panerai153

I'm in a bit of a dilema. I'm looking at a particular PAM model that uses a 7750 movement (non-chrono) I suppose the 7750 is used to get the seconds at 9 option. At any rate the watch is offered with either an A7750 or a Swiss ETA 7750. herein lies the dilema, the price of the Swiss ETA is 300.00 USD more than the A7750, effectively doubling the cost of the watch. So what should I do? buy the A7750 model and send it up to The Zigmeister and get a movement service, and possibly get the hands/ dial relumed and a better Crown installed, or spend the extra 300.00 USD for the Swiss movement. I can do all the mods and the movement service for less than the price of the Swiss movement.Question, is the A7750 reliable enough to stand up over time?

Thanks

If it was shipped Registered mail, the postal service has methods of tracking the package using their internal tracking system. I would have the seller as well as yourself go to your local post office and see if they can find your package, using their tracking. It seems like one time before several years ago, I had a package lost, and they told me they wouldn't track it until it was over 30 days out. you are gettiing close to that time frame, so they may be willing to run the numbers through their system.

Good luck

Thanks a lot for all the reply's and information. I have ordered a case back from jakob today, so that will fix one problem. Just one more question, Will a genuine 063 crystal fit this watch? May get a handset and at some point in time send it up to The Zigmeister for a re lume and handset swap.

How do I get in touch with jakob?

Thanks

I just got this one in from burnz. i haven't had a PAM "keeper' in about 4-5 years. I did buy a Sub 194 from a fellow member a month or so back, but it was just too big, couldn't get used to the size, so it was traded. I got an opportunity to buy this 063 and thought, I had one before and really liked it, so why not.At any rate, it is an Eddie Lee with a 2836-2 movement. My previous one had a 2893-2 movement, which I prefer, but I really haven't a clue as to whether or not a 2893-2 would work with this watch. Maybe down the road I'll give it a shot, but right now the 2836 is working fine, so why bother. The only thing is the genuine 063's and 029's actually used ETA 2893-2 movements, so it would be a little closer to the real thing.

I would like some advice from more experienced PAM folks, about this model. It has the Date Wheel conversion (I believe Lelo?) As well as the T-48 Crown conversion. What I see from looking at photos of genuine, and there aren't many photos around to compare, it looks like the lume on the numbers hands and stick indicies is more green. Mine is pretty white or light cream. Also the cyclops looks too small. I know the lume can be corrected, and probably will, as the lume on this one is bright for a couple of minutes, then fades away completely after a few minutes. Can the cyclops be corrected? Also is the genuine crystal on genuine 063's AR'ed?

Well enough questions. Here are a few photos. the watch is on a dark green HK TAN genuine Alligator strap.

Sorry about the dust on the watch, It's hot and dry here and I didn't wipe it down before I took these photos

this is the one I got from burnz, old Eddie Lee PAM 063 with date wheel conversion and T-48 crown. Identical to one I got from EL back in about 2005-6 except that one had a 2893-2 instead of the 2836-2

Well fellows, All's well that ends well. The package from Singapore was in my mailbox this afternoon. So I'm feeling pretty good right now. i was a little worried that it was lost somewhere between it's origin and my PO.

Thanks go out to Burnz who stayed in touch almost daily for the past week. It was a pleasure doing business with him.

I agree with Alligoat about Ebay. I've bought quite a few genuine watches on Ebay. If you don't get caught up in Auction frenzy, you can pick up some pretty good deals on the bay.

Good luck

On the Flipside .... Shipping from USA to Singapore

Can anyone help me with this tracking status, it was sent by priority. Does it mean it has been shipped? Or does it mean its still sitting in US?

Status: Electronic Shipping Info Received

The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper on July 4, 2010 to expect your package for mailing. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date. Delivery status information will be provided if / when available. No further information is available for this item.

almost 3 weeks and still waiting.

