Watchmeister

Wishing you a continued speedy recovery. And of course the watch is awesome. Wear it well.

I have avoided it but if you have high school or college kids FB is ingrained in the culture and school life. When kids or even teachers need to get messages, data, homework, etc.out to a broad group of people FB is how they do it. That is the genius of FB. Kids go through high school and college and are drawn in. As long as FB is an integral part of growing up in developed countries you can protest all you want and decide whether you are willing to give up your privacy but it isn't going anywhere. I do believe Google+ will continue to grow. Increasingly the major academic institutions in the U.S. are moving onto Google Mail and that is where Google+ has a shot to make inroads. But I don't kid myself google does its own level of privacy intrusion. Of course this is coming from someone who participates in none of this but sees it through his kids. I managed to keep my kids off all these things until high school and college. Now it is impossible.

And as you know the kids always get their way while the parents wait. But seriously even the gen Rolex buyers don't respond well to change. Rolex came out with their "big watch" (DSSD), the rep manufacturers rushed out with some pretty good reps (same in-house movement issues of course) and the gen crashed and burned. Have we seen an improved DSSD rep lately?

The whole more aggressive approach on reps by Rolex may be a big part of it but I do believe there are other considerations. Panerai and Breitling originally leaped ahead because they used standard movements and so were easier to reproduce. Movements were readily available in lower end asian versions. Breitling reps originally moved ahead at the same pace. How quickly do their new models come out in rep form and how good are they. For both brands movements are generic, the cases largely come in a few similar forms and in reality other than color variations dials are often similar so the next model was that much easier to make. So for those brands we have seen model after model come out in excellent reps as model after model on the gen side came out. Rolex on the other hand uses an in-house movement which causes all kinds of reproduction issues - can't get rehaut right, crown too low or high, etc.And so absent a true movement reproduction you were limited with what you could do without a major movement investment. But the other big reason is that in reality Rolex has relatively few new models. How many subs (rep or gen) can you sell to the same guy? I actually think that is the biggest issue. With base model PAM's, Breitlings, Hublots and even Audemars, etc. initially completed how easy is it to put out the next generation or limited edition - and now you can sell virtually the same watch to the same guy again and again. And although I can't prove it, the rep market has IMH) moved away from the now older "I want a Rolex as a status symbol" crowd to the "I want the new "it" watch and I can now afford to do it - again and again. This same make the same watch in new editions has worked in the gen world and the rep world.

Well, your movement is going to be better than what Panerai is putting in the gen.

That is one of the reasons why you are here. remember?

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie...... The legend lives on,

And here is a pair of the first generation rep case and a gen. The first generation was much closer to the gen.

I do go the shoe repairman. They tend to have a lot of different hole punches. And they can also dab a touch of something to finish off the inside of the hole nicely.

Very nice. Wear it well.

I don't have access to pictures on my current computer but I can guess which cases you are talking about - the first generation that came out on the original 7753's and first gen Asian 7750 movements and then the subsequent case for the non-7753. And the short answer as far as I know the new model came from a different factory.

Have a great time and congratulations. You do know that at this point virtually every watch band has its own boutique. And they are all within a 15 block radius with Wempe at the center of it. Having said that I am sure you can think of better ways to spend your weekend.

I am partial to the hornback. And the best part....no one expects you to go swimming with it.

Looks great. Wear it well.

Great thread. Maybe Hublot will finally come out with a derivative for their fans. At some point there is a finite number of Big Bangs anyone can have.

I would be concerned about trying the rep rubber bezel. It will certainly attach to the case/gasket as I have used the gen gaskets before on rep cases but you will have the issue of reshaping the bezel both as to height and clearing out excess material on the inside of the bezel to make room for the broader tachy ring. I am not sure how you would cut the rubber evenly. The one suggestion I would have would be finding an AP authorized service person or distributor rather than the boutique. They are always idiots. The service person may need the actual watch to order the part (in the States the jewelers do require the actual watch to order any basic case parts) but you do have it.

It is a classic. Wear that one well. Many folks have done the cross transplant. In the big scheme of things though I would still feel comfortable wearing it. No one is going to notice that cross unless your watch is sitting next to a gen. Now if someone ever made a datewheel overlay that would be a worthwhile upgrade. Without it i find it hard to get excited about doing anything else to the watch. I still have an old one sitting in pieces in my parts bin and it is the one with the cannons actually visible on the ship and I am still trying to figure out whether that is the better or worse version.

If you approved it you are at the mercy of the dealer. To be frank you are supposed to know what you are ordering. In fairness I do understand your frustration as you specified a particular version which it sounds like it isn't. Your only hope is that because the transaction is with one of the more established dealers he may cut you some slack. I know you know all this. So I would beg.

All I can say is that with that dial, the casework and CG which literally takes the case to a whole other level you have one heck of a watch.

Funny how good that rep looks. Smells like a typical scam. If it is too good to be true...

Assuming that it is one of the main dealers here and you are confident the QC pics are of the wrong watch you should reach out to him and let him know that the piece in the pictures is unacceptable and why. If you have pics of what you want send it to him. Just make sure you let him know in whatever the allotted time period the dealer specified when he sent you the QC pics. If you do that and he sends it out anyhow than you are justified either asking for a refund (depending on the dealer it may or may not be possible) or ordering a different piece. You also need to be sure that you and the dealer have the same idea as to what a V2 is. Be forewarned that if you do nothing within the allotted time period to reject the watch it is then entirely his call. Obviously if you have bought from the dealer in the past that will be helpful.

You have it exactly right. You will wake up one day and your kids will conclude that Disney is "too babyish" so go while the going is good.

My dream system (umpteen children and dollars ago) had tubes for the tweeters and mids and solid state for the woofers and subs. It also occupied an entire room. The funny thing was with all those wires I was always getting weird hisses, etc. resulting from all my fancy electronics. I am amazed NAD and Rotel are all around.

Wow, it is great to see folks come forth with wonderful parts. Needless to say, very nice piece. Whatever you do to it just get it on your wrist.