alligoat

I saw that! Those guys are still trying to decide if real ones exist or not. We know they do because Freddy has one!

Interesting! Lugholes went away around 2003 as I recall. SEL's came out around the time of the P serial maybe. Tritium till '98/'99, one year of Swiss dials- using luminova and SL and Swiss Made after that.

Thanks Freddy. The transitional v72 had a gen crystal in an early pic, now it's a DW. I put on a gen crown and AM tube and a gen 78350/571. First order of business will be a service for the 7750/60 and I might swap out to a rivetted bracelet. I have a period gen, can't remember what it is- maybe a 7205 w/ unmarked ends? It's not my favorite. Crystal and crown in due course- gen T-21's are getting too expensive these days- may just opt for a jandk aftermarket. The rep crown on the 6239 isn't too bad-far better than the one on my original cartel 6238!

The bezel on the V72 transitional is a recent DW bezel also. The oldest DW bezel is currently on the cartel 6238/9- both are 60 over 300's. The albino has the most recent bezel and as LH stated, hash marks and 7's are lacking. I've also found that DW crystals and bezels are about .2mm less in ID/OD than gen/aftermarket crystals. When I fit a gen/decent aftermarket crystal, I end up sanding the inside ID of the bezel around .15-.2mm to get it to fit over the crystal. This takes about 30 minutes to an hour- sand, fit, sand, fit.... The Valjoux is a 72 out of a Wittnauer. I did find the plates on the Heuer are too big and it won't fit in the DW case. Plates on V72's vary, so you need a donor with plates small enough to fit in the DW cases. A V72 in a case less than 36mm will probably fit- the Heuer case is 38mm.

Thanks guys for the kind words. Diesel, I expect DW to have more of these albino dials. When you consider it's a one color dial, it should actually be easier to produce. And part of my sales pitch to DW was that he could probably sell a bunch of them! There are a few gen 6263 albinos out there, also.

It's a beautiful job JoJo, but like you say, I pretty much knew the gen parts from your previous builds which are always first class. I also saw the etched crown this summer on my 16800 one day in the sunlight- this watch went thru the RSC around '98-99- new tritium dial, hands and insert also I got this watch for a good price and the tritium still glows- makes for a great beater! P serial is early 2000's, right?

One of my favorite Rolex watches is undoubtably the 6238. An early purchase was the a7750 powered rep which I got from Puretime back in '06. Here it is on the right next to a 50's Heuer V72 chrono. The 6238 was serviced by Ziggy and has been very dependable ever since. It's biggest fault is the symmetrical pushers on the case. One of my more recent projects was to build a 6238 with the valjoux movement and a DW 6239 case and the smooth bezel. This project made a stop along the way as a transitional 6238/9 since I was having trouble getting the right smooth bezel. The watch on the left is the V72 powered transitional. The one on the right is the cartel 6238 in a DW 6239/7750 case. I had actually bought an extra cartel 6238 thinking I could use the bezel on a DW case- wrong! So then I got the DW 6239/7750 case and made another transitional- w/correct pushers! I was enjoying the transitionals, but the redundant bezel situation would sometimes bother me- having the tachymeter scale printed on the dial and on the bezel was just a little much sometimes. Even though I'd seen a gen on VFR with the same set up. Around this time Chiman turned me on to a book- The Patrizzi Pocket Expert- Cosmograph Daytona Manual Winding. It's a great little book for around $25 and is jambed packed with great pics. At this point, I was realizing that I preferred the pump pushers of the 6239- 6263/5 screw down pushers do nothing for me- but I liked the all silver look of the 6238 dial. When I ran across the 'albino' dialed 6239 in the book, I knew it was something I really wanted. I'd seen it before in Skeet and Urul's book and always liked it So I sent DW a few pics and asked him if he could have the 'albino' dial made for me. I told him I wasn't in a big hurry and he said he'd see what he could do. A few weeks later he came back and asked me if it would be OK in the 7750 version and I said yes. Lo and behold a few weeks later I received a pic from him I was pretty excited at that point and quickly sent him money for the watch. Shortly thereafter he sent more pics The watch arrived about a week and a half later. I must say I'm very pleased- it's just what I wanted. I'm pleased with the dial. The case has the later 6239 'slight bulge' at the crown, but it is barely noticeable. The bracelet is good also, it's a 78350 with 571 end pieces which is a later bracelet, but it compares favorably with the gen 78350/571 on my 6238/9. All in all, it's been a great transaction with David and he's been a pleasure to deal with, thanks David! Here's a last pic of the 6238/9 and the albino 6239 together

gen parts, eh dial, bezel insert, crystal, bezel assembly, 4 pieces- crystal retention ring, flat washer, click spring and bezel crown and tube

Looks good JB! How come there's a 2 after Tuesday? This is actually the 4th Tuesday of November and there will be 5 Tuesdays this month.

FWIW, it's pretty much looking like the SSD is going the same way. I ordered from Puretime a couple of weeks ago and they can't get them at this time. Starting to sound like the noob factory has quit producing them. Are they concentrating on the newer models???

