alligoat

No, there's the tall crown and the squat crown, tall is vintage, both are 24-703. Both are the 'wrapped' construction Monobloc is 24-704. It also fits the 24-7030 tube. I've seen the 704 crown used on the YM and Daytonas, but I think the 703 is still used on the subs and other tool watches, but maybe the 704 is being used on everything at this point.

The taller coronets (crowns) are the older vintage ones. They are still 24-703's. The squatter crowns are newer. The taller ones would be appropriate for a 5513, 1665, 1680 and a 16800- and would be service crowns in the case of the 5513, 1665, and 1680 since these all came with 24-702 or earlier model crowns originally. Early 16800's may have also come with the 24-702 crown and tube assembly, but both of mine have the 24-703 crown and tube with the tall coronet. Rolex could care less and swaps out crowns and tubes fairly regularly when servicing a sub. So a squat crown on an old watch is just fine as far as Rolex is concerned- that's what they have available.

I put an NDT 5508 dial on the window sill in the sun for a month and it bleached it out fairly well- to a much lighter yellow. I've also used tea to stain a dial and also some light brown paint as a wash. Of course, a relume in a vintage white/ivory is the cat's meow, IMO.

On an older Rolex Date, 1570 movement, my watchmaker said the axle jewel was cracked and he had to replace it. But it's a 35 year old movement. On a newer 3135, you would think the jewel wouldn't just fall out unless it was hit pretty hard. I'd be careful going to the RSC, it'll probably run around $500+. Any decent watchmaker should be able to service it and replace the jewel for $250-300!

Andrew Shear was selling a MK4 gen, 5.25mill SN for $22,500 over at VRM yesterday. I keep thinking I've seen lesser examples for sale in the $15K range. Of course, no one has ever really questioned me about any of my reps (or gens for that matter), but like Dizzy, I stay away from the DRSD because they are so expensive these days. I opted for the GWSD rep and have enjoyed it, and I consider it a little less conspicuous. But if someone asked about one of my reps like the GWSD, I'd admit that it's like a late 70's SD but that I'd built it from parts. Good GWSD's run $9-10K these days, so what's wrong with building a good rep for $500? Reps are a great way for watchaholics to control their addiction w/o going broke or having to get divorced.

If you can open the caseback, that's what I would do. Or take it to a independent watchsmith who can. Going to a Rolex AD is a somewhat risky proposition, IMO. First off, they could easily want to charge you $25-50 just to look at the watch. And if it needs to be serviced, figure $500 minimum. A good independent watchsmith should open and close the case as a courtesy and certainly can service the watch for $200-250. BTW, E series means service history is important- it is a 20 year old watch. Mechanical watches should be serviced every 5-6 years. And the tritium is getting old- how does it glow? But it looks good to me w/o opening the caseback!

While not a great watch, it certainly presents an oppurtunity to practice or acquire modding skills. With a caseback opener, a set of screwdrivers, maybe a pair of tweezers, and some sandpaper, polish and maybe a small micro file, you could trim the crown guards. It's not that hard to do and is certainly one of the most worthwhile mods anyone can do. A $10 watchmaterial pearl would also be a good cheap repair. I personally hate seeing a bezel insert w/o a pearl in it. And that swiss 2836-2 could always be used in a better case. Maybe you buy an a21j noobmariner, trim the cg's, swap in a watchmaterial pearl and put in your 2836-2 (I'd swap in the dial, hands and movement altogether). Then you'd have a nicer beater, along the lines of what cht has. But if you really like the Submariner, it's probably best to just get in line w/ bklm1234 and get the TW Best sub that he's putting out these days. It'll run in the $400+ range, I would imagine, but is well worth it. BTW, the date mag on your watch is fine but the '8' is slightly low in the date window. The etched crown on the crystal at 6 o'clock is pretty noticeable, too.

Looks OK to me, but I can't really see the dial. Bezel insert is fine, crown and tube look good, cg's also. Bracelet is correct from what I can see (should be a 93150 w/ I believe 501B ends). Opening up the caseback is always a good idea, but if the seller is reputable it's really not a big deal. Service history is another question. When I buy a used Rolex, I always figure in a price of a service.

Great tutorial, Chi! Thanks for sharing.

I think it serves Rolex right. If they weren't such aholes in their own right, maybe Swatch would sell them parts. Of course Swatch has adopted the ahole policy themselves in the last 2-3 years.

+1 on jmb! I can enlarge existing holes, but for virgin holes, I turn to jmb.

+1 for nice job on a first build. I wonder if a very very light tea stain on the hands would get you closer to the ivory of you dial. Freddy has some good bracelet suggestions, but your existing bracelet looks close to a 78360 which would also be correct for the later model 1016's. These watches were produced up until around 1990- kind of like the 5513- those simple watches had good runs. So after 1976 or so, a 78360 would be a correct bracelet.

I'd figure $12,000 wholesale and $15,000 retail. Ebay is always a good place to check prices- they run $10K to $20K for unworn new. 2009 would be just about out of warranty.

The 6238 pictured in 'Rolex Daytona, a legend is born' is simply labeled Rolex. Below the 6 o'clock subdial it says -T Swiss T-. There is also no tachometer scale- just minute hash marks with 4 smaller marks between each minute marker. The text says, "The second and more rare series, with two toned dials and serial numbers up to approximately 950,000, forecasts what would become the more sporty Rolex COSMOGRAPH ref. 6239."

Or get a knife in there and separate them. If the tolerances are too tight, you may have do to some sanding afterwards. The snap fit is a very tough thing to gauge- but you don't want to over sand it.

Mil_sub just got a 2836-2 movement from that seller and put it in a frankenjust. It worked out fine AFAIK. The seller told him it was NOS, but it had recently been serviced.

There is a picture of a 6238 in 'Rolex Daytona', an early one, with a black dial and white/silver subdials. This would be in the 800,000+ SN range, around 1962-3. Around 1,000,000 (1964) on they were all silver or all black dials.

Don't forget to drill the lugholes so you can fit the 2mm springbars in there.

No three dots under the crown means 700. 702 and 703 have the 3 dots!

Sounds like it to me. George was around earlier on w/ earlier models of subs, but the rep guys like us didn't really start following him til BK took up selling his stuff, etc. I don't know if any of the sub reps had gen bezel construction until the WM9-V1.

The best current DW overlay is on the PT 1665 or PT 1680- the silver overlay with flat top 3's and open 6's and 9's. But I'm not aware of Angus, Puretime, selling spare parts.

The closest thing would be the A serial Euromariner from Chris at ETZ which came out 2-3 years ago. It's basically an MBW case, probably says Orig Polex Design between the lugs- I haven't looked lately and can't remember for sure. Once you get the kinks out, it is a nice watch- an earlier 16610.

Ah, the Mirage III, it's certainly one of my favorites. When I broke a pusher, I sent it back to Howard at West Coast Time. For a service of a 7750 here in the USA, I would figure $250-300, plus parts- any qalified watchmaker should be up to it.

$100 seems fair to me- it's a nice MBW dial- gilt, and certainly worth more than $50.

Up early, eh J! I'm starting out with the 16800 beater (gen), but may change shortly