rolex001

That's a fake - movement is totally wrong. Hands are also very off and the insert is bad to say the least. Stay away from this!

It's not necessarily true that it would come back as a GW with lumi dial. In very rare cases they keep the dial and only change the hands. But if there is just one bit of Tritium coming off the dial - they'd change it. But then again, there's not only GW service dials, there are to date three versions of the red service dial - the latest looking pretty funny, having a coronet like the DSSD. But still, I wouldn't risk such a nice Chocolate dial for RSC service. One thing for sure though, nobody wil do an as good job to the case as will Rolex do - Rolex Bexley looks the best IMHO, afterwards Geneve and Cologne. But with turnaround times of more than 5-6 months lately - it's a pain!

You have to establish a relationship with your AD first, in order to know he does good work and will do as you wish. Tell him not even to mess with the Twinnie crown.

Wow, what a watch. Sadly the case is used up quite well, but it was a watch worn daily probalby - so what. FYI this is a genuine Mark II DRSD. Very hard to find - it has the typical chocolate dial - do not hand this to Rolex as they might just change the dial and hands and might even isntall an exchange case - that would ruin the watch. Stick to it and try find somebody who will service the movement, get a new glass or polish the old one and have some expert do a *slight* case refinish* - maybe something can still be done with this rather thin case.

Somehow - if the initial creator of the timepiece can't realize it's fake any longer. That would involve, taking as example a 1665 seadweller - a genuine dial, 1:1 case, genuine movment, genuine caseback and all other parts either gen or indistinguishable from rep - so that even Rolex of Geneva wouldnt realize it is Franken/fake.

A Franken is - as per definition - something modified with other parts - to make it better/stronger/etc.. in our case it would be modding a rep with parts so that is (virtually) indistinguishable from the real deal... hard to achieve, but doable - and mostly expensive: Implying that a basic rep with a gen (cheap) crown is not a real Franken.

I really don't see anything wrong with it.

I have a guaranteed gen 702 tube here which also has no mounting splines on the inside - looks like an older style. The crwon looks fake though, the typcial 702 base marks are missing - yours looks smooth, gen crowns look very rough at the base. I can do a pic of a gen soon...

Please, usncrew the crown and make a photo of the tube. The crown shpae looks strange, that's right!

The only crown without dots was the 700. The 702 was a Triplock crown already (still missing the outside tube gasket) but it already had the three dots. The threads were on the tube base versus on the top of the tube on modern 703's. The Triplock feature addresses the O-Ring in the crown and the two O-Rings inside the tube.

Damn, I mixed up - yes they are shorter but not thinner, you are right. Some people use them for overpolished 40mm cases were the bars already look through the lugholes.

Gen 1016 springbars are not 2mm.

X03 is the delivery code (I believe month and year) - I think June 1991

Are those oversized threads genuine tubes or aftermarket? To what I see Freddy used a genuine tube. And yes, this happened to me the same once too - with a gen tube. After making 100% sure the thread were ultra clean and the cut was good, I gave up - no chance.

You need to isntall the hand in 24hr mode meaning that if the time is 4PM you put tehhour hand on 4 and the GMT on 16. Remember - on those old watches the GMT functionality was only realized thorugh the brezel. 1655 had the 24hr hand only to be able to display AM/PM as the bezel was fixed. You should properly fix the slipping gear or let some watchmaker do it - it is possible but I suggest to use a basic wheel - not a sandwich wheel consisting of essentially two wheels. Also removes height, allowing hands to sit better.

Mucho bettero Great stuff! Now, please remove the intermediate gear betweeen keyless work and GMT gear - so that the GMT hand is non adjustable - as it would be for such a movement.

Hey Chino....

Um, I highly doubt the keyless work will suffer from handwinding... the only thing that doesn't like hand winding that much is theclick wheels and the extreme high gear ratio. Anyhow, probperly oiled and with abit of care during winding - you won't damage those either on a Swiss movement.

Or the hex inset in your crown is worn out? Let the watch sit for a few days then wind it - if you hear the ETA swish, then it's all right - if you still feel and hear a click and a part of the turn is "empty" with no resistance - your crown probably is worn.

You wouldn't want to get the crankshaft in your car engine get bent due to snapping forces, do you? Do it like Rob suggested, great idea!

milsub's dial is not very good for a 16520 project... it's a 116520 dial with seconds at six.

Vintage patina is like random like a lottery. There are so many variables that have to play together for a certain patina or lack thereof... The dial indeed looks like a service dial, luckily at least an earlier one - the new ones are rubbish - they aren't even marked T Swiss T any longer. The watch is genuine - but way too expensive.

Wow, a 7 Mil serial number - looks like Honpo once again did some founded research.

I can add some dirt in the caseback lip free of charge if you want. The dials seriously look like stock Phong dials - better pics would help.

Not actually something I'd call a good rep - the price most probably is way too high. This watch looks like a CN cased model. Pearl isn't actually anything like accurate - sorry. Dial is not good either.