chefcook

Uuh that sounds veeery interesting. Would be nice to see some pics though

As said before in Kelster's thread the MBW is far too flat. The midsection should be raised slightly to look gen (marked on one of the pictures from above in the attachment). Check http://www.bjsonline.com/watches/articles/0011.shtml to see SEL and LEL in comparison. A SEL does NOT look like an LEL. Second thing is the variety of SELs: SeaDweller and Submariner have different bands and different SELs. Actually there are 63 different Oyster Bracelets in production at the moment which most of have different end links...

IMO the MBW SEL is too flat compared to the gen. Check this site: http://bjsonline.com/watches/articles/0011.shtml In my pics and in the pics on the site above it is visible that the mid part should be higher...

Actually the clasp is a lot worse. The crown logo on the noob clasp does look cheap compared to the gen, the noob clasp does not feel as secure as the gen and somehow the gen does not rattle that much. It is simply better made. I would not go for a gen bracelet if one is having a good noob bracelet with tight SELs. A little brushing and grinding in the right areas will improve the noob bracelet to nearly gen standard. But a gen clasp is worth to consider....

I've done it the tribal way, too.

mine was too shiny, had little burrs on the holes and edges were too sharp, too. I ground them off and brushed the whole surface to achieve a mono directional finish. It is more matte now.

I am waiting for my euromariner, too I'll take it one step further adding a gen dial, gen clasp, gen crown, gen bezel insert and pearl and gen crystal. Here are the pics comparing a gen SEL with a noob SEL. My pretty much used gen is on the left. Sorry for the bad pic quality. I hope it is visible in the pics: the mid is really a little fat on the noob bracelet, but nothin that can't be corrected with a little grinding. What is not on the pics is how much better the gen fits even the rep cases. I don't get it why it is so difficult for the rep manufacturers to produce a bracelet that has exactly 20mm width at the end link - even their cases are pretty spot on regarding this point.

Heyho, I just wanted to share my first attempts of watch photography with you. My newest addition is a PAM 111H which started out as a standard rep purchased from Precious Time. PT's service was great, delivery was fast and questions were answered immediately and extensive. The watch and box came well wrapped and out of the box the watch had a high quality feel and look - but it just was not perfect in some areas. Most obvious was the super reflective coating on the dial. Actually it wasn't a anti reflective coat, it was just a blue tint causing massive reflections. The crystal is a lot more "invisible" without it, so I removed the coating. So I replaced the standard rep CG with one of V's marvellous CG that was brushed for a genuine surface before installation. The lever pin got polished as I have seen it on the gens (btw the pin on the standard rep CG from PT was not only polished, it was set perfectly slightly recessed from the surface of the CG - it would have been perfect if the CG had the correct shape). To install V's CG I had to shorten the case tube and stem about a tenth of a millimeter and the lever had to be shortened by 0,2mm, too. Second thing to change was the dial. The standard dial was nice, but I need better lume. The DSN dial and hand set I installed are way better than my expectations! I am overly impressed - it glows like a torch for hours! Printing is nice, but the L SWISS MADE L should have more space to the 6. Last on my list was a H3 canon pin set. Now the results: The lume shot shows the watch after exactly zero exposure time and was not photoshopped. I simply wore it for about half an hour in the light of a normal evening ... So what is still missing? First of all obviously the single side AR, second is a decent crown. Both will be done in the coming weeks Your comments are welcome! PS: Yes, I took the pics with two different cameras.

Nice to see that the pads worked out for you

Comparing the lug shape and the cg shape has to be done with the fact in mind that most of the gens got ground and polished over the last decades to achieve a nice surface during the service at rolex. IMO one can't say this or that CG shape is perfect - they all are in a certain way as the variety is far bigger than the three CG shapes mentioned above that came from rolex. Nobody knows who ground how much off of the genuine CGs. When building a vintage rolex rep one should be aware of the age of the watch. There are decent gen vintage subs and dwellers, but not perfect ones with perfect surface, perfect CGs or perfect bevels on the lugs... This watch is old, therefore it should have at least minor signs of wear. For my taste it is perfect when you think "Jeeezz this watch left its last service pretty well brushed up for how old and used it is..." I'd even say that the CG shape of the gen showed above is not as it left the rolex factory and was shaped that way during a service.

Oooh now I'll have to get a Breitling

Actually I am too daft for making photographs of watches or watch parts and my cam does not have a makro mode - but I'll try my best.

I have three (!) noob bracelets here - all purchased over the last 8 months - and they are spot on to my gen 16610 according to the end link?!? Maybe somethin changed?

I'll miss your avatar

Yep... I learned that the expensive way

Oooh I would not go that way. Drilling lugholes means that the fixed bar has to be welded from the outside up to a depth that allows the weld to be ground off so that an homogeneous surface appears that can be polished. The sides of the gen pro hunter is polished and therefore shiny and black, the lugs have the ground surface like the normal subs / dwellers / GMTs coated black. The right way - the way Kamal (the guy doing the gen pro hunters) goes - is to weld it on the inside. I'll go a third way, without welding. I am going to machine hollow lugbars that are just a little over 20mm. Then I grind it to fit the specific case, get it PVDed and fix it with a normal spring bar. I tried it with an aluminium tube and it'll work fine, even finer when I use the correct stainless steel.

don't forget the AR on the crystal and the fixed lugbars the pro hunter has welded in! And all pro hunter subs were models without engraved rehaut. I'll build a pro hunter from an older MBW case if I find a dial...

A dream!

Switzerland was an difficult to bring in country allready 20 years ago. Swiss customs are strict and were even much stricter in the time of the cold war. Germanys customs are pretty aware, too, but Germans have a huge advantage: The EU. UK and some of the eastern members are supposed to be still far less strict. Once it is within EU borders there aren't any further customs inspection.

As asked via PM before: Make an offer for one of those dials

if the JLC Reverso was an accurate rep at least I'd buy at as a quartz too but that caseback is the worst pos I've ever seen... JLC Reverso and Milgauss - the dealers would sell a lot of them if they were repped propperly.

I saw that one, too. It is distgusting Seems they wanted to use the dials and crystals of their small milgauss...

What I'd to to a 1665: - gen crown - gen tube - gen or good aftermarket bezel insert - gen or clarks tropic - CG mod - drill lugholes - gen springbars - gen 93150 bracelet or good aftermarket bracelet with gen 580 endlinks and gen 93150 clasp - slow beat eta or asian - HE valve fix - give dial and hands new "lume": The tritium on a 1665 should not glow anymore after that amound of time. - age everthing a bit - 1665 is an old watch, therefore it should have a slightly used look. - eventually go for an NDT dial... MBW 1665 is $400, mods could be done for another ca $700 plus the NDT dial - that means $1500 for the complete watch including the NDT dial... still far less than a genuine.

Nice review, but IMO the dial is not as accurate as you state here. 1. The distance between each dimple is too big. 2. Incorrect number of dimples 3. Dimples are cut on the border of the dimpled area on the gen 4. The "Professional GOLF" is in an italic font on the gen The older version with plain dial and the TW logo is still more accurate than this one.

It is ridicoulus that they did not get the 80-60 thing right. I'd buy one instantly if the got that right...