alligoat

Just curious, Libby, which movement are you planning to use?

Precious Time used to have the WM9 v1 and he's in the EU. If he's in the EU, can't he ship to you w/o the Customs hassle? BK's in the USA, don't know if he can ship to Netherlands w/o hassles.

Certainly the MBK 6538 is a good choice. The pearl needs work, and some people will nit-pick a few other points, but with some correct aging, it can be made to look nice. I consider these a step above the chinese no crown guard Bond subs. And certainly far cheaper than going the Yuki/NDT/J&W franken route.

Great pics, beautiful watch, lani. Wish I liked Roman numerals. BTW, that's a presidential band, not a jubilee.

5508's are around. But it may be that you might have to consider spending more money for a franken built from parts from Yuki Watch, NDTrading Corp, or Jewelry and Watch. The economy 5508's from the regular dealers aren't very faithful reps, anyway. But with a little modding they can be fun. Keep looking and hopefully you'll find sommething you like. BTW, Consensus seems to be that the true Bond sub was most likely a 6538.

Noob sub cases are F520117 and the newer M092117. To align the cyclops, remove the movement and pop the crystal out from the inside of the case w/ your thumbs. Clean it off and reposition it and repress it into place. Best to have a crystal press like the $15 one from Harbor Freight. Removing the bezel isn't easy- you have to work your way all around w/ a knife/razor between the case and the bezel and keep lifting it up. It helps to have some wedges so when you lift one side, the other doesn't go back down. Slow slow slow. It's a PITA, but don't get in a hurry or you'll bend the bezel. There's a little ring under there w/ three little prongs, you can bend those up a little, hopefully that will tighten things up a little, then you press the bezel back on w/ the crystal press. Noob bezel's are notorious for being tough to remove, good luck.

I'd get the WM9 case over the Euro(MBK) case, myself. But if you got the complete WM9 sub, you'd have a nice watch for 'dress' and a watch for 'beating around'.

Interesting. Rust indicates the presence of water. If you were using the watch for regular diving in salt water, some of the parts could be subject to surface rusting- bezel parts come to mind. But if you haven't been in the water, it's very unusual, to say the least. Maybe it is a quality control issue.

Congrats, Offshore! I'm certainly enjoying my new set of screwdrivers. And you can leave me off the drawing since I don't plan on polsihing sapphire crystals. But I do have my eye on the waterproof tester- maybe later, when my wife forgets about my latest gen purchase!

I doubt anyone has tried mainly because it's too new a model. But the good news is, things have been getting better over the last 2-3 years. It used to big that rep dials were about 1mm bigger than gen dials. And a gen dial was too small for the rep case. But lately things have gotten closer to gen sizes- for subs we're even to the point where gen parts can be used. Maybe if someone has a GMTIIC rep, they could uncase it and measure the dial for you and then you could compare w/ the gen dial. The other good news is that date windows are in the correct position more often these days.

All makes sense to me, good job, Freddy!

Eurotimez is the one to go to. The Euromariner is a copy of the gen in terms of bezel construction, and nothing against Eurotimez, but the fit and quality of the Euro/MBK sub bezel assembly aren't the greatest, IMO. But Eurotimez/Chris doesn't make these, MBk factory does, Chris just sells them. You could get the Euromariner w/ the asian 21 j movement and just swap out your noob dial and 2836- change out the crown to the 2836 stem and away you go I don't know if BK would sell you a WM9 case alone (w/ crystal, bezel,etc) and you might need a spacer ring since you're using the 2836-2 w/ the noob dial, but that might be a possibility. Or you may just need to belly up and get a WM9.

I just got a set of screwdrivers from Watchbitz- very nice blades and a very reasonable price. Definitely worth checking out.

Chinese case, used by Paul, Andrew, etc. Sometimes referred to as a 'WOK' because of the inward sloping rehaut- but yours didn't look too bad. Your pearl didn't look too bad. BK's formula is a jewelryoutlet555 insert and the $10 WM pearl. I'd just enjoy the watch and install a new insert/pearl when you've tore up the one in there now- they do get scratched and nicked fairly easily.

If you're putting in an eta, that means you're putting on a new set of hands to fit the eta, and swapping over the datewheel overlay, or have a new one to install, right? If the DG2813 is just held in place by the plastic movement ring, might try sticking with that MO first. If it has a plastic ring and hold down tabs and screws, try that. Finding the right size movement ring is tough- they're not readily available. And even though a plastic ring doesn't look very professional, they work just fine- there's nothing wrong with them

krb, yours is the basic chinese sub rep- the little spring loaded click, the eight sided 'paper clip' in the bezel, snaps on. And the aftermarket assemblies really aren't worth the trouble. Euromariner, WM9, and the late model MBK's will accept gen bezel parts, and crystal. Not sure about late model TWB's...

Looking good! Which case did you use?

Thanks for the heads up, B. Must be due to the alignment of the planets and the moon!

So let me see if I have this straight. A 703 crown is crimped- does this mean an ss wrapper is basically shrink wrapped around a base metal core? And a 704 crown is solid stainless. So, I'm assuming they're interchangeable, with the 704 just being the next in line in the evolution of quality.

Yeah, I guess you're right, which means you're back to square one. But, back at square one, your first premise of the 2836 GMT w/ incorrect handstack (IHS), I thought those were fairly reliable. Might need a service/cleaning, but OK otherwise in my experience. CHS movements are not so reliable though. A year ago or so, I thought river had an Explorer II w/ an eta 2893-2 in it- not cheap, but a nice movement, of course.

I was thinking you already had the dial and case. If the previous movement was an eta clone, the dial feet would even work, I believe.

Exactly! But maybe stilty could get you a ring that would hold the movement in the case in the corrrect position- kind of like he does for the Datejust frankens.

Sorry, but no one apparently knows. I actually have a nice one with hollow mid links, but I just know that it came on some kind of sub rep. I don't know of them being available from a dealer like the 93150 is. Also, I believe 280 and 380 end links are correct for a 7836. A 78360 would take 580's like on an early Explorer II, 501B's on an Explorer I or later Exp.II. Also a 16520 takes the 78360 w/ 503 end links. Good luck.

HA! Trusty's is a noob. The pic shows F520117, but the new noob w/ the rehaut engraving is actually SN M092117. But if you don't want to do a WM9, maybe you could get the WM9 v1 from Precious Time if they are still available. Don't get me wrong, I've had 4 noobs, even made a noob into a matte dial 16800 w/ lugholes, but they're just not as good as the current crop of subs- WM9v2, Euromariner, WM9v1, which all can take gen parts and are a better copy of the gen. BK's/WM9's new LV sub case with the correct crown position is the cat's meow- can't wait to see it in the 16610 black model w/ the 2824-2. At that point, with a gen bezel insert, maybe crown and tube, it will be pretty damn close to the gen. Noob will never achieve that because the size of the bezel and insert is not correct- it's just slightly different from the gen size.