hooky

I also first had the cheap pam177 with cheap asian 6497-2. You could hear it tickking everywhere. very annoying and for me almost a reason to get rid of the watch. after I switches a sapphire in it, changed the movement for a better one AND have the movement serviced, it wasn't loud at all anymore. but still the loudest compared to my other automatics. hope this info helps.

Ask not for a picture with a tag, but for a picture with a date it in, preferably a newspaper with the date in picture. Everyone can make a tag name in the picture with photoshop. that was really useless. And yes, offer cash on collection. Or if other country you can tell that a buddy of yours lives there and is willing to pick it up... And also... track his ip address from the email contact and otherwise arrange that he will email you so you can find his ip address. To make sure that he is actually where he is claiming to be. Instead for instance in Nigeria... Let us know how its going... In the mean time: Good luck.

Hi, my rep PAM252 has a flush cyclops. The underside of the crystal is cut out for having the cyclops.

IWC Aquatimer 371928. Called 'Slevin' because of the movie Slevin. Available from all dealers on this board. look around and search. and... http://www.rwg.cc/members/Watch-Collectors-f198.html

Hey Lani, r u sure your watch smith put the crystal in already?? Stunning pics.

Nice! Yes, Gunny makes some great ones. Just this week ordered a Caitlin 2 as well. Do you have a pic with the Mona on the Breit buckle? Cheers!

You mean 'working 8 days powerreserve INDICATOR'. That one does NOT have a 8 days reserve. maybe just an working indicator.

reps will be reps and quality will never be as genuine. Even if you will pay +1000usd for a rep, for instance with a eta 7750, then there will still be irritating flaws. Just got a full ceramic Tempus. paid a lot. watch looks great, but the rotor was messed up. Got it from the 'best' factory. rotor inscription was not engraved. and the letters were not in the middle of the rotor weight, but halve off and all over the place. Back in the day Jakub offered Hublot rotor inscription for a low price. Maybe some people still do this on this board. to get the dust off the dials, make sure you have the right screw drivers which fit without moving in the screws. And also a very small one to be able to press a pin to get the crown stem out. And you will need a blower for sure. http://www.rwg.cc/members/Guide-replacing-...panerai+crystal http://www.rwg.cc/members/Installing-Valjo...cing+Asian+7750

No not possible. You could use the 200usd for a complete service of one of the dead ones you like best. And if it has problems again, you can remove the gears under the dial and freeze the second hand. The graphite treatment is also a possible solution but a mere experimental one.

how is the amplitude of the balance? If it is almost none, you'd better send it back. Actually I think this is not an easy fix by a watch smith, so I guess that is going back to China.

Hi guys, maybe it has been posted already ( I used the search button, but did not find a post), but it seems that there is a new version of the 47mm California dial PAM00249. http://www.puretimewatch.com/index.php?pro...cture_id=842479 http://www.puretimewatch.com/products_pict...9-2-13-7-01.JPG This time without the word 'California' at 12. still not the perfect crown, too long lugs, and no inscription 'Panerai' on the case at 12 and the hands are a bit off. But all in all I think it is a nice improvement. Cannon pin seems ok. No sapphire or mineral, but plexi like gen. maybe the domed plexi is a bit too high, don't know that yet. Lug screws on many radiomirs are not very tight. So I will tighten them with loctite, the one who can be unscrewed again one day. I just ordered one from my dealer. Together with a Gunny strap and a nice relume it will be a nice one. --> What is the correct lume for this one? C3 on the dial and C1 on the hands? Does anyone know about this? Thanks for looking, J.

you can also try rocketeer. or find a watch smith locally who has done A7750 servicing before.

always have it pressure tested by a local watch smith if you intend to go swim with it.

Oh My.... what an amazing watch!! Really nice. what kind of coating is this? normal pvd? Seems a bit more thick coating is that correct? We demand more pictures!!! Super nice. Is that chiefs AR, the dial looks so good. Did you also have it relumed or is that the next step? congrats, really awesome.

It is not good for the movement to adjust it every day or couple of days. I took this from watchdogs numerous post. don't know which ones any more. even recomding it for that reason to put it on a watch winder. to prevent to have to adjust time all the time when you wear several watches.

