alligoat

+1 http://www.puretimewatch.com/product/vinatage-red-submariner-1680-200m660ft/ This is a great starter watch, IMO. Or you could opt for the white dial. Both have a lot of great features slow beat 2846-2 correct date wheel correct 93150 bracelet and end pieces (580's) nice 2mm spring bars If you put a smaller gen crown on and trim the crown guards, you're off to the races. MBW's are hard to find right now and require a lot more work, but they are a better case and will take a gen T-127 typically. But you start at around $400 and need $200-300 worth of mods to get to an acceptable point. And you could easily spend $1000 all told. Yukis are the whole next level up from there and you're looking at $1000-2000, possibly more if you build a franken w/ a 1575 movt.

A couple of months ago I saw this watch or a similar one for around $60-70 from a seller in HK. Since it has a 2813 movt, why not just buy a rep from one of the dealers- if you want the black dial, go with a noob from BK. If you're looking to swap in a white dial, good luck! Let us know how you make out. Good white dialed Explorer II's are virtually non existent. Watcheden sells the white dial rep with the correct black surround markers, but it's only so-so, IMO.

Thanks, B-T. That watch has become my go to beater. With the sapphire crystal it's a little more durable than the 1680. And the quickset date feature is also a plus. Looks like you took some of the red out of the pic. I need to keep working on my photo skills, just need to make the time and do it!

Don't know if it's a typo or not, but it's not a 1680. Yes it sounds like a 16800 with the later dial- not the early matte dial. 3035 movement is correct, and it came with the sapphire crystal. 16610 and 16800 dials are interchangeable- same size, dial feet, etc. 8 million SN dates to around 1983 or so. These run $3000 to $5000 depending on condition. Here's an 8.1 mill with a later tritium dial This later tritium dial still glows fairly well, I figure it for a 98-99 replacement- not as valuable as the original matte dial, but nice that it glows!

I remember seeing a discussion on VRF, Mulholland said flat top 3's. But then I checked my bracelets and one of my 16800's had a round 3- it's the one that had been serviced in 98-99 and had a new clasp (with lines thru the safety clasp). Then Mark Greenberg put up a bracelet for sale w/ the round 3 shortly thereafter and no one said a thing. Who knows!!

What about a set of Rolex aftermarket hands for 1570 movt from Clark's Watch supply? I got an eta set w/ very good lume recently from them. A luminova GWSD dial- $500-1000 if you can find one. Maybe more, I figure they're rare as hen's teeth these days. With guys like us around, I figure Rolex is keeping pretty close tabs on stuff like that. Everest Watch Works would be a whole lot more economical on a relume.

The dial aside, I still don't understand what the point of not including the bracelet in the auction is. Certainly the fees can't be that big a deal, can they?

I agree with flex, the 'ROLEX' in that dial is way too fat. I'd figure it for a redial.

+1 on what Nanuq says, beautiful dial and certainly need to get that discoloration looked at. But then again, that watch is past the beater catagory, so no showering, swimming or diving allowed. Only light dishwashing duty and maybe a 50 yard dash in the rain (with a raincoat on)!

Beautiful job, Geyper! You've certainly got the formula down for building some great 1680's!

The dial and hands look very nice. Insert looks like a later lumi replacement to me and I don't know if you can Poly-Watch the crystal or if you just have to replace it. Looks like the bracelet took most of the beating. With a little bit of cleaning up, it ought to be a very nice watch. Congrats!

great job Freddy, amazing!

Check Silix-Prime http://www.silix-prime.com/rols012-p-1477.html Hopefully they are still avaiable. With seconds at nine, if you service the a7750, you should have a pretty reliable watch.

FWIW, I'm certainly partial to the 16800 matte dial sub. And I especially love good lume on a rep or franken. And kbh, if you have an MBK case with lugholes, all the better! Some of my favorite watches are the ones I have the least amount of money in! Like my MKII 'Exploder' An old Silix 6694 w/ a T-12 crystal,MKII dial and hands and a Swiss eta- I paid $130 for the 6694 4-5 years ago!

The 2824 and the 3135 are also very close in stem position. WM9/BK uses the 2824 in the YM, 16610LV and the V3 sub.

When I look at my gen 1680, 5.8 mil SN, and compare the lugs, the 3.4 mil has much thicker lugs. Then when I compare the side profiles, the 3.4 mil is still much thicker, the case has a greater depth than my gen, and very straight looking sides- no rounding over of the sides as in a 35 year old watch case.

Reminds me of Stilty's 1680, luminova dial and hands, etc. Shoot, Jared says it still needs a service.

+1

The problem with these vintage 1680 and 1665's is that they aren't a copy of the gen construction like you say. As JoJo says, maybe you could bend the flat washer that sits in there slightly and tighten up the bezel a little. On my PT1665, I tried to put an aftermarket T-39 on it and then there was no room for the nylon gasket. So then I went to jmb and had him turn a retaining ring. At that point I was back to something that's pretty close to the gen construction. retaining ring holding crystal in place flat washer on top of that bezel snapping down over retaining ring and flat washer the insert is same size as the gen insert, so it snaps/glues into the bezel.

Red, it looks to me like the 'GMT-Master' is smaller on the MKI dial, possibly the 'ROLEX' also. Dial archive at VRF is a good place to look, but they don't use MKI, MKII terminology.

Looks fine to me also. Other than a few typos in the description, I see nothing wrong.

No, Chi, I'm kinda in a holding pattern right now. I built the GWSD and that's been about it lately. I'm wearing that watch quite a bit and enjoying it. But for $65 plus s&h, I guess I should certainly give ETZ a shout and see if maybe I could get something going. I do find the DRSD is a little too rich for my blood- even if it is a rep, but maybe the SRSD would do the trick.

+1 I think this clasp and bracelet are fine. The fact that it's a 7206, which we see few of, with a '69 date stamp looks good to me. Furthermore, 9315's did not have an indentation under the safety clasp- that was a later feature of the 93150's.

I ran across these AK's over at RG yesterday http://www.idolreplicas.com/rolex-air-king-precision-automatic-with-white-dial-gold-marking-vintage-edition-replica-watch--35712.html Date mag may be a wee bit shy, and I would think you can beat this price, JB, knowing your affinity for price consciousness, but they do look interesting.

LOL, You realize those guys are pretty old these days, LH! I'd love to visit Geneva though! I may also put the clasp back on say my 5513, what the heck!