panerai153

Great minds think alike!!! Onefastsicilian, puretime Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I actually had an email exchange with him a couple of weeks ago. He is doing some AR work, and I just was curious about his prices, etc. he told me that his health problems were much better. He lives in North Carolina. Have to say, his email conversations are about as cryptic as before!!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Legend, you are correct, I was impressed by the CZ's. Don't have any idea as to how they will hold up over the long haul, but they sure look good now. She really likes it, and that's what's important. As has been said many times before" Happy wife, happy life"!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Saw a brief write up about this watch on another forum and was impressed. I remembered that my wife mentioned that she didn't have a Gold watch except for a gen Omega dress watch which is tiny and not practical for everyday wear. This looked like something to fit the bill. Sweated it out through almost 5 days in US customs, got here on Friday and she loves it!! Didn't take it off all weekend. Looks like her gen Tag AquaRacer is going to be spending more time in her watch box. I'm not sure how close to the gen this watch is, but if anyone can pull this watch off, it's her. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Fifty Fathoms Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree Mike is doing a great job. Keep up the good work!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I believe that sellers who break the rules should be punished. On the other forums, if you don't comply with the rules, your listing gets "nuked"!! Pretty easy way to keep sellers in line. Also, if a member removed photos price, etc from a sales thread, he should have a reasonable time to restore the information, if it's not done then suspend their sales privileges for a month or two. Second offense, double the ban, third time ban from selling permanently, also let the other forums know what's going on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Glad to see you back!! Not much into modern subs, but from what everyone says TC is the way to go. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

AP Diver today Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've got a Powermatic 80 sitting in a Tissot watch just waiting for a new home. I think now that I might try to find a noob hand set, and try to get the cyclops AR'ed I have a guru AR'ed crystal that will work just fine. I really think the cyclops lume on the V3 is lacking. Just wondering if it would be better to try to sell this one and find a V4 to mod, it's already got a better cyclops and hands, correct? would only need to change the crystal and drop in the Powermatic 80. Any thoughts?

There is a post over on RWI with a link to the seizures/ forfeitures posted on March 20th. Link:http://www.forfeiture.gov/pdf/CBP/OfficialNotification.pdf It's pretty interesting reading, shows a lot of different stuff from obvious drug seizures to illegal alien seizures, lots of drugs like anabolic steroids, different counterfeit prescription meds, Money and quite a few genuine Rolex watches, which are illegal to import into the USA, you can wear one in, but you better not mail it! Surprisingly looking through all the Chicago seizures, there were very few watches, Looks like they are getting a lot more counterfeit clothing, medicine, etc. I found this very interesting. This is the statute that is cited when items are seized for copyright/ trademark infringement. 19USC1526(E) - Merchandise bearing American trade-mark a) Importation prohibited Except as provided in subsection (d) of this section, it shall be unlawful to import into the United States any merchandise of foreign manufacture if such merchandise, or the label, sign, print, package, wrapper, or receptacle, bears a trademark owned by a citizen of, or by a corporation or association created or organized within, the United States, and registered in the Patent and Trademark Office by a person domiciled in the United States, under the provisions of sections 81 to 109 of title 15, and if a copy of the certificate of registration of such trademark is filed with the Secretary of the Treasury, in the manner provided in section 106 of said title 15, unless written consent of the owner of such trademark is produced at the time of making entry. Seizure and forfeiture Any such merchandise imported into the United States in violation of the provisions of this section shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture for violation of the customs laws. © Injunction and damages Any person dealing in any such merchandise may be enjoined from dealing therein within the United States or may be required to export or destroy such merchandise or to remove or obliterate such trademark and shall be liable for the same damages and profits provided for wrongful use of a trade-mark, under the provisions of sections 81 to 109 of title 15. (d) Exemptions; publication in Federal Register; forfeitures; rules and regulations (1) The trademark provisions of this section and section 1124 of title 15, do not apply to the importation of articles accompanying any person arriving in the United States when such articles are for his personal use and not for sale if (A) such articles are within the limits of types and quantities determined by the Secretary pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection, and such person has not been granted an exemption under this subsection within thirty days immediately preceding his arrival. (2) The Secretary shall determine and publish in the Federal Register lists of the types of articles and the quantities of each which shall be entitled to the exemption provided by this subsection. In determining such quantities of particular types of trade-marked articles, the Secretary shall give such consideration as he deems necessary to the numbers of such articles usually purchased at retail for personal use. (3) If any article which has been exempted from the restrictions on importation of the trade-mark laws under this subsection is sold within one year after the date of importation, such article, or its value (to be recovered from the importer), is subject to forfeiture. A sale pursuant to a judicial order or in liquidation of the estate of a decedent is not subject to the provisions of this paragraph. (4) The Secretary may prescribe such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this subsection. So from my interpretation of the above statute, it is not unlawful to bring in goods that violate the trademark/copyright laws, as long as it's for personal use, cannot be resold for one year, and who knows what the limits are? I would expect that bringing in a suitcase full of watches will get you in trouble, watches seized and probably a fine. Bring in one or two, and you should be within the limits set by the secretary, who isn't telling anyone what the limits are !!! The records do not reflect the any time period past the first weeks in January, so watch seizures from rep forum members may not show up in the records for a couple of months.

