alligoat

This watch started as a 6694 from silix in 2006- w/ a Swiss eta, and small date mag- $130. I tried putting a gen crystal on there, which worked, but the cyclops was too far to the left. A couple of months ago I got the dial and hands from MKII and had my watchmaker reassemble the watch. So yes, LH, it is a MKII Vantage, of sorts, but I just call it a MKII Explorer. The case is rep 6694- 34mm, T-12 crystal w/ no cyclops, Swiss eta, and a rep Rolex crown! It's a very nice watch for only $260, well maybe $270 including the new strap, or $280 counting the $10 oyster band w/ safety clasp, 19mm lug width. The lume on this dial and hands is excellent, well worth the $100 I spent to resurrect this watch. Here's another favorite on the dark brown croc strap- the O&W Mark III Mirage

Yes, Phong is expensive, but fine. Like NDTradingcorp.com, both are expensive, but sometimes you can't find the stuff anywhere else. Now days www.yukiwatch.com is a third less expensive alternative, but they don't have some of the stuff J&W and NDT have. I've bought from all three with good results.

I do a fair number of straps, typically brown or dark brown: And the gold shell Date- on a dark brown croc strap

It's all a question of how far you want to go. From cheapest to most expensive: 1. CN rep 5513- say you spend a little over $100 to 250 or maybe a little more depending on movement The one on the left is a modified CN rep with an aftermarket dial and an eta movt- just over $300. 2. Next is the euro 5513- an MBK/MBW. Definitely a good deal- I'd get the Swiss eta, then you mod the cg's, put a better bezel insert in there, maybe a gen crown and tube, T-19 and away you go- these are very good beaters, IMO- right size, take some gen parts. 3. Next you're moving up the scale and you're spending more bucks. Buy a yuki case and dial w/ hands, find a 1520 Rolex movement (maybe you find a 70's Air King, get it serviced- $200 or so)and have a watchmaker put the watch together for you with the Rolex movement. Total spent $1500-2000 or so. This is a franken and it's about as good as you can get w/o buying a gen. 4. Buy a gen.... plan on spending a minimum of $3K, hopefully under 4K, but it probably won't go down in value- from an investment point of view, a gen is your best bet.

Thanks. I figured it wasn't a 2824-2 since it wouldn't work in that case. So does a 9411 date to the 70's or earlier?

Very nice, gavidoc! Which tudor movement did you use?

It's a gen. Older style was ss clasp and detachable end links. Since around 2000, it's SEL's and gold thru the clasp.

315-16800-01, for instance. The last digits can vary, 01, 181, who knows... Early 16800/16610 inserts were tritium dots, maybe that's the -01, later ones are luminova- maybe like the 181. 315-16800 is the important part. 16800's and 16610's take alot of the same parts like the whole bezel assembly, crown and tube, hands (on a gen , of course).

Watch Andrew Shear, sheartime , on ebay. Bought my last gen insert for $50 or so. Also, Tuscanyrose has them from time to time- either on VRF or ebay. Patience is the key.

Thanks BT, I keep the watches on a winder and therefore they vary slightly, I just didn't set them in synch. They actually wear just fine, but they are slightly smaller than a DJ, but I have both and it doesn't bother me- kinda like the 34 mm MKII Explorer, it's small, but it works just fine for me. Thanks TJ and Raijor.

For a really good vintage project, I'd still spend the $400 and get an MBW/MBK from Eurotimez w/ the verified eta. 5513/5512/1680/1665. Hopefully everything would work out OK, even if the cases aren't as good as they used to be. The problem w/ my two CN reps from Paul is they have their own dimensions- no gen/aftermarket parts fit that I've found other than a crown and tube which you can put in any Sub rep- might have to run a 2.65mm drill bit thru the case hole first then tap it, but you can install a gen crown/tube in anyone of these watches.

Yeh, your probably right, the minute hand is a maxi hand like the LV Sub.

People are always wondering how to get into this hobby with a decent rep for not too much money. The easiest way is to buy a cheap rep, make a few mods yourself and go with it. It's not perfection, but it can be a good daily beater. Here's a few of mine as examples. I bought the 5513 from Paul back in 2006 for $139. It came with a Swiss eta and a good hollow mid link bracelet. I trimmed the crown guards, reset the case tube, glued the crystal down and reinstalled the tension ring, and siliconed the seals. WR in the swimming pool! Next I bought two of the all acrylic pearls from one of the dealers over in Hong Kong. The cool thing was I was able to pop out the original pearl w/ the metal surround and just pop in the acrylic pearl- amazingly it fit. It didn't take long before I became tired of the 3-6-9 dial- the hue was just a little too green for my taste and I couldn't figure out how to change it to the gold color it was supposed to be. I found a decent 5513 aftermarket dial on the bay for $125 and since it was the same 26-27mm size as the rep dial, it was easy for my watchmaker to install it- cut off the dial feet and glue the dial to the top ring of the movement- $20 and 10 minutes. A little over $300 spent total on the watch. 5513 on the left, Paul's DRSD on the right. The DRSD is cheaper yet- bought in 2005 w/ a Swiss eta (ah, $139, those were the good old days!) new pearl, trim the cg's, drill the lugholes. I stole the 93150 band off of it for another project. It has the working HE valve- a great copy of the original, IMO. With the $25 pearl, I've got $164 in the watch. Unfortunately now days, I've mainly got my eyes on the Swiss eta w/ the silver datewheel (open 6's and 9's).

Open 6's and 9's are hard to come by. The chinese have largely quit making them and updated. You still see them on some of the cheap reps- don't know if you could rob one from a cheap a21j or not. Ironically, I think Rolex doesn't carry those old DW's either for the most part- my gen 16800 which was serviced by Rolex in the late 90's w/ a new dial, hands and DW had the closed 6's and 9's (bad date mag to boot because of smaller fonts). Luckily I was able to find an old DW for not too much money- under $100 installed.

You can buy aftermarket 3035/3135 hands from Clarks Watch Supply on ebay.

The movements fine. The 1570 (1575) hasn't been copied to my knowledge and it's too easy to take one out of a 1500 Date or 1600 DJ for $1000+.

This one might work also: http://www.silix-prime.com/rols168-p-2145.html Rols 176 is the Cartier, but it has the date window- good for Freddy's 6542, but not a 5508. Anyone you buy is going to need some work on it.

Thanks Freddy. The idiot behind the camera's going to keep after it!

Yep, B, that's one sure tell. Also, the 660ft=200m can be too large, like on MBW red sub dials. And don't forget to look for the turned up m on 200m (it's not on old MBW dials). Decent red subs are going for $9K + these days!

Yesterday this watch was discussed on VRF, Another Bogus Red Dial Sub The fake dial w/ the upturned m in 200m and Submariner printing too big, recase/fake case and the papers are also questionable.

Higher mp's??

upped the mp's, let's see what happens: 16800 gen on left, franken on the right

Shoot JoJo, they're supposed to be macros, but I know they're slightly out of focus...

Thanks guys. I'm just trying to improve my photo skills slowly but surely. This is the best camera my wife's bought so far and it seems to help alot. I noticed I have two different sized crowns- 6mm on the ss Date and 5.3 on the gold shell. And two different DW's- the gold shell one is more correct, flat top 3's etc. The ss Dw is closed 6's and 9's and round top 3's- a later rolex replacement or aftermarket???

Left is a 1966 Date, dial has turned from silver to a soft beige. Right is a 70's Date- gold shell w/ a faceted silver dial. These are the 34mm Dates, 1500 and 1550 model numbers. Just trying to improve my photo skills w/ my wife's camera- ha, she's at work!