss ETA movements, I would seriously favor having them serviced. one reason being, in the very near future, genuine Swiss ETA movements will become impossible to source, outside of buying a donor watch and using the movement. Swatch is goimg to shut down the sale of movements completely to all watchmakers outside the Swatch group. And until such time as the Chinese movements come up to the quality standards of the Swiss movements, i would still prefer Swiss. Even if the movements were available, why have all the hassle of sending off your broken watch and hoping that the problem isn't a major one.Get it serviced properly and you should be good to go for years.

+1 for Watchmeister, a true gentleman.

A little off subject, but is that a tritium pearl in your insert? I would expect a lumi pearl to glow like the dial and hands. That dial looks exactly like the dial in my genuine "P" series 16610 from 2000.

So, if Chiman got two and they are both running OK, and all of these were from the same batch, it might be that yours was assembled by some ham handed apprentice who didn't "notice" that a gear had 4 teeth missing, and screwed up the keyless works. If he/she broke off a screwhead, probably using and impact wrench for assembly!!

Very nice!! Amazing how much difference genuine inserts make.

Absolutely agree with ubi! i wouldn't trust trusty or any of the dealers to do a high quality competent service. In actuality, the watches should COME SERVICED, just like a genuine, but they don't, so the burden is on you. IF you are dealing with vintage models with old movements, a good service is a must.

keep the 1680, it's a classic. the 16610's are a dime a dozen.

Great news, I NEED a 1680 case!!

The rep manufacturers are producing thousands of reps, primarily for the street sellers who are selling "Throw away " watches to tourists, etc. We are fortunate that there are some who have set up production for really nice quality reps like we enjoy here. however at the price point that they sell watches, It probably doesn't seem feasible to them to fully service movements before they case them and send them on down the road. The second problem would be training and retaining skilled people who have the desire, brains and technical skills to become watch movement repair people. there is such a disconnect between the manufacturers and the sellers and ultimately you and I the buyers, that they probably don't really care if we are happy with the watch we received. I'm sure some of the sellers are concerned, but they have no control over what the manufacturers do. I'm sure if a dealer complains too much, the manufacturer will just cut him off and sell to someone else. Our problem, is we look at reps with the same eye and mindset that we do genuine watches. We expect the watch to be deliverd in a timely fashion, and that since it is new, we should be able to set the time and date, strap it on and everything works perfectly. If it doesn't we have several avenues to address the problem. The seller, AD, the company representative, and finally the company itself. Because they are all concerned with PR, they will generally do their best to see that your problems are resolved. On the other hand reps are bought from a "Dealer" probably in mainland China, Thailand, or some other similar far away place. In order to get a problem fixed, first we have to convince the dealer that we have a problem, then if he agrees, we have to ship it back, hoping that when it arrives, he will remember what the problem is, who it belongs to and has another watch like it in stock to exchange. Lots of places for failure, two trips in and out of customs, mail service that may lose your package, employee of the seller who receives your broken watch, doesn't have a clue as to why it's there, and shoves it into a corner in a storeroom. I'm sure I'm painting a pretty glum picture, but that's the rep business. My personal feelings are when I get the watch, it's mine, warts and all. If it's broken, I figure the easiest thing to do is box it up, send it to one of the watch folks who frequent our forum, and pay for the repairs myself. Get it fixed, get it serviced, and hopefully have a reliable watch for a few years.I feel for you, but the 2846 in my 6542 was filthy dirty, as well as mechanical problems,hopefully after a service it will be OK, but when I got it, it was losing 2-3 minutes every 12 hours!! hows that for accuracy.

