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Wore my Bond Sub today

Little more work on her this morning. Refinished the bracelet, changed the clasp and fitted the end links better until I send it away. I found a matching set of tritium hands [emoji106]. Anyone have a good pearl they want to sell...

I was aware of 'swiss fakes' of American pocket watches back in the 1960s because there were still a lot of them around back then and started seeing fake wristwatches for sale in the late 1960s/early 1970s when fake Bulovas started showing up with the name 'Bolivia' on the dials. They came in signed boxes with a 'warranty' card and had one jewel pin lever movements. The peddlers asked around $25 but if you offered $12 or $15 you would usually end up with one. From talking to guys at NAWCC watch shows it seems that fake wristwatches have been around about as long as the wristwatch itself. The oldest fake I have is a 'Seiko' in a 1970s style case with a 1 jewel pin lever movement. I have owned it probably 25 years and it still runs. The first fake rolex watches I saw were in the early 1980s...quartz DD in a plated case was about $12 and a submariner was $15. An Eta 2846 in a steel case was $75. Call a pager in NYC, tell 'Andy' what you wanted and they showed up in about a week COD. Still have one or two from back then. The bezels were pressed down into the case and sealed with an O ring, the MG crystal was in a regular plastic gasket. Still have a few Exp II with DG type movements with 24 hour hands from the early 1990s and they also have the pressed in bezels. Recently looked at a few swisseta 2836 SD and Exp II from River 15+ years ago, both with lug holes...the SD is not too bad and the Exp II is very good except the wrong hand stack and both have solid mid links. Still have a few 36mm swisseta 'AK' from 'Paul' back then and planned to make Exp I out of them but never did...the Exp I, Exp II, 1680, and 5514 COMEX dials were $10 each from Paul. Don't know why I kept this stuff...put them in a 'fake museum' maybe? The movements will probably be worth more than I paid for the watches...all new goldtone swissetas, not 'put togethers' like today.

There is a seller on Ebay from Vietnam that will make you any strap at a good price from exotic skins if you want.. Guys I lost the link , anyone...............................

Interesting points both of you make. But I am ok with it not being perfect. I accept that these are reps and the factories probably make a lot less $$ off the vintage as opposed to the modern watches so the updates are not as frequent or accurate. That's why I am interested in doing a fairly basic build just to get the best bang for the buck and not go crazy with case modification or gen parts. However, I may just stick with the watch I have above if it won't even get me close to perfect and I think the crown and crown guards are pretty cool on this one. The case is definitely too thick though. The bezel is what bothers me the most. Its much taller and has deeper cutouts then the gen.

^^^^ 10000% - I put one on about 2 months ago at an independent dealer, and fell in love. I'm currently saving to buy the genuine article.

Umm, the thickness of these cases will never get you remotely close to that of a 1675. Akira once told me, "doesn't matter how much you MOD a cartel, you can't quite get the look." I just saved some cash and purchased a gen a while back from HQmilton for those very reasons. After having it n my hands it all made sense. The 1675 is very slim and there is only so much you can trim from a cartel before ruining the entire case. Best of luck. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Vintage&Modern

Case closed, buyer got an ETA which IMHO looks better than what he contracted for. PS thanks guys as many know I am not a movement guy not to say I could not research and figure out on this one but better to use knowledge of guys who know just by looking.

@droptopman. That's a gorgeous piece. Primo sir! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Still wearing the 1680 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If anyone can match hands it's Mike. Great watch my friend, love it to death. I will never get rid of mine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks man. I want real tritium. I would guess it can be found, but I do not know of anyone that has it. At some point I will send it off for a movement service anyways so I will find some gen hands that match and have it done then.

Hi Guys. So picked her up this morning. At the office so do not have a lot of time to mess with it, but just a quick dremel job with poly watch on the plexi and a little detail job and looks much better. Pretty happy with it. Bracelet is really worn out. Needs a new clasp for sure, it is paper thin. Not sure if MY can fix up the rest of it, I will reach out to him. Case is OK, dial is great, hands are so so, probably going to replace them. Lugs a little uneven, but decent. Probably just go with a light brush and polish, a new pearl for the insert (or use my other MKIII), a super dome and a service. Although she is keeping good time.

Lemmy (RIP)

Roger that, my 1665 is forty years old and the lume is bone white.

these movements only came with three 2893 watches. They are oldskool Eddie Lee/Hopno/Neil versions of 027/8 063 and maybe the odd 029 If you're building a 63 you might want to see if DSN has some. The version in this post has the infamous spelling mistake

Bilgewater