atomic_doug

Considering they were all done completely by hand and a fair amount of dials were sold with known botches, old Panerai was no model of QC.

Great looking work, Steph. When you're ready to do 205/A dials, I'm definitely in for one.

1. Pictures should be plentiful and high-quality. (just like the pictures you would post of a watch you were selling) Bad pictures and people assume you're ugly and are trying to hide it. 2. The posting should not contain cliches. (Everyone's "laid-back and likes to hang out") It tells women you're not taking this seriously enough, which implies to them you don't take them seriously. 3. The posting should not contain negative things, even in jest. ("I really hate it when...") It gives a negative vibe to your posting which people pick up and they'll assume you're a complainer. 4. Funny is good, but be careful because a lot of humor translates very poorly online. Give it to someone else to read first to make sure they "get it". 5. Remember that being honest is not the same thing as full disclosure.

No. But then, that's part of the fun, isn't it? Now, I've bought reps that I have been 100% satisfied with in terms of build quality. (I bought an IWC Pilot Chrono that was surprisingly well put-together and the movement was impeccably clean and well-regulated.) In that case, I was 100% satisfied with my purchase, but I knew going in I was going to be changing stuff.

That's just the thing, isn't it? For what we spend on replica watches, this one really isn't outside the realm of purchase. If it does turn out to be as good as everyone hopes it does, though, popping a gen 2824 in there might just be the ticket.

An Ennebi Homage? I would definitely be interested in that. I like the Cali dial/blued steel hands. It would be Titanium, right?

How is this any different than meeting someone the normal way? (Full disclosure: I tried both methods and, while I met my wife the "traditional" way, I'd still say that the majority of the most normal relationships I was in were via the digital method.) I think that, if anything, the online method is more conducive to a productive relationship because you know a lot more about the person before you actually meet them and the people who are on those sites are more interested in a relationship than a quick fling. (How many times have you been dating and either you or the other person had a different idea of how serious the relationship was supposed to be?) You want weird, try Craigslist. Just don't get murdered.

As near as I can figure, it doesn't have the correct case engravings at the 12 and 6 positions or the back, nor does it have the "S.L.C.' engraving on the rehaut at 12. At that point, it's kind of just a fantasy model. But if you want the 2533 dial that badly I guess...

This. I think our collective enthusiasm for PAM reps is driving the price up. Each rep is seemingly better and better, so we're more likely to be among the early adopters. If it doesn't sell right away, they can always lower the price later, but all the recent major PAM reps I can think of got massive support right off the bat. Then again, if we were to hold off due to the price, then prices would fall but quality would as well because the factories won't put as much effort into pieces that don't sell well. In short, we're screwed.

Yeah. I got myself settled into a nice rotation. A few months ago I realized that I only ever wore one of three pieces 90% of the time: a PAM Zero, an MDM Hublot, or a G Shock. (All gen.) All of my other pieces just sit in my box, only brought out very rarely. (I've been selling them off pretty slowly.) One thing I've definitely noticed lately is that I canNOT wear a watch on a bracelet anymore.

Beautiful piece. Is it just me or does the pre-A dial have a little more texture than the modern-day white dial PAMs? Which is to say, the white part appears to have a glossy eggshell texture as opposed to the enameled finish of the modern ones? If ever there was a dial I wish the factories could get right...

I think my favorite is a basic G-Shock Mudman, believe it or not. It's the most convenient watch I own. Never have to set it. Ridiculously accurate. All sorts of features. Never have to worry about it being stolen or destroyed since it costs less to replace than a decent strap for a Panerai.

This ol' thing.

Topman, Hern, I think you're giving too much credit to the salesmen when they say, "Like Gen". Simply put: they're reps. If they were like gen, they'd be gen. More to the point, though, the sausage dial is one of those things that the factories have been struggling with for years. The sandwich dials (111, 127, 372, etc) and applied dials (like the Submersibles, 29M, the Chronographs, etc) are easier to get right than the sausage dials. The gens are made by cutting a channel into the dial and filling it with lume. It sounds simple, but as you can clearly see, it's a lot harder than it looks in terms of the width/depth of the channel, and filling it correctly (not too much, not too little.) The 390 is still a very good rep, though. I believe the H-factory's sausage dials are better than Noob's, but Noob's case and movement are better. You could always buy one of each and transplant the H's dial into the Noob and sell the leftover watch here.

No, not yet. It's an interesting piece, to be sure. In person, the dial is extremely sparse.

Unfortunately, the factories have neither created, nor do they seem inclined to create, a good Classic Fusion. Big Bangs are their business, at the moment.

Don't count on it. I don't think this will be a very successful seller. Plus, the rep is probably more watertight than the gen. Gen's only rated to 30m! WTF, Panerai? I thought you guys made dive watches

Sometimes the real deal isn't worth it. This is especially true in the Panerai world, where a good number of their watches have very basic, off-the-shelf movements. Sure, I could afford to get a real one, but it wouldn't be functionally really any different than a good rep, even in terms of water resistance and lume quality. A good part of the fun of reps is the correcting the minutiae. Spotting a tiny difference in crown-guard shape or lug shape and then going through the painstaking work of correcting it is fun. You start with a bracelet swap, then a crown swap, then a movement/dial/hand swap, then the next thing you know, you've got your mid-case on a lathe re-shaping the whole thing. That's fun.

Isn't the whole thing supposed to be ceramic, not DLC?

Yeah. Just got back from a trip to Germany. A jeweler had one on display, though it was already reserved by another buyer; otherwise I can't say I wouldn't have ponied-up for it. Apparently, they're selling like hotcakes It doesn't quite wear like an old Sub, it feels a lot more solid. Wears quite a bit bigger too. Lots of nice, little details.

I got to see/handle one of these in the flesh. It's spectacular and is even better in person than in pictures. This will be a must-buy when it's eventually released.

The 'r' at the end of Heuer (and r's in general) are not pronounced the same way in German as they are in English. Depending on where you're from, the 'r' sound can be more or less guttural, but it's nearly always in the back of the throat. For English speakers, it's very difficult to approximate without sounding comical. The easiest way to have an American-English speaker say 'TAG Heuer' would be to approximate it as 'taag HO-yah'. (The accent is on the first syllable of Heuer) If you run 'ho-yah' into one another fast enough, it's a pretty good match.

Bio-Dome

I'm sure the factories could rig up a module for the 7750 if they were so inclined. After all, that's all Richard Habring did when he invented the one that IWC uses. (OK, it's a little more than a module...but still, not much more*...) The patent has expired on it as well. Nor would the factories not be able to get their mileage out of the movement. There are a lot of split seconds chronographs out there. As much as I love the watch, though, having a dummy pusher on the left of the case just shrieks "rep". *Apparently the system he invented turned out to be surprisingly simple, too. Seems like the man is a genius.

Naturally, the rep would have to also have the doppelchrono functionality. Without that, I'm afraid it would be a deal-breaker for me.