panerai153

I guess having the HEV opening from the outside would be the ultimate form of "Reverse engineering" LOL Arthur

Lani, That's a really ,really nice example of the Divingstars. The Divingstars were indeed the rarest of the lot, as they were produced in very limited numbers. According to Doxa, during the period 1967-mid 70's the order of popularity was 1. Professional (Orange) 2.Sharkhunter (Black) 3. Searambler (Silver) 4. Divingstar (Yellow). The Caribbean (Blue) is a contemporary product and was not in the color scheme back then. Also, the color has changed quite a bit with the divingstars. As you can see from yours as well as mine, the color is more a Mustard Yellow, whereas the modern Divingstars are brighter more Canary Yellow. After The Syncron consortium got into financial trouble, the Doxa brand was sold to Aubrey Freres in 1978.Aubrey Did produce a limited number of Divingstars, but the 300T was dropped and all that were produced were either 600T's or 750T's. Aubrey also offered some models with Quartz movements. Interestingly, quite a few of the Divingstars were sold to the French Navy (FN). During that era, the FN used a general spec sheet and bought from whomever met the specifications. that is why they had Doxas,Blancpain, Tudors,Rolex, and maybe others as well. The most prized of those are the ones that have the decomissioning papers with the watch, as the watches themselves had no special marking on the caseback, like those from other countries. I was fortunate enough to be able to buy 2 of the FN Divingstars from a watch dealer in France. They were pretty beat up, scratched crystals, bezels almost unreadable, but structurally sound and running strong.Strangly, they both came with Tudor Snoflake hands, which i stupidly had replaced and did not get back! Here are the before and after photos And here they are after spa treatments. Far from perfect, but much better.

Randy, You know, as big and heavy as this watch is, it really wears well. It has a pretty big footprint which makes it less prone to sliding around on your wrist. I have been plesantly surprised by the Jurgens mesh. It's very well made and comfortable. It's more flexible than I had expected. It's a good alternative to the Omega mesh at about 1/3 the price. Also I didn't like the Omega branded clasp, as it comes apart at the clasp. AS fumble fingered as I am, that looked like and invitation to dropping the watch on the floor trying to fasten the bracelet! Arthur

Freddy, That is a real beauty. Man, if you can get the pusher problem worked out and the correct pushers installed that will be the dress Daytona of Dress Daytonas. IS DW still putting together Daytonas and kits? I had one several years ago, finally gave up on the correct v72 movement and moved it on mainly out of frustration. Please keep us posted on your progress. Arthur

I'm going to weigh in with my opinion which is worth just what you pay for it. 1. If the seller knew the watch movement was problematic, and he stated that it needed to be serviced to work properly,because of the problem, but didn't disclose a problem which he was aware of then, he should work something out. 2. If you had done your homework, knowing that the A7750 movement in a seconds @6 chronometer is an accident waiting to happen, and this one already had problems with the chronometer pushers not resetting properly, then you are partially at fault. You should have passed on this one, or at least asked the seller for a more detailed explanation of why he felt the watch needed a service. You could have PM'ed any number of folks and asked about this problem. By-Tor wrote a comprehensive report on the seconds@6 Daytona, and I know The Zigmeister has written about this movement as well. Possibly you guys could split the cost of the watch. If he agreed to refund half of your payment, that should be more than satisfactory. As far as repairs, I would forget that. In the first place a complete service of that movement, if you can get someone to do it, plus postage both ways is gonig to be way more than the watch is worth. Also, even with a service, there is no guarantee that the watch will survive the trip home, or run for any extended period of time.That's the real problem with movements that have been "Bastardized" to try to make them do somethig they were never intended to do. ETA 7750's used correctly are pretty good movements, but they are by design a seconds@9 movement. Another is the 2836-2 that's set up as a GMT with the Correct hand stack for Rolex GMTII's. I realize there is a big market for some of these watches like Seconds@6 Daytonas, and CHS GMT Masters, but realistically, if the watch is going to become a paperweight in 2 days -6 months, is it worth it? Just my Dos Centavos Arthur

