P4GTR

I'm leaking my collection of spare parts like a siv. If it's not bad enough most of these arrive broken, I'm just adding insult to injury sometimes. I've accumulated a nice little trove of parts, and knowledge enough to apparently be dangerous. I figured i'd try to "build" a better sub, using the sum of my best parts. We'll I've managed to destroy most of them. i've unsuccessfully fixed the keyless works of a gen eta 2836. I've erased the print off of a noobmariner dial in an attempt to clean it with a touch of rubbing alcohol. I've scratched a set of hands. I snapped a stem off into an asian movement. I dremeled the tube threads of a sub case shaving the crown guards. lets see... Ive realized that every single dial has posts in a different position than the next dial. I've gorilla glued myself to just about every mechanical watch part invented. I've lost enough tiny screws and orings in my carpet that the dog has probably found and ingested enough stuff to build herself and finally answer the question "who has the best sub". I've flung a brand new WM pearl across the tile floor and spent hours roping off the scene and scouring it inch by inch. I did find it. I've poked a tweezer through the lume application on a subs minute hand. I've stabbed myself with enough PO bracelet pins that my fingers think they are acupuncture test subjects. nothing fits together. Never allow me to swap a part from one watch to another. I will break both of them. I have this accumulation of extra parts because every time I go to put a watch back together I have "extra" stuff leftover. I have a tacklebox full of watch parts and tools and have depleaded half of my stash in one week of trying to increase my skills. I know there's been threads like this before but I've had an especially unlucky week of watch modding. Feel free to laugh at me or share your own frustration.

I am not comfortable with not knowing what so many Panerai terms mean. So may we start a glossary? Maybe sticky it? If you have something you think will be a good addition or need something explained, please post it up. What does Destro mean? Pre-V (I know its vendome, but whats that?) What are the letters designating? 177H/I/J/K/etc.. I can update this 1st post with a running glossary unless someone has a link to one already done? We need something.

was found passed out in exstasy atop a pile of your pumps?

I love my SFSO. About once a month it bats its eyes at me from the watchbox and I lose all control as it romances my wrist all day long. Today is one of those days. Factory AR working hard. The crystal is usually invisible. Its better than the double AR on my gen TAG. More scratch resistant as well.

Nice The rep socks say Ken.. But those glittery heels, maybe allergydoc!

Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he'll eat for life... SEARCH!

Nanuq and lani seriously. You two take every possible opportunity to bust out the heels.

I started off intending to answer a question about a vip mariner on RWI and ended up with this long post. Anyone thats interested in trying to take the best of the ETA/VIP/Perfect sub and the noob sub and combine them, or simply pull those ETA movements out of their older subs and put them in their noobmariners, this might be of some interest to you, so I wanted to document it here. Swapping ETA sub guts from the VIP into the noob cases seemed to be the best way to "upgrade" the movement quality of noobmariners. I can only tell you what my experience was along the way having tried this past week. It is possible. With the better guts from the VIP in the better case set, a WM pearl and bezel sanding, this would be the best sub for the money imo, especially for those that have one or both lying around already. Unfortunately its far from a direct swap. If you pulled the ETA movement, dial, hands and all, from a VIPmariner and dropped it into a noob case you would run into a few problems. The crown and tubes are different sizes. Swap the stems from one crown to the other to fix that. The movement holders would stay with the case they were originally intended for. The first real roadblock is the date position, or shall I say the date mag, which is further to the right on the VIP. When you drop the ETA guts from the VIP into the noobcase, the date mag isn't going to line up. At all. This is pretty much the part where I ran out of talent/ambition. I could probably get the date mags off, but putting them back on? Thats a lesson i've yet to learn. Items of note: The noob dial is considered to be more accurate, so you could swap the dials out, but I couldn't tell you what this would do with the date position issue. It wouldn't rectify it, and theoretically you'd have to swap date wheels now too. Anyone that can do this could probably figure out how to service a movement and hell, you're well on your way to becoming a watch smith. Before you found these forums you just wanted a good fake Rolex for under $800. Ha! Now look at you. I've noticed on a recent noobmariner I received that the end links and inside thighs of the case lugs aren't as good a fit and finish as once touted. Oh there's gap alright. More than on my VIP, which is admittedly good (for a VIP, you can be the judge. further down theres pics.) Noob cases without the rehaut engraving are still around, but drying out as apparently they aren't being manufactured. The noob is great, but something no one seems to mention is the non-beveled edge running up the case lugs is an instant giveaway. That and the fact that the very heart of the watch itself (movement) is such a problem, means this no longer the A-list Sub it once was. At least to me. You can ID the VIP as the infamous "perfect" subs that came on the scene two plus years ago. The crown guards are uneven if you look down the lugs at them. The worst part of the case is the conical "wokky" rehaut. Josh's "classic ETA" sub is the VIP/perfect/wok mariner. The case does have beveled edges running up the lugs, whereas the noob cases are flat ground from the polished sides to the top brushed finish. Bezel teeth are also crisper than the noob, but the teeth themselves aren't of consistant size. The bezel insert print on the VIP is better than the noob. It's really such a give and take. The gen has a slight slight conical look to it, even head on (granted no where near the likes of the VIPmariner), you can see that here, and also see the beveled edge I am talking about that runs up the edge of the case. Gen: Basically if you handed either watch to me I'd be able to ID it as a fake within one second, as would any of you now, if you made it through reading this post. WM9 is the creme of the crop sub. I've yet to handle one to tell you what the instant giveaway is on that. The price is about 7 payments away from a gen. Thats a problem. I'm so quick to admit "its fake" to anyone and everyone that shows any interest in my sub that its just not worth a heavy investment. I'd feel like a douchebag because at that point who am I trying to fool? Beveled edges? Conical rehaut? How scrupulous are we going to get before the only satisfactory resolution is to buy the gen? Both the noob and VIP have their positives and negatives. Both are capable of being water tight. That, and the reliability of the movement has made my first rep, the vipmariner, a rep I still enjoy keeping in rotation. Unless you're on one of these forums you probably won't know any better looking at my watch, but have only to ask me. Like Fakey said, people are going to assume its fake before they assume its real, if they even care at all.. They certainly aren't going to ask. If they do, the cats out of the bag and I'd rather the answer to the second question they ask be "$2-300" rather than $600+ My VIP-

