anton

After an EXCESSIVELY long hiatus from the fora...I reorganized my priorities and gave myself some "me" space. Now I am back with a vengance. Wristshot:

I recently picked up these winding bridges online and am surprised I got them at a good price. They are automatic winding bridges. The one on the left goes to a Zenith Elite-based PAM, the right a 7750. They are authentic and make for a great franken project. Though I won't be able to use the one on the left anytime soon, the one on the right, coupled with an old finished movement (I am in the running for a Omega 7750) makes for a darn good rep. What do you gents think?

To defend the seller of the Ferrari model, he is not a shady dealer or scam artist. He guarantees all his pieces and gladly refunds promptly if a watch he sells are found to be fake. Throughout his history he has sold primarily dive watches and has sold some rare PAM gems (Chronozilla, Subzilla, Slytechs). We all know that the Ferrari models (aside from the gold reps) are good copies and could fool any so-called expert. But I am glad that Eric is looking for a new specialist and hopefully he won't get scammed again. Shame on the person who owned that Ferrari rep!

A gen dial can be had on the 'bay. Also, you might try going to the jewelry shops where they customize the SAs with diamond bezels and/or MOP dials. Because when they replace them...the originals are almost always for sale in their inventory.

Price is only dictated by what people are willing to pay for one's product. This is not to say that the ROO's are justifiably overpriced though. Concerning the movement, what is stated in that article is that the writer refers to AP's use of another manufacture's movement in their watch. What the writer doesn't note, though is that the movement is also used in other high-end watches as well (JLC 889, anyone? Have you seen it in a "run of the mill" watch?) Please note that AP uses a solid gold rotor weight and they are eccentric in their movement finishing. I am surprised that they don't put display backs on ALL their ROO models. The base movement is simply driving the "motors". Consider the module the "complicated" part of the watch. That is also beautifully finished and does not provide a "jerk" when starting the chronograph, as I have seen in most modular chronographs. Finally, please consider the fit tolerances of how the parts come together and the finishing of not only the exterior of the watch, but inside the lugholes, the screws, and between laser-cut and engraved parts. If you have the chance to inspect a gen ROO, I recommend taking a loupe with you. I think you'll see that AP was not sloppy in executing the quality of this watch.

Same here, Archibald. I got a Conquistador King Chrono dial (gen) I bought from a seller in S. FL for about that price.

Yes...it is nice to dream.

Hmmm...a watch I want relicated would be: A watch i want replicated would be:

IMO, the markup on gen FMs are insane. I guess some of the costs can be attributed to the fact they have Platinum rotors on their movements. But how much could that possibly add? I believe the list price of the SS model is $15,000. The gen is NOT AR'ed. I'm going to guess that the movement is based on a ETA7753 but I could be wrong.

Side view:

Replica: Gen in SS w/ Round Chrono Pushers:

I own a Mac on the go because it wakes from hardware sleep faster than any PC I've EVER seen. I own a PC at home because it still takes legacy hardware/software and has Caller ID software which autoscreens my calls and plays recorded messages. At work I prefer to stick with a pen and paper. Only because some jackass ran into my office a couple months ago and changed some values on my spreadsheet that was in Excel.

Perhaps Jakub got in well over his head with his modding services. I know some small business owners who would appear successful from the outside looking in, but administrative costs kept rising so that caused them to fold.

Breitling uses a 4-digit system and a revision code on their watches. I am purely speculating on the revision code, but the first four digits represent the manufacture code on the watch. Example: My gen SA black dial has a code of "4906 B5" Which is that the watch was produced on the 49th week of 2006 (December 2006). It has the big wings, so it is version "B". (small wings are version "A"). I don't know in which order the colors fall, but black dial must be code "5", hence the "B5".

I used to trust the term "1:1". All the pipe dreams I've had about buying these rep watches and mixing them with gen parts flew right out the window. To "rep" a term from Freddy, I believe in the marketing hyperbole time and time again. I recently purchased a bezel for a certain watch advertised as a 1:1 copy and turns out that the bezel was too small. So maybe you could call it a 1.003950271:1 replication.

I am enticed...what movement did you use to achieve the desired crown height or did you just use the Cal. 3035?

Recently I received a Fiddy (PAM127) in a trade with an upstanding member in RWI. Although I am overly satisfied with the trade, I don't think I might be satisfied with the watch. Before I put it up in the trade section, I would to confirm what kind of movement is in it. Usually I can easily identify the difference between A6497 and ETA 6497, but I just want to confirm something here. Instead of the model number under the balance wheel, i have: "B99501", "V8ZE1", and the ETA logo. The bridges are engraved "PANERAI" all over them, but it's the "rough finishing" version. Lastly, it has Incabloc and a flared balance wheel. I'm leaning towards A6497, but the mainplate confuses me. Can the experts please assist me in identifying?

I started off with a black-dialed gen because it "appeared" smaller. Perhaps it was the illusory effect. Also, in some angles it would actually appear "graphite-ish" because of the effect the AR has on it.

If that's a rep then you can count me in for ten!

Good choice, Chad! You made a great decision getting the GMT. It has been in my radar, but because no AD had it (call me odd, but I like MY name to be on the warranty card), it is out of my reach. Not many are as deserving as you. In regards to taking a "break", I hope you're not serious. Don't you enjoy the camaraderie here?

I see the justificiation of transplanting a 2893 on a GMT2 w/ a modified 2836. As we know, a 2893 is a true GMT movement. An issue I've noticed about these bastardized movements is the slow(er) moving GMT hand that causes a lag, and a "freemoving" hand when setting the time that also causes it to be off. In order for the GMT hand to be nearly accurate, you would have to set it during the :00 hours. Freddy is right about the movement being thinner. And jdavis is also right about contacting Stilty. Because I believe he had a DateJust project where he transplanted a 2892 (maybe?) into it. As far as hand sizes go, here's a listing of Rollie-style hands that will fit a 2893: http://cgi.ebay.ie/WATCH-HANDS-FOR-ROLEX-T...tem310032582099

There are some members who have attempted this. In my recollection, I just remembered a Mellow Yellow that was swapped with a 7750 and a module that moves the running gears from 12 to 3. Oh, and BTW, the gen uses a 7750, not a 7753. Evidence of it is the lack of a "date pusher" on the left side of the case that is shown on virtually ALL 7753 watches. That and a slightly sunken datewheel that is not a characteristic of a 7753. My speculation is that the case parts in this so-called "Ultimate" version would or could be replaced with genuine parts (screws, strap, bezel, etc.) Everyone knows that the movement side of things would need some modding. Like changing the hands, for example requires replacement of parts or purchasing gen hands which would likely be VERY HARD to source. But good luck though.

That's not a fair correlation. People hate the yankees because they have a large bankroll and buys top talent while achieving less-than-stellar performances. Everyone likes to stick up for the underdog here in the states.

That datewheel looks eerily familiar...kind of like SOSF familiar. Who knows how many of us have a 6300 in our watches 'branded' as a 2824? Skepticism is at it again...though this has performed well, a good service ensures years of positive health.

Geez Robbie, who do you work for? Serta?