POTR

Funny, I was just discussing colorful ties, Garcia's "The Bird" specifically, with Ryy the other night... one of my favorites... Love the Yachtie with that attire... nice ensemble.

Makes me wish for a lot more photos... but as it sits, I like everything except for the bezel/insert/pearl... that set looks a bit too shallow with the fluting, the pearl is a bit high and the 40, while fairly straight, has that ever so slight top closer together than the bottom between the 4 and 0 that always looks perfect to me on gens, and almost always looks a hair off to me on reps...

That looks like it is supposed to be a 3484, which used a 17 jewel Valjoux 23, with absolutely no shock protection... The original is ~33mm across, and takes a 17mm strap, and is one of the rarest of all chronograph Rollies... You can always find a couple of chronographs of similar type and period on the bay at any given time, that usually go for less than $500... which would be infinitely better than any rep (and could potentially be "repainted" to get the proper look)... There are similar models from every swiss maker of the period... and the best movements to search for would be Angelus, Landeron, Valjoux and Venus... Of course Patek made a few similar chronographs as well...

Very nice Stilty...

KokeDose... you want Irfanview.

UncleJay, The tube and crown went in the mail today, you should have them on Monday. The little gasket is missing on the case side of the tube... but any watchmaker will probably have one, they are kind of generic, I think it is supposed to be 3.3mm... this set is a bit later than the 600/6010... the tube is partially screwed onto the crown to keep them together, and they are in a little plastic processor box in the express envelope. If they don't work for your 5508, they will probably work for your other new project, if you want to go Rolex franken instead Tudor franken... There is another tube and a crown for sale on auction on the ebay that are going off a little after noon on Monday, if you want to get on them, they haven't gone through the roof yet... 320231809546 for the Tube... and 320231809546 for the Crown from the same seller... Anyway, I hope you can get some use out of them...

Possibly NDT Case and dial? Wavy insert, like it's a little too large for the bezel, from the side pic... but the "5" in "50" is really nice, and the "40" (the other spot on the bezel I always look for tells) is nice and parallel (but a bit over exposed, so the space looks narrow)... nice lacquered pearl but looks a little "high"... Gen insert, AM bezel? 580 looks a bit too "deep," but still right.. didn't shoot the whole clasp... but what is there is nice... You are cruel The Zigmeister... Mostly Gen.

What? No "Root Beer GMT" and "Harley Sub" suggestions ? If you want a nice, affordable Gen, then Invicta has brown and/or bronze as an option on a few of their watches... I like the two-tone bronze Ocean Ghost.. (no, it isn't a Rolex Yachtie clone... it's a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms clone) you can find it on ShopNBC.com for under $200 right now... item # J173069

UncleJay, helfands on ebay may have a crystal you can use until you can find the perfect Gen... they run around $10, and are very nice for what they are... they ship kind of slow, but the shipping is free... I have a 6mm Twin-lock crown and tube you may be able to use, just IM me with your address and I'll send them to you.

Hello friends, I must admit to being overwhelmed by all the response and well wishes. I have tried to answer every PM, if I have missed any please forgive me, and try again. If anyone would wish to contact me via email, please use RWG(at)------------.com . (edited) I am a bit concerned that PP may try and ruin the great effort you all have undertaken for me and my family. PP does have a reputation for locking accounts when activity spikes, and I have heard back that at least one person has had some trouble trying to PP funds to me. If you are unable to reach me as quickly as you would like, the Admins have my PP account email, and if this is how you would prefer to take care of donations, then I am grateful, and will hope for the best. When using PP for an auction donation, please use "Donation" for the subject, and list only your username, and the username of the seller in the comments. This will give me all the information that I need to notify the seller quickly as to who paid for what. Hopefully this will keep PP from killing the account. If you are in the States or Canada, and would like to help without the potential PP issue, a money order would be appreciated. I understand that it will take a bit longer, but, at least there is the surety that your donation will not get tied up by PP. My secure mailbox address is: (edited) (edited) (edited) Again, thank you all. I am truly grateful for all everyone is doing for me and my family.

Wha? Ya, I do know... Ryy, have I told you today? ... Thank you.

My inclination... SMP Real, PO Rep. Same reasons as already listed.

Very nice example of my second favorite bracelet... a straight on shot of the coronet on the clasp would be a really nice way to judge it. It looks a bit off from this angle. (Flat bottom, high top) Still, I like it.

Try item 200207925147 on eBay... from FL Watch and Jewellers Supply. It's $10, the (free) shipping can be a bit slow, but the product is excellent.

SubFrog & Rxus, thank you for your well wishes... I know we have all been through the wringer in our lives, and I am not trying to feel sorry for myself... I appreciate the concern, and am working dutifully to extricate myself from the wringer. I really just wanted to let everyone know why I was about to disappear... Now my family here has started building me a bridge. I am deeply grateful to all...

Lanikai, my deepest gratitude to you my brother...

Rasta , CornerStone, Shundi... Thank you for your sentiments, they are much appreciated.

Rod and Victoria, Again, I am humbled by the gestures made today. Thank you.

Thank you Ken and TT, I am breathing a bit easier now... And I will remain humbled by the character and sense of family which is a part of this community.