Thanks

That's the problem with the darn Postal services. they are too lazy to scan the packages like they are supposed to. What yours indicates is it wasn't even scanned at the originating post office. The shipper created the shipping label/postage probably using PayPal shipping or some other program. When they create a label The USPS is automatically notiified that a shipping label has been created, that's all ,it isn't a scan.The problem with that system is the shipper can drop off the package and it just gets picked up and doesn't get scanned, ever!! The positive side is the shipper can create the label at home, print it out and drop off the package. He doesn't have to stand in line at the PO for and hour waiting to mail the package. I get these notiifications all the time, usually the package picks up a scan somewhere along the way, but occasionally it never tracks ,just shows up at my door.

We have discussed shipping problems quite a few times on this forum, there isn't a perfect solution. Generally, I think FedEX and UPS do a better job of tracking packages, but unfortunately shipping reps via Private carriers is not possible. I suppose we wil have to do the best we can with and imperfect system.

Really if you look back over the past year or so, really nothing much exciting to me has come down the pike. I sort of move back and forth from reps to gen and back again. When I was very active on this forum and the old TRC a few years ago, it seemed like the recurring theme was "bigger is better". Oversize watches were very popular. PAM's at 44 MM were the new standard size. my feelings then as now was the oversize thing was a fad and would lose popularity as soon as the "Celebrities" decided that watches as big as a pie plate were no longer the "in' thing. I think this is coming to pass. The average size person just can't pull off a 48-50mm diameter watch. they aren't comfortable for the most part and they look odd on the average size wrist.

So what's going to be the next big thing, who knows. I believe that the vintage watches will continue to remain popular. I would love to see a really good Tudor Monte Carlo that was reasonably priced. Omega Moon watch I guess, but I already own a genuine that gets worn about twice a year, so no interest from me. Outside of the Rolex GMT IIC, which I love and wear about 75% of the time, most of the contemporary Rolexes don't interest me much at all.I would love to see a really nice Tudor 7922 big crown, a GMT IIC with a ceramic Pepsi bezel (but only if Rolex does it first).And as far as dressier watches,two of my favorites are the Maurice lacroix Double Retrograde and the Ulysse Nardin GMT +- Big Date.

I believe that most folks are reverting back to a simpler less ostentatious life style, some of us by necessity, some because the current state of affairs terrifies us and we are becoming more and more conservative in our ideas, dress, spending and daily lives, which probably is a very good thing.When I was 45 I owned a couple of genuine 18k Rolex Day/dates. 20+ years later, I have absolutely no interest in that watch, and wouldn't wear one even if someone gave it to me as a gift.

From burnz - Left Singapore July 16

Arrived my US address - July 22: too bad I wasn't home, but I'll pick it up tomorrow!~

Thanks burnz!

That's who shipped mine. He told me tonight that he sent out two packages on the 16th to CONUS, both arrived on the 22nd. that's why we are concerned about this one. Probably yours and the other one made the plane, mine is probably in a container sitting on a slow ship across the big pond.Amazing how shipping varies. i've gotten airmail packages from Australia to my home in 4 days, and then a month later a similar package from the same adress to my address takes 2 1/2 weeks.

There isn't much one can do except wait and hope that it eventually gets to where it's supposed to go. Without tracking it could be anywhere, and no way of knowing.

Arthur I have been told (by Australian Post) that the number that you get with registered mail is not a tracking number at all but purely for their own use.

Apparently should the package go missing they can use that number to look for it.

Ken

Ken,

Thanks very much. I sort of suspected as much, as the other package I received from Singapore wasn't showing anything either. If it doesn't show up in the next few days I'll take the number to my local PO (advantage of being in a small town, I know all the folks in the PO on a first name basis) I'll try to get them to run it down using the USPS computers.

Thanks again, and have a great weekend

Arthur

I would spring for the genuine. It's not too pricy, and they are available on the parts forum here from time to time.

Thanks a lot for the replys guys, makes me feel a tiny bit better!. What I don't understand is with registered mail, you are given a tracking number, but it's totally useless.Both of my packages from Singapore were lost to tracking as soon as they were scanned in initially. Knowing this from now on, I think I will specify EMS , even if I have to pay the difference. Tracking with EMS isn't much better, but usually you get some progress reports along the way. With Registered, I wouldn't know if it was lost, stolen seized by customs, etc. It just doesn't ever show up.

