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since this newer bracelet is essentially the same as the older (smaller loops) with the 2mm spingbars jammed in, is it plausable that they warped the endlinks when forcing the bars in? man, I was hoping for a better solution. I have the "older" one too and was hoping to figure out a way to get 2mm in there too. I wonder if I jammed some better quality springbars (with stronger pins) in mine instead of the cheaper ones...

and how about $1000 for a gen 8mm brevet rolex crown!

holy smokes! I wanted to bid on it yesterday when it was like $20!

Perry, here's my gen 6538 service dial I scored.

I ordered mine 2 weeks ago. He makes them per order... Mine should be here in about 2 days or so, so I'll have more info once it arrives. I went ahead and ordered it with the riveted stretch bracelet in case I want to dress it up compared to my corvus NATO.

Beautiful...I've always been very fond of the wempe Rad. But, it always seems to be pushed back on my watch priority list.

It's the standard lo beat asian mvmt in there... yup, a 42mm. I think it's the wide angle of my lens that makes it look massive in the pic. thanks! I think the next mod will be to relume the dial and hands, and to dye that ugly white crystal gasket black!

what do you think can be improved besides the case?

thanks!!! Yes, the dial is stunning indeed... I think that's what sells it. The gold has been doing fairly well for a watch that's almost 20 years old. The case, bezel, and crown still look amazing, but the gold on the bracelet's center links are showing some fading. How does the date wheel look? The funny thing is it still keep fantastic time and never been serviced!

I finally got around to posting a pic of my Br-03 military I received from Sead. Since I can never leave anything stock, I immediately started my modding process the same day. First thing was to tear it down completely and send the case to my man, Avitt, for the DLC treatment. As I was waiting for it to return, the crystal went off to get a nice double AR, dial screws painted black, and seconds pinion painted. Upon receiving the case back from Avitt, the frosting arrived: a Gen B&R olive drab nylon strap. enjoy.

I dug up my first rep from 1992 that an uncle brought back for me from Thailand. I always thought it looked pretty good (and still do!), but I'd like to hear from the experts how this older DJ compares to today's modern rep. thanks for helping me with a blast from the past!

yes, there are great reps. Here's mine that I recently sold to a member... I'm def missing it.

ha! it's a OEM OD 19

thanks everyone... toomuchgear: how much more should I take off the CGs? any pics? dial and hands were aged using water sandpaper, spit and shine, and some special lume recipe. I've been playing with vintage PAMs for a while, and even though this was my first Rolex vintage project, it seems like old hat to me.

First Rolex modding venture: I've chased after the idea of a 6538 big crown for some time. I finally decided to pull the trigger after I had some positive feedback form members here on rwg. I started with Yuki's 6538 case set complete with big crown, upgraded bezel, and riveted stretch bracelet. I'm didn't want to jump right into modding a $850 case set without a little practice first. So, I ordered up a cheap 5517 from Trevor and had at it. Softened all the sharp edges, soaked the insert in pool chlorine, cleaned up the CGs a bit, softened the dial and relumed and recolored the indices, and "gilted" the hands. I chose this method of reluming since I read that the tritium in the indice's and hand's integrity tend to degrade over time. I confirm this with a simple google search. I'm not a fan of super clean lines on indices as it tends to make it too new looking. Not bad for a first effort.

Thanks, Nanuq! That photo of the MBW says it all. Paying for the Yuki ASAP!

no, it's actually engraved. It came from a cali I bought from ubid several years ago. I have a dsn molnija with foil overlays which are quite inferior.

thanks, everyone, for your help. I'm torn if I should get the Yuki and hope to one day get a good 1030 for a decent price, or... get a MBW 6538 and mod it with a new crystal, a MY bezel and insert, a NDT dial and hands, drill the lug holes, age it and call it a day. hmmm...

Thanks, Freddy for you input! so, is there a eta non-Rolex 1030 movement I can use?

I'm on the verge of buying a Yuki 6538 case set...finally. But wanted to see if anyone has had any success fitting a non-original 1030 c. Rolex movement in one. And if so, what movement dis they use and was an adaptor ring required? My budget is shot on watches for a while and it's going to be some time before I can spring $2K plus on an original ROlex 1030. So if anyone can shed some light for me if it's possible, or if I'm just spinning my wheels. thanks for the help!

hands came from Helena Rou and were modded to accept the molnija CP.

Great job!!! I'm doing another one for another member as we speak!

answered some of your questions above...

Took me about a solid week to complete and I am very happy with the results. I guess I owe the community a little explanation of what was done to this watch to to get it to where it currently is. -I tore the watch completely down. -modded the dial cleaning up the somewhat messy text paint while softening the dial's gloss. -stripped the lume off the backplate and hands and custom painted them to get a realistic vintage amber to them. -painted the seconds hand white like many of the gens -shortened the case tube so the crown would sit closer to the case per gen -worked and re-worked the CG to get it to fit the case a bit better. -custom made the new CG pin and rounded and polished it. -re-shaped the lugs to accurately mirror the gen ones in a pic I found. Not the exact shape as the gen, but close enough with the limted amount of material and space I had to work with on the case. -softened all sharp edges of the case to depict realistic wear -sent the case and buckle to Avitt to have it AgO blasted; texturizing and darken it. -aged the case and buckle -fabricated a custom spacer to allow the crystal to sit 1.5mm taller -replaced the pop-in pearl with my own recipe Only things left to do is find some vintage push pins to replace the modern springbars and couple the entire project with a nice vintage style strap! Enjoy the pics... OK, here's what we started with from DSN Notice the shape of the lugs in this pic chop shopped Here's my inspiration check out the gen's lug's shape and here's mine interpretation and my newly re-shaped lugs -

Thanks everyone for the kind words. It's actually duracoated as Avitt and I determined DLC/PVD to not be feasable with the mutli-piece bezel markers. The double AR was done by my local optometrist and cost $30! no man, no 7753 in this one. I think it was just the angle shot. and yes, a lume job is in my future! thanks again for the props! p.s. more pics to come...