JoeyB

I'm as old as Methuselah and hadn't even heard of one until that! Learn something new every day. Thanks.

I saw this while looking for something else. I didn't know they had cloned the ETA 2892A2. Anyone have one? Is the clone any good? It would make quite a replica Omega and others as well. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Clone-ETA-2892-2892A2-automatic-movement-full-compatiable/221531182791?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131017132637%26meid%3D5ac35f17a76d493f82cd49faec422f61%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D20131017132637%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D400512701397

Get the lume you want. Both RA and I use a water base acrylic glow paint, and thin it a bit further with water. Then take a picture of your dial or off the net and print up a few. Then practice on them. I've used everything imaginable to apply, from toothpicks to oilers, and tiny artists brush. I'm too old and shaky to make a straight line. Fortunately, many of the old gen gilt dials I have seen were done by someone with the same affliction! For me, a nib (the calligraphy pen) works best. It gives me the control and comfort I need at my advanced age! I use that on the 6 and 9 straight markers, and the coronet at 12. For the hour markers on gilt dials I use a round toothpick, or one of those skinny bamboo skewers for shish-ka-bobs, flatten the tip to about the size of the marker inside the surround, lightly dip in the lume and lightly touch as close to center as I can. A little practice makes almost a perfect circle every time. Be brave! If you think of something that makes sense to you, try it. If it works tell the rest of us! If it doesn't work tell us anyway so we don't!

Yep!

Yes, in Paris. PM is likely best.

Don't believe a word of it, I deny everything! You might try RolexAddict. I don't know if he is backed up with work or not, but his lume work is beautiful.

Both the ETA and DG hand stack are correct for the Rolex 1675 and 6542. The hand stack changed with the 16750. 6542, 1675: GMT/Hour/Minute/Second 16750 and since: Hour/GMT/Minute/Second

I get 38.23mm on the Tiger V2 and 38.27 on the cartel 1655. Now this is both cases having been worked on. In the pictures, the 2nd bezel has been 'aged' by scotchbrite' so the brass shows, but that can't be much of a measurement. The overhang seems to be about the same.

Tiger V3 comes with a mineral glass crystal, so it is unknown at this point if it can be converted to the acrylic crystal or not.

As pictured, I found the Tiger case and the 1655 cartel case to be the same 38mm, and the bezel fit both the same as well. The shape of the Tiger looks better to me than the cartel, the end of the lugs are more curved.

