archibald

Wear it well, Xel!

The best point here is that accuracy or even genuine-ness is irrelevent if you try to wear an implausible watch. I could wear a genuine sky-moon and everyone would think it was fake. If you couldn't or wouldn't plausibly own the gen, don't wear the rep.

Looks gorgeous! I know lots of folks are not fans, but I think the lello crowns are worth the extra effort, especially for the money. BTW, nice dial...am I missing something? Is joeasmith a new dealer or is joeasmith Joe, a smith?

Really? I've never been able to get their Web site to load in under 10 minutes per page if at all.. might be worth the wait if they sell these babies as parts--Do they offer these aftermarket, or only on their watches? How do their guards look?

You got that right!...Our pals in China are on a roll!

You got that right, pardner. I don't mind gens at all, but I do have a little system when I decide whether I'm going to buy a gen or a rep: Out of those mods, I'd be perfectly confident I'd never get called out outside of an AD with only the lume, a pearl, and an A/R (less than $200 locally). Anyone who has to have swiss and an OEM insert, though, definitely should buy the gen. I'm not anti-gen at all, but I'd never buy a gen version of a watch as well repped as the SMP chrono. IMO, at 1000 bucks, a 7750 powered omega may not be egregiously overpriced, especially compared to Mullers, but seeing as I can buy at least 2 "99%" "$8000" PAMS (or 3 99% "$11000" mullers for that matter) for the same dough the Omega is comparatively a poor value. On the other hand even if a watch is decently repped, some gens are fantastic values. If I could afford it, I'd have a whole collection of JLC's and still have a big ol' grin on my cheapskate face--You won't find a better value on earth--at least as far as luxury watches go--than the JLC master hometime. Manufacture movement, interesting complications, almost entirely handcrafted, fit and finish on a par with any watch I've ever handled save Lange and Patek. 24 interest free $196 payments from Tourneau. Sorry to ramble, but there are many gens even a guy as tight as me would be happy to buy. I just don't believe a used SMP chrono is one of them.

IMO, a 2.1mm crown may be more pleasing to the eye than the existing rep 1.7mm crowns, but it is exactly equally innacurate. I'm all in favor of everyone doing what makes them happy, but since what makes me happy is accuracy, I'm only in on 1.9mm crowns. V's may need a good polish, but looks about dead on to me, thickness-wise.

The last thing the world needs is another PAM rep...unless it's the blue dial mare nostrum, of course. NonPAM fans should keep in mind that PAM reps brought us the Chinese "Unitas" and "7750's" after all....so maybe they'll also bring us the C-class DD module, which would open up a whole new world of reps...might even make Oliver's Tag rep a reality.

Carville has a PAM111 too, given to him by Clinton.

I dion't see the need to spend close to $700 on this watch--my local smith does a service and lume for $130 plus, what, $40 bucks tops for the pearl? IMO, a serviced new 7750 eliminates the need for swiss 7750. This'll come down to $208 in a month or two..so that's $380 for the whole shooting match. If the bracelet bothers you, throw it on a strap for another 80 and you're right at 40% of the cost of a used gray market gen. Yeah, yeah, a rep will always be a rep...but a used 7750 powered omega @ $1000 is an overpriced watch--and an overpriced watch will always be an overpriced watch.

Good work! Did you have to remove the lever to file it? I'm a little afraid to try--grind too much and you need to shell out 60 bucks on a new guard. Also, I wonder if gluing the spring mechanism will cure the problem of having to pull out...

And all those swiss guys would say, "which time machine did this guy get out of?" I love the idea, but it's been a long long time since PAMs were made in italy...

There are two kinds of Rolex rep date wheels--the stock ETA or Asian wheels w/ some kind of attempt at a Rolex font printed on them and stock 2836 wheels affixed w/ an applied disk, also with a rolex font printed but with the numbers placed in the same place as per a Rolex movement. The former are too far to the right to use an OEM dial but the latter should work. In any case, the dial feet will have to be removed from the OEM dial and either replaced with stick-on feet or just glue.

