Where did all the experts go?

[FTX I]

Experts are still there at the vintage subforum like always.

[bigfatpauli]

Originally Posted by padi56

Well a few are still around but myself lately have to drag myself on forum as now its little more than the stuff you get on Facebook mainly brain dead stuff.

.....

The ETA 2892-A2, ETA 2824/2T chronometer grade, ETA Valjoux 7750,Unitas 6497/8,Omega 2500, JLC 889/2 , JLC 960, Longines 990 (Lemania 8815), PP 215, PP 240,now IMHO the Grand Seiko 430 is one of best movements ever made .Others like the Zenith 400,Zenith 670, GP 3100 all excellent movements, plus there are many more.Would not call any modern movement made today best,whats best in one persons eyes is better in another's.But most movements today even from Alpha to every day Seiko, Miyota and all the high end brands all have there place in today's horological world.

Thank you for taking the time to post this! This is one of the best, if not the best, post I've seen in recent memory.

Let me ask this - is there a book out there that details the history of the Swiss watch world? Something like the post above with the Gruen/Rolex story but much bigger and more in depth spanning the insudesty at large? I know things like that exist for silicon valley and the American and Italian auto industry.

How does one acquire knowledge like this?

Just amazing. Thank you.

:c lap:

[BSG75]

Thank you for that informative post, Peter! That’s why I joined TRF in the first place. I want to learn more about the brand and its history. At the end of the day, it really should be about sharing knowledge and not about AD issues, buying for resale, etc. They’re beautiful, tough watches with a rich history and I want to learn more!

[Robtayham]

Originally Posted by Dsmith1974

I think it would just take up too much time.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe so. I think if they created three new sub-forums: ‘Incoming’; ‘ADs’, and ‘Resellers / Greys’, that allow a significant volume of threads to be quickly segregated. It would also begin to establish the expectation that those threads aren’t meant to be the primary content for the site.

The journey of a 1,000 miles begins with one step.

They need to start.

[Etschell]

Originally Posted by bigfatpauli

Hello,

Years ago, this forum used to be flooded with really interesting, esoteric knowledge of Rolex shared by people who really knew their stuff. The first time I heard about a "Bart Simpson" cornet was here. The first time I started learning about the stop-start history of the Daytona was on here, etc.

But now it is primarily a mix of "how do I get a Rolex" (universally, go grey) or "is this Rolex over-polished" (universally, yes) or "is this a good deal" (universally, I wouldn't) with a few incomings mixed in...

Where did all the experts go? Where did all the amazing information posts go?

The other day we had one of said posts - about Rolex hands not being in-house. It felt like half the replies where, "why are you posting this?" so I believe the culture has fundamentally shifted away from knowledge based posts.

So I ask, where did all the education go?

-Paul

No expert but you should check some of my threads and posts. I keep it real.

[THC]

Originally Posted by SearChart

Hey I dunked a sub dial in acetone today, I think I should be stripped of my title

Ha, you took Jocke’s suggestion yesterday?

[exador]

When Rolex just keeps on releasing the same models with different coloured bezels and bracelets, what’s to discuss?

[SeaAndSky]

Originally Posted by Norbert

Or complain about nicknames for the watches?

I guess I don't see a problem with that. Two of the recent nicknames are just silly. I find them grating to read and hear. To me they're a symptom of the decline of the forum. Everything I learned about Rolex I mostly learned here as well. And as others have said, this is the most gentlemanly corner of the internet I've ever been to. But along with the decline in content and the change from a love of watches to money and greed, I also see ugliness creeping in. I find myself spending less time here. Today is a a great example. This is one of the few threads worth peeking into in my opinion and sadly it's a negative thread about the state of the forum and nothing to do with Rolex watches.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by Robtayham

Maybe so. I think if they created three new sub-forums: ‘Incoming’; ‘ADs’, and ‘Resellers / Greys’, that allow a significant volume of threads to be quickly segregated. It would also begin to establish the expectation that those threads aren’t meant to be the primary content for the site.

The journey of a 1,000 miles begins with one step.

They need to start.

