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Defo the professional 300m, I have a gen and love it Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

A trio of classics 1. Ulysses Nardin (Gold) from 1920 2. Omega Labrador from 1896 3. IWC from 1904

Your best 5513 will be built by a member of yourself. Case wise, I find Phong or his son Jensen makes the best case. You can go aftermarket crystal. Dials also phong. In fact you can have phong build you a full 5513. I went with Mike here, (Misiekped). I got the parts and he put it together. Got a Rolex dial from star time that was aged in its own wax bag the patina is out of this world, and Mike had the Rolex hands the right patina. (If you need anything Rolex Misiekped is your man) He serviced the 1520 and I got the case from Phong. I just got the outer case. I found a case back on Ebay for a lot but it adds to its character. I got a bracelet from Ebay with a VD band. I found a bezel and crystal ring on TRF. I got a new crystal on TRF. The insert came with the real bezel. Mike dyed the peal to match. The final watch is breath taking. It is in every way a Rolex minus the case. LOL. If only a real case would come up. I see ones on EBAY and while I have brought 3 cases on Ebay all ended up being real, these are so hard to tell. The metal Rolex used back then was not 904. And there are so many good copies out there. I guess my point is to do it yourself. Sourcing if the funnest part. Then to actually build it is fun and a skill I am happy to have learned. Keep us up to date with which way you went. But if you need a turn key one, Phong makes an ETA version and a Real Rolex movement version. Rob

Are you able to replace the movement yourself or will you need to get the work done? A straight like for like swap is the simplest way forward. Fitting a different movement, while possible, isn't so easy. http://www.allwatchparts.com/-Chinese-Automatic-DG2813-Mechanical-Movement_p_925.html alternatively Otto Frei should be able to supply one.

Received yesterday and I must confess I'm completely in love with RJ's work. Everything is perfect and the watch smell perfection. Dial can be improved by a real gilt but it is definitely the best I can expect from the pieces I've chosen.

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There are no silly questions, but sometimes it helps to learn about a watch before you buy. Type "Panerai daylight" into Google and you will find all about the genuine, which is always a good place to start, then select a reference number or two of models you particularly like and check the TDs websites to see what they sell. Having started looking at the genuine, you will be in a great position to assess how accurate they look. Also once you have a reference number you can search the fora to see what others think of the rep. I could just say buy model X from dealer Y, but honestly you will enjoy the hobby more if you learn and understand things for yourself. Oh and when you get your lovely new watch, post a wristie ?

Pam's are the best bag for the buck when it comes to copies period. They are so good that even collectors can't tell some of them apart. It is amazing.

The 16800 I've been thinking about this for quite a while yet and thought I would do a little tutorial on 16800 builds as the one I did on the Bluesy builds. Since there are NO reps of that model, you HAVE to build it to have it. So first things first.. The 16800 Basically it is the model between the 1680 and the 16610 (168000 actually but are we counting this??) It is a pretty unpopular Rolex in collectors eyes so far but I am totally positive that will change drastically over time with the rarity of the Pallettoni dials and the special spider dials that are popping up in those pieces, there most likely is a great potential in those pieces. Improvements compared to the 1680: - Saphire Crystal -> no more acrylic - Rolex Cal 3035 -> no more 1570/5 (-> added QuickSet function and now high beat) - Unidirectional rotating bezel - Waterproof to a depth of 300m -> 200m on the 1680 - New crown - 703 (trip lock) -> 700 on the 1680 - 93150 Bracelet with 593 end links -> 7206 or 9315 on the 1680 with 580 end links Now let's get to the building. Of course you will want a decent case as a base for your build. I also have to say this is probably one of the hardest tasks in repdom. Find a correct case... There are not many to choose... Only ones I know about that are usable are: - 3035 ST case (old and super rare) - Phong 16800 case ($$$) Sure you could use a TC case too but that wouldn't have a shallow rehaut and just be incorrect, also you will have to drill lug holes. It's up to you to decide if you can live with that flaw or not. Imho it's not too much of a biggie but I would still hunt for a correct case. Once you have a case, move on with the sourcing of a crystal, crown and tube. I personally would go gen on all of those. - nonAR 295c sapphire crystal - 703 crown and tube After that, I would go with the decision of the bezel assembly and the bezel ring. Your choices are: - Genuine - Phong - ST - TC (if you go TC case) Bezel insert HAS to be gen imho so there goes that. Now we have almost everything except for movement, bracelet, hands and dial eh? Yeah exactly. Now it is yours to choose if you want to go matte dial (Pallettoni) or gloss dial (with WG surrounds) Special dials would be the Spider dials (also $$$ if proper one) Spider dial: The matte dials are pretty expensive to buy if you can even find them in an acceptable condition. They are really hard to come by. The gloss ones although are out there like sand on the beach, you can find them literally everywhere and also score pretty good deals on them To be periodic correct there are several Marks for the dials.. Matte dials: Mk1: Mk2: Rare dial, can usually be found on watches with serial numbers from 6.1 to 8.5 mil ('84-'85) The hyphen in the wording 'Swiss - T<25' is perfectly centered with the '6 Marker whilst on the Mk1 it was placed more on the right. Also in the depth indication the tail of the letter 'f' almost touches the tip of the letter V in 'SUPERLATIVE'. Mk3: Even rarer dial than mk2 The two hyphens of the '=' in the depth indication are staggered - not aligned to each other Mk4: Now the Mk4 is a special dial since it is a dial that was around at the early serials. It is unique for the font of the 'ft' and the inclination. Gloss dials: Mk1: Mk2: I think the difference between gloss Mk1 and Mk2 are obvious, so I will not get into them now. Bicchierini Dial the Beyeler dials with WG surrounds that came out in '84 and lasted for a year or two. These dials would have the same printed font as the matte dials and were supposedly gloss dials but a lot of them have lost their gloss over time. This is a Beyeler dial- circa 84-85. (taken from alli, thanks, I forgot it) If you have found a dial you like, go and buy a hands set, you should use: - genuine - TC LN v2 and age them to match the Patina of your dial. When it comes to the movement, the question is all about your wallet. You can go: - genuine cal. 3035 - ETA Now last but not least, we're having the bracelet.. For that you can choose between those: - genuine 93150 - PT 93150 - anything else aftermarket However I would suggest at least getting a genuine clasp for it. Please also keep the dating of the clasp code in mind so that it mates up with the rest of your build specs. After you have sourced all of those parts, send them out to the watchmaker of your choice and have him build the 16800. Happy building! I hope this can be of use for you guys, I thought why not post it here too since I had it on RWI. There's another one of the 16613 Bluesy ready if it is wanted.

I've always found him to be fair and reliable to deal with, as for the watch I agree with Kernow's statement. I did have an early Omega 300 with a Miyota 9015 and there was some second hand stutter if you shook-wound the watch but many people are reporting no issue as well.

Generally all TD's get their reps from the same factories. Personally, I don't believe the 1:1, A+++ etc. Check the photos thoroughly and if you're happy then go for it. Make sure you check the QC photos you get as that is the only chance you'll get to correct any 'issues'.