kdspiv

Hola neighbor.. sort of. Hello from Austin! It is funny how watches become such prized family heirlooms.

I have no idea how I did it. SONOFABITCH!!!! I look down about 4:00 and my WM9 V1 has stopped at 2:12. So after work I decided to take a gander and see what is going on. Sure enough, the third wheel (#210) was jiggling like a nice set of b00bs. Well, REAL b00bs anyway. (Sorry for the phone pic, but my Atrix is all I had on me.) And just my EFFING luck... This is the ONE dang part that my local hook up doesn't have so I am going to have to order it! The up side is that at least the movement will get cleaned and serviced. Uncle Aniceto who is looking over my shoulder during the teardown decides to exmine the movement. The next words out of his mouth after a long whistle is (what roughly translates from Spanish to English as) "That movement is dirtier than a $1000 wh0re!" Yeah, Uncle Aniceto is a Mexican Shakespear.

I like the nice knee protection mat. It would beat the plain old knee pads my girl uses.

THAT sir, is one amazing watch!

While having a margarita at the Oasis, the guy at the table next to us had the gen watch on his wrist. He bought it to match his 430 in the parking lot . This is one of those watches I've been curious about anyway but after seeing it in person I am really interested in the rep. Anyway, this is a beautiful watch! I am curious as to the quality and accuracy of the rep. Can some one tell me about it?

Here is the break down of what Rolex charged me for my full service a couple of years ago on my 2001 116610 Sub. If I would have known I would end up selling it a year later I would have waited. When I approached the AD and requested THEY send my watch in for service the price was double this amount. When I called Rolex directly and asked them about it, they said as long as there were parts to turn back in (regardless of condition) that I would be given trade-back credit on those parts. I was later warned that the AD's sometimes try and keep those parts to be replaced and pass the full price charge that Rolex gives for the lack of part, on the the customer. So I made the 4 hour drive to Rolex and gave it to the service people directly. It was a kick butt experience. They sat me down in a BEAUTIFUL waiting room with red carpets and butter yellow leather couches. I was told it would be a 15 to 20 min wait for the technician to come and discuss my watch with me. Then Rolex literature was handed to me and I was given chocolates and sparkling water to help ease the wait. Sure enough, a Rolex watchsmith walked out with my watch dismantled on a green leather tray and went over what services needed to be done and what services and parts they reccomended to replaced. I have to say if you have the chance to take your gen in for service in person DIRECTLY to Rolex themselves..DO IT! It is worth the experience **EDIT** I forgot to say that I bought the Sub second hand from a local "High Profile" watch and jewelry store. The The dial was determined to be an "aftermarket" sub dial and Rolex would not give me full credit for the dial. They did give me half credit as I had bought the watch like that. Rolex also gave me a letter complete with pics and documentation showing the dial was not original to that Sub. I took this back to the place I purchased it from who advertises "Rolex authorized service and only ROLEX parts are ever used". That store reimbursed me for the dial cost.**

Yeah, I guess I didn't post a pic of the ugly Betty. Ask and ye shall recieve. **edit** I have to say in that in the pic there are spots that look like lint but aren't. They are scratches that catch the light.** Ugly enough to merit a solid caseback, no? But she is keeping perfect time!

Whoops! I meant the seconds were at nine and NOT at six o'clock. Good looking watch but the seconds are still labeled at 6 o'clock and sub dial spacing looks way off. But the movment would work in a DW vintage Daytona right?

I am wearing the Frankenstien built completely from a friends parts bin. I am kind of proud of it. So now I just need to figure out what model to make it. So many dials and years to choose from.

Of course not! If it is something that I can improve upon by modding or such (and within my skill set), I will do so and send it back to you. It is most definitely the gesture that is very much appreciated and I look forward to possibly repaying that gesture. Once I sent pics to my buddy today, he was ticked that he hadn't taken the time to build the watch himself. That did make me feel better.

LOL! No. No McIntosh on this deal. Rega Saturn Cd player. But, I think I have found an interesting trade for a non watch item. We arent going to see eye to eye on this particular deal so forcing it would not help. As stupid as it sounds, I wouldn't hesitate to trade a piece of vintage McIntosh for a watch. But with two stipulations: One, I get the EXACT watch that I WANT! Two, that piece oof gear will be traded to some one who will damnwell appreciate what it is and what it is worth.

