Victoria

Smith & Wesson watch.

Smith & Wesson Military Watch Black SWW1464BLACK

http://www.watchesgb.com/c/sw_military_watch/

* 3 INTERCHANGEABLE, STURDY REINFORCED CANVAS BANDS

* MILITARY TIME INSET

* DATE WINDOW

* WATER RESISTANT

* LUMINOUS HOUR/MINUTE HANDS

* PRECISION QUARTZ JAPANESE MOVEMENT

Most interestingly:

40mm pams look good but bigger maybe for some but in general i say no.

Okay, since you're the lone opposing voice, Dani -- tell us why you think women shouldn't or couldn't wear 44mms and above?

(Taking into account your "maybe for some")

It's always been my experience that the worst bullies are actually the most inadequate and plagued by self-doubt. I can understand the attitude of millitary pilots as they, by the nature of their occupation, must be able to do their job, and get people to follow their orders without question. Now, while I'd be the first to admit, a more easygoing approach does tend to get better responses from 'underlings',

Is that really true, TeeJay? Really true?

Another personal example. You know I'm a kind person. I'm like my father -- reserved, frosty, but not nasty. We have that middle-class sensitivity towards others both above and below us: kindness and consideration to all those who serve us.

But my mother is very dismissive of people under her, though always polite, never vulgar, never losing her cool.

Still, it shows, and it makes both of us cringe, because her attitude towards waiters, drivers, and servers in general is "short" and without affection. Need I tell you, she comes from a better social background than my father.

So guess which of us get the best results from "underlings"? She does. Always. They suck up to her like you have no idea. Meanwhile, dad and I, with our "please, thank you very much, and I appreciate that"s get the shaft. She is certainly not the only person I've seen like that, either.

Especially the closer you get to the East, the more they think you're weak if you're polite to those "beneath" you.

(BTW, I'm exaggerating about being kind. I have her German iron inside me too. I'm just a bit of an hypocrite and don't want to admit I'm tough as nails)

there are times, particularly in the millitary, where an order must be followed precicely and immediately. If someone where to feel that their every command would be second-guessed, or that subordinates felt that they could question orders, they would be ineffective in commanding those beneath them. That's not an attempt to excuse such attitudes, just an opinion on why it is necessary that they have them, and, when someone is trained to have such a persona, it can be very hard to 'switch off'... Something else which contributes to (in any field) the '[censored] factor', is the chips some people have on their shoulders. Those who feel that they 'dragged themselves up by their bootstraps', and struggled as 'the outsider' so are morally superior to the 'upper-class numpties' who had success handed to them, almost by birthright, absolute and utter assholes. Nothing worse than a self-righteous prig with a chip on their shoulder about 'their roots'. And back to the millitary watches...

Heh, I agree about that.

But often I've wondered how it would've been like to have a chip on my shoulder. I notice people like that often succeed, or die trying. Very sad people though.

Yes, back to military watches.

Another site! From Spain, once again, but a treasure trove of info!

http://www.watchoo.es/

Specifically:

http://www.watchoo.es/artikel_kat_64_0_0_r...jes_missin.html

You think too much, Miss Barrett.

We're watching you.

Do they include dread pirate Davy Jones?

That holds true in just about any walk of life. Those who are truly successful/capable let their actions speak for themselves.

I haven't found that to be the case in life.

Haven't you seen people who are tough as nails, but who are boasts, bullies, and just plain...well, assholes?

Think of any TOP professional athlete (not the average one, like Beckham), and I can only think of Sir Don Bradman, Jack Niklaus, and Wayne Gretzky, who are humble people. The rest, assholes.

Lance Armstrong. A-hole.

Michael Jordan. A-hole.

Tiger Woods. A-hole.

The same is true of businessmen (indeed, especially businessmen), and professionals. There are rare exceptions, like my own father, and probably a few on this forum, but I've noticed that the most aggressive men go ahead.

And humility and aggression rarely go hand-in-hand, IMHO.

EDIT: To make this a little "on-topic" given the thread, let me just say that naval aviators, navigators, pilots, etc. HAVE to be arrogant. Imagine doing what they do, hurtling thousands of miles into the atmosphere, plastering one's vital organs against one's ribcage, dropping bombs, sniping other planes, and NOT be arrogant. It's impossible. Or at least, highly unlikely.

BTW, my friend's husband's brother was in the NASA astronaut programme. OMG, major major a-hole. Astronauts must be like pilots, squared.

