Watchmeister

As I mentioned earlier I am doing this the other way. I have 25 on the way to me now. Once I have inspected them to make sure they are fine I will sell a chunk of them promptly and order some more. I did not want to outlay thousands upfront not knowing where I was going with them. This is not a money making exercise and so I have no room for error. Having been a previous participant in several other projects I have learned the hard way that wanting something and paying for something are two different things. The seller said he would get them out tomorrow and I should see them in the next few days.

Why you of course.

Well, let's spice this discussion up a little. Here is one of several reference photos I have on early PAM's: Now let's suppose that this picture from a 5218 shows the crown compressed . They both have a total of 3 gaskets - one against the crown base and two on the spindle. Now look at the construction where the crown "stem" meets the crown. Notice the same two piece construction into the crown. Now look at the depth of the crown versus any other PAM rep crown you have ever seen. Pretty sophisticated for a rep crown. I will give you one legitimate counter theory - perhaps they are excess crowns from RXW when they were forced to cease and desist on the crown guard? Well, who knows. I now own them and am happy to be stuck with them.

Well, I was able to get the seller to accept the same price for 25 with the understanding that I could get more if I came back relatively quickly. So I bought them. I will wait to see that they are all good. Assuming that is the case I will offer the majority of them to members. I was getting more than a little nervous about being long $4,000 of crowns. I do love you guys but... This way if no one wants them other than the folks who I know well who have indicated interest I am happy to be long the excess. And no, I cannot prove that they are genuine. One interesting twist is that one of the ones I received previously is clearly 1.2mm and is either very light PVD or ti. Anyone know how to test it? So I will have to see what is in this first batch. If there is enough demand and people pay promptly once they are formally offered I will consider buying another round. In the meantime he is offering them on Ebay as singles for something in excess of $100.

RT- This looks great. My only question relates to the quality of the texture on the dial. I know your pics leave a little to be desired but the texture looks deminimus. Do you have the last version? How do the dials compare? Otherwise this one looks fabulous and I may just give-in. After all, the double AR coat glass may have to come off my current one.

No the ones I have are 1.9 on the crown itself. I think the 2.2 would have to include the base of the crown which sits on the case.

http://www.rwg.cc/members/And-God-Said-Let...ght-t20575.html This one has Finepics datewheel and Ziggy relume.

Make no mistake - there is true prejudice in many fields to readily evident large scale tats - especially as more and more fields go global. For an older generation which will still be running a significant portion of the global economy over the next 20 years it has a very different meaning. If you are a rock star or independent businessman it is irrelevant - unless you are sitting in front of the purchasing manager for Walmart trying to explain to him why he should buy 100,000 Ginzu knives from you and not someone else. Back to the topic at hand, I prefer a clean wrist for watch wearing purposes. But I suspect you could guess that.

Mine are on the way as well. I think everyone should be mindful that PAM is picking up the slack left by Palp. Thank you for seeing this through.

Neither he nor TTK were ever in doubt.

Can I prove it? ABSOLUTELY N0T. Here is what I do know. He did in fact buy out the inventory from a bankrupt watch smith. I bought gen brietling and Omega crowns from him as well and they are gen. Further, I am looking at one of his PAM crowns , a rep crown, a Lello Crown, a Palp crown and gen Breitling and Omega crowns as I write this and it is far superior both in terms of metalurgy (look at the brightness on this one versus Palp or anyone else's) as well as the finish on the crown and stem and integrated gaskets. Further, the fact that the PVD's vary dramatically implies that they are from different runs. In any case, I was getting nervous about being on the hook for 50 pieces and it now turns out that I am not going to need that many to get close to the target price so I will look long and hard before accepting "orders". I know that I and "trusted" friends are good for 20 so I will achieve about as good a price as possible. I need to catch up with Ziggy as to usefulness on the 7750's and then I will post a sign up thread.

My suggestion would be that as you get closer to buying that gen post what brands and models you are contemplating. Between all the forum members here you will likely get some useful input.

Ken - You weren't supposed to notice. Don't worry, we weren't trying to sell them. Can you imagine the rep on that one. Yeah, $5,000 is way too low. I just picked an arbitrary number. If I remember correctly it was something north of $10,000. Then again he has numerous watches worth tens of thousands in that box so it was a rounding error for him anyhow. Can't imagine what that Crown Guard would have cost. It is clearly from one block of aluminum.

I don't know if there was another version of the Pandas. They were not big sellers. I do own both. I think I got them from King and Josh. By the way the white dial version is stunning. Can't be of much more help than that.

You have to look carefully at what you are thinking about buying. It does vary dramatically. I never buy a watch brand new unless it is 35% or more off retail.

This one is still alive. Another forum member has been helping me out and snooping around asking for prices based on a smaller number of crowns and we can get fairly close to the price he quoted me for 50 and still get a substantial discount from the seller. I am going to catch up with Ziggy myself and then start a new loop later in the day asking for firm no BS orders. Another reason why I don't have a lot of manuals. It is a good thing I have a mind like a sieve and need a date.

A lot of people sell it. You should make sure which version people are selling. Also at least one dealer uses pics from either the Asian 7750 or older version as they are too lazy to update them. At this point there is only one factory making it. I have a dial from that version coming for my old case version to see which one is better.

I know the alignment will be better. But it is not perfect on all day/date combinations on gen IWC's either. I was wondering about the fonts as well. In truth standard stock ETA font on my Swiss 7750 movements is closer to the gen than what is on the reps so I am curious as to which they use.

Of the dealers I have bought multiple watches from: Josh - No. But only one problem in many purchases Andrew - No. Two problems in many purchases King - Don't know but never had a problem River - Don't know but never had a problem Sean - Don't know but never had a problem Eddie - No but his partner usually does on his behalf. No problems Angus - Yes (he is the only one of the Cartel on the ground near the factories). No problems But all dealers above have always been very responsive when there was a problem.

Exactly on both counts. The day/date on the Swiss movement will line up correctly and it is good to see the rotating inner bezel mechanism works. Looks great. Wear it well.

40mm vs 44mm. No way. Since there is no other IWC rep that large currently out there you couldn't even do it reworking another bracelet.

New Apple's must be cheaper where you are. I can't get one properly outfitted for less than $1200 and you end up at $1400 if you go to 1.5-2.0 gig of RAM - and that is on the 13" screen. 15" screen and you are promptly at $2,000. Now I am buying at the Apple Store (which is totally cool and open 24 hours a day here). If someone nows how to buy them cheaper please let me know. I don't use them but my 3 older kids would rather die than use something else. Unfortunately, kids are hell on laptops.

I am old school. Have been with IBM since they invented the PC in 1982 (??). They are still very well constructed and their recovery software is the best. If inclined toward IBM look at the seller Thinkpadworld on eay. His prices are very good. If you are inclined to stick with XP you can pick up a last year's dual processor set-up with 1.5-2.0 gig of RAM within your price range. MAC's are great. But buy new and with warranty. When they break and are out of warranty it is very expensive. The first thing to go is the link from the motherboard to the screen. Ended up replacing three this year. Then again, my irresponsible kids are the users. They are the coolest but you are either already a MAC user in which case you will use them until the day you die or you are not.

Good man. No recessed cannon pinion.