enzo

I don't think you will see a price drop, the fact that you can use a Rolex calibre movement and these parts, along with the crop of Singer redials showing up with lots of vintage choices ... you can create quite an array of franken projects without a lot of effort. What this will do is inflate the price of vintage movements as they will become more in demand, all of a sudden a 15XX calibre inside a mid-size boys watch in sad cosmetic condition is worth a lot more because you can jack the motor out of it and turn it into DRSD or some other rarity.

I like watching the love|hate swing on this thread, traditionalists horrified, others taking the leap of faith. When I saw this Baselworld offer, the first thing I thought was how soon will it be rep'd? Because this watch has all kinds of excellent fantasy potential. Most of the DEEP SEA is quite cool, they have finally tried out a 43mm caseset, how modern. No-one has mentioned the new SS which sounds quite bulletproof when it comes to toughness. The huge, crystal, ring lock and TI backcase system is very cool, nice design and you lose the fact how much tool watch is there, because like all modern Rollers, they tend to go overboard with things like the Billboard/novella textual dial ... and why do dive watches require a CALENDAR date complication? Do people really question the DOM on what long saturation dives? This watch would be so cool with a sterilised, or concise dial face, NoDate configuration; a step back to non-gold trimmed indexes with MAXI-dots and bars (what better way to promote the new lumey-blu?) ... maybe there is hope that a future COMEX version will be the real winner, an industrial DEEP SEA and save for that, like I said, where's the rep? We can create our own. It would have been nice to see something of the movement touted, after all that is 90% of a watch anyway, but I suspect most of the DEEP SEA is the new package and nothing Horologically signifgant has occured. Just the ability to drop it in the deep end of the pool and the bragging rights that come with modern watches which are status first, application second. CONS: Too much text! It's not so much a dial as it's a grocery list, and the ring lock really didn't need the text either, but they could have pleased at least 50% of the naysayers by simply failing to fill the characters with black - then it would be easier to ignore. I don't see an issue with the CGs as that is a 43mm case, and quite tall, put skinny CGs on it and they'd look weird and symetrically wrong. Price; (big surprise) not really, again - how soon can this be rep'd is a valid request. PROS: The CERAMIC bezel is hot as is the large format case it offsets. The dual steel|TI backcase is cool looking, (the only issue there is any time you mix metals and add saltwater you get a formula for electrolysis) The micro adust bracelet design looks very practical.

it will only work on titanium ... Sodium Percarbonate acts like concentrated hydrogen peroxide and so accelerates the natural tendency of TI to oxidize it's outer layer and turn dark. A by-product of this, [unique to TI] is that it improves the surface strength. This DIY process is one of the coolest things to come around in a long time. It's easy, and the results are impressive. Very close Visually to old vintage Panerai light PVD coatings

I see the debate of the crowns as moot, it is wrong on all reps, they are all Raised and the original Rolex made, SWISS CROSS Brevet is a Reccessed logo and text ... much harder to produce and so the reps are raised probably because it's a cheaper process. But the fact is the replicat crowns are mirror wrong!

hands are great once you file them down and rid the recess as the canon post is plenty tall! I don't know about the brown dial, if it is brown it's really, really dark brown. The 21J Movement with the added layer on it to push the subsecond distance out to 10mm is pretty cool. This movement makes another interesting alternative as you get a good cannon pin height and a automatic vs. handwind ... the auto is a lighter movt. but there is plenty of "air" in there and a weighted fill ring would remove any weight issues.

and apparently consistently leak like sieves! I have one O&W under the guise of a WCT and it's always been a water-tight beast despite opening and closing it many times. It seems like there is some issue with the crystal seals on these; someone one the assembly line is slacking off.

LOL ! ah, I wrote that; enzo aka L_Swiss Made_L ... thanks for the plug!

get a shot of the movement - that will give you a lot more information

5517 - mine, Failed WRT at all levels, one of the worst results I have ever seen. likely a crystal area leak. Mine is a couple of years older and they have changed the look of the crystal on the new ones. Any rep should be tested if you plan to trust it to usage such as plunging in a stream, or you can use that as the empirical test, but I'd hate to see that nice ETA movt drowned. @lucasusaf 1. supposed to spin both directions on 5517 2. some change the insert and pearl, but this watch is pretty well done. Take the 'newness' off of it. A GEN would be a 1960s Military issued watch. Real examples would have useage wear on them.

