rolex001

Wow, what a beauty - wear it well - that is a stunning watch, may I ask what this costs?

Oh, be careful - these are not genuine - better leave the seller, he doesn't know stuff about hand pinion sizes and he seems to be a scammer. A set of these hands in "gen" would cost you around 500$.

Well, open gen papers don't have a stamp either sometimes. Fake papers are easy! They are just crap, printed badly, no watermarks, no proerply punched model numbers, no country of delivery codes, no US/EU determination code, wrong paper, wrong print technique - ever handled a gen paper and you know it... easily.

Wow, if that's not a copy of IWC's bracelet and strap attachment system...

Dial is a genuine Mark II - case probably fake.

Seems like many blind people use eBay now thanks to supportive keyboards - looks like the display aids don't work well yet.

I don't get it - what's better in an aftermarket dial than in a fake dial? Both are the same Chinese pile o'crap. Fake, Replication, Reproduction, Aftermarket, Rep, whatever you call it - it still won't have anything to do with Rolex.

Thanks for the info - but that dial looks like a Deep Sea SD dial with red writing. Fugly. The Mark VI is also a Luminova replacement, and it looked somewhat acceptable. Still, if you get your T-dial echanged for that, it's a horror.

There are four confirmed dial versions of the 1655, four hand variations and four bezel versions - and yes - two case versions too. Dials were done by Singer or Stern mostly, especially the rail dials were all made by Stern. Of course there is also the RSC Lumi dial. There is a T dial with normally shaped coronet, and one (mark I) with a tipped, very weird looking coronet. The bezels all differ in size and lengths of the intermediate I's and in the number shapes and fonts. Also the build looks different, with the RSC repalcement being a very high and massive bezel. There is a case with very wide CG's, that's the older version, and a newer version with rather short GMT Master 1675 like CG's. The hands are as mentioned either with non-bubble secodns and orange hand. The second variant is a red 24hr hand and bubble seconds and then there is the RSC Lumi replacement and a later Tritium set with again orange hand.

The minute track length looks exremely disturbing IMHO. On Comex matte dials, the minute track and markers are very close to each other (markers being more outside at the dial edge side). That's a tell tale of Stern manufactured Comex dials.

This seller I bet is the one selling all sorts of crowns - he doesn't know what he#s doing, often mixing up 603 with 602 crowns... This one is neither Trip nor Twinlock - it is a famous Chinalock - a cheap knock off, and it won't fit any gen or generic tube, just the Chinese fake tubes. Do yourself a favor and hit it with a hammer - or the seller. i just read, seller claims it's a 700 Twinlock. I bet he never saw one in person. These are extremely expensive and rare, espcially with tube. And they look completely different.

Indeed - especially at Rolex UK one sometimes hears stories about Kamal (a big collector) walking in being welcomed personally and discussing service wishes etc. Yes, there are people that Rolex listens to when it comes to service or detail info. But I bet the guys at Rolex UK learnt a lot from Kamal - who definitely knows more than Rolex. To be safe, never ask Rolex to authenticate, ask the big collectors.

Uh oh - don't mix up stuff here... transforming a GWSD into a DRSD is a point, but one still lacks the proper caseback and the serial number must be a match. There is a transitional DRSD and a transitional GWSD, true - but these were built in a small serial range and there is a range among collectors that is to be believed. Among collectors, every DRSD with a GWSD caseback is questionable at first sight, there is evidence Rolex did change some casebacks - but these are rare bees and mostly well documented. This is a Mark IV dial - nothing that special really. It's in good condition, but it's nothing anywhere near the Antiquorum stuff. There are three other dial versions that are considerably rarer and much more expensive making a 200K$ tag believeable - but def nota Mark IV DRSD. The price of this dial was okay (a little on the high side), but only because the Dollar is extremely weak at the moment. Installing it in a worn down 1665 wouldn't be a wise idea. Maybe somebody has a documented Mark I DRSD and has had the dial exchanged fora Lumi replacement at Rolex in error - and now he installs the Mark IV as an early service dial from the late Seventies. Makes the watch pricier again, still, nowhere near a full Mark I. Still, the only thing I could think of making sense. Installing it in a worn down Mark IV watch (even with papers) - the investment of 18K wouldn't pay off most probably. The story about a GWSD service dial and shifting it back to DRSD is a good point, but still, the dial was probably too expensive, it would most likely only pay off if the watch is in NOS condition with all B&P. The shown Mark IV with papers for 37,5K€ is a bit expensive... and will most likely not sell. Dial codes are difficult - Stern did use a sort of dial code, Beyeler didn't to what is known. Singer, sometimes. When Rolex entered dial making, they did use a code, but among collectors I have never seen anyone understand the codes.

Of course, they are punched via a six axis boxing machine... the basic form is stamped out of a solid block and the rest is cut with a CNC. You probably didn't ever see a Rolex case from the inside.

This is a part of my wet dreams. Wow! What did you pay for that?

Well, it has been done, I can tell you - you see that stuff advertised all the way on this forum. The whole 1:1 replica stuff is done via CNC.

Well I really hope you are not stupid enough to have an oil combustion heater in your house. But if you are swinging such nice and pardon me silly talks, I am sure you use other energy methods. Ever thought about people having to travel +50 km to work, probably not.

Of course Rolex cases are built with CNC technonolgy, or do you think that there is still a Swish watchmaker creating the shape and form with his magic enchanted hand files? Yo uare right that in early days the cases were hand finished, but not today. Sadly... the price should still allow that.

Wilsdorf did a good job with creating that name. No discussion.

You guys didn't see the gens, did you?... The holo crown on the recent reps is dead on accurate, it just loooks "more foreground" in photos because of teh different tech. In gens it is holographically lasered into the glass, on reps it is lasered on the back of the glass.

That's a very nice dial sir. But the hand, please get rid of it.

I enjoy the days as my loved Finance Minister and the oil refining monopole (and of course speculators) are having a good time on all of us. Huge taxation of gas, taxing the tax with 20% - that's how it goes. State tax income has raised by 8% (solely from gas taxation) since the gas prices were on the rise that fast (last couple of months) still the state isn't able to spend the cash somewhere useful, state still has debts en masse. They played the game for a while now here with 50% price increase on gas - and it's not going to be over anytime soon.

I tried Phongs back on an MBW case and an MBW back on a Phong case - both fit. The Phong engraving is good, don't get me wrong, I just would like to emphasize that for 450$ it's not good enough in my humble opinion... The caseback tool doesn't exactly slip, it's more like that it's difficult to put it on centered - it wobbles around and doesn't grip the full teeth. At teh base they have a bigger diameter than they should have.

It fits 100% - but as I said the opener teeth ruin the whole thing.

Often discussed - because the hour wheel, CP and seconds pinion are too small in the 2824. The 2836 iss a DD movement thus having higher pinions, allowing a datewheel overlay. On a 2824 it is doable too, but requires some tricks. Some vitnage MBW's use the 2824, but they are tricky to get to work. Reliability - choose 2836, no stuck DW's etc. That's probably the reason why they chose the 2836. Also the DW swithcing facility is different, much more robust and heavier on the 2836 - it could flip over even a slightly stuck DW - where the 2824 is very picky.