Bought a watch from another member and it was shipped Registered mail on July 6th, today is the 21st. So that's 15 days, including weekends, 11 business days. I wouldn't be worried except I had a Rolex box, papers that I bought on the Rolex Forum, also bought in Singapore and shipped one day later on the 7th. i received that package last Friday the 16th. Both were sent registered mail, and the tracking for both was/is basically non existent. Neither package is showing up outside of "In Transit from SINGAPORE as of Tuesday, July 6 2:26 PM" The Rolex box is still showing the same thing except the date is Wed. July 7th. Absolutely no tracking what so ever,even though it was delivered.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Is Registered mail a reasonable option? It looks as though no one tracks/scans Registered mail, although I was told it has to be signed for at every stop.

Should I be worried, or is the time frame for delivery usually longer than this. I've never had this problem before, as most everyone ships EMS and it does have some tracking, maybe slow and a few days behind, but not like this.

Since when did the DRSD's come with 3135 engines? Everyone I have ever seen or heard about has a 1570. This is a scam for sure. poor photos, and not much info as well. Another thing, unless this watch was in a time capsule from the day it left Rolex,it just looks too new. You would expect to see a few marks and wear as well as at least a little patina to the dial/ hands/pearl. I expect you this one's age could be measured in weeks or at the most months, not almost 50 years! It looks like the seller just took it out of the blue plastic!!

And as someone else said, who in the world would buy a 27000.00 USD watch on Ebay. I couldn't in my wildest dreams afford one at this price, but if I could, it would be a hands on, eye to eye deal with a trusted seller and lots of authentication.

I haven't had any luck finding one locally here in Denver lol. Most aren't down with hooking it up with the reps.

J,

Maybe your economy is better in Denver than it is in Ferriday, LA

It certainly isn't unique to our forum, it happens from time to time on all the forums. Some of the deals on the genuine forums are for pretty serious cash as well.

One of the real problems with all the forums is everyone is anonymous, unless they voluntarily reveal their name, location, etc. This of course makes it easier for scammers to ply their trade.That probably isn't going to change, so what we need to do is be more diligent in our dealings.

First of all you should as much as possible "buy the seller" first. I think it's a service to our community to review the sale. I know I'm guilty of not doing that on every occasion, but it's nice to be able to see some references. I wouldn't hesitate to PM or email some of those folks who had dealings with member "X" and ask about the transaction.

The main things I'm interested in are representation of the object to be sold, is the seller disclosing everything, good and bad? How was the communication? Did the seller disappear as soon as the money hit his Paypal account? Was the watch, etc. properly packaged and shipped properly, and promptly? Shipping is pretty iffy at best, and if shipping something beyond your countries borders, it's very hard to judge how long it will take for the package to arrive. But if it's shipped USPS priority mail within the CONUS, you should have it in 3-4 business days, excluding Christmas time.

One of the nice things about Paypal is the protection you get if it turns out to be a real scam. Having said that, I'm not sure how successful you would be getting your money back if the seller immediately cleans out his PP account as soon as the money hits.If you used a credit card, that also gives you another layer of protection.

I think one thing that would prevent scammers getting an opportunity would be to immediately post and alert if someone posts in the sales forums that you have had a bad experience with. Second, there aren't very many super rare reps around, so if you miss one, sooner or later, another one will pop up. So, if the deal doesn't feel right, walk away. Don't let your irrational exuberance lead you into something you will regret later.

Depending on where you are located, you may be able to find a local watchmaker who will work on reps. DON"T take it to a big jewelry/watch shop or one that is an authorized Rolex,Omega,etc. dealer. I'm sure every city of any size has guys who would be willing to work on reps especially ones with ETA movements.

