archibald

Pauls monza's look pretty good to me, but to fix the gap (an instant tip-off to any WIS who sees your watch) you's have to swing for a real 7753. i tried on the 18k/white dial Monza @ Tourneau a few weeks ago--a real stunner. I've been keeping my eye peeled for an OEM gold dial. In the unlikely event one pops up, a quick trip to artisan plating for the case and hands would be all the rep needs.

I've seen a grand total of one rep--a special order 183 from EL--that had real AR coat from the cactory. As Finepics points out most reps have rep AR coating as well...

You're right, Slay...I poked around the web this evening and figured out it is indeed a Piguet 1180 handwind w/ a monopulsante mechanism by Jaquet. This also means the pawnborker wasn't sleeping at all--4 grand for the watch and probably, as Admin just found out w/ his watch, another 4 to get it fixed. Still a pretty good deal for that particualr watch, but out of my league.

Even if they don't make that particular model, it's long past high time to make a non-black or white dialed PAM. I'm sick of my wife and my friend's saying, "Oh, another big round silver watch with a black dial" every time I buy a PAM!!!

I think I caught a local Pawn shop sleeping--they have a Muller Long Island Monoplusante Chrono sitting among their stock rolexes and omegas, marked about 18% of retail (still a healthy sum). The problem is it's not working, and they won't let me take it to a smith. Like the sign says, all sales are final. Since muller does not have the reputation for using expensive movements, I'm figuring that if this is a Lemania 1872, I can source one and then have my watchsmith swap out the monoplusante mechanism. If I ever sell the watch, I'll then have the muller movement serviced. Here is the best pic I can find on the Web:

This must be a tricky operation. I use 2 watchsmiths--one refuses to remove crystals on my reps, the other makes me sign a little piece of paper that says I won't hold him responsible if it breaks---that being said, smith #2 has removed about a dozen crystals w/o incident.

Bump.

Characteristically, you would put brown sauce (Mr. espagnole, to you) on your characteristicalies. Christ, I bet you have Velute with your Verbosities and no doub drizzle honey-vinegar reduction on your cliched platitudes. Just hit mine w/ a little Extra Virgin, please. BTW, probably y'all are more civilized over there, but here we tend to haul out the lawyers early. Always worked for me, particularly when dealing with the kind of scam artists that Admin is dealing w/.

I have it on good authority that the lenses belonging to everyone who paid prior to Monday have been shipped. In fact, some of the US customers who paid last week should already have theirs. Lenses paid for yesterday will ship this afternoon. Also, we would like to conclude this project as soon as we can. If you've placed a deposit on a lens, it would be great if you would send the other half of your payment by June 20th. If you have decided against completing the purchase process, there is absolutely no problem--just let sssurfer know, and he will promptly refund your money and move to the next person on the waiting list (those who tried to buy lenses after they were gone, in the order that they contacted sssurfer). If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact Kruzer00, sssurfer, Finepics, or myself.

LOL! Characteristically well put, and certainly worth a try, but my guess is that they will be as polite yet firm with Admin as he is with them, since in the age of the Internet they probably do not want anyone squacking all over the Purists that he spoke to the CEO and got his replair bill torn up. But, hey, what have you got to loose? And if this works, and there is actually a company on earth who stands behind their workmanship and treats customers as their lifeblood outside of their ads I will happily eat these words. If you decide to threaten legal action to hold them to their warranty, you'll have to deal with the AD since it's at least in part their responsibility to honor it (perhaps along with whatever canadian subsidiary Breguet set up to distribute their watches.) Oh, and just because you bought the watch while on vacation in Australia (or bought a watch w/ an open warranty card for that matter) does not mean you aren't entitled to the full protection of the warranty

The best chef in America, Admin Keller, was wearing a 51 on the Today Show a few days ago and, on the other end of the talent spectrum, I saw Faux-journalist and mediawhore Bill Hemmer sporting a 188 a while back.

If this isn't a time to use the L(awyer) Word, then I don't know when that time would be. Tell them the watch broke during normal, responsible wear because of a faulty clasp, that you have witnesses who were with you when it popped off, that your're perfectly willing to pay the $200 shipping, that you absolutely hate to litigate but this is a matter of principle and they can be bet their sweet asses you will. Bet you can get the service cost back down to the already horrific 2 grand. What have you got to loose, except another 3 or 4 hundred bucks to have the best lawyer in town write a letter for you? The accidental loss/damage policy is an absolute must, at least for your two or three most expensive watches.... I feel your pain, pardner. Best of luck.

