archibald

How can you tell they are cheap? If there is an instant tell I don't know about, I'll buy another set in blued steel from ofrei for 10 bucks, but I'm sitting here staring at th the watch and my genuine JLC Master Hometime side by side and I can't see any difference in the apparent quality of the hands...in fact the gen JLC hands are a slightly lighter blue.

I've seen plenty of 2894-2's (2892's w/ DD chrono module aboard) on the 'bay and other places, but never one w/ the big date @ 12 also added. If you're thinking about dropping it into an existing rep case (it would make a sweet VC overseas chrono rep if you could make it work) keep in mind that the pushers and crown will not be aligned like a 7750 or venus copy I have an OEM muller chrono dial which fit's the venus 175 copy case perfectly but ultimately couldn't use a 2894 (which is what muller uses) because my smith said he would not be able to get everything lined up.

I think it's important for both buyers and sellers to keep in mind that paypal is imperfect to say the least. I've had it work both ways. Paypal once temporarily reversed charges on a watch I sold because the guy was spending an unusual (for him) amont of money in one day. I was horrified to learn recently that my wife reversed a cc-based paypal charge because the dealer's business name was, by freak coincidence, very close to the name of a remodeling contractor we recently stopped doing business with. I caught it and stopped it before any damage was done, but if I were busy at work or just wasn't paying attention it could easily have snowballed. I think taking it slow is a must with all paypal problems--a signiicant portion of the time it's neither the buyer's nor the sellers fault--just paypal worring about themselves.

Yup, mine is YG 2824... I believe eddie has pics of both in his album and the difference looks pretty subtle. Muller also makes red gold (along with yellow, rose, and white gold) versions of most of their watches, which have a more distinct red tint. The 2001-2004 Casablancas, which this watch is a copy of, were made in all four colors.

I agree 100% What I want to know is where the madness stops. The trial judge's decision was definitely within established precedent. IMO, the appeals' court decision was not. I understand that any courts' first instict is to protect intellectual property, but are they really going to change american trademak law to protect a foreign luxury product company's obscene markups?

You get to listen to her make fun of your watch habit!

Well folks, after getting a tracking number from eddie on Friday, I finally got around to writing a post letting everyone know that the 2824 versions have shipped. About two seconds after I started typing, the doorbell rang, and sure enough...a little EMS package arrived just in time for a little review and some quick wrist shots... But before I forget, a 2892 update: as most of the 2892 buyers already know, the 2892's are being custom decorated to order, not simply removed from Conquistador reps, and are awaiting one decorated part, after which they will ship immediately. The Deal: Shipping was delayed on the "buying" end--some last minute cold feet and painfully slow registered mail to Canada--but as anyone who's ordered from eddie might expect, the deal went w/o a hitch on his end. Communication was excellent, the watch was well packaged, and the shipping lightning fast (He actually shipped before he had received payment from all the buyers). At $650 off the single unit price, an amazing bargain. The Watch: The bottom line: This watch is even better than I expected, hands down the best rep I've ever owned both in terms of accuracy and quality. The PAM 36 and my heavily modded LV are in the same ball park, but out of the 30 different models of reps I've owned, this one is the only one I would wear into an AD without giving it a second thought. The Good: The first thing that struck me when I opened it and put it on was it's weight--it's not a big watch, just shy of 40mm in length, but the gold makes a bigger difference in feel than I expected--I had done the math to be sure, and have tried on many solid gold watches, but switching back and forth between my rose gold plated SS Crazy Hours and this one, the difference in feel between plated and solid gold is much more noticeable than I thought it would be. The fit and finish on the watch is as good as reps get--the crown is beautifully "cut" and polished, the logo is perfectly crisp, it pulls out firmly into both positions and is of course ETA smooth both setting and winding. The crystal looks perfectly seated, the rehaut is mirror polished (unlike many SS and plated Muller reps) and I can't imagine that the OEM caseback fits any better than the rep's does. In eddie's pictures the caseback engraving looks slightly less crisp than the gen, and this might be noticeable in person side by side w/ a gen, but it's not noticeable with the naked eye w/o a side by side, which was a pleasant surprise. The hands were my biggest fear while I was waiting for the watch--but they look absolutely great in person. I wouldn't know how to tell the difference between blued and enameled, but compared to my other blue rep hands, I'd bet they're blued--the important thing is that I don't think anyone would be able to tell them apart from gen hands even side by side. As you can see from the pics, they're a nice dark, shiny blue, a far cry from the electric "finger-paint" blue that plagues nearly all Muller reps. The best part about the watch is the dial. I was going to put on an OEM dial, but I don't think I'm going to bother w/ the time and expense--as you can see in the big pic attached below, side by side w/ an OEM Long Island dial, there is almost no difference in either the printing or the sunburst pattern between rep and real. The strap, genuine croc, is probably better than 99% of the rep straps out there and certainly on a par w/ mid level aftermarket croc straps, but not as good as OEM or HM-Watchband straps, one of which will shortly replace this one. I'll probably sell the rep strap w/ my plated Crazy hours, so at least someone is going to get a good deal on a "Muller" marked genuine croc strap. The Bad: Guess who just left the house wearing my new watch.... I believe all models except for 2824 rose gold are still available...but eddie tells me the group buy price won't be available for very much longer on his supplier's end. Feel free to PM me for more details.

Get the sapphire from davidsen and have Finepics install it. You're lucky to be nearby--both of my local smiths try to avoid changing (one refuses outright) rep crystals because they apparently break pretty often. I wish someone would post a tutorial so we can swap them ourselves without having to ship them to another country...