A splendid idea
Anything which falls into these categories and is posted in the general discussion forum could be moved ASAP into the relevant forum.
It would still give the tryhards a place to hang out and symtaneously lift the content elsewhere in the broader forum.

The only downside I can see is that the moderators will be rather busier than normal. At least initially anyway.

[bigfatpauli]

Originally Posted by Etschell

No expert but you should check some of my threads and posts. I keep it real.

Thank you. Any in particular I should be looking out for? It can be hard to tell what is a general comment versus real content.

[FTX I]

Originally Posted by Dirt

A splendid idea
Anything which falls into these categories and is posted in the general discussion forum could be moved ASAP into the relevant forum.
It would still give the tryhards a place to hang out and symtaneously lift the content elsewhere in the broader forum.

The only downside I can see is that the moderators will be rather busier than normal. At least initially anyway.

Great idea. Why stop there. Even better if there's a new section for whining and grumble about other people's threads

[Etschell]

Originally Posted by bigfatpauli

Thank you. Any in particular I should be looking out for? It can be hard to tell what is a general comment versus real content.

Threads I start watch related

[Robtayham]

Originally Posted by Dirt

A splendid idea
Anything which falls into these categories and is posted in the general discussion forum could be moved ASAP into the relevant forum.
It would still give the tryhards a place to hang out and symtaneously lift the content elsewhere in the broader forum.

The only downside I can see is that the moderators will be rather busier than normal. At least initially anyway.

The moderators’ on-going involvement could be minimal. On the OP’s post, the solution would be for there to be a ‘reclassify’ button right next to the existing ‘quote’ button. This would allow a TRF member to click that ‘reclassify’ button, and select the appropriate forum. The OP can always appeal to the moderator, but this approach allows the forum to be self-regulated.

[Andad]

Originally Posted by SearChart

Hey I dunked a sub dial in acetone today, I think I should be stripped of my title

You should have PM’d me first Bas.

0/10 for you.

I have thought up a new title for you.

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by bigfatpauli

It's nice to see I'm not entirely alone in my feelings.

Although I registered about 2 years ago, I've been a regular reader on TRF since 2007 or so. About two years ago my goto watch forum became a little to slanted for my tastes so that's really when I started registering else where to see what other forum would have a better cultural fit for me.

What you are talking about - a time when the forum really was for the enthusiasts - was really the golden age in my glassy eyes. I guess I am just feeling nostalgic for the times when it seemed every post was a treasure trove of insight and information.

Perhaps I have shifted, too, in that I know a lot more than I did 10 years ago so less is new to me. I suppose anyone into a hobby for long enough does experience that to a degree.

If you've been reading here since 2007, surely you must be able to start a few interesting threads yourself. Be the change you want to see, and all that

[train-time]

Sad but true. The forum has lost the closeness and quality that it once had. Content has become dramatically diluted of knowledge, respect and class. Way too many new members, mostly from the US. It's like the facebook for watches now. It's probably time to move on and keep in touch with the WIS community locally. Time to hang it up. It's no longer the fun it once was.

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by train-time

Sad but true. The forum has lost the closeness and quality that it once had. Content has become dramatically diluted of knowledge, respect and class. Way too many new members, mostly from the US. It's like the facebook for watches now. It's probably time to move on and keep in touch with the WIS community locally. Time to hang it up. It's no longer the fun it once was.

Wait...you might win a Harrods Black Bay

[Andad]

We can redraw?

[Jamie1111]

Originally Posted by padi56

Well a few are still around but myself lately have to drag myself on forum as now its little more than the stuff you get on Facebook mainly brain dead stuff.

Aegler made movements for Rolex.

The famous Techni-Quadron some information from Gruen web site ."Doctor's Watches" were so-called because the large seconds dial was handy for timing a patient's pulse. These however were not sold only to doctors. The watch was advertised as a timepiece for technicians and "radio and mechanical engineers"—anyone who needed to measure time in seconds. The 877 movement, manufactured by Aegler in Biel, was also used in the Rolex Prince; this unusual movement gives the watch its distinctive "dual dial" design. Hours and minutes are confined to the upper half of the dial, while the entire lower dial is dedicated to seconds. The Techni-Quadron provided a useful alternative to the tiny seconds hands on most watches from this era, which can be as little as 2mm , and are not practical to use for timing etc.


