By-Tor

Thanks man. No, those screws are blue, and everything in the movement is original. That's what I've been told. I kept this watch for a week and the tick was loud as a bomb. It kept absolutely perfect time and the power reserve was excellent.

My father has quite impressive collection of gens (Rolexes, IWC's, Glashuttes, etc.) but unfortunately I see him very rarely as he works and lives in another country. I'd love to shoot more of his watches.

Thanks man. I was a bit skeptical at first but looks like this is really out now. Not bad. That actually looks like a great looking Sub. The crown looks oversized (once again) though. I wonder why it is so difficult to get right. Actually it looks like it comes straight from the Noobmariner.

Can you post pictures from the straight upright view (similar as your second photo, but with the bezel intact)... and from the side. HERE is one of my photos to show what I mean... so we can see the rehaut depth.

PS: And please add a little bit light (if possible).

Here's one from my old man's collection: Solid gold Borel Nuchatel with Breguet balance wheel. A gift from the French Embassy to my great grandfather. Nice one, I photographed this last January.

Looks like now the Asian version Serie Speciales come with the (correct) brushed case & bracelet as well. Looks quite nice, and definitely the nicest Navi out there (just imho). I never liked the all-polished Navi bracelet, personally.

http://www.pc-80108.com/bl10031-navitimer-...aph-p-1684.html

Too bad about the datefont (once again).

That looks like a good one. For Serie Speciale it's important to check that the case and bracelet are brushed, not polished. I'm not 100% sure if they ever did Serie Speciale with a blue dial though.

Check my signature for the Breitling Guide, which explains more. Also check my review section. There should be a big writeup of the Serie Speciale rep. The rep in the review is old and outdated, but it explains all the important details for this model.

Hand files and some artistic "eye". But you have to know how to release the crown & the stem.

HERE is a brilliant article to read... by bklm1234.

I once modified the outsides of my MBW Tudor Sub. Check that article too.

I tried to find some photos of Pugwash's 1680 project... but I'm not sure if he posted a cg modification tutorial.

Lots of my pics appear on Ioffer rep sales. Personally, I think life is too short to take stress about it.

In all fairness to Rob, he wasn't so much giving information away, as pointing out how the factories operate (fairly standard knowledge) and pointing out that we're just people with an interest in watches.

I guess you're right, not a big deal. But it still pisses me off to see our people going to gen forums and "educate" them with their "superior rep knowledge". I never understood why they do it.

Occasionally, you also see stuff like "Look, I was into reps but now I bought this gen Submariner and finally saw the light... the crown FEELS SO MUCH BETTER, and suddenly my shit started to smell like roses too." I don't mean Rob though.

PS: I've seen the most impressive gens here in the rep community. I don't visit "The Purists" though.

This is typical, they take the crappiest rep they can find then compare it against a gen.

Actually this rep was decent 2+ years ago. But either way, the less they know about us and our watches, the better. I hope our members won't start "outing" us in the gen forums. It's the last thing we need... it's even written in the RWG rules.

which model of the LV rep are they comparing it with there?

It's the old CN based Submariner rep from 2005. Quite crappy one, at least by today's standards.

And they even miss the most noticeable flaw: datewheel/cyclops positioned WAY too right.

Looks like one of our RG-based community members is feeding them lots of information too. The only thing missing were the links to our forums and the contact information & birth certificates of our dealers. The thread isn't dead yet though...

PS: This comparison is old as the mountains, I've seen it years ago.

Ubi is just taking a break from reps and spends more time with his family. I'm sure he'll be back eventually.

Actually I owned a gen Aquaracer (non-chrono) before I found reps. Now I own the rep (chrono), and it's actually light years cooler watch. My gen was a quartz though.

PS: Lots of TZ and gen forum regulars bash reps "officially", but are closet rep buyers. I know this for a fact.

Welcome Natron.

Yes, the gen has a click-on bezel insert.

That Sub model hasn't been released yet. Nice one, but the bracelet and SELs aren't that great.

PS: When this comes out, you can be sure that our dealers can get it too. And it won't cost $600.

Yep, just like the double-AR on genuines. Mine is flawless so far... but I'm easy on my watches.

Also, the ExpII rep are not well made. Too many flaw on them. I rather save my the money for another good rep.

Totally disagree here. The black ExpII is probably the best Rolex replica ever done.

Here's bklm1234's correct hand stack ExpII:

Here's mine (don't own this anymore though)

Hey Max,

you posted this shot at RG, but not to here for some reason. It's probably the best IWC shot I've seen. Technically perfect. Congrats man!

Looks like MBW insert + pearl.

How about pointing the guy to this thread? Sounds crazy but why not... he must know lots of his inserts go to reps... he even adds info how to install them onto reps.

@Jet: I always received his shipments to EU in 7-9 days. That's the average what it takes, and there are no customs concerns either. I've never heard a standard airmail from the USA gotten stuck into EU customs (or vice versa). China and other "high risk" countries are completely different matter. And there's even "Commercial sample, may be opened officially" written on his letter.

@Stephane: Check your email, I found another Ebay store selling good looking inserts.

Yeah, the Breitling all-polished bracelet collects scratches a lot... but it's also very easy to polish to "as new condition" with abrasive metal paste. Especially when you don't have to worry about removing the satin finish.

Got this in the mail this morning, I think i'm done buying reps for a little while im having trouble givin all my watches the wrist time they deserve

Yeah right, wonder how many times I've heard that before.

Congrats!

Hey, for once I got off my lazy butt and took a FRESH wrist shot (well 10 minutes old). This is what I'm wearing now... it's 6:20 Friday AM where I live... after the coffee I'm leaving to the damn office again... with the "tools" in my picture.

Show us your timekeeping devices!

It's too bad that one of the best ideas to come along here has been officially shot down.

If you go back and read the start of the post, you realize that a "straw man" has been set up and lit on fire with a match.

Where was the proposal that it would be a "Sub" forum or even a Rolex forum?

I didn't see that until the nay sayers chimed in. They just made it up.

It was a great idea while it lasted.

Carl

It wasn't "officially" shut down. I don't represent any "official" opinion. I just represent my own opinion as a fellow collector. And I don't decide it... that's up to admin. I thought this all was just normal communication about pros and cons. It would be quite sad if we always agreed on everything... that would be like Erich Honecker's official DDR.

Personally, I just think it's a nice idea (in principle), but it has some serious downsides (which I listed).

But maybe we could create a sub-subforum to Watch repair & upgrade "Vintage mods" or something? How's that sound? That wouldn't screw the "Brand specific" subforum theme we use. I'm just afraid it would bury down there and become unused territory after a while.

And if I understand correctly, "Watch repair and upgrade" was initially designed for this exact purpose. Do we really, really need more and more subforums all the time, and would dozens of small subcategories serve the forums overall (from the members' point of view)? I think that's the main question... and personally I don't think so.

Edit: Would it be a good idea to change "Watch repair & upgrade" to "Watch repair, upgrade & Mods"? Just a suggestion.

At first thought a Vintage forum seemed sensible. But the more I thought about it, the more I came to side with By-Tor, but not for the reason he stated. Considering that the majority of postings in the Rolex forum relate to vintage models (and mostly Subs & Seadwellers), I think that adding a Vintage forum would suck the life out of the Rolex forum.

That's another good reason.

And besides, why the hell we should mix up PAMs and Rolexes in the same subforum... and then still have separate subforums for them? This makes absolutely ZERO sense to me.

Sorry guys, but more I think about it... this whole idea is something that women could come up with...i.e how to make simple things as complicated as possible.