Watchmeister

Well I guess we will find out whether that Crown Guard patent holds - in Malaysia.

You will know when we know.

Walking back from a meeting on Friday and lo and behold the Tourneau on 57th Street has a special exhibition of all the new Ferrari watches in their "exhibition hall" (read as blackened basement). A couple are really handsome but what was very interesting was the finish on the cases. PAM has gone to some trouble to mix brushed with polished on the case lines and corners. It looks very nice and will give anyone who wants a 1:1 a lot of heart ache. The funny thing is that in spite of the exhibition they had no more than 6-8 PAM's for sale. Other encouraging developments include the current building of a Muller store immediately next to the AP store. And for you bling bling folks Jacob's new fancy store is two doors down. So now if you have an hour and are in mid town New York you can visit dedicated stores for AP, Breguet, Chopard, Jacob and Muller as well as Wempe (who always have unique editions from the major watch companies) and multiple Tourneau stores. Cellini also has a fabulous stock of your average $200,000 watches. So next time you are in New York save an hour to satisfy that horological urge.

As others have said. There is no good version of the contemporary H guard available. Panerai has finally smartened up and varies what the crown guards look like.

Not to steal the thread but the other interesting question which occurred to me is what percentage of the reps you wear regularly have some form of modding. I am at 100%. IMHO that is half the fun.

On the datewheel font that project is being worked on as we speak. On the cyclops there was a run of upgraded cyclops done a few months ago but you would have to find it from a forum member as they sold out. If there were enough demand it is possible there might be another run.

I would say 20 (including gens) receive wrist time. I switch every other day. It's easier than changing straps. Original movement PAM's, MBW's, DW, VC Overseas get the most time. Another 20 I either like to look at or I am just to lazy to sell.

IMHO. if you accepted the person's offer you have to give him a day. And if the second person is a frequent flyer here they will understand. If international tell him it is his risk before shipping, send with tracking number and it is no longer your problem. You do know that some folks here will hold out for an experienced forum person. That is the individual's call.

Not my cup of tea. I bought the gen and gave it to my wife. She does love it though. Although as we speak she is running around wearing my Ziggified 24A. I don't think she has any idea that it is a rep.

I still have no idea whether it is appropriate to inquire about items in the Photogallery section.

No problem. By the way super lume makes a huge difference on this watch. Unfortunately, you can't fix the elongated 6.

That is the standard "old school" 196 rep dial. You can tell because the two flaws are an elongated marker at 6 (too close to the subdial) and one extra short tick mark immediately after the 12. Heck, it could be my dial.

On the weight question the answer is it varies immensely as to differentiation between rep and gen. Even with versions of reps. The first gen 7753 196 is incredibly close in weight to the gen (de facto the second gen will be very light). On the other hand the Breitling Chrono Avenger in ti is heavier than the gen. Beyond case material and sizing there are bracelet issues (often the weak link in bracelet reps) and whether you are using the same movement in the rep will make a large difference as well.

So should I stick one of each in the refrigerator before putting them on my bedside.

Very nice eclectic (but clearly well thought out) collection.

Not GMT. Solidback titanium PAM reps are very rare. Until someone mentioned on the forum that they had a 195 Titanium fantasy I was only aware of clear back titanium PAM reps.

Rather than having to take your watch apart to send your datewheel for "reprinting" you can buy a finished datewheel and simply replace the existing one at your convenience.

I was on the verge of buying this one but I have a fear of a fatal flaw (IMHO). Having looked at a few pics of the gen I can't tell if the inner tach bezel is black like the 212 (and what is on the rep) or actually grey to further delineate it from its predecessor. And yeah, I know there will only be 300 made... Any thoughts?

Dude, You gotta work on that math.

Well, you know that you won't work on his watches and I suspect he could easily find himself in a situation where no one will. I hope he never needs a datewheel, cyclops, etc. And I can guess which watch you are talking about.

Aha, another artisan. Watch looks great.

You don't have a repair option. You have to recoat the whole thing.

I think it is fantasy.

You just gotta use your imagination.

Not to burst anyone's bubble but as regards water resistance a watch is a watch. If the watch is reasonable quality (i.e. has appropriate gaskets) and it is properly serviced (everything tightened and greased) it will be water resistant. The real issue with reps is that you have no idea of the quality control when they were assembled. So if you have a better quality rep that you want to take swimming take a portion of the 80-90% savings from buying a rep and invest in a servicing. I swim (not deep sea dive) with all my serviced reps. In my experience the gens do not fare any better than the reps (and this is based on various Rolex, Breguet, Breitling Ap, Cartier, etc. I have owned over the years). And when the gen leaks the repair bill has typically been horrifying. Having said all that you can always buy a rubber sports watch and save yourself the worry.