Toadtorrent

The other option is to contact the collector (whichever one) by email directly, and ask them for a Paypal account to pay to...instead of going directly through their webshops. Listen to the collector about what to put in for the details (i.e. mention nothing about watches or reps in the transaction notes).

Hey...some of these old threads are still worth looking at!

Welcome aboard. Read me Noob Guide and you'll hit the ground running. As to Angus specifically, he came through for me on a web order...but it could have been Peter who filled it. I've dealt with a Peter a few times now, and had direct associates do the same with no problems. He's been great to me.

Very nice!

If it's in Customs since the 10th...no worry. I would say likely you should have it by Wednesday the latest.

I'm with Chief...I'm not a huge fan of Fortis watches but I do like this one. Great bottom shot!!

The Lange's are all fusion fantasies mixing bits of one with the other. However...that does not mean they aren't beautiful watches. How many people really know Lange watches and are hanging around Lange owner circles? If you're in the circle, odds are good you have the gen. Otherwise...you can get a nice fantasy/fusion watch for cheap as the Lange's are all in the $125 range. Again, the MBK Nautilus is good...and people seem to like the Aquanaut as well.

It's true that much knowledge is gained by much effort rather than inherent IQ. I have to believe that or wouldn't be able to do anything. As to the fonts being the same...I'm not so sure about that. If you look at the unzoomed full head photos, you can see that they aren't. 105 and 106 look similar, but look at the 12 and you'll see the serif tail on the "1" is longer on the 106. The "4" looks the same too until you look at the bottom and the left point and you'll see slight flaring or shape that makes them a bit different. 104 and 105 I thought were the same, but look at the "0" in 10 and you'll see that 104 is actually a bit wider. The 14 on the two pieces looks close, but the bottom line on the "4" on the 104 sits much higher than the 105. There are other differences as well when you start comparing the numbers 1-by-1 around the bezel. How confusing is that!! That timeline of yours will be gold when you get it finalized!!

No doubt on the The Zigmeister lume...and to the bezel font...man...go straight to the head of the class. I'll say it again...the knowledge you need to get into vintages is STAGGERING!! Some say not for the faint of heart...others say not for the faint of wallet...I say not for the faint of brain either! BTW...I updated it to add some more comparitive pics of crown guards and more font variances as well as baton marker variances on the bezel. Good notes to add!!

I'm trying to get it sorted out with Admin. He worked through turning "back on" the other tech posts of The Zigmeister that seemed to have disappeared.

I'm waiting for it to die. I'm working on getting an HKTan gen croc! What's the tracking say? If it's arrived in Canada and is handed over to customs...you're good to go...just wait for Canpost to do it's thing.

I was wondering what it was as well. M was wearing what looked like a Muller Conquistador or Master Square of some form... I thought it was a decent movie. It's more of a moody flick, showing the more complex side of Bond. The stuff with the Bond woman was all about him being bitter from being betrayed by Vesper in Casino Royale given the movie as a sequel is supposed to continue 20 minutes from where Casino Royale ends...so not wanting a "relationship"...but a quickie on the other hand...who wouldn't?

You're absolutely right. I figure when some of the higher end strap companies say to swap out straps for hygiene reasons every 6 months...that's an expensive habit on OEM straps. A Breitling croc is expensive...a non-branded strap made to Breitling specs is about $120 USD (so <50%).

You are right that the datewheel looks sunken. I'm certainly no Navitimer expert...but the rest of the watch looks alright to me. The main thing I'm going by is that the slide rule markings seem to line up all the way around. The 60 is set a little towards 1-o-clock on the outside ring, but the other markings line up seemingly an equal amount relative to the amount that the red 60 sits towards 1-o-clock. If you have a chance to line things up exactly, and all the markings all the way around line up...that's usually an indicator. I'm not sure how much the gen datewheel is sunken.

Nice...yup...so far the brown strap is my fave. Scrape off the overlapped latex on the inside portion (light brown) of the strap, as skin contact will rub it off and mess up the inside. I just used my fingernail. Lookin' good...and congrats!!

Hey folks. I'm eager to start one of these projects...but I know it's not for the faint of heart. So...instead, I put this post together which you might find useful for options on the final look of your pieces:

Hey Lani...I put this post together to help you on your research...as I had the pics available to me. Hopefully it's of use for your timeline research.