I paid for my own G-Shock. They would have provided me a Marathon if I wanted it but digital was more useful for my role. If your friend was given a G-shock during a class then Uncle Sam owes me 75 bucks!

Yeah, but that's not factoring in all the PX cigarette cartons you sold to your neighbours for a three dollar markup.

(Yes, I am absolutely sure he said he got it as part of the course. NOW, did he mean Uncle Sam gave it to him? Legalistic splicing, but it's been 10 years...wow, 10 years...since last I saw them, so who knows)

You are correct about pilots, especially Navy guys.

YES. My God, wow. I thought Top Gun was total BS until I went to Pensacola.

No one in my family is in the RAF (because in Britain, RAF is kinda ruff. It has lost it's glamour since WWII), so I had no direct experience with aviators. But damn.

OTOH, my friend's husband was the sweetest, most upstanding, most INTEGRAL person you could've met. And one after the other, all his Air Force colleagues were like that. They glow goodness...

Whilst being arrogant, of course.

I've spent quite a bit of time around them. They deserve to be proud but I can tell you I have seen many of them freeze up during action. I tend to think they would be better served by finding a little humility. From my experience the most dangerous and capable guys in the room are also the least likely to boast.

Also my experience with Army and Navy chaps.

BTW, my cousin up top was a roguish boy -- always teasing me, a bit on the cruel side, like British males delight in being (especially around women), but a bit of a noodle characterwise.

Next time I saw him, it was like he was now made of concrete. Though teasing as ever, it was tempered with world-weariness.

I asked him about it, and I'll never forget his reply: War is hell. But slavery is worse.

Excuse me, I think you're being very unfair. I think that musicians tops the whole list. Kanye West's ego outweighs all of the above 5 combined.

Musicians are smelly and totally raunchy, as well as socially awkward. They would be geeks if they hadn't pounced on the fact that chicks dig nice sounds.

Oh. Number 7: Librarians.

Emmzy Schmemmzy. I can't believe no one has mentioned my ex-Tamara Lempicka one! That oozed class, cool, and kittenish sexiness.

It was aristocratic oestrogen on wheels, literally.

But okay, I see. To get mentioned as having a favourite avatar, it involves:

Farts, masturbation, bad teeth, Jiggly Boobs, ugly unshaven men, nerdy 3-D cubes, and geeky computer alerts involving male humour.

You all SUCK. HARD.

BEAUTIFUL.

Big ass watch requires a big ass Ralph Lauren Polo logo. I love it, Raymond.

I started collecting watches with West End Watch Co watche's as they had a military side to them, many were issued to the Indian Army and has swiss works, i will have to take a couple of photos and put them in here. I belive a lot of the early ones made there way back to UK on the wrists of soldiers after service in the near east.

Hah.

As an aside, anyone know if the "Swiss Army" watches are indeed worn by the Swiss Armed Forces, officially? Or yet another marketing spin?

'Cause I have a couple named Victorinox Swiss Army. They glow like the dickens.

When I was invited to a paintball party, I arrived wearing one, just in case my Panerai got splattered.

While I was serving (90's) a standard issue was a Marathon. Many pilots where issued the Marathon Navigators, I think the second or third version.

Wow, why does that ring a bell, Chicken Manny...

The Navigator watches don't have any special "Mach" powers they just have to stand up to military testing for high G's. That was likely just somebody showing off or Marathon's marketing team at work.

The former, I think. Pilots, as I don't need to tell you, are the most arrogant people on earth. Boastful goes with the territory. Well, in my experience, these professionals are arrogant, in order:

1) Pilots

2) Medical Doctors

3) Lawyers

4) Professional Tennis players

5) Gen watch forum members

Your watch will suffer many more G's knocking into a table then it will see in a jet unless you wack it into something inside the jet or course. They do have special capabilities to deal with rapid changed in pressue and are often also used by Airborne for the same reason.

Fantastic.

Almost everybody I worked with used G-Shocks although the current models from Suunto keep popping up with on the guys I come across. I would have loved to have a Suunto when I served but the G-Shocks were as cool as you could find back then.

But was it standard issue, or did you guys get your own? That I recall, my friend's husband said he was given it, as part of his course.

This was precisely around the time you served.

As far as the "Special Opps" watch, I really doubt that watch will ever see the wrist of anyone in Opps. Well, unless you payed them to wear it. That is the perfect watch for PX Rangers.

Those people are BRUTAL. Number 6.

I need a 3rd voting option:

Don't buy either, Elliot L is a snake who steals peoples names for marketing purposes and who said replica people are cheap thieves, then markets his products to us when he realized we have a lot of money and spend it. He's a greedy slime bag.