My experience in the past including a 2846 GMT in my 6542, as well as several 2846 movements in various vintage Rolex reps has been this, the 2846 is and old movement, if it is a Swiss movement. They haven't been produced in over 20 years. i'm sure some of the movements being used today are coming from old donor watches that are torn open and the movement scooped out. If it runs, it goes in a new rep, maybe if it doesn't run it still goes in a rep!!. At any rate even if you get a movement from a NOS watch, and there are still quite a few found on Ebay, it's a 20 year old movement that hasn't run or been serviced since new.So the first thing I would factor in would be a service. I mean a complete teardown ultrasonic cleaning and then reassembling with the proper oils and grease. Do not assume that because they added the extra gear train to produce a GMT, that they serviced the movement, because they didn't. Good luck with the puretime. To make a really good 6542 rep, they are not the way to go. joeyB is the 6542 master, and he can tell you a lot about a 6542 build. I sent him my puretime 6542, to use as a parts donor watch, and the only thing he ended up using was the movement. Everything else was just too "wonky' or just didn't fit. What's so sad about the whole things, they cartel has some no crown guard cases that would be a whole lot more correct for a 6542, but they decided to build it using this case with the rehault that looks like a Wok, instead. Mine didn't even have the "roulette" date wheel which would have been a really big help.

For a budget build, they aren't too bad. the crown is way off, needs a new genuine crown/tube, some caseguard work, but all in all you have a nice rep for not a lot of bucks.

This was a deal i came across through someone else. the guy selling the watch was needing funds for school, Madical or Lawaschool, I can't remember. I offered him 3500.00 USD plus shipping and he took it. This was 2+ years ago, prices since have crept up a little, but I still think that you can find nice ones for less than 4K. Every time Rolex introduces a new model like the new Ceramic Sub, they raise the prices. When new prices go up, used prices go up about the same amount, percentage wise. AFA super frankens of the 16610, i never saw the rational, when you add the cost of a new 3135 movement, dial, hands, crown/tube, bezel insert and bracelet, i guarantee you will be within 1k of a very nice used genuine 16610. Of course if the yuki 3135 proves to be a good solid movement or the superclone 3135 that TC wrote about is real, then they change the dynamics. Instead of 1500.00 USD for a used Rolex movement that will probably require a service, you substitute a 200.00 USD clone that's brand new. Now you may be in the ballpark. OH, if only they would clone the 1570's and the 1030's i would be in a state of ultimate bliss!!

my last genuine submariner purchase was about 2 years ago, maybe a little more, I bought a "P" serial 16610 in really nice condition, it had a service within a year of my purchase, my price was 3500.00 USD. I think this one is a sucker deal. Someone will buy it because it's probably 600-800 cheaper than a complete watch, only to find out that the parts alone to make this thing right are going to cost another 1500-2000 USD. As Red said, bracelets alone are around 1k, this one needs a dial, hands, crown,complete bezel assembly w/insert as well. you have a bunch of good Rolex guys around Dallas, ask one of them what all those parts would cost. Ask Matt, he would know. I would run not walk away from this one.

The only thing predictable about the US postal system is it unpredictability!! Generally, packages do arrive. On time, forget it. First class is really last class as far as expedited shipping is concerned. The only thing that is probably slower is book and bulk mailing rate. Like ubi, i have had packages go all over the USA before they finally got to me or to their destination. Shipping to Canada is slow. Canada customs takes their sweet time getting things through. I believe they check every package, not necessarily looking for drugs, contraband, etc. but they don't want to miss one dime of customs duty. God Forbid you declare something for less than what they think it's worth. At one time a while back, The Zigmeister was using UPS and FedEx I suppose because Canadian Customs was taking so long to clear packages. I found that the paperwork for customs clearance using FedEx was very complicated and time consuming. Their customs forms are completely different from the USPS forms, they require several different forms. I can fill out a long form from the USPS in about 5 minutes, I spent over an hour trying to complete the forms for FedEx recently. I feel sure your watch will turn up, it may end up with The Zigmeister, or it may be returned to you, but it will turn up. No matter what shipping method, I believe that you ought to insure for the amount The Zigmeister specifies, as well as purchase delivery confirmation. That allows you to track the package. Even though the USPS tracking isn't the best by far, if it doesn't show up in a reasonable time, they USPS does have an INTERNET tracking system that may help.

Thanks, i really believe the seller was as clueless as I was.I would have never bought it sight unseen except that i owned the watch, had The Zigmeister work on it, and sold it to this fellow. I don't think the dial problem is easy to see, unless you look at it under magnification, or look at it with the dial out of the watch. To be honest, I believe that the watchmaker who the seller claims to have known for 30 years caused the damage, either by letting the watch get wet, or disassembling it and not storing the parts in a dry low humidity environment. my feelings about the watchmaker are simple, just because you know someone for 30 years, doesn't make them good! Supposedly he was certified by Breitling and Rolex. I have no idea, I don't even know who he is.However, just like skilled people everywhere, be they surgeons, cabinetmakers, watchmakers,you name it Skill levels vary wildly, from those who hardly have the hands to change a lightbulb, much less work on someones heart or brain, to the most highly skilled people who are truly wizards at what they do.

