panerai153

Thanks very much for the information. Sadly, I'm one of those who lost their 375.00 USD payment. as for me, I've written it off long ago. Another risk of dealing with reps.

1675 and Daytona would be my choices

First off, although I'm a long time Rolex fan, you need to buy what YOU like, not what I like. I'm older and pretty conservative, so I would tend to prefer watches that are more conservative. The Speedy Pro is a nice watch, but it's manual wind and no date, so it's not for everyone. the 16610 Rolex Sub is very nice watch, but here again, you're buying a Rolex model that is probably the most replicated watch around, so you may be wearing a watch all your friends think is a fake.Follow your heart and buy something that really resonates with you.What you might consider is trying out a replica of the watches you are interested in. Pick nice examples, wear them for a while, see what fits you and what you are comfortable with and then go out and buy the genuine article.You can always get most of your money back on the replicas if you decide to sell them. And incidently, I own a Speedy Pro moonwatch, as well as a "P" serial 16610. The Speedy gets almost no wrist time, It sits in my watchbox forlorn and sad., the 16610 gets more wrist time, but not as much as it used to. Surprisingly, my two favorite watches are my 800 USD MKII Kingston and my Rolex 16750 GMT

Thanks for sharing your experience. It's great that you were able to make it as far as you did, considering your illness. It's not the destination that is important, but the journey. you were able to accomplish soomething that very few others have been able to do. My utmost admiration goes out to you for making the journey.

Bill Yao quit selling parts and doing custom work a year or so ago. The reason was his watch business had grown to the point that selling parts was more of a headache than it was worth. Although that is what got him started, it was such a small segment of the business, and time consuming he decided to discontinue the parts line. At the present time, he only stocks parts for MKII watches, and I believe that his policy is new parts will only be shipped when the old defective part is returned, sort of like Rolex!!. I had to have the bezel replaced on one of my MKII's and I sent it to IWW for replacement. they had to remove the bezel and send it to MKII. they then sent the replacement. I'm sure the decision to close down the parts department was a real disappoint to lots of folks, especially the Seiko customizers, as MKII parts were very popular for customizing Seikos.

Even with a new or used ETA, I would factor in a service in the total cost. Send it to a reputable watchmaker (several on the forum) get the movement serviced and you will be good to go for at least 5 years or more. The ETA, that the rep builders use are bulk purchases and they are not packed in individual sealed packages, so if they are stored in a dusty area, they will be full of dust particles by the time they go in the watches. Also many of them are not properly oiled, or not oiled at all so between the dust and the dry mechanism, problems soon arise.

Quite frequently, the cost of the original rep becomes a very small part of the "Whole" after modding. As everyone above has stated, the price of genuine parts, labor, etc. can run the price up pretty quick. Most watches will profit by some simple modding, such as reshaping the crown guards, replacing the bezel insert, re drilling lug holes to accept genuine springbars,dial and hand lume etc. Others will need more to make them as close to the genuine as possible. When you start replacing dials,hands, movements, crowns/tubes with genuine, the price can go out the roof. Although this isn't a hard and fast rule, and some folks go much over on occasion, it's probably not advisable to spend more than 20-25% of the genuine's cost on a rep. Thus if you are modding a Rolex Submariner 16610 replica and the genuine is selling on the used market from 3500-5000 USD depending on age condition and whether or not it has the original papers,box,etc, you probably shouldn't spend over 1000 to 1500 USD on the replica including the watch cost plus mods.If you spend enough time on the sales forum, looking at modded watches for sale, you will probably begin to get a handle on sales prices. You will learn tha some sellers have so much in a watch, they can never get their money out of it. Sometimes it requires parting out the watch to recoup most of your expenses.Read, listen, and you will get a much better idea as to what you can do and what will end up costing you a pile of cash. Personally, I have never had any problem selling reps for 500-750 USD if they were well modded and in good condition. I do see that once you get over the 1k price, the buyer pool gets much smaller, and when you get up there in the 2,5-3.5k range, it will take a special person who is passionately looking for just what you are selling.

