panerai153

I sent a PayPal gift payment yesterday, no problem. I have noticed that PayPal has gotten smarter on the gift payments, they are charging a fee if the payment isn't from your PayPal account, or a bank account. Have you seen where Carl Icahn is trying to split up the Ebay/PayPal conglomerate in to two separate companies. Don't really know what if any impact it would have on PayPal at all.

You've got good taste in watches and steak houses!!

Frankly that hasn't been a whole lot of time. I sent him and AP Diver on January 30th, probably took 3 days I'm sure he got it on Feb 3rd or 4th. I haven't even bothered to email him, I tracked it and it was delivered, so I'm not worried. He told me that the turnaround time would be 4 weeks, but from past experience, I figured a minimum of twice that time. I'll probably wait a couple of weeks more and around the middle of March I'll email him and see what the progress is. Not sure if you have ever used Vac before, but he is not the greatest in returning communications. Some folks have a hard time with this, others don't. I would wait a week or two and send him another email asking for a status report on your watch. Over the years, I have had a ton of watches modded, and generally speaking, none of these guys were very accurate with time estimates, or communication. Probably the best was Ziggy, because he had a person who sat at the computer and answered emails. Another thing you have to remember, most of these guys get a bunch of emails and PM's, quite a few of those are "tire kickers" and information miners, and have no intention of having a watch repaired. unfortunately, whether they are legit or not, the repair person has to sit down and answer all these Emails and PM's. Every time they stop to answer and email or a PM, they have to stop working on the watch on their bench. Enough time spent answering questions = no work getting done.

No set pattern, I wear one when it strikes my fancy to wear it. I might pick one up out of the box and wear it for a day or two, and then the next one I wear for 2-3 weeks. Usually, the latest edition to the herd is the one I love the most and it gets almost exclusive wrist time for a few weeks or maybe a month or two. Couple of dress watches that I wear with formal attire, I have spend almost all of my waking life in scrubs, so one of my top criteria is my watch has to be water resistant at least for hand washing and running water over it. I probably wash my hands 25 times a day!! When I get home, if I'm working outside, I usually put one of my gen everyday watches on. For the past year that has been a MKII Kingston gilt dial/date. It's a great watch, and so far it looks great, no dents dings or big gouges out of the metal. If I'm on call, like today, whiling away my time here on the computer, the watch I started out with this morning is still on my wrist.

You don't know nanug!! He is the ultimate crash tester for watches. A few years in the nanug household is probably equivalent to Iraq, Saudi, Afganistan, WWII (both theatres of action) Korea and Vietnam.!!!

Welcome aboard, I would advise that you do a lot of reading and research before you make a purchase. Read the reviews and use the search function as your friend. The main way to tell between the various "Grades" of reps is to have a really good idea as to what the genuine watch looks like. If you are very familiar with a particular watch, you can spot the flaws in the reps (Some have very few, some have many). Decide what flaws you are likely able to live with, and which ones will derive you crazy!! Pick the rep(s) that have the least number of flaws that you can live with. Unfortunately, if you get active here and learn more about watches, you will be able to pick out the smaller and smaller less obvious flaws, and they will then all drive you crazy! At that point, you will either one, be committed by your wife and family, two, decide that reps are not for you as you can't live with the flaws (surprising number of folks arrive at that conclusion at some point or other) or lastly, you will decide that most of the flaws are fixable, and you will start down that slippery slope called modding!!! Good Luck

Pretty lame Quality on the Omega!! Nanug, yours is worn out, big difference between one that's worn from use and one that's crappy from the factory. I would rather have that old well worn Sub than the brand new Omega any day.

I would like to replace the rubber strap on my RGRC ROO with a Black Horn back. I see lots of options from different makers, but I need some pro input. Which makers use a plastic or metal insert in the strap where it attaches to the watch. I'm don't believe an OM Strap is and option, as I wouldn't know where to buy one, and I'm far away from an AP Boutique or AD. All suggestions and ideas are greatly appreciated.

Ditto!!!

