TeeJay

So sorry to hear, thoughts and prayers to you and your family

I'm not picking on prismo's watch, I think it looks great especially for the price.

It also shows how far these reps have come over the years, as I guess you could say we are picking on small details. However I still don't understand why they did'nt look at a few gen pics and work out how the dial should look.

would a Yuki dial fit in it then? If all else is good seems like a cheap mod to me.

Marc.

It's not 'picking on details' when a forum trusted dealer posts shots comparing watches, claiming that one is genuine, yet the dial of that watch does not match with any of the other genuine dial photos posted by members... Perhaps Josh, unbeknownst to him, purchased a watch which did not have it's original dial

Very nice indeed

"But many incorrectly assume that the YM has a bezel insert of solid platinum set in a SS bezel. All genuine YM bezels are milled from a single solid piece of precious metal - in the case of the Rolesium watch platinum ."

Wrong

Jocke few years ago proved bezel is in 2 pieces ..

http://www.watchwallpapers.com/plat.htm

Interesting link, thanks for the info It might be a case of Rolex machining the two parts to incredibly tight tollerances, heating the bezel, cooling the insert, putting them together, then letting them return to ambient temperature, and using the contraction/expansion effects to create a very tight 'bond' between the parts

If anyone would do it WM9 would be the one. Certainly not practical to mill a solid insert-less bezel for one watch. But then again nothing that is done on any of these super reps is practical. They obviously go to all the trouble cause there is a big enough perfection crazed market out there. Anyway, that is about the last improvement that could be done on that watch as it is otherwise very good.

I agree, from the dealer-level point of view, it wouldn't be worth it, as it is unlikely that many people would buy a solid bezel watch for a higher price, when they can simply order the cheaper version and Araldite the insert into place if need be. However, someone like Yuki or MY might get a solid bezel made to be sold as an upgradeable part to modders who really do strive for 1:1 accuracy

That's an interesting point you make, bro, after all, the insert for my YM was a solid piece of 3D metal, and I do remember reading once about someone being embarrassed when the insert dropped out of their watch while having a coffee with friends... Really need to get myself a new YM at some point, they're such easy watches to wear

I've never really had any major problems with reps, and I only ever buy cheap stuff. I don't buy expensive, and I don't buy from forum trusted dealers. My results have been satisfactory, of course, YMMV... Of course, I must echo my bro's comment here:

The problems you speak of are common. Some enjoy the chase of it, others either don't right away or do in the beginning and tire of it. I am in the later category and eventually got to the point where I didn't want to settle for anything but the relative perfection of genuine pieces. I haveno interest in the snobbery of them, but rather the precision of the details mechanically and fit and finish-wise. But if you have a genuine love for watches there is no reason to leave. In fact there is every reason to stay.

Many of us are also genuine collectors and some exclusively. So let me wear Lani's ambassador hat for a moment and say that if you love watches - rep or genuine, there is no better place in terms of knowledge or a better group of non-snobby people to interact with. So stick around. You don't have to buy reps to hang out with us...

Also you might consider adopting a strategy I have employed with great success over the years: Use reps as a sort of training ground for gens you have interest in. If you think you love a watch, buy a rep of it first and see if it really suits you before buying the gen. If it does, sell it and buy the gen. If it doesn't sell the rep and move on. It will actually save you money, not waste it. If you buy a gen and find out you don't like it the likely hit when you sell it will be more than a thousand. If you get the rep and flip it the loss will be less than a hundred in most cases. Wors like a charm. I discovered a love for the Yachmaster, the GMT Master, Datejusts and Day-Dates, the Planet Ocean, the Aquatimer, the Kairos, The Vacheron Malte series, and many others I'm sure I'm forgetting this way which led to great gen experiences. And I saved a lot of money on others not listed here by trying the reps and realizing they are not for me such as the Big Bang and ROO to name two. Food for thought.

So stick around, if nothing else Offshore still has a lot to teach you about boats!

There's way more to this place than just watches

It's just like a big dog

My lord Charlie is brave!! haha thats way toooo close for me!

My friend was clearing out a bunch of "junk" as he called it from his Jewelery store... I got a gen Rolex big wooden box, the one with the leather buckle on the top and a 9315 folded bracelet (very worn) with a broken newer Tudor clasp. I tossed the clasp and put on a old 93150 rep clasp for now.. its got the proper end links attached and everything. The bracelet is very stretched but i did some work to it and now its solid.. still stretched but at least its not going to break...

... Got the bracelet and the box for $50

The bracelet is already attached to my 5514 Comex.. got the crown and tube installed tonight... almost complete!