Storm, I believe you will be happy with that one. Also, If you don't like it, they are pretty popular,and I believe can be moved along easily, without too much pain to the pocketbook. Another thing that may happen, as the newer Rolex models with the bigger cases and rehault engraving are introduced, the older models will no longer be available from the dealers. They will be too new to be vintage, but too old to be the newest out. Some of the really good ones will be more desirable later on.This happens with the dealers, quite a few watches that were available in 2006 for instance are not available now, except as a used watch in the member sales forum. Good Luck, you'r Hooked!! Arthur

Those photos are outstanding. Reminds me a little of some of TTK's work. Although I don't think he ever did any water pours, etc.If you can't make out every detail of this watch from these photos, I have the address for Seeing Eye Dogs International !! Arthur

Thanks a Million Guys . It's always good to get these Shady characters off the site, before we get a flood of "I got ripped off by---*** posts . By the time the horse is out the barn, it's too late to fix the lock. Great job Arthur

@PAMman, You know, I sort of toyed with that idea at first. I'm not sure if the case dimensions are exact. The other problem is the crown/crownguards. The Ploprof uses that funky inset square crown. The knurled part is actually the unlocking ring. So even if you were able to replace the dial, you would still be a long way from the original. Another thing I though about was trying to replace the LM-7 bezel lock button with the red plastic one on the Omega. I've never seen one in person, but it looks like from the photos of the plastic button, they wouldn't fit. Another of those projects that if you had enough money, tools, skills and time, you could probably pull it off, but it's over my head. My only criticism of the dial on the LM-7 is the plainness. When the watch was being designed, with a lot of input from Ocean7 forum members, several folks wanted to have the feet/meters designation on the lower half of the dial, like Rolex and 99 % of the dive watches out there. Mitch (Owner of Ocean7) as well as some members wanted the dial as clean as possible. This is in keeping with all the Ocean7 watches, no writing on the dial face except Ocean7. Some of this was asthetics, some was the idea that you want to make a homage watch similar to, but not identical to the original. This decreases your chances of running afoul of the companies legal department. Although the patents on all of the Ploprof features have long ago expired, Omega is a big wealthy company, and getting entangled in a lawsuit with them could be fatal to a small watch company. It is a great watch, like I said, not for everyone, and certainly not one for every occasion, but for what it was designed for, it is very good. Arthur

@Lani That Customs agent probably has a thriving sideline business selling all the confiscated watches to support his "genuine" habit!! Just like the Habanos that get confiscated, does anyone REALLY believe that they are destroyed? "They are" the Customs agent said. "We take every one of them home and destroy them with fire! Nothing remains after our thorough destructive technique except a pile of ash and a tiny Butt" Have a great weekend everyone Arthur

Edwin Look at this, Post by The Zigmeister Superluminova lume on a DeepSea DeepBlue lume

Congratulations on two nice prizes. WOW!! That'sa pretty innovative way of getting a watch through customs. Unfortunately, if those guy's aren't asleep when it goes through the Xray machine, they can easily see that the guts are a watch. I worry about customs picking up a package that isn't what it is declared to be and putting both the seller and the buyer on the "Red Flag" list in their computer. It happens, and when it does, everything you get from anywhere outside the USA is inspected. My wife travels back to Eastern Europe every summer to visit. Two years ago she decided to bring some meat products (Processed Pork) back to the USA.She didn't realize that only items that are canned and sealed are allowed. She got stopped at JFK and the meat was seized. The customs official was very proud of the fact that he had gotten a seizure of countraband. Well long story short, she has come back into the USA twice since then and both times her bags were checked-Thoroughly !! She will probably be on the "Watch" list for a while, until they realize she isn't bringing anything in that's not allowed. Congrats on your watches. Arthur

I would opt for the F with no rehault engraving. I haven't been a fan of the Rolex Rolex Rolex around the ring. I think it makes and already "busy" dial even busier. Also as was mentioned above the engraving is a dead givaway. It seems that no one has been able to get the engraving correct where the R in Rolex falls right on the 3 and 9. Its a font/spacing issue, but it seems pretty difficult for the rep manufacturers to get it right. I think you are heading in the right direction, start with something less expensive and work up from there. Good luck Arthur

