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I've made some progress on this build so I thought I'd update the thread. As nice as the Vietnam dial is for this watch, its typographic style resembles the later 1960s text in the 7928, which is subtly different from the earlier Submariners. The only thing to do is print your own dial, so that's what I did. The text on this one is lifted straight from a front-on pic of a gen dial. It's interesting to note that there's some variation in the text and especially the exact position of the two text blocks in different examples of the 7922 and 7924. After a while of looking at gens I realized that the text on the Tudor subs isn't negative relief gilt, it's printed-on gold ink. Similar to how some Rolex gilt dials have the depth or chronometer information printed on later, Tudor seems to have done this with all of the text, probably a cost saving measure. For my dial, I let the brass surface show through on the chapter ring and swiss text, and covered the middle area with a thin layer of gold paint. The result is pretty interesting; in some light the Tudor rose and calligraphic logo jumps out in bright gold, and at other angles the inner text disappears almost completely and the chapter ring shimmers instead. I'm really happy with that result. The lume on the other hand.. I need to get better. I also replaced the hands with the closest things I could find to the 50s flat style hands. Still not perfect but much improved. I've saved many pics of gen 50s Tudor subs and about 75% of them are found with a later service bezel insert with serifs and hash marks, so I went with the awesome, recent fat font insert produced by slay. I'm pausing to enjoy it for a while now, but still in the works for this watch: -Fleurier 390 movement -dial gold electroplated rather than brass relief, with better lume work -case engravings to make this a crossout 6538 case with the correct range serial number -gen Tudor hands, although this one is more like wishful thinking Any other ideas? Thanks for looking, and thanks to several people in particular who have really helped me with this project: @Bart Cordell @Alan72 @hologramet @JSebWC @slay

Breitling Bullhead for today

Family wristies and all Rolex ... almost 16234 DJ (my better half), 16800 Comex (my elder son), speed moonwatch (my younger son) and my A/6538 4 watches, 4 "unique" builds, 1 builder of course 😋

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I’ve had very good experience with Ruby. Good quality, good prices, and good service/shipping time. If Ruby had Tudor products I would have gone that route. Im currently working through a transaction with Phong and I’ll say he’s been very accommodating. First, he charged me $60 for Fedex shipping. Package arrived via flat rate USPS. I asked for a refund for the difference and he sent it within an hour. Second, the blue Tudor 9411/0 snowflake dial is beautiful. Tested it on my 2784 - DW misaligned. I told him about it, he apologized and he’s sending me a black dial (free) to install in my build until he gets new blue ones with the correct DW alignment at the end of January. All this and his dials and inserts were actually cheaper and shipped faster than MQ. If I hadn’t all ready sent money to MQ I would have just paid the extra for a case from Phong. I’m pleased with the service so far (finger crossed it keeps up). As for the Tudor craze - I think it’s there but maybe that’s cause I caught the bug. Admittedly I’m going the Tudor route because I can find genuine pieces (particularly movements) at fair prices. If Rolex movements were cheaper I would try to build a Frankenstein one of those too.

I just noticed that people often post Tudor stuff here and not in the Rolex section.. doh! First off, it's a really nice looking build despite the issues you had. I like the kind of gunmetal coloring which is complimented perfectly by the eggshell lume. I think interest in Tudor subs is on the rise after that cool Talking Watches episode with the Navy SEAL talking about his issued Tudors. I wasn't aware that HR can do dials like this; that makes this reference a pretty economical build, aside from the snafu with the MQ case. Speaking of which, I also had a pretty negative experience with MQ recently. I was looking for an MKIII insert with nice serifs and they were the only one I could find, so I payed the exhorbitant price and prayed. MQ originally insisted they didn't receive my money transfer for several days, to the point that I had to open an investigation with Western Union, at which time the funds magically appeared and he apologized for the error. It was kind of suspicious to say the least. Then the insert arrived and it was faded far beyond what was shown in the QC pic I was sent, to a light blue color that doesn't match my watch at all. I decided it wasn't worth the effort to return it and I'm just going to try to darken it myself. I am definitely through dealing with this guy, especially now that slay is producing his inserts, which are comparable quality and far less expensive. I always assumed MQ was the highest quality since the prices he quoted me were so outrageous, like $700 for a dial, but I'm starting to doubt that now. It certainly feels that way. I think that they just find us to be a nuisance. Most of their business is probably done with tourists or people with more money than brains who just throw a few grand in their direction for a finished replica. The guys that do their own modding and go for low cost builds probably hassle them a lot about exact details and they've just decided it's not worth it to go above and beyond for us. I get that there's a cultural barrier but sometimes it's just miserable to do business with these people. That said, I've had decent experience with Phong and very good experience with Ruby, who would be my default first choice for parts in the future.

"I ended up buying one from MQ, which was a big disappointment. Quality was poor and badly finished." The watch looks very good to me. My 2 cents... I never bought anything directly from MQ or Phong but the impression I have gained from reading all the problems encountered with our various 'vendors' over the years is they think we are stupid. I can come up with no other explanation. Otoh my Phong 1655 case is first rate but it came to me from another member. I have had good experiences personally with two case vendors...Yukiwatch and DW. DW is now long gone afaik. In my experience you are much better off to learn the basics of case detailing and go with a lower cost case to begin with. It seems to me the engraving between the lugs is one of the hardest things to get done correctly if it is a priority. Case back stampings are either Ok or not from the start and they are hard to alter. Outside case back engravings (COMEX, Tudor etc) are very hard to duplicate and many efforts are sub standard even on high $$ cases. Something else I always consider after getting done with one of these projects is how good it looks and performs for the price. A $3k watch should be better all around than a $1k watch but sometimes it is not. It is the nature of the beast. My $500 JMB '1016' is turning out to be better than many watches that I have sunk a lot more than $500 in. I was not real happy with it at first (2824/2846 combo mvt) but I have been wearing it going on 3 weeks and it is doing fine...even if it has 8 lug holes. Ha! Looking back, my MBK '5512' and '5513' are two of the best projects for the $$ because the cases were relatively low $$ and I got the 1570 and 1520 movements at 'bargain' prices a few years before the rolex price explosion. The watches were finished for less than $1500 each including bracelets. I know the laser engraving is lousy but it is fully hidden. Also have a '1680' that I finished in April 2011 with a DW case, rlx 1570, and original Lemrich Mk I dial that came in under $1000 but I have never worn it. I'll leave it like it is because the DW case is as good as anything to preserve the movement and dial. I have an IG44 '1680' case if I decide to change cases later. The IG44 case is very good btw, it came from a member in new condition a few years ago. IG44 is long gone too, far as I know. "Maybe I’m also disappointed to have dropped some hard earned coin on MQ expecting it to be of better quality and I’d like to get word out about quality/price so we’re not overpaying. Vote with our wallets, right?" It is the only vote we have.

Will try to build both of those 2 Stellas [emoji7] so if I achieve those builds I could consider letting one go [emoji6] Envoyé de mon Moto G (5) Plus en utilisant Tapatalk

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This is a really good conversation to be had. I’ve been under the impression that quality went: Silix (low) HR Cartel Yuki MQ Ruby Jensen Phong (high) Basically, MQ was a way to get into VN quality without paying Phong/Jensen prices. But maybe that isn’t the case (ha, pun intended). Maybe I’m also disappointed to have dropped some hard earned coin on MQ expecting it to be of better quality and I’d like to get word out about quality/price so we’re not overpaying. Vote with our wallets, right?

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