archibald

excellent. So close I can almost taste it now

Naturally, a real dial made by DW would be best. If this turns out not to be feasable, Pugwash is our Photoshop guy and we need to find a print shop that has the Gerber Edge FX printer. I reccomend taking the rep santos dial to the print shop to match the white of the dial to the white of the vinyl medium.

Davidsen is the king

He is The Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the Woooooorld when it comes to sweet panerais. Every serious Pam rep collector should support Davidsen's obvious commitment to our hobby--by making an purchase.

Davidsen, a humble suggestion: I bet if you did an accurate blue dial you'd sell a hundred of them. There are several hand wind and auto PAMs w/ blue dials ( many of the dials are brushed, though, so I don't know if that complicates the manufacturing process.)

Thanks again for your hard work.

Andrew, first of all: We both know how this thing works. We both joined about the same time in 2004, you to sell me to buy.

I emailed and PMed many times with no response. I posted--vaguely and politely--publicly with no response. I posted a detailed review with no response. I PMed 6 months later, after you started offering more expensive watches, offering to buy one @ $120 discount with no response. If, now that your surrogate (or your alter-ego) has exploded an accurate comment buried in another thread into a public controversy, you want to refund my money I would welcome that.

I don't think $120 means squat to either of us, Andrew. Principle should.

Fisherman, pard, if you thought you were Andrew's crisis management PR operative, you screwed the pooch---rule #1 in PR is never start yapping till you've quietly gathered all the facts. But since without you I probably never would have seen my $120 again, PM me your paypal addy and I will send you the customary collections fee of 33.3%.

On a general note. I have no doubt that the majority of andrew's transactions go well. I never said andrew was a scammer or a serial thief. What I said was he took $120 from me and that he has a history of misleading advertising (he was warned against that for the first time back in late 2004). Everyone should weigh the pros and cons of every dealer for themselves.

So that fisherman's thread was not a complete waste of time for new members: The only reason I got my money back was because I save every PM, email, and transaction receipt until a deal has been completed and everyone is happy, even if I have to save [censored] for years. You should do the same.

Well.. well..

Humans make mistakes... I have been working late nights recently and too tired to pore through all these Forum postings.

Archibald.. If I still owe you USD120, why dont you just send me an email instead? USD120 to me is not worth ranting through posts like that. To be honest, many dealings with members here..they know I dont put money on first place. I send them parts they want whenever they ask me and I attend to their requests whenever I can and try my utmost to help..

I had a very very tired day last night designing some new concept watch and so I will not post a long post here.. Archi... email me. You get back USD120 in FULL, no doubts about it.

For the rest, thanks for holding my name up.

Andrew

Great tutorial pics Ubi!

LOL! now that's what I call fast service! Ask for a tutorial at dinner, have your dial swapped by bedtime!

Still remember mineral glass = synthetic sapphire issue ?

And wasn't there an ETA /Asian-Auto issue, too?

Thanks so very much for the clarification, Arch. Guess the next move is up to old Trusty---Huh?

Since you've called him a thief publicly, no doubt he will respond immediately.

Best regards, Pard

No doubt. Maybe he'll just respond with an immediate, year-late refund. Then we can publicly agree that he is merely an interest-free "borrower." I'm starting to like this inverted commas thing....

I don't know who you are, Pardner. But perhaps when you respond to this reply, you'll have the balls to do it under your usual user name.

On June 25, 2005 I ordered a watch from andrew for $120.00

Payment Sent

Name:

Andrew XX

Email:

trustywatchguy@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total Amount:

-$120.00 USD

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:

Jun. 25, 2005

Time:

16:04:50 PDT

Status:

Completed

Read the following PM exchange backward:

Give me your name in the PAYPAL and also the PAYPAL address...I will refund you...thanks

Andrew

Can't use the colored numbers--please refund at your earliest convenience.

Thanks,

i don't think they'll have to modify the 7750 a la the daytona since the configuration is the same as the 7753...it's the spacing that will be (and probably will always remain) too spread out, right?

What say ye PAM WIS's about the new guard? Accurate for a Pre-A, would it also be an improvement over existing rep H series guards on my 111H?

The brushing looks a little rough to me, intentionally to match pre A brushing, maybe--but that's an easy fix...

Davidsen is on a major roll! I knew someone would come along who gets that there is a demand for and profit in small runs of high quality aftermarket parts and interesting watches. Great work!

There was a 40mm PAM rep with base dial powered by an ETA 2836 offered roughly 2 years ago. There was also an RXW equivalent to that watch as well before the big MM20 hit the market (fitted with a screw down crown instead of the trademark Panerai crown guard).

