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6538 today

A few years have passed and I bring this one back from the dead with a new update. Many moons ago , very early in my watch building journey I decided that I liked shiny things and realized that I had to own a 1019 and the only way to do that without selling the farm was to build it myself. Before the great (forum ) reset I had started a thread on my first watch project. At the time it was a toss up between a 6542 and the 1019 at that time , pieces fell into place for the gmt build and the 1019 fell to the back burner for a bit. a year after I decided to tackle the challenge with the help of Tripdog. I originally started with a 1655 cartel base that I then polished the machined and polished the bezel smooth and was going to use . This case set ended up being used on the GMT , which I am sure a number of you have seen by now. Fast forward, I got distracted and instead of buying another 1655 case I picked up a modified 6538 case set that had been machined to accept a smooth bezel and , so I went that route. It was close in size 38.6mm however I was never a fan of how the crystal and bezel fit and the gap between the dial chapter ring and the ring of the bezel the proportions were off and I hated it. [USER=43197]@tripdog[/USER] was kind enough to assist with this build at the time as the only hands available were from Yuki to fit the 1570 gen cal. so they had to be broached which made them very delicate and eventually came lose and the metal deformed and the hands were garbage after a few failed attempts to reinstall them. No shade to tripdog He did the best he could with what he had to work with, but the metal was just too thin. Also finding a beveled crystal to fit the modified sub case was a challenge as well and after a few attempts I used a modified Tudor jumbo crystal but it wasn't ideal or fit well. Since there was no reasonable hand set for an ETA in the Milgauss style I abandoned the project. and it ended up in the parts bin. Years later [USER=245554]@1016 lover[/USER] and I were discussing a milgauss build and I shared my experiences with him and passed on my second YUKI dial and hands that I had bought to him for his project. The major roadblock for me on this build was the hands..... Yuki and others in the past just used a variation of dj hands. not correct. (pick from Yuki site way back when showing their dial - note the hand set. . Just when I thought I had gotten over my obsession....I stumble across a nice set of hands that would be suitable for a 1019 on ebay so I picked up a few sets. Rare as hens teeth. Well they arrived yesterday. This , and I have been noticing ppl; posting pics of their 1019s on instagram lately...its like it happens in cycles. - this was the universe telling me it was time. So last night I did a thing. When the hands arrived, I dug out my old Yuki dial and Ofrie seconds hand and decided to do a quick and dirty to see if the spark returns.. well it did rekindle my love for it. Specs: Raffles Explorer case set. 5,3mm crown drilled lugs to 1.3 no case work at all Yuki Silver chapter ring dial T22 beveled service crystal 1016 L T 22 bezel Asian 2824 Ebay Hands Ofrie red arrow seconds hand Folded oyster bracelet. I am more pleased with the results that I expected. I have tried this build with an explorer case in the past but it just didnt scratch the itch. however with the new hand set and the flat bezel, it really hits those design cues for me . The sharp stock lugs on the case give the case some size to it. The smooth very flat and wide bezel from 1016L really sells me on this build its really quite similar to gen. the flatness of the bezel makes it look wider than it is which is a noticeable design feature of the 1019 The hands , aged to match the dial lume look great in my opinion. not perfect, as the lume plots are bigger than gen, but its an acceptable compromise for having the correct shape and perfect lengths for this project. to match with the 29mm yuki dial Using a raffles 5.3 crown also gives the visual appearance that the case set is larger than it is. Id say its a solid 7/10 . giving the few mentioned issues earlier and that the case is 2mm smaller in diameter. I think I want to add it back into my personal collection so I have 2 options here. Keep the explorer case bezel crown combo and add some bevels to the lugs and some minor lug and side shaping to the mid case. The gen has flatter case flanks. or As a Christmas gift to myself, I am about to pull the trigger on 1655 case set from Tiger concepts and go that route. shave crown guards. drill lug holes. machine and polish the bezel shave the cyclops off the crystal I was considering the new raffles gmt case but the way the crown guards are in relation with the crown, I dont think it will look right once I grind off those crown guards. where as I know the 1655 case will work for me as I had done it previously. Stay tuned for when those parts arrive and I go in hot on that mid case to make some milgauss magic. In the meantime, Here is some eye candy for ya . not bad, but that extra 2mm will make all the difference. Size apparently does matter. As always, questions and comments welcome, Thanks for looking. The flat bezel makes it look wider than it is , which is a design cue of the 1019 - this flatter bezel combined with the flat service crystal really nails the proportions for me and makes the watch look larger than it is. a tell is the proportion of the width of the bracelet in relation to the case . If someone was to analyze this they would notice that the case appears smaller than the gen spec of 38mm but the smaller crown, flat bezel and T22 crystal fool the eye to make it larger than it is.

12-14-23 morning... I put these pics up on the evening of 12-13-23 and forgot to tell what I was looking for when I found this small stash of odds and ends. I was looking for a bag of 'owner manuals' that come with new watches and I have not found them yet. I plan to match any of them with watches that I have but my guess is there may not be any matches because the watches I have left are probably older than the manuals. I have seen some of these manuals priced as high as $50 to $100 (or more) so I need to find them for that reason anyway. I have read that counterfeit copies are also being sold and one article on the subject tells how to spot the fakes by their inferior printing so if anyone has any of the manuals, look them over closely. Identifying fake Rolex owner's manuals and papers - GMT Forum 12-13-23... Ran across this stuff from the past when hunting for something in my closet: Leftovers from watches of the past. Medallions etc... The 'Give Your Rolex A Rolex' is a bracelet catalog from the late 1970s, I got it when I bought a new Speedking. Bromberg's is a Rolex AD in Alabama, the card is from the late 1980s when my wife bought a new lady DJ on 'The Rolex Plan' by mail. They had an ad in Southern Living Magazine and you called and told them what you wanted, they checked you out, and sent the watch. The card says"Jewelers For Over 151 Years." Now it has been 187 years, so the card is from around 1987. The 'Rolex Plan' = twelve months to pay, no interest, no tax (on out of state sales). All at list price of course. About Brombergs Bromberg's I have a lot of stuff left from my trading days (back when the watches were a LOT less $$), and I doubt I have many (if any) of the watches that came with the stuff above. I still have the Speedking though, and a 6694 that I bought on 'The Rolex Plan' in the mid to late 1980s. The 6694 was $925, no interest, no tax (had it sent out of state and returned). The Speedking was $125 cash including tax iirc. Edit...It was $125 plus tax so it was $132.50. Both still in nos condition and also have one other low mileage 6694 that is in very good condition. The LM 6694 is about 23 posts down: Rolex Wristies thread - Page 144 - The Rolex Area - RWG I did not find what I was looking for so maybe I will post a few more pics later on as I dig deeper. 12-17-23 Found some old boxes yesterday, here are a few of them... There are six 'Bufkor' type inner/outer box sets wrapped up behind the others. Here is what they look like: Prez 1803 box from December 18, 1967 with warranty and chrono certificate... Wonder where it is now? Maybe on an old gambler's arm in Atlantic City. Ha! What Happened on December 18, 1967 - On This Day Zenith Cosmo box from 1988... This one ended up in Florida. Long gone... It was $945 minus a $50 gift certificate = $895 no tax on December 24, 1977. What Happened on December 24, 1977 - On This Day From my Speedking, new from AD on Tuesday, May 23, 1978. Do not know why it was in a chronometer box, but it had the correct papers, receipt etc. Things were different back then, dealers were not careful about B/P like today. The repair guy was a friend and later sold me a 1675 GMT Master on June 10, 1997 for $325 and a like new Toot Monte Carlo on September 4, 1997 for $275. Both long gone. What Happened on May 23, 1978 - On This Day Old box from ?? Looked on the 'net and did not find one exactly like it. Another old box from a forgotten watch.... Never did find the owner manuals. I'll keep looking. Found some replica boxes out in the garage, forgot about them. Wood liners etc... Found some stuff. Yea! The brochures are still MIA. Boo! Meanwhile, The BIG Question still remains... Who has the best sub??