alligoat

Well my PT 6542 arrived yesterday PM and, yes, the rehaut is definitely wokky! And as was previously pointed out, the GMT hand leaves something to be desired- the pointer is just a slab of shiny metal with no lume on it. I've already had a few movement issues. The GMT hand appears to be slipping on it's pinion. When I first set the time yesterday, the seconds hand was working fine, but the minute hand and hour hand weren't moving. This morning I uncased the movement to measure the dial. The diameter of the dial is 27.0mm, .3mm less than Yuki's 6542 dial which is 27.3mm. I couldn't budge the stem in the crown, but when I put the watch back together the minute hand and hour hand started working! But it looks like the GMT may still be slipping. The movement is a 2846, with 17 jewels. Engravings aren't very clear and I can't help but wonder if the chinese haven't copied this movement. But I will have to let the watchmaker tell me if it is swiss or not. I figure a cleaning and service is in order as well as a new GMT hand. The other drawback to the case is the poor positioning of the holes in the lugs They sit on the high side of the lugs and are small. The bracelet is OK, and I measured the springbars- 1.74mm thick, with pivots of .9mm. Not the 2mm /1.2mm pivots I had thought was correct for this model. The 7206 is expandable but may be a little thick as freddy pointed out previously. The plastic crystal isn't very tall either, but date mag is good. DW is silver colored background w/ flat top 3's, (open 6's and 9's as I recall). I haven't pulled off the bezel yet, but the edge treatment is decent- coin edged as expected. Insert is so-so- too new if anything, as is the whole watch- a good dose of aging is definitely a must and a new case would be great. It looks like the GMT hand is moving now and the watch continues to keep time!

Beautiful job Chi! Sure beats the heck out of buying a gen for $10K-15K, IMO!

I'm in an Explorer I mood, but this is the closest I can get for right now.

Nice, and now you've got a gen swiss eta/valjoux 7750- tweaked by Breitling- should be a dependable beater for many years.

Thanks for the 'timely' update M. It's been a most enjoyable Sunday morning read!

1500 case and a 5500 Air King case are somewhat similar. Both are 34 mm. And of course, the 5500 Explorer is the little brother to the 1016. Yuki has the dials(for a 5500)and I believe a T-13 is the non-cyclops crystal for a 1500 case. The 5500 dial is 28.3mm or so, so a standard set of hands should work- it's certainly a bigger dial than a 5513 or 1680 dial. Not sure which movement works, but I think it's either a 2824-2 or a 2836-2 so that's pretty simple. 1500 might have a 5.3mm case tube, but it would still be the 6mm crown- just the one that fits a 5.3mm tube.

I've seen a 3035 in a noobmariner case and a couple of weeks ago I saw where someone had fitted a 3035 movement in a 16610 case- don't know how they did it. But the 3135 most closely approximates the 2824-2 movement, so anything that takes a 2824-2 could probably take a 3135. Unfortunately rep maker typically use the 2836 and dg2813 and not the 2824. I'd stick with trying to find a WM9 V3 case or the WM9 YM which took the 2824-2 movement. Or you could do like the asians do and stick it in an aftermarket gold case and build a gold DJ for 1/2 price. BKLM1234 would be another person to talk to.

FWIW, I've quit building high priced frankens like this. You can still purchase decent everyday gen beaters - 1675's- in the 4K+ range, so why bother with a $2500+ franken. Now an $800 franken makes more sense. But you've got to decide. For beaters, I'm trying to stay in the $500-750 range.

I'm thinking a roulette DW predates the 1600/1601 DJ- like the 66xx DJ. 1601 TT would have a champagne DW with flat top 3's, open 6's & 9's maybe.

As LHOOQ pointed out- no serif on the 7's- every Rolex has a little turndown on the front edge of the 7- heck, even ubi's bezel doesn't have it in his fonts nor does my 6239 albino. But some of the older DW bezels do have it- one step forward...

Since the OD of the crowns is around 6mm, you have to measure the tube. That means removing the crown and stem and checking the tube with your calipers. You could buy a 6.0mm tube and a 5.3mm tube from Ofrei to help you compare. Or you buy a 6.0mm crown and a 5.3mm crown and use whichever works. A set of taps would also be a good investment as well as the case tube wrench for installing them. If it's a one shot deal, you need to find a watchmaker to help you so it only costs you say $50 or so all told, maybe $60- $40 for the crown and $20 to install it- certainly no more than $80- 50/30.

Nice looking pair of watches, A! I especially like the SD with the gen dial.

6mm crowns are a little tricky. If you're trying to put a gen 6mm crown on a rep, you're going to have to determine what the case tube is first. If it is the 5.3mm case tube, a 603 crown will work. If your rep has a 6mm case tube, you'll need a 24-602 crown which is an older crown. The difference is the size of the hole in the case- a 5.3mm case tube goes in a 2.5mm x .25 hole and the 6mm tube goes in a 3.0mm x .35 hole. The 6mm hole is the same size as the hole for a 24-7030 tube. Most of the sellers on the bay have no clue about the difference between a 602 and a 603! I've got a spare 603 crown even though I specifically asked if it was a 602 crown.

Thanks guys for the kind words. It's funny how sometimes the 'off the wall' builds are the most fun. Joey, the gen 6542 came from Watches in Rome- have no idea what it sold for, just loved the pic so I borrowed it. I'd figure a watch like this would run in the $20,000-40,000 range. I'm with you on the genuine replicas! 6-8 months ago I saw a 6542 1035 movt for sale for $1500 on VFR. Sure it would be a $3000+ build by the time all was done, but it sure beats $20,000+. And as someone said, almost all of these 6542's have one or more flaws- can't help it on a 50+ year old watch, especially since Rolex doesn't support their vintage watches.

