panerai153

Well I got an Email answer from George today, a little different wording, but essentially the same.Here is my email and his reply.From the sound of this, the project is still having problems. I will be pleasantly surprised if these watches are shipped this calendar year. What I find amazing is that George has done quite a lot of projects in the past, and while most have experienced some degree of delay, the past few projects all seem to be dragging along very slowly. the LV Sub,the TT Sub and especially the SD 16600. George I

Thank you very much Ronin.It's the generosity of fine members like you that make this the best forum of all.

Guys, Would anyone out there happen to have a spare adjustment link and threaded pin for the hollow middle link 93150. My 1680 is getting a little tight on my wrist and I couldn't find a correct link in my parts bin.Lots of solid mid link parts but not the correct one. Thanks

Absolutely beautiful pair. Those are probably the two best GMT's I have seen. Wear then well.

I think that's the wise thing to do. Take it to a local watchmaker that has a pressure tester. that way you can see whats happening and possibly see where the water ingress point is. If you see it with your own eyes and are confident that it's tight, then you can head for the pool again. Pretty silly that the reps of today, especially those that are top grade (300-600 dollars aren't water resistant. there are lots and lots of genuine watches in that price range that are water tight, why can't the reps be as well.

Freddy, That's going to be a real "one of a kind" project. What a beautiful watch. I hope that you can find the correct calendar wheel and get this one together. Great job as usual.

UT, there have been many posts about water resistance on the forums over the years. The general consensus is that you should treat every rep watch as being non water resistant until proven otherwise. The QC as we all know is non existant with reps, despite what some sellers tell you, excetions would be BK and possibly WM9. Other than those, I would have the watch pressure tested and see if it holds up. If the tolerences are within spec, gaskets and o rings are siliconed, then it should be Ok, but without a pressure test, you are taking a real chance submersing a rep. You were lucky, yours was probably a tiny leak and it was in fresh water. Get a seawater flood, and your new watch is an expensive paperweight! Best to be safe than sorry.

Personally, the executive suite all the way. the white dial Pan Am is a sweet watch!!

Great idea.Should include photos, name of seller, price and date sold.

Man, sorry for the late reply, but I totally missed your post until last night. When I read it, the queen, one of our friends and I had polished off two bottles of plenty nice Pinot, and all I could do was read, sure couldn't type anything that made sense to anyone but me!! Thought about you this afternoon, sat on the patio in the heat (It's really summer here in mississippi). Had a couple of Coronas and smoked a really nice San Christobal de la Habana "La Punta". great smoke. I have to say the Cubans are certainly up a few notches in quality since the cigar "Craze' has died down. Take care and hope to see you back posting here soon. Regards A

This may be a "marriage" bracelet, made from parts. The 92350 clasp is from a SEL bracelet which is a later model, so it's not correct for a bracelet with 455B endlinks. Also the bracelet clasp and bracelet should have matching numbers, i.e. both 93250, 93150, etc. that is not the case with yours. As someone said in a previous post, almost all the rep Rolex bracelets come with the 455B endlinks. I would suspect that at best yours is a genuine Tudor clasp, with a rep bracelet and end links, at worst it's all rep. The only thing is I haven't seen many Tudor branded rep clasps, so it's a good chance the clasp is genuine, but I would suspect everything else. Even if it's all genuine, it's not correct. As the 93250 clasp should have a 93250 bracelet and solid end links.

Tough question. Depends on what you want to do with it. If you're diving, I would keep the LM-7. It's a pretty nice watch. I have one #0006 and I really like it. It's been underwater diving a half dozen times and no problems. Also if yours is one of the first 250, it's a numbered edition.On the other hand, if your not a diver, and you want a ploprof, this one is pretty good, although the crystal delamination issue would scare me to death.Even though yours hasn't been one of the ones to fail, there is no guarantee that the next time you take it in the pool, it won't. If it were me, I would get rid of this one and wait for the "ultimate" edition, who knows, possibly it will come with a solid sapphire crystal. I have a question about this one, is the bezel insert sapphire like the LM-7, acrylic, or just luminous painted numbers on a metal insert?

