Victoria

Scare? I've got Meniere's Disease. It's not a big deal, but I've had it about a year and can pretty much live with it without too much of a problem. Pretend it's just migraines and it's not that uncommon.

I'm so very sorry, Pugwash. The closest I came to Meniere-like symptoms was Otitis media, and that was no fun. I'm sure you're bearing up well, but regards just the same.

By the way:

How much is a beer in a pub in the US?

A very small technicality, Fitmic, but pubs are usually called 'bars' here, even if they have an Irish-type name like Hooligan's. That is to say, the name of the place may even have the word "pub" in it, to denote a more Irish/British drinking hole, but not one American I have ever met has invited me out, saying, "Let's go to the pub!".

They either use the place's name, or say, "Catch you at the sports bar! Wednesdays, ladies drink free!".

It seems that you guys find $7.50 quite expensive.

We're talking about a glass, like the American pint (473 mL).

That's what a regular cheap beer is in the pubs here in Sweden.

I've paid anywhere from a dollar (one whole dollar, can you imagine that?) to about U$3.50 for a bottle or draught, depending on time and locale. There are plenty of Happy Hours where you can get dollar shots. I think Catchthecat has mentioned supermarket prices already, but it varies. I know lots of domestic beers where a twelve-pack is about $7.50. More for the good stuff, like Sam Adams.

Of course, Miss Abstemious over here takes one sip of beer at the bar, and is already high. Anyway, owners don't care. They want to attract women to get hard-drinking men to buy women booze, the better to get laid.

It's all circular. And therefore tacky and fun.

It's an MRI photo of my brain when they were looking for causes of [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meniere%27s_Disease]M

Somewhere along the line, Klink stated that Mackensen was actual family.

Are you serious?? Okay, let me rephrase that because that would be a first.

Is this true?? Because my mother comes from an old German family and chances are good to excellent that I am in some way related to the Mackensens...which would mean I am in some way related to KLINK!

OMG. This explains it. The verbosity. The intense constant Prozac-like happiness. The love of militaria.

Life is NOT good.

Well....on that showing we don't have to worry about a potential World War III.....altho' the prospect of disco rearing it's ugly head again is a far more disturbing thought.....not so much gay as fey......!

I won't hear a word said against disco! It was a breath of coke-addled air after the marijuana-haze of the early 70s! Besides, stretchy trousers, and gold medallions, yum.

By the way, never underestimate Austrians, no matter how funny they act, look, or seem. Once upon a time, there was a snuffling, bumbling North Austrian fool who women used to snicker at as he passed by. For all the world, he was a peasant, a nincompoop, a NONENTITY, with crankish ideas to boot.

Ahh, but one day he would show the WORLD! He was an Austrian GENIUS! Mad, bad and dangerous not to know!

Yes, the world was never the same after Anton Bruckner.

@Puggy: Punk = which I adore! A point to me, I think.

@To all: How a Ray Charles classic like Hit the Road Jack became a conversation about disco then punk, I'll never know. I love RWG.

@L-Dizzle: Don't worry! I personally don't care, and find the South Park-influenced proliferation of "gay" remarks amusing. Of course, I'm not gay, so it's all relative.

Take a look at ssurfers reference table.

its not totaly complete but very good.

You can find it here http://www.rwg.cc/members/PAM-reference-table-t32170.html

As ever, I am humbled by the knowledge and instant response by RWGers to questions. THANK YOU MAXIMILIAN!

And for Sssurfer, what can one say that hasn't been said already -- a Panerai genius!

(I see the 111, 112, 113 all had polished CGs in their E-F incarnations, changing to Brushed after G. I might change the PAM 113, since without the sandwich dial, it's harder to tell!)

The 177h what is that strap looks great

Oh good, I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought, that's not a PAM 111h but a 177h. Thought it was the lighting!

TTK, Mont Blanc. The other straps are dodgy with the wrong clothes, and let's face it, Scotsmen tend to be loud abroad.

I bought a polished Crown Guard from a chap on RWI.

Having two PAM 111h watches, I decided to change one brushed CG to the new polished one, just for fun. But hmm, since I'm getting pickier about authenticity, perhaps this bothers me.

So, question:

Is there an easy reference list to see which PAM models/series came with polished CGs versus brushed ones?

A recent thread coughed up this, but it's not accurate according to Sssurfer:

http://www.ne.jp/asahi/panerai/carpediem/html/historic.html

I've tried all the usual suspects like the Panerai official site, Risti & Timezone, but the info is sometimes not easy to read about that specific part. Thanks for any help!

