Watchmeister

Wow, absolutely gorgeous. Congrats on a great project. The bluing oil is a great idea. But I would also suggest going the other way when putting it away for a while. I rub the whole case with my hands to leave skin oil on the case. I have no idea whether it does anything but I like to think I am speeding up the Patina.

I think you mean Wan. I don't think he has been here in a long time.

A welcome from the "ugly" Americans.

I have to agree that it is one of the better out of the box reps.

Looks great. Congrats.

A number of folks have done exactly what you suggest stripping the AR from the DSN. I do have to say you did a fabulous job on the movement.

I have no idea without seeing it on a watch. As I mentioned earlier I would prefer a DSN or an old Eddie Lee. They don't have enough distortion relative to the gen but the Noob does crazy things with the 6 and 9 that I have never seen on the gen watch. For me it would be much more of a tell than not enough distortion.

Looking good.

Like many others good and bad. Over the years I have gotten good deals on parts - 4-5 Offshore dials for $750 or less (some new and others that were repairable) from Watchco and others, Panerai tritium dials and hands, made a deal with Mr. Turkish crowns and bought his entire strainless stock for a group buy, a few Angelus movements before people caught on for under $500, etc. That party is largely over though. I also met Kenji from Watchonpo on ebay with his first listing before developing an off ebay relationship which led to at least a half dozen honpo for me and other forum members, Also lots of other good stuff. But I was also taken for $3k on a too good to be true gen. Somehow I suspect it all evens out. But it definitely is a form of gambling. Sometimes I just can't resist.

The winds are not blowing in your favor. Parts are only becoming rarer. This is as difficult as I have seen it in the last 10 years.

Dealers are easy. Finding a good watchsmith is hard. Once you find him never go anywhere else. Same watchsmith for years on my end...everything from reps to gens to frankens. if he is busy I wait. in their own way reps are more difficult than gens-especially when it comes to parts.

Just ask the TD to shoot another pic with the crown screwed all the way down. If the watch is otherwise functioning in both the wind and set positions the only other guesses I would have would be the threads on either of the crown or tube are not meshing (chewed up) at their respective ends or the stem is too long.

What they said...Happy Forum Birthday! It's been a good five years. Looking forward to the next five.

Here are a couple of my fave frankens:

I started off with other stuff and didn't buy one until the MBW's came out. Back in the day the PAM's, Breitlings and IWC's were sustantially better reps. Some would argue that is still the case.

The weird thing is that I have never even heard of this kind of mistake from any dealer. The only thing I can think of is that it may be another example of a TD having grown his organization too big and losing control of his minions or it somehow relates to his specific concerns about your country. I have never seen one be so stupid. But I also have to say you live in an odd country who has you sign for the package first before telling you what there concern is. Do you live in a communist or Arabic country. That sounds literally like a set-up. In most Western countries they tell you what their concern is and then you refuse delivery.

Pre-V for me:

Looks great. For that quality of a redo you gotta get a new crystal. These Noob crystals look so wrong. I have heard the arguments but I have owned 3 different gen crystals and none look like that. The standard rep crystal looks better.

You tell me.... loving this baby

Zman-

Outstanding!

I think he just wants to try on your rep before forwarding it to you.

Very nice W! That diver has always been a curious purchase for me. Looks awesome!

Same with me. I have always made random purchases of reps of watches i know I wouldn't normally own - Ploprof, Graham, etc. This is my favorite of the "unwearable" watches. It is more wearable than those. But it is also ridiculously heavy. I have to admit that having tried the gen it is kind of throwing me off. But it is a gorgeous rep. In truth I would buy it again if they ever made the entire watch out of ti.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. If you were in the U,S, you can expect an anal probe every time you go through customs. Are you in the EU?

You picked one up? Very nice.

If you are running 81 hours accurately that is the best I have heard on a PAM 6497-1 or 2. I would check it again. You are doing better than multiple reps and gens ever have for me.