Watchmeister

This one rises to the top of the collection as the lume work and hand painting is beautifully done. FM's are pretty basic with the beauty all in the dials and hands. The numbers on the gen dial are very cool to the eye but have to be a nightmare to relume. Now all I need is a strap and a buckle.

And the ETA date font is much closer to the IWC font. I have ordered them for both the Pilot and GST.

Dug up my old FM and shipped it off to Ziggy. Once he confirmed it was Swiss 2892 I had him do the mods. Gen dial relumed by Ziggy, hands repainted with the mystery paint from the Ford Automotive Company (big thanks to Archibald) and getting rid of that dab of red on the second hand. Date font still needs work and now I have to find a strap and buckle but it is stunning. The dial and lume just pop.

Will have to wait until tonight. It does actually glow the color of tritium "lighter green versus lume'. The quality of the strap is extraordinary. I would choose that kevlar strap over any gen I have seen for other watches. I don't own a gen 187 so I haven't seen that strap. The strap itself is reasonably comfortable. When you put the buckle on it it gets unwieldy. I woud never wear it except on days when I am nowhere near a desk. You would leave some pretty horrific scratches (on the desk - ). It is not the first or tenth strap I would buy. But if you have a fair number of PAM's and straps then it is a must have. Now the big question is what to engrave on that huge buckle. I could fit the whole ship from the 82 on it.

This is the correct He valve version relumed to "tritium" compliments of Ziggy. It is on the infamous kevlar strap and huge buckle combination that comes with the 187 gen. The rep version currently available is for 24mm. Until now it was only available with no engraving. Now Angus has been working his magic and has just put out the engraved version for 24mm. I have added a picture. Mine is on the way. Indoor shot to capture that tritium look: Back to daylight: And here is the unveiling of Angus' new engraved buckle: The top is the gen and the bottom is the new buckle:

Looks really good. Wear it well.

I hadn't noticed. What a great idea - handwind perpetual calendar.

Admin- Of course, you have done the right thing. The why doesn't matter. Its not as if I am a big frequenter of the other site. It is just common courtesy and, as is always the case, Admin has done the correct thing. Peace on Earth...

TTK- Did I miss something? I am not trying to stir up anything. Why would anyone care whether it is monitored here? On Pug, my question was asked in humor. Why would anyone who is or was banned from a forum (whether rightly or wrongly) be suggesting we monitor it here. Let's take it one step further. I have seen numerous posts questioning whether RWI is too closely affiliated with the dealers. If that is what people believe why would you ever want any affiliation in any form? IMHO, posting a monitor on unaffiliated web sites is completely poor form. Unless there is a hidden link-up.

IMHO, I would take it off. If the owner doesn't want it why do it. Pug- Weren't you one of the ones banned there? Ot are you just trying to cause trouble?

RT- Save your pennies. It is that good. I will post some pics when I get it back next week. My watchboys croc is sitting here waiting for it.

I do hope he comes back. From my past dealings with him I will always believe that he would do his best make good to anyone who he promised something. I just know it has been along time.

Great post. Hopefully that will inspire folks to do the same thing.

That is what makes it great. And in the grand scheme of recent rep pricing it is very reasonable. Mine is on the way back from relume and movement swap. It is about as large a watch as I can wear and still tuck it under my shirt sleeve. Is 999.unicorn around theses days. He had mentioned he was working on a couple of other projects (I don't know what though) but I was eager to hear about them.

Tourby has it right on the Arktos. On the Regatta the issue is getting the right dial with a sapphire crystal. Last I looked you had to choose your poison. You could get it with proper dial (tic marks right number but facing the wrong direction ?) and caseback markings but mineral or visa versa. I do not own it but the blue hand color may well be an issue as blued hands are never blued on reps.

I think it is a litle more complex than the newest is the best. There are multiple A7750 movements being made at different factories. So in effect your watch has to have the right movement from the right factory. I am with RepAustria in thinking that we are not enough of a dent in the market for manufacturers to upgrade. What it will do however is force our dealers to make sure what is in the models they are buying.h

If you are asking because you want to buy it and can't find Eddie PM me. If you are trying to find it for less I can't help.

Actually his ranting and raving can be quite entertaining. But sometimes I feel like I am listening to Marlon Brando in Apocalypse Now.

Very sorry to hear that. I concluded about 9 months ago that the aesthetics were moving to a whole other level but that the movements were only going to get worse and made the conscious decision to buy a dozen Swiss movements. So my approach is to build in $200-250 additional expense into $300-400 reps and simply buy fewer. Sometimes I get lucky and they are fine but I generally assume the worst. Because these are reps and no customer is buying more than one there is no penalty for the manufacturers chintzing out on the movements. To whom are you going to complain about an illegal item? By the time people figure out there is a problem (and we are a small portion of the buyers so most people never find out) the run of a 1,000 is long since sold leaving the dealers and consumers to hold the bag. Make no mistake - the manufacturers will continue to improve what helps sell watches - the aesthetics. And to make matters worse there are now numerous manufacturers making 7750's with very varying quality.

It may be the angle but honestly the whole dial looks terribly off.

Every once in a while someone claims he heard from him but the reality is he has largely disappeared. Apparently he is having personal issues and on those I wish him a quick recovery. But I would not hold my breath on ever seeing him around again. But hope springs eternal.

The reason why that one looks so different is because it is coated with something else after the Ti N forms on the case. Longines claims they are using 23k gold. I have no idea what is on that watch but it ain't natural. It does give it the ceramic look though.

I don't know what LV even stands for. Louis Vuitton? Thanks for the pics pug.

And I have one of those crowns as well as the traditional PVD (ti an).

In addition to the quality of the bead blasting effecting the sheen there are also different chemical compositions for "PVD" which will provide very different results in terms of the actual colors. Even within gen PAM's the color can vary dramatically. I have two 5218 PVD crowns and the colors are markedly different. I can't remember which is which but the right process vis a vis older PAM's give a lighter color and coupled with bead blasting with small beads provides for excellent sheen. It is interesting because Palp offered a PVD service from one of the original OEM providers to PAM but they had changed their chemical composition and as a result the PVD was much darker. I don't know if he still offers it but the person who had the closest to gen PVD appearance was finepics. In short, Palp's coating was fabulous quality but way too dark. Davidsen's has a different beadblasting process so his PVD has no sheen. IMHO, looks a little dull. I think of PVD as the poor man's ceramic (but I do love it). I look for lighter grey with excellent sheen. IMHO, the PVD should look like it is part of the metal. I am referring only to older PAM's of course.