tomhorn

Mary is a trusted dealer (Watch International) here. I just emailed her at the posted gmail address. WSO is Wholesale Outlet on eBay. I posted a link to the endlinks I used in the 1016 bracelet thread.

Glad it came together, and that you kept the original parts (you should make sure you get the small arrow GMT hand back if you don't have it). If you are happy with how it looks, then wear it with pride and don't worry about whether or not the value went down by adding the new parts. You have the old ones, and it's a trivial expense to put them back in if you ever want to sell it. For what you have in it, you still got a great deal. Personally, I'm an Oyster guy with Sub and GMT cases. Short term, get one of Mary's 7836's and endlinks from WSO and for $80 you have something to wear while you look for a gen.

On mine, I used these endlinks (not the ones linked above): http://www.ebay.com/itm/580-END-PIECE-FOR-ROLEX-SUBMARINER-OYSTER-BAND-78360-/171022393380?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27d1baa024 I had my gen case drilled out for fat springbars. I believe he sells both versions, so make sure you order for your setup. Also, I used the Aussie Springbars: http://www.ebay.com/itm/GENUINE-SPRINGBAR-for-ROLEX-EXPLORER-1016-SUB-23-9293-/351011434208?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51b9e96ee0 I just contacted Mary by email and told her I wanted the 7836 bracelet from LHOOQ's review and they knew exactly what to send..

Assuming you want to take the chance of dealing with DW, you can order a "branded" version by asking him and you will get a Rolex dial, not generic.

I got my 7836 from Mary. Not perfect, but great for the money. Used WSO 580 endlinks. Sorry I don't have a better pic.

Looks like an Apple MacBook Pro case to me .... Can't tell you who built it, but it looks quite good to my untrained eye. If I had to guess it would be the Italian maker you mentioned in an earlier post?

The vintage Daytona is OK with the 7750 movement or with the Venus copy. You've already found the major flaw with the Venus copy, and the 7750 version will have a much thicker case than gen but better subdial spacing. They all have flaws, so it's just a matter of which ones you find least offensive. No one can answer that one for you. There are a lot of threads about the vintage Daytona, so you'll have a lot of reading to do to figure out what direction you want to go. Off the top of my head, I know Sead recently came to market with a pretty good one, and there is a member over on RG (watchguyusa1) who is starting to build a project using an SG2903 movement. If you want to look for a M2M sale, look for one of the Spinmaster builds, or full blown frankens using a v72 movement come up from time to time if you have the budget.

Back from a checkup at PBdad's ...

The Yuki dials have definitely gotten better. Nice build!

Welcome to the club ....

Here's an earlier listing: http://www.ebay.com/sch/watchny/m.html?_ipg=50&_sop=12&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc

Nice ... I am working on the 6265 version of this with exactly the same parts (other than the bezel of course). Are the dial and hands DW also?

No worries, this just points out what can happen when you run into an incompatible part when trying to mod/franken. Again prefaced by my not knowing much about the Trusty 1016, you might be better off from a modding perspective to buy one of JMB's entire case sets to build from, and use the parts that fit from the Trusty version you bought. If the dial fits and the movement is a clone 2824, you could just swap the guts. His case takes gen parts so you can upgrade more easily down the road. Just a thought. Others would need to chime in to fill in the blanks.

And the above is exactly why doing research before buying anything is so important. Given what LHOOQ has just said, you might want to just flip the Trusty and start a build using JMB's case instead.

You should have asked those questions before you bought the base watch. I've said it before (and no doubt will again) ... If anyone wants to build a franken, do a lot of research before you buy your first part. It will save you time and money. There are plenty of 1016 build posts out there (including mine), so take a look at them to see what's possible. I would start with LHOOQ's as he's the defacto expert on 1016 builds. I built mine from a gen Rolex case, so I didn't research the Trusty case. JMB can certainly build you a bezel if you need one, but if the case doesn't take gen parts, you won't be able to use a T22, and you might not be able to use a gen crown without also picking up a gen tube. If you need a gen tube, the case might need to be retapped to accept it. Depending on which model you got, you might not be able to replace the movement without also replacing the hands, and if the lugs aren't sized to gen spec, you will have to play around with your endlink choice if you want to use a gen bracelet. These are all the kinds of things that come up when building a franken. Better 1016 dials are a tricky find. The new Yuki dial seems to be the go-to without spending an arm and a leg now. MQ and Ingod44 have some better options but have been difficult to get a hold of recently. I know the dial choice was the toughest part of my build. Before spending money on a relume, you might want to consider a different dial too. Bottom line is that there are a ton of things that you can do with a 1016, but how much depends on what you want to spend and what parts you are starting with.

Anyone have the part number for the gen Rolex, or the Star Time? I need a set for my 5514.

