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Here's an old story from awhile back... repeated just for fun. This happened on one of those harbor tours out of Seward, Alaska. This is what reps are for! I was with my brother on one of those glacier cruises where the boat takes you right up to the face of a glacier and toots the horn so the thing calves off big chunks of ice and scares the hell out of the tourists. I was wearing a newer model Sea Dweller from Andrew, and we were all up on top of the boat, there were lots of tourists milling around in gore-tex and down parkas. I had already noticed a few times that the watch would leak and fog up, and I hate that. So I nudged me baby brudder and whispered "watch this". I held my arm up to ostentatiously check the time, and Rolex Stainless Steel glistened and glittered in the sun like God's Own Bling. I then sucked in my breath in alarm and said "IT STOPPED! Look, this thing stopped again!" and showed it to my brother. He clucked his tongue, shook his head, and said something about "as expensive as that thing was, you'd think it would work!" and I agreed loudly. A couple of heads turned toward us. So I shook my wrist a few times, and held it up to my ear. Shaking my head in disgust, I took it off and waved my hand around wildly to "wind it" and got lots more people glancing at me nervously. Then I unscrewed the crown and wound it up madly with exaggerated motions, elbows flying, and listened again. "It's STILL dead!!!" I said to him, and I could see him suppressing a laugh. More people looked, so I tapped it a couple times on the railing, and held it to my ear again. DING DING DINGGGG!! He was dying by now, trying not to laugh. When I tapped the railing the metal pipe sort of rang a little, and more people looked. I listened to the watch again and said "This bloody piece of @#!*$%" and hit it harder on the railing. He was biting his lip and people were starting to stare. I held it up to my ear again and said loudly "YOU MISERABLE LOUSY CHEAP ROLEX!!!" and I turned and bashed it really really hard on the railing 5 or 6 times, WHANG WHANG WHANG WHANG!!! and the pipe was ringing and people were stepping back. Everyone was staring, and I held it up to my ear for a moment, the pipe was still ringing, and I shouted "YOU LOUSY PIECE OF SWISS CRAP!!!!" and I drew my arm back, big pause for effect, and threw that watch as far as I could out into the ocean. It made a really nice high arc, glittering in the sun, and landed with a nice big splash. My brother was nearly wetting himself, tears were rolling down his cheeks, and I stormed down the steps to the lower deck as people parted and let me through, their mouths gaping in astonishment. It was glorious.

Here is a build based on a cartel 6263. The insert was removed and replaced by a Vietnam insert. The movement was CLEANLY converted to reposition the 6 o'clock hand. I could not resist finishing the top plate with a perlé... Even if no one will see that. Dial is from Viet nam WITH feet installed for the Venus 75. Revarnished to be more resistant and not get damaged on the edges, relumed and index finished with black enamel as it should. No glue here !!!! All clean and tidy inside out. I can't stand chewing gum finished watches.... Subsidiary hands are from DW as cartel hands are too large for my taste. Gen 700 crown, and cartel pushers modified to look like first generation pushers. Cherry on the cake: retailed by Hermès..... so we reach the half million !

Still working on my watchmaking skills. I thought before I kill expensive Yuki and Gen parts I try to mod some cheap Seikos from my drawer first. Did these two today. What do you think?

216A? 809H? Noob v7 116610/114060 Same midcase, same "wrong" 116610 engraving, the 116610 gives the option to go gen 3130 (or semi-Yuki) Bezel insert Noob v7, have it relumed with Superluminova C1 for a 809H, remove pearl, fill with Epoxy, then Volvo Passion Red laquer (there's a reason for my profile picture), then finish with Loctite Superglue as a varnish (yes, it sounds crazy) but it's basically the only varnish I've found (and I've tried a million times) that lets you get a really sturdy and hard surface, that will take basically any liquid possible, and also polishable. Hands? Gen Rolex 116613/9 and relume, or BP ETA 116613/9 and relume or TC LV v2, gold-plated and relume Crystal.. That's the tricky one... A real acrylic is most likely best and cheapest option. An alternative is a ProfSteve 2AR crystal (not correct shape though) That's about it. For 216A, a Noob v7 must be remachined.. I know a few options, but it ain't supercheap..

