panerai153

I thought I posted last night right after you said "I despise Fakes" must have forgotten to hit the send button!!! So here's' my spin on this. You are too stupid for words. Yo daddy must have given you the watches, because you obviously couldn't buy anything as expensive as these watches. How Long did it take for your little pea brain to register that you were perhaps in the wrong forum? Just drop the ban hammer on this fool and let's get on with our discussions. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks, it was definitely a work in progress. I bought it around 2007, and finally finished it up in 2013. The only problem with and all gen except case 1680, by the time you add a gen dial, hands, insert, pearl,crown/tube, movement, bracelet and endlinks, you are going to have about 70-80% of the price of a decent gen. Which is fine if you love the watch, and you really plan to keep it forever.. But, if you fall out of love and decide to move it on, you are going to find that reps in that price range are hard to sell. There are not many buyers about who are going to fork over 3-4 k for a rep. Lots have been on the sales forum for months and months, and the seller ends up parting them out to try to get back some of his/her investment. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

There are some skilled folks here who can drill the top plate to accommodate gen dials!! So best of both worlds. doesn't work on all movements and/or dials, but does on some.

Looks fine. I wouldn't worry too much unless you think it's completely put together from spare parts. that's a 40+ year old watch, so more than likely the crown, tube, crystal have been changed, which would be normal. Do you have any service history? No indication form the inside of the caseback.

You might try over on the Vintage Rolex Forum Marketplace. Please do not mention reps or here or anywhere else remotely related to reps. they will kick you off and you will be forever banned. They have lots of parts, just need to visit often and stay on the lookout. Sales posts there are carefully scrutinized, so much, much less chance of getting an aftermarket or rep parts than on Ebay. Serviced movements should be a good bit less than 2K. If you want to build a really nice 1680, I would also think about a gen dial as well. I would rather have a gen dial and an ETA 2846 movement than a rep dial and a Rolex movement. Here is mine, gen dial, insert, pearl, crown/tube endlinks bracelet/clasp running an ETA 2846 slow beat movement. Excuse the speck of dirt on the dial partially obscuring the 660.

Guys, need some help, recently got a Rubberclad back that Legend was kind enough to shepherd through the repair process. Since I already had another nice RC that was almost identical to this one, I decided to change the bezel to a stainless steel. So, I bought a bezel, however when it arrived, it didn't have a crystal gasket. So I decided to try the one that was in my Rubberclad bezel. Well, I cannot get the crystal to seat properly. I have tried everything, and actually broke a really nice AR'ed one in the process. I'm at my wits end, it just absolutely will not press in despite my best efforts. I have a crystal press, and I believe that I'm doing it correctly. I don't know if the gasket is wrong, or the guy sold me a bezel that isn't correct, but I need help. I would gladly pay someone to get the crystal pressed in for me, probably will need a different gasket as well. Thanks guys

While we are all WIS, we are not all acolytes of everything computer, so I would guess that a fair majority of "real" watch people would not be caught dead with and Apple watch. However, considering that every time Apple upgrades the IPhone, people wait in line outside Apple stores for days to get the newest version, leads me to believe that these same folks will be lined up waiting to buy and IWatch. Frankly, I see this product,at least at this stage with a dearth of good apps, as what we in the medical field describe as "a solution looking for a problem". It looks like a wiz bang, jam up great product, now all we have to do is figure out what to do with it!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

They are pretty scarce, but I went to WatchUSeek after your PM and there have been 3 or 4 for sale on WUS there were three bezel styles, 50,60 and 70 which corresponded to three different bezel configurations on the Blancpain's , also there were date, no date and dials with numbers and some with only markers. There was also for a very, very short while one offered with and acrylic bezel with lumed numbers and markers. I had one of these, bought it new from MKII, and in a moment of insanity, I sold it. Been trying to find another one ever since to no avail. These are great watches, and to me, the closest to the vintage Blancpain that you can find and still retain a modern case, water resistance, and a good dependable ETA2824 movement. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It must not be as easy as we think it would be. If the Date Window was moved in to the same position as the one on the gen, that would make the dial a whole lot more believable.

I believe Black, And probably Stingray.

