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Thanks! I still haven't seen a wrapped 703 with that style coronet in person.

Freddy, Is the crown marked 703 in your picture wrapped or solid?

Great thread!!!!! Thanks for posting it for us. Alligoat, do you have a pic of the wrapped 703 with the shorter (modern) coronet? I have not seen one and would love to see a pic. The only crowns I have seen with that coronet have been the 704 monobloc variety.

He did send me QC pics Freddy, but they were from about 3 feet away so i couldn't really tell any detail. He initially sent me a DRSD caseback but quickly got that fixed.

Thank you gentlemen. I appreciate the comments. I guess I will use the Phong back. I wish that the MQ back I got looked like the one on his website. Thanks again for the feedback!

Hi Guys, i am thinking of starting back with my 1665 build again. I have these two casebacks and am trying to decide which to use. Each has its pluses and minuses. Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the compliment. Here is a list of the mods that I can think of: WSO crystal CG lever drilled for bushing CG lever tip shaped CG pin flattened and polished Polished the crown knurls Strap screws flattened and polished ETA marked engraved on mainplate (not done by me) Lower center wheel jewel replaced with ETA jewel Upper and lower incabloc settings replaced with ETA ETA 6497-2 barrel ETA 6497-2 center wheel ETA 6497-2 third wheel ETA 6497-2 escape wheel ETA 6497-2 pallet fork ETA 6497-2 pallet bridge ETA 6497-2 balance ETA 6497-2 keyless works Flat polished cannon pinion Gold plated ETA hour wheel ETA 6497-2 ratchet and crown wheels ETA 6497-2 click and click spring ETA 6497-2 click, ratchet, and crown wheel screws Shaped swan neck H factory long regulating screw I think that covers most of it. I transplanted most of the movement parts from an ETA 6497-2 movement. The only things kept were the mainplate and the Panerai engraved bridges. Cheers

Thanks gents! Not a stupid question at all. I did all of the mods myself except for one. The crystals are from WSO. I had to go through a bunch to find the right one but it was worth it. I think it is also interesting that you can see the AR was removed on the 217 crystal. There is still a hint of blue on the 127 crystal.

Hi Guys! After several months of waiting and waiting for the 127 to be released again, I hope to become a member of the club. I was able to finish it up this week and took some halfway decent pictures today. I couldn't help but take some pics beside the 217 as well. I have to admit that the movement mods on this one almost got the better of me. After several hours of pulling my hair out and lots of cursing, I came out the victor. It was close for a long while though I should say that the movement only shots were taken earlier and it has been slightly changed since then. So without further adieu....I present my 127. Thanks for looking!!!!

Can you also ask for a side profile shot of the bezel? Here is a picture of my genuine 1665 bezel compared to my Phong bezel (genuine bezel on the left).

I could wait on the Noob 127 to become available again, so I decided to go ahead am buy a 217 in the meantime. Along the way, I was able to buy a genuine dial, hand set, and crown guard. I was also very fortunate to have a look at a genuine crystal and OPX movement. I took some pictures of the genuine parts and Noob for future comparison. I am not a wordsmith so I will let the pictures do most of the talking. I will apologize in advance for the pictures not being the exact same size. It looks a little weird when posted side by side. So....here are those comparison results, as well as my finished 217. Let’s start off with the dial. Here is the Noob dial and genuine dial side by side: (gen on left) The dials are very close to one another but the 1 in 12 is the biggest tell to me. Now let’s look at the print: Genuine Noob Genuine Noob Genuine Noob Now let’s have a look at the crystal. Here is the Noob crystal and a WSO crystal (Noob is on the left): Now let’s look at a genuine crystal compared to the WSO crystal (genuine crystal is mounted in the bezel) Next up is the crown guard. The Noob crown guard is very close but there are several small differences (genuine on the left). [ Here is the genuine crown guard next to a modded Noob crown guard. The Noob crown guard was drilled out for a gasket and the lever tip modified for a more genuine shape (genuine on the left). The Noob hands are close to the genuine article, but the tips are blunt instead of sharp. I had a set of Noob, genuine, and DSN hands available for the comparison (genuine on the left). Hour Hand Minute Hand Seconds Hand Now all three (genuine, Noob, DSN) I then wanted to compare a genuine OPX movement to my modified movement. I wasn’t quite done with the modifications when these pictures were taken, but I think you will get the idea. And finally some random pictures of the finished product. I know someone will ask for a list of mods so here goes: Genuine dial Genuine hands Genuine crown guard WSO crystal with stripped AR 6497-2 barrel complete 6497-2 lower center wheel jewel 6497-2 center wheel 6497-2 fourth wheel 6497-2 escape wheel 6497-2 pallet fork 6497-2 click 6497-2 set lever spring 6497-2 minute wheel Flat polished cannon pinion Stripped hour wheel ETA incabloc Shaped and plated swan neck spring Hfac swan neck screw 6497-2 ratchet wheel 6497-2 crown wheel 6497-2 click screw 6497-2 ratchet wheel screw 6497-2 crown wheel scew Mainplate engraving I think that is all of the mods that I can think of right now. I should also say that all were performed by me except for one (you know who you are and thank you!!!!). I hope that this has proven to be helpful for some looking to do a 217 build. I would like to thank all of those how were involved in helping me get this together. This is truly a great community. Thanks for looking!!!!!!