you guys are always in that list. I think Nanuq and Lanikai are posting in a mod forum we can't see, sometimes I dont see nanuq posting so much but he's ahead of me.. and I can be a postwhore (apparently). Glad to see you posting here Dems. I missed the entertainment when I came over here from 1.

Lani, I'm missing a ceramic HBB. Black magic. I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Happy bday my friend. I just went on a trip for my bday. Was gone a few days with my 177H, some straps, and my gen Calibre6. But I missed, and can't seem to stop wearing...

if it didn't get stolen then it didn't grow legs and run away- it'll turn up. couch cushions its waterproof I assume but maybe it was taken off by a sink/pool/tub? back porch? grill? take it off to mow the lawn? sitting in the garage? on a workbench? take it off at a friends house? take it off at work to prevent desk diving? is it in a parts box/watch box/ other watch designated area? drive a manual? around the shift [censored]? put it on the nightstand in the throws of passion knock it off behind the bed? Behind/under the bed period? bottom of washing machine? wives purse?

Earlier versions of the gen had the box second hand, then Breitling switched to the arrow. There are both in the rep world, too. Narikaa's got an arrow or two listed (and is a great guy to deal with btw). heres a pic right from his section- http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2007-9/1278421/BREITLING%2080502a.JPG

Talking about the thread over on the geek? Believe it or not, I'm not active nor knew it was even there. I got the idea from a car forum I used to frequent a long time ago. My initial thought was to make a few threads to get people posting around here.

That guys hard to miss though, I was thinking the same thing as Ubi! ahh. A safe, for your safe queens. After asking 2.5 mil for a watch, It's ballsy to market the other two watches as free.

solar impulse made me pulse in my pants!

I love a good lube convo as much as the next guy, but i'm going to take a sec to change the subject and say, nice pam! Nice to see your top bridge doesn't have that shoddy decoration work that doesnt match the other bridges. I love this shot! If you still have one, want to email a higher rez copy of it to me? blueboost@gmail.com Enjoy, and as fun as rubber and lube can be, shop some leather for that naughty new girl you got there. Grrr!

I'm very impatiently waiting on a skyland. Not that it's going to stir much attention on the boards, but i'm crossing my fingers my first 7750 isn't going to be broken, and sharing some pics. screw watches, the real interest around here is the word association thread! What are we at, page 46? The boards have been a bit slow in general I think. It comes and go's though.

Franken/built-up WM9- $1200+ Genuine 16610- $4400+ saying/knowing "It's real"- Priceless. For everything else, theres Mastermeister.

I'm so sorry man. I bet they were loved and spoiled very much. Keep yourself preoccupied. Time to pick out a new book to read, or whens the last time you looked around the gen watch websites, etc. The sadness will pass, but you'll always remember the happy parts.

why can't an auto company make a car that looks like a ferrari or lamborghini and not charge hundreds of thousands of dollars for it? Making a car look like a ferrari instead of a 350Z is not the costly part, its the capability underneath the skin.

In terms of value? WM9 is what isn't worth it to me. Mod it to the hilt, franken everything... Thats thousand(s) of dollars to have the same reply as the guy with the $100 noob sub when someone asks about it. "Its a rep." No watch is worth $5,000, $10,000.. $100,000.. None of them. For the most popular toolwatch ever built, fully in house, most respected watch co. in the world, owning the gen would bring a lot of satisfaction at least for me.

Honestly, I don't know. Subs hold their value pretty well. I don't make a lot of money, so $5,000 is a lot for a watch. Even if there's a 1:1, I still don't care. With the 16610 I always feel like somethings missing. I don't get that feeling wearing my rep SFSO or PO.

Good to see you posting. Thats a fantastic piece of work you've got there.