Aegler made movements for Rolex (which at this time had no own movement manufacturing capability)and has made Rolex movement ever since but now incorporated fully into the Rolex name.Gruen and Rolex were Aegler's biggest customers, and were both large shareholders as well. And the full company name at one time was, Aegler, Societe Anonyme, Fabrique des Montres Rolex & Gruen Guild A. Gruen and Rolex

Gruen sold their Aegler shares in the early 1930s,to Hans of Rolex after they moved all production to the Precision Factory(just another name to appear on a Rolex dial). About this time, Aegler became increasingly tied to Rolex through the sale of stock and shares.And Today, the main Rolex building in Biel is the old Aegler factory, and though it is now owned by Rolex, it is still run by the Aegler family.

A few mostly now forgotten names on Rolex dials.

Air Lion,Air-Tiger,Air-giant,Space-Dweller,SkyRocket,Speedking,Falcon,Orchid,Observat ory ,Tridor, Athlete,Commando,Turtle Timer,Canadian Empire, Oyster Lipton, Rolex Scientific,Rolex Everest,Tudor Advisor,Oyster Junior Sport, Oyster Raleigh, Oyster Commander, Oyster Recorda, Oyster Edison, Oyster Grenfell, Oyster Shipmate and Oyster Standard,and there are a quite a few more that I cannot remember now.

One of my favourite vintage Rolex the Prince doctor dial below.




Perpetual and not my AD Said This Or That or is it Safe.

In todays market perpetual its just Rolex speak for being automatic winding,but Perrelet invented the first self winding mechanism around 1770,later Breguet improved it and called his winding system perpetuelles.Now perhaps this is where Rolex got the idea to call there automatics Perpetual.But it was a guy called John Harwood from the Isle of Man UK,now he in 1923 took out a UK/World patent for the first truly automatic winding wrist watch.

Now he went on with backing to produce many thousands of these watches,but mainly owing to the very hard industrial depression in the mid 1920s to 1930s in the UK he went broke and out of business .Now old Hans Wilsdorf of Rolex being a very clever but very shrewd man bought and took up this auto-winding patent for the Rolex Watch Company,and in the very early 1930s incorporated it into the oyster design case.

This with the newly acquired waterproof screw down crown patent that he got from Perregaux and George Peret now they first took out a Swiss patent in 1925 for the very first twin lock crown system .This with the Oyster type case,screw down twinlock crown and the acquired patent auto wind mechanism the first Rolex Oyster was born. But in those very early oyster days it only wound around 300 degrees .Now Rolex did improved the design by the help of Hans brother in-law,who made it more efficient by winding a full 360 degrees,and a power reserve then of around 36 hours.After the auto watch and the oyster case later the oyster type bracelet, Rolex really took off the rest is just pure marketing genius by Hans Wilsdorf oF the RWC.


First Rolex Submarine.

Old Hans Wilsdorf was a clever man,and wanted to increase sales worldwide and especially in tropical climates.So he tried to make a watch that was waterproof,now the evolution of the first oyster case was started.His idea was very simple,he would fit a case inside a case,and he called it the Submarine watch.Now this worked,but had certain drawbacks you had to open the case to wind it,and the outer case had a threaded screw on bezel to protect the watch.This was not very user owner friendly and caused wear on the hinges and bezel threads.So he started to look for a new idea for a truly waterproof wrist watch.So we had to wait 30 odd years for the rebirth from Submarine,to the first Submariner as we know it today.I suppose now is the most plentiful mechanical watch in this world today with many millions of them made .


Fastbeat Vs Slowbeat mechanical Movements.

The high-beat vs low-beat argument has been running as long as I've taken an interest in movements around now 55 years (I am talking about watches here) and opinions are still divided.

One of the more highly regarded chronograph movements is still the Zenith "El Primero" running at 36000 bph. So highly regarded as we all know it was used by Rolex in the Daytona.Now the Zenith calibre 3019 was first introduced in 1969 and I'm pretty sure if there were any problems with hi-beat movements, 47 years is long enough for them to manifest themselves.

