TeeJay

Thankyou for your gesture, my friend, I am truly touched, especially knowing that we have not always seen eye to eye. I can't say anything other than thankyou, and how deeply touched I am by your generosity

Many thanks, brother, I don't know what to say other than thankyou, this will really help me out. I don't know when I will be able to repay you, but will endeavour to do so as soon as I am able I tried to send you a PM, but got a notification that you can't receive any new messages at the moment, so I'll put my details here... I can assure you that this money will be spent on nothing whatsoever but my household contributions. Many thanks again, I hope you and your family have a great Christmas and a happy new year

The title says it all, and I am left with no other option but to beg for help. The last five years have not been particularly easy for me, as, unbeknownst to many of you, following an incident which destroyed my self-confidence, I have been unable to work due to depression. My doctor had signed me off work, which allowed me to receive incapacity benefits, but did nothing else to help me recover. In that time, I have helped my father in law with his businesses of attending mind body spirit fairs and hosting paranormal investigations, and taught myself how to tattoo, in the hopes that I could make that my own career. Things were okay, and although money was tight, I at least had enough to pay my household contributions, and to occasionally treat myself to a cheap rep... Then David Cameron got voted into power. He decided that the quickest way to ease some of the UK's deficit, was to reduce the amount of benefits that the government paid out, and he has made it a quest to target and victimize the most vulnerable members of society, the sick, the disabled, and the elderly. He does this via a company called Atos, which is tasked with 'assessing' people in receipt of benefits to ensure they are indeed too sick to work. It is now widely known, that Atos works to the policy of actively finding people fit to work, regardless of if they are actually disabled or not. Everyone assessed by Atos, is given a score of zero (meaning there is nothing preventing them from working) which then means that they can either attempt to find a job (which is in itself a sick joke, as the job market is oversaturated with candidates) or appeal against the decision. (The only way of being found 'unfit for work' by Atos, is by either having intravenous chemotherapy, or being terminally ill with weeks/months to live) 12 months ago, this happened to me, and as I was still suffering from depression, I filed an appeal against the decision. This meant having to wait till my case could come to tribunal, and the decision either upheld, or overturned. It meant I had to return to my doctor to be again signed off from work to provide the DSS with the proper papers, and due to Cameron's changes in policy, it meant that my incapacity benefit was replaced with employment and support allowance, which can only be received for one year, and reduced the amount of money received to a bare minimum, which after covering my household contributions, leaves me with £10 spare to last me a fortnight. That's right folks, £5 a week to cover clothing/food/transport... that's how poor I actually am at the moment. Fortunately, and unbeknownst to me, my doctor had left the practice, and I was assigned a much more helpful doctor. They realized that I was not simply suffering from depression due to chemical means, but in fact suffering from PTSD as a result of the incident five years ago, so they put me forward for CBT, although there was a considerable waiting list. There was also a considerable waiting list for my appeal to come to tribunal, because Cameron is not just doing this to me, but to thousands of people across the UK, so the tribunals service has a considerable backlog. A few months ago, I was informed that my years allowance of ESA payments will stop on the 6th of January, and due to my wife's income being above the government threshold, I would not be entitled to claim any other supplemental income, regardless of the fact that my appeal date still had not been received. Fortunately, I found the CBT immensely beneficial and I threw myself into that in the hopes of overcoming my depression and once more being well enough to be employed. I have now received my tribunal date, which is 29th of January, which may or may not uphold the Atos decision. If the decision goes in my favor, then my entitlement of a year ago will be recognized, and I will receive a back-dated payment of the money which I should have received over the past year. If it doesn't go in my favor, then so be it. The issue I have, is that my payments will stop three weeks before the tribunal (In a way, I am fortunate, as I had originally been told the tribunal would have been in March...) meaning that I will have no income to meet my household contributions. Neither my inlaws nor my wife have the available money to cover me for this period, and to say that this is putting a strain on my marriage, is an understatement. Although I had been signed off, I had not simply sat back and collected the cheque, I used the time to learn a new trade skill, and helped my father in law as what is termed 'therapeutic hours'. I had been doing some tattoo work on a fairly regular client, but a few weeks ago, they passed from COPD, leaving a considerable amount of work unfinished, which I will now obviously not be able to complete and be paid for, and none of my other friends have been able to make bookings due to the time of year and their own financial situations. I had hoped to use these past months to build a portfolio of work which I could then use to either approach existing studios in the new year, or to launch myself fully as a mobile artist, but as before, there has simply not been the work to allow me to build that portfolio. Since completing the CBT, I have been applying for jobs, but with no success, due to the state of the job market. I would willingly sell every rep I own if it meant raising the money I need, but as they are all a21j budget watches, I know that even selling the entire collection would not raise even half the money I need, so I am left with no other choice but to beg for help. I do not even need a lot. £150 is all I need to cover my contributions between the 6th and 29th of January. Less than the cost of any Cartel ETA watch. I'm not asking for anyone to support me in the longterm, as I am confident that I will win my appeal, and the backdated money I would receive, would support me while I continue to look for work, either through regular employment, or by being able to promote my tattoo work. This appeal is not for me to continue to receive government benefit, it is simply challenging the wrongful decision which was made 12 months ago, when I was mentally unfit for work. All I am asking, is enough to make a single payment of household contributions between the given dates. I would have endeavored to begin offering watch luming and basic mod work here on the forum, but as my finances were so tight, I knew that I could not afford to make right anything which went wrong, so I never ran the risk of ruining a watch which I could not afford to repair. I have been put into the situation where my income has been so reduced, that I cannot even afford to buy the tools which would enable me to make money through strap making, even though I have access to leather which I plan to make into watch straps to sell, but being unable to purchase the hole-punch needed, I have not been able to make them My deepest apologies for having to make this request, and for not having made my situation clearer before now, but this was the one place left in my life where I had a little dignity and could contribute anything, so tried to keep my issues to myself. I no longer have any dignity, so nothing to lose by asking for help. If you can help, it would be much appreciated, if you cannot, well, thanks for reading [Edit to add] Thanks to the help of some very generous people, my immediate crisis has been averted, and I want to once more thank everyone who so kindly donated, and made offers of donations to help me in this time. I've removed my pp address from the thread, as it would not be right for me to accept any more than I needed after the goal was reached, but those additional donations, the sentiments is appreciated every bit as much, and I hope those funds have all now been received back I'm going to leave this post up, simply because I hope to bring some awareness to the behavior of the British Prime Minister, and allow people to see just how what he is doing can be affecting your brothers and your neighbors. Many thanks again, and best regards to all

