TeeJay

Ask, and ye shall receive. Looks stock, glows like a torch. And I still wish I could have the "look" without the "glow".

That's a real beauty At the risk of not understanding, why would you want a tool watch, which could not perform one of it's intended functions? To me, that would be a bit like someone who lives in a cabin the middle of a forest buying an off-roading SUV, but always leaving it parked at the visitor's center and hiking too and from their cabin rather than driving right to their front door...

I broke it into five stages.

The 5 Stages of Rep Addiction

1. Obsession

2. Disappointment

3. Education

4. Appreciation

5. Boredom

It's that way for everyone. You get excited and ultimately obsessed with the hobby. Then disappointed once you hit a couple of landmines and realize there is no 'perfect Sub'. Finally you settle down, get some education (which never ends) and really start to understand the hobby. You begin to appreciate replicas as the fine works of art they are. You have owned two or three versons of that SS sub you fixated on for years and your purchases encompass a broader range of brands and styles. But eventually you see most everything and ultimately get bored.

The cycle repeats itself in a slightly different order for each person, but you never leave. The hobby owns your ass. It's like the Godfather and everytime you think you're out, a slew of new models come out and it pulls you back in.

Sounds about right to me

Well done.

In life if you ever find yourself in a bad situation, and I'm speaking to myself here too, it is always possible to make the Next Right Decision.

Absolutely. Even if someone does make a mistake, bad choice, or bad action, there's no reason that they have to continue to 'follow the darkside', it's always possible to turn around and start making the right choices Anyone who has done something wrong, realizes they've done something wrong, and make the conscious decision to never again behave in a certain way, and to do the right thing from now on, well, I'm not sure if it's possible to say how long someone should pay penance before they can be considered to be redeemed, but as with everything in life, it's not about the destination, but the journey

Once the reppers figure out how to match the fit-&-finish of a gen for $300, then it becomes a bit of a joke to spend $5,000 for the gen. But, as long as there is something qualitatively better about the gen versus its rep, we are not quite there yet.

With regards the watch-world, I quite agree with you To be honest, I think given the 'generic options' available in stores, consumerism and 'brand-name worship' could soon be an outdated concept. Of course, as long as someone can afford to buy a product, there will always be the argument that something has a value as long as people are prepared to pay for it. If someone can afford the brand-name, then there's often going to be little reason for that person to 'go generic', however, for those who can't make that expensive payment, and have to go for the generic option, it soon becomes clear to them that the generic product is often just as good as the branded

I have re-lumed all my vintages with super luminover because it is only half the tool if i cant read it in the dark, the purists may hate it but i often like to read the time at night in fact some times i like to shut my self in a dark room just for the fun of it.

Thia is my double red

If it was affordable i would snap up a lumi dial

+1

I'd rather have a lumed dial I could read in the dark than have one which would appear to be 'chronologically accurate'... I guess the happy medium would be to do a custom lume mix to try and give that vintage color, but still retain luminosity

Cheap Daytonas have the Day/Date/24 hour subdials, but I'm not sure if they have a date function...

but i wish i was with Hikes sig!!!!!!!

I mean what could you do with that?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

No, this strengthens the case for buying (ever-improving) reps. And I am not joking. I think we are closing in on the point where the joke is no longer on the rep buyer, but, instead, on the (new) gen buyer.

I think it has been for quite some time

Following a, well, let's just say 'accident' with the movement I canablized from my 6200, the Snowflake project isn't wearable at present Oh well, it needed a Swiss movement anyway for the hands... Given the heat, this is what I'm wearing

That's really great news

Yeah, I think so, too. That's why I decided to re-organize my rep collection!

Only one more watch I want to have badly - the WM9 sub. And perhaps I'll trade my UPO for the 42mm version - I think it's a bit clumsy...

No more reps than for a while! And I'll keep the ones, I still have atm.

Overflow, as Deniz said, may also be part of the problem... I counted about 25 rep watches come and go during the last 2 years or so. But as I said, it's hard to resist... I always want to see them in person... well, at least it's not that expensive as a hobby.

