altesporsche

All I can say is WOW ! that is truly a beauty ! hold on to that one ! I had a chance to hold an original PAN AM GMT a couple of Christmases ago. One of my old mans Pilots, father used to be a pilot for Pan Am back in the 60's and he handed the GMT down to him. He was at aChristmas party a few years ago at my parents and I noticed it on his wrist. I was in awe and had to ask about it.. when he took it off and I saw the Pan Am on the back I kind of got a "holy F$^k" feeling overcome me lol it was truly something to hold something like that and to know the rarity and how much it was sought after.

I may have a couple at home, but im not back home for a few weeks. I had them for builds but bought gen 3135's for a couple of them.

hahahahaha Nanuq that is brilliant !

I just like watches lol have lots of gens and lots of reps, frankens, geninesteins etc.. I take it for what it is and that is just that I have since I was a child had a fascination with time pieces. The intricacies of automatic movements and this is the reason I do not have one quartz watch right now. I got into this Rep racket when I was in university and didn't have a pot to [censored] in lol really I didn't and lived on kraft dinner and Mr Noodles, but I still loved watches and got into the rep racket because I couldn't afford any gens and to be honest I still like this rep racket and ill still buy reps and I will for a long time. The days are long gone of not being able to afford to buy whatever gen I feel like buying, but I have a deep fascination with this rep bit and of the hundreds ive owned over the years ive not yet been called out for wearing one because I don't go out and stare are my watch or exhibit the "hey look at me" attitude. I have met so many people over the past few years that really couldn't afford to buy gen watches but were so quick to show you the gen watch he just paid $5000 for and was so proud of it as if it was something he needed to have and show to feel like he was worth something. Those are the types I picture as being fakes and to be honest when I meet people like that the first thing I think about is that this guy surely has a lot of knock offs or everything from his poorly tailored knock off prada suit to his poorly executed Patek rep, knowing full well his career does not allow him to wear the genuine article, but he goes out of his way to show you what he has.. the worst being the guys who leave the versasce, prada or dolce label on the cuff of their suit and that will be the arm they have on the bar with their replica watch shining in the light you can see this guy a mile away and yet me in my slob mode in a tshirt, shorts, flipflops and a rep of a $30k watch could also be seen from a mile away and people would probably think the same thing "no way he can afford that watch.. look at him, hes a slob and looks homeless" but I really don't care lol I don't wear designer fake clothing and push it in your face looking for the "wow you look successful !" I think those are the fake people and there is no shortage of them where I live lol

Going to try to revive this old tread as ive been looking for a few new single malts to add to my collection. I usually pick up a few bottles each month on my way through London on the way home. Im looking for something different, Been hooked on Dalmore King Alexander III for some time now and have tried many others that rated as high, but nothing as good and smooth. Even had the Dalmore Cigar Reserve over Christmas and a bottle of Aberfeldy 21 and still no go... any suggestions ?

Yes I agree this was a great post and great example of what this hobby is all about ... the hunt and the chase to make the perfect replica. I know for a lot of us, myself included it isn't because we cannot afford the genuine watch, we just evolved in this hobby racket maybe from a day when we couldn't afford the real deal and just got hooked on making perfect replicas not to fool people but for our own satisfaction and accomplishment of building a passible rep and we just became addicted to chasing that perfect build. To be honest I really enjoy it and though I have several gen watches I love building frankens and chasing parts and learning from the gurus here on the site and Legend being one of them ! I have learned a lot from these fellas ! thanks for the post legend ! Cheers !

London Hethrow duty free is insanely cheap also Dubai airport

Yea the composition of 904L will not change and there are less than 30 foundry's world wide producing the alloy as its hard to work with, expensive to machine and with many other less costly materials out there that can do the same job better then why use it ? . I don't know if you ever see the older Rolexes and the pitting under the caseback around the oring etc.. that pitting is from the acidic reactions that can take place in 316L from salt water and your skin over time. My background in Mechanical engineering has taken me into the metallurgy field quite deeply and I have even been involved as a professional consultant in court for issues of corrosion on sea vessels that let to death or serious harm to individuals, so its somewhat of a passion of my previous career and still very much an interest. Rolex doesn't use surface hardening as they don't need to with 904, its pretty resilient to minor scratches much more so than 316 due to the higher nickel and chromium content, this also allows it to shine nicer in different angles of light. to be honest the pros of it do not offset the added cost. it seems to be a marketing thing with rolex now and well for a professional diver who is constantly saturated at depth then in 20-25 years it will be of benefit because he wont have the minor pitting on the caseback and caseback threads, but other than that its just pure marketing and prestige. and yes if reps used it then they would have to buy all new tooling to cut and machine as its hard to work with and even rolex uses a 250 ton press to get the basic shape of the watch case even before finishing as just machining will be too costly and time consuming. As for heat treating or surface treating the only manufactures I see doing this is well the obvious ones using true PVD and well Sinn and its tigimentation process that I still feel is a little bit of marketing smoke screen Cheers ! C.

hahaha I love that ! this was my idea when trying to test them in my type of environment, wanted to see the punishment the could take and still perform and look good. Nightwatch I agree ! if you get one that's good from the beginning then it will last, they don't need babying, they need to be worn and worn like you would wear any watch. I have a few old school fellas out here that have been at this for many years, we call them dinosaurs but it seems the work watch of choice back in the day was the 5513 / 5512 and 16610 submariners. I see a lot of them out here and offshore around the world and in pretty worn and loved condition... I've tried to buy a few, but no one wants to sell them. Apparently a lot of the drilling contractors used to give them as gifts to crew on board for well performing rigs back in the day. One of my safety officers here that just retired after 35 years offshore has a 5513 that looks amazing and all original that he traded with a colleague back in the late 70's for a quartz watch because the original owner of the sub said it didn't keep time well. As it turns all this watch needed was a service as it was not serviced since it was given as a gift from Saudi Armco to the guy back in the early 70's lol I have been two years trying to get this guy to sell me this watch. its an amazing watch and a great story behind it. Cheers guys !