Ulysse Nardin marine chronometers have always been highly regarded but it is a little known fact that for years, they were fitted with a high-beat (36000bph) version of the ETA 2824-2, UN calibre NB11QU. Zodiac produced at least four high-beat movements from 1971-73, all with Albert/Shine ebauche, and fitted to the "SST" models. Longines experimented with calibres 430 to 433 from 1967 but when they introduced twin-barrel movements in 1975, chose to revert back to 28800 bph,and in these days Longines made some excellent in-house made movements to equal or better most.

Changing the subject slightly, the Longines twin-barrel movements were something I wish had survived in current production,a brilliant movement,but very expensive to make. Calibre 890, 892 & 893 had stacked twin barrels whereas calibres 990 to 994 had side-by-side barrels in a movement only 2.95mm thick. The power reserve of around 44-50 hours was respectable but not particularly impressive for a twin-barrel movement, although I'm sure that if R & D had continued on this movement this would have been substantially improved.And would have put many a modern movements to shame,from any manufacturer or brand even Rolex.

Now the main advantages of slower beat rates (18,000 , 19,800 and 21,600 ) are less immediate. Lower power needs allow for softer mainsprings, limiting stress and friction throughout the wheel train, winding train, and the escapement. Service intervals are longer and more flexible, and part wear replacements are negligible.But in general low beat movements will generally not perform as well as a fast-beat one, and while slow beat movements can perform very well it requires more skill and effort from the watchmaker to achieve and Rolex achieved that though the many years, through laborious positional adjustments and high quality movement parts . Now slow-beat is used primarily by manufactures of high-craft movements, most of whom consider today 21,600 BPH to the best.But most of these type of movements say Patek being quite delicate and can easily be put out of adjustment by the slightest Mal adjustment like say a small fall or big shocks.


Some of the advantages of fast-beat (28,800 v/h and 36,000 v/h) are obvious, better isochronism, and better performance in both vertical and horizontal positions even with minimal adjustment or no adjustment at all.This is one of the reasons fast-beat has been almost universally adopted by mass-producers.If you think of a how fast a quartz movement beats,while Mechanical watch usually have 28000 to 36000 beats per hour, which is 480 to 600 beats per minute (Hz), and therefore cannot compete with quartz watches that have around 4000 to 8000 beats per second (10 times faster).So in theory the mechanical High beat movement should be more accurate,with very little difference in over all power reserve, because they use a much stronger main spring.Now some say there is the possible extra wear factor in the Hi beat movement,but IMO as long as the recommend services are done,there is little or no difference,service is very important with any mechanical movement.

Now when Rolex's did the modification to the Zenith chronograph, where in addition to reducing the beat rate, they discarded the regulator and installed there own vastly larger Microstella balance wheel,and regulator.And when Zenith would not,or could not, supply the vast quantities Rolex needed, they was forced to design there first ever chrono movement the cal 4130 in 2000. Which although now quite old is still going strong today and basically unchanged.

This is short list of outstanding movements that should all easily achieve a daily consistency of five seconds or better on the wrist.All of the current Rolex calibers including the Cal 4130 this a outstanding chronograph movement with a excellent power reserve and one of the best around now. But there are many others in the same class accuracy wise but less power reserve.

The ETA 2892-A2, ETA 2824/2T chronometer grade, ETA Valjoux 7750,Unitas 6497/8,Omega 2500, JLC 889/2 , JLC 960, Longines 990 (Lemania 8815), PP 215, PP 240,now IMHO the Grand Seiko 430 is one of best movements ever made .Others like the Zenith 400,Zenith 670, GP 3100 all excellent movements, plus there are many more.Would not call any modern movement made today best,whats best in one persons eyes is better in another's.But most movements today even from Alpha to every day Seiko, Miyota and all the high end brands all have there place in today's horological world.

Awesome post, thank you!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CalSRQ1]

Thank you Peter. That post was amazing.

[maxymax]

Originally Posted by TswaneNguni

What I know about Rolex ,I was taught on TRF .

