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glad I can finally get back into rotation

With the influx of “super” Big Crown builds, I figured I might as well share mine after its arrival yesterday. Built by our resident BC Master - @dbane883, this watch was ironically the easiest for me to source parts wise out of every build I have ever done or been involved in. Thanks to @dbane883 for your friendship, guidance, and spectacular craftsmanship. Your skill and dedication is humbling. @cc33 for the input and the dial, and @droptopman for the competition I was fortunate enough to receive a “new” case from Phong which, IMHO, is the best 6538 case one can get. I think dbane would agree on that. Here’s the specs: Phong case/caseback/bezel The Dark Lord dial from cc33 - dbane - me CWP hands Gen crown/tube Gen faded long 5 insert Gen 1030 movement Gen pre 6636 bracelet w 80 enlinks Gen t17 crystal I’m not very good with the pics so here are a few. They do not do this watch justice. Dbane is going to flame me for my sh*tty photos but its the best I can do for now.

I think you will find that, as the market for pristine, all original pieces shrinks, you will see more and more of these all gen built examples being pieced together; worn, beat down and less than perfect parts such as dials, hands, etc. will be replaced with better condition specimens and the result will be the influx of good condition pieces emerging into the market that just weren't born that way from the start. These pieces have been finding their way into the big auction houses, and I am sure there will be more to come. The problem being that the minutiae of each watch/ref was not well catalogued from the manufacturer and therefore, it is hard to know if such and such ref with s/n xyz came with this 2 line red depth dial or not from the factory. There are general time spans and windows for known references to have certain dial types that can be narrowed down by serial range (e.g. Double Red SDs MK 1 - whatever), but nothing that provides definitive provenance that a watch was born with a specific dial/attribute(s). As for my personal thoughts on these 'voldemort' dials... They are pretty dang good. I know I love the one in my BC, quite a lot! Does it bother me that it's a redial? Not at all. But then again, it's in a personal build for my own enjoyment; not meant to fool any auction houses I do suppose that such dials really skate the fuzzy line and I can understand why the VRF folks are non too pleased about them; they're certainly not aftermarket/fake dials and cannot be categorized as such; taking into account the manner and process that they are refinished, the results are scary good; not even comparable to a typical redial job, that's for sure! These dials live in a grey area in my mind; unique and with their own intrinsic value and worth... Maybe almost like a myth of some sort...

Just arrived, my new 1680 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Wow is right, great pics and watches today guys!

After much looking I managed to acquire a gen camo strap for the Tudor Heritage Ranger. Really looks the business. I was about to send it off for AR until I realised the original doesn't have any. There really isn't much to give this watch away. Much better than the rather poor yellow leather bund that it comes with (apparently the gen bund is a bit of a stiff disappointment too).

Drooling atm you can't go wrong with these pieces, really nice selection you have and yes a 6538 would round them off nicely along with a Gmt of course.............

The big dog in my collection came out of the watch box today ...

wow! great collection of amazing watches.

Amazing selection of watches

I am familiar with these cigars. Very special. You can tell by the pics they are one off rolled. Two of my favorite things cigars and Rolex's [emoji50] Sent from my droptop using telepathy

I was using it as a slide for some Muddy Waters blues... those long lugs are great!

Fiat 500 hire car through Sardinia. Great fun for getting around this beautiful island