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Well, first step has been preparing the case to better accept a gen 7030 Tube and 704 Crown. As the case come from MQ, it has an afterthought of a countersink for the tube. This causes any gen spec tube to sit proud of the case - which also causes the crown to float away from the case. I measured the two steps in the tube, 3.9mm and 4.9mm. Unfortunately I could not find those exact end mill, 4-blade, flat, carbide cutting bits so I ended up with a 4mm and 5mm. Thankfully it was close enough and the tube fit snugly into the end countersink. As you can see, I continued to bore in with the 4mm and stepped up to 5mm for the upper portion. It was a process of cut, measure, cut, measure, test the tube, repeat. I was using a precision milking machine but I think a drill press would work fine as well. Crown sits tight and flush. Next endeavor will be the lugs - reshaping a bit.

And so it starts, my headlong dive into a trio of gen-stein-franken-Tudors. It started with a 17j Tudor ETA 2784. Picked it up off VRF for a reasonable price. Or so I thought until I discovered not only did it need a full service cleaning but replacement automatic works Bridge, keywords needed to be rebuilt, and a new balance required (still waiting on the balance). Regardless this inspired the first project, a blue 9411/0. - MQ Case w/ lugs reshaped, CG’s reshaped, tube retapped, chamfers recut, and repolished. - WSO Tension Spring (en route) - Clark’s 7030 Tube (en route) - Gen 704 Crown (I know 702 is correct but I came into this one for free) - TC Hand Set (aged in organic Pacific saltwater, reluming forthcoming) - Phong Insert (aging forthcoming) - Phong Dial (reluming forthcoming) - Erika’s Original MN Strap The pleasure of working on genuine movements and gen spec VN cases inspired me to continue the trajectory into these gen-stein-franken-Tudors. I’m partial to them for their cost - Rolex movements are out of control. Tudor movements are still reasonable, parts are readily available, and easy to work on. Ive decided to continue working my way back in time. The next two movements that arrived today are an ETA 2462 and an ETA 2461. Both picked up for a bargain on WUS and sold as “great running condition”. Hardly the case... The 2462 was missing a barrel bridge screw and someone installed the wrong screw in the minute c o ck. I was able to harverst those from the 2461 and it was off and running nicely. It even came with an interesting Tudor crown. The 2461 is now missing the two above mentioned screws plus the winding pinion, and stem. Hopefully a few parts and it’ll be up and running. And now begins the hunt for 7021 and 7016 case/dial/etc. I think I’m going to go for a 7928 dial on the 7016 and a black snowflake on the 7021. Guess what this is all leading me towards? Hunting for a Tudor 390 movement to eventually build a 7922 big crown. Oh the rabbit hole....

Wow really nice builds they are great! the hands and dials are amazing! Hi here are the pics I have of the case. Any ideas who made it? I am very excited about the build. I have had a lot of good feedback. I am going to buy a Phong dial unless someone else has a better idea? I still need hands and someone I can pay to age them a little possibly and do the build. I will obvious pay for this service. Want to make sure I get the right people on board. Thank you so much for all the help! Great advice thank you!

Lovely butterfly rotor! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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She's a Pepsi now... With radial dial and all red GMT hand. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

You should of contacted me, I would of helped you out.

Love a Tudor project, I'm following too although my watch smith skills are none existent atm I'm always up for extra knowledge

of course. But you need to understand that because rep movements are often badly assembled, the shipping process often causes parts to come loose, get jammed in the gears and seize up the movement completely. So yes, sending the watch back to China to get it fixed is your entitlement. But you face the risk of the incoming China custom, and then the same transit risk again when it comes back to you.

Jack gives some excellent advice. Regarding the build, it could be as simple as assembling it, or it could be more involved. Do you need the case reshaped? Do your crown and tube look right and actually function correctly? Do you have the right gaskets, and a proper watertight seal around the crystal? Does your movement fit the case perfectly as is? Do you want your dial and hands relumed? Do you want it aged to look 50 years old (and what amount of aging)? I would try to answer these yourself before you get someone else involved. There's an art to building these so that they look like an authentic watch instead of a bunch of brand new parts thrown together. Many people can accomplish the latter but only a few the former. And it really comes down to luck whether your parts all fit together well or if you need a lot of craftsmanship to get them to. I could help you out but there are a lot better builders here that I would defer to and I'm sure they will contact you. It does look like a great start though, you already have some of the hard pieces figured out.

All broken movements can be fixed. In this hobby you must learn to be patient. I will suggest you send it to a modder to have it converted to low beat and also serviced, to make it more accurate and reliable.

Welcome to your journey down the rabbit hole! Really need to see more shots of your case, but front-on it looks good. That insert looks very good. Generally they are one of the weak points of 5517 build so you're off to a good start. Next the dial, you could try Phong: http://www.jewelryandwatch.com/contents/en-us/d216_5517_Subamriner_dials.html He has Sword hands too for a gen movement. Although the tail of the second hand is too long and will need trimming: http://www.jewelryandwatch.com/contents/en-us/d222_Submariner_1680,_5512,_5517,_6538.html Good luck! Lots of info on the forum to help you on your journey! Here’s my not so high-end build with an ETA 2846 movement.

@blackboxes i was trying to remember where that went! I am glad to see that the gen jubilee is still on there

Hehe credit largely goes to @DVNE for building her really! From my memory i believe it's a VN spec dial and case, largely reshaped and chamfered. Hands are sanded to brass, aged. To add to it, I changed the insert to @slay's Kissing 40 and there we have it!

Bought these from DW... I’d say 12 years ago.. 7750 variants Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Quite a while back I made a 16660 out of a SSD-V2. Matte dial from Yuki, relumed dial and hands by PBdad, lugholes drilled by jmb, Swiss eta with a silver DW with open 6/9s (from a Paul's old DRSD). I got a 93160 from TC 4-5 years ago. But remember one thing- an SSD and a BP SD are NOT gen construction, so don't kid yourself about that fact.

Vintage

I'd do it as a project for myself but wouldn't make 10 of these... I was thinking about it as it can be quite accurate and relatively low cost. I'll work on my 6263 project first (sample stage for the bezel and dial). And will read/search more for this project during the 6263 project.

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