archibald

Just ordered a geta case, even though they don't look as accurate as a true freak like me would like. BTW, it seems to me, now that we have awesome dials and decent casebacks, that someone w/ access to a CNC shop could put this problem out of its miserry and make a tidy profit along the way-- do a case w/ the shortlugs, correct holes, bezel, caseback fit etc in true Pre-V style once and for all. If you add the number of people who are doing Pre-V's w/ the probably significant number who aren't doing one yet because of the case issue, run size would definitely not be a problem. If someone wants to do a CAD file, I could personally get quotes from at least 3 CNC shops that are capable of kbnocking these out w/o breaking a sweat. Plus, since the cases are just unmarked watch cases no CNC shop should have the issues they might have w/ CG's and casebacks.

Withholding the sellers user ID may give the op some leverage, but it does absolutely nothing for the membership at large. Here's the test: Is the seller saying "that's what the guy I bought it from told me?" If so, I'd be very worried. That's the scammer's last line of defense. EDIT: I'd love to take another look at this piece since I have some dubious T hands I bought a couple years ago--can you repost or PM the pics?

Yep, you'd have to do the full monty--gen dial, plugged and redrilled case, Ventu movement. But, IMO the more expensive the gen the more that nightmare makes sense...

Not bad at all...are the pushers/crown rubberized or do they have some kind of hard coating like the old cartel secs @9?

Noticed it? You helped cause it! Seriously, RWG and Geek are driving this market. I don't know what's more amazing: the fact that our little community can cause the price of a certain kind of watch movement to triple in 18 months, or that we've tripled the value of movements that can be differentiated from gen even faster than the very first asian 6497. I won't be buying my 240 until a brige solution is available. Of course, when that happens we'll triple the price again....

I've never had problems with either of mine, bought in late 2004. BTW, the one you pictured (the only model made in steel by FM) is one of the most accurate reps ever made.

My 240 franken looks beautiful on a well-worn patina Jules Verne. The 57 IMO would also look great on Europelli's tobacco ostrich. Bring it on DSN!

Man whoever bought the gen dial that sold on ebay for like $150 a while ago is golden...as for the Rue St-Honore not being repped...well it shows that there is at least one person in China with taste. No offense to those who love it--but to me it looks like the end result of some freedom fries eating Republican taking the AP design team hostage.

Hard to tell w/ the sticker--did they put the gold hallmarks on it? I know, I know it's an irrational quirk--especially for a $500 watch. Weight? Who cares? No gold hallmarks. No can do, poopsie.

A 57 would be great---it'd be a matter of painting a 28 dial brown and milling a Ti case for a 2892, right? Completely doable, but has someone reminded Davidsen to change the relevent caseback engravings? What a bummer it would be to have a good 57 with the same caseback as a 27 except the word "stainless steel" changed to "titanium."

Why not use a crown from one of the 6497 based vintage PAMs? Those are pretty damn chunky. I'd vote for an onion crown for your piece (which looks very cool, BTW). I'd check out some of the 6497 crowns on ofrei, jules borel and even ebay..i remember a big pilot looking case set selling on ebay a while back for not a lot of money.

I really only notice the rehaut issue in two areas. On handwinds the issue is really only that noticeable IMO on DSN cases which are flawed in numerous other ways--so i just avoid them in general. Comparing a very old school rep 111, a gen 112, a franken 03 w/ a jimmy case, and a gen 118, however, I notice very little difference. The easiest solution seems to be swap your parts to better case if it bothers you. The older rep handwind cases sell for, what, 40 bucks? The other issue is more difficult. I believe that in many instances repmakers maximise the mag of (and/or provide hand clearance for) the thinner bk7 cyclopses they use by increasing the height of the rehaut. Certainly they understand that the reason their cyclopses will never match gen mag since gens use sapphire cyclopses with better focal length. And they also understand that mag increases the farther asway a lens is from whatever it's magnifying. For example, honpo 23 and 27 bezels are 1.5mm thicker than their gen counterparts. My rep ti 89 case also looks like it has a deeper rehaut than gen, (and the gen xtal on it looks like it's a little too powerful for that reason, I bet) but I can't prove it. I used jimmy cases on kruzer's 23 and my 27 frankens with good results but milling of the case is needed obviously. Other than that, I don't know what to do.

Considering the crown position the rest is more than close enough---anyone who knows about the asymetric pusher/crown will spot a rep instantly. Anyone who doesn't know about that would be fooled even if the rep were 30% less accurate. I'd happily wear the rep anywhere outside of an AD or, like, if i were going to have a drink with a guy who I knew owned a gen---wouldn't want anyone to be bummed that they essentially wasted 12 grand to get a lower crown, less legible date, and different crown guards.