jkay is right. How many watchmakers do you think it would take to "hand build" 1 million watches a year. The big diference in my opinion is quality control. While everything is not hand made, the watches are hand assembled by skilled watchmakers, and they are tested before leaving. Your Rolex Replica sub may or may not pass a 3 atmos. pressure test. every Rolex sub passes the water resistance test or it's rejected and redone. So if I go scuba diving with my 16610, I'm pretty sure it's not going to flood at 60 feet. Of course that's providing that I do my part to make sure it's maintained.However in the same vein, i have no hesitation taking my 800 USD MKII Kingston (Rolex Bond homage) diving, as I'm quite sure that MkII's quality control is every bit as good as Rolex. Another thing you are paying for of course is the "name" Just using Rolex as and example, they spend millions and millions of dollars every year promoting the brand. So considering the higher quality control, much higher salaries and overhead and advertising, it's no wonder there is a significant cost difference.Remember as well, Rolex isn't selling directly to you, rather through their "authorised dealer" network. I have no idea what the dealers pay for the watches, but if it's in line with some other brands, Rolex is getting probably 3.5-4K for the 6.5K Submariner. In my opinion, while there should be a significant difference in cost, I believe that a lot of the sales price is simply and add on to the cost. It's basically what companies charge, because they can.That's the part that's added to insure that "the great unwashed" cannot afford their stuff, as well as adding to their brands lofty unobtainability. Remember that with a certain segment of the population, the more expensive and harder it is to find, the more desirable it becomes and the more they want it. I do agree with austintexas (wonder where he's from!!) Well built quality watches are and investment. I have a couple of 1960's era watches that still run well, and are in great condition. I wouldn't take them diving, but i'm not afraid to wash my hands with them on either.The biggest problem with most of us is that we are never satisfied with the watches we have. we are constantly trading, selling and buying something new. I have about 8 watches in my watchbox , 6 genuine, and 2 replicas that I won't sell. of my other 10 or so watches, I like, but if something comes along that really resonates, I wouldn't hesitate to get rid of them.So unfortunately, most of us never develop that feeling of buying a watch to hang on to and pass on to the next generation.

I suppose prices for these are like most watches, possibly excepting rare Rolexes,Pateks and a few other iconic brands, wax and wane over time. I started looking for Doxas around 2006, most of mine were purchased for around 600-800 USD. Then, it seemed like everyone was looking for old 300's 300T's, etc. before I knew it, the prices were over 1k for just about anything. Folks were paying crazy prices for watches with no bezels, mismatched hands, bad dials, etc. I sold most of mine, as I got frustrated with trying to find parts, plus every watch ended up having to have the movement overhauled. What I learned from this experience relative to Doxas is this: Some parts are now made from unobtanuium!! Bezels are scarce and usually, unless you are really lucky, don't fit. Beads of Rice bracelets (original ones) are usually beat to hell, stretched, and the micro adjustment that was great when they were new, is worn out.Doxa Crystals and Crystal gaskets, forget about it. That's just a start.Bezels can be repainted, hands and dial relumed , movements overhauled, but outside of that if you need parts, good luck! So my advice to anyone buying vintage Doxas, unless you have a hoard of parts in your parts box, you would be better off spending a little extra money getting one that is complete and possibly restored.

I believe the Vantage is sold out. There were a few up for sale from MKII a couple of months ago, and they went pretty fast. They do come up occasionally on the WUS sales forum.i have a couple of MKII's and I will tell you, they are really,really nice watches. For the price point (Just a little higher than unmodified top line reps, and quite a bit less than many of our "Franken's". I'm not a fan of the Vantage, I don't particularly care for the Explorer either, so I can't comment on the watch except to say that it's very high quality like all of Bill Yao's watches. Probably the biggest problem with MKII is the slow delivery times. Probably the watch that has gotten the most buzz of all of the MKII's has been the Kingston, a Bond Submariner homage. The original group of 100 buyers waited around 3 years from deposit to delivery. They are on the third stage orders now (3rd hundred), and it's not expected to finish up until October. So from the first deposit to the final delivery looking at somewhere around 3 1/2 years. Of course no one actually waited that long, but there were some who said that their wait was close to 3 years.Not a problem if you have plenty of patience, but otherwise I would try to pick one up used on the sales forums.