Like Watchmeister, some of the best and some of the worst. I have been on Ebay since 1999, back then, there wereen't as many crooks and scammers and you could pick up some real bargains. Today it'sa lot harder, especially if it's a popular or well known item. Back in the early years I was collecting vintage fountain pens, and I got some real bargains. Watch wise, i picked up quite a few Doxa dive watches at good prices before they got popular. Probably my best one is this old Doxa pre-sub dive watch from the early 1960's. Thus far it's the only one that has surfaced from that era.

Marty, I had the same thing happen to me several years ago. Kent "Disappeared" for a month or so. fortunately he posted a message on his website and I happened to notice it. It took about 3-4 months to get my watch back. Realistically though, a month is not much time when it comes to custom work. I sent a Seamaster 300 to Bienne for restoration took 9 months, sent a vintage Doxa to RGM (At the time they were the Doxa ASC in the USA) they kept it for over a year and then couldn't do everything I wanted done because they couldn't find the parts.I know guys who make custom knives and some who do custom gun work and restorations who have a 3-4 year waiting list before you get your finished product. I don't want to turn this into a rant by any stretch of the imagination, but we live in a world of instant gratification, and it's incredibly hard to transition from that world to the world of the one man shop, basically old world type craftsman, who measure time in months and years instead of seconds and minutes. Having said that, I can be very patient as long as I know that the person is working somewhere within the parameters they themselves set. It is pretty irritating to me to have someone tell me they will have something finished in a month, two months, whatever, and I'm still waiting on it six or eight months later!I don't have much patience with those folks who promise you something to get your business, knowing full well that there is no way in the world they can get your job done in the time frame they quoted. Keep the faith, he will return and get your watch done, don't worry.

Thanks a lot, tell J hello for me and tell her I'll swap her a can of cold air for my own personal tar ball, autographed by Tony Hayward!! Really, I can apprecuiate your feelings when you try so hard to do good work and keep folks happy and all you get is a rude response or no response at all. This whole thread can be summed up by something my Grandmother used to say all the time," No matter how much money you have, you can't buy good manners" Have a great day

Same here with me, I'm using Windows 7.

Beautiful, There is just something about the Rolex genuine crystals that the aftermarket/rep crystals just can't get correct. thye have a brilliance and clarity that is lacking in all the others.

The Zigmeister, I can certainly sympathize with you. I see this quite often in my work. We do a lot of uncompensated care here in the poor rural South. I find it very rare today to have a patient say a simple "Thank you" especially the younger ones. Sometimes these are pretty routine cases, but quite often they are life or death situations, and I spend hours with my coronary arteries in a spasm trying to keep the ungrateful soul alive.My biggest reward with some of these folks today is that I don't get sued over their problem! We live in a totally ungrateful, self centered,avarictic society. People have become so ingrained with the "Want it now, right now" instant gratification lifestyle that we have created that it is positively sickening. It really gets to me more than it does my younger colleagues, as I grew up in a society where manners were very important and common courtesy was drilled into you from and early age. A lot of folks today don't have "please, thank you or how do you feel about this" in their vocabulary.It is inconceivable to me to not end a conversation, letter or email without thanking the person for their time and effort. I cannot imagine the feelings that you get when you receive a PM or Email with a terse one or two sentence message with no salutation, thank you very much or even the person's name. You are more generous than I, my friend. I would delete that message and not grace the rude sender with a reply. There has been a similar thread over on WUS's MKII Forum. Bill Yao the owner, watchmaker, janitor, email answerer and chief cook and bottle washer turns out some very nice watches, every one hand assembled and checked by him. He, like all perfectionist craftsmen, frequently underestimates the time to delivery of watches. He tells everyone who orders a minimum of 12 weeks, but it's often longer. Lately there have been a few individuals on the forum that are in full rant mode because it's taking longer than 12 weeks to get their watches.I'm sure Bill would cheerfully refund their money just to get them off the forum. Unfortunately, they don't want to lose their place in line, they just want to stir up the pot until they get what they want. People who are slaves to instant gratification have no business ever getting involved with anything that has the words "Custom or Modded" attached to them. For the most part these people don't appreciate craftsmanship, they just want it NOW!!I need this watch fixed before next weekend. If I send my watch to you by Fed EX overnight can you clean and service the movement, lume the dial/hands and have it back to me by Friday. I need it by Friday, and it must be done by then. I'm very important and I should go to the head of the line, all the other idiots can wait, I'm important, can't you see that!! I never sent you anything before, but I'm important, so all those regular customers, well they can wait, don't you see, because I'm important! It's sad that a few individuals, like the proverbial "Bad apples that spoil the barrel" can have such a negative influence on everything they touch. Keep the faith sir, there are plenty of folks on the forum that are great admirers of your work, and I'm sure we can generate enough work to keep you plenty busy.

