Victoria

"The Power of Christ compels you!" Where's me garlic and crucifix?? Yikes, that is a VERY evilish (?)-looking watch. Uh, wear it in good health, Pho?

Ztech, how can you say this after your lovely acknowledgement of HikeUSA's gesture (and subsidiary gesture by me) to you? Did a Supporter get that strap? No, it was you, a newbie! Be sensible now, darling. I know you must be smarting. There has to be an explanation. Also realise that yes, you're a newbie, and certain things others take for granted, or don't sweat over, will be magnified by newer members. I cringe over my earlier posts of complaint. But don't burn your bridges over what is really easily explained in a matter of minutes. You're a great new member, and it would be a shame to lose you in this forum. IMHO, but I think few would disagree.

Well, at least there are some people that appreciated him. Thanks for the link, too, Frank. "I doubt that this watch is representative of Rolex's historical production. Fifteen or 20 years ago, I believe the Rolex was what I expected this watch to be: a sturdy, minimally finished but workmanlike, reliable, work-horse. In thinking about how representative of current production this one sample might be, one must consider how a company produces 700,000 or 800,000 watches in a year. They are produced on assembly lines. Each part installed in the watch is selected randomly from a bin of hundreds or thousands of like parts. Likewise, each operation performed--or omitted--occurs randomly from among thousands of like operations. Thus, to believe that this watch does not represent the current approach to watch making at Rolex, we must believe that this single watch is the unique recipient of a dozen or more randomly-selected defective parts and randomly performed deficient or omitted manufacturing procedures. There are too many defects in this watch to support such an explanation. A mass-produced product with multiple defects represents, in itself, a form of statistical sampling of the total pool of parts and manufacturing operations and procedures. Clearly, the Oyster Perpetual Explorer is not a watch that I could recommend. The cost-efficient engineering of the movement is not remotely reflected in its price; and the extreme ease of service is not reflected in routine service costs provided by the manufacturer. The watch represents an extremely poor value if purchased solely to provide accurate and reliable timekeeping. And it is of no horological interest whatsoever. The contrast between the relatively good external appearance of the watch and the internal appearance is absolutely unparalled in my experience. I cannot think of another consumer product in which the gulf between the publicly perceived quality and the reality I saw is as broad as with the Explorer." Hmm, this burnt bridges? How ironic that in the rep world, had this been written by By-Tor or others, it would've been hailed as a masterpiece of honesty.

Is this accessible to non-Supporters, Doc? :lol: That actually happened to me at another rep watch forum. Oh and that older Arab-looking guy looks like Mohammed Al-Fayed. You'd think he could afford gen watches.

Nice reading between the lines, Blobe. I didn't even catch that. EDIT: Oh duh, newbie girl in the title. I was too affected by the spam I had ate earlier. Hideous. Don't go that route, Overture. Nice ID BTW. As others will no doubt have told you, the information is all there for you, at your fingertips. You just need to hit Search, and read for HOURS. Think of RWG as Home Depot: "You can do it. We can help." Try to look up all the Wristcheck threads. They're easy to find in the General Discussion area, because they have 5 stars (until July). Good luck! @HikeUSA: Thanks!

NOT IN THE WRISTCHECK THREAD TOO. Sacrilege. May a camel infest fleas up your bunghole.

Incredible. When I read the name, I thought, wonder if he's related to Clifford Odets. Absolute legend. I love "Waiting for Lefty". From one of America's greatest playrights to a WIS son. It must be difficult to be the son of outstanding individuals...

Well, I'll just concentrate on the Norwegian army bit, and say, WOW! Both in looks and functionality (one-hand snap offs, try that with a regular strap), an innovative strap. Yes, a little thin, but consider its background. I like it a lot. BTW, the purple croc shot is not mine. I am neither male, nor black, nor do I own that fine autombile. @Blobe: Yes, the gentleman said his wrists are 6.4". That's fairly small for a man's wrist.

You have a Senape?? You have a Black Seal?? There was a Crazy Sunday special?? I am always the last to know, Scoobs! BTW, this forum encourages people to buy reps, obviously. But the amount of gen Panerai owners since its inception is also remarkable. Some of us even wouldn't have heard of Panerai, if not for this forum. All Hail RWG!

Maria Callas rides again. Sideways! P.S.: Wow, this is called the Oakley Holeshot. Obviously the Ron Jeremy edition...

