panerai153

So, he has another case to work with if this one isn't fixable? This could be a lovely watch if that problem gets resolved. WOW 900 Euros!! Did that include any parts, or is that just his price to do the mods?

This site is one of the scam sites, lots of photos of genuine watches, no descriptions at all, just a picture and a price. But a really slick website with their on "review" section. Wonder if they would post. "this Milgauss you sold me is a POS"!! All set up to troll in the unsuspecting noobs!!

It would be handy to post the site you ordered from so that others could be warned off buying from this shyster operation. You got had brother, that's cheap Canal St. junk. Thanks, you put it up before I finished typing!! It's really hard to tell what size the crystal is, as well as the construction of the case, it might accept a gen or aftermarket crystal, who knows. Probably a glued on crystal. AFA the bracelet, not sure what you mean by the base adjustment? Maybe a couple of photos. I wouldn't spend a lot of time and effort on this watch, it's probably not worth modding or even repairing. You learned a good and valuable lesson, next time it will be a lot harder to fool you useful as a practice watch to learn a little about taking one apart and looking at what makes it "tick"

Today, just picking up a few limbs in the yard after the Ice storm a week back. Tonight, Mardi Gras ball, so tux and all the trimmins!!!

I would have to agree, everything else looks very nice, but the crown is crooked and off center. I would be very critical at this point, as you have spent a ton of money on this rep, and that will drive you crazy if you accept it like that. No pun intended, but I would put this patient back to sleep and redo that part of the operation!!

ETA 2824, however the Seagull ST 2130 movement in your watch is a very good reliable movement. It probably needs a service and regulation.new ETA's are going to be expensive, over 200.00USD plus installation. Sorry I misread your heading, I thought you had an FC V3, not sure what movement yours has, but the ST 2130 is a good alternative at around 90.00 USD for a new movement.

Cats, Hope you are doing OK. Keep up the good fight!!!

that is a very nice group. Beautiful watches. Would be nice if you could write a short synopsis of what was done to each one of them. Sort of help some of the rest of us who are looking at modding, but are caught between what I agree the strap makes them all the better. The only one I intend to keep on my AP's is the rubber strap that came on my FC V3, everything else is getting and upgrade.

Pard, If she sees that photo, you aren't going to need that watch, because she's going to put you in a full body cast !!

That is one beautiful watch!!! Love it!!!

The older GMT's all had the clasps with the exposed holes. It may be possible to fit a newer bracelet, but why would you? It isn't the correct bracelet for those models.

Like you said, bla, bla, bla !! Good Daytonas are hard to find. The PT's use a Bicompax movement, hence they have a faux counter at 6. DW has disappeared, although he still has an EBay store. Your best bet to finding a good Daytona is to find one on the sales forum and but M2M.

I believe the entire crystal has to be AR'ed' not just the cyclops, at least that's what Vac told me.

Send it to Matt, he can tell you what is usable and what's not. Also he has good sources for parts to build you a really good 16613.

Calm down, take a deep breath and relax. Customs clearance takes time, sometimes they get things out quickly, sometimes packages languish in customs for weeks. you got to get used to it or it will drive you crazy. The biggest problem is there is no rhyme or reason for delays, and no way to predict which package will be the one that gets held up. Also remember the USPS and US Customs are pretty much 5 day per week operations. Some mail moves on weekends and holidays, but not much happens, so you need to account for that as well.

Here in the USA B2B within the USA are within 24 hours, sometimes minutes, but international can take up to 5 days. I send money to Europe frequently, and it usually takes 4-5 business days. has to go from my bank to and intermediary bank in NY and then to the overseas bank. AFA I have been told and have read, when the money is transferred this is a non reversible transaction. I would imagine that if you discovered within a very short time (minutes or and hour or two), your bank could stop it if say you discovered you made and error in the account number of the recipient. however once it gets to the destination bank, it may not be recoverable. Probably the cases where it was recovered were instances where the account number you sent in error doesn't correspond to any active account at the bank, or the account holder is not aware of the money in the account, and the bank could withdraw it and send it back. However if you sent it to the correct account, and later you realize it was a scam or you don't want the deal to go through, you are out of luck if the recipient has already picked up the money or transferred it to another account.

