Highflyingclive

Nobody mentioned ABP in Paris, yet. They have a site which is both awesome (choice of leathers) and bloody irritating (build your own strap order sequence). Link to ABP: http://www.abp-paris.com/ Has anyone ever done business with ABP ? I saw Banda mentioned. I have bought a lot of "exotic" straps from Banda... www.banda.com Their service and communication is first class. They will build a strap to your specifications... even if it is non-standard... they made a lovely 24/20 genuine brown alligator for my Pam 147. And their prices are more than reasonable. Same again, Pam 147 on brown alligator, but joined by burgundy genuine crocodile on a VCDT. Both straps from Banda.

Yup... Chinese GMTII with divers extension. Black bezel, natch. I'll be the one in the wet suit. Shortly after the stripper arrives.

And, for the benefit of those of us who are just not prepared to wear a bottle-opener on their wrist... Who make the best 24/22 strap?

That's the best idea that anyone has had, all thread. Veni... get on the job. (I like to think of that as a nice friendly licky smiley :-)

I'll wear a Rolex, so that nobody will recognise me. Incognito!

I had a similar problem with a craftsman some time ago... I order a pait of hand-made shoes for my girlfriend... but they didn't arrive and communication was virtually non-existant. So when my patience gave out, I smply wandered into my local police station and made a complaint, accusing him of theft. That did the trick... the shoes arrived a week later.

Some winder merchants on ebay have punitive terms and conditions regarding returns.. check that you have all the facts before you bid.

It is not going to slow down... the escapement ensures that it keeps constant time, no matter how much tension is left in the mainspring... until there is none left - and then the watch will stop. This movement has a huge mainspring.. I think the original ETA movement spec stated that it had a 50 hour power reserve. I think I get a little less than that out of mine... but even so, you probably only need to wind it once in two days. In reality, you will wind it when you decide to wear it. With so many watches to choose from, I find that whatever watch I decide to wear needs winding & setting. I expect that the same thing happens to you. Happy timekeeping! Clive

Yes... time for bed. Goodnight... sleep well.

What? You wear them all at once? Does anyone ever call a doctor?

BoB - posting your full address on an open forum is not a smart thing to do. You might want to edit that - you can send the postal info to Joe by PM.

Yes. But who pays the Perry Mans?

I quite like this team:

Oh yes there is... but Middle Mans gets all his watches from ETC I expect he'll turn up here sooner or later...

At least he didn't ask THE question... Probably only a matter of time EDIT to add: Save yourself time and a toasted bum by reading through the <dealer review> section. Sigh... Why am I being so nice?

Les - Harleys look the [censored] and sound like nothing else - but they really aren't much use over here. Our roads - at least the interesting ones - have windy, bendy bits. There is nothing sadder than watching a proud Harley Sportster rider threpenny-bitting it around the corners, whilst a 250cc 1964 Royal Enfield Continental GT thrashes past him on the inside of the bend. Unless you are riding the 250. Yes, it was me on the GT No, you need something a bit more nimble on English roads. I'd suggest a Triumph. A Bonnevile - 650cc for preference. The pre-unit has more style... ... but the 750cc oil-in-frame version is affordable, spares are easy and unlike a kwakahondazuki, when it breaks, you can mend it with a hammer. Of course, he'll spend every Saturday morning ajusting his valve clearances... but that is all part of the fun.

Many a true word spoken in jest... In my youth, duruing a brief incarnation as a mod, I rode a Lambretta LD. That was the model with twin sprung saddles. It was old, knackered and vibrated a great deal... but it was considered cool and got me around. It was also the era of mini-skirts and no helmet laws... so should you meet a nice lady at the pub or at a party, you could offer her a ride home. Of course her skirt might ride up a bit as she got astride the machine... The pillion saddle on My LD had a short length of fairly thick rope inserted under the cover, running from front to back. That certainly seemed to stir the knickers... and no mistake! Ah! Happy days....

I was in and out of RWG1 just before it was taken down, so I suppose that the hacker has my password. Although it was so weak, he didn't need to hack the site - he could have guessed it, quicker :-) I used the same password there as I do (did) on all the rep forums. They have now all been changed. Thankfully, I never used that password on any financial sites.

I once refitted a particually tough snap-on back using a couple of socket wrenches and a suitably padded drill-press, when my watch mender's tool failed to do the job. Worked for me - you get very fine control on that big wind-down handle. But you proceed at your own risk... if you crush the watch, don't blame me. Or... just a thought... try fitting the crystal cold. Pop it in the freezer overnight and hope that it contracts enough for you to be able to just press it into place with your thumbs. Resist the urge to warm the watch in the oven first. That works for crankshaft bearings on British motorbikes... but might be too extreme for a wristwatch. And you'd burn your thumbs. Best of luck!

Edge - I hope it comes together... The trouble with strong passwords - a mixture of uppercase, lowercase and numerals - is that they can be a bugger to remember. So just choose your favourite motorbike - model, maker and cylinder capacity, i.e: ZX5Kawasaki900cc There you go... a very strong, yet memorable password. Hope that this may help someone, sometime. Edit to add: Don't pick a motobike that you actually own, or have owned. Use the name of the one that you dream of owning... or wish you had owned when you were but a youth... like 1000ccAriel4Square This system probably works with cars, boats, aeroplanes, and for all I know, fishing rods, too.

Make sure that there is body armour in the knees, forearms, shoulders and back of your riding leathers. It makes going down the road on your [censored] - and you will - a lot more like fun. And you won't spend so much time in hospital afterwards. BTW - I'm actually a brilliant rider. The life expectancy of a London courier is eighteen months - I lasted two years. 80,000 miles, fell off once, got knocked off once and got one speeding ticket. Quite a result. Oh, yes... and I had a trainee taxi-driver, doing the knowlege on a step-thru, off his bike and onto his bum.

I love a happy ending!

Bump... can't let this one drop off the screen. We need a few more people than attended the first RWG1 meet Happy timekeeping! Clive

None of my GMT reps have a "real GMT movement". They are just reps... :-) But - just wondering... how many real watches that display two timezones have a "real GMT movement"? The GMTII, of course and the Oris XXL Worldtimer (which is not a worldtimer at all, but is a very handsome GMT watch)... how many others have a "home-time" hand that remains stationery when the hour hand is advanced?

Be careful, Lazurus. Keep this up and you'll be getting a letter from "Veni12 Legal" Gotta stop. All this laughter is making my ribs hurt.