I really like the MH , would make a great summer watch. Otherwise, maybe somewhat limited wear options. Very nice !!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

AP Diver again today Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congrats on 9 years!!! I'm not far behind. Also thanks for the update on the forum upgrade. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You are very welcome. I would expect that most of the guys who are into contemporary Rolex watches (I'm not, the only modern one I own is a franken GMT IIC) All the rest of mine are vintage), would say that the noob V5 is the best 11610 Ceramic Submariner out there today. Of course there are some who will disagree, some (Very small minority) say the noob V4 is better. I believe that from looking at the photos, you would be hard pressed to find a better one than the V5. Here is the problem with the rep game, quite often we get caught up with waiting for the ultimate,1:1, 100% perfect watch. You will still be waiting when you are old and grey, because there is never going to be a 100% perfect rep. Every timer the rep factories come out with a new version, they fix a few problems, but leave a few or they fix a few and then they mess up something else, so it's not a linear progression at all, sometimes it's 2 steps forward and one back, or one forward and one to the side. I realize it's confusing. Hell, I got into AP's about a year and a half ago after a lifetime of Rolex and many other gen and rep watches. I still feel like and idiot sometimes, because it takes a long time to build up a knowledge base, especially with watches that are constantly changing, new models, improvements to older models, etc. You just have got to do a lot of reading, and look at a lot of photos of genuine as well as reps. Another thing to remember, we have a lot of guys here that very, very anal about watches. Some of the faults that people mention are literally not visible to the naked eye! When you blow up a photo of a watch face to the size of a wall clock, it's easy to pick it apart, but remember the watch is 35-45mm's not 10 inches, so faults that you can pick up on a computer blow-up probably won't be discernible at eye to wrist distance. Another important factoid, about 99% of the people out there couldn't tell a canal street rep from a real Rolex or a Timex , and more importantly, they don't care. If you can carry off a watch, then you are not very likely to be questioned about it. If you are a high school student, delivering pizzas in a rusted out Tercel, most everyone who notices your watch will assume it's a fake, even if it's genuine. So if you can't carry off a Rolex, you should stick to mid range gens like Seiko, Invicta, and lots of others who make nice watches in the same range that the noob sells for. That's one reason most folks would not buy a rep of a 450K UN, unless you are a multi millionaire (Think Russian Oligarch), because unless you are in that category, anyone who knows anything about those watches will know yours is a fake.

Before you invest in a CHS movement, which come up for sale on the forums every once in a while, I would check with some of the guys who have built these frankens. The ones that come to mind are steed12 and misiekped. Steed built mine, and he had a really nice thread with lots of photos here in this forum. If you read my post above, I stated that when I was building mine, I asked steed about putting a CHS movement in at the time. His answer was he wasn't sure that it would work with a gen dial, as the gen dials are thicker than the rep dials, and the CHS movement is taller than the ICHS movement. He felt like there would be issues getting everything to work properly. Just like back a few years ago, there were a few of us who were interested in using an ETA 2893-2 movement in place of the 2836. A few folks were able to get the movement to work, but it took a lot of doing an every one of the folks who did it said " never again"!! So my advice would be to do your homework before you shell out the money on a movement, which probably would have to come from a new watch you purchase and cannibalize for the movement. AFA the hands, they probably come up for dale occasionally on some of the gen forums, and possibly some of the guys here that have access to genuine parts could get the hands for you. check the parts for sale forum and PM some of the folks who are selling genuine parts.

AP Diver V5

I thought the JF V5 has a Seagull 2824 movement? That's according to the puretime website. If that's true, that is a really good movement (if it's the ST 2130). They do mention on the noob version that the grey hand has been corrected. The old a2824 noob movements were terrible. Heck,I have a JF V3, and I'm pretty happy with it. It could stand better AR on the cyclops, but otherwise it's OK. Of course the "latest and greatest" are generally going to be better!!

