cougar1

Looks great urkuk, any updated pics of the front, I'm interested in the black dialed/steel hands version you got as it is a little less formal looking than the white dialed version. The white is also lovely though.

Thanks for the update BK, it certainly ties up some loose ends. Amazing how things can change so suddenly.

Great work Omegy_guy, love the new bracelet aswell!

It's ok zulutag, calm down a bit, I was just being sarcastic, and I never once accused you of being a dealer. I think something was lost in translation with my comment. I was being sarcastic. I was just getting at the fact that Sino is well known, as are other dealers such as the turkish one and many many others that are not on the forums, they would not be considered scammers, but they don't offer anything different in the vast majority of cases than the dealers on the forums....but they do charge more. they are good at that part. Sometimes they throw in pointless gestures like an extra strap or a box etc but you are still getting essentially the same watch but paying more. There is no mystery to it.

As another poster says, many of the forumites here have been around the block and back again...more than once even, they are well aware what is out there!

Just my 2c. Anyway, welcome to the forum, you have a nice collection of watches!

Only reading this now, Great post and great pics Rolexman!

Wtf is going on in this thread? New Planet Oceans out better than the frankens? Version 6 UUPO's?, crazy stuff, I was only away for fckin 10 days, these rep makers never cease to amaze...

Great work super, it's going to be a cracker, I've seen a photo of a DLC'd one of these once, it looked gorgeous, good plan for the future! I must do one of those german d/dw soon.

I'm just thinking about if it would be redundant to have two watches for only the one occasion, with very little aesthetic difference between them

Sure, they can both be justified as one being the 'beater' version of the other Works fine for me I tell myself things like "It may get a little rough at work today, time for the beater sub or PO!" but they all get worn, then again I'm slightly unhinged in that way

Love those datewheels

Swisstimeservices are very good, how bad is the watch overall? Has it many dinks or is it just scratches? The bracelet is very easy to refinish, you could do it yourself, the watchhead is also doable yourself with the right brushing pads, polishing tools etc. It's not that hairy, alot of it is a case of go slow, be patient, take breaks and try not to brush/polish too deep into the original cut lines of the case. Then have the movement serviced or waterproofing done locally. It is nice to send it away to be done but it is certainly costly.

I'm not sure they are available anymore, the only one recently with the domed crystal is the watcheden quartz version, it's not a bad rep for the price.

I dunno, I'm of the opinion that if you are really drawn to a particular watch style then why not have a few of them, even if they are very similar with just slight variations, no biggy, It may look like a lack of variation in some peoples eyes, but what's the point of getting rid of one of those watches that you really like, for something completely different that you only half like

Gorgeous watches dutchguy, both are stunning and great pics, the bp looks good on your wrist, I could never pull that off ....and the ingy has become a bit of a cult watch, definitely worth keeping both in the collection.

I have a taka crystal in a V3 aswell, no issues. Also, Colour aside I find that Taka AR is many orders of magnitude better looking than even gen IWC AR, it really makes the watch dial pop, gen IWC AR has a lot more reflections.

Either way taka crystal should go in fine, check the gaskets.

It was just a suggestion regarding the speedy or 16610 P153, I wasn't forcing his hand or anything, he did ask for suggestions

Lots of nice watches out there and you have a lot open to you with $5K but If really drawn to the aquaracers jose then at least try out the reps,(if you haven't already) this is one situation you won't always get....the reps of both chrono and non chrono are very good compared to gen out of the box.

See here:

I like it Tim, It's good to have all the info compiled and set up in a nice concise format. At first I wondered about putting rep info in the public domain, but tbh, anyone who really wants to go looking for info on reps has all the forum info and forumite thoughts available to him/her anyway with a quick google search, so I don't believe it is too much of a bother. Reps aren't exactly 'underground' anymore at least not as we would like to think. It is still a good idea to keep sensitive info like dealers or modding info out of easy access and you've done just that. It would also be nice to see it updated and kept afresh, but I would imagine that would be difficult work, good work either way!

Never saw the pics before, that's an absolute stunner Daytona, definitely a keeper! Btw you have some exceptional frankens and modded watches in your sig list, I'm gonna go through that list soon and examine every one of them

Lovely pickup sgtguk, and superb pics, looks the business. Are these not available anymore? Bloody shame!

Nice, goes very well on that HKtan strap. Peterstraps was mentioned above, absolutely cracking straps for the money, better quality than most gen straps.