My collection thus far, for reference:

PAM 076, PAM 090, PAM 111h (x2), PAM 112, PAM 113, PAM 118, PAM 127, PAM 154, PAM 177h, PAM 183h, PAM 190, PAM 199, PAM 210, PAM 217, Fantasy Mini-Fiddy

(still to arrive PAM 005 from TWP)

Most likely, VB, the ones who made reference to the not so strong of wrist persuasion were like myself, just kidding.

I know, Hambone. No harm done. OTOH, why the HECK do you have like 100 people disagreeing with you?!? I am trying to pick out posts of yours I agree with, so that little icon disappears, but man, it is difficult!

Night!

Let me guess you never even looked under the bonnet and it's an auto........yet you can strip down your piece blindfolded in a dark room. You've gone native girl.

Just call me Viktoria Kalashnikova, Febus!

(Actually, I'm not as good as that. But I have helped dad clean his handguns, and if push comes to shove, I could feed my family by shooting my own prey. But change a tyre, or the oil? Where's the nearest Firestone?)

Take a look at the link for some pictures of a prototype.

Blog about the watch

Did you see the skull holding a rose between its teeth??? Per l'onore (for the honour -- OF WHAT?!), LOLOLOL!

its like the Austrian version of "The Village People"....

Is this something that people actually search for on youtube? hahha

SEARCH: gay soldiers dancing together

LOL

Wow! I'm utterly blown away by the gay remarks.

Oh, no don't get me wrong. I'm not a politically correct person (I wish for the sake of our gay RWGers I could say I'm outraged, but I'm not. I understand men a lot more than many women do...).

I just genuinely don't see this goofing around by these 18 year-olds as anything effeminate.

It's just silly! I love it.

Obviously, my post was supposed to infer the recent story about Austrian soldiers caught on Youtube giving Hitlergrus in their barracks. RWG Newsbot posted the story, which alerted me to the fact. I Youtubed it, but indeed, Youtube had deleted it due to complaints by the Austrian government (the soldiers themselves have been disciplined).

I just wanted to make people laugh at these crazy kids' antics, and what goes on when you put a lot of high-spirited boys in one Kaserne for long -- tomfoolery happens.

EDIT: A bit like RWG. So many men, so many ribald laughs!

Pimping.

I love cars and watches, a thread with them both is like manna to me

Watches, and guns for me, Febus. Cars optional. I don't even know the model of mine.

Shocking.

Simply......shocking.

Did you hear the little...oh, what shall we call it...yelp emitted by the ring-leader on the left around minute 1:00?

It's a sound I can only liken to a beached baby humpback whale getting kissed by a Birkenstock-wearing treehugger. And further proof that white men should never, under any circumstances, dance.

@CY0811: ME TOO!

PS. I love the car & watch combo pics! Nice rides, gentlemen! Like I mentioned earlier, I will take better pics when time permits.

In this thread's honour, and the vision of you and your dad riding in your fresh new ride tomorrow, I changed my avatar. Here is the bigger version:

Dad is a Beemer man, mother and I are Mercedes gals. If I marry an Italian, as is quite possible, I'll buy the first USA-Alfa due to come out in 2008.

Congrats on your first rep!

You seem like a detail oriented kind of guy, give us a full review after you get it.

Oh, and photos are mandatory

RIMA! I've been pining for you in various threads. Where have you BEEN? I hate being the only girl here, you know.

EDIT: Well, apart from Ola, who is an honourary RWGer.

Yes .. V ... actually i thought you could comment best on the sociological aspect of the mind set in these countries...

LOL! Me?

I am not speaking ex-cathedra, my Lanikai. Simply a set of impressions based on some personal experiences! I'm sure others have equally valid opinions about what's what in So. America.

personaly I don't want to see them put out of business ... none of them.. then what ??

Wait...you don't want the fraudsters to be put out of business?? Can't agree with you there, my love.

What Andrew and Joshua do is knowingly sell replica watches to hobbyists and one-time buyers who know full well they are buying reps. That is quite a different thing from someone selling a rep Hublot for $3000, saying it's legit, but stolen, without papers, or giving them a Nigerian scammer sob story about being bankrupt and needing fast money.

Also, if a person like me, someone who owns a substandard copy of an Hublot rep sells it as one of the high-quality ones like Raymond, Hambone and others have, then that too is scamming.

I presume this is what is happening in South America, too. They are getting Paul-type Hublots, and selling them as the higher-priced, almost 1:1 HBB reps.

Who's to know, if you haven't seen them side-by-side? I mean, it's not like you can ask Hublot about it.

About the biker stuff, well, there we are. Gold Gym, biker, with tats. If we marry, you're gonna have to change A LOT.

@Lanikai: LOL! I was ribbing you, darling. No offence taken absolutely not! I'm not that touchy.

EDIT: Well, okay I'm a little touchy. Don't mention the war (or my dad).

the problem with hublot is the reps are being sold in the middle east and in south america as genuines,that is what has gotten Hublot paniced... if it were just about the reps it would not be a problem but there are oyther parties involved, other than dealers that we don't need to bother ourselves with ... these super reps are finding their way to buyers that are paying mega bucks for them

Good insight, Lanikai.

I can't speak about the Middle East, but in South America the people who can afford gen Hublots (or Pateks, Rolexes, and Vacherons, in order of popularity from my experiences) are not easily fooled, or easily part with anything approaching U$1,000, let alone 19 times that much, which was the price quoted to me at Tourneau.

In many parts of South America (as in China itself), if someone screws you over, you hire a hit man for $100 and you have them killed. So the people who are selling these Hublots as gens are surely not ADs or watchmakers with established shopfronts. They would be very easily retaliated against.

And obviously, no one buys pricey watches from "camel

Adolph frequently wore a multi colored Swatch. :hitler:

For the record, Adolf Hitler hated wearing any metals next to his skin, so he rarely wore a watch (I believe he did have a Lange though). He also hated cologne, and never wore jewelry, all in line with his "austere" vegetarian persona.

Although I heard Mussolini did love HBBs.

I remember seing someone drinking that in Brussels: SHE was very nice looking, with blond hairs though

DOMMAGE! You don't like blondes??

I can always dye my hairs...

@Admin: I've been to Trondheim Cathedral! And grew up skiing in St. Anton. How bad could it be?? This is just a ploy to avoid buying me Krug, isn't it?

(OH! I didn't see you had posted this here too, Catchthecat. Here is my reply from RWI)

I LOVE THE WATCH! I should just have bought my dad this one, rather than the two Omega 007 SEs I got, which arrived DOA. Sniff. Thanks for the effort, Catchthecat! By the way, can one of you baseball-loving people do this type of spread one day?

hxxp://www.network54.com/Forum/353391/thread/1188281909/ (change xx to tt)

I don't know what camera that Risti guy used, but my God, I felt I was batting alongside Richie Weeks!!

Oh man...Now I want a beer also *goes to the fridge*

I hope a nice Boddington, or better, and not that fairy American or Canadian pee passing for beer. *shiver*

Although if we ever go out, I expect champers, Admin. I am practically a teetotaler, but I make an exception for the grape.

Maria was and still is a member of the German replica boards I believe.

I once used to think that a German strapmaker (also called Karl living in Thailand) was Maria.

Maybe Erfurt, who also bought from this chap and was more impressed by the quality of the straps than I, can elucidate. *g*

EDIT: I'm actually kidding, unless this Maria person has gone COMPLETELY doolally and branched into strapmaking instead of the more profitable MBWs. But the personality fits -- irascible, uncontrollably partial, Germanically maniac. I live with one such German, so I know.

They are certainly followig the path to the factories ... they should all be afraid about that ... and take some decision to secure everything

I thought about this a month into my rep career. And that the two then consolidated their business (which of course, is a topic that really doesn't need to be rehashed) was completely logical for me. There IS safety in numbers.

Sure, Hublot have lots of money. But they have to fight their battles in Chinese collectors' home turf, with their rules, customs, and cultural idiosyncracies -- which locals are always better at understanding and exploiting.

Even if they hire crack lawyers from HK, the system is porous, and corrupt. The government of China seems half-unwilling to crack down on such activities, anyway.

This is a recipe for utter rep watch chaos, although I do believe that a strong crackdown is possible, no matter what anyone says about cockroaches (the analogy that if you step on one, 10 will appear immediately). Yes, there are plenty of Guangzhou dealers, but Andrew and Joshua are special. There is a reason Hublot are targetting their reps, and not Paul's types of HBBs, even just for show and tell...

@Cableguy: :D

@Starbug: OMG! That is awful...we don't need that kind of traffic / nosey parkers here, right??