It certainly would be unbelievable if it turns out to be real!

Here's another pic for you D. Black insert, big GMT hand, who knows if it's real

The 6542 is pretty popular these days. Freddy and JoeyB have put together some nice examples PT is coming out with his rendition at what is a really good starting price, where you go from there is up to you and your wallet. Some of these gens are up there in the stratosphere I'm sure most of us would rather not know what this example is worth- like I say stratosphere- reminds me of Jackie Gleason, "to the moon Alice" So last month I saw a 6542 rendition by Donerix and I figured the poor man's 6542 was for me, at least for a while. So I started with a cheap GMT from Paul which I had bought previously hoping the dial said 'Oyster Perpetual" and not 'Oyster Perpetual Date' like so many of the 1675 dials do. Sure enough when this one arrived, it said 'Oyster Perpetual Date'- just what I didn't want. Another chinese communication breakdown! And the case is a 5517 with the sloped cyclops- scrap the case! I tried like heck to pop the bezel and finally gave up, it wouldn't budge. Luckily I had an old sub case with lugholes from one of my early chinese red 1680 subs. So I headed out to the workshop and went to grinding and filing and polishing and took off the crown guards, it was a 45 minute chore. Then I glued on a spare crystal which happened to fit- no cyclops. Next I tried to fit a 5.3mm tube in the case- quick set epoxy since it was a 6mm hole (actually 3.0mm vs 2.5mm). That worked for 3-4 days. In the meantime I boogered up the keyless works on the CN movt. The watchmaker charged me $30 to fix the 'detent' button. But the next time I went to adjust the time, the epoxy gave out and the tube came out with it. So I had no 6mm crowns and decided that given the low budget parameters of this build, a 7mm crown and tube was in order. Hence, the Big Crown 6542. I realize that there are a few shortcomings, but on a $130 build, you just have to press on. I realize that the black bezel insert didn't come out until the 1675, maybe mid 60's. And the bezel itself is all wrong, but the ROLS176 just isn't to be currently had and I'm not about to start filing the bezel. GMT hand is too big, but enough. It was a fun build and if the CN movement hangs in there it should be a fun watch. Donerix did a better job aging his, but I'm still enjoying the pristine condition of my 6542 'Big Crown'.

After 5 or 6 years you begin to realize that you probably need help.... Here's some early reps, I bought this 5513 from Paul for $139. It has the swiss eta and I trimmed the cg's, installed a better pearl- popped it right in there and finally put a better aftermarket dial in there, here it is on the left, another WR rep! Watch on the right is Paul's $139 DRSD- working HE valve and a swiss eta- I passed the case on to Chi and I'm saving the movement for the matte dial Sea-Dweller- 16660. Future, sorry no pics yet Next up is the noobmariner- this one came from River- $100+ with the asian eta- one of the first out there- trimmed the cg's, gen crown and AM tube, WM pearl and filed the backside of the insert- what a great beater! WR to boot. The asian eta finally crapped out after 3 years- sure wish my watchmaker would work on them! Recent projects include the 6238/9 transitional- here it is with white hands on the subdials- I've since changed to black- this is with a V72 Here's my triumvirate of beaters- 1665 top left, 16800 top right and 16610 on the bottom. All are great beaters and WR, great for wade fishing, jet ski riding and general floating around in the canal on hot summer days w/ a cool adult beverage As for future, there's the 6542 big crown and the 16660 matte dial SD coming up- sorry, no pics yet. Also, the white dialed 6542 from PT is on the way, but as my good friend JMB would say, we're not spending a whole wad of cash on this mod! Stay tuned.

Yeh, 1520's aren't cheap. I looked at an Air-King this week, it started out cheap so I kept watching- ended up selling for $960. Add a service to that and you've got a $1100-1200 movement. A 2846-2 is the closest you can come at 21600bph as opposed to the 19800 of the 1520. I shy away from a21j's if you're trying to build a really nice milsub, but some people do OK w/ them at $15-20 each, they're very easily replaced. But a properly serviced 2846-2 should last forever.

Date mag and cyclops look good. There is a little wokkishness to the rehaut, but it is an a21j model so the price was right!

SN-M092117, it's a noob. I thought they were using decent crowns and tubes these days, but not on this model. I worked on one this week and on these older models the crown and tube aren't interchangeable with the gen crown and tube- so if you swap out the crown, you gotta do the tube also.

Amazing Andei! Beautiful job.

I decided to start with this white dialed 6542 http://www.puretimewatch.com/product/vintage-gmt-master-6542-white-dial-blackred-eta2846 I figure for $223 it's a great set of parts- dial, movement, bezel hopefully, maybe the bracelet which isn't that big a deal for me anyway- I kinda like dark brown croc straps. Next up is the case. If ROLS176 becomes avaiable, I'll go for it. Otherwise, I'm just going to have to try some $50-100 reps to see if I can come up w/ a case.

Try bklm1234- he's still doing the new ceramic 116610 I believe which is from the noobfactory.

Looks good Rocky! Date mag is correct which is the next most important thing next to the black hour surrounds The Explorer II which came out in the 80s' after the EXP II - 1655, was the 16550 and it had the silver/gun metal surrounds (and the dials which turned to a creme color). The 16570 came out in the late 80's, and it had the black surrounds and the 3185 motor. BTW, Rocky, which motor do you have in yours?