For what it's worth... The 7750 fitted in the PAM48/49/50/51 reps is not a terribly bad movement. Since the stopwatch functions have been removed, there is far less to go wrong.

Ubi, I'd still get those movements serviced immediately--I've been working on my 051 for about 9 months--and in so doing have been through 3 asia 7750's. The first died in two days, the second in three months, and the third, which I got completely torn down cleaned and reassembeled, has been going strong for 6 months.

BTW, the 050/051 has the potential to be the most accurate PAM ever. OEM crown guards (which are readily available) solve the crown thickness problem since the problem is not w/ the crown's thickness, but with the size of the rep guard's gap. Even w/o an oem guard, a relume/AR coat/6mm cyclops will bring a 50/51 to 99% for less than $150. The only flaw would be the A's on the dial, but ona 40mm watch that's only spottable side by side w/ OEM.

Mine has all of the above mods (here's a pic after AR and OEM guard, but before relume and cyclops). When I recieve mine back from The Zigmeister, I'll apply a Swiss721 font Date wheel sticker and post a some pics of the final version.

...on Pluto!

"Since 1989, for example, the sun's position in Pluto's sky has changed by more than the corresponding change on the Earth that causes the difference between winter and spring. Pluto's atmospheric temperature varies between around minus 235 and minus 170 degrees Celsius, depending on the altitude above the surface. The main gas in Pluto's atmosphere is nitrogen, and Pluto has nitrogen ice on its surface that can evaporate into the atmosphere when it gets warmer, causing an increase in surface pressure. If the observed increase in the atmosphere also applies to the surface pressure--which is likely the case--this means that the average surface temperature of the nitrogen ice on Pluto has increased slightly less than 2 degrees Celsius over the past 14 years."

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2002/pluto.html

...on Jupiter!

"Using whirlpools and eddies for comparison, Marcus bases his forecast on principles learned in junior-level fluid dynamics and on the observation that many of Jupiter's vortices are literally vanishing into thin air.

"I predict that due to the loss of these atmospheric whirlpools, the average temperature on Jupiter will change by as much as 10 degrees Celsius, getting warmer near the equator and cooler at the poles," says Marcus. "This global shift in temperature will cause the jet streams to become unstable and thereby spawn new vortices. It's an event that even backyard astronomers will be able to witness."

According to Marcus, the imminent changes signal the end of Jupiter's current 70-year climate cycle. His surprising predictions are published in the April 22 issue of the journal Nature."

http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/release...1_jupiter.shtml

...on Mars!

"According to a September 20 NASA news release, "for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress." Because a Martian year is approximately twice as long as an Earth year, the shrinking of the Martian polar ice cap has been ongoing for at least six Earth years.

The shrinking is substantial. According to Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mars Orbiter Camera, the polar ice cap is shrinking at "a prodigious rate."

"The images, documenting changes from 1999 to 2005, suggest the climate on Mars is presently warmer, and perhaps getting warmer still, than it was several decades or centuries ago," reported Yahoo News on September 20."

http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=17977

Blasted SUVs.

The good news is that apparently the few remaining naysayers are reduced to the "Hey, other planets are warming" approach.

What I want to know is what all the rushbots will do now that their Fearless Leader has been forced to admit what the rest of the planet has known for some time.

The only real solution would be an Asia El Primero, which is probably about as likely as an Asia 3135, but hey, we can always dream...

that's an amazing find and a great story to boot

forza italia!

What a great story. i love to hear about people who like their jobs, are good at their jobs, take their craft, but not themselves, extremely seriously cause then you know true artisanship isn't dead yet.

he already has. Thanks!

Of course he did..absolutely 100% stand up guy. BTW, I believe he is travelling extensively over the next couple weeks for the ol' day job, so he might be a little slower to respond than usual.

_t _ooks ju_t _reat!!!!!!

Now that is a PERFECT watch. I'll take two. Seriously.

Is the PVD holding up well?

Is it easily scratched?

Aside from the crown guard, which Davidsen needs to take back to the drawing board, that 009 looks excellent to me. Nice back, convincing aged tritium look, pretty dial, looks like real PVD to my untrained eye. Didn't know he had these...I will almost certainly pick one up if i can get a jimmyfzu guard and palp crown PVD'd to match at a reasonable price.

Nice watch, looks a little like the gorgeous Chopatd Luc Diver, but no way that thing is worth $450, let alone $1350 or whatever MSRP Daniel Mink's marketing department decided to put on it. Think about it: Stainless steel watch, w/ a stock 2824 probably, rubber strap, a brand nobody ever heard of. You should know better, Estaban...

