alligoat

The noob has come a long way- it's been out almost 5 years now! The crown and tube should be good replicas of the gen assembly- they are on my SSD V2 which also comes from the noobfactory. So then, is it worth it to change? Maybe you just change out the crown which is a 5 minute operation. Or you just trim the crown guards and go on. First up, buy a used 24-703 crown and remove the stem and crown on your noob and see how the gen crown screws on the rep tube- if you like it, swap over the stem and away you go. Changing out the tube is more involved, remove old tube, tap hole with 3.0mm x .35 tap, maybe chamfer the case to seat tube at proper depth, install with loc-tite. It's not hard but it takes some practice and experience, plus a few tools- tap and a case tube wrench. Also, I typically use an aftermarket tube and a used gen crown just because it's easier and cheaper to get the AM tubes.

I'm of the silver dial persuasion myself, but that's because I've got two silver dials which have changed to biege. This DJ on the right and a 1500 Date which I can't find a pic of.

Good job Chi! Glad you were able to put a gen dial in an Explorer II case. Is this perchance an early noob case, or just another rep case which takes a gen dial? I'm headed upstairs to uncase my $100 ExpII and measure the dial! Drilling lugholes would be cool, and maybe a 78360 or 93150 bracelet with 501 end pieces- I'd have to check my reference chart, but w/ the tritium dial, you are definitely pre 1999.

And part of the 'D' also. But the dial print is consistent with a mid 80's tritium sub dial and the aging of the tritium on the dial and hands (as well as the pearl) backs it up. The dial looks too good to be a fake, IMO. But I've also never seen or heard of a true 'white dialed' sub.

We'd love to hear about the dial Alex- it looks like gen printing etc.

Looking good B! And good to see you (and D) back here.

You are correct in that the 702 and 703 are not interchangeable. When updating to a 703 assembly, you change out the crown and the tube. The tall coronet on the 703 is older- from 80's thru to 90's maybe. To find one now it would either be used or NOS. Short coronet is the current 703 production model. And Justasgood explained the diff between the 703 and 704. I don't know if the 704 will become the new standard or if it is just used on the more expensive watches- Daytona and YM for example.

Welcome back pho! And I'm with you on the Sinn collection- my Sinn is my most accurate watch in my whole collection- beats the gen Rollies hands down! 303 Silber And it was very reasonably priced when I got it 3 years ago.

Sounds good on the build, but don't forget to trim the cg's and drill the lugholes!

I don't know about the dial, but the rest of the watch looks like a gen 16800 to me. The second pic shows the slightly shallower rehaut (than a 16610). The dial looks pretty good also, dial print, etc. And the lume on the dial and the hands match very well!

Dizzy, T-29 is the non-cyclop crystal for a 16030. They are rare though!

Last month Jee at Silix said the ROLS176 case was no longer available. And his site has been hacked so I haven't been able to look at anything for over a month.

LOL Freddy, I clicked on the NDT link and Natalie is selling a Pan Am 6542 GMT just like yours! $4200 with a 1066 movt.

When you have a rep case, the rep dial needs to be around 28mm. If the rep dial is 29mm, a gen dial probably won't fit in the case. A rep case typically is engineered for a 2836-2 or the DG2813 movement.

As near as Freddy and I can figure out, watchbandman50 and wholesaleoutlet990 are the same seller. Likewise jewelryoutlet550! ewatchparts also. As for the bezel fitting your WM9, all you can do is try. Like d-rock says, you may have to swap out the crystal retention ring. I don't even know if the bezel would fit a gen Rolex- they say it will but they really don't know squat. Certainly you can't tell them it's a WM9- they'd say tough shite. If you told them it didn't fit your gen Rolex, you could probably get your money back less shipping costs, but it's always a challenge dealing with these jerks. When I'm purchasing from these guys, I always try to keep it in the $20-30 range so I can just go on down the road and forget it. But I do like their 24-7030 case tubes!

Beautiful job RS! I'd love to hear how you got the gold hands, or what you did to them....

Good to see you back, T! Fire in the server, that's way beyond me..., it's good to finally have RWG up and running again- even if you are double posting!

I ordered a few years ago and it took less than a week.

Beautiful pair of watches M! That gold DD is a good looking watch, but what's the deal with the Spanish day wheel?

Nice collection. Looks like the cg's on the subs and SD have been trimmed nicely to boot. The TT sub looks interesting.

I would think so, since they come out of the same factory. Cyclops should be OK also- similar to gen in location.

There's no doubt the hole in the crown on the PT dial is too small. Also, the 6 and 9 markers are too narrow. Here's a gen to compare it with The next best option might be a dial from Yuki: http://www.yukiwatch.com/catalog/item/6380817/8219837.htm They come in yellow or white these days. An MBK would be nice, but they're just not that easy to find.

Nice job, Dizzy! So far so good!

I wore a TT watch wadefishing in the bay (saltwater) and it took the GP off the bracelet! Luckily the watch was WR. Then there's the old Coke story- put a tooth in a glass of Coke and it will be gone in the morning. Coke also works well on battery connections.

I've never had a problem with airmail, but it does take longer- 3 weeks seems about right, 4 wouldn't be unusual.