Amplitude

Does Halogen charge lume? I thought it needed a UV content in the light to charge it. I could be wrong, but certain lights charge lume better than others, in my experience.

Halogen MR16s charge the HELL out of lume. Plenty of UV coming from them.

maybe it's just not charged enought

No, I just looked at one at the AD, and that's what it looked like after all day under the halogens in the case. Not very bright.

The Zigmeister's crazy detailed Superluminova treatment is definetly an upgrade from the genuine.

Does any one know what the dial sise is for the 42mm PO and does any one have a spare one. Ie have you upgraded to gen and still have the original??????????????

I swapped mine for a gen dial, you can have it for nothing. Just PM me. I'll be staying in a hotel till monday, but I'll send it asap. I'll even C3 superluminova the dial for you, gratis.

I'm not scared of mine. I looove it.

Maybe I'm a little dumb, but $300 for the 3717 seems like a helluva deal to me. It's so damn nice, and a little finishing makes it look and feel totally gen. Now, the HBB...I personally think is a monstrosity, gen or rep. I wouldn't pay $50 for one.

I've had the same experience as The Zigmeister, but not with a 45mm PO rep. The bezel on the 42 does not fit for sure. The UPO bezel is pretty damn good, why are you looking to replace it?

IMHO, gen hands, crown and dial are the really worthwhile mods. I had a gen pearl in my 42 from a seamaster 300, but I didn't glue it in well enough and lost it. I just made another one using the screw and lathe method and a bit of Superluminova and clear epoxy. It looks pretty darned good, if I do say so myself.

He sounds like a right [censored] if you ask me. What he did was very low (going around telling people). He obviously didn't know it was fake but somehow might of picked up on some info. Like "I'm a jeweler"..."oh really, you know ***** has a Breitling", so maybe he picked up on something that you visit replica watch forums, etc etc.

Anyway, he's obviously not an experienced jeweler. The fact that he couldn't tell you why it was fake apart from things you need to hold the watch for (bezel movement, date font, hour markers, whatever) is quite humorous though.

Odd fellow for sure, sounds like he just wanted to be popular by ridiculing someone (something often practiced unfortunately).

I work for a jeweler, as a watchmaker. My boss and the owner of the store is very kind about fakes, even the very obvious ones. The only time he'll even mention it's "not an original model" (his words), is if someone wants a pressure test, or mentions going diving with their rep. And it's just friendly advice delivered in the least embarrassing, low-key manner possible.

That is just plain poor form. I'd NEVER call someone on a fake, unless he was flaunting it in arude and assholish manner (LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT MY WAATCH! MY WATCH MAKES ME IMPORTANT!) or trying to scam somebody with it.

I've been a gen watch collector for 15+ years, and a watch tinker for a little over 10. Unless the fake is REALLY bad, a glance at a wrist at a party isn't going to tell you a damn thing.

I'm not familiar with Breitling's 1000+ variations at all, and I can't say whether yours is an accurate model, BUT if the finish looks good to the eye at arms length, and the dial and hands look well done, there's really no way to tell with these modern replicas on the wrist. Handing it to him may confirm his unfounded suspicions, (If he really does know what he's talking about.)as the fakes never have the insane attention to finish detail higher end watches have, and an experienced hand can feel the difference...when the watch is new. If you had 2 years or so of wear into it, all the sharp tells and poorly finished details will have smoothed themselves out to the point where it takes a real expert/savant on that particular model/marque to even question it without a side-by-side..

He was just an ass, trying to one up you and make himself look knowledgeable to whomever he was trying to impress. I have a suspicion that he knew a lot less than he let on and was maybe even jealous of the admiring attention your watch may have been recieving during the party gossip. A nice looking lady probably remarked on how cool your watch was. That Sets [censored] into competion mode every time.

The really flashy models will inspire jealousy in many insecure asshats, even if they're gen, And their most common remark is "that's fake", intended to somehow take you down a notch.

If you want to stay on the safe side, buy more common, understated models (but beautiful) of the same brand. But asshats are always around. I once bet a similar guy ("Rolex doesn't make watches with plastic crystals, what a crappy fake! Who are you trying to impress?" a brand new a Rolex sub if my GMT master TT was a fake. Went straight to an AD who looked it over, opened the caseback snd proclaimed it as gen as gen can be. The said blustering asshat of course didn't pay up...he just made fun of me for wearing an "old" Rolex after that...

Ignore the assholes. Or, to quote Steve Zissou while pointing his Glock at that beautiful journalists face- "does this look fake to you?"

well 3717 and the classic pilot is similar i think.. im not sure.. what about the AR? is it similar or the gen is more stronger? thanks

The AR looks similar in tint, but higher quality in the gen IWC's. I think a double AR run will be in order for mine.

lol isnt that the rep lume? coz mine glows that bright hehehehhe

I looked at some IWC at the AD the other day, and none of them seemed to have Superluminova on them. The glow was..wan for lack of a better word. I thinK IWC uses standard Luminova. There wasn't a 3717 there for me to look at, but I did look at the Aquatimer "Slevin" and the bezel lume was really nothing to write home about.

I will know shortly. My CD is with Rob for a movement swap and relume (including the inner bezel). If it looks as good as I hope I am in. If you have ever gotten onto an elevator with a gen one then you know that Lume has to show like a torch - inner bezel included. I am not at home at the moment where I have my IWC reference materials so I will duck on the comments until next week. For all you IWC fans the Company made a fabulous 300 page reference book at the end of 2006. It is a must have for IWC fans (rep and gen alike - ). An AD was nice enough to give it to me while on vacation.

Just went to the IWC AD and looked at the real thing. The inner bezel lume is very faint. The hands aren't so hot either. I don't think IWC uses Superluminova.