I'm always a bit puzzled by the people who say they would never ever ever ever pass their reps off as genuine. Do you mean to say that if you are asked directly you will admit to owning a rep? Or do you affix some sort of signage on your heavily modded LV's that indicates it's status as a replica? Otherwise, someone may look at your watch and assume it's real but not ask you directly if it is real, which, it seems to me, means that you are most certainly passing off a rep as a genuine.

In fact if one abhiors the passingoff of reps as genuine, why not head down to the mall and buy a perfectly well built watch which appears almost identical to, say, an Omega and is powered by an ETA movement. That watch would also come with a warranty, may actually be 50m water resistant, and would never ever be advertised as Perfect or even "Perfect." I mean you would never ever want anyone to think you were wearing an Omega , would you?

Please. Andrew knows the gramtical function of "inverted commas" but he doesn't know the definition of the word "perfect?" I'm perfectly willing to (and do) cut dealers all they slack they could reasonably want, and I wouldn't have gone after andrew if this were an isolated incident (and probably not at all if he hadn't stolen $120 from me) but anyone who's been here more than a month knows he's always calling some watch 99.9% or 1:1 or ultimate or perfect when in fact, not only it isn't any of those things, but even when objectively better versions are available.

I don't care whether you're selling bibles, or cars, or crack, or watches. You're either an honest guy or you're not.

It is NOT a false or misleading advertisement. "PERFECT" under inverted commas means that you get a replica close to the genuine piece but it can never be a 100% like the genuine. =)

Oh. I guess it's just "MISLEADING" and "FALSE" advertising.

Nope... that's the modified Asian 7750 (7753 lay-out with the date @ 4).

Which creates the date gap problem. I guess if that bothers you you could pick up a gen 7753 for $400 and swap.

I agree that the brietling is the way to go unless you're prepared to shell out $2500 and spend a year+ sourcing parts for a el primero powered Frenkentona like ubi just finished doing (I am only 3/5 of the way finished doing after 14 mo. Major headache.). The post-2000 daytona rep is just too much of a crap shoot--plus, even if you luck into a "good" one, it will have an unfixable flaw--it's about 2mm too thick.

There is no perfect sub (other than the one sold by rolex), nor is there any perfect rep...period. And I think our dealers should know better than to make that claim...especially on these forums. Several dealers seem to be using words such as "perfect" lately. Horseshit.

I agree. "1:1/ perfect/ same as original, etc," aside from being 100% lies, only clog the board with threads started by people asking if a "perfect/1:1/same as original" watches really are "perfect/1:1/same as original"

Andrew is a longtime practitioner of misleading and outright false advertising, but I'm troubled that other dealers are starting to follow suit.

BTW, Eddie, Jos, and PT all have better subs for less money. My local smith ("swiss trained," authorized service for VC, etc) charges 45 bucks for an ETA 2836 overhaul. Looks like Andrew is charging $135. Maybe it costs a lot to bring all that lube from Switzerland to wherever those watches are getting "serviced"

That's the big mystery to all of us..

THey say that some VERY FEW had L SWISS L as also the photo on the Panerai Special Editions catalogue.

Although all the mm 036 they have been photographed have T SWISS T on their dial.

I thought about this for a couple seconds when I bought my 36. I decided that:

a) the .0001% of the population who would know that it is supposed to be L or T or either will know my watch is a rep long before they spot that error, if it is an error.

b)Even if some WIS who happened to see my watch were fooled by all the other flaws, why would they know the answer to the question if the WIS's around here don't?

c)Even if it were right, noone who knows me would believe I'd pay that much money for a $500 watch. And since there are probably teice as many reps as gens floating around, any WIS would automatically think it's a rep even if it were a gen.

That being said, I'd switch to a T -swiss -T dial if one becomes available--go w/ the most common.

I did not discuss technical with DW but this is probably an excellent solution, where to get access to such a printer, a more where to get access to a gen dial?

The problem would be sourcing an OEM dial. if that is not available, you'll need to find someone who's good at photoshop. Since the Santos dial is black on white, a decent photoshopper could take hi res shot of a rep dial and, using a shot of an OEM dial for reference, rezize and move the elements that need to be resized and/or moved.

I'd see if the white is the right shade before I moved forward.

A couple ideas, now that I think about it:

If you go the traditional reprint route, maybe the printing can be removed from the existing dials, saving a lot of work making blanks since the "erased" dials would become blanks for the reprinted dials. Maybe these can be printed "on demand" like Finepics' date wheels--santos 100 owners would send in their dials to be erased and reprinted.