Highflyingclive

Chinese mentality. It is not the same as the western mind-set. Chinese quality control = If you are prepared to accept this, we are happy to sell it to you. So kudos to the manufacturer who, a couple of years ago, turned the rep world upside-down whith the release of the first half-way decent Pam 111. We owe that guy... big-time.

Ha! You don't fool us - we know you too well

This may, or may not , be irrelevant - DavidSen is now offering screw-down crowns - and matching crown tubes for (I think) the 183.

TTK... you forgot to mention the invention of copper wire. It happened when two Jocks fought over a penny....

@Fletch... we think that the closest original to the blue-face rep is a Pam 228 - a rare 2005 special edition, of which only 100 were made. Here is a link to the real thing: http://www.panerai.com/s_special_editions...._categoria=4724 Happy timekeeping! Clive

@Fletch... we think that the closest original to the blue-face rep is a Pam 228 - a rare 2005 special edition, of which only 100 were made. Here is a link to the real thing: http://www.panerai.com/s_special_editions...._categoria=4724 Happy timekeeping! Clive

Wow! it seems that the world is suddenly full of GMTs. Lovely.. my favourite complication. I don't care for this model... but that is just my personal taste. The rep appears to be a fair copy of the original. If you like it, if the price is right and you have faith in the dealer (I have not dealt with him, so cannot comment)... I'd say go for it.

I'm not fond of panda watches... especially one-eyed pandas. But I know that they are very popular. Each to his own.

Ubi... many a true word is spoken in jest. I think that your erotic may have a GMT function. Does it have a "military time" subdial? One that tracks the main hour hand, but reports in 24-hour time? If it does, try this. Pull out the crown to the time-setting position. Wind the hands backwards. The 24-hour hand will go backwards, too... for a while. But eventually, it will stop. Now, continue to wind the hands backwards until you have achieved the correct time difference between your "foreign" and "home" time-zones - as indicated by the 24-hour subdial and the main hands, respectivly Now, wind the main hands forward and set the time. The 24-hour hand will now advance... but will maintain the time difference that you have set. Bingo - your erotic is now a GMT. Well... it worked on mine - and on several other cheap watches that have a subdial giving military time. Oh yes... back on topic... as if you didn't already know, my "must-have" function is a second time-zone. :-)

I'm not buying anything at the moment... I'm skint. But for what it's worth, I wouldn't buy a 187 - I don't care much for chronos. But if I had some spare cash, I would be very tempted by the 194. Meanwhile, I'll just drool over the photos...

I'll run this race slowly... I expect that all of our dealers will have these before too long. I'll be after the blue.. on leather, of course...

Don't panic! You'll know when it is fully wound - you'll feel it as you try to turn the crown - the difference is obvious. The Zigmeister says that it is impossible to break the spring... I'd add the caveat - unless you are really, really, determined to do so. Wind away! It will probably need about 50 half-turns for a full wind... but don't worry if it takes more. I recently received a hand-wind Unitas that required an unbelievable 150 half-turns of the crown before full wind was achieved. It must have been really run down... since then, about 50 half-turns have been enough - and should last a couple of days. (The ETA spec sheet says 56 hours. This is possibly a bit ambitious) I count in half-turns because you can't easily perform a full 360 twist on a Luminor Panerai crown ... the crown guard gets in the way

Anyone visiting China should make sure that they have plenty of time to spare when shopping. Haggling, as Admin said, takes a long time. And you have to haggle for everything. I bought a black bezel Rolex GMT11 in LoWu, last time I was there. I think that the entire process took an hour... just for one watch. Walking away is a great haggling technique... but don't be surprised if the sales girl grabs your arm and tries to pull you back. It happens all the time. The only reason that I started haggling for the Rolex in LoWu was that the salesgirl had physically dragged me into her shop. Well, she was very prettty... she didn't really have to drag me too hard :-) I bought a Dunhill briefcase for my Dearly Beloved in Guangzhou. I saw it, was given a stupid price, so countered with an equally stupid offer. As the salesgirl wouldn't come down much from her stratospheric pricing, I walked away. Quite quickly - I was now late for an important appointment with a beer. A few minutes later, puffing and panting, she caught up with me... the briefcase wrapped in a carrier bag - she had decided to accept my offer, after all. One Dunhill briefcase, not leather but a convincing imitation, cost me about $7.50. I love China...

Fascinating projest! I don't care for the Santos. Just personal taste. But I wish you guys every success in your endeavours. I'll be fowllowing this thread with interest. To think that I nearly passed it by because the watch does not interest me... that would have been my loss. Best of luck! Clive

Ha ha ha! Have you seen the 2006 Paneai Catalogue? There is a whole rake of new model numbers to commit to memory...

Good move. Now order the 063. You know that you need it, really.

Would look good teamed with a hobnail dial.

A SIM card recorder that moves around a lot.

Glue? Crazy, for sure.

I expect that Nanuq could let you have a piece of fence-wire that will do. He uses it in it electrical installations because, despite the advances in electro-mechanical technology, modern science has yet to come up with fuse-wire that is man enough to do the job...

Chortle!

Expensive? $5 to get the watch back on your wrist? Is your name Sam, by any chance?

Tunnel vision, Neil. Not all watch sales go through our lovely dealers. If Reg merely wanted to warn the other dealers about this idiot, he could have done so, without fuss, through the Dealer forum. But, (quite rightly, in my opinion), he has told the entire community what they might expect from Sam, should they enter into a private sale. It can happen

Here is my favourite typo, from a few years ago: So sad that I didn't buy one of these "Glashitte" Senators when I had the chance.