alligoat

Nice job, A! And your cost breakdown is very informative- helpful for showing people what they're in for when they undertake a franken build. When you consider a real DRSD would run $15,000-20,000+, your costs aren't too bad. The only other thing you could do is fit a gen dial, but who knows what one of those would cost! Congrats and wear it in good health.

Another great job, Chi! I'm loving it.

I'm with kbh, you have to check the movements first. The inserts don't bother me, the crowns look good, but it's hard to tell with the dials because of the picture quality. Cases also need some further inspection. Prices are OK if everything checks out, but you have to be sure they're not frankens.

I used a 2824-2 in a 1601 case when I built my 1016 rep/franken- but it had a flat dial, not a pie pan dial. It might be that a 2836-2 would fit with the pie pan dial. Once again, stilty is the go to guy for this kind of stuff. I used one of his rings in my watch.

I'm certainly liking the 7032 more. Don't know if it's because I've seen it so much lately, it certainly has the classical sizes and proportions- I agree the oyster bracelet looks better. And I guess the Heritage is bigger, but I'm partial to the 40mm chronos

Very nice K! Did you use a stilty ring to secure the 2892-2? A 1500 Date takes the T-117 with a cyclops or the T-13 w/o it.

You certainly can't go wrong with the watch from King. You age the hands and dial, put a better insert on it and you're good to go.

The 2846-2 is the simplest- hands fit, same size as a 2836-2.

Why not just buy a 6538 with the eta in it from Yuki? You can always swap out the dial and the insert if you don't like them. http://www.yukiwatch.com/catalog/item/7617720/8453041.htm

Try raffles-time on the bay http://cgi.ebay.com/Submariner-Watch-Hands-DG2813-Merc-Benz-/160552862105?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2561b24199

Looks like a sub case to me and that's probably your first problem. Like you say, a gen dial will be too small and won't fit. I don't know if you can find a decent rep dial to fit in there. Someone had mentioned Josh coming out with a better 1675 this year (or was it Angus?), but don't know if it's happened yet. But that doesn't help you much. freddy333 sent a rep dial over to David Young-Classic Watch parts in HK to get it redone a few years ago- that's an option, but I would think it would run $200 by the time all is said and done with postage etc. Your best bet is going to be to age the watch- esp. the dial, case, bezel and insert. And then enjoy it. There's just not much else you can do.

To remove the crown guards, I'm thinking you'd have to remove the bezel. At that point you'd see how the bezel assembly is put together- did they copy the Rolex assembly for the 5513/1680? The 8mm big crown would be interesting and I kinda like your idea of vintage lume- imitating a 30-40 year old watch. Thanks for sharing with us.

Yep, looks like a 295 C crystal with the AR coating and the C-1 gasket.

the Zodiacs on the bay w/ the 75 movt. are running $500-600+ http://cgi.ebay.com/ZODIAC-Airspace-GMT-24hours-MILITARY-DIVERES-WATCH-60S-/220562085739?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item335a86576b http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Zodiac-Aerospace-GMT-Mens-Watch-Automatic-/160546079646?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item25614ac39e But maybe one might come along which you can snag for less. Beware of the 2846-2's which have the GMT conversion like on my 6542 rep- my watchmaker referred to it as a 'decorative' GMT hand- it doesn't make a revolution in 24 hours like it should. A 2836-2 with the GMT hand might be a better bet, or you take your chances with an asian 21j movt- it is slow beat so to speak- 21.6K.

Your case dates from 1984. The best movement is a 2836-2 because it takes the datewheel overlay the most easily. Stilty has the adapter rings, he's on this forum. It might also be able to get them from raffles-time on the bay, but I don't know how they work. You want to use a gen dial if possible, a rep dial might be too big to fit. You cut off the gen dials feet and glue it to the movement ring or the movement spacer. You'll need eta hands to fit Tudor- you can buy them from Clark's for around $15- nostalgia_2000 on the bay. Rolex hands won't fit an eta movement. datewheel overlays can be found at cubic-works.com- they're in HK. I'm not sure if you can fit a 2892-2 in a DJ case. Maybe with a stilty spacer ring- you'd have to ask him. Good luck

Thanks guys. The only thing about this watch is that it's relatively pristine. The case dates from around 1963 as I recall, and is in good shape with almost polished lugs (not brushed) and of course the bezel is new, smooth and shiny, NOS crown, new hands and a cool matte dial. I'm assuming Rolex quit making these around 1990 about the time the 5513 went out of production. So 1016's are anywhere from 20 to 50 years old. Like the 5513, it had a pretty good run and is a tribute to the simple clean design that is vintage Rolex. I have no plans to vintagize this watch, I'm just going to wear it and enjoy it and try not to tear it up.

I have to blame my buddy LHOOQ for this in large part. His beautiful 1016's have inspired me in this build. And in addition, he was most gracious in passing on one of his surplus dials to me. It's a very beautiful rep dial which has been relumed in a fine 'vintage bone white color'. From there I picked up an old 1601 DJ case and a gen 24-600 crown and went to work. Next, I turned to a faithful compadre, jmb, and had a sweet bezel turned to fit the 1601 case and the Clark's flat top T-22 crystal. At that point it was a matter of putting together a few more parts and I was there. I had an old Swiss 2824-2 which, from all indications would fit in the 1601 case, a set of Clark's hands with good lume, and an old Hadley Roma croc/leather strap which I added a Yuki Rolex buckle to and I was almost there. But I needed one more piece to the puzzle, a spacer ring so that the 2824-2 would sit properly in the 1601 DJ case. To the rescue, stilty appeared and sent me a 1520 ring. With that, I was able to anchor the 2824-2 in the DJ case securely and complete my 1016 build. It's been a fun build. I love the lume on the dial and hands. I finally got to use the surplus Swiss eta 2824-2 which I'd had for 4-5 years (it didn't fit in a 16014 franken build from years gone by) and the watch passed the WR test at the watchmakers. The only thing I didn't do is drill the lugholes- they're just a little too close to the edge and it wasn't that big a deal for me. I may put the rep 7836 bracelet on it, but I do like the leather/croc strap. This has been an economy build, but it still ran $400-500 depending on whether or not you count the surplus parts that went into it. I like to think of it it as an updated 1016 with the improved motor (2824-2). Thanks to my buddies for their help. Sorry about the pics, but the watch looks a whole lot better than the pics.

Actually the silver datewheels only occurred on the early 16800's- around 6 million SN. After that they were white as on my 7.2 million on the left. I do agree that the coronets on the Yuki and NDT dials aren't as tall as the gens. But finding gen matte dials without paying too much is tough these days. The watch on the right is my 16800 franken with a Ziggy relumed gen dial, open 6's and 9's datewheel, noob case with drilled lugholes and a gen 93150 w/ 593 end pieces. You should be able to fit a 3035 movement in any sub case that takes an eta 2836-2. A noob case is good in that the rehaut is shallower than that of the WM9 V2. The 16800 gen case has a shallower rehaut than the 16610. The drawback to the noob case is the bezel construction- it's nowhere near the gen construction that you see on the WM9 V2 case. Bezel construction on the gen 16800 and 16610 are the same and use the same identical parts- from the crystal to the whole bezel assembly including the insert. Bezel inserts have changed though with tritum inserts going out around 1999 and SL coming in after a brief run of luminova around 2000.

Like hava, I found out that not all V72 movements are the same. By that I mean that the plates aren't all 13 ligne. My Heuer was too big for the DW case. When I switched to a Wittnauer, everything was peachy. Here's a pic of the Heuer on the left- case measures 38mm and the plates of the movement were too big according to two watchmakers.

this watch from andrew has the 7836 folded link bracelet http://www.yourtrustytime.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_103&products_id=6588 Buy the watch and bracelet, sned me the watch, or maybe he's sell you the bracelet only. I also have heard of Mary over at Watches International being able to source it, you could check with her.

The OEM SD insert is smaller than a 16610 (16800) insert. If it doesn't fit in the SSD bezel, you have to file it down along the edge, carefully and slowly. I've even heard of people touching up the black paint afterwards. Ironically, the noob sub bezel is the same, you have to file down a gen insert (or decent aftermarket)to get it to fit in the noob bezel- PITA!

5513 started with a 1530 in the early 60's and then switched to a 1520 around the mid 60's. I'm with freddy, anything's possible w/ vintage Rolex, but 1570 movts in a 5513 are rare and unusual. Certainly not SOP.

What about the SN on the other end of the watch? L341,xxx. The early MBW 1680's were marked 5513 and had an 'L' serial which of course is totally all wrong. But real 5513's ran til circa 1990, hence the L serial which MBW copied from a real case.

It's really pretty easy ordering on line and my order took around one week to get to me.

You know J, I'm wondering if you shaved a little off the outsides of the cgs if it would make them look taller Here's a gen here's my 1680- skinny cgs coming up 1/2way on the crown I think the problem with the rep cgs is they're too fat! Trim the insides (if required) and skinny up the outside edges.