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Sorry JSebWC ... I've been hacking up hairballs since DP had my Dobermans in the champagne fountain. That's not pleasant at all. I can finally say that this one is complete. Sorry for leaving this topic hanging! I had to make some tough decisions and each one was no going back. Do I use an A260 movement? Are parts available? Do I intend to USE this watch, or sit it on a shelf? I never wear my 6536 anymore because the autowind train is about shot, and there's no more parts out there. I want to wear this one instead for the Small Crown itch, so that meant an ETA movement. So we machined the case to make it fit. No going back. Do I want it to look pristine? Sharp chamfers and untouched dial? Well the case is not bright 904 stainless, it's another alloy and darker than most. So it looks well loved and well worn with engrained old grime. That means every other part needs to give the same aged impression. My 6536 has never flooded but the dial is OLD and chipped and gnarly looking. How that happens is probably UV ageing and tritium. I had my choice of the Tonny perfect glossy gilt dial, or the original ancient chipped dished dial. I went with the old chipped dial because it looks right in the case. Then the hands. They are nearly perfect in dimension, but way WAY too shiny and gold and perfect. So they took a lot of ageing. I wish we'd done a little more to ease over the edges of the hands so they look hand stamped instead of machine made. It's a subtle detail I'll have to address at some point. The bezel flat ROCKS, the rehaut is two pieces carefully put together by unknown hands decades ago, to give a neck for the crystal and a sloped inner edge for the dial. It's spectacularly well done, and almost impossible to see. The case is also slightly curved on the sides. Did those come from decades of polishing? Or should they be flatter? When I did my Snowflake I had the case polished to DEATH to make it all curved and sexy. There's no reason a 6204 can't have suffered the same treatment over its 65 year life. So old case, old chipped dial, old aged hands, old worn filthy bezel, what's left? The original insert is the vintage funky pointy-four piece with weird fonts, and looks EXACTLY like gen. It might be, for all I know. Someone sanded its outer perimeter to make it fit the bezel and took it slightly too far here and there. There's no going back from that. Maybe I can paint the sanded edge black to make it less noticeable? A little 3M goo holds it in place. The crystal feels like a tropic-18 very thin and delicate. It's no beastly thing like a T17 or T19. Do I like that? I have no frame of reference to decide. So it stays. In the end the case, engravings, bezel, insert, dial, hands, crystal and beat up Brevet+ crown all agree they are ancient and tired. That's exactly what I was going for. They're 95% correct, I just need to fine tune the finished piece to get everything perfect. But it came out far, far better than I'd hoped for. It will live on a leather strap because all the folded rivet bracelets are too bright and their steel doesn't match the case. That's fine with me, a gentleman 65 years ago would likely have worn this on leather anyway. And now to the pictures!

Been looking at this Radiomir 42mm, AD discount too.. Thoughts? Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Take it easy there, sailor! I like you too, but... After trying to make a satisfactory hand from pieces, I found the hour hand I finally used at Otto Frei, part number is HAN 7008. $4 per set (includes 14mm hour hand, not suitable for the 6204 or 6542). It still needs some modding. but I looked for several years and could not find the right shaped pencil hour hand. I used 1500 sandpaper and shaped the edges towards the point more. It didn't need much, but some for certain. The Frei hour hand hole is 1.55mm, just a hair too big for ETA. I carefully squeezed the hole smaller to make it fit. At $4 a set, I ordered 3 sets so I could mess up one or two and still be OK. The minute hand is the one from Helenarou for ETA, 13mm. Both hands are silver. It is my opinion, having never seen a genuine 6204 in person and only in pictures, that the hands were not gilt but brass. Brass being used for ocean going tools. I used the 1500 sandpaper to take the hands to bare brass, and let them tarnish a tad. They don't tarnish much at all once in the sealed case. The chapter ring itself on chapter ring dials is 26mm in diameter. The minute hand then must be 13mm to reach the chapter ring, as Rolex did with the 6204 and early 6542, and likely the Turn-O-Graph. They went to the 12mm hand within 2 or 3 years at most, based on pictures I've seen. Somewhere in 1956 or so. The simplicity of the 6204 is captivating. When those long hands reach out across from each other, it is mesmerizing. I wish I could take better pics to show, but you'll have yours soon enough to show us all! Let me know if I can help.

This is the thing I love about this particular forum. The love of vintage...and vintage Rolex at that! When I first joined the rep forums I was after a Rolex - Modern. Then my tastes changed and I sought Panerai and similar high quality modern reps. My tastes however have now come full circle....almost....but now I seek vintage Rolex's. Sadly I cannot afford the likes of NDT and Phong and Minh. I am one of many members enjoying the world of budget vintage builds. I cannot afford the stunning and beautiful Frankens that I see on here daily. But, this is what 'I' love about this forum! This particular forum! Vintage Rolex! To me it's beautiful! Sorry to hijack this thread! I'm done. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk