panerai153

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That's too expensive. I sold a blue 9411 in excellent condition with the correct bracelet for less than 4k. This around six months ago. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got to say my man, you are doing it right! You will have a big crown build that will be right up there with the "big boys" everything looks great, and I like your approach. Too many folks start out on these with a haphazard plan, mostly hope!! As you know from your business background, hoping and wishing are NOT a business plan! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Poor Farrah, doesn't stand a chance in this crowd!!! That is a really outstanding pair though. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

MKII Kingston

There are so many unscrupulous sellers on EBay, I believe that PayPal had to go overboard to protect buyers, or at some point there would not be any buyers. Unfortunately, the pendulum as usual has swung too far to the side of the buyers, and now the sellers find that they are not being protected. It looks like PayPal with it's very sophisticated computer system could track disputes and flag those buyers who have opened more than one or two over a period of time. Of course the real "dyed in the wool" scammers like this guy that ripped off Matt or probably using multiple emails, multiple PayPal accounts and any other method that he can use to decrease scrutiny and keep his scamming game going for as long as he can. I hate this for Matt, as I said before he is really a nice guy, and he doesn't deserve to be robbed by some slimy little crook. Guys like this really make it hard, especially for newer members who are totally honest but haven't established their "Creds". Like I said before, USPS money order half up front, balance on completion, watch ships when the funds clear (Just in case the buyer tries to slip in a phony MO) !! I bought and sold vintage fountain pens for years, before PayPal and even before the internet got popular. I would send a MO, cashiers check and later if it was someone I had done business with for a while, personal checks, but the seller always waited until the funds cleared before the pens were shipped. Sad that we might have to go back to the old way of doing business, but if the crooks and scammers keep multiplying, I don't see many other choices.

Sort of a little fun thing, mostly for the noobs here who might not be aware of all the "tricks of the trade" When it comes to photographing watches especially regarding lume shots. I just put together a ROO Chrono ( See, that's a lie already)!!, I just changed out the bezel and gaskets, but it was the first attempt to do anything other than change straps, bracelets and occasionally remove the case back to check the movement or grease the gasket. Here is the setup. If you have a decent camera that has the capabilities of changing apertures/shutter speeds, it's possible to do a lot of in camera manipulation of photos. What I'm trying to show here is it's possible to make the lume on a watch a lot better than it really is, by manipulating the exposures. First off, if the watch has really poor lume, nothing is going to make it look really good, but if it's got decent lume, WOW, you can make it look like it would light up the night. Some folks don't give a whit about lume, if it's there, OK, if not still OK. But to others, me included, it's pretty important. I'm a lume junky, the more the better!! However, one thing that we all need to realize is most reps from the factory have pretty poor lume. The newer ones are better, but they are still for the most part not up to par with their genuine counterparts. So because of that, a lot of us spend a lot of time and money having someone redo the lume to make it better. So you're looking at a watch on the sales forum, everything looks really nice, price is OK, watch runs, keeps reasonable time, and from the photos, it looks like you could use it as a bedside reading light. But, is it really that good? my feelings are, if the lume was applied by one of the better modders on this and other forums, it ought to be pretty good, but it may or may not be as good as it looks, because with lume, like women, sometimes looks can be deceiving!! This afternoon, raining outside, on call, so really can't do anything much. Since I recently finished my new ROO project, I decided to take some photos. This watch has a long checkered past, which I'll save for another story, but one thing that should be revealed, it has had the lume renewed by VAC. This was done before I got the watch, so I have to take the word of the seller, but he's a good guy and I have no reason to doubt him. Here is the setup Interfit 24" collapsible light tent Canon 70D Camera / Canon 28-135 Lens Heavy Gitzo Tripod The lume was exposed to pretty bright lights around the light ten, as I took a dozen or so photos of the watch before I took the lume shots. I would say it was well exposed to bright lights and the lume was probably close to maximum. So what I did was take several photos at about 30 second intervals, each time I increased the exposure by 2 seconds. starting at 3 seconds and ending at 13 seconds. The last shot was at 15 seconds and a little room light through a slightly opened door. I used the self timer to decrease shake as these are pretty long exposures and impossible without a good tripod and no movement. So what we have here is a and example of how lume can be manipulated, as the times were getting longer and the lume was "appearing" to get brighter, which is the opposite of what you would expect because as time goes forward, the lume should dim, rather than appear brighter. Here are the photos, starting with the shortest exposure first and ending with the longest exposure

