Watchmeister

You're a good man for giving it a try. Well now we know dial, hands (fitted by a skilled watchsmith) and crown and tube work. You just saved me money and I am grateful.

That is the problem with replacing cyclops with many of the newer PAM reps. Sssurfer is the only person I know who tried and actually got the crystals apart. Sssurfer- Have you replaced a sandwich crystal with a single? I assumed the sandwich was thicker and so you would have space you need to fill between the crystal and the bezel/case and would need a new gasket. Lysis- I didn't know they used a sandwich crystal on gens. I am looking at one right now and it is impossible to tell without taking it apart but I have yet to take a gen PAM apart. Just looking at it, it looks more like the cyclops is drilled into the crystal and that is what I always assumed. But I have never owned a gen later than an F series.

Getting blacklisted by someone who is trying to sell you something at profit is a real feat. Unless it is TTK of course. He has principles. What they are I am still trying to figure out.

Ajoe- Good luck on that one. IMHO, people who buy HBB lites are unlikely to spend the amount of money necessary to get it made properly. My 2 cents. You have plenty of other good projects. Stick with them.

Actually black markets are the ultimate free markets - free from government intervention. As long as you don't call getting arrested government intervention.

Of course we will never solve the issue - if there is one. The market will. My perception is that folks in general (at least those that have been around for awhile) are buying less and more carefully. The market is always changing and buyers will always change their buying habits as they see fit. And we should not loose sight of the fact that the manufacturers respond to the revised market. Oh yeah, we call that a free market. Already there are HBB lites and the new Slevin is supposed to be better than the CD and less expensive. At least things are going the other way where the "best" (and I use that term loosely) version comes first and then a less expensive alternative follows. Whether it is HBB or 2893's followed by 2836's or 2892-A2's being followed by Asian Power Reserves. Couple these developments with the forum where you can read about other folks' experiences with a particular model and life is pretty good.

I sympathize with your efforts. Duplicating PVD is one of the most things to do effectively. First you have to find the right blasting process (glass versus other materials). Than you need to know what size of the material and how much pressure and time to blast. That gives you the finish/sheen. Perhaps the most difficult part is identifying what chemical compound to use tiN, tiAln or any of many other chemical compounds. IMHO, the best way to do it is to bring a sample of the gen to someone who can do all the various coatings and let him figure it out. On PAM's you have the benefit of having gen PVD crowns. With the BR it has got to be next to impossible without having a sample of the gen. It does look good as is but I hav no idea what the gen looks like.

Looking very good. JoJo will be a very happy boy.

Well if that is underposting I would hate to see overdrive. a- Nice to see you back.

Oh my god! You mean there is a dealer discussion area? I always wondered how dealers all have the same prices. Bearcat- Good luck on that. Don't think for one minute that anyone who says he is joining the boycott will stick to it. And I wouldn't wish iOffer on anyone. On that website you are very possibly buying from dealers around here. That is where they go to mark up their prices.

TTK has it right. Everyone too quickly forgets that this is a black market. Black markets are always far more inefficient. Why? Perfect information is not available. You can't report problems to a "better business bureau." You can only vote with either your feet or your money. The internet is a wonderful anonymous place. Can you believe you can find dealer info, reviews of various items and even recommendations on items which are fundamentally illegal. And the information here is unbelievably good. Wouldn't it have been great to find a forum regarding illicit drugs in your youth. "I love the Maui Wowy from Dealer X. But it is not as good as Koana Kool. You can reach the Maui Wowy dealer at ...." Most dealers are not selling here because they want to be your best friend. They do it because it is a convenient place to find a lot of buyers in one place. And it is a safe bet that most are trying to sell additional units away from the forum at higher prices. A few years ago most of the dealers on the reasonably honest forums were doing it part time. Now the majority of the dealers are doing this to put food on the table. Business is business. This market has evolved and professionalized. Now on the prices of super reps keep tilting at windmills. Talk is cheap. Prices only go down when an item doesn't sell. So it is pretty simple - either buy or don't. If enough people don't buy dealers and factories will be stuck with excess inventory and lo and behold prices fall. An organized boycott won't work because even if we were the lionshare of a certain rep model (which I doubt and we will never know in any case) people can say one thing and act differently. What super reps have forced me to do is to choose more carefully. Yes the number of reps I buy annually has fallen but the overall amount spent has increased. Oh well!

Now that is a project!

Movement for movement or do you have something else in mind?

Very nice review. Really makes you think twice about buying the Swiss. Have the Asian been out long enough to know whether the quality control is good? Does anyone sell them separately?

There is an element of potluck as there always is for people who have real jobs/lives. I had the same issue when doing the group buys for the gen crowns. With all the hustle and bustle it can take you 2 weeks just to get to the post office. On both of my orders I asked him what he had in stock and got them in less than 2 weeks. They definitely make it in batches and he has real world responsibilities so my advice for future orders is to ask what he has in stock before ordering.

You should post a pic of one with the palp crown and one with what he is offering you now. In truth, Palp's are too big versus gen. But they look good with CG's with "hole" larger than gen. In a properly sized CG however they look too big. So the answer is "It depends." It is all in the crownguard. If you ordered it with the Palp and the seller doesn't have any idea when he is getting them than you can always request a refund. If you changed your mind than you are stuck and pick your poison.

Very nice! Fitting background. You are a braver man than I though. That glide factor has always scared me to death... -

Fabulous review. I concur. Here is mine with Ziggy relume, Chieftang AR and Lello datewheel: But I have to add your review was a truly enjoyable read. Wear it well.

You cheap bastards! You don't like the price or you don't have the money than don't buy. Whining is not going to do a thing to drop price. Not buying them might - if our purchasing power actually makes a difference. No idea whether this is the case. Anyone who is an early adopter of a watch pays the price (too much) and takes the risk (does it fall apart, does it tell time? ). I now try to wait or to buy in the second-hand market. But I am one who is glad the super reps are here and I am glad our dealers offer them. And yes we would all like them cheaper... Either go find different dealers or go make more money.

A rubber pad can work as well.

Well strike my comment on the availability of Jimmy Cases. They are gone now. And on the Jimmy case with gen crown it is preferable to put in a new case tube.

Yes but make sure the ball of tape extends beyond the crystal onto the metal.

Jimmy cases are readily available. On the crowns I would be curious how you are planning on recreating the inner spring mechanism. Once you have a properly sprung crown there is no going back:

Wow! That will be a beautiful watch. Wear it well.

On your 176H, you could put on a ti crown as it has 1.2mm stem. I will eventually do it to my Josh 36. As I said these are the only crowns that come with the 1.2 stem tube hole. Your other concerns though would be needing to enlarge casetube (most rep cases have a smaller casetube than the gen) and making sure that your lever is long enough so that the lever actually contacts the crown. Gen crowns have a deeper recess on the middle versus gen. At some point I will try it.