How broken was the Tudor clasp?

OK here's what I'll be going for. Obviously the coronet, logo and writing isn't finished. The coronet wil be lumed vintage tritium like indexes. Anything that could be improved or changed, let me know.

mg

Absolutely spot on

Didn't gentle Ben end up eating his trainer?

I'm not sure, but that idea has amused me more than it probably should

Probably this GMT II, I think it was about £30 shipped (or there abouts...)

Amusing, and certainly novel, but no way I'd wear one

Insha'Allah

I can feel a Mister Rogers episode coming on here. "Hello neighbor, can I be your friend??" CHOMP!

Sorry TeeJay, they look cute but the friendliness ends there. Best to give them a wide berth in passing.

Ahh, fair enough, I guess I was just thinking back to my childhood and watching Gentle Ben

Would someone be kind enough to explain to me how to brush the midlinks. Thank you.

Take a green scotchbrite pad, and gently rub it along the bracelet until the polished links have the same brushed appearance as the outer links Just remember to only brush with the direction of the bracelet, not across it

Thanks, gimme a holler if you change your mind or come up with something better!!!

ah, nipping out for some right now as a matter of fact. Back later

mg

I'll let you know, but I think I've used up my quota of ideas for the day Have one for me

Hi guys, here's another tweak,

only halves this time. Hopefully you

Here are a few random thoughts:

1. Since the watch will be used in space, readability is paramount, and so is visibility. What ever layout you decide on, must be clear, easy to take in at a glance, and bright. With that in mind, the more indeces you have the more thought and time it requires for the brain to absorb, so I would say simple is better.

Absolutely. Here's my above observation about the 79190 dial and it's 'long second' markers

"My experience with the 79190 dial is that while the 'long seconds' can make the dial seem smaller (but not cluttered) with less open black area they do make it very easy to read the exact time, as the minute hand 'touches' over each, so even at a glance, one can see precisely where the hands are pointing"

2. For visibility, I would choose tritium instead of traditional lume as it does not require charging. Remember you might not have enough light to charge the watch. You could also opt for the entire dial to be coated with luminous material, and the markers, indeces and everything else would be black.

Again, absolutely spot on with the need for the lume to be self-powering, and the idea of the entire dial being luminous, I think could work very well

3. Why are seconds so important?

Seconds would be absolutely essential for any number of tasks, from timing, to navigation. My mention of 'long seconds' is not so much that they can be used for timing seconds, but that they allow minutes to be read much more accurately and easily, than the 'short seconds' of any other Rolex dial

If you need to time something you should consider a chronograph, Daytona maybe?

I must admit, I think that a chronograph would be more useful overall than an AM/PM indicator

4. Of all the dial designs, I think #4 is the closest, but with ta twist. You need a "0" or "12" reference, but instead of the large triangle, lume the Rolex coronet instead. Let it serve as the "0" index.

I like the sound of that as a plan, after all, the center tine of the coronet is always at the 'o' point of the dial

I'll warn you in advance, this is a long one

...But still no idea how to include 24hrs indexes without cluttering the dial. Maybe keep them on bezel only? The baddest thing to do would be a 24hrs dial only, but as a beater? Dont think so. Any ideas?

mg

I'd say you've got it with Number 4

Okay TeeJay how about this logic:

IF the 24 hrs function on ExplorerII/Space-DwellerII is merely used to distinguish day from night, not display a second time-zone - - then it would not be necessary to split the dial into 24 separate markers (thus cluttering the dial). Indeed, day/night only is split into two groups; Day and Night. According to this logic, it would be sufficient to leave the 24-hrs hand without any indexes to point to: If its pointing to the right (01-12) it would be a.m. on earth (sic), if its pointing to the right (13-24) its p.m.

In other words, the dial simply has to have some kind of am/pm-distinguishing feature which separates the right part of the dial from the left. If the 12 hour hand points to "2" and the 24 hour hand points to the left, its "14".

