Stephane

Thanks Pug, I'll try to remember that saying...I really went too wild !

Well Archi, what can I say... I discovered wine in the mid 80's. I was drinking Pichon Comtesse, Giscours, Léoville Las Case, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Latour (Pauillac) for 1.200 to 1.500 BEF (the old belgian franc which is say 30 to 40$ a bottle in these times). I think I drank almost all Bordeaux premier crus and the entire Classement de 1855; the only ones I missed, and still didn't taste, are Petrus and Yquem. When wines became a real luxury (if not an absolute stupid snobism) I started to discover the rest of the world as I couldn't afford to drink them: Italy, Spain, Australia, US, New Zealand, South Africa.. (not Opus One in the US of course) and said to my self: never I will [censored] away that much money in wines anymore, I'll stick with Elderton Winery, Turkey Flat, in Aus in example. Then came teh 90s and the incredible 2000: crazy prices. A bottle of "young" Pichon, Latour or Léoville sunddenly became a couple of 100 $ or even much more (specially Latour). Then also came that guy, brother of a friend of mine back in the 70's, that was inviting me to taste all the wines you see on the pictures...we had great fun but I must be honest with you guys: I can't even remember the ones I prefered except, again, Pichon, Latour and Léoville. Mouton is great (and I think I must have drank 10 or 15 different millésimes), L'Evangile too, but still Pichon, Latour and Léoville are the ones that talk to me. As we say in french, I wanted to thank him on several occasions and I have "pèter un plomb" that you could translate by "burned a fuse" and decided to buy some great Bordeaux again for him when he was visiting me. The worst one, price wise, but not only, was a Chateau Margaux @ 550 euros...I kept the bottle because...it didn't even made us happy. We were absolutely disappointed. So, I've paid my tribute to snobism and fashion with Bordeaux wines, but that's it. Never again. And yes, I now think: imagine the number of watches, reps or gen, I would have in my collection that would last for ever, for my son, his son, and so on after 25 years of drinking these wines ....wines will end in the toilet anyway, and not because I'm [censored], but because we all pee at a point. Enjoy your Evangile, it is a great wine and don't believe what magazines says or even Monsieur Parker: the only way to taste, drink and enjoy wine is with friends, no matter if you should have wait for an extra year to drink "à son apogée". Pleasure is the quest, the rest is [censored]. Cheers Stephane PS: Forgot to mention: Cheval Blanc: I would describe this as a very powerfull mint candy. I mean (but my english is not that good enough to describe) it is so long in your mouth, like a mint taste would last for hours, that you need at least an entire evening to finish a single bottle with a couple of buddies.

Hi TMS, In which country are you ? I have the same problem and 19 days later I got a letter from belgian customs stating it's counterfeit merchandise. It's a watch not a box though. Stephane

Thanks again guys. Cheers Stephane

Ok, thanks for your opinion. Very much appreciated. Cheers Stephane

Hi All, Last saturday we organised a dinner at home. What a surprise when one of the guest, a true connoisseur of fine wines, arrived with some Chinese Cabernet Sauvignon. He stated: it's just for fun, don't think I brought you an "underground Premier Cru Classé". So here is the picture of that bottle I received in Belgium and some other pics from wines I had the chance to drink lately. If you guys like wine, prepare youself to be chocked byt these etiquettes. Cheers Stephane I will open the bottle soon... TropLong Mondot 1996, followed by the allways best wine of Medoc in my opinion: Léoville Las Case, here in 1997 (the S in Las must be pronouced) and a Cheval Balnc 1996 which was simply unbelievable !! OK, for those of you who like incredible "etiquettes", have a look at the millésime of the siècle (ze millésime of ze siècle), 1961... La Mission Haut Brion 1961...one occasion in a life time, I mean it. Vieux Chateau Certan 1970 a wonderfull experience Mouton Rotschild : I am very lucky to have tasted almost all modern millésime, and this one was great, as usual. So now, what else ? I'm waiting... Ok stay cool, what about a Chateau L'Evangile 1997, my favourite Pichon Comtesse (a 1997) or an another incredibly rare occasion: Ausone 1988 ?

Count on us, even newbies like me, we will try hard to keep it alive. Thanks to you for keeping it alive in fact. Cheers Stephane

Hey Babola, I am more than happy to get opinions, including yours. Remember I got this watch 7 months before discovering RWG. So, because I like this model, I really want to know what I should do: try to fix this one or buy another one ? FYI: I'm not a mod freak. I'm only loving getting the as close as possible one rep without entering the crazyness of gen parts. Bonsoir... Stephane

OK, I understand, but, at the end of the day, isn't it a question of money ? So, I'm not that wrong saying that if each and everyone of us would "donate" one watch money (not even an MBW), it would help RWG to deal whith wathever issue arrises. We call this "le trésor de guerre" in french. And I would be more than delighted to know that Admin & his gang get their "war treasure", just in case... Having said that, I recently upgraded one of my internet services: separate sql (on a Dell PowerEdge) and IIS (on a Rack mounted no name win server), got an upload and a resize quality tool, ask to rewrite some asp pages code on the IIS one, and...upgrated the bandwith to 2 megs. It's a completely different service now. One should wear a seat belt before connecting ;-) Cheers Stephane (Pug, pls check my last lume shot in the Rolex area, My So Called Perfect Sub...I think it's getting better now)