#1 is an otherwise excellent rep that has day-date "chronos--" especially reps of gens that use the 7750. No excuse for that. The fact that the latest PAM crownguards are more wrong than the PAM crownguards on the very first versions of the very first high end PAM reps pisses me off and so does the repmakers' common practice of totally blowing off the crowns and date fonts of almost every watch they produce. But that being said, with every new rep that comes out, the general trend is toward scary good, so I don't generally complain.

I did grind the crown down to the line, and the stem seems to be holding fine....I'm debating whether or not I'm going to try to grind the lever myself. I won't know for sure until I reinstall the crown, but it seems to work fine (although I bet it has reduced water resistance now). I'll probably just have a watchsmith do the lever--but either way, I'll update this thread.

12 years of politcs and I've never, EVER seen a politician utterly destroy a biased "journalist" the way President Clinton [censored]-slapped Faux News' Chris Wallace this morning, a 15 minute nutshell of why he beat the repubs every time.... http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,215445,00.html

We're looking at less than two weeks if he final stages go as planned....

My rule of thumb is "will this rep fool anyone who's not quite as nutso as me?" which probably translates to the common 95% thing. If it doesn't meet that standard it gets modded, if it can't be modded to tha standard it gets sold. The only watches in my collection that have not been modded: Rolex TOG, 18k Casablanca, Picot Le Plongeur, Cartier Tortue...but all have improved straps.

I may be able to help w/ an OEM strap...what's the lug width?

I'll do it! A sample of my fine craftsmanship: On Edit: I better not, since I can't even get my pics to attach...

ooops...double post.

Well, I have 2 or three old standbys which account for about 50% of wristtime--gen Master Hometime, a heavily modded PAM 111F, and Santos 100. Then at any given time I'm in usually deeply in love with my latest buy or completed project--currently the 18k muller-- which accounts for the other half of the time, which soon finds itself stowed in the box for a long time. Next thing you know you have 15 watches you never wear... That being said--Guys, even though you probably think you have too many reps (and the wife knows you have too many reps)--don't do what I did: I sold off my collection down to what I thought were the best-of-the-best essentials and only bought 2 replacements over the last 10 months. At least three times a week I get dressed, stare at my watch box and say, "[censored], I wish I hadn't sold that...."

AD's obviouslt don't hire people on the watch knowledge..it's pretty funny when you think about it. Like a car salesman who knows nothing about cars... You are being too slightly generous to our reps though: I know you didn't have a 111H rep w/ you, but if you did a side by side w/ a gen and the best available H series swans neck rep you would have noticed: --general fit and finish marginally better in the gen, mostly on brushed surfaces and the crown guard --H series guard noticeably bigger and thicker w/ the lever smack dab in the middle --thicker crown on the gen --gen has C3 lume on gen hands and dial --crossbars higher on the gen's "A's" --smalller "offcine panerai" engraving on the gen movement as well as a pretty big difference in finish (cleaner CDG, polished brass gears, better executed sunburst pattern on the winding gears, clean beveling on bridge plates, no alignment pins visible) As you point out, one thing's for certain: $4500 more on a gen buys you the priviledge of .000001% of the Earth's population believing your watch is "real." Everyone couldn't tell the diference between a 111h and a Submariner.

A dealer might switch the strap/buckle--or better, the dial-- for you, or maybe you can go w/ an aftermarket strap if the buckle is the same...at worst, sourcing a date wheel for the 2824's and 36's (one of which i assume is inside) shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as you are not too picky about the font. I also wonder if some flat black paint mght do the job on the "rubber" ring... Otherwise, it's a pretty accurate rep for the dough--this one is on the Things to Make Arch Broke list

@ ubi: Wear it well, my friend! @Admin: did they ever make a strap version? Since most of the flaws seem to be on the bracelet, throwing it on a strap would be an easy fix.