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Tim

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Posts posted by Tim

  1. Are Sharkskin Straps Naturally Water Proof?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Sharkskin bands, of which I have a couple, are naturally waterproof but exposure to water will change the grain somewhat. The one's I have had were almost a suede type surface when brandnew. After exposure to sweat, water, and what not, the suede type texture flattened out and now it almost appears like a finished leather. And the colors when new can be a little wild but they will get more subdued once the grain flattens out. The only leather I've not seen affected very much by wear has been stingray.

    /Tim

  3. Mens replica sunglasses...

    in Other Items

    Posted

    What kind of sunglasses should someone wear with a Panerai? Not everyone who wears a Breitling wants to dress like an extra from Top Gun ;)

    I have to wear wraparound sunglasses like my Juliets, or I wind up with a migraine. To be honest, they are the best pair of sunglasses I have ever owned. I bought then back in 2000 when X Men was released, and 7 years on, they're still virtually as good as new. I keep meaning to send them back to Oakley to get the nose-bridge tightened up, but other than that, they are still as good as the day I bought them. I had a pair of RayBan Predators which fell apart within six months... For me, sunglasses are a medical necessity, not a fashion accessory ;)

    Nah nah nah, I have in storage a pair of original X-Men Ruby Juliets with the special edition case all BNIB. I'll sell them to you for $600!

    /Tim

  5. Stuck at "inbound to customs"

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Seems we have a couple of people that like being "direct" in their posts. We don't have much room to criticize humorless Paneresti. Humorless counterfeiters!!!

    Reading RWG is such an emotional experience. ;) First part is like a worldwide soap opera "Days of Our Reps". Then I feel bad because we made fun of someone making minimum wage and someone says they'd be grateful for minimum wage. Then you get to learn about everyone's obsessive compulsive disorders. What a ride!!

    I will say that checking tracking is fun in one respect, though I don't do it often. It is fun watching your package travel around the world. It is kind of like a vacation trip by proxy.

    I think it would be really neat if sometime one of our dealers would take some pictures of where the watches are made. Then some dealers should post a picture of their sales office. Course there could be an element in this of it possibly being best just not knowing. I suddenly have visions of an 8 year old slaving away with a loupe in his eye. Maybe we need a dealer named Kathy Lee.

    /Tim

  6. Winding watch moves rotor

    in Movement Q&A

    Posted

    Has anyone else seen something like this? I have two gens and one rep that do this now all with ETA 28XX movements. When you manually wind the watch, sometimes the rotor engages and it becomes momentarily difficult to wind. While winding, the rotor will actually start to turn and you can make it do actual revolutions just by winding the stem. What causes this and is it tearing the guts out of my gear train when it happens?

    In a similar vein of movements being difficult, I also have one rep with an ETA 28XX movement that will not start running after being wound from a dead stop. If I very lightly tap the edge of the case on the table, it will then start and run fine. What up with that one?

    /Tim

  10. Need Advice on Purchase or Mod

    in The Panerai Area

    Posted

    I think the Josh dial looks pretty good. Which movement do you have in your watch? The Asian 6497 or the Swiss one? And I agree that the recessed pin is unacceptable. I've been sending stuff to Vacuum. I find him great to deal with and very helpful.

    Good luck! I just got my 177H back today and I love it. Heck, the strap I have on it right now costs 1/2 of what I paid for the watch

    skc

    I have the Swiss Unitas, or so I am told. Got it from Joshua so I suppose it is as advertised.

    What did Vacuum do for you? Pinion and lume? Does anyone have a better crown for the 177H?

    /Tim

  11. The curse of the crooked dial

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'd certainly pay that much more, if not even more than 50%. So I buy a DJ that is kind of really well done. You look at it with a triplet though and it's a mess. Crap floating down inside the dial, dial printing crooked, movement starts and stops. The watch is $188 and has some problems. I'd have paid $300-360 without question if I could be guaranteed a watch that was QC'd and the problems taken care of before shipment.

    /Tim

  12. Need Advice on Purchase or Mod

    in The Panerai Area

    Posted

    Hi Tim,

    I'm surely no expert, but I have spent some money and time learning about Panerai. I also have models from Davidsen, Joshua, and Ruby, and they're all nice in many respects.

    The first thing that I've focused on is the movement. I feel that if it tells good time, and is reliable, then that's the first step. So all of the PAMs that you're considering have a variation of the ETA/Unitas/Swiss/Chinese 6497. If you do a search, there is a ton of information about this movement. The easy way to go is to get a solid caseback watch (201A for example) which will then most likely come with a reliable base Swiss 6497. If you do that, then you can concentrate on the other little items. The dial, the crown, the lume, the AR coat etc.. If you already have the Joshua and you like it, you could surely mod it which is what I chose to do, but that will cost you and you'll be without your watch for some time. BTW, do you have the 111H or the 177H? I'm not sure what the 117H is??

