alligoat

Looks like the typical no cg sub. Probably has a case serial R863693, or something close to that. I've got a couple of those from Silix. I guess I could pop the bezel off of my 5508 franken and see if it fits.

A datewheel with the gold background (champagne) is fine, but I also see them w/ a white background. With a silver or white dial, white DW is ok. gold dial, maybe a champagne DW... This is one of those things where I don't think Rolex really cares- no hard and fast rules, so to speak. open 6's and 9's were original, but replacements may have closed 6's and 9's Now days, cubic-works in hong kong only sells the two DW's w/ closed 6's and 9's, white and champagne. www.cubic-works.com My franken with a silver dial ended up with a white DW, closed 6's and 9's because that's what was on the 2836-2 I ordered from Hong Kong four years ago when I built the watch. At that point the open 6 and 9 DW's from cubic works had run out

It's a recent insert, you can tell by the 'triangular' 4 in 40. Luminous pearl. older gen inserts have a 'boxy' 4 in 40, pre 2000 have a tritium pearl, real old tritium pearls, 80's models, turn brown.

Does the rotor have bearings? Looking at the wear on the bridge below reminds me of the 1500 series Rolex movements- when the the axle bearing wears, the rotor starts wobbling, causing more damage to the movement.

Probably unscrew the blue screw and another one on the other side of the bridge and remove the whole assembly, rotor, and reversing wheels, etc.

I counted 75 on the bezel from rhondalm. Printed the pic and counted them. I couldn't count the ones on the tudor 7924 because the ones between 40 and 50 were too hard to see. Andrew Shear's pic isn't any better- pretty well worn bezel also. I can count my NDT 5508 tonite. This bezel insert is basically the same size as the 5513 and the bezel has the 8 sided 'paper clip' running around the inside of it. Here's my 5508 Here's another cool watch- the 6542- similar bezel, but like freddy says, it may not be quite the same!

It's an easy 5 minute swap for a watchmaker. Just keep the old dial and hands in case you want to swap back later. Let's face it, 1002's and 5500 Air Kings are at the bottom of the Rolex pecking order, worth $1k or so in decent shape.

Yes, but it would be a 5500, not a 1016. Case size for the 1016 is larger. So you need the 5500 dial, not the 1016 dial, to be safe.

Here's a 5508 bezel, gen. Don't know if it'll work, but you can be sure the price will go up before the auction closes! http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Rolex-5508-James-Bond-Submariner-bezel_W0QQitemZ140392996258QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item20b0131da2 Lo and behold, another one from Andrew Shear: http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-Rolex-Submariner-NCG-5508-6536-6204-6205-Bezel_W0QQitemZ120548124744QQcmdZViewItemQQptZWristwatches?hash=item1c113a6848

FYI, 580 ends are correct for a 1680, on a 93150. Earlier bracelet would be a 9315 w/ 280 or 380 end pieces.

This sounds like jewelerstools! That guy has absolutely no clue what he's talking about! Looking thru 'Rolex Daytona, a legend is born', on p.156 there's a Rolex crown #26 which is actually the 701 crown and it is a triplock w/ the three dots below the crown. Tube is #211, a 701 tube. No. 25 was the 700 twinlock crown- no dots below the crown. I agree w/ JAG that the crown and tube on your DRSD looks like the 702 assembly, but if the watch dates from the late 60's it could be the 701 assembly. I never realized that the 701 assembly was referred to a triplock also and has the three dots under the crown. I had thought it was a twinlock and that the 702 was the first triplock assembly. The 701 assembly was in use at least thru 1972. JoJo had a Brevet crown posted for sale in the parts section recently. Think it was 6mm... He probably knows more about this stuff.

When you refer to it as a coin edge bezel, are you meaning an older bezel like on a 5508? Maybe like the one on this Tudor? The closest thing we've found is this watch from Silix- Rols176- http://www.silix-prime.com/rols176-p-2188.html Of course, you're paying a lot just to get a bezel and if you have a case already, the bezel may not fit. It would help if you could be more specific as to what you're trying to build.

Silix is one possibility: http://www.silix-prime.com/rols034-p-1492.html Beyond that you'll just have to check out the other dealers

That's a great deal rolexmaniac88! Add a tritium dial, a movement, maybe a datewheel overlay and away you go. You'd have a vintage tritium 16610 sub! A few weeks ago I had a new datewheel put on my Euromariner- the original one was low in the window. I've got a tritium Comex sub dial which I'm thinking about getting relumed- I can't decide if I want to put it in the Euromariner or in the 16800 gen. Ultimately I'd like to put a tritium dial in the Euromariner, just haven't gotten there yet. I'm just enjoying the watch now that the DW is right!

