panerai153

I believe that you are going to like the FC V3. It's a great watch, and it's very comfortable. It's not as heavy as the other divers or the ROO's. My V3 is with one of the USA guys right now getting the slow beat conversion. I had a spare 2846 movement lying around, and he is doing the mod for me. I would really like to get a Safari, I believe with that, my little collection of AP's would be all that I need!! Notice I said need, not want!! I do know my limitations, and I won't be getting any of the 44mm versions, as they will not fit my wrist.

I tried searching to see exactly what movement the V5 has inside, but I wasn't able to figure out which it is. I do know the FC V3 has the ST2130 Seagull movement. I thought that the V5 had the same movement, but it probably doesn't. It has the nicely decorated rotor, but what movement, I don't know. I'm sure there are folks here that will chime in, as people have done movement swaps, regulated the movement, and decased their movement for modding and service.

Mike, I've had quite a few Seikos, I just sold a Gold Nitride "Tuna Can" that was completely gone through. It's a Diver, but different!! Also had several "Monsters" . I think that they are really good solid watches and a great value for the money. AFA the first one, it sort of reminds me of a Navitimer, busy, busy, busy. I have enough trouble figuring out straight up chronos with a Tachy ring. These old eyes just aren't what they used to be.

Here is another problem, Rolex will not work on a watch with Aftermarket parts. They will change the insert before they will do any other service. I personally would not use aftermarket parts on a contemporary Rolex.

Automatico sums thus up very eloquently. I believe it would be doable, however the biggest problem with doing this outside of China, which is for the most part outside the long reach of the luxury brands, is the legal issues. If you are stamping cases with any Rolex copyrighted symbols, signage, and names, they are going to come down on you like a ton of bricks. No place to hide in the UK.

I totally agree. With any product having and unauthorized entity work on a product in warranty will void the warranty. At the very least, sending a watch back that has been tampered with would constitute a new job with appropriate charges by you for your services. No one in their right mind should expect you to correct someone else's screwups, just because you worked on the watch before.

For sure the 1665. Most everything to build one is still available, gen parts are getting scarcer and much more expensive. So selling and building another later would be more costly. I wouldn't put the 1665 in the same category as the 16610, 16610's are a very common contemporary watch, the 1665 on the other hand is an icon! I have a heavy modded DRSD and a gen 16610 but if I has to sell one, it would be the 16610. Here is mine

AJ is a great guy and would be a good contact for this forum BTW it is not Steve Mulholland, he was a dealer in vintage watches, based in Florida. He did scam a lot of folks, mostly guys who collect vintage Rolex watches.

That's the problem with PayPal, you end up paying the fees on both ends of the transaction, which isn't fair. also why was the PayPal gross refund 704.00 USD and you paid 793. hard to believe that 117.00 USD was shipping and PP fees? I believe I would ask for and explanation on that deal!!

If a few folks did that (cancel) I would bet it would get their attention. These guys have sold so many Rolexes, they believe that they ARE Rolex!! Kick everyone around and they just keep coming back for more. I think that the one thing that folks cannot abide is lack of communication. A simple mass email to every preorder person, "sorry guys, the watch is delayed for xx days or weeks, due to some improvements that we asked the factory to make" now everyone is happy at least for a week or so. Silence always takes on sinister connotations, " they have a problem, something bad is wrong, they went south with all the deposit money,etc.,etc." Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

If you go back here in the general discussion forum, there was a 272 response thread that had the last post a week or two ago, will give you a good overview of what we encountered. Well, lesson learned, cost me a really nice vintage Daytona, gen 7750 movement and aftermarket bezel to the tune of around 800 USD. But in the grand scheme of things, this is a drop in the bucket. I can sleep like a babe at night, he can't!! Sounds like you and your dad have a very nice well organized business going. AFA the AR stuff, possibly you could work out a deal with someone like Mike to furnish you crystals. May even decide to stock a few of the most popular sizes as well. I have had a gazillion watches modded over the years, and one thing that eats you up is shipping. I'm probably in the minority, but when I ship my watches to a watch smith, I send with full insurance if possible. When you spend 25-30 USD every time you ship, it adds up. Point that I'm trying to make in a million words or less is if available, most folks would like to get as much done at one shop as possible. Sort of the "Walmart concept" everything under one roof. Good luck Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

