robideaux

just saw this on the paneristi page: http://www.network54.com/Forum/353393/thre...mp%3B+New+Boxes the pam power reserve in the leatherette case photos has the wrong date mage and font. i've been seeing this for a while, and now the seller has added "OEM straps" i wonder if they are real or not? at least this means our reps are good enough to fool the pros, right?

this fellow posted a pic of his pam 001 or 111 claiming that he purchased it in florence "before the craze." how bout that recessed pin and crown? looks pretty fishy if you ask me. he then goes on to state it went through some sort of mulching device and now has "more aftermarket parts than a rep!" what do you think: rep or gen? and how about this 001B: rep or gen? same fellow asked earlier: "What colour calf strap originally came with a PAM01B? I figure I should pick one up, at least in that colour, since I'm a big fan of the history." another pic from this guy on the paneristi forum: i could be wrong, but the A's on the dial, the recessed pins, the crowns and guards all give these fools away. i'm surprised no one has called them on it?

On banda's "heavy padded and elegant" custom sized for 19 mm at the lug and 16 mm at the buckle. also sporting an OEM buckle i snagged off ebay:

i am in for 1. please let us know when to pay!

this baby on my new custom made strap:

i recently ordered this style strap from banda.com : i had it custom made size 19mm lug and 16 mm buckle. here it is on my FM conquistador 8005 sc 2892 rep: it looks very close to the OEM. same style/shape. i bought an OEM strap but unfortunately the lug holes wouldn't allow it to fit. fortunately i was able to use the OEM buckle. what do you all think? the custom strap was only 55 bucks. next time i will have it made in genuine croco and with red stitching if the can do it! added: here is an OEM strap on a gen franck muller 8005 sc conquistador:

the 063 has one flaw that i dont think has been mentioned here on RWG yet. as a C series watch, the circumscribed text on the caseback should be a tad more stretched: and now the rep caseback: there is a slight difference in text. for the B series GMT's, like the 029 the case back is spot on.

Pink Floyd's "piper at the gates of dawn" is a record that hasn't left my rotation since i heard it for the first time 5 years ago. current favourites include: Zombi - surface to air the paradise boys - the young and the guestlist weird war - illuminated by the light

Bad Religion in 1995. i was 13 years old. They played tracks from "no control," "against the grain," "recipe for hate," and "stranger than fiction." it was a fantastic time. i missed fugazi that year however... unfortunately not many (good) bands make their way to hawaii. ahhh i almost forgot the same year i saw the beastie boys...

i saw some pics of davidsen's crown guard on the 005 he offers, and it looks nice, thick and brushed, as the G and H series should be. he is willing to supply it as a seperate piece, but he says he is not sure if it will fit other rep cases. is there anyone with both that is willing to see if they are swapable? thanks in advance!

time is an illusion, reinforced by cartesian dualist and materialist ontologies. lets look at another perspective on time, from 13th century japan: Do not think that time merely flies away. Do not see flying away as the only function of time. If time merely flies away, you would be separated from time. The reason you do not clearly understand the time-being is that you think of time only as passing. In essence, all things in the entire world are linked with one another as moments. Because all moments are the time-being, they are your time-being. -Eihei Dogen it is the false ontology that the concious observer is separate from the external material world, which reinforces the illusion of time. When we make the distinction between subject and object--the primary dialectic which seems to be the foundation of cognition--a rivalry is made between two incompatible halves. the external world appears as material and lifeless, decaying according to the physical law of entropy. "Reductive" science displays its limitations here: according to physics, the teleology of the universe is terminal disorder and chaos; volition is dismissed as a hoax, because primacy is placed with the object, material configurations of the brain which correspond with mental states. It is not so much that science is false, than that it is relatively true. it requires a materialist ideology, which fails to explain the experience of free will as well as other observable phenomena, such as the decrease in entropy, called negative entropy, exhibited by open systems like biological lifeforms which complexify and evolve. The universe is not dead matter which over TIME becomes more disordered and chaotic; rather it is an open system which continues to develop and progress. blah. forgive me if it is not so cogent--kind of a stream of conciousness free write i just did. anyway, TIME is COOL dudes!!

i am totally in!!! THANK YOU FINEPICS!