I have to admit, personally, I wouldn't go for the WM9 sub, simply because it is a modern sub, and I prefer the more vintage models, so to me, that would just be a lot of money for a watch which I wouldn't actually like any more than a $20 version with the same overall appearance, but of course, it's all a personal matter I'd definitely agree about the 42mm Planet Ocean, it really is a great watch and a bit more versatile that its big brother If I ever got bored of my Tudor Subs (or had to sell them) then a 42mm PO would definitely be what I would be considering as a replacement I think overflow depends on the frequency of a person's watch rotations... I only really change my watch for particular occasions or to account for hot weather, so I don't need a big collection, and, to be honest, when I did have a larger collection, many of the watches just gathered dust on my shelf... On the other hand, I know there are some of our bros here who change watch daily, sometimes even several times in a day, so for those, a larger collection does afford more variety... As with everything, it's all a matter of personal taste

Might be because of the cost of reps, they are easily replaceable Even though I sold my collection to pay for my wedding, to be totally honest, there were a few in there which I was actually bored of and never wore, such as my Submariner 16610, Pumpkin Planet Ocean and Panerai 127. Nothing wrong with them as watches, I'd just moved on from them. I'm now more into vintage models, and more Tudor-specific as a brand, I guess it's just a case of trying things out until you find what's right for you

Looking good

Looking pretty slick

I started this thread over at RWI: http://www.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/rep-jewels-54442.html

I don't frequent this forum, so wasn't sure if this belongs in general discussion or in repair (apologies to the mods in advance). Has anyone else seen this firsthand? I tried to PM The Zigmeister but was unsuccessful.

Interesting discovery, thanks for bring it up for discussion I believe Ziggy's PMs are off for a few months

What can I add? That's really a thing of beauty

Welcome to the club, bro

I'm gonna ask my parts guy if he can also get the more "vintage" case backs like you WE example. As far as straps go, I don't really like 'em, for the most part - except the ones that have end-links and deployment clasps look pretty good...

That'd be cool if he can get hold of that kind of casebacks I'm pretty much the same as you when it comes to straps. I like how straps look, but I find a bracelet more durable when it comes to day in, day out wear. For me, leather straps with buckles are for dress watches, straps with clasps are a bit more 'everyday' and definitely look sharp, but I feel pretty pointless on a water-resistant watch, as moisture will just affect the leather, and NATO straps, I just keep for either very hot conditions, or where functionality is key I do have a silicone tropic strap on order, which should be with me in about 3 weeks. My plan is to use it on the Chrono project, but if it actually has the back structure of the original tropic straps, and not just the basket-weave on the front, I could be tempted to use it on a Sub as a summer alternative to NATO, which I don't like getting wet due to the drying time

I've always viewed caseback accuracy as a 'flourish' on a watch (especially a project build). Sure, it's nice to get the correct one, but as it's so rarely seen, as long as they keep the movement in, and the water out, I tend to be happy

That said, I am planning on getting one of these, so I can use the caseback for my Snowflake project, and I'll just fit a blank caseback to the Oyster Date I'll then be swapping the bracelet for a black leather strap, just to have it nice and classy

I think I saw an identical dial, which would fit in a 36mm case for sale as well, that might well have to be a future project for me

I'm starting to like them more than Rolex!

All the looks, and none of the associated stigma

Damn that looks good

So, would this print be a candidate for one of the slarti dial decals?

I think it would be an ideal candidate for the decal process, the question being if Slarti would have the time to collaborate on the project (which sadly, would mean re-doing the entire design from scratch himself, as what I have saved, is a screen capture, so not really workable in autoCAD) My other idea, which I didn't get time to do, would be to actually have 'California' in cursive above the 'superlative chronometer' text, but I have to admit, I think the basic design stands as it is without the extra text

[Edit to add]

I managed to make a few tweaks in Paint to make it a bit more presentable, but I felt like I was trying to adjust the timing of a movement with a chisel and sledgehammer

Yes it can. I have inserted a couple of gen dials into reps. IMO rep dials were the weakest link in DJ reps in the past. Today the rep DJ dials are vastly improved even over just a year ago. The new DJ2 dials are great.

I cut the feet off the gen dial and then glued it to the metal movement ring. The cheap Asian movements have a plastic movement ring so I never attempted a dial swap on any of those. The result of the change was dramatic as the gen dial upped the appearance of the rep significantly. This is an easy mod for a semi experienced rep owner. Good luck with it and show us the results.

If the feet won't fit, I've used 2mm x 2 mm squares of double-sided tape to fix dials directly to the front of the movement. Sometimes, it's necessary to use a stack of three layers of tape to get proper clearance so the datewheel doesn't jam the movement at midnight, (and four individual stacks for a balanced result)but other than that, I've found it an effective method

That's a beautiful dial, TeeJay!

Thanks, I'm glad you approve, that really means lot coming from a builder of your caliber Had I been able to actually save the progress (I used an expired trial version of the software, so projects can be started, but not saved ) I would have done all the Rolex text and coronet 'in program', rather than having to import it, which resulted in the outline boxes (I'd've also done a better job of filling in the minute track ) I figured this dial in a modern Milgauss case would have looked pretty sharp