But the inner bezel clicks so nicely around. Hope the rep is comparable. Gotta get one.

screw it, im gonna part it out and order a new one.....if i decide to mod the new one its going to one of our modders...

lesson learned. =/

Don't part it out, it's a 20 minute fix max. Take it to a watchmaker.

Pull the crown and stem, and polish the face of the crown tube with a dremel or a buffer wheel till its mirror polished. Start your crown backwards, till you feel a "click", then tighten. do this a few times, then pull the crown and stem again. you will see a few shavings, probably on the inner crown gasket. Clean them off, them lube the threads with silicone lube VERY lightly. Too many people use way too much silicone. Use a little silicone on the face of your crown tube, In a couple of days the crown feel will have improved greatly. Then clean and lube it again.

I couldnt agree more. What a ridiculously foolish gesture this is. Cant take that guy seriously anymore. But i guess some consider this as "cool".

Besides, grandpa should know some of the reps keep better time than his gens and are of NO less quality, at least nothing that would justify a 17 times higher price for the gen. If our reps only last a year I could buy a new one each year for seventeen years in a row and not having to worry about servicing.

So no discussion about the quality of the materials used. Seriously no ! I was able to compare the gen Cousteau with the rep side-by-side and there is no quality difference.

So maybe the movment is worth the gen...LOL, as if IWC would do much refinement or modification. If they would use a complete inhouse movment there was a point in arguing, but its still just a 7750.

JMHO.

IWC does tons of modification and refinement to their 7750 movements, in fact to all their ETA based movements...they are simply beautiful. If you'd ever seen one you'd agree. The gen IWCs are worth the money. Though the 3717 rep on my wrist is really damn good, the movement in the gen is incredible.

Insane. Unbelievable that you pulled it off. Hats off.

They are covered with a small piece of glass. And yes, the gens have them. The reps with the glass over the pearl lume are the good ones. If you don't like yours, send it to me. I'll send you one of the pearls without the glass cover.

You could buy a combo link pin/springbar removal tool. You'll probably use that plenty. Don't get a crappy one. Spring for a Swiss made. Replica tools suck.

Just like the gen. If you have no tools, a couple of paper clips ought to work fine. A small one for the button, and a larger one for the pins.

On the inside of the bracelet you will see little circles off to one side of the link. Depress one gently, and press out the corresponding pin towards the side with no button. Repeat procedure in opposite direction to reinsert pins. Button must me depressed to insert pin.

Hope that helps.

I actually thought it was the opposite but I am no watch smith. I have never had a 7750 reconfigured to do what a 7753 does that did not break, A combination of poor assembly with the extra gears which are lacking the appropriate jewels, etc. just made it worse. I have had excellent luck with the newer 7750 movements when in the standard chrono layout or when put in a watch without the chrono function. I made the decision early on to save my pennies up for the 7753 on the Daylights. The funny thing is that now ETA themselves have eliminated the 7753 from their movement line and have designed a module to stick on top of the 7750 which is similar to what is in the gen HBB.

Ah, you see, I'm a watch repair guy, but I'm not up on the rep movement modifications.

If you tack a crappy module onto a good base design, and it fails, that doesn't mean that the base is bad, it means the add-on sucks. But that's beside the point. I had no idea the 7750 he was talking about was "modified" and just assumed it was the standard layout. I haven't bought any with non-standard arrangements, or worked on any, so I have to concede.

It isn't the button, it's the movement. Improper assy. and lube makes it feel clunky and harsh, and if it feels that way, you'll eventually mess some parts up using it. It should feel positive and fairly smooth.

The 7750 is actually a great design, but the assembly and lubrication at he rep factories seems to be lacking. Once it's serviced, it'll be fine for a long while. Send it to The Zigmeister and let him make it right. The stem breaking was either caused by overstressing when it was put together, crappy metallurgy, or carelessness on your part. (Not accusing you, just saying.) It doesn't have anything to do with the movement design.

The orange lume can be done: http://www.rctritec.com/index.php?id=17

They're a total joke. I got one in a few weeks ago. Nicely done case, but inside are two $15 miyota quartz movements. The "health benefits "are some BS about blocking RF with a couple of magic pieces of tinfoil glued in the back.

you seem to miss my point so i'll go slow for you,

the OP asked about the flaws of this piece,

one of these flaws is the colour of the sub-dial pinnion. on the rep they are rust-COLOURED, not rusted like you mis-interpreted.

on the gen these sub-dial pinnions are silver.

I'll tell you what go to an AD, hold the real thing in your hands, then get back to me, deal? ok good

Ok, I'll stop by the IWC dealer tomorrow. They are NOT rust colored on the rep. I am looking at mine right now. They are shiny brass colored. Yellow.

Read my post again, I didnt say the hands i said the pinnion of the sub-dial hands

Look Below:

on the rep - they are rust coloured, on the gen - silver

I am wearing the rep. I just serviced it and installed the ETA wheels and was staring at it through a 5x loupe for quite awhile. And they are shiny BRASS colored, not rust. Do the spots (pinion attachment points on the HANDS) you circled look the same color as the case to you? 'Cause on my monitor they look yellower...like brass.

apart from the day-date wheel font, the only other flaw i can think of is the colour of the pinnion(sp?) on the sub dials, on the rep they are rust coloured, I believe they should be painted silver or black, i can't remember which

The day/date you are right about, the hands you aren't. Looks at the various closeups of gens. The hands are brass too.

The only flaws are less detail in finish (that you'll feel if you are used to expensive watches, but you can correct it) , the day/date font, and IWC is engraved slightly larger on the clasp on the rep. It's the best rep I've seen and I'm really picky.

ETA: Even the bracelet links come out like the gen IWC. Very slick.