One of the problems facing watchmakers today is most of them, even ones that are well trained, are mostly sitting around and changing batteries in Quartz watches. I had an interesting experience with a local fellow a few months ago. Guy is probably in his late 50's, took over his fathers watch repair business in a small poor community in central Louisiana, very close to the town where I live. I called him and asked if he could change the battery in my genuine Omega X-33.No problem, all I needed was the number for the battery. Got that, he got the battery, called me a couple of days later and I took my watch over. His place looked completely deserted except for his work area and a few display cases with mostly junk stuff inside. On the back wall was his framed certificate from Omega, he was certified by Omega, went to their schools, all this back in the 70's. He took about 3 minutes to get the back off,change the battery, put it back together and charged me 10 bucks! We started talking, and he was lamenting the demise of mechanical watches. He told me that practically everyone around there wore "throw away"quartz watches from WalMart. I asked him if he had any feelings about working on high quality replicas with Swiss ETA movements, should any of mine need work. His answer was if it's mechanical, I'll work on it. now of course, he doesn't do re-lumes, case shaping, etc. but if it's related to the movement, He told me that he would be glad to have something mechanical to work on.

The point of my story is this, there are lots of good watchmakers out there, especially older ones, who don't have much business and if approached right, they would be glad for the work. Now, I wouldn't let most of them restore a vintage Rolex 1680 (genuine) but for routine work, they would be just fine.

Andy,

I believe ETZ has fallen off ther planet. Nothing on their review section in dealer sales, since July8 and that was just guys saying that the ir "tickets" were showing closed on the ETZ website. I wouldn't order from them if they were the last rep dealer around.

I just picked up this Red lettered Sub 1680 on a trade. It came in today, and I thought it would look kind of nice on a Bond Strap. Of course this model isn't the Bond watch, but it's fairly close, and I already have 5 other Rolexes on bracelets.

the following was done before I got the watch.

Swiss ETA slow beat 2846-2 (adjusted to +1 sec per day) I believe this comes with the watch

gen tropic 127

gen springbars

crownguards started but not finished

wateproof @ 20 atm (gen gaskets, o rings, case shaving (where the gasket sits) tropic 127 epoxy

There is and interesting thread on the MWR forum from back in 2008. Oner of the members has one that he bought new in 1958. He Had no idea what it was worth, only had two services at RSC,s over the years. He had gotten all sorts of conflicting info from dealers, jewelers, etc. Some basically told him it wasn't wort anything!!. I'm sure they would follow him out of the store hoping that he would throw it in their Dumpster!! At any rate, the consensus of the MWR folks was it was worth somewhere North of 25K. So I would say that the Yuki is a bargain at 1100.00 USD or about 25X less than the genuine watch.

I have a plan for this one. I'm in line for a MKII Kingston (general ordering) 100 watches and general ordering opened and closed in about 1 1/2 hours, so I don't know if I got one or not. The MKII Kingston is a homage to the Rolex 6538. If my general ordering position is too far down the line, and my deposit is refunded, I'm definitely going to purchase this one. Like Freddy says, it will need a trip to The Zigmeister for a vintage lume job and the case will need aging (I can do that naturally, just wear it outside doing routine farm, yard work)!!Gilt hands would certainly be nice, possibly Yuki can supply them. Also one of the variants I saw, while goggling info on this watch, had a red triangle bezel insert. If that option was available, I would go for that as well.

I would have to add my vote for genuine. Bracelet looks authentic. Watch looks, well wonderful! If it's not genuine, it's one helluva rep.

that is a seriously good looking watch! I have no idea how true the yuki copy is to the original, however since it is a watch from the 1950's, I would suspect that their aren't many around. you would have to run into a real Tudor expert to tell whether this is real or not, so I would say that you could wear this one just about anywhere in the world with confidence.

I googled 7922 and got a few references with photos, I did see that some are coming out of Vietnam that look quite similar to the Yuki, except these are supposed to have a Rolex Tudor 390 movement. these are probably reproduction movements, as original 390's are probably as scarce as hen's teeth. Looks like the Yuki version uses an ETA 2462 which I wasn't able to find out much about, but sounds old and scarce as well.

when i think of Breitling i think of Andreww.....isnt there Doxa fan about

Spooky, several Doxa folks around nanug, me, lani all have a few of the old vintage Doxas. Pretty popular dive watch, just not repped.