Took a chance after droptopman's recommendation and sent mine to Cwazy. Just got these sneak peaks today. Turn around time is quicker than his spreadsheet would indicate, and it's about time to get this thing put together ...

Here's my reality check. Unless you own your own company you always run the risk of having a bad boss, and when you own your own company you run the risk of having a bad customer (which pays the bills). Bottom line is you are going to have to learn to deal with either variety, as they will continue to come in and out of your life. I would certainly never tell anyone they have to stay in a bad spot, but before you make a move, always remember your next stop could be worse. The grass isn't always greener, so to speak. I've owned my own consulting business for the last seven years, and have been lucky recently by having long term clients who are easy to deal with. Wasn't always that way, and my health and mental state weren't always that great when I was between gigs. The stress of not knowing when/if your next payday is going to come is not for everyone. Make sure you have plenty of money put away before you make that leap. Not sure how it is where you are, but the market for consultants has definitely picked up on this side of the pond. Many companies here in the US are ditching full time staff because of the healthcare law, and are outsourcing work either to individuals or third-party vendors. The company I am running now has eliminated all of its IT staff and relies solely on a local shop to manage its office infrastructure, and a development house managed locally that uses a combination of US, Indian and Chinese developers. They can spin up teams whenever needed and drop them off at the end of projects. Saves a ton of money over maintaining an in-house IT staff. I think it's a great business model if you know your way around outsourcing and can find the right talent.

If you want your dial and hands to match, the best thing to do is send them to be relumed. The Yuki dial seems to be the best 'budget' dial available now. JMB recently bought several, and they looked much improved. Don't know if Yuki can provide ETA hands, but the best choice are really the TC Sub hands.

Pretty much every watchsmith that works on reps is exactly the same ... Extremely busy. There aren't that many, and once the community decides to trust them, they get inundated with work. It's always going to take a while to get a response from them, and then it's going to take a long time (we're talking months, not weeks or days) to get your watch back once they start working on it. If you can't wait 4 days to hear back from someone without posting it to the forum, then I would recommend buying something that's already completed, or learning to do it yourself. You're going to have to learn to be extremely patient in this hobby. There is no other way around it. The best piece of advice I can give you is that you should also do way more research that you have apparently done when trying to put together any franken build. The time to start asking about what parts to buy is before you start the project, not after you've already spent money. I'm not a big Breitling fan, so I don't know if the version of the watch you bought takes gen parts, or if there are any challenges with the build as far as fitting things goes. I do know enough that if you want to swap to an ETA movement, you are going to need gen hands, or the watchsmith is going to have to modify the rep hands to make them work as the A7750 hands are not a straight swap with the newer version of the movement. Things like this are important to know before you start buying things. It's too easy to go down the rabbit hole and find out that the total cost gets out of control, or the project isn't do-able to begin with. You're also probably going to get more help by doing your own research than a watchsmith is going to provide, especially if they haven't already done the build you are looking at. As mentioned earlier, they are all very busy, so you're not likely to get a lot of hand-holding. I'm sure there are several members that have built Super Avengers on this and the other boards. Asking someone who has actually done one of these builds will likely get you better information. I love doing franken builds, and I wish you luck with yours. I'm sure the above doesn't paint a great picture about the process of building a franken, but it's important to know what you are up against when doing projects. They are definitely fun to take on, and there are plenty of stunning end results to be found here. There are also lots of examples where people greatly overpaid, or didn't get the results they wanted, due to poor preparation.

You have to be a VIP member to post in that section.

But "Please message me for an even better price!" ... http://www.ebay.com/itm/251649019043?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2661&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

I would not have started. Seriously. I came to the rep boards because I really wanted a Rolex 16710, but couldn't justify the price. Found out that there really wasn't a good rep of it, so bought several others that were always at the top of the 'best rep lists'. Then I decided those weren't good enough, and started building frankens. I now have enough money wrapped up in projects in various states of completion that I could probably have paid for a 16710 and have just been done with it. I frequently question whether or not I will finish everything I am working on, sell off the lot, and buy the 16710.

Then you aren't looking hard enough. Plenty of reviews and mentions of US based watchsmiths on this and other rep forums. PBdad, Vac, Speedy, MyManMatt, Rex450 ... the list goes on. Depends on what you need done as to who would be best to use. I have used everyone but Speedy on this list and had good results with each, although be prepared to wait. Any good watchsmith that works on reps is going to be backed up.

Having lived in both cities, I'd easily pick Cincinnati. It's not even close really, unless you are a college student or die hard Buckeyes fan that wants to see a game. A lot more to do there. Better nightlife, better restaurants, Bengals and Reds, better casino options. I could go on. Columbus is a very spread out town. Most of the good spots are downtown and north. Not much going on south of I-71 other than the casino.