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Hello everyone! Meant to post this a little while back when I joined, but just now getting around to a proper introductions. I have a rabid love of vintage Rolex timepieces, especially Daytonas (more on that in a minute). IMVHO, there is no finer place for Daytona lovers than RWG; so many here with such a high level of expertise and so many with some of the loveliest 6263/65, 6239/41, etc. builds I've ever seen no question. My rep/franken collection is small, although my collection of parts (mainly gen) grows daily lol. So, a little story of how I came to be so enamored with Daytonas in the first place and what has set me on my path to build a near-completely gen 6263: My father was a car guy. A huge car guy. Collected and built and tinkered with Mustangs his whole life. I grew up hunting through junkyards with him and watching him take old frames and re-build some of these cars piece by piece. It's where I learned that the hunt and the build is greater than the end product sometimes (most times lol). And he loved racing-specific sports chronographs. And I mean he LOVED them. We grew up dead-center middle class in Wyoming, Pennsylvania and frankly, a second hand watch purchase was his only option. He eventually bought himself a used Heuer Carrera second hand from our neighbor who owned the jewelry shop in town. At the time (this was 1975 or 76 if I remember), buying a used watch wasn't necessarily something you'd be proud of or "show off" per se, but it wasn't necessarily looked down upon either and besides my father didn't care, he had himself a real deal racing chrono, and one that "real drivers" wore too as he would say. Now, his "baby" was a black and British racing green 1971 Plymouth Barracuda that he had bought brand new. I swear he loved that thing more than me and my mom hahaha! Anyways on my 10th birthday (in 1981) he took me out for a spin in it. On the way home I asked him why he rarely, if ever, drove it. He had spent years saving up for it he told me, drove it pretty hard for that first year, then just put it away when my mom got pregnant with me. He told me that he was actually saving it to sell it. He said, "I'm going to sell it and put you in college and buy myself a new watch. A Rolex." When my father passed away in 1989 the Barracuda was long gone and it had most certainly helped get me into college. He never did buy himself that Rolex though. He took his Heuer with him to the next life, and after college I saved and saved and saved and eventually bought myself the exact same Carrera (which regretfully just sits in a safety deposit box most of the time; I would be devastated if something happened to it). And with little ones of my own now, buying that 6263 (that I KNOW my father would have wanted) for $25-30K is not really an option. So, I'm doing what my father may have done nowadays and build the damn thing myself. Piece by piece. I have a lovely DW-cased 7750 iteration of a 6241 (pictured), and just recently purchased a 6263 mid-case from Jensen over at vintagewatchmaker .com (en route to me now) to start my V72 build in earnest. My hope is that this mid-case ends up being the only non-gen component other than the V72. I hope to glean amazing insight and criticisms from the wonderful RWG vintage Daytona community (I've already learned SO MUCH already in the 18 or so months of lurking I've done) and I hope to share the entire journey and build with everyone here from beginning to end. Apologies for the novella, and thank you RWG for having me…

Here is the story. I wanted to get my wife a watch for our anniversary this summer. Over the years, I have bought her a couple Gucci’s, a few Movado’s, and a Cartier. All gens. She does not wear any of them. In fact hardly ever wears a watch unless we are going out for something formal. So I took her to the AD and was planning on buying her a new Rolex. I thought she would like the floral dial 31mm with diamonds. She hated it…actually she really did not like the modern Rolex’s much. So the next weekend we looked at hundreds of pictures on line and it was interesting. She likes watches from the 50’s and 60’s. She does not care for date windows or cyclops and prefers domed plexi’s and Oyster bracelets. Really quite funny as that is also what I prefer…so it narrows down what models to pick from. She liked the 34mm size so we looked at a bunch of 5500’s and 1002’s. She did not care for the Air King text on the dial so in the end—out of all the watches she looked at, she likes a 1002 all SS with silver dial, dome plexi and oyster band. After I figured out what she wanted, I dropped it so I could surprise her. I started looking at gens and found plenty for very reasonable prices. Around this time Matt had sent me pictures of a beautiful 1500 franken with black dial. So I told Matt the story about getting a watch for Trish and what she wanted and a couple days later he sends me a picture of a perfect genuine late 60’s 1002 silver dial. Then Matt sends me a picture of a complete 1002 that is exactly like the watch my wife picked out in our search. Matt has done many builds for me, but as many of you know doing a build for your wife is a whole another level and quite honestly it seemed more important than my builds…well except maybe my 6538. Cannot thank Matt enough, he is a first class gentleman and one of my favorite people on the planet. Thank you my friend. Specs: Gen case set (mid case, back, bezel, crown, tube) Gen dial Gen hands Gen crystal Italian made Oyster bracelet and Matt’s buckle. Was going to get a gen bracelet, but Matt recommended this one and it is really nice. ETA 2824 Was going to surprise her with this before we go on vacation in the middle of May, but I could not wait and gave it to her a couple of days ago. She absolutely loves it and is wearing it daily now. A couple of pics from my phone.

When they get this home and figure out they spent almost 18 grand on a nice rep. Sad. http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=171766584106 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How many forum posters does it take to change a light bulb?* 1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed 14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently 7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs 6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" Another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid 2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp" 15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct 19 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a light bulb forum 11 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this forum 36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty 5 People to post pics of their own light bulbs 15 People to post "I can't see and their own light bulbs 7 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs 4 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's 13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too" 5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy 4 to say "Didn't we go through this already a short time ago?" 13 to say "Do a search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs" 1 to bring politics into the discussion by adding that Julia or Tony aren't the brightest bulb. 4 more to get into personal attacks over their political views. 1 moderator to lock the light bulb thread. 1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again.

