p0pperini

That’s great! I love my Ploprofs, but I hate rubber straps... not really a mesh fan either. Give me leather every time. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Amazing, thanks for giving me: 1) An engrossing read, assisting me in avoiding starting to do any proper work for another 15 minutes 2) A very handy emergency watch that I can now use if I forget to wear one again I did forget to wear a watch one day last week, for the first time since I got my first rep a year ago. I felt weirdly guilty, bereft, confused (reasonably normal for me actually) and partly naked (that probably explains the weird guilty part), and I swore to my watch boxes that evening that I would never do it again. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Great project - following with interest. My spider T-25 dial (finished by Tripdog) says hi too...

I'm not entirely sure of the origin of the 1665 I checked (it was an M2M purchase), but I'm pretty sure it's a cartel. SN on mine is 3838448. I have a double red cartel on its way from Marvellous Replica - should be here next week, so I'll check that too.

Just out of interest, last night I whipped the caseback off a 5513 and tried to fit it to a 1665. It didn’t. Also just out of interest, the 5513 is cartel (JKF) - but it didn’t have a groove in the case for the gasket. The caseback had the groove.

The caseback does seem to be an odd area of the watch to spend serious money on. I don’t know how much a VN caseback will cost you - but you could get a complete JKF 5513 for $100, swap the caseback with the 1665 and sell the 5513 to get most of your money back. If you want I can see if the swap is possible (I don’t see why it shouldn’t be) - I have both watches. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Happy New Year! May all your movements be smooth and well regulated! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

What a great post! Lots of handy tips for modding and building there for us fledgling watch bodgers. Using the Dremel as a lathe is such a simple but useful idea. And a lovely GMT, too. Top work, and thanks for sharing sir. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've ordered from Trusty, JTime, Perfect Clones, Marvellous Replica, and (non-TD) TS-Station this year. Apart from TS, who don't offer to replace the watch(es) if they're seized by customs (this and other reasons accounting for their non-TD status) they all offer a very similar service - you do your research, you enquire about availability, you pay your money, you wait. Sign off (or not) on QC and wait again. Once the watches arrive, if there's any problems, you let the TD know and they offer to sort it if you send it back. Then you fix it yourself or send it to someone you know who will fix it - because only a total fool sends a fake watch back to China. And lastly, the TD will offer you an appropriate discount on the next order ("appropriate" being based on the fact that if you had risked all and sent it back to China, the TD could get it fixed for around 50p). Of all my TD orders, I had one that turned out to not have been made since about 2002 (my fault for not doing my research), one that broke down soon after arrival (my fault for choosing a watch with a known flaky movement) and one DOA that I fixed myself by swapping in a new 2813. That's out of 20+ watches received.

I had a couple of Indiglo Timex watches years ago, and loved ‘em. If they did these current “cool retro dive” styles with Indiglo I’d be there like a shot. But they just don’t have anything particularly special to offer, aside from looking okay. So for now I’ll stick with the fake Roleys. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is the first link I've ever seen posted to that watchparts.com site. The products look very good - to my amateur eye. I wonder why the site isn't referenced more often - is it just that my amateur eye is in need of further training..?

No problem, and happy hunting. Something that you will find about this hobby is there are no shortcuts to working things out and there are very few "one size fits all" answers. Everyone has the same sort of journey, where spending time doing research pays off in the end.

TDs have been doing this for years and they're TDs because they can be relied on to sell you what you asked for. But they're not there as advisors and English isn't their first language so at times they can sound unhelpful or rude. They really need you to tell them exactly what you want and pay for it, and then they go and get it for you. I've used Andrew (Trusty) for three orders and have been happy with the outcome every time. I've also used a number of other TDs, and apart from different shipping costs they've all been very similar to deal with.

"Who makes the best BLRO" (blue/red) GMT will always be a subject of debate, so you won't get a single definite answer. That's why Nanuq went to the trouble of recommending that you read and learn, and pointed you to sources to learn from.

Just dropping a quick message here to say thanks again sputim for the group buy opportunity. The bars are great quality. I've used them in my TS-Watch 6542. They look and fit great. The watch case I was drilling myself... less great! I ruined it. Ah well, lessons learned, move on and all that.