By-Tor

Very nice collection. All those watches pretty much match my tastes.

What a beauty! Congrats!

Mine are all modern. Well not the newest versions which I generally dislike, but the classic ones with sapphire crystals: 14060 no-date Submariner 16710 GMT II 16570 Explorer II white For some reason I never warmed up to the plastic ones... 1675 is the exception.

I've always liked this particular cheapie. But just like Freddy said, get rid of that riveted POS and replace it with Oyster/Jubilé. Crown is nice and date mag/cyclops position is nice. Accurate? Hell no... but looks "decent". I would just put it on a Oyster, scratch the hell out of it and wear.

This since yesterday.

Congrats... a beauty.

Idealwatches / Replicacenter is one of the oldest scam sites on the Web. Stay away!

Yeah... two tiny screws only. Make sure you have a screwdriver small enough... and be careful that you won't lose the screws, they're very small.

GMT dial is from an old "Root Beer" 1675-era GMT. Despite being a huge GMT fan I never liked this particular model a lot.

Thanks, all. Glad you liked the article. If you folks actually read the review, you'd know too.

The weekend starts with this.

Hey Zorro, cool to have you back man. Long time no see.

Wearing my black ExpII.

If you find a good source for the insert, let me know. I haven't managed to find a gen insert. The people who have access to gen Omega parts can only get the whole bezel which has a greasy price. I guess the only option is to order an extra SMP chrono insert from Joshua (it's not great but it's the best of them). If he sells them separately, that is... Good luck!

Plain old steel Sub today. Sometimes it's just the best choice.

That pink gold Tarawa? You think I'm gay or something?

I was really surprised when I received Stephane's Daytona back then. Surprised how small it is. It's not the actual size, 40mm... but how small it wears. It's a lot like Explorer II in that regard. ExpII is also 40mm watch but it wears much smaller than Sub and GMT (just as HaloArchive stated). It's the smooth bezel. And on Daytona those relatively large pushers make the watch head look even smaller. I don't know why the trend is like that these days... people think that watch has to be HUGE to be impressive. Nothing could be further from the truth (imho). Daytona is a legendary watch and the white dial version has a lot of charm and elegance. It's not a small watch, it's just not XXL like many trendy watches. 1-2mm more to the diameter probably wouldn't hurt though.

I'm very easy on my watches and I can't get them scratched much at all. I haven't noticed any scratches on my BTR yet. The bracelet is one of the biggest draws on it. Very high quality and I really like those "rounded" edges on it. So definitely get BTR with the bracelet. Nothing wrong with the strap though, but I'm a steel man myself.

Ah... ok. But you can also take the lightbox to the balcony/yard and use it there. The natural light exposure can be very rich and useful and work well with the box. Then your lightbox might work as a reflection blocker. Give it a shot! I have sometimes used white blank piece of paper to filter the lighting and to block noise. Haven't snapped any outside shots in a long time (besides wrist shots) though.

Been wearing this old watch a lot lately.

The dial and crystal are only reflecting what there is (to reflect). If there are items/things that cause reflections, block them off. Yeah you can use a black reflector card too, but it might create noise because the dial needs light as well. Plus that kind of cards are difficult to position so that they are not blocking light from the strap/bracelet and creating noise. I don't use any of that stuff. If the light exposure has been set correctly + you're using a tripod the dial isn't reflecting anything (providing you shoot in a dark room) where only the lightbox is lit. For pictures like that WM9 Sub above... well there is only the white transparent lightbox roof. i.e no reflections because the "roof" is smooth and blank. I use a transparent plastic flower pot as a lightbox (perfect) and 3-4 lamps. 2 on the both sides, 1 on the back and (sometimes) 1 on the roof (when the dial pattern is special and needs extra attention) like the SMP. Sub must be the easiest watch in the world to shoot. SMP is tougher as you have to keep the bracelet details visible and capture the "pattern" simultaneuously. You can't do stuff like that with post processing, you have to get the light exposure correct.

Nope. It's probably the most accurate replica watch ever done. So it doesn't need any. PS: Ebel has a new consumer brochure (full catalog) downloadable in their site (19MB) http://anonym.to/?http://ebel.com/_pdf/_ca...rochure2008.pdf Here's a smaller gents-only collection file: http://anonym.to/?http://ebel.com/_pdf/_ca..._collection.pdf

Using anything to block the light is a no-no. It usually creates noise on the dial (and other areas too). The key is to diffuse and filter the lighting so it's smooth and even all over the watch. You also want to bring up the details of say, brushed finish on the bracelet/lugs... so you want to utilize all light you can get (without over exposure). Finding the right balance between enough light and too much light is the key factor.

I said that. The copyright and rights of that quote belong to ME! I invented that phrase at the same day I bought my first plastic Casio & Led Zeppelin's "In Through the Out Door" as brand new. It was 1979 to be precise. Prove me wrong guys. I bet you can't.

Yeah well... I was mainly talking about the size and the value of his collection... and all those expensive watch brands there. Not necessarily the desirability of the watch models/versions. I haven't seen as big and expensive gen collections very often. Truth is that most average guys here couldn't afford even ONE Zenith tourbillon/complication. Including me. This guy apparently buys them like reps. You gotta admit it's an impressive collection in terms of value/quantity/volume/brands (even if you don't like his tastes).