By-Tor

That's a GREAT shot Rocky! The white one is much dressier than my bluesy.

Here you go. Just keep in mind that I didn't know about the v1 and v2 when I wrote those old reviews. I thought all correct stack ExpII's were the same. v3 white: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=45338 v3 black: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=45339 v1 franken: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=61211

Congrats w.genzo! There are 3 different versions of the correct stack Explorer II. 1. The version 1, that I have (in the picture). Takes genuine dial. Cyclops/date and winding crown positioned correctly. 2. The version 2. Almost impossible to tell the difference between version 1 and 2. River was able to source this. Probably out of stock right now. Cyclops/date and the winding crown positioned correctly. Does NOT take genuine dial, as the dial diameter has changed. dluddy and ziggy have tried and no go. The black version is, imho, hands down the best Rolex replica ever produced. Very accurate. 3. The newest version, version 3. This is the one PT can source. The black one is still very nice rep, but not quite on the same level with v1 and v2. Excellent crown but cyclops/date positioned too right, and the hour markers are positioned too close to the minute ticks. It's beyond my comprehension why they made those backwards changes. I have reviewed versions 1 and 3 in my section. According to Angus there is a new correct hand stack movement in production, which should be more reliable. The movement in this old version is a reliable ETA, so it's not going to die or anything... but the hour hand might occasionally get out of sync (slip). That means it's not following the minute hand. My ExpII has been 100% perfect, but my correct stack GMT is a bit "wobbly". There's a way to work over this problem though... if your hour hand starts to slip, it's due to the badly constructed transfer gear. But it's no problem... when you have the hour hand in the desired position, roll the minute hand over the dial for 24 hours (from the hack position). This makes the hour hand and minute hand "attach" with eachother. Just don't touch the independently adjustable hour hand anymore and always set the time from the hack position. All my problems have been gone when I heard this trick from bklm1234, and everything has been in perfect sync since then. Don't ask me the technical explanation for this, but it worked for me and bert. The version 2 is available from bklm1234, but it comes with wrong hand stack, which wouldn't be any problem for me... but the GMT hand is way too thick, which is bit of an eyesore. Hope this helps!

Thanks guys. No... unfortunately the 2892 uses the different hand stack. That means hour hand below the GMT hand. Only Rolex caliber 3185 and this questionable ETA 2836-2 modification have the correct stack.

I guess this means that you like it. Thanks (I guess).

This for me today (Tuesday). Swapped the bezels, have a Coke and a smile!

Yeah, the picture is rather bad... but the rep looks fine (as you said). PS: You might want to check this guide. I recall there's a link to TAG Indy review. It might be the same watch as yours.

I wonder who can be that stupid. Red 1680's have been increasing in value, but bidding $6K for that dial is laughable. Smells fish.

I just love this watch. Love it!

Only to my friends, only to my friends...

Thanks Pugs. What's wrong with your lighting? Are you sure it's not the box that causes the problems? I tried a commercial lightbox but in the end nothing beats my transparent white flower pot.

...requires a new photograph.

Thanks TA. If you're interested, Here are all the photos I've taken of the YM. Yeah, it takes a bit of planning to get the lighting correct.

That's a beauty Dluddy! Is it Asian or ETA?

You're right, it's a challenging watch to photograph. It's rather tough to bring up both polished and brushed areas and avoid all noise/reflections. I used lots of light from different angles. Thanks man, glad you liked it.

Thanks guys. No, no changes to the watch. I just meant the photo.

Like it?

Hey Frank, how does that alarm clock feel on the wrist?

Yep... but modding the watches can be fascinating too. There are a few gems that have excellent bases, even among the modern Rolex reps. I mean the ones that look fundamentally correct. Besides the MBW vintages, only WM9 Sub, "Noob" Explorer II and GMT II 16710 have excellent bases. As nice the SSD is, it isn't in the same level. Everything is quite close, but the watch has fatal problems that you simply can't change. Just like the shallow rehaut on the Noobmariner. Speaking of Noobmariner... it has perfect rehaut depth for the no-date Sub. Who's the first one to drill the lugholes, swap the dial and install a non-SEL bracelet there? That would be a smash hit, if the factory did that. But I'm not holding my breath.

It's true. The best way to identify a gen is just to browse a lot of pictures. Case and overall construction on the gen always have certain characteristics that even the best reps can't capture 100%. Sometimes we're talking about very small things. Occasionally I'm amazed even myself how much knowledge there is among our membership. It goes way beyond the Ultimate Geekdom.

You can modify the Noob 16710 to almost perfect state, but not all people have the passion and willingness to do the numerous mods. That's why the Retro is a great otb option. And besides, the Retro has a perfect GMT hand and "triangle", just like the correct stack version of the "Noob". It's too thick on the wrong stack rep (for some weird reason). Retro also has excellent crown. Mods required for the Noob: Bezel Insert Crown guards Crown Possibly realign the cyclops New thinner GMT hand (for the wrong stack version) After all the mods the correct stack Noob GMT is almost perfect. Well, as "perfect" as replicas can ever be. Mine has a good smaller crown installed now (after shooting the picture). Rep (after heavy mods, still the bad default crown installed): Gen: Dials (gen on the right) Why all these mods are required and the factory didn't fix those problems... beats me.

Thanks mate!!! That's the only PAM that has ever "spoken" to me. It's very nice. Hmm... does this one have the old 7750, and how accurate it is?

For someone who owns many watches, and keeps them in constant rotation I don't really care about extreme accuracy at all. Actually I wouldn't even mind about +/- 60 secs accuracy. Of course this might be different if I only wore the same watch every day (imagine how sad that would be). No, I don't think it's a big deal... 30 seconds or 5 seconds /24h, doesn't really make any difference to me.

Great shots Robert!!! The Noobmariner cases seem to be generally very tightly sealed. I recall Neil took a few of his reps to a hot sauna/steamroom once, and the Noob was the only replica that survived without problems. But then again what did you except... it's a Rolex.

I never said it was a "retro" dial on the gens... I only said that Joshua's "retro" GMT replica has that kind of dial.