Watchmeister

So sorry to hear. Wishing you and your family the best. I think we have all been there and I know I can really empathize. I do hope you continue to spend more time here. The forum has certainly been a source of strength for me in difficult times. Hopefully it will do the same for you.

And the funny thing is I am about to sell one of the few watches I probably will regret selling but when the next project calls you grin and bear it. You do feel a lot better when the follow-up project is complete though.

Yes, it is against the rules of Paypal to sell counterfeit goods (forget the various country laws). Only a few dealers offer it as a courtesy so you abide by their rules. Most will accept Western Union or credit card. The one leap of faith you are making obviously is that the dealer selling counterfeit goods out of China won't take advantage of you. But that is exactly why we spend so much time vetting dealers and why you move at your own peril if buying from a dealer who is not vetted by at least one of the forums.

I must admit I have never regretted it. When it is time to move on.....

Enjoy it. If after you have worn it a while and want to upgrade then you can go for it. That is the fun of reps. Only you can decide whether you are happy and if not how far you want to take it. There are some reps I am perfectly happy with and never touch. Others have ultimately led me down the gen path. As soon as I can recover from Christmas I am going to pick up one of the new ones to compare.

If I am reading correctly this thread is useless. We have a review of a dealer by someone who has never bought from him - am I missing something?

Another one bites the dust.

I know nothing but I say get it for less or move on.

I went and looked at Angus' site. That version looks really good. Yes, they have to finish the bridges and they are still working on the crystal but it looks like it is a big step forward. With a proper front loading case, correct color lettering on the dial and separate milesimation anyone who has ever had a hankering for a Fiddy will try this one. And no the rep will never compete with a franken but at that price point you can't go wrong. With this quality of rep I am betting there will be even stronger demand for gen movements. That is the one piece only Panerai can ever get right.

Any leather supply house will have punches and various dyes. But I prefer to go to a good shoe repair shop. They get the hole clean and straight using a much heavier punch set than you are going to buy. It did take me looking at a couple of different places to find the place with the right die though. And if you like the shop can coat the inside of the hole a with something which helps keep the hole neat. My 2 cents.

My 60's 5512 has the same thick font.

Like any other finished metal it will scratch but I have not found it to be too obvious when it does get scratched. My watch gets a lot of wear but it actually looks better than my brushed ss bezel which gets a similar amount of wear. I concluded that it is such a unique piece that I built a franken around it and I don't regret it. But bear in mind that I have not heard of a way to fix a deep scratch so, yes, I will live with that fear as do the gen owners. The funny thing is that if that day does happen I can order a new watch which is less than what a gen owner will pay to send it in for refinishing and won't take 3 months which is about the turn around time to Le Brasus. Has anyone ever tried to repair a scratch on the case. Back to the topic at hand, the croc strap looks great on that one. Wear it well.

Congrats to the winner. And more importantly a huge thanks to Dave for his continued generosity and year round Christmas spirit.

All I can say is that if you have always longed for the gen then this is a must have. IMHO still one of the best out of the box reps ever. Wear that one well.

Strap on those skis. You are definitely on a slippery slope.

Pics like that make me want to fade my gen '66 insert.

I will happily bump this threads since admin should never win. Is that a rhyme? HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

Dave- Great idea and very much in the spirit of the holidays. Merry Christmas to all from 37,000 feet with a hangover and two screaming kids. Thank god they aren't mine.

Absolute crap.

Is that an improved date wheel since the original overseas?

If he isn't already, Toro should be joining as a dealer shortly. We just got to get his section set up.

I learned years ago. Stick with vintage that takes gen parts. They look better. No one calls you out and it is fun adding gen parts as you can afford it. Personally I jumped straight from vintage to the DSSD. It looks like it will be quite a while before I have to take a contemporary SSD seriously.

Congrats. That is one heck of a Christmas present.

I would always pick the horn back over the rubber. I like that strap on it. I also prefer black strap on silver themes which is the opposite of PAM's for me.

Looks great. Wear it well.