Some of you know that I have had some health issues for some time. These issues have effected my liquidity in an extreme manner. To help some understand what is going on I will lay out the bulk of my issues for the community as a whole. When I moved up to the Seattle area back in 2000, I came up for a networking job with an apparently rather large networking company, that went out of business a short two weeks after I got here. This and the questionable footing of other similar companies in the area, lead me to decide to develop my own online business. This was not a webpage, but an entire db driven interactive site with features that other sites are only now beginning to come to terms with. Back home I was a rather good sized fish in the twin lakes, here, everyone's 17 year old nephew is a fish they would settle for cheap. SO, my website, without being too specific, was about powering and feeding the fish... I worked on the development for nearly a year, writing features that just didn't exist with other sites at the time, and by the time I was ready for "launch for real", the site was actually number 1 for several key word searches all over the various engines... Google especially loved me. So, I was making a few decent sales a month, nothing that would allow profitability, but enough to pay the bills while I was waiting for my national ads to run in a few carefully selected industry and entertainment magazines, that were paid for with what was the very last of my funds... June, July and August of 2001, we struggled to make ends meet waiting for the ads to come out, sales were increasing already anyway, and actually by the middle of August, things were looking pretty good... when my colon exploded. Now, I have always eaten fairly healthy foods and taken very good care of myself, so the doctors were rather befuddled as to why I would present with diverticulitis as such a relatively young age. Looking back, when I was in the Army, I had some pains in my stomach that were pretty much treated with mega quanitites of motrin and a trip down the diagnostic list, with the PA's stopping short of ever doing any actual imaging, so my own feeling is that my condition was related to the relatively new MRE's that we were provided for food when we were in the field, and I was in the field a lot. Anyway.. water under the bridge. I was on my couch, still recouperating from surgery, with a brand new colostomy, reading my new ad, wondering how I was going to manage with all the orders that would be coming in now, when my question was answered on live television... there weren't going to be any orders. The towers came down and walls went up, the world was changed forever. I was but a speck of white noise. No one was going to notice, or care. Now out of money, insurance long since gone, I was in no position to have take-down surgery. Unfortunate, as the stoma began to herniate at an alarming rate. By the end of the year, I had a basketball sized herniated stoma that would be tamed by no appliance. It is difficult to explain to anyone how crushing a colostomy can be. What is impossible to explain is how dibilitating it is to have to wear a diaper on an excoriated, bleeding, painful, 70 pound basket ball growing out of the lower quadrant of your stomach, that just happens to leak the nastiest smelling excrement ever, 24/7 for FIVE YEARS. I'm not feeling sorry for myself here. Just trying to illustrate what has been going on with me... I basically sold off the most valuable pieces from my collection of watches, and other things to keep things afloat, however, this has resulted in compromise after compromise with everything. Two years ago, we had to give up a beautiful house with a view of Rainier and redwoods in the yard, for a half rehabbed, rental cottage one quarter the size... but, I did get my operation, and went back to work. I am too far out of the loop to walk into an IT job anymore, and basically had an immediate need for money. So, I started cleaning houses, both, residential and new construction. Expenses on the new construction side (mainly insurance burden) didn't allow for very much profit with the small volume of work we were getting, so we went to residential only, and as soon as I could, I switched gears and went to heavier work as a mechanic/welder, working on intermodal chassis, basically, the big "trailers" the big "trucks" haul those big containers "boxes" on. In January, I tore myself I nice new hernia... basically doing something at work I should not have been required to do, but, was told to do anyway. Lovely people that they are, they took care of me by ensuring that my injury was written up as a "pre-existing condition" so that there would be no workman's comp (it was along the line of my previous surgery), and went even further to ensure that I was well taken care of by telling me that they had no "light duty" for me when I returned, and placed me on "personal" medical leave, without my knowledge or request so that there would be no unemployment access as well. Anyway... since I have no reserve of anything any longer, I have to work... I went to a local rail yard where they do a similar job with the rail cars, same as the intermodal trailers, only much much bigger... I worked there for a short time, but ended up taking a hit from a misplaced hydraulic jack... I shrugged it off as best I could, begged a doctor for a release to go back work, and basically tried to make a go of it, but after another week, I just couldn't go any further with that job. See, while I was basically incapacitated for 5 years, and could only sleep in one very un comfortable position, I also developed an issue with my neck and shoulder. The short time I was on that heavier job, my neck and back have gotten much worse, and now both shoulders and arms are affected. I am on a pain management contract (have been for a while) and take dilaudid (along with a heavy duty muscle relaxer)... when I absolutely have to... I had to every day with that job, and it still wasn't enough to cut the pain, and I am not going to up my dosage. I basically need at least two new operations now, the new hernia, and my neck, but these will have to wait. I have a new job lined up, is a much easier setting, but it is still a couple of weeks away. In the mean time, this year's new troubles have unleashed a rather nasty wave upon me that is going to sink me yet again financially. I am out of money, the bills are behind. There is nothing left, and nowhere to go. The water gets cut tomorrow, the truck gets repo'd thursday, the power will probably go on monday, if not sooner, and I will disappear along with it. I will try to make it back this way when I am once again able. Until then, thank you for the education and community. Rob S.

Clark T-39

This one?

Welcome to the jungle...

Nice... Very Nice.

Clark's T39 fits the Silly special no-date that I bought from TMG....