508-Fanatic

This is bits from a convo I had with Sogeha on here. I hope he doesn't mind me sharing it, because I think he made a great point. My thoughts: I'm curious about the Franken market, ups and downs and such. I know some extreme watch freaks out there, like the guys at HQ Milton, Paul Altieri at Bob's Watches and Ben Clymer at Hodinkee, Bob Maron - I've talked to them all, and they're of the opinion that Franken's should be crushed just like $200 rep's. They drive the secondary market and are the current "knowledge-base" so that tide-turn might come much later than we think... they'd have to appreciate mechanical charm and build, and the parts and get out of their head that original #'s matching doesn't always mean the watch is worthless.. Look at classic bikes/cars. If you send a Franken to Paul, you'll get a watch back with "REPLICA" engraved on your inner or outer caseback, depending on the mood he's in. Sogeha's thoughts: I remember when a franken Ferrari 250 was treated the way top quality franken watches are. Basically they are the same thing. Some genuine parts from a lesser model that are identical or can be made so and some replica parts. A 250 GTO is what 30 Million Stering whatever that is in Dollars, a California or SWB is a solid 20. Those replicas are now accepted on historic rallies and races partly because nobody is going to risk a 30 Million car in racing. The prices and demand for the frankens is solid despite Ferrari not recognising them. Rolex is never going to recognise "put together watches" it doesn't suit the imagine they wish for. But the same thing will happen. A top end 5513 gilt is now 20. How many people are happy having that on their wrist everyday? When they hit 50? I wouldn't spend that on a watch but I could if I really wanted. Probably you could if you wanted it badly enough, but would you wear it on the bus? I know I wouldn't. Plus as genuine watches increase in value, genuine parts will track them or maybe outdo them. Rolex is seriously limiting access to genuine parts and even Rolex doesn't have parts for vintage watches. The guys you mention. I don't know any of them, but I know of all of them. They all make a living selling watches and they are all "bigging up" stuff they wouldn't have touched ten years ago. Hodinkee in particular bangs the drum for a watch for a while, then low and behold they just happen to find a few to sell at the newly inflated price they created.

I would take them to a local jeweler, have them appraised, you may have more luck throwing a little money into them to get them in proper order but if you can't do that he may be willing to take them off your hands. The cream sub-seconds Seamaster dates from probably the late 40's or at latest early 50's and is worth probably around £175 to £210. These small 33-35mm dress watches unfortunately just aren't "in." The quasi-bullhead-style Seamaster (blue) is a neat retro 70's piece with the cal.1022 movement and a nice patina - this watch should fetch you around £1500 to £1750 depending on condition. These are more desirable and at 39mm are a contemporary size. Best luck!

I know I know, I'm just breaking balls. I like simple things, I'm a simple creature. For example.

Different like a Pontiak Aztek...lulz.

Another excellent point.

I can, the hands are wrong. The plots are wrong. The font is wrong. Look at the scale and size of the red triangle on the fake versus the genuine.

Fake, and I hate that watch. So many tells.

Had a college chum we called "bitch-wrists" because he had girl arms/hands and yet insisted on wearing gob-smacking awful huge watches. 50mm fashion watches like Nixon and Diesel and other garbage. I mean he's very successful now, so bitch-wrists has a Panerai lol, but he still looks absurd.

These could get me into PAM's

HR will print up custom dials for you - here's a vintage one I worked on. If you like I can try to help you.

Been a delightful Father's Day so far... Hope all of you are enjoying yourselves. Here's my all but gen 5513 gilt pcg. Not as tremendous as some of the builds here but I fancy it.

Fake Audi, that's a Volkswagen.

You really have to cobble two or three of these together to get one that's right.

Love them all!

Look around for a solid NDTrading dial, or see about picking one up gen

LOL that will make the worst rep ever probably, and I actually quite fancy it.

Gross... And what a clown.

I think it boils down to semi-wealthy craftsman, tinkerers and people with disposable income. It's the pursuit of happiness, for many it looks like sourcing the exact parts, haggling, trading and cobbling them together expertly gives great pleasure. Look at that stunning PCG that DBane just built, complete with cal.1530 movement. I think there's a sense of pride in it, I know there is for me and my 5513 which is garbage by a lot of standards but yet I've had offers (before they were told what it was, or if I was just phishing for compliments for $12,000 to $17,000) Still need a good 7206 for it and a less broken insert haha (but hey it's a well faded gen MKII)

FuuuuuhhhhhhFake.

I'll toss mine in for contention Basically gen gilt 5513 PCG

genuine

Swap the hands? custom watch!

If one is going to drop thousands of dollars into a vintage franken build just make sure it's done right... nothing worse than having sunk all this $$$$ into a watch that you're not happy with. When in doubt contact one of the master's for advice - and make sure it's done right. Might cost more, but in the end it won't be a losing proposition or something to be unhappy about.

Could be stolen? Not quite sure how they can do that...