The noobfactory makes an Explorer II with the silver hour markers (not black). So like Brendo22 says, you can try Watcheden. I did run across linglingwatches on ebay last week- they have an unmarked Explorer II- once again silver hour markers, and probably a mineral crystal http://cgi.ebay.com/40MM-White-Dial-Auatomci-GMT-Gold-Movement-Full-SS-Case_W0QQitemZ160416226740QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Jewelery_Watches_Watches_MensWatches_GL?hash=item25598d5db4 This watch will run around $60 w/ shipping, but you have to bid on it. BTW, I have the Explorer II from Watcheden also. The markers are black, but the date mag is small on mine. The problem is, there isn't a decent white dialed Explorer II out there

14060 and 16660 inserts are not the same size as the 16800/16610 insert, they are smaller. To build a tritium 16610, your best bet would be to check with Eurotimez and see if you can get a Euromariner V3 with the lugholes. I don't know if it's still avaiable or not. I got mine 1-1/2 to 2 years ago. This watch came with an A serial # which dates back to around 1998-9 as I recall. From there you enlarge the lugholes which is whole lot easier than drilling new ones from scratch. A tritium insert and tritium dial (Swiss- T<25) would complete the deal. Here's a dirty pic of my Euromariner on the right next to a gen 16800. The Euromariner still has the noob dial and a gen luminova insert, gen crown and tube and MBW hollow mid-link 93150 w/ gen 501B end pieces. The 16800 has the tritium dial and hands, c. 1998-9, it still glows, and tritium insert. 93150 bracelet w/ 593 ends. The 16800 is an 8.1 mil SN and would have come with a matte dial originally, but obviously was serviced in the late 90's, at which time the new dial and hands were installed, maybe insert also. All you can do is contact Chris at Eurotimez and see if it's still possible to get the A serial V3, it's worth a try. BTW, it's an MBW case with the almost somewhat correct bezel construction- you can install a gen insert and Clark's 295-C crystal (or it may come w/ the Clark's already installed).

The ROLEXROLEX engraving appeared in 2008. The engraving on reps isn't the greatest. But for someone to look at your watch on your wrist and say it's a rep.... well, 99.9% of the people could care less. And how many Rolex experts do you know? The new Rolexes have the engraving, and the reps do to. It is what it is, go for it.

You can install a gen crown and tube in any Sub rep. Installing a gen bezel insert in a noob sub is more work- you have to file down the OD some and also the backside and not worth it IMO. Install a better watchmaterial pearl in the original insert and leave it at that. Here's a washed out pic of my 4 year old noob- gen crown and tube, WM pearl, a well worn insert, and shaped crown guards. It was a good WR beater till it was replaced by a Euromariner

bingo! T-117

What's the model number? From there, you can check Ofrei, or Clark's and probably find one. If it's the older AK Date, it's going to be maybe the same as a 1500 date. Like a Cyclop 117, or T-117 if you will. I'm thinking the older AK Date was a model 5700.

Yes, the watches are the same on the exterior, so the only question is which movement do you want? You have to decide. If you're like a lot of people, you might just go for the $108 beginmariner and then in a few months maybe buy another watch. At that point you'll have a better idea of what you want to do. Once you find the watch you really want, I would go for the Swiss movement, it'll hold up better over the long run and can be serviced. The other two aren't as servicable.

Personally, I'd stay away from the eta clone Rolex type movement, why pay extra for a questionable movement? You can always try for the purported 'swiss' eta for less http://www.perfect-hour.com/rlss01005-black-dial-50th-anni-2008-update-swiss-p-5007.html or you could just go for the asian eta clone-rlss01006- $188 or you could go for the asian 2813 (ain't nothing eta about it!)- rlss10010- $108- this is what we loosely refer to as the original noob (2nd generation). stay away from the rlss10003- wrong cyclops/date window position, and the case isn't too good either.

Beautiful, R, Absolutely beautiful. Looks like you're one of the few that has a noobfactory case that'll fit a gen dial, congrats!

Stem length can certainly be a process of trial and error. You can screw the crown onto the stem further, but at some point you're going to have to cut the stem if it's too long. With the movement in the case, you have to install the stem and see where it is that it functions- set time, quick set date and wind. Then you screw it down on the case tube. If it's too far out, you're going to have to cut it and rescrew the crown on. You can use a pair of end nippers to cut the stem, just make sure you don't booger up the end of the threads. I don't know if there are special cutters or a die for cleaning up the threads on the end of the stem. Maybe you could file down the end of the stem if you had to- give it a taper so it will screw into the stem. You could check your stem against another one in another movement to get an idea of what length you need to be at. Stems are cheap if you have to buy another one.

Oops! They forgot to engrave the caseback. Reminds me of the Italian kamikazee pilot who flew 50 missions! Diving with a GMT would be a new experience- at least the GMT hand would tell you whether it was day or night, because it goes w/o saying, you'd be in the dark!