Saw this at Value Village the day while killing time.

Check your grandparents/parents stuff before you donate out a vintage 18k gold AP to Value Village.

https://i.ibb.co/2sFR6yn/PXL-20230428-011127536.jpg

I doubt it's worth $13.5K but that's a great find

On reddit you constantly see people asking about their grandparents' watches, and 99% of the time they are fake LUL

Which location is this?

Nothing gets by them anymore as the people pricing jewelry google almost every watch and a manager has to look it over in case it needs to go for an appraisal. Years ago, they'd stuff anything old looking into a junk bag and sell it for $29.99. I know guys who've scored big from the bags back in the day but those days are long gone

My best find in a junk bag is the Rolex 1500 from 4yrs ago which I restored. The only watch I haven't sold yet after a recent selling spree but might not ever sell b/c it'll never happen again. A smile from ear to ear on the drive home because I've handled enough vintage rollies to know it was legit. /my $30 Rolex story lol

https://i.imgur.com/MBnjfUE.jpg

wtfffffffff

Victoria Dr & 48th.

Check out this Rolex ref. 6154.. Look familiar? I didn't mention it in my post the other day, because only a few got made. It was the thinnest Panerai of the era, with thinner (but still 2 layer) dials. They switched back to the thicker one pretty quickly though

These Rolex have the same ref number, but only 6 are known to have been sold in the 50's - I guess the rest went to Panerai. This one got sold 5 years ago for like $250K. It was still 47mm, which I assume means it was bigger than just about any other watch you could buy at the time. I don't know if these 6 watches ever made it to the commercial market, or what...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fv1IR5ZaQAABsjE.jpg

What's interesting is that this Oyster Precision watch has the Submariner dial, which was introduced the year before... So it was a quite outdated dive watch already (this one had the same manual wind movement as always, while the Sub had an automatic)

https://www.watchtime.com/wp-content...60-340x479.jpg

Speaking of the dial, where did the design come from? Dive watches were just starting to come out, and while Panerai was the first to design dials specifically for diving, Rolex did a more modern take... In fact it was adapted from their "error proof" dial going all the way back to the 30's (and some Panerai models used these dials during the Nazi occupation, as seen in another post I made with the anonymous version)

This is a late 50's version, since it has an automatic movement. Allegedly, these got really popular in Japan during the 80's, and watchmakers in LA catered to them by restoring these and marketing towards rich Japanese tourists. Since then, they were commonly referred to as having a "California" dial, rather than Rolex's own name for it "error proof" (referring to the high visibility, and marker at 12 to aid in orientation)

https://revolutionwatch.com/wp-conte...e-859x1024.jpg

So I finally pulled the trigger... I finally got my fake fake Rolex

https://i.imgur.com/aTSjaav.jpg

First impressions

- My main concern was the thickness of the number cutouts. On the pictures it looks REALLY bad, and I almost felt like I would regret the purchase. But in person I don't notice it at all, and I doubt I ever would unless I was directly comparing it to a genuine.

- Winding a watch is usually a pleasurable experience, but the crown guard kind of makes it more of a chore. With this replica, the crown kind of snaps back when near a full wind. It doesn't actually lose wind, but, well, it just feels cheap. Which it is, so of course LOL. But even if buying genuine, I would say get an automatic if you're getting a Luminor model with a crown guard. I would have preferred a Radiomir version, but there's no replicas of those right now.

- Leather strap it came with is absolute GARBAGE. Feels like a piece of cardboard. I didn't like the colour anyway, so I was never going to use it. It comes with a rubber strap and it feels good. I actually didn't know this, so I ordered one on AliExpress for $10.. They feel similar, but the printing on the AliEx one has a "C" that doesn't look like the original logo.

- I also ordered a RIOS1931 leather strap from Germany. US sites sell them for like $70 but I got it for $40 from a German store. Be sure to contact them to refund the 19% VAT, and use code NEWS10 for 10% off. These look really good for the price, and get good reviews, but we shall see. Most Panerai owners - replica or not - like to buy crazy expensive leather straps. But I'm not a huge fan of leather, so whatevs. I just got it in case I wanted to be more versatile wardrobe-wise. Might get a NATO for it later.

