panerai153

Agree!! Haven't owned one in a while. Hate that they eliminated the cyclops as well. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Here in the USA, these are called Chicago screws. Used in leather working in place of rivets as they are easy to exchange without destroying them like with rivets. Try this website, they have all sizes etc. https://www.buckleguy.com/chicago-screws/ Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have a gen P serial 16610 from 2000. It has a SEL bracelet, which from my research was the first year that they used the 93250 as a replacement for the 93150. As Matt said, the correct end links were the 580, however I have seen some with the 501b so perhaps both are correct. I certainly can't fault the 93250 SEL bracelet, very tight and with the drilled lugholes, just as easy to remove as the old style end links. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sort of reminds me of a submariner on steroids!! Actually, it's not too bad. I would need to see one in the flesh and try it on before I really made up my mind. I will say, I had over the years three DSSD's, tried my best to love them, but for my wrist they were one of the poorest fitting watches I have owned. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That is certainly and option, and with the older Rolex GMT's that was the only option as the GMT hand was not adjustable. Pilots didn't have a choice, they had to use the bezel as the means of determining the 2nd zone time.That's the way I get the 2nd Zone time with my gen 16750. I've got two other GMT's that use the ETA 2893-2 movement and they are fine, and if you use the hour hand for home time and the GMT hand as the 2nd Zone time, you are able to adjust the GMT hand without stopping the movement, sort of like moving the Hour hand on the newer Rolex GMT's. Problem there is you can only move the GMT hand in one direction, whereas the newer ones have the bi-directional hour hand. To answer your question, sometimes I'm out sure whether new innovations are really solving a problem, or they are introduced and then the PR folks invent a problem! Sort of like and expression we use in medicine, a solution looking for a problem, rather than a problem looking for a solution. When the 16710 came out, I was not that impressed, as I really wasn't convinced that having a bi-directional setting hour hand was worth the loss of the quickset date feature. Honestly, unless you wear these watches every day or use a winder when you aren't, the non quickset date is a pain. For the casual user, there are some advantages. It doesn't take any calculation to figure out what the new time is at your destination. When you have to use your bezel, you have to do a tiny bit of figuring to decide which way it needs to turn. Certainly not a problem with pilots that fly pretty much the same routes routinely. Another problem, with some of the very old Rolex watches, they used a friction fit bezel rather than one with a click spring. These over time tended to get looser and it was entirely possible to have the bezel move in either direction. Of course the advent of click springs or detects in some cases solved that problem. So to answer your question, I'm not sure there is a valid answer, except that watch companies invent some new "improvement", market the hell out of it and are able to convince a large segment of the buying public that they can't live without it. I believe that no matter which GMT you own, be it and old style "tracking GMT", adjustable GMT hand or the adjustable hour hand, you learn to operate it and become comfortable with it. All have positives and negatives related to their utility, sort of depends on what you have or like. And, whether you are sort of old school or one who has to have the latest and greatest whether it's actually any better or not. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

i believe that everyone who has gotten in to frankens asks themselves the same question that you posed. I believe ubi summed it up pretty darn well. I have genuine watches that get very, very little wrist time, but from the standpoint of value, they are worth 2-3 times what I paid for them so while I would love to be able to pass all of them down to my son and grandsons, I know that should I have and emergency and need cash, they are salable. From a love standpoint, I have Reps that I like a whole lot better than those gens. AFA what frankens cost to build, I suppose a lot depends on what the gen costs. I have never built a franken of a 50k watch, but I agree that spending 20-30% of the value of a gen in that price range is probably not a good idea. I try to keep the franken cost at 25-30% but these are watches that genuine sell for 6-12k. From my standpoint, I would be very hesitant to spend much over 3k for a franken. That's probably why I have stayed away from franken AP ROO's and vintage Daytonas.With some of those, you can get in pretty deep really fast, depending on your parts suppliers, and sometimes just luck. Another factor is your ultimate goals and expectations, as well as your watch budget. If you are one of those of us who enjoy the hunt, researching builds, finding parts and ultimately seeing all your hard work and efforts come to fruition in a beautiful watch, then to me it is worth it.If you are one who just wants a watch to fool your friends and associates or no matter what lose interest in a watch quickly and are always looking for the latest and greatest models, then I would say that the franken game is not for you. Watch budget definitely plays a part as well. Consider that in almost every case, you will not recoup your costs that went into the build. I have seen really fantastic frankens languish on the sales forums for months, and at some point withdrawn, sold at a loss or parted out to recover some of the costs. So all of these factors have to be well thought out before you jump off the deep end. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

