archibald

You mean the War, of course. The answer, then, is "If Jos and Andrew were suddenly elected President and Vice President of the United States, that's exactly what they would offer."

That, my friends, is 100% pure PR genius. More than a million bucks worth of free media for a shitty Japanese car and three f'n cell phones.

I'm in depending on quality, of course. A pic of the prototype (especially if you are working w/ davidsen) will be very helpful...

The MBK is a special circumstance, No? Many were not aware than TTK was able to source these on a regular basis and the other seller asked his customers to help him keep a low profile. It isn't hard to imagine the following: Noob expends first post to ask where he can get a nautilus. In a rare moment of magnanimity, archibald PM's him the 2 sources. Noob precedes to send 16 "my friend archibald recommended you" emails and PMs to said dealers asking many questions and demanding amazon.com-style-or-better service. archibald finds sourcing MBK's inordinantly difficult. If my wife were to read this thread, she would undoubtedly say, "at least VB's ex has 31 jewels."

As I reported in another thread, my watchmith managed to fit the 1.2mm handwind stem into the .9 mm crowns on my (and kruzer00's and beano2004's) PAM 03 frankens. To me they looks pretty dern good (I've attached rep and gen pics below). Since I have a few stems laying around and kruzer00 and I have a few crowns left over, I thought I'd offer a very few (6 to 8 at most) stem/crown combos if there is interest. To be honest, I have no idea whether the OEM crowns provide an aesthetic advantage on all handwind models, but I like the way it looks on my 03, and I really like the fact that it functions just as gen--multiple gaskets, spring locking , etc. These are completely rethreaded stems, not simply shaved w/ the crown glued on, so the crowns can be threaded on and off the stems. That's especially convenient since you may have to shorten the stem to get a good CG fit on your watch. Note: You or your watchsmith will probably also have to make a new case tube for your watch (Jimmy cases may be an exception. Another member got his Jimmy tube to fit the OEM crown. I did not.) I'd love to offer custom tubes like I have on my watch, but since there is a lot of variation is cases and CG's, you have to have the watch in hand to ensure a perfect fit. I'm not a modder and I just don't have the time or inclination to be responsible for one of your babies while a tube is made and installed. I would be happy, though to share w/ you or your watchsmith what my watchsmith uses to make the tubes and how he goes about doing it. Also, I understand that you might want to send me one of your crowns to have a stem fit, but sorry, no can do since I don't want to deal w/ recieving, transporting, losing your crown, my smith breaking your crown, arguing about whether your crown had or did not have a little dent on a tooth when you shipped it, etc. As far as price goes: as always, I'm not expecting to make a dime on this project. But I really don't want to loose a dime either. The cost will be my cost of the crown + my cost of the stem + my watchmith's labor +shipping and packaging. I don't know what per-unit price my smith will charge for 6 or 8 of these, but I guarantee the total cost of materials and labor will be well over $100. Welp, I think that's about it. So....if you're interested in an OEM crown to put on your handwind, and willing to pay up to say, $150, for the whole shooting match, please reply here. Gen pic on the left (black background) then 2 reps.

My watchsmith presses the pin in about 99% of the way (I actually saw him use what looked like a wooden skewer fit in a drill press to push the pin in, I assume to avoid damaging the metal) and then sands and polished the pin until it is dead flush w/ the CG.

2 for me please!

I'd certainly be in for any and all dials available w/ corrected "A's" and accurate superlume. Lello can name his price.

DC is surprisingly not as much as a watch a watch town since power rather than money is the status indicator. There are also pretty strict rules about what you shoulkd wear given your station on the food chain (For example, a mid level Hill staffer would look presumptious if he wore a monogrammed shirt w/ cufflinks, while the lobbyists they meet with daily wouldn't be caught dead without both. The watches follow the same pattern: the power watch by far are gold Rolexes on bracelets (I see 5 or 6 a week) followed by Patek (I see maybe 1 a month) What's odd is that I've seen a grand total of 1 Panerai in "business" situations in the 4 1/2 years I've been paying attention, and less than a dozen total of other brands of high end watches.

Absolutely. The Swiss SFSO is nice, but not twice as nice than an asian. The spare $170 will buy you a first class lume job, a nice strap and maybe even a stelita movement if you can source one. You then would have an SFSO that doesn't bust a reasonable rep/gen cost ratio...which 5 or 6 Franklins for a modded and strapped Swiss version certainly does. I'm in for the 3 AR, pending pics or a successful first run.

Gorgeous piece! Are the direction letters inserted into cutouts in the bezel? I'd heard they were making a version w/ the letters screwed in, but those look pretty damn good!

Did The Zigmeister ever do the breakdown? Can't find it anywhere...