This image shows the dimensions well. luminor logo blueprint

looking at the Pre-V/A blueprint images, the off-centre was in the designs of the c.1997 models, so I think you need to go back to relatively early vintage models to find the centred version, and I think this would mean 47mm cased as well. As finepics mentions as well, there was rounding and other 'features' to those CGs as well - the obvious one is the BREV. ITAL. stamped on the backside of these earlier CGs.

I thought I read another thread that supported the minute markers on some of the earlier models, other than the 5517, I will try and find that but it could be lost in the forum swap ... I seem to remember the red triangle is valid on some and white on others? Again, who would know? The thing is that parts like bezel inserts, crowns, pearls, bracelets all wear out on a vintage watch long before the case and movt. These things get replaced, repaired and altered through the history of the watch. I think my sights are set toward making this watch look it's age. I find this covers a lot of the issues that come up with trying to match a model, epecially and older watch. In, my experience, [mostly with vintage OMEGA of the 1950s,] that even with GENs, you don't find a lot of watches that are consistent to original specs and photos. Too much happens over time and watchmakers by definition are autonomous solution makers. Hands, dials, crowns all may morph with time. So where the accuracy of say a 2006 model may earn splitting hairs, an older watch model, it's also the art of look and feel - almost the task of making it unique, despite it's mass product heritage. - - the itching, visual tell for me would be those lug holes, hard to make up a story for their absence ... unless you fake solid lugs and etch recess circles on the case? and that's a stretch - might as well get the holes bored by someone who knows how.

I see that with some of your numbers, you are mixing Panerai's model numbers with a dealer's stock number and those are not the same. Panerai uses PAMXXX in their numbering system. Go to the paneristi web site and look at their REFERENCE section, they have a list of watches by number. Very handy. Also they have grouped sections by type/style. With this you can 'key' the model you want, learn it's model number which most people here will refer to, that, or the marketed model name ... nicknames and aka's you will just have to learn on the street

the ROL187 was unavailable, silix as always is a bit behind in the web info. @alligoat - I just got the very same model, you describe the text as white, I'd say my is yellowed, closer to the indexes. I have the same colour varience between index and handset, hands glow, dots don't, but they'd need building up with lume to look better anyway. Bezel clicks, and like you I thought the older ones when either way, removal of the clicking post would cure that. The trickest thing I would think is drilling the lug holes thru - without some kind of rigged drill press this sounds really hard? Far more problematic than enlarging existing holes . . . does anyone offer this as a service? Otherwise, I don't see this happening.

There are new Swiss ETAs with square bridges and CdG finish that are popping up in the EU, but even if this is Swiss, [a focused shot of the balance would settle the arguement.] the price is too bloody high for a fiddy with the wrong bridged movt in it. The cost of a Swiss or CN version with better bridges would sell for a LOT less. Personally, I'd have to see the balance, but looking at the finish on the wind gears, and because I have see a Swiss one in detail, I'd say this one is a Swiss ETA 6497. That and I have yet to see a Chinese square bridged movt.

just arrived, one of the Silix beauties today. The quality v price on these things makes them icredible and it seems to just go on from there. Went with the older painted indices dial, and the thing makes the perspex look yellowed, I love that!

the dark side, RWI

I think it has a lot to do with dial thickness. If the dial is thin, davidsen's hands work on their own, but a lot of these reps have thick dials on them, so canon parts will still be needed, or you hide the flaw with a capped set. Basic dials will generally fix with just hands the thinner hands. The lume quality on davidsen's hands is nothing less than Superluminova bright, so if you are thinking new hands, think about getting the dial relumed at the same time, as the hands are going to put your OEM rep dial to shame and your going to want the re-lume, so go ahead and do it all together.