I would say it is. I believe that the 2010 version I got from ETZ is equally as good, but since ETZ has been suspended and there are numerous complaints about watches and parts not being delivered, as well as their absolute refusal to answer emails and PM's, I would not buy from them again nor would I recommend them to anyone. I don't know how many of these watches ETZ 2010 DSSD) were actually delivered, but I only know of two on this forum.I would buy this one from Trevor, sounds like a very good person to deal with and his price is quite a bit lower. Pretty much a "no brainer" to me.

I'm a big fan of the Red and Blue. Here's mine. Real fading, from lots of exposure to the hot Southern sun.

Randy, All I can say is BEAUTIFUL,BEAUTIFUL,BEAUTIFUL!!

Thanks very much guys. iwas able to find them with no problem. Ordered a set of the regular spring bars in case the threads inside the lugs are OK, as wel las a set of the "Faux" springbars in case the threads are toast. PrDubis, google her name, her website will come up

This is my first PAM rep in probably 5 years, got it from a member here. Long story short, the watch was on a big thick strap master strap that is way too big for me. When I took the strap off, I discovered that one of the lugbars was stripped. Does anyone have any suggestions for a supplier that might have a couple of these? I probably can locktite it in place but then it gets to be a PITA every time I want to change the strap. Thanks

PT is a trusted dealer. If you get the parts together, Crown.tube, insert, etc.there are several watchmakers on the forum who can do the work. If you are in the USA, Canada, you can send it to The Zigmeister or Vac. No problems with customs, etc. In the EU there is Domi, and probably several others. There are quite a few members who do a little modding on the side and are quite good at it. You just need to ask around and read the old posts. Shaping the crown guards, genuine crown /tube and insert will go a long way, then if you want to spring for one of jmb's retention rings and a genuine crystal, you will have a very nice watch. Another thing I would do if it were me, if you buy one with a 2846 slow beat movement, have the movement serviced when you have the mods done. These are old movements and most of them are dry and dirty. It will improve the longivity and accuracy of the movement.Movement service is something that is often overlooked by most of us, but it will be worth it in the long run. As chiMan12 said, don't worry about someone tryinjg to rip your watch off your wrist because it's a fake!! I would say 99.99% of the population don't know one Rolex from the rest, they just see the Coronet and Rolex on the dial and know it's a Rolex. and as he said, probably think it's a fake!!Buy it, mod it as far as you want to go and wear the Hell out of it. It's a watch, it's made for wearing and getting beat up.

I think probably because it's a vintage. Tritium dial/hands.It was the first date sub and there is so much history and nostalgia attached to that model. I remember when the first Rolex subs came out with the wg surrounds on the dial indices, you would have thought the world was coming to and end from the reaction of Rolex purists. From the standpoint of utility, the modern 16610 is much better. the movement (genuine) is better, the luminova dials,hands are better and the newer bracelet is much sturdier. However, because it has been produced by the hundreds of thousands if not millions, it is a very common Rolex. Some of the appeal of the 1680 is the fact that it was produced in much smaller numbers and thus rarer and more desirable.