The rep's blue looks lighter to me too. I cannot verify in person vis a vis the Omega, but I've seen dozens of Mullers with "blued" hands and the rep's hands are too light 100% of the time. I believe this is because the "blued" parts on the reps are not actually blued, but painted with some sort of kids'-finger-paint-looking laquer. I bet the markers and hands on the OEM AquaTerra are blued and the rep's markers and hands are painted w/ the same [censored] they use on the Mullers. Is this another intentional flaw? Since it's impossible to believe that the correct shade of blue paint is not available in China, it makes you wonder...

In that case, it looks like the back is the deciding factor after all... got to make up the 3mm somewhere. I don't know if the ioffer backs are high enough. I do know that the numbers will be wrong for the 165 (but who has that [censored] memorized aside from people who will spot it as a rep for other reasons). Given the availability of Ti backs and excellent Ti crowns and guards It's perplexing that no factories have bothered to produce a Ti back and copy any of the Ti or Ti/SS PAM autos. I bet if anyone put out a PAM in anything aside from SS w/ a black dial they'd sell a bunch of them. So, how about a Ti Auto, dealers? Even better one w/ a gray or blue dial...

Congrat's on the El Primerisimo, ubi! My TT franken is moving along slowly--picked up some (I think) genuine gold hands, one NOS pusher, and a black strap to go w/ the brown but the El Primeros keep shooting past my bid limit. i didn't know ebel made a Zenith powered piece, but that info expands the pool...thanks for posting.

I wonder if GAF is going after ol' Nigel, who is claiming Panerai's design as his own.....

Those boys are innocent until proven guilty, but that's not the point. The point is that every death in Iraq is a complete and utter waste unless America learns an important lesson from them. For the first time in my life, I'm actually feeling sorry for the far right of the GOP. They've got one and only one justification for the war left--getting rid of saddam. The trouble with that is they'll never again get 50% of the people in America to believe that result is worth thousands of dead Americans. For the record, though, the reason we went into iraq was not about oil. The stakes were even higher. The invasion was about an ideological war within the GOP, and the foreign policy community in America as a whole--all those guys who said Poppy was wrong not to take out Saddam were going to prove that their view of the world was right and the world view of the moderates were wrong. They wanted to set a precedent for America's foreign policy for the 21's Century, the way TR set it for the 20th. Read what their little club, PNAC, put out before the war. That's why i never, ever will say the Americans that died in Iraq died in vain--either way thewy didn't. If there is a major turnaround in Iraq and it does become the shining light in the Middle East, they will have died for a good cause. And if Iraq proves that we should never listen to the crazies currently in control of US foreign policy again, then those soldiers will have given their lives to save tens of thousands of American soldiers in the future. If that election in San Diego is any indication (Couldn't get a majority in a district that's more than 70% Republican even by spending $2 millione in the last weeks, unprecedented in House races) we'll, thank God, have a Democratic House in January. Even moderate repoublicans should hope for that outcome--because a major political defeat is the only way the right wingnuts will ever learn any lesson at all....

The rep Viagra only gets you 99% of the way up...

Except it will say "2006 WORLD CUP CHAPIONS"

This I'm not sure of--I assumed you would be using a back made for an automatic PAM rep, I was relying on the information I recieved that the handwind and automatic PAM reps mainly use the same cases.

Looks like the new 6497's are adding about 100 bucks to the watches they power. Does the working swan's neck add $100 worth of accuracy and/or reliability? I hope so, because cosmetically, there seems to be absolutely zero improvement--same horrible and still-wrong engraving, same poorly executed sunburst pattern, same cannon pin problem. Seems like the typical rep-maker schtick--first fix the bridges, then add a swans neck, then add a working swans neck--all 6 months apart. I'm inclined to wait to see if the next version has an accurate plate slapped on...or am I selling this version short?

Jonathan, if you PM me, I may be able to help in that regard.

Yes, they will...and apparently titanium backs are also available on ioffer, if that's what you have in mind...good luck and post some pics!

Now that it's been serviced, my Asia 7750 keeps better time than my Swiss 7750. Good movements, CNC duplicating, etc. Why do you think the gen manufacturers are going after reps so relentlessly? Recognizing that their insane markups (A 2892 powered, steel Muller Conquistador costs 10K!!!) are the primary reason Chinese reps exist is not an option, apparently; but the day will come when the chinese put out JLC or even Patek quality watches (look at Sea Gull's latest movements) with their own brand names on them. Then things will get interesting....

I like this explanation better than mine.