Look pardner, you have been here about a minute, you are asking for advice without spending any time doing any research. But since I'm in a good mood today, instead of flaming you, I'm gong to give you a little help. 1. We have a list of Trusted dealers here, notice "trusted" they are in that section because for the most part they give very good service, accurately describe their products , deliver what they describe, and offer such niceties as a limited warranty, as well as protection should your watch get seized by customs, lost, damaged or stolen in transit . 2. Watch88 or 88watch or whatever they are calling themselves is NOT a trusted dealer. Why not? Because they are a scam site, they use pictures of genuine watches instead of the rep that you are getting, Their watches are cheap junk, street vendor quality, and they are not going to give you any warranty, no matter what they claim. I would bet that their site is filled with malware and spyware as well, so just clicking on their site may give your computer a bad cold!! Now, after all this, you sir are on your own. But If I were you, I would do a whole lot more reading and research and then go to the trusted dealer pages on this and other rep forums,chose the watch and then chose the dealer you feel most comfortable with. Now if you chose not to listen to the advice of someone who has been here fore almost 9 years and over 5k posts, that's entirely up to you, but if you chose to ignore advice from members here and buy from one of these scam sites, don't come back with your tale of woe when your 400.00 USD Rolex Rep turns out to be a 50.00 USD Canal street piece of junk.

What are your intentions? are you buying a boatload of reps to wear or you planning to resell? If you go to puretime's page, they have a wholesale sister site called watch station. Their prices are a whole lot better than puretime, but there are some serious caveats. You need to read their "FAQ's page carefully. They do not guarantee shipping or offer any warranty on their watches. They are very up front and clear about this, so if you don't read it and your watches get seized, lost or come in with problems or DOA, they are yours. In other words when the package gets turned over to the PO in China, they are done, period. And they only take WU or Bank transfers, so forget about opening a PayPal dispute, because there won't be any PayPal. Here is the link to their website: http://watch-station.co/

Yuki working here in the USA

That's difficult, because my favorite is not always the same!! But for now, my favorites are 1. Rep - AP Rubberclad White Dial (Modded by Domi) For some reason this one gets the most wrist time of any of my reps. 2. Gen - Tudor Big Block

Finally, a beautiful day and warming up enough to get some work done outside!! Wearing my beach beater Heroic 18 Bronze on a Brady sailcloth.

It would be nice to have a really good one right out the box, because I'm here to tell you, the parts to build one of these aren't cheap!! I built mine a couple of years ago, and the parts weren't cheap then, and I can imagine they are much higher now.

the luxury brands are not going to leave any stones unturned in their quest to stamp out counterfeits. I'm sure that their frustration levels are super high right now, because one, the net neutrality move will severely cut down on what they can do, and despite their efforts, the rep sites, and I'm not just talking about watches are sort of like playing a perpetual game of "Wack a Mole", wack one and he just pops up somewhere else!! I believe that while they will continue to pursue every opportunity to stop the websites, I feel like it's a futile effort, especially when we keep getting reports of the Chinese economy slowing. The leadership wants jobs, because people with jobs generally don't cause trouble, so a job is a job is a job to the Chinese hierarchy. If folks are getting paid, I don't think they give a rat's butt whether they are assembling IPhones or replica Rolexes!!

Like most have said, the ICHS is pretty much not and issue, unless you happen to meet someone who knows what to look for and it happens that it's right when the hour hand is covering up the GMT hand. If a person who happens to know about the GMT hand stack, they can see this from several feet away. Instant tell. However I would bet that about 90% of GMT owners could not tell you the hand stack order without looking at their watches!! Only a WIS would know. I believe much more apparent tells(and maybe all of these have been corrected by later versions) are 1. Bezel- size and depth of numbers, plus the platinum finish has not been duplicated 2. Crystal - early models did not have the AR'ed crystal 3. Dial - some models have almost perfect dials, but some were not so good, dial surrounds are too thick, colors off Here is a down and dirty photo taken a while ago this graphically illustrates the "instant tell" with the ICHS movement. As you can see the hour hand is covering the GMT hand which is incorrect. However while it will be apparent for around 30 minutes, only someone who happens to see your watch close up and actually knows how it's supposed to look would be able to tell. this watch has a genuine dial, genuine bezel and insert as well as a genuine crystal, so pretty much everything has been done except for the CHS movement. When Sneed12 built mine, he told me that the gen dial is thicker than the rep, and since the CHS movement is a little taller, he wasn't sure that it was even possible to use a gen dial and CHS movement.