Unfortunately....yes.

Finally had time to get it back together again. I decided to leave the faux plates off for now since the movement looks pretty nice. There are a few scratches on the CDG from removing the adhesive, but I think it gives it character. A lot of people are bashing the PT version for having blue screws but this one had blue screws for the pallet for bridge. I went ahead and polished those to match the rest. Another interesting note is the screw heads are slightly longer so as to stick out the right height with the faux plates. Go figure..... Thanks for looking!!!!

Thanks for the comments gents. The only things that I did not take off were the bezel and crystal. The things that I did take off were well built and seemed to fit properly. It feels very solid on the wrist. I think that it is a good price for what you are getting.

Are you talking about the black rubber washer to keep the cg pin tight? All of my Noob cg's have had them if that is what you are talking about.

Everyone is showing their new 372's off and I just wanted to be a part of the crowd. Here is my 372 I ordered from Andrew . Now that the shock has worn off, I should start by saying that there was nothing wrong with the watch. I took it completely apart because I wanted to fix a few things with the cg and also wanted to check out the movement. My concern was that they disabled the running seconds like they did on my 390 (snipping the off long pivot). I found a few interesting things that I thought others would also find interesting. The first was the thickness of the dial. The dial is extremely thick, which allowed the fourth wheel pivot to be left long. There is a small cutout on the back of the dial for the long pivot. Because the dial is so thick, they had to add a cap onto the canon pinion. It is a very interesting solution. Because there is a cap on the canon pinion, the hour hand had to have a long tube. Haven't really seen one quite this long before. This allows the hour hand to fit over the cap and grab onto the canon pinion. The last thing I noticed on my watch was that there was a ton of adhesive on the faux plates. It looks like they used double sided tape or dial strips to hold them on. There was no way my plates were coming off without a lot of help. Now it's time to get her back together. Thanks for reading!!!!

I hope you are pulling our leg . Cousins has a good break down/ librication chart of the Zenith 400 on their site. Are you cleaning/ reoiling the movement or just taking it apart. If you are just taking it apart, you may run into issues later down the road because the original oil will not be where it needs to be. I would recommend having it serviced since this is a high beat movement and can cause a lot of wear and tear if not properly lubricated. I appreciate the enthusiasm but don't want you to have issues later on. Congrats on the build!!!

I have never seen detailed instructions but the description is for revolving and oyster bezels. I have heard it being used on Sub bezels.

Hi Automatico, It seems to be concentric to me. I spun it on my lathe and it seemed to be running true. It may have been forced over a non-spec crystal and/or gasket previously like you said. I don't know. It measures anywhere from 30.6mm to 30.58mm all around. I looked for a while last night and found several aftermarket smooth and fluted bezels, but couldn't find an aftermarket engine turned bezel. I don't know if they exist. I have a couple of bezels coming (some gen and some not) so we will see what pans out. Also, there is one of the Rolex bezel tools on eBay right now. The seller must be out of his mind because he is asking almost $20,000 or it. Here is the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321135755594?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

Thanks automatico. I printed out your post and have read it several times. I know that Rolex makes a tool for stretching and shrinking bezels but have never seen one in person. I was just wondering if anyone knew of thicker gaskets or DIY trick.

Thanks Alligoat! Do you have any experience with them or aftermarket fluted bezels? How do they compare to genuine. The only thing that concerns me is the thickness. They say it is 2.75mm vs 2.3mm.

Thanks R!!! Everything I was reading was saying the ID was 30.5mm. Mine is definitely too big then. Thanks again!!!!!!

I was told that it was from a 162XX case. The measurements I was told were what I have seen but I measured it as being slightly larger on the ID. Thanks!!!

Hi Gang, I have been in the process of putting together a frankenjust over the last couple of weeks. I think that I finally got my movement straightened out and and was casing it up today to realize that my bezel is too loose. The only thing not genuine so far is the movement. The case I have is a 16200 but bought an engine turned bezel. It was sold as genuine and seemed to fit the measurements but I think it is either wrong or has been stretched out. The measurements I got when I used my micrometer were: OD: 34.52mm ID: 30.6mm Thickness: 2.3mm Most bezels I have seen have ID measurements of 30.5mm. I can install and remove the bezel with my fingers and it will spin freely. I also tried a Clarks crystal gasket but it was only slightly tighter. My question is whether or not someone knows a trick so I can use this bezel or find another one. Thanks in advance!!!!

What are you guys having to do to the genuine date disc in order for it to work? I am working on my basket case yuki 3135 right now, but the date wheel seemed to fit and work without any mods. Thanks!!!