I brought this exact topic up a couple of weeks ago, asking if a 2893-2 movement would work in a 16710 case. By-Tor and The Zigmeister both said it was possible, but may not work. Sourcing a spacer ring seemed to be one problem, making the stem match up with the case opening was another and the third was would the movement sit high enough in the case to fit the hands. I believe that what you have here is a problem that may be solvable, but is it worth the time and effort to make it work. If you have enough money and the skills and the proper tools, you can make anything work, question is? Is it worth it. ETA 2893-2 movements on Ebay are around 300.00 USD. I bid on a Steinhart GMT to use as a donor for a 2893-2 movement yesterday. the watch went for 320.00 which was more than I wanted to pay for it. So as you can see, you are going to invest around 300+ dollars in a movement that may not work. OF course if it didn't work out, you could either resell it on Ebay, or get an older PAM GMT and stick it in it. I know they will work, because i had two PAM GMT's a couple of years ago and both had 2893-2 movements. Arthur

Jerome, Like Brightight said, do the research. First you will learn a great deal more about the various Reps, different variations of each one, which dealers you may feel most comfortable with, etc. If someone posts a list, you will only have a name and model, but won't know anything about why it's the best or the # 5 best or whatever. Secondly, you are asking about a brand , Rolex makes every sort of watch from Ladies and mens dress watches to tool watches like the Seadweller and Submariner. You need to narrow your choices to a specific subgroup at least. One hint, look at the top of the Rolex forum page, read By-Tors reviews. He has very comprehensive reviews of several Rolex watches. Gioarmani has a couple of reviews on the new Deep Sea Seadweller. Welcome to the forum. We're glad your here, and most of us are very willing to help. We'll give you the study guide, but we aren't inclined to give you the answer sheet and take the test for you. Just my Dos Centavos Arthur

I too would like to wish all the good folks out there a very happy and safe Thanksgiving.And A special thanks to all of the servicemen and women of every country who are serving far from home, may their day be a safe one. Have a great day, and don't eat too much TURKEY!! Happy Thanksgiving Arthur

I agree with TeeJay,keep it simple and you will be safer. Also something I always look at is the person wearing the watch. I realize this isn't always a sure thing, but if you are the checkout guy at your local 7 Eleven, chances are you can't afford a Rolex Gold Day-Date, or a Blancpain etc. most young guys who are obviously in a entry level job simply can't afford those watches, and the young guys who can, aren't working a checkout counter as a hobby! It sort of follows the theory of what is plausible and realistic. If I see a well dressed woman at a cocktail party in our small town wearing a 2 carat diamond ring, well, pretty good chance it's real, but if she has a 5 carat rock on her finger and another 30 carats floating around her neck and hanging off her ears, then I'm pretty darn sure the whole lot are CZ's. We don't have any Hedge fund managers or Goldman bankers living here, so the folks who do have money usually are pretty conservative.The guys wear SS Rolexes, Omegas etc. but you very rarely see a gold watch around here except on the women. Do you see my point? Wear what you are comfortable with, but not conspicuous. Another thing that was the topic of conversation several years back, I believe over at the old TRC Forum was what are you comfortable wearing at work. IF your boss wears a Seiko, Citizen, Casio, would you be comfortable coming to work wearing a blinged out Rolex? Of course if you aren't troubled by things like being "Called out" about your watches, or risk the jealousy factor from co-worklers and bosses, then by all means wear what you want.If you happen to live in a smaller place like I do, wear off brand watches, and by that I mean everything except Rolex and Omega, because in high end watches, that's probably the only brands folks are familiar with.I have wore Panerai Reps and genuine Breitlings,Cronoswiss, Maurice Lacroix, IWC. UN,s, etc. for years and no one around here had a clue as to what they were. they could have been made by Timex as far as they knew. Just my Dos centavos Arthur

