Sweattdogg

Wow those are nice. Depending on how the holiday goes I'll probably look for one second hand. They look well worth the price, because they are hand made.

I'm up to about 12 PAM straps. I'd like something to put them in that looks nice and will keep them all together. Anybody have anything that works well for cheap? I'd really like something that looks nice, but doesn't cost upward $100.

Looks great!! That was a lot of work, but well worth it in the end. As far as the orange vs. red. I had a gen SMP for about a year, my second hand was orange, but I was told that the second hand and dials for that matter fade with time and mine was an older watch and my second hand had faded into a nice orange.

Wow that sucks. The watch in the pic is absolutely horrible. Personally, I think you are doing the right thing in contacting the collector first. Give them one chance to make it right, then out them if not. Crown guards don't just fall off these watches, and crowns don't just stick out like that. Something definately happened to that watch before it was even packaged.

Overpriced yeah, but I dunno where the figure for a $40 oem gen crown guard came from. Over on TZ a member said Panerai serviced his watch and put a new crown guard on for $900. If you figure $500 at most for the service, that's $400 for the crown guard. Sad part about this auction is that someone is probably gonna drop that movement into a rep case and resell it on the bay for $4k.

The only one I've owned for the last 2 years has been the 127, but to be fair I'm considering buying a used 111 if I get that big Christmas bonus.

I would send it back and get a new one even if it has started to run properly again. Davidsen has put the offer on the table to return it now. Sure the watch runs okay now, but as many others have said the problem will probably return, whether it be a day later or a year later, and at that point you will be stuck.

I think he must be a cop.

Sounds normal to me and also consistant with the gen. As far as what the crystall is made of, I would guess if you bought it here on the forum and the seller is reputable, then it will be sapphire. There are devices which I have seen that tell what kind of crystal it is, but I don't know where you would even start to look for one of those.

Is the distortion in the crystal or in the way the dial looks when viewed through the crystal? I have sapphire on my fiddy and it creates a heavy distortion of the numbers of the dial when held at angles and especially around the edges. This distortion is consistent with the gen. Besides the water test, I dunno of any other in-home methods to check the crystal. I would think that anything that is AR coated would have started as sapphire.

Looks great. Count me in for one!

Nice watch, nice mods

The aged lume should be enough to get the 12 year old effect, the fonts should still be crisp as the others suggested. Wow those are some great looking dials!

These are replica watches. Many gen manufacturers have problems with swiss ETA 7750. Everyone knows that the nature of a chronograph movement is more complicated then a standard movement. Swiss or Asian all movements will need serviced over a given period of time. Chronos probably even more so than a regular movement due to the complications. Sure the dealers could put gen swiss ETA 7750's in every watch, but how much would that cost? There would still be no guarantee that the functions will work flawlessly. The solution is to plan on servicing the watch before you buy it. If it works great out of the gate then you are lucky, if not then just pay up to have a watch that will last for years before it's next service.

There's a reason that Panerai never made one for it.

Very nice. I like the look of the blue screws better. It just shows a higher amount of decoration. I'm guessing since the gen is a closed caseback the gen movement probably just has the standard non-blue screws.

Did I miss something here? What does drop shipping a watch have to do with a watch that worked perfectly fine for 13 months? I support your view on drop shipping, but come on, that has nothing to do with this topic. The watch was worn for a year, then the helium valve fell off, that sucks, and probably contributed to the movement breaking. It looks like all the watch needs is a new HE valve which another member convered and a service which is never a bad idea anyway.

All I know is that there is a lucky member who sent a watch to The Zigmeister for a relume, and now pretty much knows that his watch is a really old ETA or will at least hold the parts, and is now fully serviced by The Zigmeister himself. Seems like a lucky guy

Awesome review The Zigmeister! Great attention to detail. As many others said, it was only a matter of time, before the chinese just copied the movement rather than source that part out. Seems like they did a pretty good job, as most just pulling off the back wouldn't even know any better. It would be great to see a breakdown of the movement. If it gets The Zigmeister's thumbs up, then it's cool with me.

Sounds like there is some problem for sure. It should take 40 or so turns to fully wind. Rather then thinking the watch isn't winding down, maybe it just isn't winding up fully. Hopefully you will just need an adjustment, but I agree to find a new watch maker to work on your watches. If it still doesn't work, the new movements look great. I'd pick one of those up and have The Zigmeister or someone drop it in.

That watch is sick! The Zigmeister you are the man!! You can pick up a 42mm PO on TZ for about $1500 and a 45.5mm for about $1800-$1900 and those maybe without boxes etc so the watch is still 50% off an gen.

His Dad's movements? Those movements have only been out for 2 years. I believe that you may not have been the one putting the con on, but someone who was selling to you was.

Looks great! Good job on the mods, the detail on the movement looks great as well.

The needle vs. the dagger is on the regulator. Look at the swan neck and you will see what everyone is talking about. Davidson's is more correct and his movements seen to have a better finish. My only tiny gripe about Davidson's is the amount of AR on the crystal. His seems super blue, where the real 1950 it can barely be seen. This is such a minor point on a watch that is 99% correct. The fiddy is a fine choice and I still think it is one of best looking and most correct watches out there. I have had on from EL for 2 years now. No one where I live even knew what a Panerai was 2 years ago when I got it. Now I get a comments on it almost weekly.

All of the above reasons I agree with and also it is what the market will bear. If people are asking the same price that they bought it for and are selling to people at that price then why go lower? The bottom line is that if you want to mark a piece that is almost new down 30-40% off what you paid for it, you inbox is gonna be full in 2 minutes.