thanks for the accolades, but I'm really, really and AP noob. Get me in vintage Rolex and now I might be able to hold my own, but here I'm a complete beginner. But as everyone knows, we all have to start somewhere, and most of us have to start at the bottom and work our way up. What is great about the forums is most people who are knowledgeable are more than willing to share their knowledge with others. It brings more people into the hobby, and certainly keeps more people involved when they feel comfortable about being in the group. And as we all know, the lifeblood of any forum is the involved, knowledgeable folks on the forum. a forum can't survive with folks coming in making a couple of posts, buy a watch or two and never return, it has to have continuity to have longevity.

Sounds very good. Don't be too surprised if you get some negative responses from some of us skeptics here, as we just had a guy who is a forum member leave a bunch of us with shoddy unfinished work plus about 27K worth of watches and parts that he refuses to return to the owners. Some of us have been burned really bad by this guy, me included, so please understands where folks are coming from. I exchanged a couple of emails with you a day or two back, as you were recommended by some of the folks in the UK who have used your services and were very pleased. Certainly those members in the London area and the entire UK plus the rest of the EU would be interested in your services. AFA the USA and Canada, possibly, but we still have the customs risk which many folks are not willing to risk, especially if it's and expensive modded rep. I believe that a lot of folks here would use your services, as the price is pretty reasonable. It would be nice if you could either do or find someone to do lume as well as AR coating, as these are two services that a lot of members desire. As I related in the PM, one service that would get you lots of business would be the jewel modification for A7750's with sec @ 6 and Sec @ 12. this would be great for those folks who are modding a newer Rolex Daytona (Sec @ 6) and all the AP ROO's (Sec @ 12) There is only one guy doing this AFAIK in the entire rep world, and any others who are able to do this mod, would get plenty of business!! We appreciate you coming over to RWG, and we hope that you will visit here often and be an active member of the forum.

There are some modders who are able to drill the movement to accommodate the gen dial feet. Won't work with all movements but will with some.

Nice collection even if it's the wrong forum!!!

Legend Thank you very much. You have answered a lot of my questions and explained some things that are important to those if us who are just getting into the AP game. They are beautiful watches and to my surprise, the 42mm models thus far are very comfortable.

It's really convenient for phones and tablets, but it's a compromise at best. I use it all the time, but as was said, not impressed by the ultra compressed photos. I have pro and the old version, and I use the original version most.

Lots of older Rolex parts still floating around, but getting the new stuff is pretty difficult. there is some leaking out, but not in great numbers and prices are pretty high, I would imagine like the AP stuff and other brands. If you want to see expensive try getting really nice vintage Rolex parts, they are out of sight!! That is a beautiful strap. clasp and a very nice watch. Wear them well.

Matt has already spoken in a post above. He is the Rolex guru, so if he says it's a hard one to replicate, then listen because he knows what he's talking about. He's probably built a trainload of DJ's and D/D's. First off AFAIK the D/D was never produced as a two tone, only solid yellow, white and rose gold and possibly platinum. the TT DJ's are probably the most popular DJ around. Rolex did produce in limited numbers a "Tridor" Day Date which is a three tone, looks like the two tone, but it has contrasting stripes of different color gold down the middle of the bracelet. Scarce as hens teeth and expensive !! the watches in your photos are fantasy models, they do not exist in the wild. You could have Matt build you a really nice TT DJ but the D/D is not correct. Honestly, I would be very careful about building a replica for your wife, unless she understands what she is getting and is in complete accord. Women are really funny about things like this. Some will accept replica watches, purses, etc. there are others who would not leave the house with a replica anything. If your wife is really picky, I would have a heart to heart conversation about these watches, and find out exactly what she wants. It will save you money and problems in the long run. Spending 700-1000 USD on a really nice replica of a D/D is fine if she is going to wear it, but if not, it's money down the drain. Here is and Airking Precision that Matt built for my wife. Gen case, dial, crown, ETA movement and Matts President bracelet.