This

[maxymax]

Originally Posted by padi56

Well a few are still around but myself lately have to drag myself on forum as now its little more than the stuff you get on Facebook mainly brain dead stuff.............

Thank you, sir!

[donas]

Originally Posted by HL65

OP only here for 2 years and last 2 years has been mostly bitching about shortages, grey dealers, nicknames, valuations etc. I remember when Forum was purely Rolex enthusiasts for most part. A lot of focus was in vintage as well so yes things do change. It would be nice to shift back and away from the same thread topics over and over again.

Gone are the days of JJ....how I miss them (him)

[Boothroyd]

I joined pretty quickly after finding TRF ( number 55k approximately, May 2011). There are roughly 175K members more at the moment. Bound to be some changes in tone and content given the rapid growth.

And if you go back to early contributors, they pretty much don't post any longer..people like me changed the tone, I guess ( I hope not). Natural evolution of an online forum, at any rate.

Read the "wheat", post where you want, skip the "chaff".

[Chewbacca]

Originally Posted by padi56

Well a few are still around but myself lately have to drag myself on forum as now its little more than the stuff you get on Facebook mainly brain dead stuff.

Aegler made movements for Rolex.

The famous Techni-Quadron some information from Gruen web site ."Doctor's Watches" were so-called because the large seconds dial was handy for timing a patient's pulse. These however were not sold only to doctors. The watch was advertised as a timepiece for technicians and "radio and mechanical engineers"—anyone who needed to measure time in seconds. The 877 movement, manufactured by Aegler in Biel, was also used in the Rolex Prince; this unusual movement gives the watch its distinctive "dual dial" design. Hours and minutes are confined to the upper half of the dial, while the entire lower dial is dedicated to seconds. The Techni-Quadron provided a useful alternative to the tiny seconds hands on most watches from this era, which can be as little as 2mm , and are not practical to use for timing etc.


Aegler made movements for Rolex (which at this time had no own movement manufacturing capability)and has made Rolex movement ever since but now incorporated fully into the Rolex name.Gruen and Rolex were Aegler's biggest customers, and were both large shareholders as well. And the full company name at one time was, Aegler, Societe Anonyme, Fabrique des Montres Rolex & Gruen Guild A. Gruen and Rolex

Gruen sold their Aegler shares in the early 1930s,to Hans of Rolex after they moved all production to the Precision Factory(just another name to appear on a Rolex dial). About this time, Aegler became increasingly tied to Rolex through the sale of stock and shares.And Today, the main Rolex building in Biel is the old Aegler factory, and though it is now owned by Rolex, it is still run by the Aegler family.

A few mostly now forgotten names on Rolex dials.

Air Lion,Air-Tiger,Air-giant,Space-Dweller,SkyRocket,Speedking,Falcon,Orchid,Observat ory ,Tridor, Athlete,Commando,Turtle Timer,Canadian Empire, Oyster Lipton, Rolex Scientific,Rolex Everest,Tudor Advisor,Oyster Junior Sport, Oyster Raleigh, Oyster Commander, Oyster Recorda, Oyster Edison, Oyster Grenfell, Oyster Shipmate and Oyster Standard,and there are a quite a few more that I cannot remember now.

One of my favourite vintage Rolex the Prince doctor dial below.




Perpetual and not my AD Said This Or That or is it Safe.

In todays market perpetual its just Rolex speak for being automatic winding,but Perrelet invented the first self winding mechanism around 1770,later Breguet improved it and called his winding system perpetuelles.Now perhaps this is where Rolex got the idea to call there automatics Perpetual.But it was a guy called John Harwood from the Isle of Man UK,now he in 1923 took out a UK/World patent for the first truly automatic winding wrist watch.

Now he went on with backing to produce many thousands of these watches,but mainly owing to the very hard industrial depression in the mid 1920s to 1930s in the UK he went broke and out of business .Now old Hans Wilsdorf of Rolex being a very clever but very shrewd man bought and took up this auto-winding patent for the Rolex Watch Company,and in the very early 1930s incorporated it into the oyster design case.

