Victoria

LOL! No airs and graces there. Or hair. Good stuff, Pugwash. You should check out the Panerai clubs in the UK...frightening. I've seen less skinheads at Millwall matches! P.S.: Remember, Pugs. Middle-class people get into debt to act like the rich. It's not the rich who make the world a playground for merchants, but the middle-classes.

Here's a photo of that German lady I mentioned up top. That's her daughter wearing a Bangkok special. Not bad for an MBW. EDIT: I believe she is too, but it's hard to tell. Daughter is an acquaintance of mine. Check out the geeky German grinning like a chimp in the back.

Teach me! Actually, yes the 005 looks gen, and the 111 looks like a DSN because of the tell-tale lever-dimple. Something also looks a little off about the dial in the 111h, but can't put my finger on it. For a split-second, it looked like a sausage dial. BTW, strapwise Chad, flawless. A+.

Thanks for reminding me! I'm on it. Please check the Start of the Week Wristies this Monday for an update.

Got it in one. Stalker! Seriously, though. If you see me, tell me the next day. Don't come up to me, because I'm not nearly as friendly in person, as I am here. As DBR says, we British are reserved. Don't want you to walk away muttering to yourself, sheesh, what a harridan! Or some such. EDIT: Unless you're wearing a Classic Big Pilot first! @Lumpy below: I know, don't worry. RWG is not like another forum where I get creepy PMs for photos and "wanna meet me" etc...

I forget. Here's a Wristie from yesterday, early in the day.

THAT, m'darling, is what they want you to think precisely because of this attitude. Case in point: One of the richest persons I have ever met is a German F

To the last three gents who posted -- flawless! @Seadweller400: LOL! Best laugh I had all day. God, Germany is so beautiful in autumn...that looks like Heidelberg, though you've already mentioned where you are. @Raymond: I am so excited for you about your watch and strap! Those photos are perfect, and since an HKTAN strap might take a while, I will use Kurt if I buy a 3717 (looks unlikely now, ever since I saw the Norwegian German rich possibly gay Nazi's Classic Big Pilot in person). @Slai: You are COOL personified. That is all.

Middle-class people who want to ape the rich? Pugwash, as I said, it's not about not spending money, it's about attitude and mind-set. Coming from a background where I lived breathed and ate alongside these people, I know that their cheapness is a form of protection. It's all-pervasive the older the money, too. Bottom line is, their cheapness stems from a gnawing feeling that they are being taken advantage of, because they are rich. And they HATE that. Who doesn't, I hear you say. Sure. But they have a point. People try to take advantage of those they consider wealthier than they, almost as if they have a right to their money. "They have money! Why shouldn't they give me more!" BTW, this attitude is what has kept me away from modding so far. Someone like the modder we spoke of earlier in the week would just see $$$$ with a person like me, and that KILLS me.

NOOOOOOOO. I don't want Panerai to become the new Rolex. NO NO NO. With numpties who know nothing of the marque, its history and just buying pink or ammo straps just because. :yuk: Well, fortunately, New York is not America, as the old saying goes. Yes, hard luck for you Defacto, but I have yet to see a PAM in 5 days, let alone 5 minutes and I live in Trend Mecca USA. When I go on holiday this December, we'll see...probably New York, so don't die a little inside when you see me, okay? @Defacto re: Tribe: Sorry about the result for you BUT anyone who expects a bottom of the 9th rally, down 5 runs, with Papelbon at the plate, and his hard "no sh-t Sherlock" stare, is fooling himself! P.S.: What was the deal with Beckett's Navajo-Cherokee collar and shark tooth around his neck?? I thought that was forbidden during a game, since it can distract the batter. I mean, GO SOX! and I love Josh, but come on. Even that grated on me.

Oh forget it. When I'm about to go outside, since my torch is right next to my watch cabinet, I immediately grab it and place it on my watchface for 5 minutes! Lady with the Lamp. Yes, vanity. But it looks SO COOL!