This is going to be a quick Toad Guide...mainly a reference to some gen 1655 pics with details to provide people a starting point of how their rep projects should look...no big details...just pics and specs. Everyone knows in real life Paul Newman wore his 6263 Daytona...but there exists a bit of confusion over the Steve McQueen Rolex given that Tag Heur makes a Monaco based on his character in the 1971 movie Le Mans. What Steve McQueen wore in real life for the most part was a no-date Submariner...but his more famous selection was the Rolex 1655 Explorer II with matte black dial and orange hand, affectionately known as the "Steve McQueen Rolex". There are some excellent 1655 threads on RWG including: Stephane's Info Gathering Thread Lanikai's Upcoming 1655 Project Polexpete's Thread with some great gen pics Toomuchgear's Franken info is in this thread All the pics and details below are taken from the Antiquorum Rolex Revolution Catalogue...with additional observations of mine added in for good measure. CASE SPECS There seems to be some confusion over the proper size for this case. As usual, recorded dimensions vary depending on who is doing the measuring and where they are measuring. But...to the collector, the dimensions as Antiquorum measures them (pretty solid source...given they regularly sell $100,000+ watches...so they better get a simple thing like how to measure things down pat): WIDTH: 39mm THICKENESS: 14mm If anyone is wondering, the THICKNESS of the case is where most of the rep cases fail. The lower end ones are generally built on a Submariner case with 1655 markings which unfortunately measure 1-2 mm's too thin. Whether or not they are same width I'm not sure about...but Antiquorum measures all modern Subs as 40mm x 13mm, with vintages subs in the 70's at 40mm x 14mm. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS One thing I notice when looking at these vintage pieces is that there are so many variances in details like crown guards and dial markings, that whatever you choose will likely only be able to be called out by a VERY FEW number of people. Many people will think they know the differences...but generally only compared with 1-2 variants of the 1655, and NOT the complete history of what is available in the ultra-rare vintage Rolex market. THE GOODS Here we go...ENJOY!! Antiquorum Lot 102 - Straight Hand, Mark I DATE:1970 NOTES: Straight centre seconds hand "T Swiss T" Aged darker yellow tritium baton markers White baton hands with aged darker yellow tritium "thinner" crown guards Smaller, "heavier" bezel font Bezel printing closer to inner bezel edge Long baton markers on bezel Antiquorum Lot 103 - Straight Hand Steve McQueen DATE:1971 NOTES: Straight centre seconds hand "T Swiss T" Aged lighter yellow tritium baton markers White baton hands with aged lighter yellow tritium "thicker" crown guards "lighter" bezel font Bezel printing is centred on bezel Short baton markers on bezel Antiquorum Lot 104 - Ref. 1655 "Steve McQueen" DATE:1979 NOTES: Centre seconds hand with luminous dot "T Swiss < 25 T" Lightly aged light cream tritium baton markers White baton hands tritium "thicker" crown guards "lighter" but wider bezel font Antiquorum Lot 105 - Ref. 1655 "Steve McQueen" DATE:1979 NOTES: Centre seconds hand with luminous dot "T Swiss < 25 T" Lightly aged light cream tritium baton markers White baton hands tritium "thinner" almost pointy crown guards "heavier" but narrow font than Lot 104 above Antiquorum Lot 106 - Tangerine Steve McQueen DATE:1984 NOTES: Centre seconds hand with missing dot "T Swiss < 25 T" Very orange aged tritium baton markers White baton hands with very orange aged tritium "medium" thickness crown guards "taller " bezel font BEZEL FONT VARIANCE [*]Lot 102 and 106 sit close to the edge towards the dial, 103 sits "high" on the bezel [*]Lot 104 and 105 printing is centered within bezel [*]Lot 104 has a narrower font [*]Lot 103 and 106 use a wider font [*]Lot 102 uses a heavier font BEZEL BATON MARKERS AND CROWN GUARDS [*]Lot 102 has long thick baton markers [*]Lot 103 has short "thinner" baton markers [*]Lot 105 has long "thinner" baton markers [*]Lot 102 thinner crown guards [*]Lot 103 has thicker crown guards [*]Lot 105 has thinnest, pointier profiled crown guards (NOTE: I don't have pics of the crown guards from the crown side...so I can't show if they are really pointy) [*]Lot 102 and 105 have serifed feet on the bottom of the flat-topped 4, while Lot 103 has no serifs SECOND HANDS [*]Lot 102 is the straight hand [*]Lot 105 has the lume dot [*]Lot 106 has a missing lume dot [*]Lot 106 lume dot holder sits higher than Lot 105 and well above the coronet T SWISS T NOTE: Lot 102 bezel markings are closer to the dial and a heavier font. Lot 105 also has "pointier" serifs CONCLUSION I hope you guys find this useful...I plan to embark on a project one of these days. What I hope to illustrate are the slight variances in popular things like the font, baton markers, hand length, etc that make vintage Rollies so much fun and confusing. I also hope to highlight how difficult it really is to determine with REAL confidence the "gen" features to shoot for without a complete comparitive timeline of the variance in the watches, and a solid memory to remember which features apply to what! So, if anybody says "that's a fake...look at how heavy that font is on the bezel...it's all wrong"...look at them like you would a small, bad child and say "PLEASE...that only applies to pre-1971 and after 1975...everybody knows that...rookie...now go back to your hole and read up on your facts if you want to play with the big kids."

Aaah...exams! I was wondering why he was so quiet...I missed that.

PM Sent.

You can likely get it from Peter (Watchstation) or Jay (Silix) or Angus (Puretime)...expect around $170...given the standard A7750 is discounted about $120.

Welcome aboard Old-Newtimer. You're definitely on your way. Which Carrera did you get?

Glad it worked out in the end.

You don't mess with the Doxa King when he's on a mission.

What strap is this?? It's smokin' on the ROO!