That bezel pearl is definitely not right. Also you would be getting a bracelet that was correct for and earlier model, not the latest glidelock bracelet. If you opted for a Seadweller instead of a submariner, Eurotimez newest version (V5 updated) of the Deep Sea Seadweller is very nice.If I was getting a submariner from Eurotimez, I would opt for the noobmariner or the ss 16610 The noobmariner is cheaper , however the DG 2813 movement is a 21,600 PPH, which is a slow beat movement, the 4813 or the ETA movements are 28,800 BPH which is the correct beat, same as the genuine Rolex Movement. If you have the time and patience to wait, the WM9 is out the box the best submariner going. the 16610 M model is in the final stages of production, and should begin shipping in the early spring. Lots of folks on the forum have pre-ordered this watch. One of the nice things about the WM9 watches are they will accept genuine parts, i.e. Crown/tube, crystal, dial. bezel/insert and are a basis for building a really beautiful accurate sub. I have had a couple of WM9's watches several years ago, and with some mods, the watch will fool anyone. most watchmakers would have to open the case and look at the movement to tell it's a rep. Again like some of the other members said, it all depends on how much you want to spend, how long you want to wait and what level of accuracy or should I say inaccuracy, you are willing to live with. Just my dos centavos Arthur

I did get a lengthy PM from Helina and Neo today, explaining that my watch problem was very minor. The photographer moved the bezel one click before taking the photos, this is what threw off the bezel alignment.Because the problem was minor and was easily corrected, they shipped my watch as the problem was corrected. It's strange that my email server Bellsouth, is screening out their emails, even though I have eurotimez in both my safe sender and safe domain lists. possibly Outlook is blocking the emails, but I would think that they would show up in my junk mail folder. Anyone else using Outlook experience this problem? At any rate, my watch is on the way, and when it comes in, I will take some photos and post them with a mini-review on the Rolex Forum. Arthur

@ Pete Same thing is happening to me. My photos came up a few days back 11/22 to be exact.No emails to inform, I just happened to be looking at my order history and saw that photos were on the website for approval. I looked at the photos, and the bezel was either positioned for the photographed one click off center or the insert is not aligned properly. At any rate, I sent them 2 emails usng their pics.eurotimez@gmail.com link.No response. I then PM'ed Neo and told him about the problem. no response. Now today, I visited the site and see that my watch has been shipped, this despite 2 emails and Pm's to them specifically saying that I disapproved until the bezel question was cleared up. I Pm'ed Helina this morning to complain about their response and the fact that the watch was sent with me specifically telling them that I disapproved. Honestly, despite all their lip service about "Customer Service" I think their's is a joke. They constantly use the excuse that they didn't get emails, emails were unreadable, they senrt emails and got no reply,etc,etc. Bull Hockey!! If their Email system doesn't work, get a new business email address. I really don't like to see businesses using free email services like Gmail, Yahoo, etc. those services were designed for individuals, not businesses. I would bet that their inboxes fill up fast and all the messages after that are lost. I told Helina that I send and receive emails from all over the world and never, nevr have a problem. Even if my spam filter thinks a message is spam or junk, it will show up in my Outlook junk mail box. I have added them to my trusted senders and trusted domains, so I know if they send a message to my address I will get it. Also no excuses for not gettng or sending a PM on RWG. I'm sure they are busy, and with all the hype the DSSD v5 is selling like hotcakes, but you have to take care of the customers you have before you seek out more. I'm not really happy about receiving a watch that will need corrective surgery right out the box.I'm looking forward to them resolving this problem without getting into a big negative post and getting the mods involved in their business. Just my dos centavos Arthur