I love that you LOVE your Arktos! It's great to fall in love with a watch, coup de foudre or slowly. As for DYEING your strap, wow. I once tried to follow Sssurfer's excellent tips on dyeing PAM strap threads here: http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=9148&hl= And I used a pricey Dirk Nubuck. Ay! I had to stop. Turned out horribly. What a dunce. How I wish I had your skills!

Good point. However, I am startled by how quickly the spendthrift scions of "Old Money" suddenly get the cheap bug. It rarely fails. In the old New England families, the Saltonstalls, the Cabots, the Lodges, as well as the Southern plantation families, you see this attitude. The matriarch of a very well-known Southern family once told me, "Dirt no. Patches yes", to describe how she allowed her son to go out dressed. I think that attitude is laudable, and much better than the gaudy, flashy, disposable ways of many new millionaires (don't think just American, either. We have plenty of Eurotrash, believe you me...). It may be "smart", clever IOW, but it is also inconsiderate and therefore, at the very least, bad manners. At the very worst, a lack of empathy and balanced perspective on life. I'm not saying I never allowed someone to treat me and vice-versa. But when I notice someone is taking advantage of me, by always expecting me to fork out, forget it. They are dropped quicker than Larry Craig at the Police Booster Club. Ah. Well, rare RARE is the time I don't leave a tip. We have Cuban cafecito joints here in Miami. The cafecito costs about .50 cents. I pay with a dollar, in effect leaving a cafecito's worth of tip to the ladies. Do they thank me? No. But that's okay. They're working girls, and heck, I wouldn't do what they do. God bless 'em. Possibly. I can only go with what I've seen, but I think, with my hand on heart, that making your servants pay for such commodities as coffee or tea would be considered scandalous in another age. Maybe in the age where servants are paid a little better, no. But I mean, crikey. Anyone who cleans my toilet deserves a nice cuppa on me. Well, there we are then. I thought our convo was rather fun, actually.

So far, my answer is closest to TMG's. Like almost everyone with a decent-sized rep watch collection, I don't have a daily beater. I change watches as many times as I take a shower and therefore clothes, so 3 times per day in the SoFla heat. Never less than twice per day. NEVER. But sometimes, I notice, when I just want to go out for a walk, and it's muggy or rainy outside, I reach for a watch which I call Old Faithful. No. Not a PAM. It's my Navigater Pumpkin PO, now settled unto its orange NATO strap (thanks to Chubbchubb's and TMG's tips on buying one). Comfortable, good-looking, fits perfectly AND you can see me coming a mile away -- important at night.

On theory, I agree. But I've had a girl pinch my bum at a club, and I slapped her hand away, startling her. I was wearing all black togs, with Doc Marten boots, and very little makeup, so I'm not sure if I was sending out the wrong "signals" that night. I mean, I'm still me -- a girly girl. But I still wore my black togs and Doc Martens other times. Sex-pests of any gender shouldn't ever prevent one from doing what one likes. P.S.: As a girl, come ons/being chatted up are a normal part of life. I expect it. Depending on how its done, I can laugh, go "ugh", be charmed or creeped out by it. Part of the problem with the gay thing in males, is that you don't want ever to invite that kind of "come on" from another man, yes? You are supposed to be the chaser, not the chasee, the "dominant" partner, not the "passive". To me, this is the single-most obvious reason why there are gay threads, even light-hearted ones like this thread has been, on male-centric forums. Because you can sure bet "Does this make me look gay?" threads don't occur in women's forums.

Jfreeman, that's a great idea! Though I'm down the pike from you, I wouldn't participate in the PAW activities, I still think it's laudable and fun. Not sure if this was posted only in the VIP section, but TWP also will be modding a PAM 111 or 112 as a PAW (since I have both, won't participate in that either), so potentially RWG could have two going around. The more the merrier!

