panerai153

The only thing consistent about the USPS is their inconsistency. I've had packages delivered for 2 days and still show "in transit" The biggest problems are 1) The USPS does not scan at every stop, like UPS andFedEx. thye are supposed to but they don't. 2)The volume of mail often overwhelms the system. If your package is in a trolly and it gets pushed back by others, it can sit for days. So instead of first in first out, it's often first in last out! hopefully, since your package is EMS it will get to you in a day or two.

This isn't the first time this has happened. As someone said, the silver market soared in the 80's and lots of very nice stuff was melted down. in fact there was a theft ring operating until caught, in our snall city. thye had a van with a portable setup to melt down metal. Supposedly, they would hit a few houses, drive off into the National forest, park, fire up the burner and melt everything down, pour it into molds and within and hour or so, had a pile of silver bars. it's really a shame that a lot of nice watches, usually owned by folks who don't know what they have get sold for scrap. Found their father's watch in a sock drawer when they cleaned out all his "stuff". The "Gold Buyers" run a big full page ad in the local paper and there goes the watch! unfortunately, once they are gone, they are gone forever.

No doubt, a great job by a true artist. The Zigmeister is the best.

Beautiful watch. You can't beat the Tudors IMO. They sort of fly under the radar, so folks will not assume it's a fake like they do if you are wearing a Rolex, even if it is genuine! Another thing, although the prices have been rising, they are still a good value. Wear it well

I pretty much agree with your quote information. Unfortunately, most of the watch manufacturers use the air test to determine water resistance.First off it's faster, especially if you are going to test for depths like 100-200 Atmos.It takes an expensive hunk of a chamber to water test for real depth. The average hand pumped tester is only good for 3-10 bar, which isn't enough for divers. The second reason, if a watch has a catastrophic failure while air testing,there aren't going to be any water flood problems, which are a possibility with water testing. I do agree, if I were using a watch to dive, I would want it water tested before using it at depth. If it floods at 90 feet in salt water, pretty much what you have is a paperweight on a bracelet. Better to be safe than sorry.

A couple of weeks ago, while scrollling through the sales forum, I came across the Lange Datograph. The watch immediately struck my fancy, as it had a cream dial and very nice detailing. Considering that with around 20 watches, all with black dials, except for a couple of blue dials, my collection was definitely in need of a dressier watch with a light colored dial. Unfortunately, before I could make up my mind the watch sold. I was able to find one on a trusted dealers website, and sent off the money. It took about a week for delivery, which was a little faster than expected. Another thing, the watch came packed in a box, and inside wrapped in bubble wrap inside another Styrofoam box. Extremely well packed. Kudos to the dealer, as most of the new watches I have bought came with bubble wrap inside a soft mailing envelope. Taking the watch out of the box, it was nice to see how well constructed it was. Certainly it’s not a 1:1 copy of the genuine, but these watches are so rare, it would be a tremendous coincidence if I ever saw another Lange, much less a Datograph. The newest model (model II) has a very discreet power reserve indicator at 6. The replica does not have this feature. The Watch is powered by the Seagull manual wind chrono movement, which I know nothing at all about, but from a lot of the posts here, it’s a very rugged and reliable movement. Thus far the watch is running about 5-6 seconds fast per day (24 hours), which isn’t bad at all for a brand new movement. The watch is a “big Date” with the divided date window at 12. The chrono seconds hand on mine lines up exactly in the center of the date, covering the divider. The date has a quickset feature, operated by a pusher at 10. Very convenient for date setting especially with a manual wind watch. The movement is very well finished, and is visible through the sapphire glass caseback. Blued screws and decorated bridges make the movement look very good to the casual observer.The dial printing is very crisp, and all the words are spelled correctly!! Minute and hour hands are blued and are lumed, however the dial is not lumed. Sort of strange to me, but I suppose it allows you to get an approximation of the time in the dark. One point that is a distraction, the dial is very “busy” , lots of markers and numbers, which leads to a slight amount of difficulty in reading the exact time. That is the only drawback as far as the appearance of the watch. The watch comes on a very nice matte brown Alligator grain strap with a Lange tang buckle. I have since changed mine to a lighter Tan genuine Alligator, however putting the two side by side, it’s hard to tell that one is not real gator. One small drawback, the buckle had some sharp edges which were uncomfortable when wearing the watch. This was corrected by removing the buckle and working the edges down with some fine sandpaper. The watch size is about 42mm, which to me is a little on the large size for a dress watch, which I would consider this as. I really don’t know many folks who wear a 50-75k watch out mowing the lawn, playing golf or any strenuous activity. I would much prefer it if it were 40mm. It just looks like it should be smaller, at least in my opinion. The genuine is about the same size so it’s pretty accurate size wise. The dealer claims 20 atm water resistance, but from past experience, considering that the watch doesn’t have a screw down crown and has three pushers, I wouldn’t count on any water resistance until proven otherwise i.e Pressure test. All in all if you’re looking for something different and would like a nicely finished dressy watch on leather, and have all the black dial sport watches you could ever use, this may well fill the bill. Photos:

