Victoria

I just recieved my strap from HKT a few weeks back - took four months!?!

Communication was OK

It was not really even close to the picture and description he had advertised (cracked vintage), but never the less, it is a very nice strap, it was made very well and I like it.

Would I buy from him again...

Hey Jake! Long time no see.

As for HKTAN, he's dead slow, but his quality is said to be very good (some disagree, of course. I've only one of his straps). I think because he deals in exotics and very custom-made straps (more custom-made than others, which take time to cut), his backlog becomes quite large.

He might be robbing Peter to pay Paul, moneywise, but as long as people don't mind the length of time, he'll keep on making the straps.

Recently, he had a bad spate of publicity about the length of time on a gen forum, but as I alluded to above, it was due to some very serious family problems.

I can relate...

75?!?!?! WOW!!!

I did a mental calculation the other day. It was about 69. I've since bought 6 more, so that's ABOUT right. I'm actually a little embarrassed to count them all.

(Remember, too I have bought for both my parents, friends, and boyfriend...so I count those)

Total including gens I have about 25, about 17 of those are reps.

Dude, that's A LOT. I mean, no one can use me as a measuring stick. I'm way out there in Tanfo-land.

17 reps is an ungodly number for normal peeps. Congrats!! ...how many of those are automatics, and do you have a lot of winders?

(Because ladies watches are often quartz, I don't have to bother so much about winding my watches like you chaps do)

While I am by no means a watchsmith, I do spend a lot of time "fiddling" with my watches to include cleaning them, changing straps and just lovingly looking at them gleaming in the watch case.

Would it be indiscrete to ask how many you have by now, LR?

I just purchased my 75th...this doesn't include the gens we have, so you can imagine -- this is an incredible amount of watches/time spent. I am waiting for Christmas to get more winders.

In the beginning, I was overwhelmed. Now, I have a rota, and don't polish the watches as I used to, for obvious lotion rash reasons.

All and all, I am down to about 1 hour and a smidge spent on the watches per day. Not TOO bad.

Stephane's recent answer to Sssurfer, about caring for his watches so much, that he wanted them to go to a good home since they got no personal time at all (heh), is a common occurence with watch hobbyists.

So, a poll.

How much total time do you spend on this watch addiction, per day, do you reckon?

This can include buffing, changing straps, browsing sites for more watches, SOME modding, etc., BUT DOES NOT INCLUDE READING WATCH FORUMS.

by this time next week, however, I shall be wearing a fully modded PAM177H by Vac:

You got it! YAY! Why not. You only turn XX once.

Many happy returns on the day, once again!

TRIVIA FREEBIE:

Born on November 15th

Ed Asner

Ol' Dirty Bastard

Roberto Cavalli (LOL)

Petula Clark (Cool!)

Beverly D'Angelo

Kevin Eubanks

Felix Frankfurter

W. Averell Harriman

Mwai Kibaki

Aleksander Kwasniewski

Curtis LeMay

Anni-Frid Lyngstad

Sania Mirza

Georgia O'Keeffe

Erwin Rommel

Claus von Stauffenberg (Erwin and Claus...double wow)

Judge Wapner (LOL)

Sam Waterston

And died on 15 November? Booker T. Washington. One of my heroes.

Prince of Wales turned 59 yesterday. His parents' Wedding Diamond Jubilee is in 5 days. Major hootenanny planned in the UK this weekend...

Aaaah, search hard enough and you will at last find common ground. I saw This Is England earlier this year.

There we go. A link to the mind and heart at last!

I believe it was you, wasn't it, who mentioned This is England in a previous film thread. Either you or Fitmic.

As I have previously mentioned I watch films at home through a projector with a fairly sophisticated sound system - it is the closest thing I can get to the cinema experience at home.

I am totally jealous! Actually, my boyfriend spends hours on forums similar to this, but their topic is home theatre construction. One night, we spoke over the phone for yonks, pouring over photos of people's theatres in the making -- from the foundations, the installation of the projectors, and speakers, to final decorative touches.

It's our plan, should we marry, for him to build me one so we can invite friends over to watch movies, properly. We're going to call it the Coral Gables Odeon.

Anyway, This Is England - very good film indeed. I would like to see Shane Meadows tackle a subject that is outside his comfort zone. If he can do this and make a good job of whatever he choses I think he has the potential to become a seriously good film maker.