...so I figured I'd write up a little tutorial based on info I've scrounged up. Hope it helps! First things first, the case. I agree for the most part. My very first case/bezel was from Silix, as was freddy333's very first 6542 that I copied. Since then we've grown a bit. We have cases that do use the gen style crystal/bezel mount. I find this set-up to be much preferred. The PT 6542 is gen style crystal mount, but the rest of the case is not good at all. I have built both the cartel 1655 and the Tiger V2 versions now, and favor the Tiger V2 better shape, but was informed this past week by Rafflestime, onlinestorehk and Tiger Concepts that the V2 is no longer available. That leaves the cartel 1655 case as the current 'best choice'. With the crown guards ground off, and case slimming, mine is 38mm. This is also the one RolexAddict uses. The crown should not need redrilling/tapping. The 6mm gen should fit either case as is. The original crystal was a 25-115, but they are no longer in production, and when you can find a gen, it is expensive. The 25-116 is used as the replacement by Rolex. I find the Clark's 25-116 to be very close to the gen, and substantially less expensive. After about two weeks of wear, my clumsy ways will take that gen sparkle to no-man's land. 1655: Tiger V2: Next, the dial. Yep, any gen 6542 dial will need to either be mounted on a gen Rolex movement, or have the step ground off flat to fit ETA or DG movements. I learned that the hard way when I destroyed a gen dial tring to get it to work on an ETA movement. But that led me to make my own from water slide decals. Essentially anything you can picture you can make a decal of. If your printer prints your photos, it will print dials. I bought a Canon Pixma 9600 dpi printer foe $150usd a few years back to get 'better' prints, and it just made puddles, too much ink. I backed that off to 5000 dpi now, and it is very good. Get a picture, adjust to your heart's content in your photo program, size, print, seal using Krylon Crystal Clear because the other sealers make the ink run. Apply, dry, lume. I use a water based acrylic 'Glow Paint' that gives the texture if Tritium on my dials and the inserts. You can color with kid's water color paint. Practice makes it better. Inkjet does not print white, so you can use white decal paper, or clear, as I do, and let the dial surface show through. With the decal, the 1655 has a real advantage in that you can use the dial that comes with it and simply 'refinish' it. The decal as printed on clear, the white is just the paper backing: Next, the hands. Agreed, I like Clark's as well, but he doesn't have them for the DG movement., I never noticed the longer hour hand! Now I have yet another quest, dammit! The longer minute hand can be had from Helenarou. It is the same length as the GMT hand, from center of mount to tip, 13mm. Current minute hands are 12mm. Rafflestime has the GMT hand that Ken and I worked on together, but it needs a touch of trimming at the tip. I measured the triangle at 1.3mm X 1.5mm X 1.5mm. For $50 less, I'll use 1500 grit sandpaper and trim. Next, the movement. My 1655 based 1675 and 6542 use the DG3804B movement. RolexAddict uses this movement on his builds as well. Finding the parts to convert the ETA to GMT function can be difficult. But this is where the cartel 1655 has the advantage. you can order the DG or the ETA, and all the internal case parts fit as designed. Refinish the dial, and you use the same spacers, case rings, clamps. etc. No crown height or clearance issues common to 6542 builds. And if you want the slow beat ETA 2846, it is the same configuration as the Asian ETA 2836, and you can transfer the GMT parts. It all fits. Finally, the bracelet. This is very much personal preference. I think that a 60 year old watch is likely to not have the original folded or riveted bracelet. Having a newer bracelet is not a problem to me at all. Another finally! Any date wheel overlay is a real pain. If someone can devise an easier method to line it up properly, let us all know! My first one was made by 'plucking' each number from a picture on line, and pasting it using my photo shop program. It worked, but not really great. In this thread many helped to make a proper vintage overlay, and I colored it. http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/150660-vintage-dwos/page-2?hl=%20overlay I print it at 3000dpi, 205mm diameter on clear, self sticking mailing label. I paint the overlay the background color I want. Use at your own risk: Print, peel and stick. repeat. Print, peel and stick. repeat. Print, peel and stick. repeat. Print, peel and stick. repeat.

Thank you! Yep, I like the serifs so they are on all the markers, and the overlay fonts. I'm too old for this stuff. After making an insert it takes about half an hour for my eyes to work right. When I lume it takes almost a full day! Trust me when I say, if I can do it, ANYONE can. With lume all you need to do is what kids in 1st grade learn to do. Stay in the lines! Easier said than done. I've used all sorts of things to lume with, oilers and toothpicks and an itsy-bitsy expensive paint brush that actually worked well, but the nib pen, like used for calligraphy, works best for me. Control, familiar pen grip, and good sized points available. For the inserts and the dial lume I use a water based acrylic 'Glow Paint', much like RolexAddict uses. It has the 'crusty' look we need. So when I go out of the lines, a wet Q-tip gives me a 'do-over'.

Thank you! According to the chart in this link, and what I've seen, the 6542 had the 6mm crown, and the 1675 went to the 5.3mm crown. I have the 5.3mm on my 1675 and it is a pain in the...fingers. http://stefanomazzariol.blogspot.com/search/label/Rolex%20GMT-Master%20ref.%206542

My latest 6542. Tiger V2 case, ETA 2846 movement, Clark's crystal, GMT hand and 6mm Brevet crown from Rafflestime, 13mm minute hand from Helenarou. Dial, overlay, bezel and insert are home made.

The DG2813 is the non-GMT movement. I don't know if they are converted/modified to GMT or if they are called the wrong number. The correct number for GMT is DG3804B. That should be a direct replacement for your watch. If you went with an ETA movement you'd need new hands, the DG hands won't fit. Repairing a DG movement is not worth the time and effort even if you can find the parts.