I keep an eye on his forum section over at RWI. As I've mentioned, for whatever reason, it has photos and more info there. Also, since I just placed an order with him on Sunday, he mentioned the 005 info in passing. The other stuff about the 228 GMT, etc. has been posted here by a few members (Sssurfer, for one). So basically, just email him and ask. @Ztech #2: He's a funny sort. Don't take it personally if he doesn't immediately reply. Sometimes he does, and sometimes he doesn't. I attribute that to Eastern practises of not wanting to say "no", if that's his answer about a specific model. He chooses silence instead, as they tend to.

Yeah, but it's a handwind manual. Basically, a Panerai is a Model-T.

Thanks a LOT for the heads up, Scoobs. I have McAfee Site Advisor installed. Whenever you visit a site, it gives you a green, yellow or red light. This site was red. e-mail tests for ec21.com: What our inbox looked like after we signed up here: Sample Inbox Subject Sender Date Mail server report. ser...@scholzes.com 2007 February Mail server report. ser...@niet.com 2007 February One virus e-mail After entering our e-mail address on this site, we received less than 1 e-mail per month. We received an e-mail which contained a virus." Info: "Contact information: Established in Country Popularity 1998 Korea, Republic Of Lots of users" So I'll pass. Thanks though, AMK000!

The "Fake Trade" is not specific to watches, at least in the 2 parts I have watched so far. - Part 1 covers the "official" reaction to the counterfeiting trade -- from corporate, to NGOs, to private investigators. It's very good. - Part 2 (started but haven't finished it) seems to concentrate trying to hunt down counterfeiters in other countries. It wasn't as good as Part 2. I posted numerous screenshots of Part 1 to give you a flavour of the documentary series. Check them out. Screencaptures: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=414298 My review of Part 1 (so far the only one to have reviewed it, at length): http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...mp;#entry414810

You know what's way too fishy? Lutefisk.

Image Shack was too! I had no idea the Mods were so powerful.

Basically, he's out of repland since Geeks is down. There's a part of me, no matter how twisted the situation is, that feels sorry for him. Having said that, I hate conspiracy theories as everyone knows.

Remember that rep watch people fall into two categories. And I'm a quality person, not an accuracy person. But then the details I target might be different from others. He's been lax about updating even his RWI section. I'll ask, but I think not. His "new" dial 005 comes out later this week. I'm stoked. You are sooo close. But you have to think outside the box. That's ALL I'm sayin'. @NuTymer: Hugs fellow 'Geek! Hope it comes back up soon.

Staggering photography skills, Old Skool. You are amazing! Found another one today: Love it. Similar to this one.

Heh. Thanks for the reply, Max. Next PAMs for me: 005, 228 GMT, and now, the new dial DSN 201a. So no worries there. But I WOULD be interested in the Cali 249, if not for this problem. The one I am getting now, which is a secret until I reveal it next week, is an open caseback but can be turned into a closed one (he's including it for me, for a small increment).

As you know, collectors are having a devil of a time sourcing Swiss/Asian ETA movements with swan necks. Since so many PAMs have the exposition casebacks, this creates another instant tell. My question arises here. - How important is this to you? - Are you going to wait to buy a Panerai rep, until the swan necks come back into production (one collector, DSN, says May-June)? Some people may scoff at something which is a detail, considering the dial itself has so many tells and one rarely exposes that underside anyway. I wonder why the lack of a swan neck bothers me now, so much, I'm willing to wait to get one. Is this a minority opinion? More personal note: Just bought another DSN this weekend, WITHOUT. What are my options in case I want an upgrade later?

One word. LUTEFISK!

@TeeJay: Well, I don't LIKE them-like them. But I sense chavs want something better out of life. They just don't have the right direction. They're different from the anarchist punks, animalistic football hoolies, and retarded skinheads of the 70s and 80s. The former, fatiguing though I liked them too. The latter, anathema. Actually, that's what Wikipedia suggests too. Their other suggestion is closer to what I thought... ...that Ned is a corruption of Ted, for the original hooligans -- the Teddy Boys. Only problem is, the Teddy Boys were very well dressed. These Neds...well, maybe they aspire to be fashionable with their Burberry togs. But they are limited in scope and imagination. Why can't British society produce Gothic Lolitas like Japan? "Little Bo Peep" "Little Bo Peep the Card Shark" And...apparently the love child of Frankenstein and Prince Albert.