alligoat

Since wholesaleoutlet no longer carries them, your best bet might be VRM- Vintage Rolex Market for a pair of gens- $80-100, maybe. 585's are more of course. Might check with puretime and see if he'd sell you a bracelet and the 580 ends- maybe for $70 or so. It's worth a try.

Looks to me like your watch is a noobmariner. What I've done on my noobs was pop out the bezel insert and remove the pearl and glue in a watchmaterial pearl after enlarging the hole with an x-acto knife. $10 maybe plus shipping. I can also probably help you with a new clasp, give me a PM and we can discuss it- I hope you're in Conus!

Interesting note at the top of the watch section- these are produced by our sister company.

Looks like a good starting point to me. The bezel insert pearl has to go, the dial needs 50 years of aging, etc. The price is reasonable, as good as an MBW.

The two biggest differences between your case and Sheartime's are of course the cg's and secondly, his has well rounded (over polished?) lugs. Of course, how's the bezel assembly on yours? Also, your caseback is (too)deep. I was thinking about the $99 1680 case that DW was advertizing, but the 1680 dial is 26.5mm and we don't know how a movt would fit in there since it's made for a 1575. A new $10 crystal on the DW case would be easy. That case with the HE valve would make for a novel 5512! Certainly the only one in existance to my knowledge!

The biggest issue will be if a 5512 dial will fit. Yuki shows the 5512 dial at 26mm. And rep dials often times are 1mm bigger. So you'd have to measure the inside of the case and see if a 26mm dial will fit.

It's a good looking watch, and I love the lume on it! I think the best thing about a good rep is nice lume. Sure it may not be correct, but it's great to look at at night!

Good looking watch! I did the same combo w/o the relume (which is certainly nice!) and an aftermarket G&S 462-67A T-39 crystal. My dome sits a tad higher and my DW on 9 is fairly well centered. Here's a very dirty quick pic The DW's are the issue here, but tonite, scrolling thru, mine seems fairly well centered. Guess I need to quit drinking wine and eat dinner! In the past, I've noticed the 20's are a tad left in the window. Still, I love my beater- passed the WR test. What did you do to install the crystal? I tore up the nylon gasket and jmb built me a excellent crystal retaining ring.

Google and bing are your friend! 'Rolex Sea-Dweller 16660' is a great place to start. Trolling ebay is another and the forums, VRF and TZ are good also. 75-90% of it is good, eventually you can tell what's BS.

I pretty much agree 100%. At least in the case of a WM9 V3. I can see a gen insert and gen crown, but what's the point of going beyond that unless you just happen upon a gen dial. If you can buy a used 16610 for $3K, why build a franken for $2K-2500?

Looks good! I'd put a new set of hands on and get a new crystal, then you'd be all set, except for a service. Enjoy

1665 5513 5514 guess 551x guess again 16800- 1000ft=300m, but it could be a 16610

The best I could do recently is pick up an SSD with the Polizia di Stato logo on it from Puretime. It has the Z539117 SN. Like Dizzy, I'm working on a 16660 so I'll be getting a dial from Yuki.

I would think the bottom end price for a '96 DJ would be $1500 and probably more like $2000. I don't see how you're going to get one for $600!

I use a #55 cobalt drill bit from Snap-On tools.

I actually think the dial is fairly decent- I like the open 6's in 660 and the 6 and 9 markers aren't too narrow. Crown needs to be swapped out and the cg's need work, but that's par for the course. End links need to be swapped out and the insert is certainly better than those god awful MBW inserts! Lugholes might be too small but it's hard to tell from a pic. If it accepts gen parts, it will be fine. For $200 you can't complain.

The price is about right and there certainly are some brave gamblers out there. NO BRAINS, TOO MUCH MONEY.

At 50 pounds, I wonder if you'll even get an asian 7750 in there. I've seen some Tudor chrono reps, jmb's comes to mind. As for from the collectors or china, I'd figure you're going to have to spend at least 100 pounds for a decent chrono w/ a true chrono movement. 50 pounds should get you something w/ the false chrono mvmt.

You know A, I think you should stick with your nicely modded 1680. Or sell it and put the money towards a gen 1680. They run around $5K, but maybe you could find a fixer upper in the $4K range and add parts as the funds become available. I bought my 1680 for $2450 back in 2006 and serviced it twice and put a gen 93150/580 on it ($300). Still have the original bezel insert and 702 crown and tube. The dial is in very good shape as are the hands- late '78, I figure it's worth around $5K conservatively. A few years ago I built a 5508 franken. I like the watch, but I'll never do it again. I spent $2500 building it and a gen probably runs $10K and up. But a franken just isn't the same as having a gen. Then I saw a nice 5508 eta from Yuki for a very reasonable price- $360! At that price you can buy some gen parts and away you go!

Looks like the cyclops is too far to the right. Crown guards need major trimming Dial is poor, are the hour markers too large? Just another cheap CN sub, moving on seems to be your best option.

When I'm down and dirty, I love wearing my reps. When I'm out on the town, it can go either way, but that's typically when I'll go for a gen. When I travel, I usually take a gen and a rep, the rep being the sacrificial lamb if need be.

Once it's been cleaned and regulated, you should be good for 5 years or so. I wouldn't worry about the metals, etc. Just enjoy your watch.

As I recall Chi, the 6542 also takes a T-116. The bezel is slightly different- coin edged like a 5508/5510. But maybe you've seen the gold 1675's with no crown guards- early 60's stuff. And one of the white dialed 6542's had a 1675 bezel Certainly the later 6542's came with the metal insert in lieu of the earlier bakelite insert.

Nice job Chi! I was wondering what it would look like if you took the crown guards off- a la 6542....

Doesn't do anything for me, way over priced.