Tonneau Read this link http://www.tourneau.com/catalog/editorial_threecolumn.jsp?pageName=watchAnatomy

If I had the funds and it were for sale, I sure would buy it!! It's super Another thing that I don't think most folks appreciate with these builds, is the thrill of the hunt. It's really gratifying to be able to look at a watch on your wrist, and say ,WOW, you know I spent 1.5 years, and no telling how many hundreds of hours scouring the earth for the parts to make this watch just exactly like the one's I see in the AP boutique. But this one is mine, because it has my soul in it !!

gotta give us a little more info !! How about a link to that watch?

Beautiful !! Classic piece.

I don't believe the edge DW will work with an A7750 movement. I think it's designed for a gen like movement and a genuine dial. he had talked at one point about making a DW for the A7750, but I don't believe that project ever got done. Correct me if I'm wrong. AFA the sec @ 12, I also have gotten some conflicting info, some say the newer ones are Ok, some say they all need a service. Since you are in the Netherlands, It would be easy to get yours to Domi for a service and the extra jewels added to the movement. I'm going to run mine 'til it stops and get it serviced. I have a Rubberclad being serviced now, because the powere reserve got so low, that it would barely last 12-15 hours. I'm getting the Cyclops AR'ed and lume as well. Here is a Safari I just picked up in a M2M deal. haven't gotten it yet. It's been AR'ed, but no movement service.

WOW, that's the best ever!! This is as close to gen as you could ever get without wearing a gen out of an AP boutique. I have one question, how does the watchmaker close up the crown opening prior to redriling in the correct new position. Is this laser welded ? from the photo it looks like it was plugged. I have always wondered how the crown position was changed.

Thank you sir, that certainly spells out very clearly what it requires to build one of those beautiful super frankens. one thing you said that I agree with is about getting your money back for the parts., I woud expect as parts scarcity continues, it would be fairly easy to recover the cost's of the dial, Tachy ring, movement, hands crown/pushers and if you used a gen bezel/crystal that as well. However what needs to be mentioned is what will not be recovered. You mentioned the case, which you could probably sell, especially if someone happens to be building one similar to the one you are selling. What you will take a big hit on is the cost of the modding. you are going to lose a big part of the money spent modifying the case (550.00USD) the cost of Lume, AR etc. as well as the considerable amount you spend on postage. getting the watch and parts to you from the various sellers, then postage getting the watch to the modder and back to you. I have done a few Rolex "Super frankens" a couple to the tune of around 3400.00 -3800.00 USD, and I always advise folks, this is not for the faint of heart. It also needs to be well thought out before hand. You need to set a budget, and try to stick to it as best you can, and for all practical purposes, you need to assume that should you need to sell the watch for whatever reasons, you may have a very, very difficult time selling it intact at that price point, and you may end up breaking it up and selling the parts, just to recover some of the costs. I don't want to come across as a doomsayer, but lots of times folks see beautiful projects like your AP's or some of the vintage Rolex Daytona reps that are all genuine except the case and they decide that they want to build one just like them, rush off and start buying stuff, only to find out later, they don't have everything they need, they paid way to much, or they realize that they really don't want to build this particular watch, or they run out od money, and first thing you know, you have a partially completed watch or a sack of parts for sale on the sales forums. I think that you are doing the community a real service by posting this thread, very much appreciated.

I can't imagine actually sitting out there in those temperatures!! Even if it were the Playboy bunnies skating against the Victoria's Secret models skating au Naturel, I would opt for the big screen and a warm fire !!

I don't like to make recommendations, because it's really hard to discern what someone really likes. But of all the above, I have had the 42mm Explorer, didn't stick and was seldom worn, sold Never had the 39mm Explorer GMT 29 like AJ's, had one many years ago, and foolishly sold it for something else that also didn't stick!! Mine had the 2893-2 GMT movement and it was a good one! PO , never had one, never was a big fan of Omegas, have had a couple of genuine and couldn't love them PAM destros, know nothing about them If It were me, I would jump all over the 029 that AJ is selling in the sales forum. It's a timeless beauty, equally useful as a dressy watch or with jeans and t shirt.