We extend a warm welcome to all the RWI members who are visiting here while RWI is undergoing "renovations". Glad to have you here. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Wow!! Thanks guys. Fast accurate facts to help folks here increase their knowledge base. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just thought I would chime in here and ask a few questions and some observations about the yuki converted to GMT. First off, I have one of these in my franken 116710. I am a big, big fan of GMT's. I believe that for those folks who travel., they are very handy watches. If you are crossing several time zones, they are to me and essential piece of equipment. It is alway good to know what your home time is as well as the local time. I have several GMT's that are based on the ETA 2893-2 movement. These are very good, stable rugged movements, however they lack one essential element, the ability to set the time forward or back without stopping the movement. There are only a few movements that have that capacity, the Ulysse Nardin +\- Big date and the Rolex GMT's starting with the 16710. There are others, however I don't have any personal experience with them. For those of us who have decided to go the rep route, the yuki 3135 conversion looked to be a very viable alternative. Because the price to build a very good franken was less than half the price of a used Rolex 16710 or 116710, that was the route I chose. The problem is there are some movement limitations to this build which is what I want to discuss. Mike (misiekped) built a converted movement for me, based on the yuki 3135 and gen parts for the conversion. Mike adds gen parts where he believes the yuki parts are weak. After my watch was completed, it did fine for quite a while. I'm not one who does a lot of fooling around with setting time, GMT time, etc. however after a while, I discovered that the GMT setting (hour hand) could only be advanced forward, not back. I contacted Mike, he promptly fixed it and sent it back, but with this warning. There is a problem with moving the hour hand back with the yuki movement, and he advised me to either not or very sparing move the hour hand backwards. While this is fine if you are traveling east, as you would move the hour hand forward, but when you travel west, you need to move the hour hand back, which is what creates the problem. So my question here is what is the solution to this? Is it possible to teplace more parts in the yuki movement with genuine, or have we reached a plateau where every conceivable modification has been made and we just need to live with the weaknesses? This is a fantastic watch, lots and lots of genuine parts, but this problem really concerns me as it decreases the utility of the watch when traveling. Because this watch lacks a quickset date, I leave it on a wonder when not in use, so that is not a big problem. I just wish that there was some way to make this movement as reliable when setting the hour hand back as well as forward. I know that this is not a genuine Rolex movement, but it sure would be nice if it worked better. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I agree, since I don't speak French (at least not the kind they speak in France!!) I find it very difficult and confusing. We avoid it at all costs. My wife and I travel to Europe pretty frequently, and we both prefer Schiphol. Haven't bought any new gens in a long time so no idea where to get a good deal. Much prefer gently used. Let the original buyer take the big first year depreciation hit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If I were in the market, I believe I would wait awhile unless you are buying Rolex , Breguet, or another really high end watch. From the looks of things there is a continuing slide in the market for mid to high end watches. According to and article in the Wall Street Journal, in the first 10 months of 2016, Switzerland reimported watches valued at 1.3 billion francs which had previously been exported. In another article I read, it stated that the Swiss were buying and re-importing watches previous sold to dealers around the world, this in and attempt to prevent deep discounting and grey market sales. At some point those watches will have to go back out for sale. Someone from Swatch group said that they were not re-importing as watches "didn't have an expiration date like foodstuff". True to a point, but if you are an AD or a store selling watches, you can only afford a certain dollar level of inventory. If it's not moving then you can't buy more. And any good businessman will tell you that while watches don't spoil, they do get stale, especially if the manufacturer is turning out new models. The logical action is to put the watches on sale and try to turn over the inventory. So my point is, unless economic conditions Improve, I would bet in a few months, there are going to be some really good deals to be had. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I would use a local bank, rather than try to use and overseas account. Looks better on your credit rating, and it's always good to establish a relationship with locals. Personally, since I live in a rather small town, I have always used a locally owned bank rather than a branch of one of the big boys. All the bank officers are locals for the most part, they tend to stay in one place so I'm not always having to do business with someone new, plus decisions are made locally, and usually are easier and quicker. Coming from the U.K., hope you can survive the Houston summer!! It's HOT!!! Close enough to the gulf to get all the humidity but none of the cooling ocean breeze. Sure is nice in the winter though. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Got to be careful with homeowners, read the fine print, they have a pretty low cap on jewelry, watches, art, etc. we keep all my wife's jewelry and a few of my watches in a fireproof safe, but the problem is that doesn't insure loss while away from home. I have all my firearms insured with a rider on my homeowners policy. May have to look into Jewelers Mutual. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