Yipes. You've been hanging around the wrong kind of man in Thailand.

Not another gay thread, have mercy! You called? If you want advice, you can't have come to a finer gentleman than Sssurfer. I would follow his counsel slavishly. Never bought a PAM from Silix, sticking only to his Rolexes, so my input would be minimal alas.

Don't worry, he made me do the same thing. Par for the course. That would be most helpful, for future member research! I commend my fellow Latinist, and hope you also had the Cambridge Latin Course, sharing in Caecilius and Metella's fun stories.

I think nouveau riche people may not do this, but the people I know certainly do. Gentry in the UK don't buy new sheets, or counterpanes/bedspreads. They send theirs out to be mended, year after year, decade after decade. The Queen hasn't bought a new Land Rover since the 1970s. The Daimlers date to the late 40s. The famous story of Mrs. Nancy Reagan arriving in a spiffy black shiny limo, with police outrider escort, only to meet the Queen emerging from a muddy, old Land Rover which she had driven herself, is still remembered in the UK. There is a difference. I stand by my conviction that rich people are the cheapest people on earth. Doesn't mean they can't be Bill Gates and donate a billion to UNICEF. But Steve Jobs is a horrible tipper and rarely pays for his own bill, leaving it to whomever is his lunch partner to do so. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about. That's my mum all over, bless her. This is why I overtip, in compensation for my parents' UTTER UTTER cheapskateness. Wow. What can one say? EDIT: OH! BTW, another Queen anecdote. She once came upon a couple of footmen in a huge, brightly-lit room in Buckingham Palace, having a hearty chat. She stared at them, harrumphed, and turned off the lights in their face. Hey, she's a child of the Great Depression and the War. But man is she cheap. In her case, since we're paying, good on her!

Dluddy, that La Spezia is JUST amazing. Got mine on Monday, but your patina kills mine. How long will it take to get that patina? I'll even put it more frequently on my strap rotation, to get it to "age" to that brilliant brick red colour. Hope V pipes up too! Great shot, thanks! GO SOX! ...but fair play to the Tribe too. @Tom Riddle: My word what a keen eye you have then!

LOL! That is craziness. Cool shot, Tom. See you rocking that PAM 111 bracelet after all. P.S.: Where you next to the girl with the pom-poms?

FRIDAY Ahoy there, mateys!! It's Friday and that means my new Cartier Tank Solo from Andrew!! Dial close-up. Great Rose Gold, but that rep leather strap as JSmith11 says, is fughazi. SATURDAY Okay, so do you remember that scene in Casino Royale, when Bond has to chase after the baddie from the Bahamas to Miami? Minute 41:37 in the DVD. See that building with the ridges to the left? Check it out! We call it the Wedding Cake. Problem is, that's not QUITE the route to Miami Beach, as shown in Casino Royale. This is the way! DSN Fiddy on Manifatture Firenze Vacchetta black strap. MF make SIMPLE, elegant straps which don't feel like you have a cow on your wrist (6.5mm, WTF ammo straps?!). SUNDAY I started with Cartier, I'll end the weekend with Cartier. This mini Ballon Bleu with some daisies. Avast there, mateys, have a great weekend! @RXUS: Thanks so much! I was excited during the BoSox-Tribe game, so I had to find something to do at the end. Catch you when you wake up, neighbour.

Oh boy, you sound like my boyfriend who wanted to watch a rerun of Seinfeld on the ex-WB channel... Whoo, Beckett!! 11Ks. Hope your college football game is good, Lani, because he's been DOMINANT. @Anton: Ahh, okay. Thanks for the clarification, Anton.

Since the ALCS is still going on, and the World Series is coming soon, here is a general Wristie-thread for you baseball fans! Me, watching Bobby Kielty of the Boston Red Sox, at the plate. Poor lighting in my library/comp room! TWP PAM 217 on Greg Stevens Crazy Horse with antique stitching.