Here in Holland we have a saying 'one swallow (bird) does not make a summer'. So if one guy went diving with his watch only twice and everything is ok, then it does not mean that all watches will be. There fore the quality construct and quality control is just not consistent enough with reps from China. And someone calling someone a noob and then writing that 3atm is the same as 90ft in the water.... :g: Pressure is depending on weight and speed as well. So if an adult male is swimming, jumping/diving into the water, the pressure is higher than 3ATM. Same if you have a chronograph watch with WET push buttons. If you push the wet button, you apply a lot more pressure than 3 or 5 atm. maybe even more than 10atm... Swimming with these reps is at own risk. It is an activity which the watch nearly can take. For yourself you can make sure that all rubber o rings are properly greased and sealed. Also you might check if the screws of the crown guard are well enough screwed down against the case, so that the crown is pushed in good enough. And that the CG itself sits tight against the case. If you want to shower with the watch, just make sure you replace the rubber o rings every 2 years. showergel and shampoo dissolves the grease on the rubber o rings. And like Sweatdogg said, have it pressuretested, then you know for sure. With the watches i will swimm with, all have been pressure tested.

nearly impossible to change the movement to other within acceptable price. will cost you probably more than what you paid for the watch. you could also have the movement have a complete service. will cost around 175-200usd. will work again afterward, but no guarantee for long future because the sec @ 6 mod is just not reliable for the long term.

Hi Nehender, the graphite treatment is quite difficult if you are not familiar with timepieces to do this yourself. another solution is to remove the extra gears underneath the dial and freezing the running seconds. this directly takes away the reason of the watch not running anymore. I already let my watch smith perform this mod on 2 portuguese chrono's. both work fine still up to know. the cost of this mod from my watch smith was around

four around 200usd I would be looking for a manual wind Asian 6497-2 with swanneck and sapphire crystal. because mineral WILL scratch and that looks plain ugly when the gen has sapphire which won't scratch.

Hi A, welcome to the forum! http://www.rwg.cc/members/Hey-Noobor-NoobRe-t85981.html we have some good dealers here. Trustytime (Andrew) has always been good to me. good communication. http://www.rwg.cc/members/Watch-Collectors-f198.html What kind of Panerai are you looking for? There are some decent ones and lately there have also been some very good ones with good AR coatings and all that. The rubber straps and steel bracelets are quite good. the leather straps specially the one without croc style scream fake. When you get your first Panerai, take a look around for aftermarket straps. http://www.rwg.cc/members/Accessories-f199.html I recently got some straps from Greg Stevens and also from Gunny Straps which are really superb (http://gunnystraps.blogspot.com/) (Admin, if not ok to post this link, please remove) Good luck with the hunt and please post after you received your first!

Limeted edition for the USA customers? What is next, the great long wall of China, for the Asian customers?

Hey Ricardo, the 200usd won't really cut it. Try to look for a nice Pam with a good AR coating. that is also a big tell on the Panny reps. The reason why i say that 200usd won't cut it is the strap. The leather replica straps really scream fake. So if you want leather, consider an aftermarket strap. If 200usd is the budget, you could consider a rubber rep strap. those look good always. good luck with the search!

Good question Dudro, yes the rep Black STeel buckle is a bit too narrow. not the straps fault, but the buckles fault, it is too narrow compared to genuine. So you could get another buckle, but you could also ask Peter from Gunnystraps to make the Mona strap around 0,5 - 1,0 mm less wide at the end of the strap where the holes are. then no problem at all.

Got this strap for my Breitling Black Steel from Peter. Looks awesome! It is really thick. Can also be made a bit less thick than 7mm.

It is not always who is right or wrong. it is balancing between choices about what is best for you with terms of costs of shipments, how many weeks you don't have your beloved watch and what to expect next with the other watch. Even if I have a warranty I always try to fix my watch locally with estimated costs under 45usd. If estimate costs are more I will ship them back to China. Normally Hont's stuff is very good. If you need to send it back again, I would demand an extra strap or something when they send it back or a huge discount on the next watch to cover your shipping cost and efforts. good luck.