Cut The chase and sell it to me when Your Done with it Haha just kidding Lovely build Will watch this closely

Oh yes THIS Will get you this Trust me I know haha

A response from a TD might take ages, as they are very busy and usually only respond to new orders/future orders. I'd see if it fits any clasp/bezel (gen-like) and try to source parts on various forums; or even check eBay or another website. Might get very luck and find a member from RWG with spare parts. Good luck!

Michael Young = MY = CWP = CWR = Classic Watch Parts = Classic Watch Repair

loving that picture with your old sneakers Freddy!! Super shot gmt for me, freshly brushed pcl's!

Macros. Case reshaped, beveled, rebrushed, polished, aged.. etc.. Before: After:

Mainly Pam's my frend. This is a new one and just fitted today with a new Orloff creation, I really love this watch! AJ

Perhaps for halloween

That is beautiful and I think my wife would wear that. I'm realizing more and more that I need to contact him sooner than later! [emoji2] [emoji106]

Droptop, lovely gesture and a great pick by your wife. I think these vintage oysters look great on a ladies wrist. I still try convincing my girlfriend, and would buy her something similar, but she's just not intrested! Great job my Matt too! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looking good! Matt seems to be a go-to-guy, might have to beg for his help with a 6564 that I bought for the movement but happened to "borrow" to my wife while waiting for other 6538 parts...

Another Rollie.

watch YouTube videos of how to spot a fake... they are hilarious cause all they talk about is the most OBVIOUS tells that any rep from a TD covers

come on guys, let's throttle this back a bit OK? I believe the OP has a legitimate request, however I believe it was phrased poorly. A list of obvious problems would probably save some of the noobs here who hate to read and do research a lot of time, however as Stephane mentioned, a list would be nigh on impossible to make and keep updated as the rep manufacturers come out with new models, and sometimes even correct small mistakes within a model series. When you have several rep factories as well as guys like TC and BK selling watches, the variety is dizzying. If you don't agree, just go over to one of the bigger trusted dealers like puretime and look at the variety of 116610 watches they offer. A lot are identical, with only movement differences, but there are others that have differences. I'm all for having a source of accurate information about a particular model, and I'm sure most everyone who mods watches wants to know what needs to be done to their watch to make it closer to the real thing. One big problem with all of the "helpful threads here and on other forums, is that not only rep folks read these threads, there are quite a lot of genuine watch forum folks visiting here, and all we are doing is feeding them information. I have no problem with that if it's being used to keep reps off sites like Ebay that are being pawned off as genuine watches, but suppose US Customs, which I 'm sure visits this and every other rep site, be it watches, clothing handbags, shoes, etc., uses all of our good information to compile their own list to help them seize watches coming through customs. Just food for thought.

I'm curious to know why such a new watch is with out a movement

Are you f****** kidding me? Come on dude...

Not a 205/A (Need to take better pictures of mine), but definitely old school 202/A... Wolf case, DLC'd Fatty CG, swirled pin T48 crown My dial, very dull lume, resin filled, with the resin dyed unevenly to get the aged colour rather than dye the lume, then lacquered. C3 crystal FGD hands Jakob caseback Swiss lowbeat 6497 Dirk strap unstitched with Rolexfinder buckle (remember those?) restitched in.

The answer is ......... The dials are "made" by a combination of providers all of which are either in Switzerland or on the bordering areas. Every one of these providers works for existing high end Swiss watch brands today. Their location is kind of irrelevant , unless you think that every single part of every Swiss Made watch brand is made in Switzerland ? One is responsible for the creation of the dials , including 3D cad / vector artwork tuning , manufacturing and finishing. One is responsible for development of the custom luminous pigment and application to dials and hands. One is responsible for the final printing of the dial text. This way , not one single maker is responsible or fully aware of the others existence or role and only one party actually has to produce the Panerai lettering. Only the Pre-V hands are Chinese made , my old Helenarou ones from my early Pre-v projects. These are however lumed in Switzerland. I'm not sure if you have been to Switzerland recently ....but it's not cheap , a large Starbucks Latte now costs about $15 equivalent so these dials are fantastic value Buy if you want ....don't if you don't Cheers FGD

How many (mythical) blonde female forum members does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Just one... she holds the bulb and the world revolves around her.

Perfect!!! But you left out a key component.... the debate whether vintage bulbs are better than contemporary.

My uncle does, she looks real good!

Mapman: early 703s look like 702s. Easiest way to tell the difference is to place the crown coronet-side down. On the 702, the threads run all the way to the top. http://www.chrono-shop.net/img/p/953-5005-thickbox.jpg On the 703, they don't. http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/4/9/0/1/4/9/webimg/572089904_o.jpg Looking at the tubes, when installed the 7020 has threads near the case, but is then smooth: http://www.chrono-shop.net/img/p/3042-22122-thickbox.jpg For the 7030, the tube has a smooth spot near the case to fit a gasket, and then is threaded: http://www.jewelerssupplies.com/media/R7030.jpg

Tom The early ( 5512/13/1680/1665 etc) subs started with 702's from the factory. Later on when serviced in the 80's and forward.... they were replaced with 703's. I don't know exactly when, but at some point they built the last subs with 703's from the factory. Either crown is "accurate". I like the 702's better because they are thinner, and with some cases look a lot better. My 5512 with 702 Same watch but service insert.