What are you looking for? It would be nice to narrow it down to a couple of choices, such as the nicest vintage PAM or the nicest vintage Rolex, or the nicest contemporary model of a brand. Best new dress watch,etc.? There are a fair number of BOOB watches, so a Breitling fan is not going to have the same list as a Rolex fan.

If the watch came from China, go to the China Post websire and put the tracking number in.It should show the progress up until the package leaves the country. It won't show up on the USPS tracking until it's physically scanned into the USPS system.

No matter what the lazy postal worker told you, you are the one who makes the decision about the method that you want to send your package. Cheapest is definitely not always the best. Registered is slow but trackable. It's probably the slowest because it has to be signed for and accounted at every stop. International Express would have been a better choice, but as you said more expensive. Another suggestion, all packages, Priority and Express shoiuld be scanned at every point (wishful thinking, I know!) However if you sent the package to China, have you tried going to the China Post website tracking page, type in your tracking number and see if it was scanned in in China? I do the reverse on packages sent from other countries, tracking on the origin country only shows up til the package is sent out of their sorting facility. Usually, in a couple of days, it will show up on the USPS tracking site as received by customs. Another thing in answer to the problem blazed7 had, I have sold a number of genuine watches as well as vintage fountain pens overseas. i make it very clear in my listings, that the package will be declared for it's full sales price. The reason being, the USPS will not allow you to insure a package for more than the declared value on the customs form. If the package is lost, the buyer expects either a watch or his money back. So, now you are out the watch plus postage and PayPal fees and you have to refund the full purchase price. this is non-negotiable, even though I have had folks plead that they want it declared for much less to avoid customs fees.That's great if nothoing happens, but should the package get lost or stolen, you'de out of luck.

I just got in a Lange Datograph. I would have to say it's a very, very nice rep.It comes on an Alligator grain strap that is quite nice. I have a genuine gator that's a little lighter brown that I'm going to put it on. haven't had a chance to get any photos, but will try tonight. So far accuracy is <5 sec. per 24 hours.Have no idea as to water resistance, but I wouldn't count on it being very tight! If you are looking for a nice dressy white dial chrono, I would give this one a look.

I have to agree some of the prices are pretty steep. unfortunately, some of the folks here are not really using their heads, thinking from their hearts instead. Personally, looking at a few posts in the past few days of guys building 16610's with rep cases, but everything else genuine, I'm afraid they are going to be in for some real disappointment should they decide to sell. When you have almost 100% of the cost of a genuine invested in a rep, you are never going to get your money back short of parting out the watch. A rep is a rep is a rep, no matter how many genuine parts you put in, it's not a genuine.I'm not trying to change any minds, just reminding folks that while that "Superfranken" may be the "Grail" at the time, most of us are flippers. We aren't satisfied with what we have if there is something different out there. Keep that in mind when you make the decision as to how much you can afford to pay for a build.It ain't what you pay for it, but what you can sell it for later, that's the key.

