alligoat

I agree with freddy. Here's a dial from a guy- see the Beyeler on the back and the price- $850.00- his price might be double what I think it should be, but people aren't giving the real ones away. http://cgi.ebay.com/ROLEX-SUBMARINER-BLACK...1742.m153.l1262

That certainly is a beautiful watch freddy! That dial from MY looks pretty awesome- the first thing that caught my eye was 'Oyster Perpetual' and no 'Date' at the end! And I guess you mated a gmt gear to the 2846 movement- that's a pretty cool mod also. The only other thing would be a roulette datewheel.... It's certainly a great watch and a tribute to your watchmaking skills. Congrats.

A list of replica serial numbers, not a bad idea, I guess.... Lord knows there must be a million of the F520117's out there. And the SSD SN ends in 117- Z539117, as does the new M serial noobs. The noob factory is very prolific. A couple of older CN rep Rolex cases have something like an R863... serial #- R serials being from the late 80's as well as the MBW/WM vintage cases with the L341... serials, also late 80's.

I do think the idea of a trip to the Ziggy spa is excellent. I know I'm still very happy with the relume on my matte dial 16800- it just makes for a fun watch. And with a movement service, you're good to go for the next 4-5 years.

Don't try to drill the lugholes unless you're pro. You'll waste a perfectly good case. I would get the Euromariner V3 with the asian 21 j movement. Essentially you're buying it for the case. It has the lugholes and then you have to drill them out with a drill bit like the Snap-on DBCE55A- #55. That's easier than drilling new lugholes if you have a drill press. Expect to polish the case after that some. The Euro V3 will accept gen or aftermarket bezel parts, you can tap the case hole and install a case tube (gen or aftermarket) and then a gold Rolex crown. You should be able to fit the 3035 in the Euro V3. At that point you'll have a franken TT sub. I don't know if you call it a 16613 or a 16803. Either way, it's a TT franken sub.

This movement was pointed out on VRF as not being correct- the chrono bridge specifically. Also, on the dial side there is no 'Rolex' engraved on the main bridge. Balance would be very old- like for a 6234, making it a 72A or possibly 72B. Basically, it's a well aged FAKE!

That's definitely a very nice job on the crown guards. I like the flat line straightness along the edge of the case and they've been thinned just right. Great job. Of course the rest of the watch looks good also.

I'm not a big fan of the rehaut engraving either, but this watch could be a pretty good deal for the price. The mentioned upgrades- new crown, improved crown guards, better pearl, new bezel, better print dial and better date font are all issues that the old noobmariner had. If the factory has corrected these items, it could make for a very fine watch. But B-T is right, it's probably an asian eta, but that's just something we're going to have to deal with- the supply of swiss eta's is drying up. If you're in the market for a good sub, but don't want to spend WM9 prices, this looks like an excellent alternative.

Possibly. Crown position should work, but it could require some mods to fit the movement in the case- one of those you won't know till you try!

Hour marker dots look a little bit big to me. Dial feet are correct, but back isn't signed- mine says Beyeler- c.1978. Dial print looks OK. Here's another dial which looks similar: http://cgi.ebay.com/Rolex-Mens-Vintage-Sub...1QQcmdZViewItem What about the seller????? and price???? A good white 1680 dial would run $400 and up from a reputable seller

Yep, I'd love to know how it works out also. But looking at the case and the crown position of Sean's case, I would bet on the 3135 movement fitting. Rehaut looks like that of the 16610, and the high crown position also looks like a 16610. The funny thing is the caseback says 16800 on it. I would think the 3035 stem position will be too low in the case. But I would think an eta 2824-2 could very easily work. But if the dial from Sean has Rolex feet, it will work w/ the 3035 and the 3135- dial feet on those two movements are the same. I can't help but wonder if a 3035 wouldn't work in a noobmariner case (F520117). I might have even seen one on ebay like that... My experience building franken Datejusts is that the 3035 closely approximates the eta 2836-2, particularly in crown position and the 3135 is close to the 2824-2. The fact that BK is coming out with a YM with the 2824-2 and correct crown position confirms the similarity between the 3135 and the 2824-2.

That's the best bet. I finally glued in my gen insert on my euromariner V3- it held 95% of the time but would pop off when I bumped the watch. Tolerances on these rep bezels isn't as good as the gens.

The case has lugholes, so it has some value. And since it's an older rep, it probably has a swiss eta in it- especially if it's still running good. But updating to a WM9 V2 LV would be a very good step Even a noobmariner would be an upgrade- esp. one with an eta, but now days you just never know if you're getting a swiss eta or an asian copy.

