TeeJay

That looks really nice, J That style of bezel is best paired with the presidential bracelet, and I've seen those shaped markers on vintage DJ dials, they do look really sharp

That pearl really is the icing on the cake

About 10 years back I trained with a really nice guy who told everyone he was Persian.

Actually his family came from Kuwait, and as an outstanding scholar in his school he was introduced to Saddam and given a Patek Philippe (I think a Calatrava) with Saddam engraved on the dial.

Sad thing was for years post 9/11 he kept it in a drawer because he was too afraid to ever wear it. He even thought about asking a jeweller to scrub the dial!

Wonder what it would be worth now ...

Probably worth a pretty penny I remember reading that fashion photographer Nigel Barker wore a Rolex given to him as a child by Gaddafi. Again, something probably worth a pretty penny

And the magnigication of the cyclops is off, and the case lugs are sans diamonds, where the pic kbh loaded shows diamond inset into the lugs. I stand by my previous comment that nothing on the watch looks right. The source is irrelevant, they could easily have taken in a rep in error. The price also, as mentioned, does not seem right. I recently saw the identical gen of my DJ for sale pre-owned in a jewellers, and that was priced at over £2000

Really? What are the tells?

As kbh said, there is literally nothing close to correct on it. Even the shape of the hands and bracelet links look 'not quite right'... If it was a custom aftermarket dial (which do sadly exist) it would've cost ten/twenty times more than the price quoted...

Fantastic piece

The missing paint @ seven should be an easy fix. In the past, I've used the edge of a piece of paper dabbed in paint, as a way to apply a straight line Might the rehaut overlap the edge of the dial enough to mask the missing paint?

If you want it to glow, send it to the Spa, if glow is not essential... Nice acquisition

Good to see you posting, R, I hope life's been treating you well The watch looks really nice, a fine acquisition With regards your observation of the bezel rotation, don't forget that it is branded as a diver's watch, with a luminous pearl, so the bezel function is clearly still geared towards that timing function Also, while I appreciate that many GMT's are bi-directional (some smoother than others) personally, I would prefer the bezel to only be uni directional so the bezel could not slip away from the set time-zone if accidentally knocked, bur of course, that is just my .2c

I understand TeeJay and your right, I'm sure that does happen.

I used to work in dealerships in the 80's and car salesman often wore fake watches.. even fake Varnet sunglasses! I guess that's how I got my opinion.

I would certainly take your first hand experience over my hunch any day of the week

With the dealers and the watches and glasses, that I can understand, as a way of 'creating the look' for conforming to a certain image, like a yuppie and his business suit, and maybe a case of 'fake it till you make it' before 'upgrading' to the real accessories later in their careers Personally, I'd rather be called out for wearing a rep, then have to admit to spending the pricetag of a gen, but then again, I've been accused of being awkward and bloody-minded on more than one occasion

Welcome back, dude

I'd suggest having a word with JMB about a decal I suspect the hands will need to be a modified set of DateJust hands, but who knows what treasures can be found online

Personally I probably make my judgements based on age or profession, but I usually don't give it much of a thought when I see someone wearing a gen.

If I did.. it only would be that, for instance I see a 22 yr old climb out of 90's economy car wearing DSSD, my thoughts are going to be rep. Profession wise.. car salesmen, gamblers, dealers etc..I will be thinking possibly reps. Other than that..I agree with Ronin, the majority that are out there that I see are genuine.

Until I found the rep community a couple years ago (I lurked awhile before I joined the forums) when I thought of a fake watch, it meant canal street Rolex to me. I had no idea the level of reproduction that was going on.

I have been into reproductions of things for a very long time, and when I found this community I felt right at home.

Ironically, car salesmen, dealers and gamblers are all professions where I personally, would actually think the reverse, as any one of them might get the occasional Big Score on somthing, thus being able to afford the gen item

The places where I have seen HBB are: Las Vegas, South of France, and the Middle East, and Sports Stars. Out of the handful I saw, I would venture a guess that the ones worn by Caucasian 20 to 30 something males are the REPS.

Really? I guess this all depends on where you live, occupation, and social surroundings. I think "Its a Rolex and therefore must be fake" line of thinking is out of date, or localized to certain sociology-economic groups, and REP enthusiasts suffering from our own version of Medical Student Syndrome. I travel a lot for work, spend time in board rooms, Sushi Bars, and live in a major metropolitan area-- The majority of watches I see are GEN's. I would go as far to say, in my neck of the woods, 2/3 to 3/4 of the Rolex and other luxury brands I see are GEN.

As for a nice vintage, why is there this other misconception that they must all be beat to $hit? I have had watches handed down to me by my Grandfather and Father dating back to 1918! For the most part they all look practically NEW, because they have been "properly cared for". A casually worn dress watch (weddings, funerals, formal functions) from the 1960's, could/should look fantastic. Finally, if you sent in a 1675/1680/5513 from the 60's/70's to a Rolex Service Center, it should come back looking like a new watch.

Lets do some casual math/statistics. For the sake of argument-- between the rep forums there are about 30,000 "of us" out there, and lets say another 30,000 tourists to Rep hot spots around the world. Lets say right now based on that there are 60,000 REPs on peoples wrists right now. JUST looking at eBay, there are approximately 25,000 "complete/gen watches" between Rolex, Breitling, Tag, Panerai, and Omega. The microcosm that is eBay has roughly half of our 60K For Sale, which means at one time were on peoples wrists. Now factor all the GEN watches that out there and not for sale on eBay. Factor in Rolex produced 2000 watches per day in 2003. That is 730,000 GEN Rolex's produced in a single year! Based on that, I really do believe the majority of Rolex's on peoples wrists are in fact the Genuine item.