Trust me, I feel the same way. With the prices of reps going up I find myself much more selective about the rep that I do buy. I also find myself buying more mid to moderately priced "gens". Steinhart, Raven, Oris, TagHeuer, RaymondWeil.... Not really hard, it just would cost money, due to hiring of and retaining experienced staff, due to cost of internal rejects, due to many other things. At the end on the day rep makers are all about making money and don't really give a flying fuck about the quality of their products, beyond a very minimalistic level that is to say. This may be a big problem that the rep makers face eventually. While I doubt that there will ever be a lack of demand for "low end" reps that are sold at flea markets, sidewalk vendors, and back rooms in places like Canal Street,, the same might not be true of these that are approaching 1k for and out of box rep. When you get into that price point, especially considering that even with the 800 USD rep, it will still need some after market tweaking, you are beginning to compete with lots of really nice genuine watches. Considering that the price of the new FC ROO is almost 800 USD, and to this added shipping ,PayPal fees, and in some markets additional for "triangle" shipping, you are now looking at north of 900 USD for a rep. After it arrives, you realize that the AR isn't so good, and the lume is lacking, and hey, that sec @ 12 movement probably should be serviced!! Now you tally all that up, and you are looking at another 400- 600 USD, depending on who does the work, and how much you have done. So now we have a 1300-1500 USD rep. With that in mind, I believe that for 1500 USD, you can get some really nice genuine watches, including some "name brand" watches if you are willing to buy something that is gently used. What have you gained from this, and what have you lost? Well, first the loss. It's not going to be a 25K watch, which the ROO rep is. So if you are buying because you are trying to impress someone. with your really expensive watch, this isn't the deal for you. If you aren't trying to impress anyone, but you truly love a particular brand, and want their watches and are not able or willing to spend 25K on a watch, then this also wouldn't interest you. I believe that for the most part most of the folks here fall into the latter category, they truly love Rolex, Patek, Panerai, AP, etc. and want to own examples of the watches they love. Another group would be the folks who buy a rep to "Try it on for size" so to speak, before going out to their local AD and spending their hard earned cash on a particular watch. All are perfectly valid arguments and will serve to keep the manufacturers building high end reps. So what are the gains from buying a gen? First off are all the things that the rep lacks, real QC, a genuine watch with box papers and a real warranty, a dealer and company that has customer service that hopefully will respond to your problems. Customer service is comprised of real people who you can actually contact and speak to about a problem. And lastly, these are watches that you can wear anywhere, into any AD in the world, have them repaired by any trained watchmaker, and lastly should you decide to sell the watch, you have multiple venues to sell. Are the high end reps going to go away? No, because there are always going to be folks who have the resources and desire to own these reps. However, if folks become selective and decide that 500 USD is their limit and this has and appreciable impact on the sales of these high end reps, I could foresee in the future, less "versions" being introduced. Instead of being on version 5 within a year or so, we might still be on version 1 or maybe 2. the manufacturers will only upgrade if the see a market for the upgraded versions. If the market is slim, the selections will be as well.

They all use 2824-2's so the ST 2130 would be a fit. Movement. Your watch may have gotten magnetized, which will make it run erratically. It's very easy to have it demagnetized, you can buy a tool , every decent watchsmith has one, doesn't require any disassembly. So I would try that first, then if it doesn't help, a service may be in order.

Thanks, I was just wondering what the 900 Euros comprised? Certainly is worth it if the work is exceptional, which from what I've seen here and over on RepGeek, is pretty darn good. even the masters make a "boo boo" every now and then. It just need to be corrected, and you will have a beautiful watch, as good as it gets outside and AP dealer!!

Definitely something there. hard to tell what it is, but it's not supposed to be there. AFA the Water resistance, if it's all put back correctly, it should be but no guarantee unless it's pressure tested again. should only have to take the back off and uncase the movement to get to the dial, so crystal shouldn't be disturbed, but you have to take the stem out and put it back, plus seal up the back, so I would not assume it still is water resistant. And to be honest with you, I would not believe a TD that it was tested and passed. If they leave crap inside on the dial, who knows how skillful they were in closing up the watch.

Are you perchance going into the "modding for outsiders business"? Never got a response back about the 900 Euros whether that included parts, but unless there are a coupler of significant parts included in that price, that's and awful lot of money for modding a watch.

If you want a good deal on a Milgauss, I would jump on that one in the sales forum. accurately described, very nice photos, and it's in the CONUS, so no customs drama.