- It's HEAVY and I LOVE that. Feels like a big slab of steel on my wrist.. You can feel its roots as an unrefined pocket-watch-turned-war-tool. Replica probably even heavier than genuine - it's 1.5mm thicker at peak.

So in summary, you got an inaccurate replica of a relatively inexpensive watch to start with, that features a shitty strap and doesn't feel nice to wind?

Sounds awesome...

-Mark

$6000 is not "relatively inexpensive" so yes, it's awesome

Bring on the hate, I don't care.. I love the watch, I hate the company, so this is what I decided to do KEKW

NICE!!!! how much did you pay for this replica? i honestly cant tell at all with the pictures if its rep or real and i guess thats the whole point. you get 90% of the experience with 10% of the cost.

It was like $230. Got a discount because I paid via bank transfer (local HK bank!).

Not looking to ever do this again (or any watch really, not any time soon). I just really like this watch, and I know I will never own one, so took a shot. It's for me and I think it's cool SeemsGood

I don’t see anything wrong with this. You got a cool homage to a piece you always wanted at a fraction of the cost. As long as you are true to yourself as to what this is and isn’t then it’s a good purchase.

Heck, you could have easily popped on here saying you bought one and I wouldn’t have doubted it’s authenticity for a second. Who cares what talking heads online have to say. You do you bro.

Speaking of homage watches.. When is an homage actually more genuine than the genuine brand?

How about Ennebi watches?

Founded by two Panerai employees during pre-Vendome days, including their chief of engineering Alessandro Bettarini, their designs harken back to the pre-V designs that were not Bettarini's Rolex homages. Nope, he is making homages of his own Panerai prototypes. The actual Panerai watches!

Ennebi = Nincheri & Bettarini

They all seem to be limited runs or something, but here's a look at one:

https://www.9maiali.com/uploads/product/13D007-W_01.jpg

Which looks very similar to Bettarini's "Mille Metre" prototype, designed in 1982. This means "1 Thousand Meters" a very ambitious goal for a company not known for designing their own dive watches. Two 60mm prototypes (more like mock ups) were made at this time, in aluminum due to ease of use. The prototypes used the 1950's locking crown guard at 3 o'clock, but the second one had an additional locking device at 9 o'clock to, lock down the rotating bezel. The CEO decided that was just too much, and canceled the project. AFAIK neither of these prototypes have ever appeared.

A couple years later, they gave it another shot, this time at 47mm. This time 8 prototypes were made between 1985 and 1997, 4 in bronze, 4 in titanium, due to anti magnetic properties of these alloys. You can see the titanium one here looks very familiar:

https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-veE0eZRLw...Metri+1980.jpg

You can see many more photos of a bronze prototype here.

Bettarini clearly loved this design, as Ennebi have made a ton of designs based on this general case, but unfortunately they can't use the patented locking crown guard. Instead they just use a big chunky one, and a screw down crown. They have several different dial types, including the Rolex "error proof" watch sold to Panerai to provide to the Nazis during occupation of Italy.

They also made a design that looks very much like the GPF 2/56 made for the Egyptian Navy in 1956. I think this was a one-off deal.. It looks like the crown guard is permanently covering the crown? I dunno

This monster is 64mm, even bigger than the GPF 2/56!

https://i0.wp.com/www.ennebi.eu/wp-c.../12/5218_h.jpg

Here's the Panerai, which I also posted a few weeks ago

https://www.9maiali.com/images/blog/...7GPF256_02.jpg

Prices dropping on them since the bb54 came out!

Thanks to Skinnypupp for putting me onto the "It's About Time" mailing list, really enjoying those 5 minutes a day reading about all types of watches from crazy to exclusive to somewhat reasonable.

Also, of note, if anyone needs batteries replaced on their watch? I remember going to Russell Jewellers in Richmond in the same complex as the #3 Rd London Drugs when I was a little kid so they must have been around literally forever... I went there the other day to replace a battery on a Skagen fashion watch I have and they only charge $8.00 for battery replacements! $8!! I was expecting $25 as a starting point and upwards from there based on last time I did it.

Would highly recommend... I mean... can barely buy the batteries for that even off Amazon lol! They sell watches too, they seemed to have quite a few Longines and some other brands, I was in a bit of a hurry so I didn't browse around too much.

^ IIRC they are also a seiko dealer too.

It's a cool read! I have my 'watch loop' of places to go, including this newsletter, the watches subreddit to see what people have posted, the watches circlejerk reddit to make fun of the dorks who take it way too seriously, then I go to Watchuseek for the Panerai and Military/Aviation and Laco forums to see what got posted there. Sometimes to get my fill I'll head to the replica subreddit to look at those. They are 99% Rolex though so kind of boring.

Someone posted their Rolex there, and people picked it apart pointing out all the flaws.. Lots of embarrassed folks when he later revealed it was a genuine Rolex the whole time EleGiggle

Some quotes from people

I'm mostly wearing my Panerai lately (the winding feels MUCH better now that it has worn in a bit), but sometimes I'll switch back and forth, or even wear one on each wrist at home. It got to the point where my Laco stopped running a couple times though; I'm testing out how long it goes on a full wind. Wound it right at noon yesterday, and it should go until some time tomorrow morning.

Hmm the watch just stopped right now at 28.5 hours, far cry from 42 hours

Going to wind it a lot more this time and try again

Using this post as my mark: 4:39pm

To not turn this into spam, I finally tried on a couple Sinn watches today.. U1 fit absolutely perfect. The T1 titanium felt alien like in my hands. But the dial isn't quite as nice (it has a broad arrow on the minutes which is kind of a pet peeve of mine), and also I actually like some bulk on my watches

Look out, that U1 might be in my future. I loved it with the metal bracelet

They offered 20% off MSRP, then another 2% lol.. Seems like grey market pricing for these at the AD.

Oooh Sinn, that's a name I haven't heard in a while. I'm a big fan of their pilot watches, and Lufthansa has some collabs with them that I really dig.

Sinn 857 UTC LH Cargo
https://www.sinn.de/bilder/uhr-titel...F_LH_Cargo.jpg

Comes in this cute little cargo container
https://www.sinn.de/bilder/uhr/960x1...LH-Cargo_B.jpg

Sinn 144 Lufthansa Cargo
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/k_jD2LsDiyw/maxresdefault.jpg

The only thing I don't like about some Sinn pilot watches are the hands are a tiny bit too short. The minutes hand not reaching the minutes index just bugs me. Makes it look like a Seiko or Citizen.

They don't all have this issue (one of the 2 watches posted above do). It seems like only the ones based on the "flieger" design do, like the 556 here, and the 857 posted above.

https://www.sinn.de/bilder/uhr-titel/900/556_I.jpg

Which is weird, because the original "flieger" definitely has minutes hands that reach all the way.

https://quillandpad.com/wp-content/u...-1500x1054.jpg

Also they're a bit small for me. But such beautiful watches. I saw the chronograph in person, and it was kind of tiny, but gorgeous.

The big 717 is a 'grail' for me... And look, it has a long minutes hand Kappa

https://www.sinn.de/bilder/uhr-titel/900/717.jpg

Stopped at 11:40am on the second day, so almost exactly 43 hours

That's more like it! Lesson learned is: a full wind takes a lot more turns of the crown than you'd expect, I guess because you only turn it about half way each time, or maybe 3/4. I think I wound it about 80 turns, so maybe 40-60 full turns? Thing about automatics is it doesn't stop once fully wound.

Edit: Going to do this for the PAM as well. Fully wound at 4pm June 4. Let's see how far this fake Unitas can go! LUL

Genuine 6497-2 goes 53 hours

Fake Unitas stopped running at 1:45am June 7. That is 57 hours and 45 minutes

Decent! Keeps good time too

Takes about 125 twists to get it fully wound

Also new strap alert! The rubber looks great but NATO is definitely more comfortable in the humidity. Might prefer lower profile hardware though I'm not sure

That looks great, there's zero chance I would know that's a rep looking at it in passing

agreed! it looks absolutely fantastic

Why pay the premium for what is essentially 99% of the same product. Now even if you ding it up a bit, you wont feel bad.