    Every rep will have virtues and flaws. Davidsen has a nice crown and pioneers many of the current offerings, and he does much of the mod work himself. In fact, another rep dealer sold me a 177H that Davidsen lumed. Currently, the new 111/177 dial from Davidsen is probably the most anticipated part in rep land.

    The lume is a hotly debated topic. C1 or C3, or a mix?? Vintage lume or no lume?? I like the bright superlume, which looks nice to me, but only if it's done well. And it's hard to do. If you search again, I'm sure you'll find lots of complaints and praises about the lume not only on Panerai, but on other reps as well.

    The cannon pin is another thing. Davidsen has corrected this issue in his offerings. I just purchased a Ruby 036 that has this issue corrected. And I think in time, more and more dealers can offer this fix.

    The crowns are thick/thin based on models and years. Most people agree that the thicker 2.0 to 2.2mm crown looks better and more correct on the newer PAMs, but only if it doesn't interfere with watch function. It's not always a super easy thing to fit a thick crown and stem onto a "smaller" crown guard.

    Now back to the movement. Do you want to keep the clear sapphire caseback? I like the look of the movement. If you do, then you need to decide which flaws you could live with easier? The two movements you'll see with the 6497 are the CDG, or embellished bridges movement (H/I years), or the earlier PANERAI repeated (G) movement. Both look nice to me with the swan neck regulator. Even if it's non-functional.

    I currently own the following:

    1) Davidsen 111H awaiting new dial transplant, and movement service

    2) Ruby 036 which I'll get a relume on and movement service

    3) Fully modified Puretime 177H. I'm not sure what that will need.

    Hope I've helped!!

    skc

    You have helped! The watch I have now is the 177H, I keep wanting to type 117 for some reason. It is nice, like I said, and the movement looks good except for the font being just a tad too tall on the engraving. I'd just as soon keep this one (although I do like the total bridge engraving like on the G models) but like I said, it needs a couple of mods. The crown and pinion really bug me, and the lume, well the lume you don't see unless its dark so it is not in my face. Who does your mods and do you know if there is a better crown available for the 177H?

    Thanks for the info.

    /Tim

  13. Need Advice on Purchase or Mod

    in The Panerai Area

    Posted

    I need some advice on a Panerai. I like the design but I am not madly in love with it. I'd like to have one really nice example. I bought a 117H from Joshua but have come to understand that the pinion, lume, and crown are wrong on it. So I am trying to figure out what to do; either mod this 117H or get a better example. I asked Davidson which models he has that are closest to being 1:1 and he suggested either the PRE V 201A with the new dial or the base Ti 055 with the white dial. They both look nice to me and the 201A looks like it might be a winner.

    Can one of the Panerai experts suggest which is the best way to go? Any of the options will seem to cost me around $300. I can either mod the 117H with a new pinion, lume, and crown, or buy the 201A or 055. Davidson of course suggests that I should buy both the 201A and the 055! Go figure, but he did offer me a nice deal.

    I'd have less of a decision if Davidson was a little more communicative about how he mods the watches. They look like they already have the pinion problem taken care of and the lume looks very nice.

    Does anyone have an opinion on these models? And, what exactly does Davidson do -- is he only reselling what some really good factory is putting out or is he doing the mods himself?

    /Tim

  14. stealing money by bying reps?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Philips, Thomson, TDF, France Telecom and IRT... (its therefore a dutch-French-German technology, YEAH ! :thumbsupsmileyanim: )

    Dutch-French-German, hummmm first chocolate, then the world! Bell Labs is in there somewhere. But according to the U.S. Courts none of them did anything useful; and so it is because America says it's so! :boxing:

  15. stealing money by bying reps?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Tim

    You have no idea how wrong you are in your above statements.

    Xerox Parc sold Apple the GUI, for a start. They did very well out of the sale.

    The Eiger was an OEM version of the SaeHan system. The Eiger Labs MPMan F10 was merely the first on the US market and it didn't really do too well. It was the Rio 300 that was the first successful MP3 player and neither the Rio nor the Eiger had what was the one killer feature that made the iPod the success it was today: The click-wheel interface. It was this interface that is patented up the wazoo by Apple that allowed MP3 players to become as ubiquitous as they are today. To call the iPod a copy of the Eiger is ... well, I can't think of a polite way to put it. :D

    Uhhhuhuhuhuh. You're good Pug, very good! Had me referring to some history to make sure I had it right.