That is very nice I imagine the AD's are getting more difficult because the manufacturers are putting the pressure on them about selling parts over the counter. They pretty well know that if the owner doesn't bring the watch in it may well be a replica, or possibly someone has a stolen watch that they think by changing the band will change the watch enough to let it slip through a sale. Owners of genuine watches will almost always bring in the watch and have the AD change out the strap/bracelet, because 99.99% don't have a clue as to how the bracelet or strap comes off the watch, much less the tools and know how to change the strap. At least you were able to convince the sales lady to sell it to you Rolex won't sell anything over the counter anymore ,Period !, here in the USA. they have to return the used parts to Rolex. I'm not sure that this applies to straps and bracelets, but watch parts like bezel inserts, crowns, crystals, all have to be returned. Parts are getting harder to come by these days.

Sitting here, bored to death, on call this weekend, so basically, can't get out and do anything that I can't drop and go. So, I've been perusing some of the other rep boards just to see what was going on. I do get over to RepGeek pretty regularly, as they seem to have a pretty active sales section as well as an active AP forum. logged into the "other" RWG, and scrolled down to look around. It appears that they do not have rep watch, straps/parts sales sections? Is this correct, or do you need to be a certain level of member to access the secret areas on that Forum? Just curious, as it looks like most of the folks on the various forums have familiar user names, so their is lots of cross pollination.

Thanks A So mine could be as old as 8-9 years or as young as 2 years. Thinking that it is closer to the 2 year s young, but really no way of knowing. The previous owner bought it here on RWG says about 8-9 months ago, but he can't remember the name of the seller, and he is an infrequent visitor here. I went back and looked at the sales threads for RGRC's back in that time frame and their were several, but a couple didn't match the serial # and a couple of others didn't have photos up any longer as they were from photobucket. Not really important, just curious!!

Thus far I have purchased 4 AP's all from forum members, and at somewhat of a discount, considering that they are all going to need service, if you can get a gently used one for 100-200 USD less than the dealers want, you are that much ahead. I agree that you will have a pretty significant investment in them after you do the service and mods. And that isn't even scratching the surface if you go the franken route with a gen spec movement, gen dial, hands, case work, AR and lume!! Now you are talking big bucks. But that's not novel to AP Roo's, I have a DRSD that I have over 3400 USD in and I bought the unmodded watch from another member who went all gens for 150.00 USD all the rest was parts and service. Another alternative is to haunt the sales forums and pick up one that someone has done most of the mods, usually these sell at a considerable discount based on the total amount the owner has invested in the watch. One of the nice things about Reps, you can wear them straight out the box and for lots of folks that's fine, or you can do a few things like a service, AR, lume and stop there, or you can go whole hog and end up with a watch that's practically all genuine. Completely depends on what you want and how much you can afford.

That sounds like a routine PayPal inquiry, random, based on buying from China and because of the amount. basically they just want to make sure you got the merchandise and were satisfied with it. I feel like this is based on chargeback/ disputes with particular areas of the world. Not exactly sure how you should answer the inquiry. If you ignore it, it may raise red flags at PayPal and may have as the dealers account is frozen. I think what I would do is tell them honestly, the dealer was delayed in shipping because of CNY and you had not received the merchandise, however you had been in communication with the dealer and they were planning to ship as soon as CNY was over. That would still leave you and opening to open a PayPal dispute later if they don't deliver your watches. This is absolutely the dealers fault, they sent the package to the wrong address in the wrong country, completely out of your control. I wonder if this was a "Daisy Chain" F**k Up by the shipping dept. Someone else may have gotten Stephan's watches, and on down the line, so several folks may be in the same dilemma as you.

Happy Birthday AJ Hope you are having a good one!! Wearing my old AP Rose Gold today