@ Kegra, you are right, andrew's new 005 case back is sweet. his inexpensive pams come with acrylic crystal unfortunately. i am inquiring as to wether or not davidsen is willing to supply these nice thick looking crown guards and/or crown. if we throw that on andrew's new 005 and pop in a sapphire crystal, we are almost there. i also remember another member wondering if the black paint on adrew's caseback would rub off with some thinner. what do you all think? here is andrews 005:

why is that, did he say they threaded different? or maybe he just didn't want to do any special orders that required swapping parts? my auto gmt seems to have the same threading as my manual wind pams. i wonder why this auto case back would be an exception?

here are some genuine shots first off: (look at that thick crown guard) and now the three different reps: #1 from joshua: pros: nice dial. cons: wrong case back, polished thin crown guard(G and H series are brushed and noticably thicker). #2 from joshua: pros: nice dial, nice case back. cons: thin crown guard, wrong movement (asian auto instead of 6497 manual). and now #3, from davidsen: pros: nice thicker crown and crown guard(just like G and H series). cons: wrong case back, wrong dial (should not be tritium sandwich style). between the three of these, i think we have the perfect 005 rep. total cost to purchase all three and compile them together (all with asian movements): josh 1 - $178 josh 2 - $108 davids - $270 (based off price of PVD watch with CN 6497-2) total - $556 im thinking of doing it. i hope the casebacks are swapable. anyone else wanna try?

genuine, look at the crown. that is the biggest tell on the FM replica.

for a rep version you may want to ask ken at www.etaworldgoods.com on the japanese site, it says they can procure the franck muller vegas with whatever colour "belt" you like: black, brown, red, aqua(lit. watercolor!), blue, pink, or white. ther is probably a good chance they have some extra buckles as well. the band wont look good on the conquistador, but if it gets you the buckle it may be worth a shot. the buckle looks pretty close to the OEM that i have infront of me, but i do notice that the OEM has the circular FM logo on the underside.

i have an OEM franck muller buckle. i won it on an ebay auction for a conquistador chrono rubber strap. it was 103 for strap and buckle. i also won an alligator strap for the regular conquistador for 50 bucks (simply because it was mis-listed as "franK muller") and transfered the buckle to that. unfortunately the rubber chrono strap is 1 mm to big, but at least i got the OEM buckle. but then, the OEM alligator strap wouldn't fit as well.... it has a 2mm thick plastic spacer where the strap connects to the watch, and the lug holes are only 1 mm away from the case. but i have a custom strap in 19 mm from banda on its way, and it looks like an almost perfect match! if it fits well, i am going to see about a custom made with real alligator.

hey folks, i've got a PAM 217 rep that was supposed to have a sapphire crystal. i took it to a watchmaker, and asked him to verify and he said that it was indeed sapphire. as i was cleaning the watch today, i noticed some short hairline scratches. i thought i remembered reading that sapphire was unscratchable by anything except diamond? or is this a common thing? maybe i'm just a fool.

who is the dealer? i must know!!!

better comparison shots: what do yee think?

another genuine i found on the net: looks like a near perfect rep to me!

i dont see any flaws on the case back.... can you point them out?

i bought two OEM FM conquistador straps en ebay used. one was crocodile but with no buckle for 52 dollars, the other was rubber with buckle for roughly 150 i think. to my misfortune they didn't fit. the lug holes on this rep are about 1.5 mm to close to the case. i am thinking about having my case modded to fit them....

i am not sure if the casing is a 1:1 copy, but from the photos i have this watch looks extremely accurate. here is River's replica: and here is the genuine: i asked river if it is a 1:1 and will take the OEM strap. if so, i'm ordering it immediately for my GF (and perhaps myself a little--i love the colour pallete) btw, the darker brown dial does exist. look at http://www.louisvuitton.com anyone else likey?