alligoat

Ha, I 'borrowed' this pic of a gen 1665- nice side shot of the lugholes Puretimes holes don't look too bad, IMO. I sure wish my watch would show up.

Very nice watch. A 7922... no crown guards, brevet crown- circa late 50's... we'd all love to hear more about it- the dial is a beaut.

I just looked at the watch again, OMG, it has SEL's on the bracelet! Narrow 6 and 9 markers...

I think it's a 24-703-0 crown- 702 crowns have a longer narrower crown emblem. Tube is the 24-7030-0-part #, nostalgia-2000 or wholesaleoutlet990 sell them on the bay for $20 or so. I've been using the WO990 ones lately w/ good results, but you need the tap (3.0mm x .35) and the tool for installing the case tube- $35 at ofrei.com or julesborel.com- for 6mm/7mm tubes, also.

The crown reminds me of the old noobmariner crowns- too big! Trim the crown guards- I guess china will never get those right! I ordered the GW version, so I already plan on ordering an MBW GW dial. Still looks like a decent deal for $223- a good starting point.

Your watch is a combination of various old Rolexes. One of them is the 6036 And there's another watch w/ the moon-phase here if you scroll down the page http://www.ftgwatch.com.au/rolex.html But we call your watch a fantasy, since it bears no resemblance to an actual watch made by Rolex.

+3! Just be glad you don't have an old MBW/WM 1680- the case is marked 5513 on one end and L341,XXX on the other! Ironicaly, the 5513 was produced up until around 1989-09, when it was replaced by the 14060, which explains the L serial #.

Damn, another fake watch and a bad pic to boot! This is my first rep- c. 2006, CN sub w/ shallow rehaut, beat up insert w/ a half decent pearl, trimmed cg's, LV maxi-dial and an old 2836-1 movement. It's a dependable beater, but I just can't figure out what to do with it. Date mag is probably 3.0 or so!

I looked at Yuki's, and NDT's, no tail on the m and J&W's- I couldn't tell by the bad pic. My MBW's don't have it either, but they have issues w/ the "Submariner" being too big.

Bracelets have gotten better over the last 50 years. Some of the old ones from the 50's and 60's were pretty flimsy, but the newer ones like the 93150 are better. A 5513 started out on a 7206, then a 9315 and finally the 93150 in the late 70's and 80's. The 5513 was in production until around '87-'88.

It should be WR w/o it. Rolex didn't start putting an o-ring in the gens until the early 70's. I think that maybe the caseback gasket and this gasket are the same size. Ha, your pic is of a 1680 w/ the cyclops, but same idea w/ the 1665. You could also put some silicone on the gasket to help w/ WR.

I own a number of a21j reps, but they only get occasional use. As Tribal says, your best bet for regular use is the 'swiss' eta. I wonder if Chris at ETZ could source you a complete 2836-2 movement w/ dial, correct hands and datewheel overlay. Then it's an easy swap over. Otherwise, you have to find a 'swiss' eta 2836-2, correct hands (esp. fat minute hand) and swap out the dw overlay from your old movement, cut the dial feet on your asian dial, glue it to the new movement,and swap over the crown. But since you have a watchmaker, maybe he can do all of that for you easily. Another option would be to get the Miyota 8215 movement, the hands typically swap over, you do have to move over the DW, and I don't think the dial feet are in the same place, so you cut the feet and glue or use dial dots. But once again, your watchmaker might be able to do this easily. You can buy the 8215 from www.julesborel.com or www.ofrei.com for around $30-40. Miyotas are excellent workhorses. I own a few knock-offs w/ the Miyotas inside, very dependable.

Beautiful job, JB!

Very nice comparison, great pics of the gen and nice comparison shots of the WM9. I do agree that a gen insert would be the biggest improvement, but the WM9 certainly is very close and for the price, I still think it's a great deal.

I kinda like a Rolex on a strap- in fact, I love this 6542 GMT Here's a 5508 franken, not a great pic, but I like the watch on a dark brown croc strap w/ the Rolex buckle. This MKII mini-Explorer is also nice on a strap Even though my straps say waterproof, I'd go to a tropic or a bracelet for water use.

Darn, that makes it toughter. Sanding by hand (or filing) would be tedious, but maybe a dremel w/ a stone attachment would do the trick. I bought a dremel-like tool at Harbor Freight for $15 or so.

I like the domed T-19 personally, the SD T-39 would be too high for my tastes.

Here's a quick pic of my pair of Frankenjusts- 16013 on the left and 16014 on the right. These have the 2836-2 movt, gen dials, crowns and cases, rep bracelets. Frankenjusts are the only way to go, but it's getting hard to find the cases these days- used to be you could buy the case complete with dial from roling on ebay for a couple of hundred dollars- haven't seen that in 2-3 years.

I do like that movement- 722, and the ROW on the balance bridge, but who let the dog chew on the 2 o'clock pusher?!

Lay a piece of 320 grit or 400 wet/dry sandpaper on a flat table and then just press the caseback down on it and sand away in a circular motion. Keep turning it and vary your finger position so pressure is even. It worked well on my retaining ring on my Euromariner. Shouldn't mess up the threads of the caseback, either.

Here's a gen 16800 I borrowed for a reference. the bezel assembly on the 16800/16610 is the same and one of the things that hasn't changed in 30 years. This bezel has sharp well defined teeth. Mine are much more worn and smoother.

Interesting! But it looks too Wokky!

I agree that V2 looks better- and more like my gen 16800 (even tho a 16800 isn't exactly the same as a 16610- but they still use the same bezel assembly). Here's a quick pic of my 16800- the crown is seated in the case at the edge of the bezel With the V3, it looks like the seat may be recessed.

I'm having a little problem understanding what you mean Tribal. Is the V3 on the left in the pics? If so, I guess what you're saying is that there is less case material (deeper crown guards and the crown sits closer to the bezel) from the bezel out to the crown seat. It also looks like the case tube isn't countersunk as well- but that may be a result of less case to work with. Is that correct?

I did the same thing on my CN 5513 which also has the compression ring- worked fine in the pool. But I would think an o-ring and some silicone grease would be better in terms of reversibility.