I quite agree, the 24 hour function is not displaying a second timezone, but, I think that as the watch will have the 24 hour bezel (making precise 24 hour time possible) then there might as well be a way of precisely telling the time in that 24 hour format on the dial. Or, to put it another way, consider some of the Panerai GMT watches... They have the GMT hand, but do not have 24 hour marks on either the dial or the bezel. The hand provides AM/PM distinction with its sweep, but, given the lack of a 'timing scale' the hand is not really useable for telling the precise 24 hour time, which I feel is not making the most of the available function. It would be like taking dial #3 (actually one of my favorites ) putting it over a 1655 movement, but then putting it in an original Explorer case. It would look good but would have the same issue as the above-mentioned PAM GMTs: Not entirely readable as a 24 hour format. Now, to be honest, while the person living/working in space might not necessarily need that 24 hour readability and format, and dial #3 in an Explorer or Milgauss case would probably look really slick, as you are using the 1655 case which does have the 24 hour markings and an AM/PM sweep hand, I feel it would only be logical to maximize the utilization of those resources

Here are all the sketches for comparison. Numbers 1 and 2 are based on the 1655 dial but without 24hrs markers that use the lume triangle at 12 and 6 to separate dial into two halves (am right, pm left). 1 has explorer triangle, 2 has smaller sub triangle. Number 3 is Datejust style, number 4 is the same, only with 24hrs markers among secs. Number 5 and 6 are even more self-explanatory! Nitty-gritty details to be sorted later. Any one of these good enough?

mg

#s 5 and 6, I really like the layouts, but as before, I think more suited to a 'low impact' watch like the DateJust. I do really like the simplicity of them though #3, likewise, I feel is nice, but more along the lines of the original Explorer. I think it would make an excellent beater, easily readable, but as above, wouldn't make full advantage of the 24 capacity of the movement or case.

I'd be interested to see how the triangles and 'long seconds' from #1 would look on #4... I think that the triangles in those positions makes a nice 'separation' of the day/night halves of the dial, as each marks 'twelve o clock'. I really like how #4 has the additional 24 hour marks, as I feel that is an essential for this watch, and, it does so in a way which is much less cluttered than the 1655. As the 'even' hour markers on #4 are quite thin, I think that having the 'long seconds' might not clutter the dial too much. My experience with the 79190 dial is that while the 'long seconds' can make the dial seem smaller (but not cluttered) with less open black area they do make it very easy to read the exact time, as the minute hand 'touches' over each, so even at a glance, one can see precisely where the hands are pointing, compared to say a 16610 dial with the shorter second marks which the minute hand does not reach...

I just had another thought, looking at my 1655... How ebout re-enameling the lines which represent the 'odd hours' on the bezel? All the lines between 18 and 6 in deep blue, and all the lines between 6 and 18 in deep red, as a little homage to the Pepsi GMT... I think doing the numbers themselves might be a bit much, but just the lines, I think might make a nice touch

Me thinks that the bear would be eating a rare TeeJay steak

100% halal

Delta / Ubi ... funny you should say that, I saw five bears this weekend, almost ran into one on Sunday on my mtn bike. I stopped about 40' from him and told him to beat it, and he just looked at me like "excuse me?" It took some convincing but I eventually persuaded him to scram.

Here's one on the road in front of my house

Now how do I get him to WEAR the watch?

This might be a crazy question, but I'm something of an animal nut... Would it be possible to befriend the bear Gentle Ben-style, or would approaching one just end in being big furry's lunch?

Heres another version. The idea on this one is to not use hrs indexes, relying on the bezel indexes and fatter minute indexes where the hrs indexes would be.

The secs hand WILL be that big. However I

Damn, gotta love this forum.

For vanity reasons, I think I might consider getting rid of the triangle at 12 (found on Explorer, Sub, SD, GMT) and instead have a bigger crown logo (as per Milgauss, Daytona etc). Just thought I

Oliver was a man ahead of his time. Two or three years ahead, by the looks of it!

Thanks for the find, I quite like the look of that, although I must admit, I do have a fondness for the 1655 hand-set, it's just the dial layout which bugs me to use (love it to simply appreciate aesthetically though )

I just had a thought, maybe this custom watch was along the same lines of how the Submariner evolved into the Sea-Dweller, by use and reports from professional divers, and this modification was what turned the 1655 into the Explorer II (should be Explorer III ) of today

MqQueen never owned an Explorer II as far as anyone knows, and as far as what he wore in films, there is only information on him wearing either his own Submariner or a TAG Monaco. Collectors are using his name to artificially increase the price of this model as a collectible. This is MHO until there is proof he actually owned one.

As far as this new rep, it looks real good for the price, and nobody here has yet to mention one real improvement made, the minute and hour hands are a lot closer in thickness to what they should be. As far as the lume color, too yellow for me, however there are gens out there that have yellowed lume similar to this. I think the photo processing for Josh's website has done this rep a dis-service, and we have seen this before.

FYI - Oliver Shepard (trans-global expedition), apparently wore a 1655 with a GMT Master dial fitted to it, so that kinda tells you just what people thought of the 1655 dial's readability.

Cheers

I'm building me one of those Do you know if the watch retained the Explorer handset, or used the GMT handset?