I really hate to keep playing the devils advocate here, but you are going to end up spending more money on your super franken than you would on a genuine 16610. No matter how you cut it, you aren't going to have a genuine, unless you use all genuine parts. No matter how good the case, it's not genuine. Take preachers advice and get a genuine 16610. I thought about this project for a nanosecond last year, decided it wasn't worth it. I watched the vintage Rolex marketplace, Rolex forum and TZ. I found a nice "P" serial 16610 for around 3300.00 USD. The "P" is from 2000, so it's superluminova, but it was around the last with lugholes, which is what I wanted.I couldn't even justify putting a 1570 in my 1680, and they are selling anywhere from 4500- 8000 USD depending on condition, papers, etc. If you apply the rule of 20% (or 25%) which is what you can safely afford to spend on a franken, based on the price of a genuine, you're coming in at 800-1000 USD based on a genuine at 4k. That's half the cost of the movement alone. If you build one, you had better plan on loving it for a long, long time, because you will never get even close to your money back if you try to sell it. And God Forbid trying to pass it off as a genuine, because the new buyer will take it to a Rolex AD straight off and that's when the manure hit's the ventilator!! If you look at the superfrankens built here, most all of them are replicas of a genuine watch that is as scarce as hen's teeth and consequently expensive. Just my Dos centavos

I'll never be able to afford a genuine 6538, and the reps I have seen, including one I owned, leave much to be desired. I tried pretty hard to mod one for myself, but it just didn't turn out to be a good project for me. So lacking the funds for a 6538 and no good reps, here is what I ended up with. This is the MKII "Kingston" it's almost the exact size as the genuine, 2836 movement, gilt hands and dial (And they are done right, amazing when you have the watch in the light). Nice rivet bracelet, and best of all it's Swiss made, but checked and rechecked by Bill Yao (owner of MKII) personally. This watch is a limited series of 300. 200 have been delivered and the remaining 100 are going out from April to October. It's long since sold out, but there have been quite a few on the secondary market, unfortunately at about 2-2.5 X what the first 100 owners paid for the watch. First 100 for around 800.00 USD got a watch, separate parts kit which consisted of a case,Bezel inset/bezel bracelet, dial and hands. All they would need to make a second watch would be a caseback and movement. second 100 got the watch, no parts kit, but the option for the parts kit at extra cost. the third 100 only got the watch at and added cost to the first two. Watches came with a multitude of choices which I believe slowed the delivery very much. Gilt and regular dial (Gilt is glossy, regular is matte) Gilt or silver hands, date or non date, black or white date wheel, Bezel as shown here or red triangle bezel, C3 or BWG9 lume. From this you can see that there are from what I last counted around 32 different combinations available. The combination below non date, gilt hands/dial and C3 lume with the Kingston Bezel is the most popular configuration, but there are lots of others out there.It's a great watch, and a worthy keeper of the "Big Crown" flame. Here are a few photos of mine. The first photo was right after unpacking the watch. The plastic crystal protector is still on the face.

I doubt seriously if you could convince event the folks who are making "Replacement cases such as "phong, and the others to make a complicated case like this one. too much hassle, too little demand. Also we aren't talking about a vintage iconic watch like the 1665, which is scarce and very expensive, we are talking about a modern Seadweller that's just out of production. They were available up until the Deep Sea was introduced in 2008. So while they are very nice watches, there are lots of them around and the prices probably aren't going anywhere much for quite a while. Using an ETA movement will save you a lot but that is still going to be a problem. Even if you fit the movement in so that the stem and crown line up perfecctly, what about the datewheel alignment? I don't think the ETA datewheel is going to line up correctly with the SD's date window. Fonts are going to be different, etc. Personally, I would never undertake this operation, but if yoyu choose to do it, I would do plenty of research before you spend a ton of money.All these projects are fraught with problems, dead end streets and compromises.As long as you know all this going in, it's then up to you to make the ultimate decision. I'm still pretty skeptical about building one of these using mostly genuine parts. One, you are still going to have a "parts" watch which in and itself will make it less valuable than one that has all the paperwork, boxes, etc.and secondly and probably more important in the long run, you aree going to end up spending more to build one than you would if you went out and bought a good pre-owned.

Folks who put down first phase deposits with MKII for the "kingston" waited around 3 years from the time their deposits were made to the delivery of the watch. total 3 years. I got in late and to the third phase of ordering. I had to pay in full up front back in July of 2010, my watch will probably be deliverd sometimes between May and October of this year. At least with this we are dealing with a respectable watch company, here in the USA, I paid in full for a SeaDweller from WM9 . this was around 3 years ago, still no watch, no hopes for one. my 375.00 USD is long gone.