The watch, the photographs: stunning

Yeah man, that's a really offensive watch Just keep it as it is, Rolex are notorious for using whatever parts they had to hand back in the day, no one who saw that would think twice as to it's status

My guns? I'm British, we're not allowed to play with guns anymore... And no, you won't be thanking me, you'll be enjoying the 'hospitality' of a FEMA camp...

I'm not a fan of Hublot, but I do think the brand deserves its own forum

You do realize that the US Government is eroding your freedom, don't you? Concentration camps I mean FEMA camps are being set up all over the US, in preparation for what? More artificially created freak weather conditions? The Patriot Act for example, is just being used as a means of spying on the populace. Maybe it's more observable from here in the 51st State, but the way things're going on the Main Land, within a decade, I can see there being a situation where the reasons for the 2nd Amendment will become all too obvious

I'm just wondering, with the Big Crown GMT, would the date window have lined up with the case's original cyclops crystal?

I wouldn't've thought Jake would be cool with non-Official Rolex builds, but awesome to see the photo thus published

Our government caved to the demands of a vocal campaigner riding on the coat-tails of a school massacre and banned private ownership of handguns I think the way things are going currently in the UK, if firearms were more easily available, I think Samantha Cameron would be a widow... (I would say I'm surprised that no one's gone Day of the Jackal on David Cameron, but as he's only a glove puppet for the real power, I suspect most people know that taking him out would change nothing, so no point in contracting a professional to do the job...)

About as good idea as insisting that any 17 year old be given access to a car with no formal training...

Indeed, it is. As someone raised on American imports, I always loved America as a child, always wanted to live there, and I still do, but the erosion of civil liberties in the name of 'security', truly terrifies me.