Safari Today

Good pick up. It's going to get a service pretty soon, need to get a couple of others back so I'll have a watch to wear. ;)I'll remind my watchsmith about the screw. Thanks for the compliments guys.

Ebay is and has been full of rep Blancpain's for years. I believe that a lot of them in the past have come out of Vietnam, same place as the rep Omega Seamaster 300's. Some of them are really good, almost good enough to fool folks, but they all have tells, like they were using the same serial number and/or issue number. Another good way to tell is the condition of the watch. Most of the vintage Blancpain's were issued watches, and even those that weren't were sold in Dive shops, and they were all used as tool watches. Remember back then, Blancpain was a tool watch, they didn't become luxury "desk divers" until much later Most of them, especially the military issued watches are beat to crap, of course they can be, and many have been restored, but they won't have that "fresh from the factory" look like the one above. Many look like these two old Doxas that were French Navy issued. I got these restored, but they certainly didn't look "like New" when complete.

Well Said Legend !! And to you Messi10 sir, this forum is built on trust and respect for other members. There is and old verse "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" That means treat others the same as you would want to be treated. I bet if AJ had sent you a watch with a crappy movement, you would have screamed bloody murder!! Probably initiated a PayPal dispute the same day. You are swimming against the current here sir, you are dealing with folks here who have lots of transactions and are honest and upstanding in their dealing with others. Scammers, liars and cheats will not be tolerated here. I read the entire PM dialogue, and I feel sure you knew from the onset that there was something wrong with the watch you sent AJ. Damage like he described does not occur in transit, unless a forklift runs over the package, and then a lot more would be damaged. This watch was screwed up by someone who didn't know what they were doing, opening it up to try to correct a problem which more than likely, was in the beginning a minor problem, but they caused more damage in the process. I suspect that person was you. AFA you getting it fixed for 40 Euros, I believe that's BS as well. In the first place no competent watchmaker is going to quote you a price to fix a damaged movement before he has his hands on it. just isn't done, he could get into the movement and find more than 40 Euros worth of damaged parts, so that "dog don't hunt"!! I believe that AJ made you a reasonable offer to share the cost of the repairs 50/50. That's probably very generous on his part, because I would have said send my watch back, I'm sending you this broken watch back and the deals off. If It were up to me which it's not, I would ban you here and notify every other rep forum about your deals here. I'm not in that position, but I, along with others here, will also make certain that in the future if you try to sell anything on this forum, we will make sure buyers are aware of potential problems dealing with you. And that sir is not a threat, it's a promise!!

I have been on a buying spree lately, picking up several AP,s , but the one I have had my eye on from the beginning was the Safari. I like the cream/off white dial and the black markers, nice contrast, to the dial, and easy to read. I was fortunate enough to see a Strap ad on RG a week or so ago for an HKTan Hornback strap with a "no holes " buckle. I PM'ed the seller, and before I could go back and check out the photos again, the thread was nuked because he didn't include a tagged photo. no problem, he contacted me and we made a deal. Then last week, I was up early before going to work, and snagged a nice almost new Safari from another member on RG. Watch came in today, and I got the new strap attached, and took a few photos. I really like the watch, it wears just like my RGRC, except I find the thinner rubber strap on the RGRC to be much more comfortable. This Hornback is really thick from the lugs to about half way down the strap. May try loosening it one hole, or possibly try a different gator that is not a Hornback and is thinner. have to give it a few days to see how it breaks in. Aside from that I'm very happy with the watch. Here are some photos:

For sure keep the bracelet, the gold and gold wrapped are desirable. That was the problem back then, a lot were very close, but gen parts would not fit. I have one from way back, and the only thing left that I was able to use was the movement and bracelet on my 16613.

I sent lots of watches to Ziggy as well as a few that I sold to Canadian buyers. Ziggy tried every shipping method and all had some problems. Always ended up back with Canada Post and USPS. What he required was always put on the customs form, broken timepiece for repair and return to sender. This was primarily to keep from having to pay customs duty on the incoming watches. A repair invoice is a good idea as well. I believe the big Hangup is Canadian customs. I sent watches USPS priority, and they would still take 10 days to 2 weeks to arrive.

That is beautiful!! Great job building an iconic watch. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk