Watchmeister

I can't wait to see this on someone's wrist.

I suspect you are right that the lume closer to the dial will shine slightly brighter. But here is the next question. Which one shines longer? I will guess sandwich as it has more lume but I have no idea.

The brothers look great together. My favorites are the black straps with that dial. Shark looks really good. I am actually starting to tire of contrast stitching.

Don't own any bases. I prefer doodads (oops, I mean complications) on my watches. On the Marinas my favorite is the 036.

I definitely see a lot more IWC's and other elegant brands in Europe than the U.S. anyhow. I still see very few people with Breguet or Patek. Before I ever came here and there was a whole proliferation of new expensive brands I would have grouped the manufacturers (going from top to bottom) 1 - Patek, Breguet and VC; 2 - JLC, IWC, UN; 3 - AP and ???; 4 - Rolex, Panerai and Omega. I hadn't ever noticed Sinn or Fortis. Then again I am old and old school. But I also have learned about many other brands here. I know I have forgotten a lot of brands but this is what comes to mind. Thedoctor- I see a fair number of doctors and very few wear expensive watches to work. And I know some of these guys make seven figures. Standard issue seems to be an old Rolex Sub. I lawyas wondered if they got it as a gift when they graduated med school. Occasionally I will see the elective MD's (Plastics, dermatology, ortho, etc.) wearing something beyond Rolex. They may well wear fancier watches outside the office but I don't see them.

Wow, now I know why RWI is called the dark side. Of course, I am ecstatic to hear that RWG will stick to one of its raisons d'etre. Weeding out dealers who are not performing for whatever reason is far more valuable than establishing a star system. What is more impressive is how quickly the admin and mods came forward to let the membership know their feelings and that the opinion is the correct one. Now we can go back to normal business around here. I don't know who Tim is but that whole system if it continues down that path (IMHO) smells pretty bad. It wreaks of the same odor as all those scam sites we all ran away from oh so long ago. Happy Holidays to All! And thanks again to the whole administration.

What took you so long? Looking forward to your upcoming offerings. Now get some of that Eyecandy over here.

Agreed. Similar to synthetic sapphire also known as glass.

Is the Aquatimer the wrong size?

True 2892 and 2893's did show up in first gen FM Conquistadors, PAM GMT's and Power Reserves - 27, 28, 29 and 63. And they do still pop up once in a while. But most watches with that movement start at $400 or more (except for FM but it doesn't come with ETA movement anymore). That watch looks great though, the seagull movement will work just fine and (IMHO) thatseems to be a good price. 1:1 cased reps are increasing exponentially this year. Unfortunately original movement reps other than the most basic are rapidly disappearing this year as well.

I am working with Archibald and Ubi on this particular project. And the short answer is any and all watches are possible with known fonts or clear scans of gens. If a watch utilizes standardized movement turnaround can be within 2 weeks. And no run will be too small. We will post pictures of prototype for Asian 7750 in the next couple of days. No need to PM as it will be self evident shortly. Bear in mind this is not meant to compete with the 2893 project. With the new ones forthcoming we have no intention of doing those.

JJ Flash- Don't buy it then without the extra links at the same time. It sounds like you will need several.

Just remember that Panerai is owned by the same group that has perpetuated the Rolex name. Between the first in-house movement, the introduction of "historical" 47mm models and the Ferarri line (for which I will prognosticate longer term failure) it appears that Richemont is making the effort to build brand permanence. I suspect Richemont would be very happy for PAM to no longer be the "hot" watch but to ring up the same consistency of sales as Rolex.

Ebay. The tricky part is making sure you either have or it comes with the right internal tach bezel. I have a blue dial for anyone who wants one (not the bezel though).

Love the big drum sets, but simplicity is truth. Pert is pretty damn amazing but my two favorite old school drummers are Narada Michael Walden and for subtle studio drumming - Steve Gadd (studio drummer on Steely Dan's Asia). But to this day the coolest concert on non lead instrument I ever witnessed was Jaco Pastorius - IMHO the greatest electric bassist ever and member of weather report. In his prime he sold out a 20,000 seat stadium and it was him (and only him) with various electronic accoutrement. The amazing thing is the guy ended up homeless in the streets of Florida. What this has to do with this thread I have no idea.

Looks pretty scary to me. Is this guy a legendary scammer? You guys seem to recognize him.

A good quality UN Marine Chronograph would be fabulous. I used to own one many years ago and I loved it.

The fact that we see less written here is, IMHO, as much a result of the fact that we are finally seeing high quality reps of different brands. For all of you PAM fanatics who have bought the various new IWC and AP reps, how many are actually wearing them? Mine largely sit gracefully in my watch box waiting for the day when I no longer want to wear 44mm watches. Except for my MBW's and DW's of course.

I continue to believe that with the most successful premium watch group in the world behind Panerai Richemont will do whatever it has to do to keep the brand popular. If people trend toward smaller watches I will bet that PAM's will get proportionately smaller. Since the takeover Richemont has shrunk them to as small as 40mm and grown them to as much as the historical 47mm. Don't look for PAM's to disappear any time soon.

Hey, I thought mine was the only one. I had noticed that the last link and inside of the clasp was a different color on mine. I had been wondering why. Good luck on the link search.

Reelamore- I will be very curious to see the installation. Did he come out with a new run? Not to rain on his parade as I like Lello very much and am grateful for all his past endeavours but I have four of what I thought were the last batch and they had alignment issues. Can't wait to see your results.

I am also hopeful that Gen PAM's will come down in price in the secondary market as Richemont continues to step up production - especially on the manuals. In everyday life I see more and more PAM's on folks' wrists. And all the new PAM's I see tend to be automatics. PAM, in spite of what we think of as a rich heritage, is a very new brand in the context of horology. It was less than 10 years ago that Panerai introduced its first automatic with date. Since then it has added non-SS models, smaller 40mm models and now the new Ferrari models. The next phase will be their own movements as evidenced by the 8 day movement (which is really just a derivative of the original JLC movement). IMHO, you can bet the staying power of Panerai will be based on the level of interest that Richemont maintains in the brand. On the rep side, we do have to bear in mind that the higher end reps we obsess over are a very small percentage of the reps produced. In our market, those people who like PAM's oftern already have several. As such people are eager to expand their collection as the better reps for other brands continue to come out. In the long term, I don't think larger watches will go the way of the bell bottom - or at least not that quickly. All the traditional watchmakers are recognizing this trend. Younger people seem to want the larger watches and in order for the mechanical watch market to survive it will have to follow trends. Even the traditional brands (AP being the one that I think of first) are adapting their lines to reflect this. Finally, we do have to bear in mind that in spite of all the various new models that are coming out PAM makes very few units every year relative to other $3k-$10k watch brands. The trends we see here relating to PAM's is miniscule in the context of the overall mechanical watch market.

In the gen world, PAM's are actually really picking up steam. In the rep world they continue to be excellent sellers and the diehards remain diehards but with the introduction of new brands (IWC's, Breitlings, VC's, etc.) they are going to get more forum time. IMHO, June 2005-June 2006 was the 12 months of PAM. June 2006-today IWC's, Breitlings and AP's. But the best part of all - the reps are getting better and better and the manufacturers are getting more and more innovative.

If the dealer suggests avoiding sending 2 in the same package than I would. In general I have never had any problem with US customs. If you live in Fla, Tx or Wash DC then definitely take precautions. The Rolex snag factor is far higher. In NYC and other major metropolitan areas they have far bigger fish to fry.