The watch that you're interested in is the 2008 Noobmariner- with the latest M serial # and the rehaut engraving. It's an OK watch- crown guards and pearl look decent in the pic- I don't know if they're actually improving the noob or if they mod the sample watch before taking pics- crown looks OK also. Heck, if they'd make those mods and slightly enlarge the OD of the bezel insert to the size of the Rolex gen insert, they'd have a kick-a$$ watch. Still, not a bad watch for the economy minded person. Of course, the Noobmariner has been surpassed by the WM9 sub and the Euromariner, but they cost more than twice the watch you're looking at. Whoops, I forgot, Eurotimez has the Euromariner with the asian 21j for about $100 more than the noob you're looking at.

These could be the same watch, except for the movement- the asian eta vs the swiss eta. But Swiss eta'a are getting scarce, hopefully if you pay 80 dollars extra that's what you get. the problem with the copy movements is there are good ones and bad ones- you won't know till you get the watch- it's getting to be a crap shoot- you take your chances. Good luck.

These watches are basically the same- same case, F520117, but the movements can vary- it comes with the asian 21j's- a couple of different ones, eta clones and true eta's. Other minor differences occur from batch to batch- beginmariners are noted for zit pearls from time to time. As for dealers, just pick one and go!

Very nice. I especially like the lume job- IMO, that is the only way to go on a rep like this- it just makes it so nice to be able to read the time in the dark. And besides, we're not going to fool the true Rolex aficianados, which you'll probably never run into anyway. Good looking bezel insert, crown and tube, crystal and the serifs on the 5 in the date window look good- same as on my WM 1680 which I'm wearing today. The watch turned out very well, I know it's been tough for you, but the final results are great. Congratulations.

I agree with Freddy's 27mm, but it sounds like you haven't bought the dial yet. here's a pic from Wanna Buy a Watch: http://www.wannabuyawatch.com/indpages/34552.html A noobmariner with lugholes might work, but you'd have to take a noob case and make a deal with someone like Omega to drill the holes. Now days all of the sub cases come w/o holes. This would not be an easy project unless you have the skills to do mods like this.

Yep, I'm with you 110% on the differences between the 3035 and 3135. So you came up with a gen bezel assembly for your Euro case, that sounds cool. That and a 295-C and it's a pretty nice watch.

I went over to PMWF to look at a Sandoz Sub http://www.pmwf.com/Phorum/read.php?10,61838,61838#msg-61838 You might be able to swap out the dial- I'm assuming you're talking about a later model Tudor dial w/ date. Crown and tube is more work- you'd remove the tube, drill the case hole with a 2.65mm drill bit and then tap it w/ the 3mm x .35 tap. Before you installed the tube, you'd have to check the crown guards and make sure the Rolex 7mm crown fit in there, might have to shave the cg's. Isn't the back of the Sandoz case marked? You'd also need a better bezel insert- maybe the PMWF 5513 insert with the Ofrei illumines dot. Overall, I'd think it would be easier to just look around for a Tudor Sub rep myself. But then again, I don't know who has them.

Hey Stilty, what about that 16610 case from Sean at ETASwiss we saw awhile back? It was like $600. But with a gen dial, maybe a crown and tube, eta hands, and a bracelet, you could be there, oh, maybe a gen insert, also. Also, with the soft market, I expect the price of an older 16610 or a 16800 to drop to between $2500-3000. I visited a dealer who had a D serial 16610 in mint condition for $3700 today.

Cleaning the hairspring is fairly simple. I have a Wittnauer with the V72 and it was gaining an hour a day. My watchmaker took one look at it, said dirty hairspring, removed the hairspring, dipped it in a vat of cleaning solution, let it dry and reinstalled it. Then he spent a minute or so on that whichamacallit machine regulating it and voila, the watch was keeping great time again. It all took maybe 5 minutes. Some day I'll have to get it serviced, but it's running fine for now. Hopefully you can find a local watchmaker who will work on it- sure beats shipping it back to China and waiting 2 months.

Looking good! Which case are you using? Perhaps a trimming of the cg's?

Good comparison, but as you say, some of that stuff isn't going to be apparent at wrist level.

Yep, I know all about the old and newer cases, and I wasn't expecting the gen dial to fit, just remarking how it is cool to happen upon one. Kinda like the old GMT Masters- so close, but we can't make them work in the rep cases. But look at markers surrounds on the early Exp II dial- silver....