Couldn't agree more. How did he find young master Turgoose?? Spectacular.

Oh, I have a dvd copy of The Lives of Others but have not watched it yet. Thanks for the other recommendations I will put in the effort to see them. By the way I was driving in London the other day and was behind a white rolls royce with the registration '007' a friend said it was Roger Moore's car. Does anyone know if this is true?

On putting "007 automobile registration Roger Moore" as my search string, all I could find out was this:

http://www.mi6.co.uk/sections/movies/lald_...lald&t=lald

"The registration number on the back of Bond's wristwatch is 3266"

Heh.

Chck this out

Love it, UB7.

"No, it's not the 808, it doesn't have nipples, it has dots."

BIG TIME WIS. I'm getting hot and bothered!

P.S.: So what watch is he wearing?

Leo....

Me too! Dang, I remember us having this conversation. Sorry.

I've had it for a while - dug up an old dial shot - notice the year subdial

Don't worry, I noticed. I'm not one to point out the flaws when I'm complimentin'.

Some pam straps wrapped round that

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you FxrAndy's new strap range -- The Crazy Moose.

Now them is some antlers

The really scary part? That the guy looks like he's about to hop on.

EDIT: "Never heard of a Draft Moose...".

Budweiser ran out of the Clydesdales.

I'm not sure what is more frightening.

That my parents have the taste of a murderer, or that people actually believed OJ's Rollie was real.

Interesting that he is on the Rollie Vintage Forum. Given his nice PAM collection, I wonder if anyone has ever seen him post on Paneristi

I guess that there's nothing wrong with a celebrity posting on a forum, like you or me. But, my God, if even my parents don't want me posting our gens here, for security and privacy issues, I think John Mayer doing so on that site is a little unwise.

Certainly for potential stalkers and/or burglars...

It's one thing to go blind into a home to ransack it for loot. It's quite another to possibly insinuate yourself as a servant, and see where he keeps these puppies hidden.

Hey, this isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. People kill others for a few thou.

If it was any other error, I would ignore it. Is it really so hard to switch an "a" to an "an"? Try saying "a insane" ten times fast. Worse than nails on a blackboard.

I have such pretty nails though.

Malumouse, thanks! That John Mayer. Cool. Recently, a friend of mine went to a concert here in Miami's Triple-A venue, and who was she standing directly behind? John Mayer. Too bad I had no idea he was a WIS, else I would've asked her about it.

Just saw "things we lost in the fire" by Danish Susanne Bier. It wasn't as good as some of her other ones (f.x. after the wedding), but it sure made a point. Halle Berry was great (though I liked her performance better in monster's ball) and del Toro was (and is) fantastic. I know it hasn't gotten too great reviews in the States... you should see it anyway.

Cool, thanks Volker!

One of the completely unforseen coincidences, which I somehow believe made this already discrete film flop with the audiences, was that it was released at exactly the time the fires were destroying homes in California.

I think the deceptive title and the fact that Halle Berry's star has been on the way down with the American public for a while, made it disappear on the screens faster than you can say, "I'd like to thank my lawyer".

Okay, here's my dilemma. What to watch today?

I'm going to be more active soon, as my cold is almost gone. So today and tomorrow, I've set myself the goal of 2 films, minimum.

I have just received Stardust from my agent (yay!).

I have Things We Lost in A Fire available (though I would have to hunt for it).

But I'm curious of Darjeeling Limited, as well as DBR's suggestion of Elizabeth: The Golden Age (all of whom I have as screeners).

I gave you some (perhaps unwanted) pieces of film advice. Now it's your turn to return the favour.

Pick two films for me to see first, guys! TIA.

If 'American Gangter' is classed as an exceptionally good film in the current climate then clearly I am not missing much by not seeing many modern films. I watched this last night (admittedly on a plasma screen - so I am only half qualified to comment) and what can I say. It's a fairly good film. Not great - by a long chalk, but acceptable. Will I remember it in ten years as being something special - probably not. Will you?

You said it well. The current climate. As you know, the run of "Oscar-contention", or "serious", or "art-house" films starts about a month after we have folded up the beach umbrellas, shaken the sand from sandals, and the Cape Cod clambakes are but a mouth-savouring dream.

In short, mid-September. Or just about when the Bourne Ultimatum was breathing its last summer movie gasp.