Nope...at 4 in the morning I am usually doing coke off the buttockses of Russian hookers. I start the mods around 8:30 at the office, which is why my crown guards look like this: Seriously, to me it looks like I'll need to file everything to the right of the line to make it fit in my 111. Will this make the stem too wobbly?

Rolex's legal strategy is pretty easy to understand: Because they know that exact copies of the parts they mark up 6000% can be produced for a few bucks, they are going to assert that any sale of any watch with any aftermarket part infringes on their trademark. If they can get a judge to rule that their trademark is infringed upon if any possibility exists that a seller's customer';s customer's customer's customer might misrepresent an aftermarket part as genuine and thus "sow confusion", so much the better for them. In their perfect world, no used rolex could be legally sold unless they allow it to be sold, which is to say that if any watch has any parts that it didn't have when it left the factory, the seller must be able to prove that she paid rolex for them, not anyone else. Put on an aftermarket part, and even if you disclose it to your buyer, rolex is going to argue that they can block the sale because some guy might get mislead 23 years from now. I think that sooner or later Rolex is going to run into someone who has pockets deep enough or a temper bad enough to fight back competently. Maybe they'll even run into an appeals court that sees the big picture--that if they set the precedent that a manufacturer can use trademark law to control what gets added to their products years after the initial sale, whole industries are going to become endangered. But until then Rolex knows that until they make better watches, R-O-L-E-X is all they have and they're going to fight tooth and nail to keep it.

Having 4 boys who are big fans, I feel like Steve Irwin is almost part of the family...may he rest in peace. Actually, Louisiana Alligators used for leather are almost always farmed, and the hunting is heavily regulated to avoid uncontrolled mass die-offs by starvation--so it's unlikely that a boycott would have any positive impact on the environment or alligators. Plus, there are still hundreds of thousands of people down there whose lives have been decimated--they need every dime they can get. Crocs, I have no idea about. If the leather industry has the potential to put the species at risk, croc straps should be boycotted whether Steve Irwin is alive or dead.

Those are nice watches. I damn near bought the power reserve version for $1400 brand new at my local AD. Since there is no chinese moon phase movement and since you can probably get a used one for less than a grand, I doubt we'll see a rep any time soon.

I have a couple lello crowns laying around and I was going to practice my watchsmithing by putting them in my old dinged up 111F and 113F--according to the thread on the old board Lello crowns will work on the 6497 as long as you glue the spring and shave down the crown so it's less than 6.3mm in length. But, frustratingly, the thread ends before anyone says how to shave the crown and what should be used to glue the springs...Anyone remember how they did this mod?

About two years ago someone posted a link to examples of student work from the only watch engraving school on earth or somethingm like that--all were 6497's and some were very contemporary and cool---anyone bookmark that link?

If you like the big Mullers you'd also like the 1200 series Long Island series which also would also be a snap to produce in rep form.

Which is why I hereby rescind my requests without exception and, further, demand that no more PAM reps be produced until: 1)My income rises proportionately to the number of new PAMS released per month, and/or 2)The Franck Muller King Conquistador Chrono or 10th Anniversary Chronograph is repped, produced, and on my wrist.

To be honest, I have absolutely no opinion on group buys in general because I don't think they have any large scale or long term effect on the hobby, rep buyers, or rep dealers. Without trying to sound like George Will or worse, if group buys do end up have some impact, the market will take care of it. Here's what I can say from experience, thouigh: 1)If you don't already have some respect and understanding for the time, effort, and logistical issues our dealers go through on a dialy basis, organize a group buy and you will. 2)One group buy I've been a part of has let me own a watch I could never have sourced at the time, and the other let me own a watch I never would have paid the single unit price for. 3)Within an 10 hours after posting a thread that proposed the idea of a group buy on a nice watch, I had three unsolicited bids from dealers.so I doubt group buys harm dealers at this point.

Pugwash already beat me to the "Crazy Colon Dreams" which I proudly own. Those were the days. It's damn tough to find decent misspelling outside of my posts anymore. I remember when a single trip to the offers section would give you a choice between Officne, Automatc, Poascre, Galena, seanaster, and Polex.

Lots of dealers doing special custom projects these days...I'd bet my entire collection of genuine dials that Conquistador King Chrono or a 10th Anniversary Chrono would sell more pieces than yet another marker-falling-off version of a PAM sub.

That tracking info is ALWAYS off--it will probabbly say in customs since Aug 31st a day after the watch is delivered. I've never a problem w/ US customs after probably 50 watches/parts/repairs shipped. I had one problem w/ a watch clearing Chinese customs, but never US.

Classy guys over there at time zone: "dial texture looks good. One can only hope the producer is hit by a car or his location hit by a very localized (1 house) typhoon." His concern for the repmakers' neighbors is admirable.

You Europeans....sheesh....if they ever played a game w/ NBA rules, the Portland Trailblazers benchwarmers would beat the Greek National team by 50 points. Plus, I love the spin about not having an NBA player on the team...didn't Vassilis Spanoulis just sign a 3 year deal w/ the Rockets?

Thanks, finepics...maybe I'll just send it to you!

I know...if it were'nt so horrifying it would be funny: the 7750 powered King Chrono is $3000 more than the standaerd chrono which has a FP 1l85 inside! Three grand more for $2 worth of extra steel and a movement that probably wholesales at 1/5 the price. If they rep the 10th Anniversary Casablanca Chrono, the date isn't even an issue since that version has no date...and the brushed steel version is stunning. The steel and PVD versions are below.

Excellent job edge!! I might even give one of those techniques a try (I can hear my watches whimpering as I type this). Now all we need is to reveal the great secret of repdom...can someone follow edge's lead and do a phototutorial of crown guard modding? You would instantly become a RWG legend....