Possibly i'm wrong about this, but according to one of the folks at our local Post office, the USPS will only insure up to the declared value. So if you declare it at a low number, you are taking a risk that should it get lost or stolen, you are out your 10k less the declared value.I don't know I would have the seller declare it for it's full value, take photos of the watch, the watch iside the package, the watch packed in the box, the box closed, and the box with all the labels on it. That could help to substantiate your claim should a loss occur. Another thing that I have done in the past when shipping some precious stones,sent to me for approval, back to a jeweler was having the UPS manager personally inspect the package to actually see what was inside. in fact they required that since i was insuring the package for around 8k.The manager signed and affadavit to the effect that the package contained the stones.Of course, i could have replaced the real stuff with fake stones, but at least he was satisfied that there were stones n the package.

Here are two examples of homage watches. The first is the MKII Kingston, which ws a homage to the Rolex 6538 Big Crown. This is a wonderful watch, unfortunately, they are a limited edition, long sold out and the ones coming upp for sale are at about 2X the original purchase price. Here is mine, the day I got it with the plastic still covering the crystal Another nice example of a homage, this one is a homage to the Omega 600 meter "Ploprof" This is the Ocean7 LM-7, Another very nice watch, and a real hunk of Stainless steel!!

I would list it on Time Zone. If you are asking more than 5k then it goes into a different catagory on a seperate sales forum. I agree, with no previous sales on TZ, you may have a problem, but everyone starts somewhere. As Hartdoc said, offer it with a 3-5 day return if not as described. that may allay some of the problems with a new seller. also when folks respond, I have always been very forthcoming by offering my phone number and inviting them to call me and discuss the watch. It seeems to help and it gives folks some sense of security that they can talk to you and you are not some scammer who is trying to beat them out of their money. With TZ, you have to register to sell, and the seller must respond by Email, they are not allowed to post any responses in your sales thread. I have had very good success with both WatchU Seek and TZ. I haven't sold anything over 5k, but I have bought and sold quite a few watches in the 2500-3000 USD range. Watch shops aren't going to give you more than 50-60% of the value, as they have to guarantee the watch,plus they are looking to make a profit on the sale. Sort of like "Pawn Stars"!! Ebay is and option, but it would be my last choice. Too many flakes on Ebay, and the last thing you need is some guy getting the watch and then opening a Paypal dispute because it's not exactly what he wanted. Also I have had folks bid something up, win the auction, and that's the last you hear from them. Then you have to relist and all that is a hassle. GLWS

Here is my 1665 build. I posted a pretty comprehensive review of the build back last year, Here is the link to the thread.http://www.rwg.cc/topic/129985-drsd-project-its-back/page__fromsearch__1 I have a complete breakdown of the costs and what is in the watch. Everything is genuine except the MBW case and the dial. It's a great watch. I'm a little leery about it's water resistance since it has and old T-39 Superdome and i always worry about those old acrylic crystals developing hairline cracks that could let moisture in. As isaid in my previous post, when you build one of these, you better like the watch, because they are pretty hard to sell at the price you have in them.

I admire you for starting this project, but unfortunately, when you get through, you are going to have a "genuine" SD, but i would bet that you will probably have more in your project watch than what you would spend on a used genuine 16660, after you factor in a movement,crown, dial, hands, Bezel insert,bezel crystal and retaining ring. possibly you can cut the costs down by using an ETA movement and hands. that may create alignment problems with the date wheel/window on a genuine dial. i'm not trying to discourage you, sort of playing devil's advocate. Good luck with your project.

Genuine today. Ocean7 LM-5 GMT

Welcome to the world of Doxaholics!! They are great watches. I have a 1200T Professional and it's just the right size. I have had a couple of 750T's and they are too big. the 1200T is almost identical in size to the original 300t. Get certified, that Doxa deserves to get wet.