AP ROO this started out as a Rubberclad, just changed out the bezel for a stainless steel Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If I were Matt, going forward, I would not deal with anyone who doesn't have any "creds" on this or other forums. I feel sure Matt has plenty of business to keep him busy with local folks and people on the forums who are honest and have a track record of solid transactions and deals with other members. Sad to say there are a lot of folks on the Internet that are just out and out crooks, and the anonymous nature of the Internet makes it a lot easier for scammers to operate with some degree of safety. It's a shame that people like this fellow ruin it for all of us who would never dream of doing what this asshole did.. I know Matt, and he would never sell anything that wasn't fully described and the buyer knows exactly what he is receiving. If Matt sells a watch he builds, the buyer knows exactly what parts are used in the build, and if it were a genuine watch, it damn sure would be 100% genuine! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If I were Matt, going forward, I would not deal with anyone who doesn't have any "creds" on this or other forums. I feel sure Matt has plenty of business to keep him busy with local folks and people on the forums who are honest and have a track record of solid transactions and deals with other members. Sad to say there are a lot of folks on the Internet that are just out and out crooks, and the anonymous nature of the Internet makes it a lot easier for scammers to operate with some degree of safety. It's a shame that people like this fellow ruin it for all of us who would never dream of doing what this asshole did.. I know Matt, and he would never sell anything that wasn't fully described and the buyer knows exactly what he is receiving. If Matt sells a watch he builds, the buyer knows exactly what parts are used in the build, and if it were a genuine watch, it damn sure would be 100% genuine! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Matt is a super nice and honest guy, and I know from a whole lot of dealings with him, phone conversations, etc. he is as honest as the day is long. This asshole is trying to get his money back and the watch to boot. I'm sure he knew exactly what he was buying, and I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't scammed others. I hope that this can be worked out in Matt's favor, but knowing PayPal, unless you are one of the big time sellers on EBay, things seldom work out positively for your side. The probable consequences of this is Matt will have his PayPal account frozen, and it will create a hardship on both he and his customers. Maybe in the long run only accept PayPal gift, or go back to the old fashioned way, "mail me a Postal Money order for the deposit and I'll build you a watch, and then another postal money order for the balance, shipping upon clearance of the funds", at least do this for any unknown that pops up out of nowhere. Good luck Matt, I sure hope this works out in your favor.

