Finepics

Serious piece of watch though - worth it I guess (if you have the dough)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

The 183 has reached £1470 - jeez someone is seriously getting ripped off.

Here's another one and all bidders have identities kept secret as well, crafty shitbag. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Agreed - they fit perfectly then you get to have the original as a spare if the bearings on the rep one ever wear out.

I assume I've been getting these emails because they have perused the forums as they do not appear to be the usual junk. I have emailed them to ask prices. The last email they sent me was about the forthcoming 202 Slytech!!

Sorry of this has been answered before but I am getting emails from a company or person called Quality Replicas. In the email is a link to a photobox type listing of watches - anyone know who this is? http://s81.photobucket.com/albums/j229/mindriot88/

What a totally superb thread this has been - big thanks all of you.

Just finished the next stage - new 6mm thick polycarbonate crystal specially made to fit. My next offering as a service. this one is not quite as high domed as the gen and this might be corrected later but will do for now!! Dial and hands done in a slightly modified "Old Radiomir" shade of super lume. Hopefully a decent movt coming in the near future. Also I have contact with a vintage leather jacket makers who have a lot of offcuts of vintage leather so standby for some nice vintage 26x26 straps on offer soon (I hope!!) - this one is a MF1942 that is in 130/85 length and will do for now. Enjoy the pics.

There seem to be two different types of fiddy case out there. The older versions 1-4 have the more traditional layout of a bezel held in to the case with a nylon I ring. You should see a small notch on the edge of the bezel - insert a thin blade into the notch and keep working around the bezel pressing hard until it starts to lift. Carefull as it can then pop off and there is a risk of damaging the dial/hands. The other type of case/bezel which I have seen more recently is a friction metal/metal fit and very difficult to remove. Same technique as above but there is no nothch to get you started!! very sore on the thumbs!! I have removed several 127 crystals now without any breakages. Davidsens crystals are absolutley superb - I recently fitted one for someone that had a mineral glass which had shattered. Crucial thing when fitting the new crystal is to line it up carefully before pressing it into the bezel.

FM use movts from ETA, Ronda, Selitta, Indtech and Fredrique Piguet or whatever they can lay their hands on (quoted from an article about them in the last issue of IW)

Never trust a swede with the English team!! Why oh why bring on Downing again!! What use is he? And Crouch - well he did at least redeem himself later on. We always seem to do it - no wonder the last time we won was in '66!! Spain looks like a winning team to me - best match so far!!

I am offering full mag flouride AR coats. The rep AR is not always a genuine AR rather just a light coloured coat that looks similar to an AR coat. PM me for more details.

The crystal is held in place with a plastic compression ring located in a groove in the bezel. The crystal needs to be pressed out of the bezel - no other way!!

Actually you only need the cannon pinion as the hour hand also has an extended tube to compensate for the shorter height standard hour wheel. Don't forget that the tube of the minute hand will need filing down to .44mm to fit the cannon pin properly otherwise you will still have a recessed pin whatever the length!!

All the swan necks are working - it's just that they need bending to contact the regulatuer arm - it is after all only a spring to hold things in place. The problem is that because the reguleur arm is the standard narrow tapered type the swan neck doesn't touch it.

V- I know this can happen but the older Moljina movts were very well made - as good as the Cortebert (which I am told was a Russian company originally). Easy to fix a non working handwounder anyway so I am not bothered. Will post updates about this when I have more news.

I have a contact in the Ukraine who is trying to source the older Molnija movts from the 1950's which were much better made and finished than the current ones. They have the same type winding gears as the Rolex and are a very good and cheaper alternative. ExWatchmaster has used one in his 47mm vintage watch. Nice thing is these will be very cheap - maybe only $50-100 or even less. I also have a possibilty of doing the full sized crystal in Polycarbonate for a reasonable price. I know its not plexi but unless you want to pay 220eu then this is a better alternative and is still plastic!!!

From my own experience they are all generally well made but fall down on silly things like gears seperating from posts and dirt. The 7750 in the 212 is a lot better finished than the earlier movts that were in the 188/196 etc. The best ones I have seen are the new 7750P1 type movts. These are found in the non chrono date/sub secs models like the PAM 24. They are a stripped down version with all the chrono gears and linkages removed and blanking plates in their place just like the gen 7750P1. I was amazed at the finish and quality of them and have no reason to think about upgrading them at all. They should last and last as it was normally the chrono function that suffered in them.

Double domed means that it is an even thickness throughout the profile - 2.5mm. The solid would have meant a solid chunk 6mm thick - not right!!

Was he really busted? I don't even know why we are bothering to discuss it - he had his chance and he blew it. All of the members of old RWG are now here so what's the deal!!

Thanks for that Brad - Have had that bookmarked for a long time actually!! Nice thing about Davidsens dial is the correct font for the Luminor Panerai (if only it was bolder white) and the 2 in the 12 is also the correct shape. Just a real shame that they are too big as they come and too thick. I am working on a better version of this dial but it will be some time yet before it comes to reality!

Well it's a bit of a last minute throw together!! I bought the dial from Davidsen then had to reduce the diameter by 1mm to fit the case. Then I filled the markers (these dials are a sort of sandwich dial) with a customised super lume. Then I had laquered the dial using various substances until I found a decent enough satin varnish that gave a smooth enough finish. The dial is not perfect so I might do another one as the laquering experiment left some uneveness on it. The CG is a prototype that Davidsen sent me which just happened to have the correct side profile although the radius of it is still not big enough. One problem with it was that the screws that Davidsen uses are smaller and so are the corresponding holes, which also do not line up with the case holes. So some drilling and bodging was necessary to get it to fit. The crown was also a Davidsen prototype and is a prung crown - but very wobbly so had to make that a solid one. Also the stem was too thick and also the thickness of the dial meant that it did not line up with the movt!!! so again a lot of drilling of the stem tube (lost my water resistance now) got it to fit eventually!! Not a very straightforward job and despite the faults I really love this watch and wear it more than most. If I ever buy a gen then this (or any of the Pre-A's) are top of my list.

C'mon Maciek - show him how it's done - again!!! Please!!!

I don't have his watch - just the datewheel.