Hmmm this whole 904L debate is getting old... Rolex most likely does not have its own foundry and likely buys in ingots. 904L is an ISO standard so the composition will be the same as any other 904L it is not their own formula, its a austenic low carbon stainless with higher levels of copper and molybdenum than other stainless alloys and the percentages are the same or they would not be able to call it a 904L . The major difference of 904L vs. 316 is its resistance to corrosion. This property will never be fully taken advantage of in use on a watch, it is intended for highly acidic environments. Even in constant diving conditions with acidic skin you will not see pitting in your rep Rolie for quite a while (I mean years) the major reason Rolex swapped to 904L in the 80's is because of 904's polish ability and its exclusiveness. I doubt it was any more than that. I can tell you if brushed correctly the 904L and the 316L will look the same and the only reason you will even guess as to what is the 904L is because someone is telling you one is and naturally you will look for the shiny one lol But in all honesty you will never see this used in reps, 904L is very hard to work with and hard to machine correctly in small components like a watch.

I always see posts about how delicate some reps are or reps in general and how people somewhat baby them and daily wear with no real beating on them. I wore a nicely built Panerai 009 on a rubber strap offshore for 5 years and even sent it to the bottom a few times on an ROV manipulator arm to see what happened lol 120M of water and I still wore it for years after. I should see if I can find the screen shots from our cameras. This one now has a Rolie dial and I wear it quite a bit at home with its years of real patina Earlier this year I started using a V2 Explorer with the SA3135 on a nato strap out here and I pounded the [censored] out of it all summer long, in very hot and moist environments, constantly around 38000 kilowatts of generators, on my wrist turning wrenches and smashing the hell out of equipment with sledge hammers. This was put through abuse that it would have never seen in years of daily wrist use and the thing kept on trucking and still not without a service is running -5 sec/day. I have cleaned it up and put it on a leather strap and my fiancée wears it now alongside her gens lol My latest is a Bell & Ross BR03-92 that I picked up a few months back in a used sale on here somewhere. not sure what movement is in it as I have not opened it up yet but right now it has survived two of probably my most labor intensive hitches in a while and even its PVD coating is holding up after some nasty knocks against rough metals, tools etc.. surprisingly I like this thing as a work watch.. its had two allen head screws from the strap go missing but the strap is still holding on and I hope it does for the next two weeks until I get home. Any ways this was just my little story about my experience with reps and being really really hard on them. Cheers everyone and happy Friday from Offshore Africa !!!

oh really ? hmmm this will be pretty cool if it makes it to the market. I mean if they did the SA3135 im sure they can do the 3186

ill have a CHS 2824 out of the new GMT for sale in about a month when I get home and install my yuki movement at first I was quite [censored] off and hated the new CHS movement but once I got the hang of what to and not to do with it. it ended up fine.

nahh E its a 2824 CHS, a very finicky movement but when I figured it out I had it running perfect for the last week or so I was home and it kept great time and even changed time zones a bit ith it and it didn't mess it up again.. ill be selling the full movement / dial and hands when I get home in three weeks. My yuki 3136 hybrid is complete, just not on its way to me yet

Hes been hiding on repgeek for a while I think haha how did you like the Seamaster E ?

yes I agree the left is the gen It is not easy to tell and to be honest not many will be able to tell even with them side by side, so an amazing job on this one ! both are beautiful watches either way ! awesome post legend brother as per usual ! Ill get my hulk just right soon enough lol then buy the Gen. I like the hunt and challenge of building a good franken !

That's a damn beauty @Legend !

In the process of acquiring one.... you love talking down on other people's builds don't you ? lol the gen green inserts are not exactly falling off the trees. A bit harder to get, but I didn't want parts sitting until I had all of it, as I do think the V7 insert does a damn fine job. The indices plat paint is exactly the same color as my gen LN and gen GMTii insert. In most lights it looks really good but in some the green just washes out completely, but it will do for now. It's a V6S with gen 3135, gen crown and tube, gen dial, gen crystal and V7 insert for now.. working on an insert right now, but probably won't have it before I head back to work next week so it will be the end of January before I will have a chance to install it. Nice one ! She looks good !

I like that datejust ! Classic ! Yea it's a 911 turbo ? My other money pit lol That is a beauty !!

here it is with the V7 insert.. still doesn't do the job but it's a lot better than the V6s for now.

Ceramic goodness today

Ohh boy ! I'm in there like swimwear on this one ! When is the raffle starting ?

Holy shot Freddy That's a beauty !! I'm having a bipolar day ? Lol please don't go all Pc on me for why comment ?I couldn't decide ... and I wanted to see if this pos GMT will work correctly lol

Yea I'm excited to get it finished ! Im already having problems with the CHS movement. It doesn't move the hour hand in the correct way. I read somewhere else that someone picked their watch back up and it was minus two hours. Well I just wore mine and the same thing happened. It was 9:15 and my watch showed 7:15 .. odd and annoying

Ok received my GMTII very quickly from toro as per usual ! Awesome fella ! Over all I am quite impressed with the new GMT i have compared the insert and the bezel to my gen and aside from a little marker color dullness it's spot on ! Actually the rep bezel teeth look nicer astectically lol i have the gen dial that I'll add photos of later next to the new noob CHS and I'll be installing the gen bezel and insert tonight or tomorrow. Then it's to wait for my yuki hybrid to come back for the gen dial to go in. I don't suspect this will happen until I'm back from work in late January, but I think it will be a nice one ! Hunting a gen crystal and crown now..