Looks like the telltale sign that Freddy keeps talking about to me. The end links have been added to this bracelet and the center end pieces are all mangled as a result. The work of a butcher with a pair of needle nose pliers no doubt.

All you can fit in a noob is another noob crystal or a similar rep crystal w/ 30.5mm OD.

The last pic shows what appears to be a slight bevel on the lugs. The bracelet is a newer replacement which is OK, but not original to the watch. I wouldn't be surprised if other parts are newer also, although they look gen. Obviously the crown and tube have been updated, I suspect the bezel insert and the hands also. I would expect a Rolex service in the 80's brought this watch up to it's present condition, which is nice, but not original which is what collectors really value these days

Although it has the MBW 'Monarch Polfy" markings on the caseback, it looks like a bad chinese rep with wokky rehaut and the date window too far to the right. If you have a noob case that would be a start, but you also need a noob dial and a datewheel, because what you have is too far right and won't work in the noob case.

Here's a trio of beaters- franken reps that will go anywhere and are WR Top left is the PT 1665 w/ an MBW dial, gen crown and aftermarket tube, and a aftermarket T-39 Top right is the 16800 matte dial franken, gen crown and tube, WM pearl and a noob case w/ lugholes, gen 93150 bracelet w/ 593 ends Bottom is the A serial ETZ 16610, gen crown, AM tube, Clark's crystal, 501B end pieces and a nice MBW 93150 hollow mid link bracelet. I'd rather tear up one of these watches anyday over a gen!

Time to have a watchmaker look at the movement.

That's gen, could be old or a replacement. Old style '4'. My gen 16800 w/ a c.'99 tritium dial has the same insert, service and also has the crystal with the etched crown.

The 3035 was used in the 16800 and 168000, 1979-1987/8. PN for the insert is 315-16800-xx. The same insert is used on the 16610. Why your package was additionally marked 3035, I can't say. Was it factory printed or hand written? Is it even the original packaging! The biggest tell on the sub insert is the factory pearl, no one has managed to copy it 100%. Watchmaterial.com comes the closest and there are some other decent copies out there (Raymond Lee, Helfands,...)but the gen is hard to beat. It really comes down to developing a 'good eye' for what's correct.

My latest grail, an albino 6239 from DW

If a pearl doesn't glow, it's probably tritium which was used from '79 to around 2000. These would have the boxy '4' most likely. After 2000, Rolex used luminova for one year and superluminova after that. The triangular '4' came around 2004-5. As is the case, these aren't hard and fast rules, just something to go by. Bezel insert is the same for 16610 and 16800, and I think I've seen triangular '4's' on 16800 inserts w/ brown tritium pearls.

Bezel insert needs to be a 315-5513. It fits a 5513/5512, 1665 and 1680. If you can find a gen for under $100, better snap it up. Another possiblity is the PMWF 5513 insert and an Ofrei pearl- but that's about a $95 deal when all's said and done. WSO990 sells a somewhat decent 5513 insert in the $30-35 range. Too bad your PT insert isn't too good. Wonder if Nikki or Angus would send you another one- worth a try to ask.

A gen sub isn't a bad idea. If you could pick up an old 16610 in the $3000-3500 range, that would be a good price. You can also find 16800's in that price range. Just be ready to spend a couple of hundred more to service them. As for reps, don't know if BK is out of WM9's or not, seems like he's been pretty quiet lately. If he is, decent 16610 reps are going to be hard to find. The Euromariner from Eurotimez was an MBW with noob dial and bracelet. Don't know if Narikaa could get an MBW 16610 these days or not. Precious Time had the WM9 V1.5, don't know what he has these days.... Of course, the Rolex 16610 could quickly become a collector's piece in it's own right. With the 116610 out these days, Rolex may stop producing the 16610. It's been around for 23 yrs or so. Keep a eye peeled on the sales corner, maybe you can find a good WM9 or Euromariner/MBW.

Although an open 6 & 9 DW is more correct, they are tough to find these days. And frankly, Rolex could care less- the new service DW's would probably have closed 6's and 9's- my 16800 came that way after a Rolex service and I spent $100 to put an old style DW back in there. My second frankenjust has closed 6's and 9's and I figure who cares

I think I paid at least $72 for mine and put a $10 no name oyster bracelet on it. It's been a good little beater, keeps good time. Haven't checked WR or opened the caseback, but the claim was a 23j movement. Sometimes I like wearing a watch that doesn't say Rolex on it. The LRRP from MKII watches and the Avier Adventurist are nicer knock-offs, but I didn't want to spend that kind of money. http://www.bernardwatch.com/watch/AVI21

LOL, LH! Even though I'm not Catholic, I second the motion for excommunication! Using the Pope's name in vain. JoJo, on second look, my valuation would be 3.5K to 5K if everything is up to snuff. It has books, and a high end box! I wonder if he was bidding it up also.