crystalcranium

You can find them for <$370 on Amazon if you look hard

Lookin at all of them....yes they are considered part of the Prospex line. Same movenemt in these as the Monster though...no hacking and manual winding. The one I'm looking at has the 6R15 23J Automatic movement. Pugs,...that Tissot is a beauty but I would never trust such a beautiful piece in the surf. This one has to be bulletproof and not so expensive that it isnt considered disposable.

Looking at a Seiko Prospex and a Chase Durer UDT Special Ops 1000 on the bay. Looks like the CD will cost about $550...a marriage strainer but it's a beauty..black PVD stainless 27 jewel ETA Quartz...gorgeous walnut display box....great look and size. The Seiko Prospex line is a sold in Japan diving line that utilizes two of Seiko's best automatic movements... 21.6K BPH and a 28.8K BPH, windable, hackable movements...a big step up in quality over the 7S26 in the "Monster" line of diving watches.

Here's the deal. Finally wore my $2500 SMP Chrono into the surf on vacation. Push button clasp is full of sand and making a disgusting noise when I operate it and the bezel got knocked loose by a big wave. It didn't come off but it wobbles and the watch will have to go in for service. For all of those who gave me grief for not wearing this watch into battle......thanks for the advice!!!! Once it's fixed, it goes under glass. My Seiko diver is a rock....$185 and it took everything I could throw at it...but it's not flashy enough for me on the beach. I'm looking for suggestions topping out at $450 for a solid diving watch, automatic or quartz, that I can wear days and evenings on vacation. So far, the Tissot Seastar 1000 line has caught my eye.

That's the answer I'm looking for

Well I suppose that means either is correct. I guess my 1665 is going to mimic a late '70s GW

T-39 Flat or domed?????

You would do better looking for unbiased reporting on movements from sites like TZ etc....Put 2892-A2 in google and see what you get. Be aware, there are many variants and clones of 2892 movements coming out of china. Some are pure junk. There are even movements that have Asian parts stacked onto genuine ETA halmarked ebauches. Be careful and ask questions. This movement retails for several hundred dollars so replicas costing $250 claiming genuine ETA 2892-A2 movements should be carefully scrutinized.

I disagree...I think an owner of a 30 year old watch who uses it might be interested at some point in getting the watch re-lumed even if this meant having a local watchmaker do it outside the bounds of strict Rolex SC guidelines. I guess this would be the equivalent of sending out the original crankshaft pulley, alternator and water pump to be chromed on your 35 year old Corvette. I can see some purists with "show points" for factory authenticity cringing....but no one would doubt it's a genuine Corvette. Just the same here...I dont think a re-lume job would scream fake watch....just an owner who had practicality in mind. Same kind of guy who would sand and refinish an 18th century Goddard-Townesend secretary...ouch

Why don't you buy a genuine 1665, remove the genuine movement, crown, case tube,bezel and insert, crystal and start your franken from there??? I haven't had my coffee yet!

I found that the right size star head screwdriver bit from your typical "multi screwdriver bit kits" fits into the case tube drive gearing almost perfectly.

According to my new rep mania way of thinking, I'd much rather spend $800 on a genuine Rolex 1570 movement to drop into my MBW 1665 than waste that much on a plated, Asian 7750 replica of a watch that needs plenty of other props to pull off at a party. I'm an MD who's married to an MD and I can tell you that among my economic tribe, solid gold, niche, luxury pieces are pretty rare. Every once in a while you'll see a "churn em and burn em" orthopedic surgeon who puts in 16 hours a day wearing an outrageous piece but for the most part, we're talking watches for $10,000 and under and 90% of those are less than $2000. I've never understood the rep buying crown who gobbles up pieces that go for 20-30-$60,000 as genuines. Unless you're Leo DeCaprio or Trump Jr, who's going to believe you drive a Ford and wear a $30,000 Breuget?

Don't know about tritium...but since you mentioned isotopic iodine before....I once put a sealed bottle of iodine (non radioactive) in a lexan box along with other toxic materials and the iodine vapors rapidly discolored the labels of the other reagent bottles as well as the lexan box...only problem is that iodine discolors a reddish brown...not yellow. I might try some yellow dye treatments but any dye coloration is going to fade with time.

I aged the crystal for 56 straight hours within 12 inches of the source. Perhaps a more gradual exposure would work better....maybe in 3-4 hour runs and then letting it rest for a day or two. The results were remarkable from a cosmetic standpoint but if high intensity/long duration results in a brittle crystal...then it's not going to be a viable methodology.

It was a high intensity disinfectant UV light in a bio-hazard safety hood...not something everyone has access to!!!!!

Heflands aftermarket...$10 here's the thread http://www.rwg.cc/members/Nanuqthe-acrylic...ked-t37361.html

The remarkable aging technique I posted for acrylic crystals last week has an interesting second chapter. As the molecular structure of the irradiated crystal slowly returned to normal.....the crystal began to craze....just a little at first...then large fissures through the dome over a period of a few days. It's amazing that the crystal was absolutely fine for 4-5 days after the exposure to the light but as the molecular structure of the acrylic slowly came down to a lower energy state...it fractured. Anyone trying this method....STOP unless you want fissures as a feature of your aged crystal.

hmmmmm...winders...my pet peeve. On a $500 budget, you should be able to get a decent Orbita 2 watch winder that will last a lifetime or you can allocate the $500 to buy 5 cheap multi watch winders over the next 10 years. The price point for a reliable, long lasting watch winder is about $125 per watch. Multi watch fine cased winders add about $100 per watch to that.

Your watch movement has a clutch that prevents overwinding of the mainspring. A rule of thumb (and forefinger) is to wind the crown 50 times to get a full power reserve.

Diamond encrusted watches???? Liberace anyone????

Sounds like a man who ground his CG into dust!!!

Yes it would be absolutely. I've been there my friend. if you are building a watch for the pleasure of creating your own piece, that's a different story, but with the terrific accuracy of the $125-$200 subs out there, there's no practical reason to try to upgrade with ebay available parts.

I didn't question the price....just the origin. Ubi told me his bracelet upgrade was in this price range. The rep bracelets are pretty close to the real deal so this would probably be the last upgrade. Maybe cooler heads will prevail world wide and no one will buy it for this price. I'd be interested to see the relisting.

http://cgi.ebay.com/100-ROLEX-FLIP-LOCK-Su...1QQcmdZViewItem $865...for a DRSD bracelet If it's the real deal....I wish I had a few bucks laying around....

Well, you and I must do lunch together...I just got an MBW 1665 and this is the ultimate. I'm getting a dial/lume job, original crown, lug hole drilling/springbar, crystal replacement treatment in phase one. Phase two will be the movement. You filed the case to depth if I remember correctly?????