+1 for the vintage rolex models. There have been so many attempts, and none of them have come close. Some of the rarer ones are really poor, and offer very little in the way of a foundation to build something better. The 6538 and 6542 reps come to mind. I've tried the puretime 6542 and a 6538 several years ago, both are so far off, they just can't be brought up to snuff.

Are you asking a question, or being accusatory of my lapse of common sense? Yes I did buy it without photos. I assumed erroneously of course that the watch would be in approximately the same condition that it was when I sold it back in 2007. However, realizing that I probably made a mistake, doesn't change the situation. having said that, just looking at photos, all that I would have seen was the hand deterioration. You cannot see the dial damage unless you look at the dial out of the watch. All the other laundry list of problems that The Zigmeister found would not have been noticable. The watch is running, keeping pretty good time ( I wore it for a couple of days when I got it back). I sent it up to The Zigmeister with the intention of having the hands relumed, and also having the dial indices relumed with his vintage superluminova, never expecting to get an email with all the other problems he found when it was disassembled. Thanks Freddy, I'm going to talk to The Zigmeister and that will probably be the route I take. I have another NOS 2472 movement that he can put in the watch, so with a good movement, refinished dial and redone hands, it should be OK.

I'm probably going to have to have the dial on my Doxa sub 300T refinished. I sold the watch to a fellow in Spain, he had it for 5 years and recently sold it back to me. Long story short, I got the watch back, hands were very deteriorated, so I sent it up to The Zigmeister to get the hands redone. He also discoverd that the dial was bad, paint bubbling up and a big chunk about ready to flake off, along with a fair number of other problems. Basically I'm stuck. the seller doesn't see the problem, claims that his watchmaker didn't do anythiing weong. money is spent, and no recourse, as I sent him the funds via MoneyGram. So I can either stick the watch in a drawer and forget about it, or repair it and get it back to close to the shape it was in when I sold it to him in 2007. I haven't really talked to The Zigmeister about the dial, as his recommendation was to reasssemble the watch and send it back for a refund. Hopefully between him and some other members here, we can get and idea as to the best source of dial refinishiing. If you are interested in reading the whole story along with before and after photos, I posted a thread on the "other brands" forum entitled "my old Doxa after 5 years abroad returns home" Link:

We have a very nice fellow close by to me who was certified by Omega, years ago.I'm sure he is OK, but I'm a little reluctant to take anything I truly care about to him for repair. In the past 15-20 years, I doubt that he has actually worked on more than a handful of mechanical movements a year. I asked him if he had a pressure tester, his answer was "I've got one, but it's been so long since it's been used, the seals are all dry rotted" Pretty much all he is doing now is changing watch batteries. Watchmaking as a profession is truly a dying art. more and more quartz watches, which in a lot of cases have become throwaway watches. Not to say that there aren't high end quartz watches, because there are, but considereing that the cheapest mechanical watch will cost over 200.00 USD, it's easy to see why the masses are wearing 49.99 Quartz watches. The trend doesn't bode well for the profession.

Here is Ming Quy's website: http://www.vintagewatchesmq.com/ What about the cases that higho is working on? He definitely has a 5513 case in the works. Supposed to be 1:1 and will accept all genuine parts.

I've had a bunch of new Doxas, they just don't sing to me like the old ones. I'm not sure what refinishing a dial would cost. i'm going to conmtact kirk Rich and see what their prices are like.

W, That's was my thoughts as well. I have another movement out of a donor watch, so it's definitely possible to fix it. I may have to have the dial refinished, All in all it's going to be a fairly expensive restoration which makes me angry, because it wasn't necrerssary to begin with. I told the buyer when I sold him the watch back in 2007 that it was and old vintage watch, and it had not been pressure tested, and to definitely not get it wet until he made sure it was water resistant. Obviously he ignored my warnings, or he was told by theis "watchmaker" that it was fine to swim with!