Watchmeister

Exactly. the interesting question is if you hang around long enough will "what makes you happy" change. On the gen side your philosophy on buying is exactly what 99.9% of the population here subscribes to. Never buy a gen new. Let someone else absorb the initial 40% depreciation of a new watch.

Plating never lasts. Even "gold filled" which is typically double the thickness of the 5mm best plating will ultimately wear off. Your best shot at long term "gold plating" is gold leaf infused on DLC. It doesn't show wear until and if you scratch through the entire coating. But when you do there is no inexpensive fix. You have to recoat the whole watch.

What will be interesting to see is which way your horological interests steer you. Over the years many of us have gone from gens to reps or reps to gens or reps to frankens, etc. And of course the amusing part is that if you do this long enough life is always a big circle. I am at the phase where simply buying and owning (whether rep or gen) is not particularly exciting. Been there and done that. I get more pleasure out of the projects and the friends who you do them with. The projects just happen to be watches.

Sorry you found out the hard way but the minute you start making movements do what they were not supposed to do or look very different from the original base movement you now lose the upgrade capability and are now stuck with the Asian "jury rigged" movement. So get it serviced and enjoy it.

Everyone is entitled to their own approach on gens, reps, frankens, etc. The one thing I would say (and you learned the hard way) is to avoid posting reps or experiences regarding reps on gen forums. Feel free to spend time wherever you want but we very much discourage discussing reps (posting pics and links is actually verbotten here) on gen forums as all it does is infuriate the gen guys and serves no purpose from the rep perspective There is no reason to hide as the rep market is a huge market and in reality there is not much the gen forums or brands can do about it but there are plenty of folks on this and the other rep forums who are also gen collectors and participate on both.

Do you really think the different movement will significantly increase the case thickness? I know they have been using 2836 as a substitute since the first GMT reps came out. Still looking forward to seeing the rep. I was about to build another old school franken but think I will wait to see how good the case, etc.are.

To each his own, DD has jsut recently joined and has done everyone a service by comparing the rep to the gen. He is what I call a test driver. Test the rep and then buy the gen - at least until you comes upon that watch where you can't justify the gen price but you would still like to wear it.

Then you are in great shape.

I am with Chief on the gen. Although I would guess based on older gens I have seen that the cyclops have improved over time so it is possible earlier models were plastic. On the standard ETA 2892/DD movement the cyclops is plastic.

As was mentioned the buckle end is in fact 24mm on the gen Diver strap and the standard "Wide Taper" on AP Bands is actually less than that. For folks who are interested AP Bands does make one strap which fits the diver buckle and it is the black horn back. Otherwise you have to go custom with them.

Great post. It is really interesting that what jumps out at me the most is not the shape of the pushers, the lack of crown offset or the date placement on the dial. What does instantly jump out is how much deeper the date sets below the dial in the gen chrono module movement.

Quite the contrary. If you bought the one that has been fixed up you have one of the few that actually perform as it should. Wear it well.

Chief- Now you are scaring me.

Came back to this post and I have to say that you have a stunning example. I would be wearing that one proudly,

It is the other surprise I am more worried about - 90 feet below the surface and you have no idea how much time is left on that tank. You are a brave man.

I feel that way as well. But in reality the minute you add another potential entry point (Hev valve, chrono or date pushers, etc,) you have significantly degraded the likelihood of the watch being water resistant out of the box. The perfect "rep" swim watch is a simple automatic or handwind with a crown only. Not what you want to hear but true.

Is it the same 5 minutes signifying the gmt hand has slipped or is it worsening 5 minutes every day?

The first question is which one are you going to sell first. This is one very expensive habit. But I subscribe to the find a dial you love theory and go from there.

You are such a goner.

Just found this thread. I do remember when this watch came out (yeah that's how old I am). It was probably the haute horologie sports watch when it came out. In those days thinner watches were in (remember those $5k quartz watches?) and it was one of the first watches to have that whole block of steel look with integrated feel bracelet and still be as thin as it was. Without knowing the whole Genta porthole analogy I remember thinking the bezel looked like the top of an honorary degree stamp and assumed it reflected the position of honor VC held at that time.

I wonder if this video has a happy ending for the tour guide? On that basis you would have to give the jump serious consideration.

I suspect that if you let folks know what the budget is they can direct you to the best value for the money. I am not knowledgeable on the Milgauss reps but have already learned something I didn't know about the 21j movement and the long second hand. And as everyone points out. These forums were created years ago to share information, friendship and protect members.Avail yourself and stick with the dealers who folks have had good experiences. The other benefit is that there will always be a member who has bought the particular model from that dealer.

Good move, The 5513 non-gilt dials come up fairly frequently and we certainly have the resources to make sure you get a gen one.

Marty- IMHO your project is not insanity. At a rep to franken ratio of less than 20% and a watch you love and are proud to wear I would do it it. Where I lose interest is when that ratio gets closer to 50% and the majority of parts are not gen. And I would go for the gen dial if you can swing it in the budget. The gen parts can always be resold if you are trying to recoup your money at some point in the future and no one wants the whole watch. Parts always to seem to go up or at least hold their value.

Congrats on a stunning piece. It came our beautifully. Wear it well. And yes you are "ruined'. I will predict right now that this one gets a disproportionate amount of wrist time for quite a while to come.