Thanks guys it was a watch for my wife plus and AP Strap and buckle (Had to buy the damn rubber strap to get the 20mm buckle)!! Express mail post lady drove up in my driveway and I got it and my wife loves it! Might get a photo if I can pry it away from her.

I agree Mike, I do use gift on rare occasions, but it's only with guys I have done business with before and are long standing here in the community. Still may be a bit of a risk, but not like sending PP gift to some guy who joined a week ago and has 10 posts!! Better to have the protection afforded by the 4% (Just call it insurance).

Released from Customs!! It went out of customs and had no tracking updates til this morning, It showed received at the regional PO in our state capitol, in and out of there in a couple of hours, should beat my local PO in a bit, probably can pick up this afternoon or tomorrow morning. this one caused me too much anguish, not going to order anything else until it looks like things have quieted down.

A few months back, I was close to buying one used in WatchUSeek. It was the model that is a homage to the Panerai Bronzo.it sold before I could make up my mind, maybe good that I missed it. Sorry about yours, that is really bad!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My package has been in customs Chicago now for three days. I'm not having high hopes about it getting through. Over on another forum, someone said one of the TD's is having about 1 in 5 packages seized!! Pretty big loss for everyone.

Condolences to his family. Cancer indeed a cruel disease, it takes no prisoners and is totally indiscriminate.

Watch Station is much cheaper, but they do not offer any warranty or guaranteed delivery. If you live in a place where delivery is very safe and you are able to work on your own watches or have someone who can, Watch Station might be a viable alternative. With the situation now in the USA, I believe that saving a few bucks with no delivery guarantee is a bad choice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Big Block today

I have read all of the posts on both RWI an RG related to this problem, and it looks like there are only a couple of alternatives, short of not buying anything from China. One seems to be resorting to Registered mail through Hong Kong, decidedly slower, and who really knows if it's any safer or if it's safer now, how long that will last. the next would be some sort of triangle shipping like they do for EU customers by shipping to a "safe" EU country and then forwarding to the destination. That also is more expensive, because the buyer is going to have to bear two shipping charges. However for the time being, the situation in Chicago seems to be getting worse rather than easing off. The fact that the customer Mike eluded to having the money put back in his PayPal account tells me that either the customer is afraid of getting another watch confiscated, or the seller is getting reluctant to reship? I have a watch that I purchased for my wife, along with a box and a separate strap/buckle for another watch sitting in Chicago customs right now, was inbound into customs at 8:43 AM yesterday. That's less than 24 hours, but in the past most of my packages have moved in and out of customs within a few hours. I do know this, if the parcel is seized, I will not have another one shipped EMS, at least until all this quiets down, or I will have it shipped to someone in another country and have them forward the package to me. If It does make it through, I'm going to count my lucky stars and shut down my buying except for M2M preferably in the CONUS. This has got to be hurting the dealers, in two ways, first off as the amount of seizures grow and get reported, it scares off potential buyers. Second, they have got to be taking a beating on replacement watches and shipping. Toro said in a post on one of the other forums that he had over 20 watches seized last month and I would suspect that he is probably one of the smaller dealers, so if he's lost that many how many have the bigger dealers like puretime and trusty lost? Of course this is just what the luxury brands and customs are shooting for. They want to instill fear in the hearts of potential buyers as well as sellers, to the point that people are scared to buy or sell. What is strange to me is this change in focus to intercepting small packages with one watch or a bag or rep bracelet or earrings. They are picking off a tiny fraction of the goods that get in to the USA every day. It's a total waste of resources, while these guys are busy in Chicago opening individual packages with one watch, the undermanned staff at every seaport in the USA is letting whole containers filled with counterfeit goods from watches to auto parts to pharmaceuticals get through. Wearing a rep watch never killed anyone, but installing inferior brake pads on someone's car very well could, as could filling heart med prescriptions with fake pills.

Keep us posted.

That sounds like a really nice project. The genuine AP sonly has single AR, so that's what I would go with. I do think that the cyclops is a big weak point with the divers. I have and AR'ed crystal on both my FC V3 and My V5, but the cyclops is not that great. Like some said above, Franken is being used too loosely, to me it gets into franken territory when you add gen parts like dial, bezel, crystal, crown, hands, not just lume and AR. Nice modded watch, but not a franken.

If the shipper agreed to ship through and intermediary, and you paid extra for that service, then the shipper is at fault. The shipper has a contractual obligation to ship the way you requested and paid for. Simple as that, it's a contract. If the package still gets lost or intercepted, then it's on you, but he did not fulfill his part of the contractual obligation. If you buy a new car from a dealer, and you don't like the tires that are on the vehicle, and you pay extra to have better tires , then if they deliver the car with the same unwanted tires, the dealer breached the contract.

Very nice sir!! I have to say, Maurice Lacroix makes some very nice watches, I have a Calendre Retrograde, and it's outstanding. I have had several others as well and they were all very nice watches. I believe that Maurice Lacroix has a problem with identity, as they make a line of cheap watches and then the Masterpiece Series which are expensive. Usually this business model doesn't work, as more people associate your brand with the cheap watches. Sort of the "Least common denominator" theory.

Was it shipped Registered mail or EMS?