Watchmeister

Here is the one I wear most frequently. It is actually a fantasy as I loved a specific dial and the Chronopassion case. And a standard Old School silver themes: My first franken from around 2008 or so: And here are a pair of standard MBW's sitting next to my first gen AP bought 20 years ago when i fell in love with the brand. Watches were alot smaller then . For me, AP was my introduction in the real world to haute horlogie (read as really expensive ) sports watches. I always loved the Genta design. By the way from all the pics it looks like the Diver rep is fantastic.

I am all in and I don't even own an Iphone.....yet.

Damon- You are heading down a slippery slope. It started with seconds at nine reps and 6 years and 6 frankens later I could have bought a couple of gens. But where would the fun be in that.

I go through phases.

Seriously, the weight is what makes the gen so good and the rep so disappointing. I own the rep but have also worn the gen a couple of times while on vacation. I even had the AD down to 16.5k Euros. The rep is gorgeous but it wears so fake. It weighs a ton. And truthfully that is the beauty of the gen watch. It is a bodacious watch which is wearable because it is ti. Comparatively the rep wears like you are wearing a cast-iron tub on your wrist. the only good news is that if you take it diving you don't need a weight belt. It never occurred to me there could be such a difference.

If it truly is a scratch and don't want to deal with shipping your watch somewhere you can find a thread here which shows you how to use diamond paste to take out the scratch. Although I would guess is it a crack. It is pretty tough to scratch a sapphire. Or it is a mineral crystal.

Try this. The gens start at $15k (even used). They are 100%. For 99.9999% of the population (including AP owners) it looks gen. I know. Now $500 doesn't sound so bad. And if you want to fix the crown positioning, etc. you are now looking at $5k. Actually the rep looks like a bargain to me (if the movement is durable of course).

If it is a gen it is a beauty and a rarity - a faded bezel and complete pearl. Never happens to me in real life.

Now that the forum has banded together to provide you with the proof of sapphire we expect you to provide pictures (and I am not referring to the insert).

Very nice project. Wear that one well.

Very nice project. Why does the 217 crystal look better than the 127. I assume they are the same crystal but the number distortion is much more credible on this watch. Perhaps it is just the angle of the photograph.

I have never seen it in the flesh but take a look at the DSN 57c power reserve. It has a true 2892-A2 movement (power reserve) and is brown with TI.

What I have always wondered about is how thick the coatings are. I know Gold Filled in the U.S. legally means that 1/20th of the metal is some form of gold (usually 10 or 14k). I always wondered what that implies for the thickness. Gold filled stuff can easily last 20 years.

And I find HD impossible to work with. The original version is the best version IMHO.

As folks intimate there is all kinds of modding - it can be simply reluming a dial, altering a case to make it closer to gen, replacing rep parts with gen parts. You can take a rep PAM for $300. Add a gen dial and hands and low and behold it is a $1,000 or $1,300. You have to decide how good you want your watch to be. If a new state of the art PAM is 95% of gen (aesthetically) you have to decide how much that 5% is worth to you.

Rep versus gen extends to all kinds of things. Why do people ever buy gen handbags - leather is leather. $300 versus $6k in the case of Hermes Birkin's. And it is all choice. No one can justify 10x the cost for some improvements but let's face it we are buying a branded rep we care too. we are just too cheap. Otherwise we would be buying a no-name.

Ahh, guys given the last two trades is there a sense that the value of the vintage Doxa's is falling. I thought there were watches selling for $2-3k not $1.

Amateur hour (unless it is one of us letting them into the secret of "vintage").

I may just give in this time. I even like the band.

IMHO. be forewarned it is more unwearable on a "not giant" wrist than just about any big watch I have ever tried. It just sits their like a hockey puck if you have a smaller wrist. The lugs extend out beyond your wrist if you do not have at least 7 " plus wrist so that it flops back and forth. The monsterous Hublot Diver wears better than the Super Avenger. I have a 7.25-.50" wrist and comfortable wear my old school Chrono Avenger but this one just didn't fly. And now I will let Dave weigh in. He loves those puppies.

Watch looks great but I expect no less. And MJC, it should be fairly obvious....an amazing watchsmith up North. He has done several for me and others as well.

Are the quills hard?

Really nice piece. Wear that one well.

Wow, that watch looks really good. I agree on buying the rubber and picking up a better after-market strap. The rep hornbacks make the watch feel much cheaper.

Wow, gorgeous watch. Kind of makes a person think. I love the all black.