St. Dupont "Service Without Fail" RAID Watch
Here is some serious French testosterone in a watch. Made for or influenced by the special, elite operations branch of the national French police known as RAID. The highly secretive special force is interesting because they often recruit people directly from the public, as opposed to existing police or military personnel. The purpose of the group as part of the national police, is to combat and investigate major crimes and terrorism. RAID stands for "Recherche Assistance Intervention Dissuasion." In English, "Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence." They seem to kick enough ass to get a watch made for them with their logo on it.St. Dupont make watches, among other luxury items, and will soon release a limited edition set of these RAID watches. The "Service Without Fail" part of the name is apparently RAID's motto. At first glance I like the watch. It is a bit "heavy" on the eyes, and does feature a extreme boldness, but in an appealing way. Although the watch does feature a des

About to take the plunge on a Diver
Hi guys,Long time forum reader but wanted to jump in with my first post. I am narrowing in on a long considered purchase of a ROO Diver 15710 with black dial. For me the open case back is the biggest factor vs the 15703 to see the amazing workmanship of the movement, especially as this will be my first 'holy trinity' piece. When I first began scoping out AP I was set on the 15400, but even after trying all three dial colours it never grabbed me the same way as when I first tried on the diver - I almost bought it there and then on the spot !One thing though that I am intrigued about is the price difference (when at full retail at any rate) between the diver and the 15400. In my book the diver, absent the virtually handmade bracelet, which clearly adds to the overall cost of manufacture should be positioned at a lower cost than the diver with a rubber strap. This is further compounded when the difference in dial manufacture method is taken into account, considering the presumed cost to m

Ceramic Daytona White v Black? Problem solved
I had my name on the waiting list for a ceramic Daytona the day they were announced at Basel in March 2016. Initially I wanted the white dial but slowly grew to love the black dial. I decided I would take whatever they offered me. In October I got the call and purchased a black dial and I absolutely love it.To solve any lingering yearning for the white dial I have today bought a Breitling Airborne and it is a superb watch. It's on the military strap and I am going to buy a pilot bracelet for it very soon.IMG_1124.jpg

New (to me) pre moon Speedy back from service (Before and after shots included)
I posted this earlier on WUS, but wanted to share with my TRF friends as well...so please forgive any redundency:I got my 105.012-66 back from a full service and cosmetic clean up at MJ Watch Service near Chicago (.mjwatchservice). I am very pleased with the results and am giddy with vintage speedmaster delight. I got the bracelet done as well, but am really loving the watch on this Hirsch Professional strap. I was stunned at their ability to minimize the substantial ding on the non-crown side without leaving an odd divot or compromizing the case lines. I was also glad to see that cleaning the hands removed some debris that I actually assumed was broken down and lost lume paint. I had to sit down last night and watch the Blu-Ray of Apollo 13 that I got as a christmas present, just to bask in the moment. That movie really is a 2 hr Speedmaster commercial .Okay so enough chat...on to the pics!First a few before:And now the afters...I am wearing it now and imagine will be for some time:

Submariner bezels- font question?
Am considering purchasing a used 16613, owner says it is an X series which would date it to 1991. But I am having a hard time with the way the bezel looks, and I can't find a definitive source explaining the different fonts.This is the bezel of the watch- This is a 1991 Submariner found online- I don't have to be an expert to see that the '4' and the '5' on the bezel are completely different.So is the watch actually a different year, has the bezel perhaps been changed for one that is not correct or were there different bezels used in the same year, and it was just an optional look?Thanks for all your help...Stanima