    Then why is it that when Apple accused Microsoft of violating its copyright by appropriating the use of the "look and feel" of the Macintosh GUI, Xerox also sued Apple on the same grounds? The lawsuit was dismissed because Xerox had waited too long to file suit and the statute of limitations had expired, not because Apple had properly paid for and executed a licensing agreement. It is said, according to popular lore, that Apple gave some PARC engineers who visited Apple to look at their GUI some "gratuity" stock for their personal engineering assistance but not to compensate Xerox for it's intellectual property.

    And you are sorta right about the Saehan. That was the name of the company that developed the MPMan and sold it in Asia. Eiger brought it to the US with the same name in a distribution deal. So I'll start calling it the Saehan MPMan when you start calling your Opal a Chevy. :bleh:

    As to how much an improvement the iPod wheel was over the original design, that is a subjective opinion. My opinion is that it is an improvment in the original concept but it is not the wheel that makes the concept work as a marketable product. Otherwise I'd have a touchy wheel on my car, my watch, my stove, etc.

    /Tim

  17. stealing money by bying reps?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Interesting question - I have thought this through and even though I wish I could say no - I must say yes. BUT, I don't care and I will not change my behavior and I will keep buying reps instead of investing in a gen. I am an accumulator not a collector so one gen will never serve me the same way as 20 reps. Made me think. I like that - thanks

    Way to avoid stumbling over your principles! Bravo! :clap:

    /Tim

  18. stealing money by bying reps?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Tim

    mp3 wasn't and isn't a brand. It is a form of compression based on some very clever math. It has, as with all science, been open and transparent for some time.

    Nit-picker.

    First, I said MP3 PLAYER, the operative word being player.

    Second, didn't you just read about the 1.5 Billion with a B dollar judgement entered against Microsoft in favor of Alcatel over the MP3 format? Read the story, you can find it on Google. In essence, Microsoft paid licensing fees to a company that apparently didn't have the right to transfer the license. NOT an open and transparent technology the same as most other technology, contrary to what you assert. Why do you think Apple perverted the ORIGINAL idea and generated the ACC format (which it then promptly patented) which is a bastardization of the MP4 standard?

    /Tim

  19. stealing money by bying reps?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Tim

    To me, what you are ripping off is a marketing operation. In very few cases are the original inventors of something the one's who profit the most from the product. It is more a question of who can package the product the best and who gets to market the quickest with the mostest.

    Panerai. Panerai ripped off an original design from the Officine Panerai, a company which disappeared after WWII. Who originated the idea? Who's design was it and how did it get to where it is today? Apple computer. The original mp3 player was something called the Eiger Labs MPMan. If you look at the desgin, the iPOD was a blatent rip off of the concept. Apple is a notorious offender. Apple back in the early 90's was pressing a case against Microsoft for supposedly stealing its GUI. Did Apple come up with the idea of a graphical user interface? No, Xerox PARC labs developed the concept that Apple ripped off. Yet Apple sits there and says it came up with the idea and owns the "look-n-feel" of the thing. Yet even more, did Xerox PARC develop the GUI? Nope, some guy named Ivan Sutherland who was going to school at MIT at the time. It was his college PhD thesis. The Apple II? A rip off of an IBM (believe it or not) concept and design (IBM 5100); but was that the first incarnation of a Personal Computer? Nope, that goes back to 1950 to a thing from Berkeley Enterprises called a Simon thought up by a guy named Edmund Berkeley. Remember Ivan up above? He wrote the first substancial program for the Simon in High School. What happened to Sutherland and Berkeley? They both died comfortably. Not nearly filthy rich considering the pile of money made by their inventions.

    So who owns what and who is ripping who off? The concept and design of a wristwatch has been around for how long now? More than what, 400 years? So what is the bits that are being illegally copied today? A name, that's what. A trademark. That trademark represents a corporate marketing effort and that is who we are cheating. A bunch of marketing nit-wits who ought to spend their time doing something more productive in society anyhow. Except it is even worse today since most of the watch brands are now owned by corporate conglomerates.

    What is a value add for someone like Rolex? Superior technology? Advancement of design? Look and feel of a wristwatch? Nothing? The design can and is freely copied. Invicta, Seiko, how many others with a dive watch similar to the Sub. Is the Rolex any better? If anything this is a commentary on the warped values of our society. Look at me sounding like a Socialist!

    So yeah, when what you are selling amounts to a barrel of snake oil, you get awfully protective of your reputation -- in other words the cache of your particular brand of snake oil. But you know what? It is still snake oil.

    /Tim

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