Logan

There are heaps of cheap tungsten watches made.. so I guess its possible. It would make an awesome Icebang.

Cops love guys like you lot.. boasting about how much you've scored. Its the perfect confession. I know its been ages since there was any legal threat to any of the boards.. but the genuine makers are hurting badly and it really doesn't seem smart to rub this in their faces. Back in Napster days I remember guys boasting on the forums how many songs that had downloaded.. and look what happened next.

I love the giant safe at the end of the wardrobe.. very cool indeed.

It works "quite" well.. most regular people (ie who don't post here) would consider it appropriate for a replica. Of course we all prefer to fool ourselves that we own the real thing and service them properly. I personally can't bring myself to do it, but I can totally see why others do, especially on fakes or cheapies

The bezel bolts on the RB2's were awful.. maybe a prototype he wasn't supposed to show yet? I sure hope they improve that before sale.. and please please make the case from Titanium

Its probably only a matter of time before rep's of the Rolex movements get made, especially the 15xx series as its a little easier technically to make (different balance) but if and when you can bet they will show up here pretty early on.

Mine is on its way, they look great in the pictures so I'm very keen to see it in person.

Its strange then that so many people have had problems.. Could it be that these movement whilst well designed are regularly shipping dirty or un-oiled?

This is a very public place to be boasting about these kind of numbers guys.. As fun as this hobby is we're still in a legal "grey area" and the board doesn't need attention from those who don't share our enthusiasm.

Big watches are a personal preference.. especially if you not a big guy.. there's only one real option.. buy one and see how it feels. A warning though.. anything else feels like a girls watch once you get used to the big ones.

This looks very promising.. there will never be an RM super rep in the near future of course.. the movement are just to detailed.. But these do look really good. It just goes to show.. never say never in rep collecting. Now if they could just do the RM11... hmmm...

I think this economy will really sort out the swiss manufacturers.. and many luxury goods brands for that matter. The days when you built a brand then hiked up the prices and milked the market for all it was worth are long gone.. and probably aren't returning. Look at what Panerai got away with.. prices went from 1500 euro to between 10 & 20k euro based on nothing more than brand value. oh and an "in-house" movement which was of course worth double the price of the old one. Its being reported that the $5,000 watch market is almost gone completely today. The bracket above that is very low volume and mostly sales to collectors and enthusiasts.. ie the very rich who own a number of watches.. up there you've got a hundred brands competing for a rapidly diminishing pool of buyers. Below you're got the buyers who want a brand but for the most part don't really care or know what's inside. Many of them are happy to buy quartz for the accuracy and convenience. Add to that the young who aren't interested in watches at all.. Most of them have never worn one and would much rather put the money towards a cell phone. I think freddy has it right.. this will be as bad as the quartz crisis.

It'll be interesting how the price this.. up til now brands have used in house movements as an excuse to bump the price up substantially.. but in the current economy that market is dead.. apparently the $5000 market is gone completely.. and thats where I would expect this to have been priced. Upwards of that is very low volume and Breitling doesn't really have the brand strength to sell the numbers required. If they have to price it the same as the valjoux's then what's the point? Breitling just wasted a pile of money developing it and the lower price buyers might be wary of buying in house given the huge service costs compared to a valjoux that anyone can work on.

Most lawyers will tell you to do nothing.. don't speak to the police or customs and never ever put anything in writing. Anything you say or write can and will be turned against you. Why help them build a case against you? Make it entirely their job to do that. Remember they only want to speak to you to help build their case.. NOT to clear your name. They are NOT on your side. If, and only if, it goes to court should you present a defense..

The bezel makers on the arctos type reps do come off quite easily. I removed mine (using nail clippers to grip them low down on the sides and gently snapped the adhesive) then reglued them using JB weld. You need to thorough clean everything and remove any old glue (looks like low grade epoxy used). I also replaced the CG and the crown. Its now one of my most accurate Pam reps.

Btw I was able to dull the sharp edges slightly with a buck brand diamond knife sharpener.

Some of the early Hublot bezels were sharp.. really sharp. I have a couple of shirts with holes as a result of polishing them.

I went to the show the other night here in NZ, and I was pretty suspicious of those cars actually.. probably my replica sense at work.. couldn't place it at the time but something didn't look quite right about the proportions. It also seemed weird to drown out Ferrari engines with loud music. Keep in mind how many watches those guys own.. and you wonder if maybe someone is a member here :-)

Sometimes they screw together.. ie the round centre shaft that is still there unscrews from the outside.. but I've no idea if you can buy parts. Some others don't have any thread so I presume they are pressed together. Someone did post a while back with some pictures.. can not remember who sorry..

I've posted this before but its worth mentioning here.. Some rolex crown tubes out there are not a 3 x 3.5 thread, In particular those sold some years back by a guy called Ponycar on ebay were designed for retro fitting old cases with worn threads and are in fact over sized. Presumably Rolex had over size taps to clean the threads prior to using them. Ponycar sold a heap of these before anyone really realized what was going on so there are plenty still in circulation. I posted a while back with all the tube diameters if anyone needs more help to identify which you have.

I still have the sale brochure from the 80's for these models.. they have actually aged quite well. The 18ct Polo model was always a favorite of mine although I never got to see one in person

That strap would also look awesome on any of the red Ferrari Pam's. I wonder if Aaron can make it in a 24mm?

The first part is fairly easy. What you are doing is really called lapping, basically sanding but using a very very flat surface under the sanding paper to get a very flat even finish. The re-plating will be tougher as you'll be plating two different surfaces, one brass exposed by the lapping process, two the old plating (what ever it is) inside the old engraving. This may or may not be especially successful. The starbust pattern is done with a machine finisher, I'm sure you could set up a rig to do that using a basic lathe or similar and a rotating sander.. but it'll be a bit tough to get right. I hope you persist with this. I think movement re-finishing could be a great addition to the skills here

Some of the ceramics are like this too, I used a diamond knife sharpener to very carefully smooth the edges of mine

No. Your movement needs servicing, or wear it and let it auto wind. Don't manually wind it, you'll break it pretty quickly.