It looks as though the TigerV2 case is no longer available. Rafflestime, onlinestorehk and Tiger Concepts all have told me that the V2 case is no longer available. The profile of the helenarou case looks good, but I have no idea if it is a plexi crystal, or if it is, if it mounts as the gen does with the retainer.

I have a theory, and subsequent questions. While I'm more familiar with the 6542, I think that the older Submariners using the Rolex 1030 movement and the earlier movements had the same 'snap-on' mount of the dial to the movement. I know I tried to make a genuine 6542 dial work on an ETA movement in my first build, and had to grind down the lip on the dial.Those genuine Rolex dials are 26.5mm. The early 6542 and Subs used a 13mm minute hand, which is one mm longer than the later and current minute hand. On the 6542 the GMT hand is also 13mm. Both are 13mm from center mount to the tip, which reaches the chapter ring on the old gilt dials. 13mm would be the radius of the chapter ring, making the diameter of the chapter ring 26mm. The genuine 26.5 dial doesn't leave any room for the dial to butt up against the rehaut, as later dials do. Does the genuine 26.5 snap-on dial then fit just inside the rehaut? It seems to me that it has to. And if so, then the 28mm dial used in the Hong Kong 'Tiger' case is accurate in that at least 2mm, 1mm bigger than the chapter ring all around, is necessary to butt up against the back of the rehaut. Probably a little more. That makes the 28mm or 29mm dial used accurate looking in that only 26.5 - 27mm actually shows. The 6542 I am currently building is using the Hong Kong Tiger V2 case. I make my own dials using water-slide decals. The Tiger V2 case measures 38mm. The dial that fits the Tiger V2 case is 28mm, butting up against the back of the rehaut. But the chapter ring at 26mm just does allow the 'SWISS' to show at the bottom. I've not held nor seen a genuine 1030 movement, genuine dial or genuine 6542 or 6538, so all I can do is look at pictures and speculate what they are like. But is sure seems to me that when building a replica using an ETA or DG movement, a dial to fit the movement and the replica case, the final 'look' is the same size as the genuine. Does that make sense?

First, which method worked? I think that the movement now needs to be serviced. The best method I've found for servicing a DG movement is to de-case the movement. Place the movement on your work bench. Face side up. Then take a 40oz ball pein hammer and smash the SOB to bits. Use a hand wisk and dust pan to collect the mess, Deposit in the trash (not recycle - we might get some of it back from China). Buy a new one. This past April they were $27.95 from Borel, but now I see they went up a bunch at both Borel and Frei, but still cheap. https://storefront.julesborel.com:8443/storefrontCommerce/itemDetail.do?itm_id=343331&itm_index=0&orderQty=1&cust_item=DG%203804-B%20MVT http://www.ofrei.com/page1119.html

Are those all genuine cases?

The pin may be 'hung up' or stuck. Try lightly/gently 'pumping' the pin in and out with a 0.80 screwdriver or something similar. I had one that was stuck in the 'down' or 'in' position, the stem wouldn't lock in - opposite of your issue - and managed to get it to spring back up.

I think there are alternatives. And it might be better by 'trimming' the lugs:

It looks like a 16710, the 'retro' edition from Josh, his part number RLGS 10007.. It was my very first buy 6 years ago last May. With the 'Swiss' ETA 2836-2 it sold for $278.00usd. It is not a 'Transformer' from Josh. I don't know what factory it came from, but at the time, it was one of the best 'out of the box'. I still have mine, though I re-cased it and used a gen-style bezel/crystal, and genuine insert. http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/144657-making-a-gen-style-16710-case-out-of-a-16570-case-and-tw-bezel-assembly/page-2

I've seen all 3 ways, just the plain '6542' number alone : And the 'Brevet +' : And then my current build, in which the engraving is a little too thick:

Thank you. Inconsistency in the genuine Rolex is really a bit of a blessing for us. It makes it easier to build an 'accurate' vintage. freddy333 found quite a few of those inconsistencies when he did the first replica 6542. Evidently I felt compelled to find more...