Yup you are probably right; it's rare but isn't it the minimum we can do, all of us, for the community that is giving us all so much informations, so much fun and so much exitment ? Let's surf on this generous wave to upgrade RWG with extra capabilities. Am I wrong saying there are thousands of members ? Am I wrong saying there are hundreds of active members ? Am I wrong saying that from these hundreds of members lots were giving to much money for the watch they got lately (1$, 5$, 10$ or even 100$) ? Shouldn't we contribute to RWG for the amount of only one of our watches ? So let's multiply like this: 500 members donating 10$ only (which is very very low compared to what we all spent on one of our reps) = 5.000 $ If some of these 500 are giving say 20 $.... If all others are giving 1$... RWG could end with like 10.000 $ (This is the price of a Dell Power Edge from the last generation.) Now, look at this: every active member gives only one watch money to RWG: 500*228 = 114.000 $ (This is the price of 10 Dell Power Edge from the last generation.) As I confessed, my first rep bought on eBay costed me 150 € and was [censored] I would prefer to have send that money to RWG (and I'm still ready to do so). It looked like this: I'm a newbie, but I say that it makes me sick too to see "new arrivals / apprentice" post, read, enjoy without even thinking suscribing to RWG. If I remember well, I suscribed almost right away. Come on new arrivals and apprentice, PayPal RWG now ! Cheers Stephane

Sounds like it's ok. Admin has enough for the ram ! Good to hear. What about starting to get some cash for a mutli-processor server ? Cheers Stephane

Hey Bm, Thanks for this, I like the way you catched the fact I was talking about Andrew's perfect or even ulimate. When I posted my reply about TW (Andrew) I was thinking about "oh this might be another MBW, CG, ARC, IMHO,...." Meaning that you guys have so much shortcuts that it's allmost impossible to get them all in only one month of presence on the board. And, I must say, we all post in english but are speaking very different mother tongues though. It took me at least 2 weeks to pick CG. So, can I suggest that you post a detailled review of TW ? Are they any better than MBWs ? I read that if rehaut is ok, it makes other things more sensitive like the crown i.e. Another topic that would be helpfull is: explain what are CG, ARC, MBW, ...a tutorial of what I call "shotcuts" and would call "abréviations" in french, my mother tongue. Cheers and thanks, Stephane

Ok Guys, I read all the suggestions about Lume shots and here is my best attempt so far ! Note : Instead of a mag light, I used the aquarium screen saver of a dell computer Cheers Stephane

Hmmm you are scarring me Maybe I'll have to send it to Ziggy for lume anyway so, a new dial, why not ? But overal, do you like the case ? By the way...I tried a lume shot

Wow that is a very very nice photo Brad I'll try to make one tonight ;-) About the box: I was mad enough to pay 142€ / 186$ I wouldn't do that again and sincerely hope this one is gen

Hi All, I got this Daylight chrono from the same german dealer as my 1950 during the summer of 2006. It's one of the watches I wear the most as you'll see from the picture. There are a lot of scratches... and I should dremel it one of these days. I should also sent it to service as it's a 7750 old version and it's a nightmare to make it start. I got a rubber band for it aswell as a box (which is not gen, I think) Cheers Stephane

Many thanks Pug...For sure I will...

Hi All, In the topic My So Called Perfect Sub, Freeman wanted me to shoot some other watch than a Rolex. So, here it is. This watch was bought in june 2006 to a german dealer, long before I discovered RWG. It was my third rep, and I really love it. I got a BOB band for it and also got the box from eBay. I'd love the experts opinion on the watch but also on the box: it was sold to me as a genuine (the box). I'm not that proud of the photos. I still have to buy lights and create some shooting "area". It is really hard to get rid of the reflects... Cheers Stephane

Yes you are absolutely right. An update about that movement though: When I received it it was running 15 seconds too fast per 24 hours or so. Fine tuned it this week-end and since the last 24 hours it didn't gain or loose a second. I usually try to have my watches not gain or lose time for 48 hours as I never wear a watch more than 48 hours anyway. Only one watch did it: my GMT II with ETA 2836-2. It seems that this SoCalledPerfect could do it too. All others are close except the 7750 which are around 10 secs faster. Cheers Stephane

Thanks for all these informations. I am a regular customer of TW so, I will probably continue my quest and get a TW too... Cheers Stephane

Ask G.W.Bush to stop to [censored] money in wars all over the planet and solar system...it may help the dollar, the world, you, me and everybody...

sent him a mail on ebay...[censored]. My first rep came from a stupid girl out of eBay and it was a Pam (see pic)... I even went to a jeweler to hear me say (shout) : it's fake. I hate this kind of persons. I paid 150€ (not $). That is how I discovered the wonderfull world of reps BTW. Maybe I should send her some Belgian chocolates ? You are right guys we should report each and everyone doing this on the bay. Cheers Stephane

double post. sorry

Hi Micky, I bought that So Called Perfect Sub. Pls feel free to look at my topic: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...mp;#entry202816 Cheers Stephane

Hi All, Thanks for "compliments", I was sincerely afraid to post this topic . It encourages me to improve... Actually I posted the Sub SoCalledPerfect because it's a great deal, 149$ (I'm in the euro zone btw, and it makes it even cheaper in a way). I have more watches though (Breitling, Officine Panerai, and Rolex only so far). I thought it might be interresting for those who are paying 230, 300, 400 to see that, at the end of the day, they all have their own flaws, even MBW I guess (Not sure if I will join the group buy or not yet). What I try to do is make pictures of all the watches I have so far, and from the next ones, and update my photobucket. Then I'll put the link in my signature. 4 Freeman: the list is long and my bloody bank account it limited. An Ultimate Pam (I love 88 and 164 specially but could expand the choice to a lot of others since I only have a 1950 and a Daylight), hopefully a 1680, IWC Spitfire Chrono, an AP ROO (but not yet sure because of minutes @9), an HBB (same), a JLC Réserve de Marche, Chronomat evolution white dial/brown leather band, and whatever I didn't discover so far.... I would be gratefull to have your opinion on the list Cheers Stephane In the meantime, thank god I found this place, and here are some shots from 2 or 3 weeks ago. Sorry, another classic and not that exiting: