archibald

I remember being so grateful to eddie for selling me a 051 for $365 that I would have named a child after him...I remember gloating to someone who paid $1100 for a swiss daytona that my brilliant negotiating skills got me the same bad boy for the low low price $960. And let's not forget the 2892 Conquistador I absolutely stole for $399....and raise your hand if you paid more than $300 for the dime-thin-crown "2852" 111's when they first came out. Those of you who have joined are little merry band of geeks pretty recently: by the time the snow melts off your front yard you'll be able to buy a big bang for $248 shipped.

Or at least one of them will... lello, I think what everyone is saying is that the rep factories almost certainly improved the rep guards at some point, and even then probably only on some of the models, so the jimmy guards improve many reps sill being worn, bought, sold, etc...Even the improved rep guards are not finished up to the jimmyfzu guards' standards (which, in turn, are not finished up to gen standards) and they are missing the rubber. That being said, whoever finds a chinese CNC shop to make a run of H series guards will make a good bit of pocket change.

It depends on the generation of rep...I believe they improved the guards somehwere along the way from the "2052" 111's that came out in 2004 when Jimmy started selling guards and now. If I remember when I get home I'll take some pics of all three--the rep guard on my 111, the jimmy guard on my 029, and the OEM guard (adam-co) on my 005. The jimmyfzu guard is 1:1 in size and function (but not finish) to the gen E series guard. The rep guard from the "E2052" 111 is not. The main problem these days is that nobody, and I mean nobody outside of the OP factory makes a good G-I series CG. Davidsen, I guess, comes closest but isn't exactly the same size. The bottom line is depressing but true: like datewheels, crown guards are simply below the attention-to-detail radar of repmakers. Here's to hoping that PT's upcoming pieces signal a new approach accross the board.

And probably even cheaper the day after tomorrow. The local AD where I'm buying my Chopard Pro One Diver says the 4995 sticker is going down to 4295 on the 26th. BTW, I'd suggest that for the graduation present since it has all of the same attributes the JLC has, but it seems a bit specialized for someone who's probably only going to want one high end piece.

I've given away 3 highish end watches as gifts--to my dad, to my old boss, and to an investor in my business--I always assumed that they would find the complications and skilled craftsmanship interesting in their own right and that they would find out the monetary value when they put it on their homeowners' or renters' insurance. If your recipient just isn't the kind of person who wouldn't value a fine timepiece that much, it seems to me that you'd please them more by choosing a different gift. These 2 watches have about the same new street price:

JLC all the way. JLC's are a temendous value: Brand name cachet, hand made with fit and finish equal to many of the highest-end watches on earth, timeless design, and manufacture movements with interesting complications. Lst time i checked, The SS reserve de march can be had for about $3800, the reverso duo (black and silver faces w/ date, small seconds, and day-night) for about $3900, 40mm master control for about $3600. and the smaller master compressor chrono for $3500. I paid around a little over 4k for the Master Hometime which has a big date, day-night, small seconds, and an independently set second hour hand.

Gen hands will obviously work, but if straps are $250 God only knows how expensive gen hands are....and how hard to get. I like that they're doing the Cousteau. The rarer the model, the less likely some weaselous WIS you run into is going to be able to point out a bunch of flaws. I do think the wood inlaid w/ finely cut metal on the back is going to test the repmakers attention to detail, which in the past has been a recipe for trouble. Also, let's face it: Lots of people feel that IWC's are the horological equivalent of Tylenol PM. At least the Cousteau has a few uncharacteristically interesting design features.

UPDATE: I bet you guys are wondering where the hell these things are. Where they are is @ ubi's house. What they are is cut to within .003mm tolerance...to exactly the wrong size, thanks to an unbelievably stupid mistake on my part. The shaping and cutting of the wheels relies on a file sent to one of the machines, and rushing out of the house I sent them the file used for a different movement, so that's exactly the size they were made. Wrong. The good news is that I'm 100% sure they have the right file, that they will be redone shortly after Xmas, and that I am using the brief delay to make an improvement that will make the already easy intallation even easier. Once again, my apologies and a big thanks for your patience...

I'd say the SS version is probably common enough that your favorite dealer, whoever it might be, can probably get it for you. My main advice, either in SS or 18k, would be to get the 2824 and spend the change on a nice strap. I put together the group buy on the 18k and was hugely relieved that it is every bit as nice as EL's pics with the exception of the buckle, which the more I look at it, the more I notice is not as nicely finished as the rest of the watch. (I'm assured it is solid gold, though, and others who bought it think it's fine.) The rep is a copy of the precious metal casablancas made from the beginning through 2002, when they went to all SS and introduced a separate line of precious metal curvex dress watches. If you go to the search page and type in "18k AND muller" filtered by my user name, you'll easily find the long group buy thread with all the info you need (weight, sizes, and lots of pics). A quick version: Case, back, and crown are all dead, on 1:1. Dial good enough that I'm not even going to bother to install the gen dial I had ready to drop in. Hands are much better than the ones on the SS version, and are really blued, but probably are not as nice as OEM side by side. Strap is genuine croc but the watch deserves better. It occurs to me now that the serial # is probably too high, if you even care about that which you should have no reason to. Here's mine on an gen Patek strap and next to an OEM silver Long Island dial to get an idea of the print quality:

How about a poll to see which watch gets put in the poll? I'd vote for that... About this watch: I bet Panerai charges more for this watch than their chronos even though you don't get the subdials. Or the other button. You do get a white date wheel, which should please certain people in China, and you would also get a seconds counter, whatever that is. So, yes, I would support this watch being put in Richaard's poll.

Wow...it looks like the Watchmen cyclops (accidentally) duplicates the OEM 63's mag 1:1. @ssurfer: I think the extra cyclops can be removed if my 222 is any indication...minbe popped right out w a TINY bit of paint stripper applied to the back. I can make no guarantees about paint damage though...my smith may have gotten lucky.

My tutorial if you have a Watchmen cyclops: 1)Pack watch in box. 2)Send watch and cyclops to The Zigmeister 3)wait for mailman 4)Open box 5)Gaze lovingly at the awsome mag provided by your new cyclops. Seriously, unless you have one of the previous 6mm aftermarket cyclopses that provide negligable increase in mag, you should not try to install your own unless you are very skilled. The Watchmen cyclopses need to be installed with gen-like perfection to function like the gen cyclops. Many of the non-watchsmith-installed pieces I've seen have some distortion and light artifact issues because they were misaligned.

I know Paul sells it, but reports about his reliability are mixed. I highly reccomend eddie and jos, either of whom will probably be able to get one if they do not already have it in stock.

Be a damn shame. Don't know whether it is ongoing, completed, or in haitus but over @ RWI there's a thread about a group buy of OEM dials. If I were you I'd buy one of those babies in an unusual color, hit the bay for a reasonably priced OEM strap, and either wear it as your true dress watch or sell it and buy yet another variant of the DRSD or something... ON EDIT: I just noticed that the OP linked to pics of the Casablanca, not conquistador. I thought the thread subject line was unintended, but it looks like he is considering the casablanca. Don't do either one of those--the dial and hands are both wrong, but everything else is great. The black number casa dial only existed in precious metal versions, I think, and the casablanca has never had the stuart-like hands which only appear on the cintree curvex dress watches. Accurate versions of the 2852 sized casablanca exist, though...you want one that looks like this gen:

Amazing reps. The best thing about them is that OEM dials drop right in and can be had for less than 60 bucks, usually. The only on-the-wrist flaw on these watches is the crown, and only a real Muller WIS would ever notice. I used to have a true 1:1 Conq--OEM dial crown and strap, good back, professionally polished case, and relumed hands. Since I got sick of it from wearing it every day for two months and because I had found the OEM crown in less than an hour, I sold it never to see an OEM crown again. If the guy I sold it to happens to read this, I'll give you double what you paid me for it! Bill, to answer your question, the very first run of 2892 Conq's are very rare because they have a well done-back. No decorated movement, though. The 2nd go'round have shitty engraving (check out the L's in Muller on yours. If they look a little wobbly, you have the 2nd version.)

Anyone who actually dares to wear a U-Boat watch in public has my uneneding respect...

Sounds like a cliche, but pawn shops sometimes have amazing deals on higher-end of the low-end watches like seiko, tag, quartz omegaz, etc. I bought my oldest son an absolutely mint Tag F1 as his 1st "real" watch for $265 because it was on a non-tag rubber strap. Last week i was killing time @ Macy's watch counter while Ms. A shopped and ran accross a brand called Officina del Tempo which looks like a cross between Dubey & Scheldenbrand and Muller. They're quartz but I was shocked at the fit and finish for the dough--the dials were very nicely done and the general fit and finish is at least as good as any $2500 watch I've seen. I think the straps are even real croc. I bought my daughter a pink Muller Long Island lookalike for $185 and my son the chrono below for $225. I believe they're still on sale for 30% off.

Yeah, the stall owners are going to have to cover their watches for 3 minutes a day instead of one...

For a run that size, and since undoubtedly Jay would be willing to split the profits w/ the person who supplied the watch, that would be sorely tempting.......I suspect if he sells out a 10k run he'll be buying an Abay-like Yacht, and won't need little ol' us to buy his gens to copy....

That back is the best I've ever seen. Bravo! The dial looks the right color and the CG looks OK. The mag, though, looks a little odd, even taking into acount how hard it is to photograph cyclops-equipped wateches--like they used 2 cyclopses (like the 222) or a severly curved lens to achieve the mag--I'd almost rather see them have a little less mag if the distortion is going to be that noticeable. After working on a couple cyclops projects now, I'm absolutely convinced OP uses aspheric sapphire lenses some of which are placed in pockets ground into the crystal--I've spoken to several lensmakers who surmise from pics that that's the only way to explain the combination of high mag and low distortion on the gens. It's great to see a blue dial PAM, though! But WHY WHY WHY can't they get the A's in P-A-N-E-R-A-I right?!?!?!

After a couple months of teeth gnashing and indecision, I've decided on my annual gen purchase, which will be done the day after Xmas:

Wow, thanks for posting those, narikaa! Very interesting...more evidence that repmakers are very quirky guys: I like some of those backs better than OEM, and oddly, some of them are more complex, and I guess harder to do, than their corresponding gens. Some they went through a ton of work to 90% duplicate a gold back with the only flaw being that they took the time to engrave "stainless steel" also. General question: They used to do nice "gold" backs but seem to have given up....anyone ever seen a correct "gold" back, one w/ hallmarks etc? I haven't seen one in a long time...

The only quartz rep I've ever owned was also one of the most accuurate--VC Patrimony ultra thin--60 bucks from adam, and on an OEM strap that cost 4 times what the watch cost it was 99% on-the-wrist. But, like all $60 reps it lived a good life and then passed on--a few scrathes on the glass, plating worn off the crown and into the kids' toy box. By my calculations you can go through 143 of those reps and get off cheaper than the gen.

Spend two seconds looking at the pic below, and you'll see why I don't obsess about casebacks. We're kidding ourselves if we think that even the best rep casebacks will fool anyone who knows what a gen caseback is supposed to look like. As long as they're close enough to fool the 99.9% of the world that doesn't know what a gen caseback is supposed to look like, we ought to be happy we save 90% off MSRP.

Mine fluctuates between 8 and 8 3/4 proportionate to my waist-size fluctuating between 32 and 38... Even when I'm set to fat mode, a 127 looks idiotic,IMO. In my skinny(er) phases, I like to keep the watches @ 42mm tops.