So I have a buddy who lives here locally. I originally met him on one of the watch homage forums. He recently learned about my watch being "liberated" from my ownership and local gym locker. So he offered me a run at his parts drawer for the price of $75 and 4 of my St. Arnolds Divine reserve #11 beer. I am not sure if I came out ahead or not but this is what I spent all day Saturday and Sunday building. It ended up being a "I wonder if I can do it" type of project. And I think it turned out not too bad. This is a bit long so here is where most of you skip to the pics~ If you feel like it afterward, then read what I went through to build it. First: He buys reps for the cases and movements. He doesn't believe in "fake watches". So when he gets a rep panerai he doesn't bother with a hand puller. I do believe I just heard a gasp from you faithful reader! Thats right, he just yanks the dial up and lets it pull off the hands for him. So I had to find a dial that was the least marked up. I ended up with a 111H (I think) that had the satin of the dial marred just a bit around the base of the hands. It isn't the most correct dial either, but it will suffice until I order another one. OUCH! Second: He had no full movments. He DID have all the pieces of movements that he has been using to try and learn watchmaking. Ugghhh! My family is full of watchsmiths and I have spent enough time at the bench to know how to work on my own watch(and that is pretty much it, I am NOT a watchsmith by degree or profession). So I collected all the pieces of scratched up bridges that had good jewels and gears with no broken teeth to build a 6497. After hours in the ultrasonic cleaner I was able to put together a movment that seems pretty darn solid, but seriously ugly. I mean like the time your Aunt set up up with fat chick blind date to the prom kind of situation. In other words, ugly but healthy. third: Hands. He pulls out a small box at this point. I look into the box and..*blink* *blink*..Uh. What are, I mean where, those? They were hands. Again, all of them are ill fated attempts at modding, lume, etc. I simple pull out the LEAST effed up set I can find. It is a set where he tried glueing in some type of spacer or filler to the top of the cannon pin. The glue puckered the paint. I tried to fix these hands the best I could without a full refinish. But replacements are going to be in order. Fourth: I pick up a case and gaskets. The crystal rattling around under it in the box seems to still have decent AR and the gasket fits. Sweet! After a go at the polishing wheel it looks fantastic. The inside of the lugs has some weird kind of machine grooves or notches. But after confering with the more experienced to find out the best method so as to not widen the lugs, I made the proper sanding tools. A few minutes later all the machine marks are gone! The movment is so ugly I took solid back as well as a view back. I will run the blank solid back right now. Fifth: THIS was the biggest pain in the buttocks~ My dial needed a biger crown gaurd than the single polished one he had. He did however have a really big CG from a PVD case he got a few years back. He took it off because there wasn't enough room to pull out the stem and set the watch. It was almost completely flat on top as well as bottom. Also it seemed to be made for a case that was completely round thus lacing the flat case landings that Panerai mounts thier CG's upon. So I flattend out the two legs of the CG to mount to the flat care areas, sanded off all the PVD coating, reshaped the top profile to match the case and a real Panerai the best I could, filed and finished the inside to give the crown room to be pulled,and finally flattened / counter sunk the lever pin. It isn't perfect but I think it will do for the moment. He had only one extra screw so I had to cut a second but no problem. And Sixth: Most of the crown he had accumulated looked like dimes. But there were two that looked ok. the first was probably the right width but it had too few teeth giving it a course look compared to the gen. The second was one he did not really want to part with. it was over all the correct width and teeth look, but was missing the beveled edge on either side of the teeth. I took the second crown and just lathed a small bevel to both sides of the teeth. I had to trim down the crown tube to make this crown fit but it turned out nice I think. Last, FINALLY! : All the straps he had were crap! But he did have a couple of nice buckles. I grabed on of the buckles tht looked correct and stopped at Tandy's leather on the way home. I picked up some nice unfinished hide. I then glued and skived until I got the thickness and taper I wanted. I did a first dye on the leather followed by a bit of artificial aging. A second time to be dyed and I aded my mark. The sides could be finished a bit better but the home made strap seemd to compliment the watch, agree? So the final result is this! Cheap in terms of money but a heck of a lot of work.

I am asking this question upon the RWG forum as a neutral playground. I was offered a trade of rep watches for a piece of audio equipment. The fellow has a good track record for trades but is a bit on the pushy side. And so he and myself have come to a point of disagreement. When establishing the value of the watches to trade, he is bound and determined to value the watches at either their original new price OR the current market price if it is higher than the original price of the watch. Is this usually the way that the trade values are determined? I know the values of some watches do indeed rise with time and scarcity. But it seems to me an "either - or" method should be used. For schitts and giggles, here are four of the possible watches that have been discussed. Please, keep in mind the trade would be a combination of these watches and not All of them. So tell me what YOUR opinion of the values should be. Possible trade fodder are: 1. origina' "old school" Panerai 188 w/ Swiss 7753 movement - Not modded in anyway (hands are silver, original crown, no AR, Swiss datewheel) 2. MBW 116610 submariner from 2005ish w/ Swiss movement - Again not modded in anyway. No upgrades. This is NOT gen-like construction but nice rehaut. 3. Datejust w/ Swiss movement - All stainless, white Roman numeral dial, oyster bracelet, SMOOTH bezel (one of my all time favorite simple watches), No mods 4. Serious old school Daytona w/ Swiss 7750 and seconds running at NINE o'clock and SIX! no mods. What value would YOU put on these watches if they are all in great condition?

..take 'em out back an beat the [censored] outta them.

Doesn't Panerai put a sealant from the factory between the CG and watch body? I thought they did. If so this would help to hide any type of gap and give an illusion of perfect fitment. Even if, that seems like a pretty large gap.