What a Noob v7 can look like after some work (ignore the tooling marks, not done with it yet). In case not 100% obvious, it'll be a 809H when done.

@Mike keep us posted on the finish durability! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I could never own a gold Rolex in all fairness but my god that is a beautiful time piece.

PAM616 CARBOTECH [emoji108] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Dial finally came in, and finished my build. What do you guys think? Prime # concept dial ! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The 6239 Albino is arguably one of the rarest Rolex watches that exist (I couldn't find pictures of more than 2 Gen examples). Not to be confused with the 6263 "Eric Clapton" Albino (which sports a ROC dial and a black plastic bezel), the 6239 has some magical elegance to it and I had to have one. Unfortunately all dials I have previously seen were a big no-no for me - the subdials were just too obviously flawed and disturbed the elegance and smooth sunburst pattern of the dial way too much in my opinion. This is the gen, for reference: A year or so ago, I decided to give it a shot at replicating this watch and had a dial + case custom made to my specifications. I was happy enough with the outcome, since it surpassed all other albino dials by a wide margin. The result is below. Please note that the smudge at the T SWISS T mark, which looks like damage to the dial, is actually a scratch on the crystal. The only thing I am still missing are Valjoux 72 hands with a black line through the center. They look very much like the Hands on the White-Faced Rolex 16520 (Zenith) Daytona. 16520 hands should almost fit, I may have to broach each hand by 0.1mm. This is mine:

Newest acquisition ! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some adjsutement to do. Pearl lume, lollipop hand, dial without scratch @4. But I can wear it now ! [emoji322] [emoji632]

My daily wear is now a rolex 16610 that I really enjoy. I used to wear a 1016 but found myself loving the timing bezel. Now could I honestly afford the watch? Yes, but my god I wouldn't want to. I have a brilliant watch that does 99% of what the real one does for about 6% of the price of the genuine version. I personally only really agree with the FWFFP argument with shitty fakes that some [censored] decides to overtly flash around to look like a big-shot. In all honestly nobody really cares what's on your wrist near as much as the blokes (and occasional lady) around here. I've had more comments on the pen I write with each day than I have my watch.

I can afford a gen. But I can't justify myself buying it when there are copies greatly crafted at a fraction of the cost. On top of that, the idea of scratching it or anything worse would affect my quality of life. sent, me thinks

than again, an [censored] is an [censored] is an [censored]. And the watch you wear or how you lie about it or not don't make a bit of difference in that. I have gen vintage rolexes, frankens, complete fakes. Gen pams, fake pams, etc etc. cheap gens. expensive fakes and vice versa, etc; heuers, swatches, g-shocks, tudors, omegas, and I am aways the same dude regardless of what I wear. If you have issues about what you are wearing, then save your money and buy something to impress everyone with. Anyone can get a credit for 6K to buy a [censored] gen submariner, if that is what you need to feel good about yourself. also, don't believe the hype. All of these "luxury" brands are selling a fantasy. Hublots are not worth 10k. APs and Patek with their fragile movements and super expensive services are just status symbols. Why should a rolex daytona cost 12k and a tudor chrono 4k? 30k pams with 6497s in them? Vintage daytona fo 50k with valjoux 72s in them? All marketing and story telling. The owners of these brands are laughing their asses off when they have budget and pricing meetings. Let the sheiks buy their [censored]. Buy what you can afford and be happy with it.

I must confess the most satisfaction I've had recently (which is a bit sad) was walking in to my Rolex dealer in Toulouse wearing the noob V6s DSSD D-Blue. As I switched it on to my other wrist, to put my gen Sub they'd been servicing back on, they couldn't take their eyes off it. So there I was, apparently with 22 grands worth (euros) of Rolex product hanging off me. The boss walked me to the door and politely opened it for me with a cheery smile, ignoring the other customers who clearly wanted to buy something. I got a strange buzz out of that - which was nice!