Yeah, I heard he's disliked over at Risti. As for greedy slimebag, that is interesting because he sells his straps at 50% off and frequently adds freebies in other forums. I think must've totally misread him, because he's been nothing but kind to people with his merchandise.

He seems affable enough to me in the emails we've exchanged, too.

So, if you added that for a voting option I would vote for that one. If I had to choose from the 2 options above I would take the first strap, I like the buckle, it's a copy of the design as I have on my XaMas strap.

Heh. Cool. Still don't have a Xa-Mas, but I'm saving that for X-mas.

I hope to have some with Monsieur St

Complex problem, and seeing this from the outside, I would not go too much in the details of my personal opinion, as I don't live this situation daily.

Very complex problem, not easy for foreigners to understand, including at times, myself. I have friends on either side, and though some do not care, MANY cannot stand the other.

(I also dated a Belgian, BTW)

It's interesting that the Flemish themselves feel sometimes disadvantaged vis-a-vis the Dutch in the Netherlands -- the Dutch make fun of them for being so conservative, and for having "funny" accents.

Of course, we all know the same is true of the French and the Wallon Belgians. The Belgians are the equivalent of the Polish in American jokes (I never understood that, BTW).

So it's not entirely sure who would "protect" them, in case they separated. The Armed Services were abolished, except a ceremonial force, and without each other, they are that much weaker as a State even given NATO presence.

And what of the tiny German-speaking area?? Who would they choose to go with?

But I just would like to raise two things, same as in an other topic (although it was a different conversation) :

- history is important and may not be forgotten, but it cannot be the everlasting excuse for today's and future behaviour

- if the economically stronger regions of each and every country had to separate, we would be back to the middle-ages (or before), where even big cities were independant. Would this be an improvement ?

Middle-Ages, yes. Before even Mary of Burgundy married HRE Maximilian I...and a lot of these problems were cemented...

I'm going to Brussels next week : hope I still can enjoy a Belgian Beer rather than "une bi

Wellllll, this is an interesting turn of events. Found this Spanish site below, on military watches:

http://www.campusanuncios.com/venta-110122...loj-Madrid.html

"El reloj fue dise

Can one really buy a whole country??

For those unaware, as I was until I read this WaPo article on the percolating separatist revolution in Belgium (home of Stephane, Navigater and so many other noted RWGers!), this tiny but important country went on the Bay, offered to the highest bidder in a joke auction.

Larger: http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee248/m...umSaleLarge.jpg

Auction was pulled. Last bid, 13 million USD.

Separatism and Belgium have been going hand-in-hand since the country's founding in 1830, a direct outcome of the Napoleonic wars where it was supposed to act as a buffer state between the Great Powers (a bit like Uruguay in So. America).

King Leopold III had to abdicate as part of this problem (he had married a Flemish commoner, and it was held against him by the Wallons), though his perceived colloboration with the Nazis didn't help.

For the longest time, the soon-to-be-canonised King Baudouin I kept Belgium together, but his brother -- who only recently tried to stage a royal intervention in settling down the fires this past week -- Albert II just doesn't have his personal clout.

It's funny, yes. But it's sad too.

The capital of Europe is, after all, at stake.

Anyway, I bid $25.50.

Pink's OK... depends on the lady I guess

Hey Swdivad! Forum members were talking of your avatar and I was missing you, on a post, just the other day. Glad you're "back".

I'm not sure why this is, but I have personally seen a East Asian girl wearing the base with a pink strap (so much so, I ran after her to ask where she had bought it -- was wearing my HBB YG at the time though!), and two other-forum members who are Chinese and Singaporean respectively also have wives into pink straps for their PAMs.

Not sure if this is a trend in the Far East, or if I am the exception. As I said, this is my first real coloured "lady" strap.

my wife's pam 049 on a short blue oem gator ...

Faultless, just faultless. I saw another forum where they said this OEM blue croc was over USD500 in the HK Boutique. Yikes.

Is that a OEM deplo or buckle?? It somehow looks odd for a deployant, Wheaton! Odd but gorgeous!

Sorry just to double check, can these straps fit the Fiddy (Pam 127)? Or what size should I look for? Thanks.

Someone PMed me about Fiddy straps, and since my Inbox was at 100%, I haven't replied. Not sure if that was you, Alant, but hang in there! Just about to.

Fiddies are 47mm so you will need straps that are 26mm at the lug ends.

The buckle ends typically are 24mm, but they can be any combination -- thus you will see straps listed as 26/26, 26/24, or even, for Radiomirs oftentimes, 26/22.