LOL! This guy's been shut down three times, now. Got to give him credit for persistance...or desperation---maybe he'll get a bullet in the brain if he doesn't come up w/ 5 grand by the end of the month.

I already have 1 extra but, if you need #10 to complete the deal, I'll do it for the team and...for another spare!

I'm not trying to be flip: Unless you are a serious collector of rare genuine Panerai--or can put yourself over as one, nothing needs to be done to the watch. 99% of the people won't know rep from gen, and the .01% of the people who know what a PAM 36 is won't believe you own a watch that rare. If you insist, I believe you'll need the jewel sockets painted gold, sunburst gears, and (I think) remove any blue tint on the crystal. A lume job which simulates tritium would also be a must, that is if you can source the correct T Swiss dial.

Hoe do you know? He could be Paris Hilton posting from the LA County slammer...And judging by their pieces at basel, Paris and other Jacob & Co poster children are exactly who they're after.

I'll give you some specific sources when I email you, Chronus, but I guarantee this can be done through multiple sources in any decent sized city. Funny story how I found this out: The kid who owns the car wash I use is fond of bling--big gold pendants, rings, etc--many of which are very intricately designed. One day I'm watching him scream at one of the girls who wipes down the inside of the car, and since I'm always thinking watches I say to myself, "If those things hanging from his neck can be cast, any watch part can be cast." When he hands me my keys, I ask him where he gets his jewelry. He tells me a few places he said did good work and a couple of places to avoid. I went to two of the places he told me about--both filled with tacky cast gold jewelry. Pot leaves, initials it grafitti script, etc. I brought with me an ss daytona case and a S100 bezel. When I asked the guy at the first store if he could cast the s100 bezel he laughed and said--" Yeah, I can do that. Anyone can do that." Basically the same response at the other store. (The consesus on the daytona case, BTW, was sure, but the threads may or may not work.) The process they use for detailed pieces is called induction casting and is very. very accurate. The prices seem to hover around the price of the gold + 3-4% + $100- $150. I don't know what gold is at now but a SS S100 bezel to fit the rep as I recall would have slightly less than an oz. of 18k in it.

You can have an SS bezel cast in 18k @ dozens of places near you for about $400. I'm waiting for the dial upgrade, since I have an OEM crown and bezel screws.

This guy's hilarious. First go-round he started it at $4500, the second $1999. He's down to $999 tis time, which is still $950 more than this shitty-five-years-ago-shittier-now rep. I've reported him twice, but ebay will just not pull the auction. Who knows why?

I'd sure be interested, provided it's the right kind of PVD, w/ the right bead blasting. Can you tell us what you're thinking of offering in more detail?

The only thing that I would add is that I vaguely remember that for a time there were ultra, ultra rare MBW's whuch were MBW's that Maria modded and upgraded w/ OEM parts before selling. Anyone remember when one of those was posted for sale on the old board for $650 and we all griped?

Glad this is resolved. As flaky as Laniki has come off during his brief RWG tenure, I don't think anyone should be shocked--when you charge top dollar you will be expected, fairly or not, to produce perfect work 100% of the time. Laniki responded as a flake might tend to respond, but let's face it, we'd all be asking FF for a refund if it were our watch. We'd just do it more tactfully. I guess what I'll be taking away from this is that this melodrama appears to be yet another example of the pitfalls of taking a hobby and turning it into a business. How many times has something like this happened over the years? Everyone means well, gives it a good try and things go south . One of the other old time members can do that math, maybe. I can't count that high. I guess there are ways to make a tidy nut on the rep boards, especially if you have some skills or access to someone who has skills, but every time I think about it I figure that an illegal hobby combined with the anonymity inherent in doing business on the boards combined with the fact that we're all f'n freaks when it comes to our watches adds up to more potential trouble than the potential gen-funding profit is worth.

Since I know for a fact that there are 27 dials and hand sets available, I'm going to guess either rep w/ gen dial and hands or gen w/ a swapped out movement. If they're smarmy enough, someone could probably make a few extra bucks by removing and selling the OEM movement and then selling the watch w/ standard 2892 installed as 100% gen. If this is the case here, I'm guessing the guy got tired of waiting for his 2892 datewheel...

Nice review, I actually found a review of VC's design interesting...after all, even though we collect reps our decisions are based asmuch on the design of the gen as the accuracyof therep.Personally, I think VC has struck a perfect balance between dress and sport making for a very versitile watch.I wish they would suplly a croc strap alongw/the bracelet to makeit even more useful as a dress watch--bracelets just don't cut it w/ a suit in DC.

My watchsmith's opinion on the Jimmy tube is that it's pretty close, but probably won't form a water-tight seal or activate the spring mechanism properly w/ the .9mm OEM crown. @kruzer: I think I hear a lathe turning as I type this...