I'd be in too. In the meantime the best way to fix the screws would be to remove them and have them rhodium plated. Since almost all white gold jewelry is rhodium plated almost every jeweler could arrange for rhodium plating. Will they? it doesn't hurt to ask. I once had an entire Muller Carazy hours rep platiunum plated for $60 at one of those places that engrave stuff at the mall. I asked him if he knew anyone who does plating. He said that he did plating all the time and told me to bring whatever I wanted plated back the next day. i did and a week later I had a faux platiunum Muller. Re the RO: the reason that in some pics the gen screws look yellow is that the white gold screws are not plated w/ rhodium and as such have a yellowish tint. To my knowledge there is no 18k white gold colored plating, but rhodium is at least whiter and reflects much more light than the brass or whatever the rep uses. Not perfect by any means but if it can be done cheaply enough a definite improvemenr, IMO. Has anyone heard of any PVD plating being done in an actual white gold color? know they do rose gold.

I don't know if it's going to make you guys feel better or not, but there was no mistaking DSN's first generation dial for a gen dial either. His color was better (but by no means exact IMO) to be to sure but had the ususal DSN dial problems as well. If you have to have a 228 rep, I'd keep looking in the sales section for one of the combos (cartel case/ caseback/ crown + DSN dial, Hands, CG I believe) some folks made.

I agree that this is the single (perhaps only) terrible feature of RWG's software--on a board where lots of folks collect PAMs and usually refer to them with just the numbers, this really makes the search engine near useless in many instances. Also makes searching using the commonly used "ROO" and many other potentially usefull searches impossible...I wonder if we're really stuck with it. Can't these programs be modded....you know, like a DSN 111?

R. you f***er, you never call, you never write....happy B-day anyway!! Seriously, guys, a more knowledgable, generous, and genuinely nice guy than ubi RWG has never and will never see.

If a ti 025 rep were ever made, the cartel dealers would ertainly be seling them. I'd bet a buck you get the standrd brushed steel from Ioffer.

Technically, this would be a piece of cake for any number of pro engravers. But how do you go about asking them? "Panerai forgot to put the serial # on my watch. Can you do it?"

I like the "EL" fiddies out of the box. The crown is superior to DSN and so is the dial. Once you remove th AR (a 10 min job) you are 99% on the wrist. For the best all rep fiddy, you would swap the xtal and hands for DSN, maybe try to find a CG from the first crappy asian cartel version, which looks about like all the other rep CG's but you can get the crown closer to the case as per gen since this CG has a longer tab on the lever. Or you can be an idiot like kruzer and I and spend a gen 223's worth of dough on a bunch of gen parts (keeping only the rep case on my piece but to be 100% honest you'd only fool another .01% of the people who will see your watch.

I like the straight fit at American Eagle which fit and look almost identical to diesels, which is to say crisp but not skinny, at 1/4 the price.

I used to wear only french cuffs, but have come to feel like I'm trying too hard to be slick, which is painful because I have some really cool cuff links, but yeah, I'd say you should match metals. maybe I should sell some cuff links here....I'd rather they stay in the family than go to one of the anal retentives at style forum.

I'd love to, and have in the past, have my shirts made--you can get a hand sewn button hole, tail seams, etc shirt for 1/4 the price of buying off the rack--but my weight fluctuates to damn much. i like my shirts cut trim and when I'm in what my wife calls Fat Phase, I couldn't wear any shirts I had made when I was less fat. And vice versa.

If you are actually going to leave the house looking like a sex tourist in Costa Rica circa 1995, I'd say you might as well wear sandals with white tube socks pulled all the way up or those wicker shoes. If you lose the fedora, pleats, and TB shirt (see ubi's micheal kors metal button knit in the other thread) then you should wear loafers or drivers w/ no socks.

Ubi, you have great taste! I have that shirt in all 3 colors (black, white, and light blue) since the cut actually makes it look like I'm...er...not that fat. They also make it in polo style cut the same way. If you guys are near a TJ max, I bet they have them right now for $19. Button downs are OK as long as they're not Poppy Bush oxford style. Kiton makes a very crisp looking button down, but you have to find one at the outlet mall...on sale...or you will pay $450. Ralph Lauren button downs are the ugliest shirts of all time. They're the only shirts that guarantee people will think both that you are trying to show off labels AND that you paid no more that $19 at Marshall's.