Just checked both these straps. Elliot (the owner of Timeconnection.biz, who incidentally is travelling in Italy at the moment, picking up new hides for straps) has these listed:

Mario Paci XI in Papaya Brown. Can you feel the Patina? 24/24 125/80

GeF La Spezia 5.5mm in Cognac with New Marina 3mm thick buckle for Panerai watches 24/24 and 130/85 & 26/24 and 125/80

...so, this means you can't for the moment get the Papaya for the Fiddy, but it IS available if you buy La Spezia Cognac.

The GeF seems similar to one I already have, namely:

Mario Paci Private Stock in Cognac 24/24 125/80 (I myself was the last person to get the MPPS in Cognac for the Fiddy! Lucky moi)

But having seen pics on wrist-checks, I would say the Paci Cognac is deeper. This La Spezia seems more lively, and slightly less buttery soft -- which is good sometimes for 44mm PAMs.

HTH.

I cast the winning vote for La Spezia! I believe the voting closes at midnight as per Vicky. Look for it in a wrist check soon I'm sure.

THANKS!!

I couldn't get on at midnight...

POLL OFFICIALLY CLOSED. The RESULTS ARE!

Mario Paci XI - The Papaya [ 7 ] ** [46.67%]

Giovanni e Figlio La Spezia Cognac [ 8 ] ** [53.33%]

Whew, neck and neck until the very last vote, nearly at midnight.

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN! ...Giovanni e Figlio La Spezia in Cognac it is! Indeed, wrist-checks here I come.

:Jumpy:

Beautiful PAM, Lanikai. Is that an OEM croc??

I knew it though! Tats.

one of my favorite PAM's ... if I were to get a genuine now it would probably be this ... difficult to take a pic with one hand .. how do you guy's do this ??

First time is deuced awkward, and you feel the whole world is watching you (& quite possibly is).

Gets easier. Trust me.

(Love your first wristie!!)

Really.

But you are supposed not to have missed this, Victoria, uh?

Oh no, I remember that thread well.

You know, Sssurfer, when I hit Search to see if this thread idea had been posted before, I came upon many...shall we say...interesting past posts on ladies and Panerai.

Like this:

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=25376 (Aww)

And this:

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=29012 (OMFG)

But I wonder...

Do any of you remember this charming little thread?

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showto...mp;#entry249802

My God, even Rolli had his tongue hanging out. Geilig wins!

Notice that sort of stuff isn't posted as much on the Panerai threads, anymore. GOSH, wonder why.

GUYS:

3 more hours to vote. THE VOTES ARE ALL EVEN. Dead heat, yipes. Please vote!

I tell you what would sell!

Individualy numbered fiddy case backs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd pay Davidsen an extra $50 just for one of those. In a heartbeat. Yes, because I would lie if asked if it were a gen.

If you don't care, and say it's a rep, then it's worthless to you.

Interesting about SFSO randomised serial numbers though. I might just get one...

For completeness sake... The answer is yes.

Ooh, I can show this to my mother, who loves Nicole Kidman! She's wearing the 177, whilst Heidi IIRC, is wearing a fantasy PAM. Rolli mentioned they were debating which Panerai model she had, in the German gen forums.

But this is gross:

http://www.watchzworld.com/citizen_eco_dri...bl9000_08a.html

"Lady's Special Since 1860, in the legacy of Giovanni Panerai, high precision mechanisms Swiss Technology, Italian fashion. Panerai creates precision optical and mechanical instruments for the Royal Italian Navy. This is a special edition women's model of dramatic allure. Luminor technology makes the watch dial visible even in the underwater depths. The high polished steel case has the emblematic Panerai bold and rigorous curves. The spin dial controls are protected by the unique bracket on the side case. A white chronograph and stunning industrial style of the visible mechanism on the face dominate the ebony dial. A utopian charm is achieved by the playful luminor moon and stars illustration at 1 o'clock. Bold, luminous Arabic numerals and stylized steel hands complete the signature profile. The black rubber sport strap is textured and embossed with the Panerai name. The sapphire crystal is corundum formed and scratch-proof. The Panerai for women has a 34mm case and is waterproof to 30 feet. The movement is automatic Japanese. All markings and engravings are exact.

Case Diameter: 31mm "

Ready?

Moonphase (werewolf alert, SSsurfer!)

Tourbillon

Skanky Minute Dial

The worst ones, are the fantasy Lady PAMs I've seen. They just butcher the whole ETHOS of the Panerai marque.