The 300's are getting really scarce, so if someone wants a Sharkhunter, this one would be a good one. Just a caveat about the Searambler with no bezel, it's awfully hard to finf the correct bezel. I sent that one to Lani, and it just was a lucky fit! I bought about 4-5 bezels over 5 years, and I only found one that fit, and unfortunately, it fit a Divingstar (Yellow dial) that already had a bezel in almost mint condition. none of the bezels fit my other Doxas. Problem was over the years from the first 300's until the 300T's were discontinued, about 31 different bezel cond=figurations were manufactured. Superficially, they were almost identical, some were a bit thicker. However thye changed up the inner diameters, as wel las the milling on the inside so that they were not interchangable. Another problem, Doxa did not stamp numbers on any of these parts, so you have no way of knowing if a bezel will fit unless you actually try it on your watch. Here are a few photos of Doxa bezels to illustrate my point. I believe the one on the top was the one that Fit Lani's watch

Wonderful story!!. As someone said,Everest is certainly no joke, and not for the faint of heart. i have enjoyed reading your account and hope that your stomach problems will get better fast. Great adventure!! I got some altitude sickness at 9000 ft in Switzerland yars ago, so I know this would never be an adventure for this "Flatlander".

Looks better in Gold!!!

I love that 1675!

Looks pretty darn good for a 22 year old watch. As was said, have to open it up to make sure the movement is correct. I am a little concerned about the bracelet. It may be the correct one, but the fit of the endlinks doesn't look right. It looks like the bracelet is attached directly to the watch, with no endlinks? Cancel that thought, I just had a look at several obviously genuine, and they all look exactly like hers. If she got it at a good price, it looks fine. What about service? has it been recently serviced?

I agree, and there are a couple of glaring differences between this and the genuine. the biggest tell that would stand out like a neon sign to a "Lange person", is the "12 marker on the rep ,none on the genuine. I'm sure they stuck it in there to give the dial some symmetry since the date window is much lower on the rep. having said that, The cheapest price I could find for a genuine Datograph Flyback wasaround 39.000.00 USD for a 5 year old used. thats about 38,700.00 USD more than mine! If I had won the Megamillions lottery a few weeks ago, I would have my watchbox stuffed with nice genuine watches like the Lange as well as a bunch of vintage models. I didn't so I'll have to settle for this one.

Here are a couple of photos taken outside, really lets you see how beautiful this dial and hands are. Also a better photo of the movement.

I saw the Professional over on WUS Doxa Forum a few weeks ago. It looks nice. I had at one time both of the previous Doxa 600 T-Graphs. This new one looks very similar to the 2005 edition 600 T-Graph with 3 subdials. The only thing i'm wondering is size wise,will this new one be a little smaller, similar to the 300T rather than the 600 T. The 2005 edition was a great watch, but it was just a shade too big. I never resonated with the 2 register version, and ended up trading it for my Tudor 9411/0. If the new one was the size of the 1200T or the vintage 300T's it would be a real winner in my book. Here is a link to the Doxa forum thread with the Professional photos. Alas, it uses the Doxa 4000 case which is big, probably bigger than the old 600T-graphs. I'll have to passs on this one. http://forums.watchuseek.com/f34/new-t-graph-info-661713.html

Thanks very much my Canadian Friend. Any accolades from you are sincerely appreciated. I am not much of a chrono person, so I doubt the chrono function will get used much. I am going to try to take a few more photos today since it's a nice sunny day and I'm on call, so not much else I can do!!

I bought it off VRF. It's in pretty nice shape. I got the 580 end links on VRF as well. It's amazing how the prices of all this vintage stuff has gone up in the past 3 years since I bought this stuff. Here are a couple of Wristies from a Southern Caribbean trip.