If you forego the Rolex movement and just do all the other mods, you can save the money and misery of trying to find the Rolex parts and Yuki movement. Some folks cannot stand the idea of the incorrect hand stack, but honestly, it is not noticeable. Except for a few minutes twice a day and one of those are in the middle of the night!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AP RG DIVER Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree, probably gonna cost a bundle to do it right, because honestly, I believe you will need gen dial, bezel/ insert and crystal as well. Not sure what the first released gen GMT ceramics are going for on the used market, but I would bet that you will have close to 3k in the rep if you do it right with the Yuki 3135 and Rolex parts, which may be a problem in itself seeing as how tight Rolex is with parts. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I bought one, and may never franken a ROO, but if I do I'll have it!! Better to have and not need than need and not have!!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I finally got around to going over to the other forum to read the sales thread that started this discussion. First off, unless you are planning to keep a watch like this, or are willing to part it out and still take a hit on the total price, you better try to restrain yourself when you start shopping for parts. Second, the prices of Rolex parts have gone up exponentially in the past few years, especially anything vintage, so those of us who built something 4-5 years ago, are getting "sticker Shock" when we see the prices today. A few years ago, I bought some tritium pearls from a seller on the Vintage Rolex market. He was asking 90 bucks each. I asked him what he could do if I bought 4/ He told me 75 each, and he would absorb the PayPal and shipping. Now I'm seeing them for 200 USD each. I believe that if you shop wisely, and are not in a hurry, you can still pick up some "deals", but they are few and far between. Obviously the seller of the watch in question is pretty much assigning full price for the parts, which in my estimation is perfectly alright, as he is looking at selling at "replacement value", not necessarily what he paid. But, if he wants to build another one, these are the prices he might expect to pay. Having said all that, I will still stick by my original thoughts, that is why in the world would you put together a 3.5K replica of a 4-4.5 K watch? Here is the big problem to me, no matter how many genuine parts it contains, it's not a genuine Rolex. And while it is good enough to fool just about everyone, in the end it's not a genuine. It wouldn't pass muster if you sent it to a RSC for service. If you sell it as a gen, and the new owner takes to Rolex and they tell him "sorry sir this is not a Rolex" He is going to come hunting for you, or at least the law is!! So in the end, if you have to sell a watch like this, it's only salable on a rep forum sales market. This is a pretty small market. compared to all the gen watch sales forums around the world, and when you get into this price range the buyer pool shrinks to a tiny puddle, or maybe just a damp spot on the ground. Pretty evident in this particular sales thread, which I believe is now about 7 pages long. Lots of oohs and aahs, lots of his buddies telling him what a wonderful watch this is, better than gen (What the hell does that mean)? How can it be better than a genuine if it's not a genuine? I would be very surprised if this watch sells, and in the end, it will probably be parted out in and attempt to recoup as much as he can. More power to him if he can, but I certainly have my doubts.

Happy Easter guys, have a safe and wonderful day. Mike, looks like you are going all out!! Prime Rib has just about supplanted turkey for most of our Holiday Meals. Bon Appetit !!

I have the ETA mainspring mod in one of my ROO's and as Legend stated, it makes a world of difference. It is now around 48-50 hours and before I was lucky to get a full 24 hours out of the watch. I do think that while you are getting the mainspring installed, it would be god to get a full service, including a complete stripdown, cleaning and proper oiling. AFA the original question, I have serious doubts that Vac is doing the jewel mod.

I have seen quite a few AP ROO's for sale on the various forums touting movement mods by VAC that include the jewel mod. Most of these seem to be guys that are selling watches that have passed through a couple of owners, and possibly the service history is vague. The reason I ask this is because a year or so back u asked the same question to VAC and he told me that he did not do jewel mods. I understood that Domi was the only one that did this mid on a commercial basis. I believe that this is important as most folks that are selling seem to put a premium on these mods. If he dies, I stand corrected, but if not, I think people should not advertise something that hasn't been done. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Look around in all the forums, there have been several for sale recently. One problem seems to be that lots of them don't come with the tachy ring, which looks to be harder to find than dials!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have one in a gen Heroic 18 bronze diver. Keeps great time, however they do have a "stuttering" seconds hand, I believe this is due to a different drive mechanism for the Myiota movement as opposed to the ETA movements. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Almost home!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The CZ's are very good. Can't tell that they are not diamonds without a diamond tester. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'm just very happy that you guys are around, and are willing to share your wisdom with those of us who aren't as knowledgable. That's what makes this such a great place. Great members make a great forum. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Even though I can't do much in the way of modding, I still enjoy the experience of finding the parts, getting everything together, and then having one of the good guys here build it. One if the reasons I own a gen 16610 is because several years ago, I was able to find one in really nice shape, exactly like I wanted for around 2.5K. Now I realize that they have gone up in price, but they can still be found for around 4K. It's impossible to build one with all genuine parts except for mid case and caseback for less than 2.5-3K, if you use a serviced gen movement. It's silly to spend 75-80% of the cost if a gen on a rep, no matter how good it is. Same reason my 1680 has an ETA 2846 movement instead of a 1570, cost would make it too close to gen price, I have a fairly flexible rule of thumb, not more than 30% of gen price. It used to be 20%, but since Rolex parts have gotten so crazy, I had to modify my thinking. As was said above, most noobs aren't going to pay several thousand dollars for a franken, and if they do without any research, asking questions and in general doing their "due diligence", then shame on them. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk