tomhorn

If you are staying with the black insert go for the regular dial. They're cheaper too, so an added bonus.

While I can't speak to the quality of his pearls, Athaya is great to deal with. I used his 702 crown/tube on my 5514. Good stuff!

1016 builds just keep getting better and better. Nice work!

The best rep 93150 bracelet is still the old school MBW hollow midlink version. It's far from perfect, but it's the best aftermarket option. They are hard to find, but come up in M2M sales from time-to-time. I was fortunate enough to grab one from denimhead for my 5514. It's got a bit of stretch, and I am looking for a gen clasp, but it's a lot less $$$ than a gen. I wish TC would take up this project. I reckon he would sell a ton of them.

MoaB is like Chuck Norris ... you don't contact him .... he contacts you ....

IMO, the DateJust is the easiest franken build to do. If you like the look, I'd start there. Easy to find gen or aftermarket cases without spending an arm and a leg, and also lots of gen dials are available. Depending on which version you choose, an ETA 2824 or 2836 movement fits easily. There is also our fine member mymanmatt who is a great resource for building them if you don't want to do it yourself.

It does the trick ...

You have to contact moderator Mike On a Bike for the upgrade process information.

As automatico said, search is your friend in this (and any other 'I want to build") case. I'm not saying that to be flippant because you are a new member. Anyone wanting to do a build (of anything, not just a Daytona) should do A LOT of research first. It will save you time and money. Sometimes a lot of both. For the vintage Daytona, there are so many different ways to tackle the build that members could spend days giving advice. In order to answer your question, you need to start at the end, and work your way backward. If you are going to build a Daytona, you need to figure out where you want to end up and how much money you want to spend first, because the base you select to start with has to lead you down the right path. The two most common ways to build: Valjoux 72 based builds: Best - Phong case, various gen parts Next Best - DW case, various gen parts Then you have the Valjoux (or Asian) 7750 based builds. The most popular of those is the "Spinmaster" which used a DW case (which is different from the v72 case), and modified A7750 movement which removes the auto-winding parts to convert it to manual like the gen (automatico described it above). You can also build one yourself (Spinmaster was just the modder that built them) by getting the parts together. You can use some gen parts, but keep in mind the case is thicker than a gen case because the movement is thicker. If you go with the cartel or ST-19 base watches, you have less ability to mod them. Obviously the Valjoux 72 builds are going to end up being the most accurate, but they are also very expensive ($2,000+++ depending on the gen parts you use).

If only the unknown source could produce another one ... that's awfully good! I'm looking for a replacement for this one (one of the great early DW's, but with a slight flaw):

Love that dial! Back to the 5514 for me today!

Clip the dial feet and/or reposition them. You will also need new hands.

Whoopy x2 1016 - Lumed by PBdad 5514 - Lumed by Cwazy

Won't work unfortunately. The height differences in the movement prevent it. The 3035 is thicker above the crown position. This means in order to get a 3135 to fit, you would have to lengthen the cannon pinions to get the hands in the proper position to clear the dial (for which parts aren't available), and you'd have to put in a dial spacer to get the dial up to the rehaut. You might also have to machine the OD of the case. You'd probably be better using a TC or Sean case and drilling lugholes if you want to use that movement. Not perfect, but it will at least work. Just thought of something ... you didn't specify which case you were using, or which movement was currently in the watch. If you have a watch with an ETA (or clone) 2824, then it should work.

I wish my rep watch box cost that little ...

I didn't have to do anything to Mary's 7836 for my build, but I did use the WSO 580 endlinks for fat spring bars instead of what came with it. I used a gen 16014 case, and the lug holes did have to be drilled to accommodate the Aussie springbars.

The best aftermarket option is the "Aussie" aka "Fasci" springbars from eBay seller "twente(o)".(http://www.ebay.com/sch/twente%28o%29/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=). This assumes your case accepts the fat springbars, or has been drilled to accommodate them, and that your endlinks can accept the fat springbars as well.

They have several versions of the 580's. Make sure you get the right ones for the bracelet you are using (7836, 93150, etc). Also, if you are using fat springbars, make sure you pick the one's that accept them.

A few more quick shots:

Damn ... how did I miss that thread? Thought I had looked everywhere .... Thanks!

ewatchparts = wholesaleoutlet = WSO (same company) I know others have had issues, but every transaction I have done with them has gone smoothly. I have bought two sets of 580s that both fit perfectly. Just make sure you get the correct version for your bracelet and springbars. PS ... they are not from Australia

Today's the day for vintage Sub builds ... nice job with yours as well! I feel you on the shipping. I have a post coming on my new Daytona. That thing went from NY to MA, to WA for two stops, and then to three stops in FL before it finally got to me. Two day mail that took 7 ....

I'm beginning to see a trend with my decisions to take on franken builds. Not quite sure whether this is a good thing, or a bad thing. My wrist likes it, but my wallet ... not so much. I like to call this trend "The Happy Accident." "The Happy Accident" seems to be occurring a lot. It starts with me just reading the various message boards and minding my own business, and I happen to see a post advertising a part (often rare) for sale. Most of the time, I haven't even considered a build of the particular watch the part comes from, but somehow it managed to catch my eye either because it's a great deal, or just a rare part I don't see come available very often. It all started during my 16014 DateJust build. The first 16014 case I bought did not come with a bezel, so I initially bought an engine turned bezel for it. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed when it arrived. It also wasn't correct for the model number of the case, so I figured it would just be a placeholder until I found the correct white gold fluted bezel. The timing of this was terrible, as while I was searching the price of gold spiked, and gen bezels were commanding insane money (most were in the $300 range ... ouch!). One day on eBay, I happened upon a complete 16014 case with a perfect gen WG bezel, crown, tube and crystal at a $299 BIN price, so I bit the bullet and picked it up. Happy Accident. Of course, the leftover case then needed to be used for something. My initial thought was to just build another DateJust. I already had a spare linen dial (which had been sent to the sidelines when I found my silver roman dial) and the engine turned bezel, so another DateJust would have been easy. Although KBH would say you can never have too many DateJusts, one was certainly enough for me, so I likely would have just sold it off at some point. So what to do instead? Well, shortly thereafter I read LHOOQ's 1016 thread suggesting the 16014 case would be good alternative for a 1016 Explorer build, so that became project #2. You can read about that one here. While I was gathering parts for the 1016, I ran into a couple of challenges which delayed things. Finding a dial, and dealing with the MD2020 debacle (he still had the 2846 I intended to use ... and my money!) had things on hold for a bit. Of course during this time, I was still minding my own business and reading the various boards ... when the perfect storm hit. More Happy Accident(s). During my leisure time on the boards, I had been following Whoopy's dial project, and also HH's vintage Rolex case project. I love how some of our members take on these product development projects for our benefit. I have neither the time, nor the knowledge to do it myself, so I'm amazed at their dedication and effort. I had already made the decision to buy one of Whoopy's 1016 dials and was waiting to get that order done. I was disappointed when it looked like HH's case project was dead and the few cases he managed to get completed were gone. Then another member posted that HH might still have a case or two left, and I got lucky enough to pick up one of his last. Since Whoopy also happened to be making 5514 dials in his run, after a quick additional purchase, another project was born! I've always said, "when the perfect storm hits, just ride the wave." Collecting the rest of the parts for this one was fairly easy. Denimhead had an old MBK 91350 hollow link bracelet for sale, and Omega had a gen 5513 insert. I found a gen Tropic 19 on eBay at a great price, and went back to another eBay seller I had bought from previously to score a donor watch with an ETA 2846. After initially finding a gen 703 crown/tube, I changed directions and got Athaya's 702 crown/tube combination which fit the HH case without retapping and was a bit more period correct. Based on a couple of reviews I had seen, I decided to try out a couple of new people for the labor on this one. Droptopman had highly recommended Cwazy over at RWI for vintage Rolex lume, so Whoopy's dial and TC's 16610 hands went that direction. Misiekped was recommended for servicing the movement, so after the dial came back all the parts went to him for the service and final assembly. Naively, I thought this was going to be an easy build, based on all the research I had done during the parts gathering process. But, of course, several small glitches occurred during the build. Appears the HH bezel washer can be a bit "finicky" during assembly. Thanks to Akira and Dbane883 for the guidance there. Once again, it's great to have forum members that are willing to help when you get stuck on something. I love that part of this hobby. Misiekped also reported that the Whoopy dial needed to be sanded down from 27.55mm to 27.34mm to fit the case, that there was a little bit of stray lume on the edge of one of the hands that needed to be cleaned up, and the movement ring that came with the case ended up not working out well with the 2846. I also sent the wrong endlinks with the 93150, so there was a slight delay in sorting that out. Best laid plans ... what can I say? Thankfully, Misiekped was great in working through everything that came up, and he also did a great job of refinishing the bracelet. So now I present Happy Accident #2, aka my Rolex 5514. The final build looked like this. HH 5514 case Athaya 702 Crown / Tube Gen Tropic 19 Gen 5513 Insert Gen caseback gasket MBW Hollow Midlink 93150 Bracelet WSO 580 endlinks Whoopy 5514 Dial TC 16610 Hands Swiss ETA 2846-2 movement from donor watch Star-Time RP23-1675SW Springbars Thanks again to all that helped. HH, Whoopy, Athaya for the custom parts, Akira and Dbane for the knowledge on the bezel, Netniet, Lionsandtigers, Dbane and Ubi for their inspirational builds, and Droptopman for pointing me to Cwazy. I've probably missed someone, so thank you too ... More pictures will be forthcoming, but for now, here are a few from Misiekped that were taken during the build. And yes, there was a Happy Accident #3 already in the pipeline, a Daytona 6265 was next up, but another Happy Accident changed those plans. More on that one later ....