Watchmeister

I suspect you are like me and prefer building frankens to buying gens but are bothered by the fact that a gen is a gen. I think about it a couple of ways. I ask myself what gen I can truly afford to buy in lieu of those frankens. You would be surprised at how little you can buy. Would you really be happy giving up multiple frankens for one gen and how long will that one gen keep you satisfied. It sounds like the Fiddy is your must keep piece of the frankens. What gen are you going to buy selling the other two? Assuming you are not thinking about adding money it is most likely a gen of one of your frankens.

I don't know about that. I have never heard about the Breitling Yacht Challenge.

I actually did a comparison of the mid cases EL vs gen at some point on the forum. they arr ridiculously close. the bezel is what makes the difference.

Very impressive. Now all you need is the case set.

T - Congrats on the hands.Thank god I did mine before it became popular (and when Panerai watch smiths would cooperate ) .

Knowing nothing about the dealer or this watch I would suspect someone else has messed around with this watch.

Beat of luck with the search. the seconds at 12 makers learned that lesson. Have you ever tried to get those rubber ends off the pushers?

It is a very pretty watch. Chef - thanks for the info on the functionality. I am going to have to check one out next time I stop by an AD. Unfortunately I don't have the car to go with it either. What I have always found interesting is that in the rep world people are quick to buy specific car brand watches - Breitling Bentley line, PanerI Ferarri, etc. But in the real world of major metropolis' and vacation destinations in the U.S. And Carribean I never see any of them. So I am thinking it heavily car oriented watches must be an Asian or Middle East phenomenon.

very subtle and elegant. Wear that one well.

Just remember as those men who bought them get older their eyes get worse. Then again that watch will be pretty heavy when you are 90 years old.

You may well be right. But I still believe that this has been going on back and forth between dealers for an extended period of time. All the major dealers have had significant down time in the last year alone. Josh is the latest. I have never thought any of them were random bad luck. There is a lot of profit and as a result competition. Remember prohibition? All the leading bootleggers took turns trying to kill each other. Is this any different - illicit goods being sold by illicit dealers. And this is taking place in China of all places (the only country who has an entire "blue" army trained to do exactly this stuff). In any case I do hope Josh is up and running again soon. I hate to see anyone being tortured and Josh has been a tried and true dealer here for a long time.

Fabulous article from 2002. I never saw it the first time it came out and yet I think that was around the time I bought my first Panerai while on vacation in the Carribean. And how true it was at the time. Who would have thought Panerai would have developed the extensive in-house movement capability, marketing prowess and volume. Pretty funny to see the AP guy talking about the inappropriateness of large watches and now selling the Survivor, Shaq, etc. Thanks again.

My crystals don't sit that high. Do the gens have AR? I can never tell.

Let me start with the forewarning that I have done nothing on this but wanted to solicit interest. Just like the HBB's the AP rep crystal sits flush with the bezel while the gen is slightly elevated above it. Pics of gen below: With the number of crystal projects that have been done on the forums there is certainly someone who can do this. All it involves is raising the height dimension on a rep crystal (no point in starting with a gen crystal as it won't fit in the rep bezel). No AR required either so it should be easy. Beyond the aesthetic value I have found that the slight elevation can avoid some of the bezel scuffs we get due to the flat crystal. Would people be interested in this? If enough are I will reach out to one of the guys who have done crystals in the past and see if we can get something organized. By the way if someone has already done this project let me know. I will just buy one from him.

I don't have much interaction with dealers but have assumed that for the last couple of years these dealers have been attacking each other all the time. Josh isn't the first to be attacked and he won't be the last. Everyone gets their turn to go down and then changes their domain. Guess there is a lot of money in them there reps.

I am much less fussed about the price as watches usually sell at a different price than the listed one but get much more upset when the pictures disappear. But the short answer is that people should obey the rules or pay the consequences.

I have never seen a gen with that level of poor final finish. Is there any chance the cg screw is not fully screwed into the case? I have had problems with gen PAM's in the past but nothing as obvious as that. Was this bought as new or second hand? In any case that reputable dealer should have at least taken a look at what he was sending.

Looking at it again and I am loving those "shoulders". Very nice.

Was kind of wondering....

Hey T- That Paci is very pretty as well. Is it a thick or thin strap?

Unfortunately IMHO there are no typical warning signs for a watch other than the watch stops working or it is running fast or slow. As you know the issue is that without a visual inspection of the movement you have no idea whether the movement is initially properly lubricated, has a bad part, etc. My approach has been to try and avoid the movements with bad design and poor track record. Fortunately, over time many of the basic movements have been improved (Asian 7750, etc). I don't do a preventative service when I initially get a watch. However I do service them in any case anywhere from 3-5 years after receipt of the watch or the last service whether for reps or gens.

And you also keep the same alignment of the crown and pushers.

T- That is a stunning strap as well. It is funny that the Fiddy is really one of the few PAM's I have that I regularly change the strap. I will go to the trouble to change the strap to a more formal one for work versus play. Most other PAM's I just wear the same strap until the strap dies.

Are you guys convinced the strap is leather rather than croc? I was very specific about specifying genuine croc skin. I do like it in any case but I definitely wanted it in croc. I will go back and ask him if people are convinced.

Can't wait to see them. Do we know who is going to be selling them?