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A few years ago I owned a DW Mystery Movement 6263 of the first generation. I really loved it! Unfortunately it broke a year after I've bought it and I was never able to get it repaired. Since I'm not willing to drop $$$ on a V72 I had to look for other options. Chi did a review on how to modify the ST-19 to accept a gen size dial, so I started to look into it further. Rolojack did great mods to a 6238 too. So I did the following to the Cartel 6263: - slimmed down the mid-case - slimmed the Cartel hands as they are too wide - modified the case to accept a DW bezel - retapped the case to accept a 702 tube - retapped the case to accept DW's pusher - modified the pushers to reach the ST-19 movement - modified the movement to accept the DW dial - modified the bezel to fit genuine tropic - install a genuine coronet on the dial - install a genuine 702 crown - install a genuine 7836 bracelet - install a genuine T21 So there it is: Anyways...more to come A

As much as you helped me with my build Om3ga, I still have to compete against you (and lose) Here is my build that I picked up on friday. Not %100 finished but it's good enough for now. My build consists of: - Startime case set - Startime solid gold bezel - ST bezel washer - Genuine 16613 bracelet with WSO endlinks - Genuine Rolex insert - Genuine Rolex rusty dial - Genuine Rolex hands (custom aged) - Genuine Rolex date disc (still need to swap for open 6 font) - Genuine Rolex crown - TC crystal (will upgrade in the future) - Service yuki 3135 movement -Waterproofed to 7ATM I should be taking some better pics soon too!

That's a 21j movement and while some lasted, some are quite problematic. Good thing is the movement is cheap if it need replacement. Sent using 1:1 Tapatalk

TC, I believe, builds to order. I think some people see up to three months after ordering. Not sure if that's regular. Red second hand is a custom option.

These insane prices illustrate to me over and over, how much money is floating around in the world today. There is so much wealth today, folks act like they are spending Monopoly money instead of real cash! It's crazy. When you spend 660K or 1 mil for a watch, I believe that you seriously need to have your head examined! Of course I have never ever even been close to that sort of wealth, so who knows, If I were a billionaire, maybe I would be right in the middle of the bidding.

I agree, with all the latest Rolex reps, the ceramic bezel is a big tell. look at the photos of a genuine and then look at a rep bezel, the numbers are totally different, depth, width and the platinum that Rolex uses for the numbers has not been replicated. IF you want and accurate sub that will be as close to genuine as you can get, I would go for the TC. Otherwise the BK for the ceramic.

TC only makes the older non ceramic 16610 (recently started offering the LV Green bezel/maxi dial version). TCs is considered the best bc the quality is by far better than any rep from china. It has gen like construction which means it will take gen parts. Dial printing quality is also pretty amazing. I have a TC v6 and honestly see no point in owning a gen of it. TC is THAT good. For the ceramic 116610, bk is prob your best bet. He gets his from the noob factory but does quite a bit of mods to them like.. Swapping the movement out to a sellita, using his own date wheel overlay that better mimics the gen. Aligning the dial with the rehaut engravings..etc Even with all that the ceramics reps are easy to spot IMO. The hands and the bezel are easy tells. If you want a ceramic sub, your best bet is bk. If you want a sub that looks closest to gen, TC is the way to go. Chk out TCs blog. You'll see why it's considered the best sub. Just google TC submariner.

Try the WTB section..

Extremely rare 6263 Newman, Mark1 were sold yesterday on Kaplans at a new record price of nearly 660K USD Considering how extremely close some frankens are they are surely bang for the buck

Looks like you have at least been doing some research before asking the "Who has the best sub" question. Generally that question is met with some gentle and sometimes not so gentle flaming!! I don't keep up much with which is the latest and greatest Submariner. I have a genuine 16610 and that satisfies my "Sub appetite" I believe that many of the folks here would say that the TC is the best around now, but I would not take that as a fact. AFA the movements, unless you have access to a watch before you buy and can tell the difference between an Asian clone movement, a genuine Swiss ETA and an "amalgam" movement which is a mixture of Asian and Swiss parts, then you are buying a "Pig in a Poke". There are almost no new Swiss ETA movements available to the rep manufacturers, so what they are doing is cannibalizing old watches, which may have and old, dirty, worn out movement. Substituting some Asian clone and selling it for the price of a Swiss movement or using some ETA parts and some Asian parts to make a movement. At the very least, anything you buy is likely to be dirty and dry, or over oiled. I understand that TC uses a pretty good grade Asian movement. From the posts, it seems to be a good movement and is not any more problematic than an ETA.. Back a few years back, if you bought a rep with a Swiss ETA movement, you were assured that it was as described. it might be dirty, as they were buying unsealed movements in bulk, and were exposed to the dust dirt, human detritus that floats around in every rep makers workshop. No matter what movement you have, if it gets dust or lint or a human hair inside during the assembly process, it could cause problems later. All I can say is keep reading, hopefully some of the guys here who are more up to date on the contemporary sub reps will chime in here and help you out.

From steel to rubber. Love the 1911 a little bit more

Hawaiian slack key guitar...,

This is one I built for my wife's birthday and thought I would share the details with you guys. It pushes the limit on the $500 category. It started out with a Yuki dial and hands 5513 case from Helenaroo Swiss ETA 2893 Athaya tube and crown Tudor folded link bracelet Slightly aged blue insert from the bay For variety, extra straps including a Hirsch leather double rib, a blue leather NATO, and a blue nylon NATO. Lastly, custom packaging. Here's the unboxing.. Outer box Inner box custom built from a wine crate. Custom Cigar box presentation/display box Inside carries all the right pieces And a few extra shots.

I have had so many watches in the past year bought, sold traded, from a Super Avenger to an A Lange & Sohne I have kept only a few (mainly on funds reasons to let me try more) however,,,, Of all teh watches all the styles this watch just feels incredible, if you have worn a Super Avenger and had the drama of people staring at it, wait till they get a load of this, this watch should be in the next Bond movie it is beyond normal superlatives truly simply gorgeous!

Natural fade MK1 insert:

Read. More than you have. The answers are all out there, and the vintage Daytona is not an easy project. For that matter, building any watch requires a lot of research. Too many new members want to skip this part, and get into trouble by going down the wrong path for themselves because they don't know what they are really trying to do. The long-standing members of the site do not tell new members to read, or search, because we are being watch snobs or just like being hard on "Noobs". It's done because we want you to learn and know what you are getting yourself into. We could point you at countless threads where someone bought a part and didn't realize it wouldn't work with the other parts they had, or it forced them to go down a path with a build they didn't want to travel (like spending way more than necessary). It's nearly impossible to give any kind of relevant advice on any build without knowing answers to a lot of questions that you will need to figure out on your own. For example, what is your budget? Do you want to build one yourself from parts, or want one pre-built? What flaws are acceptable to you (there is no such thing as a 1:1 perfect rep of any kind, especially a vintage Daytona)? You need to familiarize yourself with the model and the available options, decide which direction you want to go, and then ask for help if there are things you still don't understand or are confused about. Just to give you a little insight as to why this is important, let's look at your dial question. The best aftermarket Paul Newman dial is IMO the ingod44 dial for a v72 movement. So, if you want that dial, here are the challenges you will face. 1) Even though his site is still functional, ingod44 has seemed to have disappeared, so you likely can only get one in a M2M sale (if you are lucky). 2) You'll now have two build choices. Either build a v72 based watch (very expensive), or you can buy an ST-19 (aka Venus) based Daytona (the cartel Daytona), and mod the non working 6 o'clock subdial hand to fit the ingod44 v72 dial properly (there's a very informative thread about doing this already posted). So, for that dial (assuming you can even find one) your two choices are spend a lot of money, or have a watch that still isn't perfect even if it does have the best available dial. Have no idea if either is an acceptable option for you. Or, you could go a completely different direction if neither of those options sounds appealing. And that's why you need to do your own research, figure out what options are out there, and what path you want to go down. Members have written many posts about the builds they have done, why they chose to do it the way they did, and have posted pictures of the end results. You need to look at them and make your own decision about what's important to you.

Interesting reading in the sales thread for the spinmaster PN 6263. He says that old swiss 7750's had the subdials in the correct place for a vintage daytona. I've no reason to doubt him, I'm sure he's right. So, just for clarities sake does anybody know when the changeover came to the 7753 as pointed out by panerai153?

I'll post the Big Gonzo, but don't want to get entered in the competition. Enjoy!

Amazing group of watches here. Brilliant idea.

Being somewhat new to this forum, I have taken time to read your reviews of various pieces that have always been comprehensive, along with details and great pics. Thanks for the education.

The engravings are meaningless, and often have no bearing on the end pieces they're supposed to be replicating. I'm very curious about the $55 7206, though, as I'm not sure if I've ever seen one. For that selfish reason alone, I say you should go for it!

Regarding "Made in Germany" and "Germany" on the dial at 6 o'clock: they changed back and forth in time (changed sometime around 2005-08). Same goes for "Nomos Glashütte" (now) and "Nomos Glashütte S/A" (old) at the the 12 o'clock position (changed early 2000s). Lugbars where screwed at first, then they switched to springbars. Regarding the caseback: The only caseback that gets screwed on is used on the Nomos Club which has a water resistance rating of 100 M. On all other models (30 M) the caseback is either snap on or held by 6 tiny screws. I'm not sure about the Tangomat but all the handwound models like the Tangente come with optional closed or see-through casebacks (+~250 Euros if you want a see-through caseback.. LOL). The writing on the caseback varied in time. All the watches come on Shell Cordovan straps. (Cordovan imported from the US company, not the less expensive japanese one.) The Glashütte on the dial really means nothing more than that the company is located in Glashütte. It's a company from the 90s that tried to cash in on the Glashütte image. They started using Peseux movements and later on came up with their own movement which based on the Peseux. The automatics were completely designed by themselves though (and they are priced accordingly...). Unfortunately not only are they overpriced but went a bit overboard with the size on the automatics (imo). If you can live with 30 M water resistance and are looking for a 36/35mm handwound that uses a kind of unique movement, Nomos makes real nice dress watches that were priced accordingly around 5 - 10 years ago and that are favored by many German politicians. In the range of almost 3000 Euros for some of the Automatics there are too many alternatives though (imo) unless all you care about is the movement not being ETA. But then you could still get a cal. 8500 from Omega or a pre owned Rolex. (Although someone considering Nomos probably has no interested in a Rolex.. )

That is curious . I saw some other Tangomat gens online that just said Germany; maybe it varies like the caseback text?