Watchmeister

Belated Happy Birthday. Great story. And I always love seeing parts of your collection.

I am betting a Franken is going to slot into that hole.

D- Huge thanks for the update. And I am glad to hear Angus is doing well. I wish him great success as he launches his new website. Obviously, none of the big watch wearers can wait for that AP - and I clearly fall into that camp.

Sssurfer is right I always forget that it is not anodizing. I don't believe it is PVD though. I vote for oxidation.

Graham Swordfish.

Always a pleasure to help when possible.

D- The collection is looking very nice. Wear them well. The comment about housing the ones that are currently home is so true. I don't seem to have more than a few PAM's in-house and yet I know bought many more.

As far as I know the PVD on that watch is not PVD. My guess is anodizing. If you are determined to take it to the next level you would get it beadblasted and coated in TIN. But these are hard to come by and a must have a PAManiacs. As Simon surely is.

JJ- Thanks for sharing. Sorry we couldn't catch up yesterday. I got tied up in an 18 hour negotiation which turned out to be a complete waste of time. Wish someone had told me that at noon rather than figuring it out that night.

Thanks for all the kind comments. It is not often that I have a whole group in the same place at the same time so I figured I would do this now. As other fanatics know there are always great stories behind each of your watches 170 - Picked that up from a large collector who wanted a 194 but felt he was long too many subs 24A - Labor of love over a couple of years. First the tritium reluming and polishing of the bezel. Then the gen crown and Jimmy CG. Finally the crystal and datewheel from a 199 87 - Original EL first version with crooked markers. Had to get those straightened while being tritium relumed and the hour marker bezels properly painted to match the dial. Then back for datewheel upgrade (I think - I get them mixed up) 243 - Got the wrong version first. Than one trip for relume and datewheel 187- One of the original Honpo 7750's. Movement crapped out and put aside. Than got all excited about the stock 7753 187 until I saw the quality. Thank god the dealer agreed to take it back. Another dealer was kind enough to source me a dial. Than Ziggy worked his wonders and cannibalized one of the original 7753 Pandas to finish it out. Hoping to reveal a couple of others over the next few months - oldies but goodies with additional mods.

A gen or two, a franken or two and a rep or two. I figured I would shoot some shots while I have them all in one place. Virtually everything is fully Ziggified. Maybe this should be in the collection section - but I figured this would interest PAMaholics. The Family: The Regular Subs: The "Deep Sea Divers" The 1000's: The Infamous 7753 187:

FGD- Thanks for the tip. PAMaholics should take a quick look. Duplicative posts are gone.

Definitely Chopard.

Once a watch makes the "as close to gen" as humanly possible it enters the rotation with gens. And I wear whatever I am in the mood to wear. Reps that are far off the mark or fantasies are only getting weekend or no wear.

Great combination. I have to get me one of those watches.

Now you know the truth about reps. Most gen owners know very little about them and could care even less. On a reasonably good rep the only folks who are going to notice are other rep collectors and folks who have been ripped off by a rep seller. And most likely even if you did come upon a collector of both reps and gens he is unlikely to bring it up as he knows it will upset other gen collectors - especially as relates to PAM's and Rollies as the reps are reasonably prevalent and fairly good. Frankly, The only real tests are floating your watches in front of PAM rep collectors and the Panerai service centers - if you have real cahones. I would not suggest doing that again - and not because I am worried about the rep industry being outed but because it can get pretty nasty for you.

What I want to know is if they are doing any engraving on the entry level logo watch.

You are right they are decorated. But they still cheap out engraving stock ETA bridge plates rather than using their signature bridge plate shapes and using the lower cost swan neck set up. Very telling that even they felt the need to spruce up their movement after they started regularly using clear case backs in the 111, 112,etc. It is a cool movement and the fact that it is in the 36 makes it even sexier but make no mistake - cheaper to produce. And yes I far prefer the original engraving to CDG.

I would be up for it. There are at least a half dozen other folks close by. You know who you are.

I am betting it is the first decorated movement. And I have to agree - why cover up that beautiful movement. Even Panerai doesn't decorate their movements when they hide them behind a case back. Then again maybe that is another reason to do it. Seriously, I vote open.

I am a fan. Even came close to buying a gen but GP seems to be a brand where there is no bottom and I never like to buy brands with no long term value sustainability. It is a beautiful watch though and I definitely prefer the 44 to the 42mm.

I love these articles. Why do styles change in style magazines? Because if they didn't there would be no magazines. As for what constitutes classic size anyone know what the size of the first elegant watches were - 47mm plus. They were called pocketwatches. And as for wearing big watches with suits on. Fine as long as you are successful enough to afford that shirt with the enlarged sleeve so that crown guard peeks gracefully out from under that wonderful french cuff avoiding forcefully shoving your large watch in the poor client's face. Now shouldn't I write for one of those magazines? And it is always nice to see the fashion magazines so far ahead of the curve. Perhaps they should explain to AP, Jaeger LeCoultre, Breguet and even Patek just as they are going bigger that it is a big mistake. And the moral of the story: wear what you enjoy wearing. And the best part of reps is that when you tire of the big ones (or small ones for that matter) you can change your whole collection up again. Long live reps.

My number for 99% rep with original movement, gen parts (if available) and all required mods is no than 35% of secondary market sales. Without original movement that percentage falls to 20% or less. For that reason I tend to stay away from Breitlings and Omega's except for those that seem to maintain their gen value. With the recent decline in most of the gen secondary watch markets there are fewer and fewer of those though.

Really nice straps. Wear them well. The one hole thing is cool but a little weird. Did you make the hole or he? I would never have the nerve to take that measurement without the strap on my wrist as the hole placement will vary based on thickness of the strap. I really like the finished keeper - very professional touch.

So I guess the question is whether the piece is worth investing more money into it or is he better off starting with a better base piece?