tomhorn

I'll take two ...

Almost said to myself, "to heck with the watch, look at the packaging". Almost. The watch is a beauty too ...

I actually prefer White Lightning Clean Ride for bracelets. It's a dry wax lubricant that will actually clean out the gunk and won't attract contaminants.

Well done. Very nice build. Good luck with the 78360 search ... it will finish things off nicely.

I've had no issues with either set of WSO Fat Springbar 580's. Maybe you just got a bad set. I guess you could always go gen ... at 10x the price ...

I have worn my v72 6263 more times than I can ever hope to count. Have yet to have anyone even ask about it. With that budget, as paristoto mentioned the best option really is one of the Cartel ST19 builds. You can certainly DIY, or just find one of slay's or rolo's. Might have to stretch a little depending on parts.

You obviously missed his Daytona builds ...

There are many posts of people's 1016 builds (including mine linked below). Many ways to skin the cat, so do your research, and set your budget. Until you do that, it's pointless to ask people for recommendations. For example, my recipe is going to cost you over $1,000 and take months of patience to get the parts. If you're only looking to spend half that and want it yesterday, then you would need a different plan.

Key words here are "distribution and sale", neither of which you were doing based on your description, and the word "may" in the last sentence (meaning they aren't trying to require you to respond). Funny how they have dramatically softened the wording of the letter compared to what we were seeing in the mid-to-late 2000's. Bottom line is still the same. No need to respond. You can toss the letter after you have sent a copy to your dealer, who normally wants to see it before sending a replacement.

IIRC, the Big Block was a 7836 or 78360 bracelet, so I'd go with Mary's. I've seen people put Jubilees on them, but not my style personally.

Maybe BK has one laying around from when he was doing them?

I've not seen a rep of it yet, but have you asked any of the Trusted Dealers if they can get you that watch? Pointless to come here and ask if you haven't checked to even see if it's available.

Because we don't do builds for other people, we do them for ourselves. As I stated in my earlier post, there is a limit (for me) of what I will spend on gen parts for a build. It's the whole cost/benefit ratio. I try to complete my builds for less than the going sales prices on the boards, so even though I am building for me and not to sell, if circumstances dictate that I need to, I won't get hurt too bad in the process (or at all). Case and point, my 16014 DateJust. It is 100% genuine parts aside from the ETA 2824 (granted the hands are gen Tudor, not Rolex). Took me awhile to gather all the parts, but that build cost me less than you can see others selling for here with not much more than a gen dial and crown/tube. It gives me great pleasure to see a build that does not have the same quality parts as one of mine sell for more than I have invested. On the other hand, I have seen people do builds with 100% gen parts and spend close to what it would cost to buy the gen. That I would never do, but to each their own. Omega Planet Ocean and modern Daytona builds can easily go down that rabbit hole. I choose not to play in that space, but respect anyone who wants to take that leap, and will applaud the quality when they show it off to us.

You always have to email him. He has never (that I can remember) accepted messages. vaclume@gmail.com And be prepared to wait for a response. He is always swamped.

Sorry that PhotoBucket is holding my pictures hostage, but there is a lot of information in my build thread, and there are a ton of other build threads for 1016's as it's a very popular watch to build.

Depends on what you are building. For example, I have about $2,500 in my 6263 v72 build as she sits today (I'm not quite done yet). Buying that watch as 100% gen ($70k +) is just not ever going to be in the cards for me financially. I'll happily wear my "franken" when 99.5% of the people who see it won't even know what it is, much less if it's genuine. Paying $2,500 for a franken when the gen is less than $5k is a poor decision from my perspective, so it's really just about relative value. You might think spending that $2,500 on a gen is a better idea. To each his own. For me it's about more than just the money spent. It's one of my hobbies. I like the challenge of doing builds, and wearing the end result.

A lot of wealthy people, and wealthy tourists down here ... I haven't found the market to be that great though. Even pawn shop prices are higher than when I lived up north.

One is Phong's, the other I don't know: http://www.ebay.com/itm/6240-6241-6263-Bakelite-Bezel-for-Vintage-Daytona-Mark-2-/182227570752?hash=item2a6d9c1040 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Bakelite-Bezel-6263-6241-/253028330941?hash=item3ae9a9edbd

4813 is the 28,800 bph version, or you could go to an ETA clone.

There's a name back from the grave .... or at least where many of us hope it comes from ....

Welcome back!

Saw Slay's for sale and had to break mine out for the evening.

Accutron watches frequently come up on great deals given the movements inside. I bought it's predecessor for $289 on Shnoop with a 7750 in it. Have also frequently seen their ETA 2893 GMTs come up at good prices.

Haven't seen one that nice since Ubi's ... well done!

I still remember picking up a 16014 case (with the gen WG fluted bezel still on it) for $299 back when gold had gone through the roof and everyone was replacing it with an engine turned bezel and selling them off separately. No one else bid because the seller was located in a pretty sketchy country. Still think I even stole that one, as buying the bezel alone at that time was more than what I bid for the whole case. The 16014 case I already owned (bought without the bezel) became my 1016. Those were the days ...