alligoat

This ain't a wristy, and it's not a Rolex, but it's what I'm wearing today, an O&W Mirage III

I guess the noob case is the best one for making a 16800. But you have to get the lugholes drilled. Omega drilled the holes in my case a few years back. I've tried it myself and I know it's not a task for the weekend hobbyist. After that, the rest is fairly simple, trim the cg's, install a gen crown and tube, install a better pearl, maybe even go to the trouble of filing down a gen insert to fit in the noob bezel (which is slightly smaller than the gen). I just installed a watchmaterial pearl because I didn't feel like 'wasting' a gen insert. The gen matte dial was relumed by Ziggy and I used a 2834-2 which had an older DW with open 6's and 9's and it worked fine. It's basically the same as the 2836-2. The watch on the right is the franken, the one on the left is a gen. The franken is WR and cost me around $500 to build with gen 593 end pieces and a good 93150 rep bracelet. Other cases are possibilities, but are tough to find these days- the old TW Best w/ lughole works, but has deep rehaut. The Eurotimez V3 w/ lugholes would also be fine, but has the same deep rehaut. The Euro V3 will take more gen parts, something the noob case will not do. I did see a gen 3035 rolex movement fitted in a noobmariner case one time.

I think you've got it backwards, Al. A gen or 26.5mm rep dial won't fit in an MBW case. An MBW red sub dial is 26.2mm and should fit in a PT case, as would a gen/aftermarket dial, I would think, but i haven't tried it. measure your PT dial w/ calipers, if it's 26.5mm, you're good to go.

Hey JoJo, you might want to read Mark Lerman's post on VRF from yesterday. He goes into all the red subs and what you call a Mark III, he's now referring to as a Mark IV. He now has three different meters first dials before the feet first dials.

LOL, the more that I look at the pic I posted, the more I wonder if it's not a Yuki rep also! It was in my Photobucket album so that's all I know! Here's a 7924 which is gen As panerai pointed out, these should have the 390 movement and gold hands would be appropriate if original, as freddy said. Still it's a nice rep.

Looks good A. I agree with ByTor, the dial is an improvement over the red MBW. Now all you have to do is swap in the gen crown and trim up the cg's on the outside to take some meat off of them.

I'm thinking feet first, MKIV....

Real, and very nice.

It looks nice, but you have to keep one thing in mind, it will always be a replica! Not sure about the tritium pearl. Here's a gen to compare with and of course the gen will run 10x more money I would think

Let's see some pics! Is this Josh's latest EXPII?

Wow, nice job RS! That dial is a beaut and the HE valve is no small job. Excellent!

OK, my wife's rep DJ has the closed 6's and 9's on the datewheel. Paul's pic must be pretty old! Her gen which is an L817xxx SN- late 80's- has the open 6's and 9's.

On men's watches, Rolex closed the 6's and 9's somewhere in the late 80's, right after the 16610 Sub came out, circa R serial #'s. I would think the same holds for the women's watches, but don't really know. I'll check my wife's two watches tonight and let you know. My guess is that the reps have the latest DW's w/ the closed 6's and 9's. I know you can't hardly find a open 6 & 9 men's DW these days!

My wife got this TT Ladies DJ and it worked out fine. Women aren't as rough on a watch as men and this one has an ss clasp. It's been a good watch, better than the gen TT DJ she purchased a couple of years later! http://www.prowatch888.com/product_info.php?cPath=21_56_100&products_id=203 It compares favorably side by side with her gen- a few slight differences, but you can always say it's a newer/older model... No glaring faults as far as i'm concerned.

The 4813 is a high beat a21j movement- 28,800bph. I don't know if anyone has a noobmariner LV with that movement. Josh use to have a noobmariner which had a 2813 high beat movement. I don't know if it was a true high beat or chinese hype. You could get the noob LV with the asian eta clone- that's high beat.

Thanks for the side shot, P. Looks alot like my PT 1665 with the G&S T-39. I agree with gplracer, it is a beautiful lume job.

Nice job, JB! I would think a little bit of tea or coffee might give you some patina on the hands and maybe it wouldn't affect the lume, which would be nice.

It's gen and I'd buy it at $1400. The dial is probably OK and since it's tritium, it probably still glows- my 16800 has a dial from that time frame and it glows fine. But you'll spend $1000 at the RSC w/o the bracelet. service- $500, includes new crown and tube crystal bezel insert (might need a new bezel also) polish case If you didn't go to the RSC, you might get it cleaned up and serviced for $500-750. New bracelets are around $1000, but you can pick up a decent used one w/ the correct 501B end pieces for around $500-600.

You can certainly email yuki and ask what the price is. I have priced other Yuki cases and they're in the $450-500 range.

With a SN of F520117, it looks like the updated noob with the rehaut engraving. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't arrive with the more current SN of M092117! But the noobmariner is an excellent beginner watch. With an eta movement and a few upgrades, it can be an even better beater. http://www.yourtrustytime.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_7&products_id=257

I don't know if we've seen anyone build a 6542 from a Yuki case and dial yet. I think the cases run around $500 and the dials are $160. http://www.yukiwatch.com/catalog/item/6924997/7233506.htm An eta w/ GMT hand and a DW overlay and you're about there. Just food for thought...

Looks good. The T-39 certainly gives it a different look- I'd love to see a profile of the crystal.

Try a small hand file, the small 4-6 inch mini files will do. Put a small cloth down on the work table and have at it. Hold the insert down with one hand and file w/ the other. I also use a hand file for doing crown guards (followed by 320-400-600-1000 wet dry sandpaper and polish). A Dremel tool is too fast for me, too easy to have it get away from you and screw up what you're doing, from my point of view. I prefer slow and easy.

I do know that on the 16610 Sub, the SEL bracelet came first and then the lugholes disappeared a few years later. But that's an oyster band. You might need a more modern jubilee bracelet so that you can access the springbars from the backside.

Maybe something like this, eh, freddy? Looks like the GMT hand was also replaced during a service with the larger/later hand.