One of the greatest problems with the internet, is it allows folks to be anonymous. Although you have the guys name and address, chances are he is thousands of miles away, and you will never meet. Because of that people who are basically cowards can be as vile and threatening as they want on the internet, on forums, sales sites and emails. It gives those who are basically the ones always kicked to the curb at work,in relationships and life in general, a chance to be a "big Man" The best way to handle these people are ignore them. Don't get into a confrontation, that only empowers them. Refund his money, don't wait for a response. Send him and email explaining that you are sorry that you couldn't comply with his demands and it would be best to end the transaction. And now, for the next time, don't make the same mistake again. If you offer next day shipping, then you need to adhere to that. After all you get to make the rules, so you should play by them. I buy stuff from a fellow out in New Mexico. He does really nice silver work and leather tack. He lives way the hell and gone out in the sticks in Northern NM. He is probably at least 2 hours from a post office (yes Ken, just like in Australia, there are lots and lots of places in the USA that are way more than 2 hours way from a post office. Out west there are places that you are a half days drive away from anything!!) At any rate this fellow ships once a week on Thursday, which is his day to go into town to get supplies and groceries. So if you order something on Thursday evening, it's not going to be shipped for a week. But you know that up front. He makes it very clear on his website. So What you need to do is decide what is a logical shipping schedule and stick to it. It's not entirely fair to make a customer wait while someone else makes up their mind. Another thing, If it is indeed 2 hours to the post office, you need to be adding at least postage to the price. I would add a few dollars to the price as well to make up for gas ,unless you are going into town anyway. If you have to make a special trip to the post office, 4 hours of driving, probably translates to 30-40 bucks worth of gas. Unless you're getting a helluva price for those boxes, you will be bankrupt by the time you sell them all!! Just kidding, but you are giving away a lot if you are selling them for cost.

A competent watchmaker will disassemble the movement completely, and use the correct oil in the correct places when reassembling. Most of the watches coming from China have D&D movements (Dirty and dry). They are buying the cheapest grades of bulk movements. Even the ETA movements are not always cleaned and oiled properly. If the bench area is in a dusty environment, and the movement is left out and unprotected, it will get dust inside. Another thing, a good watchmaker can adjust the movement in at least 3 positions and it will run as accurately as it is possible to run. I always have my movements serviced if it's a watch I plan to keep. The watchmakes shouldn't have to replace any parts, but he will use the correct lubricants and the movement will be clean, both of which will result in greater accuracy and longivity.

Here is mine. I bought it in 2009, it's and older MBW. It's been so long, I had to go back and find the old invoices and sales thread to see what was done to it. . It was pretty nicely modded when I got it, but Ii sent up north and had a movement transplant and vintage dial relume.As well as a new movement ring and movement service. Work performed: Case smoothed, lug holes drilled, Genuine Crown/tube, genuine "Top hat" 127 Crystal.NOS 2846 movement (serviced), genuine bracelet and 580 end links. genuine springbars.genuine insert (I believe) w/genuine tritium pearl. i toyed with the idea of replacing the movement with a 1575, but it was too expensive, and the genuine dial doesn't fit the old "polex 5513 cases, so i left it as is. It's a great watch, running very close to COSC specs. All in all, I'm sure i have over 1k in this watch, but going all the way would have resulted in probably another 2k for a movement, dial and hands. That's way to much for a watch that in genuine form is selling for 4-5 k.

you are absolutely correct. If i hadn't seen yours, i would probably never thought about a Lange. Your great photos inspired me!!

Arctos, No the flyback function is not a feature of this watch. it would take a more complicated movement to have the flyback function. I have been wearing the Lange every day, and it's really nice. It's averaging about 4-6 seconds fast per day, depending on what position I leave it in at night. I haven't worn a watch with a leather strap in several years (Last one was a genuine Breitling Chronomat). It's taking a while to get used to it, as it's pretty stiff and doesn't readily conform to my wrist like a NATO or even a metal bracelet. It's now on a genuine Hadley Roma Alligator, and hopefully it will break in before it's worn out!! I'm still pretty pleased with this watch. It's very "classy" and makes a great dress watch, although as i said in my review, it would be much better for me if it was round 40mm rather than 42mm.This watch has pretty long lugs, and it seems to wear larger than other 42mm watches I have owned. Maybe this is just because the strap is still very stiff, but the watch has a tendency to want to "turn turtle" on my wrist.I'm hoping that as the strap gets a little wear, and gets softer, it will be less likely to want to turn. One of the problems, I don't like the band to be too tight, so I tend to wear my watches a little looser. I'm hoping to get some better photos outside over the weekend. If I'm able,I'll post them next week.