Are the aspects of the constitution which allow freedom of speech, prevent a person from being forced to incriminate themselves or be subjected to 'cruel and unusual punishment' also outdated? This is a tragedy, no doubt, as with the other two shootings which occurred in the US yesterday. But. Preventing people from legally owning firearms will not completely prevent things like this happening. Since private ownership of handguns in the UK got banned, sure, no one's been able to walk into a school and go postal, but there have still been gun crimes. A student was still murdered by illegal firearm a year ago, so the ban on handguns did nothing to prevent that person's death. CT state law says that no one under 21 should have any kind of access to pistols (other than at a firing range) so to me, that says that handgun owners (especially those with children) should be held to a higher standard of securing their firearms at home. No more leaving a loaded .45 in the desk drawer, or even a key locker, but a code-entry safe which the child is never to be given the code to (and in circumstances like this, the parent should then be punished for improper storage of the weapons and as an accessory to the crime) By definition, criminals do not obey the law. There are laws against murder, yet is is still committed. Changing the law on handgun ownership will only impact and disarm the law abiding, not criminals... Allowing a constitutional right, any constitutional right, to be taken away, is opening the door for any and all constitutional rights to be taken away. (Effectively what the American Government has been trying to do for the past decade, but that's another kettle of fish...)

I would suggest a black bezel GMT II (not GMT II C or earlier models, but the GMT II) as a substitute/replacement for a Submariner, as the aesthetics are essentially identical, but with the added functionality of the GMT hand and bezel

A true Gentleman and Master of his art

Nothing weird about it at all, by being OJ's watch, it stopped being a watch, it stopped being a Rolex (real or fake) it became memorobelia and that always commands a high price Awesome link, thanks for sharing

Glad to hear It's very rare for me to see a photo of someone and not categorize them negatively in some way (males and females are judged with equal disdain ) so glad to hear that she was as nice as she appeared to be Lots of ketchup is definitely the only way to eat fries (unless it's with lots of mayonnaise instead )

Some nice pieces on display there, it looks like you had a great time The waitress looks like a genuinely nice girl too, I hope she got a big tip That's about the same amount of ketchup I'd put on fries

Much like OJ Simpson's Rolex.. The attourney's couldn't sell it because it was a rep, yet people were still prepared to buy it for gen retail price, not because it was a Rolex, but because it was OJ Simpson's watch PS Welcome to the party

Don't forget, he is probably all too aware that you probably know his wife better than he does, so probably secretly views you as a threat You handled yourself like a Gentleman for sure When it comes to the DSSD, I'm not a big fan... I always love how they look in photos, but when I tried one on, it just didn't do anything for me at all... That said, one which I do like the look of and might consider, is the fantasy model Deep GMT (although I wouldn't wear the SS/Ceramic bracelet) the only thing which holds me back from pulling the trigger (other than not having the $$s) is the fear that I'd receive it, and have the same response as I had to the DSSD, and then be lumbered with a watch I can't flip...

So reps aren't for you No worries... IMHO, without getting into the nittygritty of things like parachrome hairsprings, gens simply don't provide anything which reps can't, after all, they don't tell the time any better... The only issues I had with my Omega reps were caused by me trying to learn how to work on watches, rather than any inherent flaws in the watches themselves... Sure, if someone asks "Is that real?" someone could say "Yes..." But, another member recently posted an anecdote about how some pretentious jackass tried to say that the gen AP they were wearing was "a really good copy..." So all that means, is that if someone doesn't believe that I could afford to be wearing whatever gen watch I was wearing, it would still be looked at as 'just another fake', so I figure why spend the extra $$s just to have that kind of experience, when 99.9% of the rest of the time, they both [the rep and the gen] tell the time, they both glow in the dark, and neither flood if they get wet With regards your first point and art being signed... I guess that depends if you consider a watch as 'art', or an item... It's a bit like some car manufacturers will put 'autograph plates' on the engines with the signatures of the people who built it, but at the end of the day, the guys in the factories are just that: Guys in factories, doing jobs, collecting a cheque. They aren't celebrities, they aren't household names, they aren't even known in the industry, they're just guys doing a job, so it's hardly as if the name on the engine makes any difference... Sure, some of the hotshot watchsmiths who come up with some fantastic pieces of work, they deserve to have their names on the piece and the accompanying paperwork, but for the most part, watches are just mass produced consumables. The Submariner that Lukas puts together in the Rolex factory, is not going to be any different to the Submariner that Niklas put together sitting right next to him... And equally, there's not going to be any real difference from the Submariner which Zhen puts together in China, other than the (allegedly) different manufacturers of the component parts

The second to last photo has my favorite configuration, the polished bezel goes perfectly with the polished mid-links of the Jubilee bracelet

Fantastic build Do you have a favorite configuration?