Fortunately, There aren't many true watch experts in the world. probably the preponderance are residing right here on RWG! As has been said, I probably could take my 1665 DRSD or my 1680 into and AD and not worry, unless there happens to be some older guy there who has been around genuine Rolex watches for 40+ years. He may know.Probably there are a few guys on the Vintage Rolex forum that are really knowledgeable enough to spot a replica dial, bracelet clasp etc.I'm not talking about having the watch in hand with a 10X loupe, I'm talking about from a distance of 5-10 feet. When you get past the really popular well known brands, i would guess that there just aren't any folks out there with enough knowledge to tell. Most folks have never heard of watch brands like Chronoswiss, Maurice Lacroix, Ulysse Nardin just to name a few, much less know enough to tell if your watch is a replica or the real thing.Where I live, I have never ever seen high end watches other than Rolex, Omega and an occasional Cartier. Never have I seen aBreguet,Blancpain, VC,or even a Chronoswiss or Breitling. I believe this all goes back to who's wearing the watch. If you look like you can afford a 10k watch, then no one is going to question it.Interesting analogy, along these same lines. Thursday, I was doing the anesthesia for an Orthopedic surgeon friend. He is really good, really busy and probably makes north of 500K per year. He was telling me about his wife buying some "Diamond"Jewelry. "Not Cubic zirconium, lab made diamonds" he said. She has a thing about mined conflict diamonds after the movie "Blood Diamonds" At any rate his point was that because of who he is, and his socio-economic position in our small community, no one would question that these "Diamonds" were the real thing. I agreed with him, because it's true. Unless his wife went out wearing a 20+ Carat Pendant and 5 carat diamond earrings, no one would ever suspect. As long as the size was appropriate. I have a feeling that a fair number of diamonds I see on women in our community are probably not "mined" Diamonds, but some form of lab made stone.So guys take heart, we aren't the only ones wearing replicas!!

I believe that's the real key to longevity, movement cleanliness. I have made it a practice to have every one of my reps serviced by a competent watchmaker. Most were suffering from Double D, dry and dirty. If you send it off or learn to service one yourself, there is absolutely no reason why the simple movements shouldn't last for many years. Having said that, some of the more complex movements with added modules, gear train modified,etc to make the movement try to do something that it was not designed for, can give you lots of problems even if cleaned and adjusted by a competent watchmaker.Also some of the "clone" movements in the past have not been up to the quality of the Swiss ETA movement they were copied from.

I'm not sure if what we are seeing is not the future of Reps. When most of us "old guys" started here and on the old RWG and other forums, China was a totally different country than what it is today. Ten years or so back, there were no international luxury brands to speak of in China. Today, China is one of the biggest and most lucrative markets in the world. The rising middle class, and the wealthy entrepreneurs have totally changed the dynamics. When there was no Rolex in China (Except for reps), the Chinese Government couldn't give a Rats A** about whether or not Rolex SA was upset because there were millions of fake Rolex watches coming out of China. Now, Rolex is well established, and they have some degree of clout with the Government. Just using Rolex as and example, there are now hundreds of Luxury goods producers selling their wares in China. I believe that we will see more and more interest by the authorities in anything they deem counterfeit goods. The Chinese Government makes a lot of money on import duties on luxury items, they don't want to put that in jeopardy. They don't make a thing off reps, except for the bribes to local officials, which doesn't put money in the treasury. I like most of the previous posters, don't think that the rep trade will disappear completely, but if factories are constantly raided, at some point in time the owners will throw in the towel and find something legit to produce. There are lots of ways to stop the flow of goods. If the factories get shut, what happens to the dealers? Suppose your trusted Dealer had and order in for say 200 watches at 150.00 USD each, the factory gets raided, maybe the owner gets arrested or disappears, the dealer may well be out the 30K he paid for the watches. How many of our dealers could survive with a couple of hits like that? Another thing would be a crack down in customs going out of China. It's easy to tell if there is a watch in the package, and not a "toy" as some dealers claim. If they stop and confiscate even 25-30% of the watches going out, it's going to scare the heck out of buyers, especially if the seller won't or can't afford to absorb the customs risks. I know this subject has come up a lot in the past, mostly related to customs problems in the USA and some of the EU countries, but this is a little different, because they are attacking the source.