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I've had to do the following a couple of times with my 7928: - remove bezel - hold it with both hands - twist it very gently and very lightly by rotating one hand in a direction and the other in the opposite direction. - reinsert bezel it should now feel much firmer. Hope the above is clear enough, PM in case it's not

Hi. I agree with you, very nice band but it's more looks than substance, a plain leather strap from Morellato which I have paid like 10$ and is surely not going to last as long as Hodinkee's stuff.

Glad to hear that but what I said is that I would not pay more than 4k for the watch Comber is proposing, not that he should pay less. This being said if the choice is between a 7928 and a 1680 I'd go for the latter without too much thinking.

Hi Comber, According to me 5k is a bit high. Does the watch come with b&p? If not I would not pay more than 4k for this watch, and only if I could inspect the movement. I paid $2,5 some years ago for mine which is 100% original in any part including the crystal, but came with a leather strap instead of the nice rivet bracelet you've got there. Have you tried dropping an eye on chrono24 just to get an impression?

Mine is IV 67 so...

A word of caution on this otherwise amazing watch (I have one myself!): Many inceptions of the A390 movement were factory flawed because a tiny piece (in the rotor mechanism if my memory serves me well... tried to Google that to no avail), was subject to breackage under constant use therefore, many 7928/0 out there have received dubious "transplants" since original parts are almost impossible to find. As far as I'm concerned I'd require a solid guarantee that the movement is untampered with before buying.

Or a FAP 1675/1680. Should go for Eur 50/70k a pop

Ah la vache!

In case the answer to the above should be "yes" would you mind making it two?

Thanks for sharing. I'd love to hear your story about that period! I think that you either love or hate these watches. My watchsmith is selling a 1950-ish 6084 bearing a gorgeous waffle dial (red "officially"!) at a ridiculous price. It's been on display for almost a year without anybody even enquiring about it. As I wrote earlier this fashion of wearing cuckoo clocks on one's wrist has been both a blessing for collectors. This for instance, one of the most gorgeous little watches I have ever seen, came practically for free. The reason? 32mm. It takes a woman with a taste for small, beautiful, precious things to appreciate it. Not many of those around these days.

These are the "pre-Explorers", the watches that really travelled to the top of the world (Sherpa Tenzing wore a 6084). Nowadays some of these glorious pieces can be had at bargain prices as their diminutive size (34mm in diameter) render them obsolete in these times of +47mm wristwatches. Here's my 1953 6106 just back from a full overhaul.

Where does your friend live? There are services/AD's in every major city in Europe; I think EU-based members will recommend their domestic ones. I for one can praise my local watchsmith: He has contributed to one or two of Mazzariol's books on Rolex, has written one (or two...) himself which is/are sold worldwide, and is considered one of the top-notch Rolex experts in the country and beyond. That being said he is in Italy and unless your friend happens to be travelling here (and has the possibility to wait for a minimum of one-two months to get his watch back ), he will not take the risk of sending his prized DJ through the mail.

"He who finds a friend finds a treasure" they say back here. In your friend's case that's literal!

i will gladly read about it.

Matt is the master of all-things-DJ/Perpetual and this is one of the finest examples of his craft according to me. So clean and sober yet so stylish, perfect on a woman's wrist! Excellent choice D.

Hi Alligoat, 35mm. Basically the same watch as yours but a tad bigger and with a cal. 1530 movement while the 5500 version came in two flavours with a choice of 1520 or 1530 movement. This is a quite interesting read on the subject: http://rolexblog.blogspot.it/2013/07/the-complete-history-of-rolex-air-king.html

Holy s**t!!! this is amazing!!!

I had a gen 16014 but sold it because I almost never used it. Now I wish I had not. sent forn mungalaxy jote 3 usong tapatalk and this crappy onsc4een keyolboars

What made me buy it back then was its clean understated look. Then someone explained that it basically is an Explorer with an Air King face and I was in heaven I even found a gen "3 6 9 super precision " dial but the seller was a tad too greedy so I laid down and avoided. I briefly considered going rep and buy a super precision dial from Minh, then I was cautioned about the risk of an incompatibility between dial and case; chiefly in regard to diameter, pinion hole and position of the feet. Since Minh's piece was surely not free either I just let this one go too. Now I'm glad I did and, apparently so is the AD which has proposed to buy it back. sent forn mungalaxy jote 3 usong tapatalk and this crappy onsc4een keyolboars

Thanks a lot. I bought this on a whim a couple of years ago, and paid a very fair price for it, just to discover later on that this particular reference is quite rare. The kind of things that do not happen very often. sent forn mungalaxy jote 3 usong tapatalk and this crappy onsc4een keyolboars

So today the AD calls and tells me that my 5504 is back from service after "only" two months. I picked it up on my way home and now it's back on my wrist. *happy thoughts* Here's a pic sent forn mungalaxy jote 3 usong tapatalk and this crappy onsc4een keyolboars

Mileages vary: In my case Silix case was ok, while bezel and insert were outrageous: This of course might have been a specific defect related to that particular watch but, the surface of the bezel was so uneven that I never succeeded in properly fixing the insert inside it, so much so that it would peel off very easily. I tried a little bit of everything from acrylic glue to pattex but never obtained a solid result till the day in which the insert just broke and solved the problem definitively

Thanks a lot for the pointer. sent forn mungalaxy jote 3 usong tapatalk and this crappy onsc4een keyolboars

Impressive choice of parts, very well done. May I ask you where did you source the strap from? B&S perhaps?

So I did and learned that the Pam 173 is a quartz clock. nah... I want a mechanical piece.