A few threads down Lani does a great comparison of his newest baby the Doxa Sub300 to his Doxa T-Graph Sub600. Both are serious tool watches, but one is sleek and nestles right in like your Honey on a cold night!! The other in contrast doesn't have one mollecule of "Nestle" in it's hard steel body. It's more like a mini barbell sitting on your wrist. you could use it as a wrist hammer. Here's another one Last year Ocean7 Watch company introduced a similar "Wrist hammer" The Ocean7 LM-7 or Ploprof. This is a homage to the Venerable Omega 600 Ploprof. An expensive and very scarce "tool watch" of a bygone era. I was fortunate enough to get in on the ground floor of the LM-7 and have Serial #6. It is a strange watch in design, certainly not for everyone, and not the watch you would wear out at night dressed in a Tuxedo. It's pretty comfortable, however it's size is such that you are always aware that it's there.It gets lots of comments and attention especially from Divers. What sets this watch apart are several features. one it's red button on the top right side of the dial. This is the bezel lock button. Press it down and you can turn the bezel, release it and the bezel locks.Second the case guards are exaggerated and completely enclose the crown. Also the watch is "reversed" with the caseguards/crown on the left rather than the right. third the bezel insert is sapphire with superluminova indicies and numbers. It reall lights up after a charge of sunlight or lamplight. It's not and everyday wearer for me, but I Dive with it and wear it a lot when we go to the coast for swimming and beach bumming.The mesh bracelet is a Jurgens Monster Mesh, super comfortable and very close to the original Omega mesh for about 1/4th the price.

Great thread with some beautiful watches. Here are my two GMT's 1. Genuine 16750 GMT Master Serial # 94XXXXX 1986 vintage. This was my first Rolex GMT, and I still have it after several years.It will be a hand down to my son or one of my grandsons in years to come.I have flipped, traded and sold many watches over the past 40 years, but this is one of the very few that isn't going anywhere.Older 1675's with the Matte dial are rarer and more desirable, but I really prefer this model as it has quickset date which the 1675 lacked. 2. Replica 116710 GMT II Ceramic bezel Just got theis one a few days ago, really like it. It has the Swiss ETA 2836-2 WHS movement and it is keeping time at the rate of + 2 seconds per day, and I would say this movement is not run in yet. I really like the dial, as well as the ceramic bezel. Very well made and about as close to genuine "out of the Box' as any rep I've owned.Now, what I don't like. The lume is great- for about 5 minutes, so it really needs a relume.the cyclops is very reflective and difficult to see the date numbers in certain light. I will definitely either spring for a genuine crystal, or have the cyclops AR coated. Another nit picky thing is the bracelet micro adjust. The old Subs and GMT's used springbars and clasps with drilled holes and were very easy to adjust. the new ones used a concealed springbar and no holes in the clasp sides. It looks sleeker, but I find it impossible to release the springbars to adjust the bracelet. That's all I can find wrong with the watch/bracelet. The only way I would get rid of this one would be a newer model with a reliable CHS adjustable hour hand model like the real GMT II.

Tech, Thanks very much for the advice. The watch is still at Eurotimez. I haven't approved it, and I emailed them regarding this problem. i would expect it to be fixed before I accept the watch for shipping.by the way I looked at a few photos of others on their website, and mine was not the only one that has this problem. Thanks Again Arthur

I just had a look at the photos of my DSSD from Eurotimez. Watch looks fine except the bezel triangle is a little off. It looks like from the head on shot, the bezel triangle is pointing at between the 12 and 1 second ticks on the dial,closer to the 1. It should be aligned directly in the middle with the point dead center on the 12.My question is could this be caused by the bezel being one click off, or would moving the bezel one click make it worse? I asked for it to be fixed and more photos before approving the watch, but this may not be a problem, just a bezel that's off one click. Any suggestions or answers from folks who have received the "upgrade" version of the DSSD would be appreciated. I'm not particularly a perfectionist, but this would drive me crazy if it were not aligned correctly. From what i could tell, the dial writing "Appears" to be aligned properly, but its very difficult to tell. If I could download the photo and enlarge it in Photoshop, I could get a better idea of the dial. But for now it looks fine. Everything else passes my scrutiny. Arthur

Don't panic!! I ordered one from them on 11/11/2009, picture approval message came yesterday 11/22/09 that was 11 days from order to approval photos posted. I have to approve then they pack and ship, so i would expect a couple of days more before it's shipped, so looking at 2 weeks minimum fbefore shipping. Patience is a necessary virture with rep dealers. Arthur