WOW !! How long ago was that? Some great prices for sure. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The only thing I was interested to see was the Blancpain FF homage to the original Mil-Spec. 40mm which is a nice size for those of us that are on the smaller side. Also it has the moisture indicator disc on the dial like the old original Mil-Spec's. Hopefully this one will get repped, as it's size should make it pretty popular. The Tudor chronos looked OK, but the snowflake hands just don't fit the watch. What I don't understand is Tudor putting those hands on every release. It's strange, because the snowflake hands only appeared on a few models, and for a relatively short time.. Lots of really weird watches that are priced at a gazillion dollars each, but most don't look like they are actually wearable except for a couple of hours for photo shoots. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

May have one. I bought a puretime 6542 several years ago. Let me look tomorrow. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Can't speak for the forum in general, but I seem to see a fair number of threads posted in general discussion that would be better served by posting in the brand forums. Right now two or three of the latest threads in GD are Rolex related. I just read this morning that BaselWorld is down from around 1500 exhibitors to 1300. Of course they are spinning it as more severe vetting, culling out "fashion watches" and smart watches. But in the next paragraph they admit that several pretty significant brands are missing this year. There are a lot of reasons, but bottom line is most of the luxury brands are seeing sales significantly down and trending downward more. My personal observation, younger people are not drawn to mechanical watches. We have a niece who is here in the USA studying Architecture. Two years ago we got her a very nice gen Tag. This past Christmas we gave her and Apple Watch, guess which one she wears all the time? Answer, it isn't the Tag!! Second factor, the population age 40-50 which was driving the high end market 10-15 years ago are now in their mid 50's to mid 60's. This is the age where things like a 5-10K watch are not as important as their retirement account. From this I'm thinking that the mid to high end manufacturers are seeing their reliable base eroding as mechanical watch wearers opt out. I doubt that this is really hurting certain brands like Rolex, Patek and a few others, but the lesser known brands that don't have a long and well known brand appeal are the ones I bet are getting hammered. Couple that with a lot of truly ugly watches, questionable reliability and sky high service prices and you can see problems for them. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This is really strange. I read the whole thread and @mikethebike only had one post and was on for one day. Looksc like his only post was a comment on a rep site that is not trusted. Hardly see where4 anyone could construe that as and illegal chargeback?? Hopefully RWI will get this sorted out.

I know!! Have to be verrrrry, verrrrry careful!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Took a look on EBay, didn't see any aftermarket. One gen set up for bid. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's mine!!!! I'm old, and I deserve it!! LOL . Really beautiful. When I grow up I want to have nice AP's like my friend Legend. And you are right, he finally succumbed to the siren's song of Rolex. Maybe he'll trade a gen Rolex for one of those genenstein AP's? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That ain't half bad sir!! Love that dial. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hopefully this will get sorted out to the satisfaction of all involved. What we have to remember is these dealers sell hundreds if not thousands of watches per year. Occasionally, one that is less than acceptable will get by the seller. Who knows how many folks are employed in the sellers business. Possibly a new person handled this watch, maybe the main guy Toro himself let it slip through. The real issue here, is not that a defective watch was shipped, the facts speak for themselves,in this case, but the real issue is what the seller does to rectify the situation. Sometimes to get the problem off dead center, it takes a nudge. That's what we are here for. We look at the situation, and if a nudge is needed, we are more than happy to intercede on the buyers behalf. I cannot speak for other forums, ad I am only a member there. Not a moderator. I would hope that since we are smaller, and fell that we are more of a family, we can be more proactive in helping members who have legitimate problems. An@dinosaur1, I cannot speak for the others on the mod squad here, but I believe that they all in sync with my feelings. And they are this, I don't give a good damn if someone is a mod's buddy, if you are right, you are right. If we have a problem, I look at what YOU said, and what YOU did to determine what action is appropriate. I will say that here, unless your actions are particularly egregious, you are going to get a warning, and then a time out before you get and outright ban. So enjoy your stay here, treat everyone the same as you would if you were sitting across from them in person, and you will not have any problems.

Whether or not it was bought intact or a bucket of genuine parts, the end result is it's a gen. Everything is gen, so it's a gen!! And a darn beautiful gen it is!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk