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What a result! We finally know who has the best sub!!

Simply Stunning!!!

For any vintage Rolex sport watch collector, I believe there are 2 essential watches that should be part of the collection, a meters-first 5513 and its older brother; the venerable 6538 big crown. Having already built my 5513 grail some time ago, I finally committed myself to begin and finish a big crown project that I can enjoy for years to come. First and foremost, I wanted the right dial. The gilt dial i chose was made by the Chuck Norris of dial makers who might be one of 2-3 people left on earth who can make gilt dials in the traditional way using genuine 1030 plates. Movement is a gen 1030 as is the tube and crown. The mid case was a challenge. I finally decided that the Phong case would work best for me, but it's hit and miss what phong delivers you these days. I have dealt with him numerous times in the past couple of years, and it seems that the quality control is not what it used to be. As such, the case required a relatively high degree of reshaping to get it where I wanted. In fact, I had to completely recut the bevels...this is no easy task. The look I was going for was a slightly aged case that looks like it was worn sparingly over the past few decades. While I could have gone for a more weathered dial, I wanted to enjoy the gilt goodness in all its lovely glory. Perhaps down the road I will replace it with a more age-appropriate one, but for now, I enjoy as is. I had a small issue with the sweep hand and the movement which was above my pay grade to fix. My watch smith rectified the issue and I finally got it all together today. In no particular order, I would like make a special thanks to @lionsandtigers, @cc33 and @Nanuq for their input/advice along the way. Specs: Dial/hands: He who will not be mentioned Movement: Gen 1030 midcase/caseback: Phongster Tube: Gen 800-0 Crown: Gen 8mm Brevet Crystal: Gen Tropic 17 superdome Bezel: Minh Quy Bezel insert: Gen "long 5" insert.. still looking for a matching tritium pearl Bracelet: Gen 7206 with 80 endlinks Gen 2mm springbars Now onto the pics: Very difficult to capture, but the gilt and the cellulose lacquer shimmer as it catches the sunlight: Sitting beside it's younger relative: Obligatory wristshot: And on Bulang leather: All photos taken with my iphone 6+ and unedited.

For those who don't know me I used to race Astons and yesterday was sent this great photo of me racing at Brands Hatch a few years ago. The actual shot is approaching Druids. I managed to win this race (the field are somewhere behind) and topped 175mph on the straight. Thsi car is a very special car with 650bhp and weighing 1150Kgs and was very quick! Regards AJ

Good evening chaps and chapesses. I had been eagerly awaiting word from a modder as to how my watch was doing when the postman knocked at my door with a package that was too wide to fit through the letterbox. I instantly recognised the country of origins postage marks and my heart began to beat a little more urgently. I took the jiffy bag to my dining table and very slowly and calmly ripped it into a thousand pieces. Nicely cocooned in its own foam coffin was this: Specs: Whoopy dial re-lumed to a nice light ivory colour TC hands JMB caseset with bezel machined to take SK T21 domed plexi ETA 2824 movement Mary WI folded link bracelet Aussie rounded springbars WSO 580 endlinks Hope you like. I certainly do

built a 1675 a while ago (http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/147952-cartel-1675-converted-to-low-beat/) but sold it when I needed some cash last winter. Since then I've had an itch for another, so I started the build process again a few months ago. Begins with a stock cartel 1675: This rep has some great parts, but also some pretty bad flaws from the factory. Most of them have been discussed before. The biggest ones, to me, are the caseback, bezel, and case shape. This rep is built on the same case that 1680/5513 reps come from. The case has too much meat on it, especially under the CGs The first thing I want to do is have the case reshaped. RolexAddict at RWG is well-known for his work reshaping cases, so I strip the watch down and send the midcase off to France. Next, I dig in the parts box until I find a caseback that is the correct shape. The only one I find that fits this case is from a 21j Daytona rep (incorrect 1680 "bubble" caseback on the right) but some quick work with some sandpaper cleans off the engraving Now time to change the bezel. The rep comes with this bezel from the factory The shape is correct for a 1680 but all wrong for a 1675. I order a Clark's bezel with the correct profile the only annoying thing about it is that the whole thing comes bead blasted. It should have polished sides. I'll polish it later. Time to swap out the clone ETA movement for a slow beat Swiss 2846 Need to take the GMT bits off the clone movement and put them on the Swiss and then it's time to wait for the case to come back from RolexAddict. Three weeks later, it's back. Here's the CG shape before and after The overall shaping of the CGs and is fantastic, but honestly I wasn't too happy with the finishing. As you can see from the pic, the polished surfaces look a bit wavy and there are still scratches and tool marks evident in the surface. The other side of the case looks the same way So, I get out the polishing stuff and set about re-finishing the polished case surfaces. I go all the way back down to 320 grit: on both sides and on the flat top part of the CGs Up through 400, 600 grit 800 grit I just cut a little piece of each successive grit, so it doesn't take much sandpaper to do a whole case and by the time I get through 1000, 1500, 2000 grit it's getting pretty shiny Hit it with the Dremel and some green jeweler's rouge for that mirror finish and we're done. Polished the bezel ring at the same time. Forgot to take a pic at this stage, but this is what the completed finish on the case and bezel ring looks like but I'm jumping ahead. Movement installed Clark's T116 crystal fitted and the first use of my new press that I won in the tutorial contest (thanks, Offshore!). Amazing how much nicer it is to work with a proper press. I decided to throw it on a jubilee for now and keep the rivet bracelet in reserve in case I get bored. Here's the completed watch Very happy with the way it came out. Considered aging the bezel insert, but honestly now that it's all shiny and new-looking maybe I'll leave it the way it is for a while.

This is about a mile from my house. Keep your eyes open, bears are still out!

Suit today so sporting my only modern piece I have left[emoji41] MattJust 116233 Sent from my droptop using telepathy.

Thanks Rower

Normally I don't wear this as it's kind of a family heirloom and is a bit too small for my wrist - but I do love it Genuine 1603

nice pic dbane!!

Part Italian diver part pilot, all instrument

In answer to that not at all. It had to be an original Chassis, body, axle, engine and gearbox. The modifications were carried out during the late 70's and early 80's and it is now recognised as a very special Historic AM racecar. Below is a 1980 Standard V8 Vantage which is how this one originally left Newport Pagnell in the 70's. One can clearly see the similarities. AJ

Ask SSteel (member here) to service it for you, it is money well spent and often the route a lot of us go when we buy a new watch/rep to make sure we start with a good movement. AJ

The question for me is...who would pay $1180 for a bracelet that went for $200 a few years ago? Imho of course. I assembled a genuine 93150 except for the diver extension from parts and have $35 in it up to now so my perspective on these things is totally different. A friend bought out a jewelry store in Kentucky a few years ago that was a rolex AD in the 1960s through the 1980s and he got about 20 pounds of bracelets and bracelet parts for a couple hundred bucks. Current prices knock me flat. I guess I have been in this game too long.

Every watch or part I ever sent back to China disappeared without a trace. Every one. My advice would be same as kernow's, have it repaired locally. ...or take the loss. Btw...two years running on the average replica with a China movement is not too bad. Swiss movement service life depends on age, condition, and treatment. If we knew what movement it had, the answer might be more specific.

In Italy the "culture of exteriority" is pushed a lot: here is not unusual to see people making debts to get a BMW to appear "someone", and then have troubles to refuel it. And this is generally inversely proportional with culture and establishment of them In this context what I've seen is that: 1) very very few people know something about watches (I mean like mechanics or history of them) 2) they massively go for poor-content-trendy-brands like Breil, Morellato, Kalvin Klein, Armani, Nautica etc 3) 99.9% know that Rolex is luxury but think that Omega/Tag are just medium level watches, probably too expensive when you can get a Fossil that does the same task for much less 4) they don't know a f__k about brands like Chopard, Breguet, Graham, Vacheron & C, Tudor etc etc, and if they know something about Panerai, is just because of Laura Panerai (google it... But far from your children and wife...) The result is that here it's PLENTY of people wearing Submariner, majority bad fake ones (last time I took the flight from Naples -considered the Italian capital of counterfeired good- to Milan I've noticed that around 70% of the males on that flight were sporting a Sub or a GMT, many even the limited edition LV... Com'on... ). And this is the reason I had worries to get a SUB my self from here: I'd not have liked to be associated to those people (then I have decided that I don't give a [censored] and got a hulk one) The low to middle class here goes for quartz too, like Sector, Phillip watch etc. Very few amators here. The upper side of middle levels starts to sport good pieces: gen Sub if they aren't interested into the watches but just want to have something expensive to show around, or Breitling, Hamilton... Very very few Tags around here and even less Panerai (I've seen only one in the last 8 months). High classes: I'm not dealing with them as they are on a kind of other planet respect to me :/

I Got something about rolex wearing people and yes im one of Them and i Can relate to this Reason why i know its true haha A man was in a horrible crash with his Porsche. When the ambulance arrived, they found him severely injured, whimpering "my Porsche... my Porsche..." The emergency crew then had the difficult task to inform him that his left arm was totally ripped off. To this, he replied in agony: "Oh no! My Rolex! My Rolex!"

"Swiss" was transitional dial from Tritium to Luminova these were 98/99 til 2000 some came 2001 from ad after that dials were "Swiss Made".

Reshaped MBW case, gen dial, gen plexi, gen crown, gen insert, gen bracelet my all time favorite rolex is the 5513

If you only want to send a watch back for repair then find someone local. After having the watch for 2 years any trusted dealer (including Josh) won't be of any great help. The TD's are middle men who trade watches, they are not repair shops! Where are you located and maybe someone can suggest a watchsmith to you.

Hey By-Tor ... Been a while since I've been around myself... A lot longer. Here is gen from 2008, my beater Invicta 2306. I see Nanuq likes your Ebel... Glad he hasn't slowed down enough to get eaten by a wolf or bear yet. Rob

That is my build. Here is the thread to the build post http://www.rwgforum.net/index.php?/topic/175207-1966-5513-Build I would be happy to discuss with you. Pm me and I will try and help. Sent from my droptop using telepathy.

Thanks boys. I did find the gen tube installation to be a bit tricky. But for those that have ever installed a gen 702 tube, you might know what I mean. M4 taps are actually slightly narrower than 4.0mm: But the tube threads are exactly 4.0 mm: I've tried several different M4 taps and each are the same. Next time, I might try a M4.2 x 0.35 tap. At any rate, I eventually got the tube to seat perfectly despite the roadbump:

You've nailed it mate, especially with Voldermorts dial

6152

Happy Birthday to me!!!! Yep, its a gen!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I say [censored] e-everything when it comes to horology Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If I was starting out with nothing and didnt want to actually build something, that'd be the route I went. As I stated, I already have all gen dial, hands, crystal, insert, crown, and tube. I guess I need to determine if I'm going to call this a 16800 or a 16610. Sounds like I could really go either way, but the 16800 would be more difficult.

The issue with that, is there is no idea how old the watch actually is when it arrives. As with everything, people tend to think of something having a 'birthdate' of when they acquire it, when the truth is a product could have been sitting on a shelf for quite some time first. With watches in particular, this is the issue. When cars are sold on, there is paperwork, a checkable mileage etc, which tells precisely how old the car is, and how much it has been driven, making it easier to predict and schedule servicing for it. Someone could buy a watch 'brand new' from any dealer today and receive it say saturday, but that doesn't mean the watch came off the factory floor yesterday, it could've been a week, a month, a year ago, and that is why waiting the 'initial' 5 years, might mean the watch failing before that 5 year prediction [Edit to add] Personally, I am not in the habit of paying the cost of another watch, having a watch I have just received serviced, but, I can appreciate the wisdom behind doing so