We've just hit the 2 month mark from that. And yes, this is one of the best films of the bunch so far. Fortunately, we've a very rich month and a half to go.

2007 is particularly strange, because as I hinted before about summer blockbusters, it has seen a crop of excellent films in the early part of the year.

Volker mentioned one earlier:

The Lives of Others. However, this debuted in 2006, and only did so in the States in 2007.

Two more along those lines which are unmissable are:

Once

This is England

(As someone who worked, possibly loved living in Ireland, you'll enjoy "Once" if you haven't seen it yet)

That's 3 quality films of 2007 which are better than American Gangster.

But wait! As Ron Popeil says, there's more!

Away from Her (a Canadian film) received amazing reviews. As did The Waitress. Zodiac was an early favourite with me and other critics, and that was ALL the way back in March -- usually the lean months when such colossal cinematic work like Hostel is released.

What of Eastern Promises, which triumphed with The Folks at the ever-prominent Toronto Film Festival?

The problem is, these types of films are not the kinds most average middle-class people (of any country) will see, with the exception of Zodiac.

That doesn't mean you don't have to miss them yourself, though. Sadly, you'll have to break your own advice yet again to watch any of these films, since they're all out on DVD.

I suppose since you feel that is not acceptable to your viewing appreciation, you'll refuse, and walk away from 2007 without having done so.

Much the poorer as an amateur film critic because of it. But ah well, standards eh?

Shame you can't take that controversial little Polish director's dictum to heart, that cinema should make you forget you are sitting in a theatre.

That should be "an INSANE" not "a INSANE"

Boo! I really hate spelling correction posts. Did you correct freind, thialand and exited too?

Okay, first, who is John Mayer? The musician?

And just to say I had no idea there was a limited edition Rolex by Tiffany & Co.

Why am I always the last to know?

This wont be the first PAM!!!

Nor the last. It never is.

@Dluddy: You rascal! You were holding out on us. The exact same watch I posted earlier in the week, and there you were, with an even more beautiful strap version -- you must be a Scorpio!

That's an interesting connection - at first I thought, isn't it weird how w

I found this online (etymonline.com), although it doesn't give its source for the bit we're interested in (OED? Perhaps the OED might have a fuller answer.)

Great link! As a little kid, I used to read Mario Pei and Isaac Asimov's books on etymology for hours. I could never get enough of knowing the origins of words -- since you get insight on the progression of human thought, and what one culture thinks is important or familiar.

-- Like the various words for "German". Tedesco in Italian, Allemande in French because those were the tribes of German peoples which came into contact with them first (the Teutons, and Alamanni) --

The wake link would be the Anglo-Saxon w

Wearing my new UPO today.. sorry for the "card" in the picture.. didnt shoot this for RWG..

Nice one, Mike!

...gentleman's club?

It's funny Vic, but my interest in getting a gen has yet to really develop. Modding a vintage rollie with gen parts?

That has appeal to me, I've got to admit...but one day I think you should mod that forum for new-found gen owners. We'll be the nouveaux riche of gen owners. I was wondering about developing a miniature flag that we would attach to our watch, which would be like an orange diver flag in colour, and would say "genuine watch here!" in bold lettering on both sides. Or maybe we develop some sort of sticker(?).

I say we get a tattoo. "GEN PANERAI OWNER" on the wrist, with "I'M FINALLY LEGIT!" on the usual bullseye bumcrack area.

Yes, the Crazy Horse and ABP (especially) were expensive. In retrospect, I suspect that I may have been very happy had I gone with Savage or Tootall, from a value standpoint. I wasn't that excited about the ABP strap, really. It was very high quality, no doubt, but wasn't as suited to my taste as I'd expected.

That's a shame, Mezz baby...perhaps we'll be seeing it soon in a sales area "near you".

In norwegian we mostly say "klokke" whether it's a wristwatch or a clock, "klokke" is also used for bells. The 'correct' term for the wrist-worn variety is "armb

Her response was such a snobbish response, but she was 13 and in boarding school, so that counts as "Duh". :-)

I'll remind you of this remark, when some yobbo says something stereotypically insipid.

(When is Mr. Rooney's next press conference again?)

Happy Birthday, Ssabripo! I had no idea you and I were exact contemporaries.

Hope your PAM quest turned out well!

It's a shanty I'm renting from local cows.

That's no way to refer to the Osmonds!