Watchmeister

Dani is right that the Aquatimer does come with a bracelet but out of the 20 or so gens I have seen I have yet to see anyone wearing it. I have seen a couple of really cool croc straps though.

F- That is why it is called the Aquatimer. If you want a 42mm with bracelet go for the 3717 Pilot.

The bergeon screwdrivers are great. If you are a clutz like me I would suggest either coating the 1.4 with a liquid rubber or buying a coated screwdriver. I scratched the hell out of the case arms swapping straps.

I did notice the inner bezel is lumed as you say - very modestly and inconsistently. On the gen it glows as bright as the hands. That is why I am reluming it.

M- As always, another beautiful vintage project. Keep posting them I enjoy it. Kruz

A- Belated Happy Birthday. Missed this one. If you live in Florida we will have to get together. In the winter I spend a lot of time up the road an hour or two. Kruz By the way I can't believe you did your own Birthday post. But you do get an A for creativity. When you get older you will find you prefer to forget it happened. Just ask me or Ken.

That is the specific flaw with the Asian 196. I lump it into the same category as the seconds at 6 daytona - pot luck as to whether it lasts or ever works for that matter.

Can I be you when I grow up.

I actually thought it was the opposite but I am no watch smith. I have never had a 7750 reconfigured to do what a 7753 does that did not break, A combination of poor assembly with the extra gears which are lacking the appropriate jewels, etc. just made it worse. I have had excellent luck with the newer 7750 movements when in the standard chrono layout or when put in a watch without the chrono function. I made the decision early on to save my pennies up for the 7753 on the Daylights. The funny thing is that now ETA themselves have eliminated the 7753 from their movement line and have designed a module to stick on top of the 7750 which is similar to what is in the gen HBB.

I do not mean to kill interest in the watch. In general I love 7753's as all the 7753 watches will become rare with the elimination of the 7753 from the ETA line. It is still certainly good enough that I am giving it real consideration. For me the question is whether this is a $750 or $1,000 watch. It still is a fairly close rep to a $10,000 watch. If I did it I would cannibalize my existing Honpo which has a defunct movement as it came with the crappy version of the 7750 and use the case, CG (truer to gen in how it wraps around the pushers), hands and crystal. My critique is precursory though and I would have to see it in person. I actually requested the price as well.

Here is my 30 second critique: It is the second gen case with raised relief He valve versus etching on the original honpo and the genuine. The bezel is a new bezel with the markers actually recessing into it or they are at least now "digging" a hole before gluing in the bezel markers. Unfortunately I am betting glued as on second generation rep rather than screwed on as in gen and Honpo. Markers also look like they are still chrome covered base metal so you will have to be careful polishing those suckers. Also, if you whack them you can dent them. Crown guard is not "long" enough on the case as the chrono pushers should be more tucked in to the crown guard. Too lazy to look at the dial. Well, we got what we asked for. Now we just need to find out the price and then we have a decision to make.

I use a stock ETA stem. They cost all of 99 cents.

I was in an AD a couple of weeks ago and noticed that the subs (at least the 25 I saw) had moved away from Tritium to Lume. So if a new version ever comes out ask the manufacturers to switch the dial to L Swiss L and the caseback serial to an "I" and one of the last major flaws on that rep will be eliminated. You then have good date font and magnification and correct lume and glow.

That is a good price if they look like these: http://www.rwg.cc/members/Interest-in-Genu...wns-t26930.html People should hop on them. No harm no foul as the group buy is now largely done (I am ordering the last batch and everyone is paid up) and I could not get them that cheap. Just make sure they all have the 3 rubber gaskets. If they look different please post pics and assuming they are gen I will take them all at that price. No kidding. I am a crown obsessor. I have the most extensive crown PAM collection including two generations of the Lello's, a couple of versions of the Palp/PAM's, the Homers and the gens. I can't tell you how many crowns I have for other manufacturers with no watch to go with it. In fact I just found a source for a dozen Mille crowns. I bought one to see if it is the same size as the new rep and I have no intention of buying the watch. I suspect they are the wrong size anyhow.

I suspect it is temporary. I had heard it was suspended until they could get their hands on a genuine 2007. The manufacturer did not want to produce it before the genuine came out and have mistakes on the rep. On this one the big question was how the orange would lay out on the inner bezel. Early prototypes showed the orange both laid out exactly as the white on the 2006 but also with an additional outline around other numbers on the inner bezel. I am also curious to see whether the orange is luminous as I have never seen orange lume of this color. I saw the first one listed on Ebay about a week ago so they should be able to commence production shortly. Either that or the manufacturer went on vacation.

Irrespective of the price my bigger fear is that it does not bode well for future watches which use different complicated movements. The HBB does move the sub dials from the standard layout. I will be curious to see how well the new moonphase and big date movements perform. And now you can't just swap out the movement. The aesthetics are getting better and better but as we make the necessary migration away from stock movements there will inevitably be some disasters. It took several generations of standard 7750's to get it right and they still are often bone dry. It would seem that now more than ever we will have to show patience when watches come out.

I have seen the one Teejay is talking about. It is very different from the ones we have been buying. Anyone who knows what a Big Bang is will know it is a rep so I would not be so concerned about manipulation. You are just buying your sister-in-law a fun watch. If she likes it just buy it. To know you can make someone happy for their birthday for under $100 is always a good thing.

What happened to the website?

I knew it wasn't just me. Sorry for the agony.

Both are gen. Crowns vary as to how far they sit off the case based on the model (and year for that matter). The CG pin and lettering are the instant tell-tale signs. And yes, I would always rely on V's opinion. He is probably staring at his gens as he makes these comments. I haven't had owned a gen PAM since the 2893's came out on Honpo.

Replace day/datewheels with ETA stock, relume and you have a stunning rep. I believe some come with AR and some don't. Version 1 (more expensive) comes with newer and better high beat Asian 7750. Later version costs less but has original (less reliable) 7750 movement. I wouldn't buy that one unless you are planning to swap for ETA movement. The good news on the cheaper one is the hands are readily interchangeable.

In the future post a pic but the answer is no. That one has a cyclops on the crystal. Gen and MBW have cyclops built into the dial.

I will have to take a pass. I am not generally in the city on weekends and have another weekend later in the month where I need to be in the city. Slay I will PM you and we can do lunch during the week. As for you other NYC residents there may well be another opportunity later in the month for me to meet those I don't know when another esteemed member will be in town. Everyone have a blast though. It sounds like a lot of fun.

It depends what you mean by relume. To the best of my knowledge no one has relumed the inner bezel yet on a CD. Ziggy has mine and I have asked him to do it. Absent the inner bezel it is relatively easy and so it should be whatever the various modders charge. They can comment. It would be great if it did come in cheaper than the CD. IMHO, that would make it a must have. Between the Ingys, the GST, the CD, the Slevin and many others IWC has rapidly become a tour de force in the rep world. And this has all been in the space of less than 18 months. Rolex took 20 years. PAM took 2 years and are still improving. The product cycles appear to be speeding up.

I will let him know the site is down. It is a holiday weekend in Canada so he may not know.