Final thought, these days people drop $500 on iPads, iPhones, and a fully loaded Mac Book Pro can easily set you back close to $3000. Is it really that unbelievable that there are people running around with $5000 watches strapped on their wrists?

Just playing Devils advocate here guys. "Living in our pool's, we soon forget about the sea" -Peart.

The numbers definitely confirm that the gens are out there in the wild, I think it just depends on where someone is as to what someone is more likely to encounter As above, in my hometown, I'm likely to see at least 4-5 nice gens in an evening at a bar, compared to where I am now, I'm lucky to see 4-5 nice watches in a year What I tend to see in the bars here, are douchbags wearing those 'fashion watches' aimed at women: Large dial, diamonte bezels, white pleather straps. Either that, or generic POS quartz chrome-plated watches. All being worn/displayed as if they're worth a zillion bucks, but none worth more than a cheap T-Shirt Another example, was a few years ago in London I spotted a kid wearing a rep at the bar. He was quite nicely dressed/well presented (in Jersey Shore Guido scheme of things...) acting like he was some Arab Prince, and wearing an SS DateJust Mystery. With the cutaway dial which shows the spinning mainspring To a casual observer, yeah, he 'looked the part', but if he had that much dough for real, he wouldn't've been wearing a rep, and wouldn't've been taking a date to a cheap student pub, but a swanky winebar in Chelsea

Nuff said, TeeJay.

Nice T

Thanks, amigos It just seemed like the right thing to do, and wanted to share with those I knew would appreciate it

Tattooed a poppy on my chest Thursday, so it would be there on the 11th...

Damn awkward to do by myself, so the lines look seriously amateur, but the colors went in a treat I figure rememberance is a permanantly thing, not just one day on the year A huge thanks to those who have served, and who continue to do so

Apologies, I'm used to using the abreviation for SMSs. SG = Singapore

I've said this before but nowhere else in the world is the wristwatch as status symbol so endemic. It seems like there's an AD or boutique on every corner. Like pubs in England.

Ah, thanks for explaining To be fair, I think Singapore is a more affluent place than England, and I suspect people have more disposeable income there The area of the UK I now live in is quite rural compared to where I grew up, and that definitely affects the watch-wearing habits of the locals. Back home with my parents, Rolexes and Breitlings would be, if not exactly common watches on everyone, certainly not uncommon enough to be considered unusual when seen. Where I am now, they're rare enough to not be seen, but equally, with family, I move in circles where watches don't register with folks. I've been asked once about a 16610 Sub I was wearing a few years back, but other than that, not a thing. I'll be interested to see if anyone comments on my DJ at the 80s party we're going to in December, simply because it might be seen by others as part of the costume, rather than assumed to be my watch. Equally, I wouldn't be surprised if no one mentions it at all

Funny thing about SG, you'll see rolexes on everyone from your doctor to your cab driver, they're gen.

Sorry to sound like a n00b, but what does SG stand for? For sure, there're a good amount of gen Rolexs out there, and I know a good percentage will be gen, I've just gotten a lot more suspicious of watches being reps

Just saw an advert on TV for eHarmony, and an older gent was wearing a Breitling Bently Flying B (I think that's what they're called...) He looked uncomfortable, and did 'the wrist flick' a few times

I've never been a fan of the HBBs, but that does look really nice

Going with the knee-jerk reaction, Rolex, every time, simply due to the historic availability of Rolex reps. To be fair, since getting into the rep hobby, I've started suspecting a good 80% of the watches I see in person as being reps. But, I would temper that by saying that that is due to the area I now live in. If I'm staying at my parents, I see a lot more nice watches, and know that the people wearing them (or at least their parents) have deep enough pockets to be paying gen prices (although I still discretely check for tells ) The other day I was watching a 'reality soap' with Wifey, and clocked one of the guys wearing an AP Offshore. Now, I know this guy and his crew are pretty affluent, his best friend wears a Cartier Tank which I totally accept as gen, but for some reason, I'm not buying the guy wearing the AP, even though I couldn't put my finger on a specific reason why

Great write up TJ. I miss my franken DateJust a lot. It is one watch I seriously regret selling.

Thanks, bro As above, I'm no expert on DJ's, but seeng as they're seldom in the spotlight, I thought I'd share some musings following my change of heart towards them Not sure if a case of my tastes maturing, or nostalgia for my first DJ clone, but I'm certainly feeling this new one I think the revelation was only delayed as the one on leather didn't see constant wrist time for me to fully appreciate it

I have some rep silver/stick and black/stick dials at the present... Also have another Franken finished as soon as I get 'round to making a bezel...

Excellent, can't wait to see the pics

The gold elements would make it unwearable for me, but you never know, Woof* might be interested

I'm currently stuck on my SS white faced DJ. I put it on about 3 weeks ago after replacing the dial and haven't taken it off since. It's knocked the Pam 288 off my wrist for a while.

I don't care if it is "an old man's watch". I find it iconic and I'd forgotten how comfortable the DJ can be after wearing a Pam for a while..

That's a really nice piece, I can see why it's getting prime wrist-time The TT behind it really reminds me of my old watch, but with my gold allergy, I couldn't wear one I totally understand what you mean about the 'old man watch' vibe, especially the fluted/jubilee combos and linen dials, but at the end of the day, they really are nice

Very nice writeup TeeJay,

Inspired me enough that I think I might have one built... or even just order one.

Thanks, and glad to have been of inspiration If you can track down the exact model you want, definitely a good watch to order I have a very specific white-dialed model I want to get next, it's just a question of tracking it down at a reasonable price