This with the newly acquired waterproof screw down crown patent that he got from Perregaux and George Peret now they first took out a Swiss patent in 1925 for the very first twin lock crown system .This with the Oyster type case,screw down twinlock crown and the acquired patent auto wind mechanism the first Rolex Oyster was born. But in those very early oyster days it only wound around 300 degrees .Now Rolex did improved the design by the help of Hans brother in-law,who made it more efficient by winding a full 360 degrees,and a power reserve then of around 36 hours.After the auto watch and the oyster case later the oyster type bracelet, Rolex really took off the rest is just pure marketing genius by Hans Wilsdorf oF the RWC.


First Rolex Submarine.

Old Hans Wilsdorf was a clever man,and wanted to increase sales worldwide and especially in tropical climates.So he tried to make a watch that was waterproof,now the evolution of the first oyster case was started.His idea was very simple,he would fit a case inside a case,and he called it the Submarine watch.Now this worked,but had certain drawbacks you had to open the case to wind it,and the outer case had a threaded screw on bezel to protect the watch.This was not very user owner friendly and caused wear on the hinges and bezel threads.So he started to look for a new idea for a truly waterproof wrist watch.So we had to wait 30 odd years for the rebirth from Submarine,to the first Submariner as we know it today.I suppose now is the most plentiful mechanical watch in this world today with many millions of them made .


Fastbeat Vs Slowbeat mechanical Movements.

The high-beat vs low-beat argument has been running as long as I've taken an interest in movements around now 55 years (I am talking about watches here) and opinions are still divided.

One of the more highly regarded chronograph movements is still the Zenith "El Primero" running at 36000 bph. So highly regarded as we all know it was used by Rolex in the Daytona.Now the Zenith calibre 3019 was first introduced in 1969 and I'm pretty sure if there were any problems with hi-beat movements, 47 years is long enough for them to manifest themselves.

Ulysse Nardin marine chronometers have always been highly regarded but it is a little known fact that for years, they were fitted with a high-beat (36000bph) version of the ETA 2824-2, UN calibre NB11QU. Zodiac produced at least four high-beat movements from 1971-73, all with Albert/Shine ebauche, and fitted to the "SST" models. Longines experimented with calibres 430 to 433 from 1967 but when they introduced twin-barrel movements in 1975, chose to revert back to 28800 bph,and in these days Longines made some excellent in-house made movements to equal or better most.

Changing the subject slightly, the Longines twin-barrel movements were something I wish had survived in current production,a brilliant movement,but very expensive to make. Calibre 890, 892 & 893 had stacked twin barrels whereas calibres 990 to 994 had side-by-side barrels in a movement only 2.95mm thick. The power reserve of around 44-50 hours was respectable but not particularly impressive for a twin-barrel movement, although I'm sure that if R & D had continued on this movement this would have been substantially improved.And would have put many a modern movements to shame,from any manufacturer or brand even Rolex.

Now the main advantages of slower beat rates (18,000 , 19,800 and 21,600 ) are less immediate. Lower power needs allow for softer mainsprings, limiting stress and friction throughout the wheel train, winding train, and the escapement. Service intervals are longer and more flexible, and part wear replacements are negligible.But in general low beat movements will generally not perform as well as a fast-beat one, and while slow beat movements can perform very well it requires more skill and effort from the watchmaker to achieve and Rolex achieved that though the many years, through laborious positional adjustments and high quality movement parts . Now slow-beat is used primarily by manufactures of high-craft movements, most of whom consider today 21,600 BPH to the best.But most of these type of movements say Patek being quite delicate and can easily be put out of adjustment by the slightest Mal adjustment like say a small fall or big shocks.


Some of the advantages of fast-beat (28,800 v/h and 36,000 v/h) are obvious, better isochronism, and better performance in both vertical and horizontal positions even with minimal adjustment or no adjustment at all.This is one of the reasons fast-beat has been almost universally adopted by mass-producers.If you think of a how fast a quartz movement beats,while Mechanical watch usually have 28000 to 36000 beats per hour, which is 480 to 600 beats per minute (Hz), and therefore cannot compete with quartz watches that have around 4000 to 8000 beats per second (10 times faster).So in theory the mechanical High beat movement should be more accurate,with very little difference in over all power reserve, because they use a much stronger main spring.Now some say there is the possible extra wear factor in the Hi beat movement,but IMO as long as the recommend services are done,there is little or no difference,service is very important with any mechanical movement.

Now when Rolex's did the modification to the Zenith chronograph, where in addition to reducing the beat rate, they discarded the regulator and installed there own vastly larger Microstella balance wheel,and regulator.And when Zenith would not,or could not, supply the vast quantities Rolex needed, they was forced to design there first ever chrono movement the cal 4130 in 2000. Which although now quite old is still going strong today and basically unchanged.

This is short list of outstanding movements that should all easily achieve a daily consistency of five seconds or better on the wrist.All of the current Rolex calibers including the Cal 4130 this a outstanding chronograph movement with a excellent power reserve and one of the best around now. But there are many others in the same class accuracy wise but less power reserve.

The ETA 2892-A2, ETA 2824/2T chronometer grade, ETA Valjoux 7750,Unitas 6497/8,Omega 2500, JLC 889/2 , JLC 960, Longines 990 (Lemania 8815), PP 215, PP 240,now IMHO the Grand Seiko 430 is one of best movements ever made .Others like the Zenith 400,Zenith 670, GP 3100 all excellent movements, plus there are many more.Would not call any modern movement made today best,whats best in one persons eyes is better in another's.But most movements today even from Alpha to every day Seiko, Miyota and all the high end brands all have there place in today's horological world.

To all the bros, greenhorns, Postlex'ers and Wisfluencers, this is a mic-drop post by a true gent and original TRFer.

Glad you're still around Peter.

[bigfatpauli]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

If you've been reading here since 2007, surely you must be able to start a few interesting threads yourself. Be the change you want to see, and all that

Maybe. Certainly I know thing or two but as most of my knowledge of Rolex comes from here or a similar neighbouring watch community, it would be more of a regurgitation rather then adding new content, only adding to the noise already present.

For example;

Did you know that Rolex doesn't make their own hands?

It reads as a silly post when I say it - or as if I am trying to steal credit. We all know that now. But yesterday, this was a really exciting read. A post like Peter's, however, appears to have a lot of new information (judging from my, and others, reaction). At least new to many people here.

His post was gold. Mine was yesterday's news.

[joe100]

I was around a while before we even had 10,000 members. Those were the days. We actually discussed watches and almost every thread was interesting. These days I just can’t care about shortages or stupid nicknames.

Now at a quarter million users, it’s all changed.

I’d like to see a special section created for those of us who have put the time and energy into contributing useful information to the board. Something not based on pledge member status, a higher tier area to get above the noise.

[Easy E]

Originally Posted by TswaneNguni

What I know about Rolex ,I was taught on TRF .

Add me to this list.

It’s sort of amusing really. I feel like I know more about Rolex and the current market from what I gain here versus the people I actually by a Rolex from.

I think what’s happening here over the last X#of months is really blip. Sooner or later the economy will cool, all the hipster instagramians will flock to a different hotness, supply/ demand will find an equilibrium, whatever element shift you want to assign and the core enthusiasts will remain.

In the grand scheme of things I don’t mind the current SOF (state of the forum). In a year or two we will reminisce about these crazy times.

E-

[Old Expat Beast]

Originally Posted by joe100

I was around a while before we even had 10,000 members. Those were the days. We actually discussed watches and almost every thread was interesting. These days I just can’t care about shortages or stupid nicknames.

Now at a quarter million users, it’s all changed.

I’d like to see a special section created for those of us who have put the time and energy into contributing useful information to the board. Something not based on pledge member status, a higher tier area to get above the noise.

Elite status, maybe?

I remember when I joined up, you were one of the most helpful and informative members, and one of my first friends here. I guess its like any club, the more members you have, the more diluted the resources. But as long as folks keep it civil and within the rules, they can talk about what they want. It's just a pity that most just seem to want to talk about money, monetary value or investment, or whatever. The longer you're here, the more annoying it gets. That's just the nature of the beast (no pun intended).

[seabreeze60]

Forums evolve and change with the times. There’s still tons of good content buried in the daily drama.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk