Watchmeister

Done. I just wish I had seen Jkay's post. If you are a USD donator remember the COMMA's.

Gorgeous set-up. I use the stealth storage approach. If you store them in enough different places and in different boxes it is possible your wife does not figure out the magnitude of your collection.

He will own that one for a while. The issue is that it is worth no more than a good standard dial without the remaining parts. The 202A is the rarest of watches with gens trading well north of $100k. But if you have one why would you ever want a spare dial. It is gorgeous though.

Great combination. Wear it well.

You have the right idea. As Mad Dog suggests those are nothing like the more expensive items the TD's are selling. And there is absolutely nothing Swiss about them.

This is just silly. you received the watch from him, complained and he offered to refund you the money. That is the right thing to do from his end. And what a lot of the veterans do. I can tell you that I normally eat the return shipping. But the minute I hear that the buyer wants to keep the watch and get a refund I typically decline. 9 times out of ten the buyer just wants a discount.You may well be the most honest person in the world and Hike may have inaccurately listed his watch but the minute you acknowledge that you are unhappy and the seller offers a full refund than you should take it.

Automatic without a date window does not exist in Panerai world other than the 2 register chronographs (212, etc.). If you want sandwich dial without date I believe you are stuck with a manual wind but someone else can correct me if I am wrong.

+1 You're right, that's why i am not sure to do this kind of full modification, and what the benefit is of doing it. Maybe the best option is just to let him service the movement, and do some finishing work on the case and crown.

That is what I would do. Simply service the movement to ensure longevity and do whatever aesthetic mods that are typically less expensive and visible on the wrist. Normally the things that come to mind are flattening the pin on the CG and potentially reluming if it isn't superlume. I don't know what the mods you would do to a crown or case though.

Yeah, the ones you listed whcih come with manual movements will be very difficult if not impossible to retrofit for automatic unless you go with one of the 2892 based automatics..

+1 for Ceramic PO

You are going to take a rep that without mods is 95% accurate and make it 98% accurate Is it worth it, that is your call What you are paying for the 3 percent is very high in comparison to the 95

+1. The real question is what is that little extra worth to you. In this case it looks like you are upgrading the asian movement for aesthetics. And presumably you are getting a warranty on the movement for some period of time so that is certainly worth something. It will look better and those mods require skill and take time but be forewarned that, no mattter how good the upgrades are, the 1% who have gens and actually look at their movements will know the movement is a rep and those that don't know wouldn't know it with or without the mods.

Remember that you either want to buy a strap with a ti buckle (to match the watch) or no buckle and you can use the buckle that came with the watch.

You are on RWG.

I don't believe that he actually made them. He did have access to a few unique ones quite a while ago and I was a happy beneficiary a year or two ago but they are long gone now. I would do the work on a V if you are obsessed.

Out of curiousity, are the gauges crooked on purpose? And yeah, I would kill for that car. '84--86 Whale tale turbo's are still one of my faves.  

I don't know who makes what but at the end of the day I always err toward buying from a trusted dealer. Not only are they reliable but if you do have an issue the dealer will actually try and resolve things satisfactorily. An unaffiliated dealer or website has no incentive to do anything other than take your money and run. It may work out and then everything is fine. But if it doesn't than you are on your own.

I love going back every once in a while and seeing all the great vehicles the membership has. I am still rocking the same ones when this thread started and loving them - an E-39, S-8 and Expedition. At some point you begin to hope a car will die just so you can justify a new purchase. Keep on posting pics guys.

Great to hear you are on the mend. May your recovery be speedy and complete. One of my family members contracted the flu but managed to avoid pneumonia... spent two weeks on an in-home nebulizer though. I have never seen this wicked a strain of Flu this year. And the scary thing is only one of the two strains is covered by the vaccine here in the U.S.

nice obfuscation. Cool concept, too.

Congrats. Looks great.

Is Natalie a boy or girl?

Are they putting in a Big Pilot base movement? The rotor looks generally the same, The movement is beautiful.

Very pretty. Perpetual big pilot....

If they don't take a wire or PayPal what does the person want? A credit card or are you supposed to send dollar bills in a piggy bank?

If you are nervous enough about the member or simply the amount of money involved than simply don't do it. YOu have certainly bought plenty of stuff in the past and it hasn't been an issue.