Hey Maverick, that is not actually my watch (or arm ) I do have the same watch on omega brown alligator strap, the pic above is just a robbed pic from the net to show some of the brown options. I'm not even sure what it is off hand but it is a hirsch modena or hirsch duke afaik. btw welcome to the forum, you are located only up the road from me currently

Go for the speedy pro moony or a classic 16610 sub (not the ceramic rubbish ), neither will lose money (Or not much money if buying from new), neither will look dated and they both are ultimately very respected watches and always will be. It's not possible to go wrong.

I know there are lots of vintage rollie fans here, but you both need to be a fan and also know what you are looking at, which is a bit hairy, I'm not sure it is the best decision for an initial watch purchase unless you are well clued in on them (which you may be for all I know?). With the speedy or 16610 is basically a no brainer, what could go wrong. No disrespect to tag/breitling etc but as an initial gen I'm not sure it is the best decision unless you are really really drawn to one. You may be flipping it in a year or two and will probably lose significant money. You could also do something mad for that money like put together or (have put together) an IWC 3717 gen(stein) and buy a speedy pro with it...it would be near budget, two great great watches for $5K. What's not to like

This cheap CW quartz watch bought for the price of a cheap rep in a sale. Robbed pic as an example below,

....hard to capture on pics but it has the deepest bluest dial I've ever seen, very striking and always got attention. Wore much more expensive gens (and reps) and nobody really batted an eye lid except for the odd occasion but the women loved this CW, it was always "Oh it's so blue, it's such a lovely deep blue", ....that's when I had the perfect chance to administer the chloroform ...got me laid many a time

j/k , it really did get a lot of compliments though.

I handled a gen sub before, I don't think the satin-y finish is anything special other than graduated very fine straight (i.e machine) brushing. A very similar effect can be done as correctime said with steel wool and the 3m pads. I use the scotchbrite stuff for rough finishing mostly but I've found using either the bergeon blocks or the generic garryflex blocks (just as good as the bergeon imo) are ideal for getting a very oem type finish on bracelets with some patient work.

The blocks also offer a bit more control over straight brushing compared to the pads. Start with the 5444-C block (or garryflex 60 or 120 grit) and work upto the 5444-A block (or 240 grit garryflex (300 grit if you can get one). When finished you should have a finish that looks very smooth brushed and without 'lines' that plague rough finishing. Check the finishing under incandescent light (shows up scratches better) to look for unevenness or curves where you lost the straight brushing and go back over until they are all gone. Best to do the bracelet in 4 sections for more control.

The final step then is to get an old toothbrush and bring the bracelet to the nearest sink and clean every inch thoroughly with soap and warm water, this step adds that perfect even sheen to the finish. I've found it's difficult to get much better than this, it restores omega bracelets to as near to factory finish as I've seen and I'm sure it would do just as well on rolex rep bracelets.

I find sometimes even on gen forums that too many people rebrush with the coarsest scotchbrite they can find, yes it gets rid of marks, but it doesn't refinish the bracelet correctly,...nothing worse than heavy curved or straight deep brushing lines to make a bracelet look half done. Also have heard of people using cape cod to add sheen to rolex bracelets, I really don't think this is necessary, if the brushing is done graduated with the blocks and up to a fine straight finish then the cape cod wont do anything, On the other hand using cape cod to 'sheen' up an already rushed or poorly brushed job is going to make the finish look like a dogs dinner anyway.

All fit fine, just use the rep gasket for crystal (afaik the gen gasket works also but haven't tried it)

Also the gen bezel just clicks on, no bother with heights etc, just use the rep bezel click spring, (also I've heard the gen click spring works fine but can't confirm it for certain)

Just to add, when we look at the rep its great but the gen crystal is like nothing comparable, even modders aftermarket AR (which is excellent) and is nicer than the rep AR, but once the gen crystal is on the transparent effect on it just looks fantastic and really make the dial shine, especially now that we have summer on the way it will highlight the effect.

Didn't know that matt, hope he's ok, was gonna look for him to do several AR jobs soon, thanks for the info.

Ryan, afaik, the gen bezel cannot be fitted without some serious modding/sanding, it's not like the 42mm which just clicks on, unfortuanately. Most who have done it with the 45 have just done the gen insert swap (which is fine) as the bezel itself is a bit of a nightmare. There are several threads about the process over on the geek and rwi. If I find them I'll post links here later.

btw just to add domi is also doing it, did it for someone just last week over on geek, although I can't confirm off hand if it was just insert or whole bezel.