alligoat

Brushed- no real reflection of the markers- diffused light at best. Not sure about the engraved rehaut- not my cup of tea.

The get together went well. I guess the Federales were busy elsewhere. The Black Lab is a great little pub down in Montrose, great food and drink, 12-14 guys, a couple of wives, lots of watches and great conversation. A few new faces and a bunch of the old crowd. Brtelec took pics- you can see them over at RWI. These GTG's have been a lot of fun and we'll hopefully do another one soon. We always love for new people to join us, so stay tuned!

Congratulations on a nice collection of gen Rollies. Isn't it nice to know that whenever you wear one of those three watches, you are above reproach? Of course, I've never been called out with a rep Rollie except by my daughter who knows I collect reps- kinda like 'no fair'. I guess all my other friends are too proper, or don't know squat about watches!

If it's an NDT dial, someone customized it with the outlined date window! http://ndtradingcorp.com/zen/index.php?mai...;products_id=70 But certainly, I'd agree that the dial doesn't look right. Have the guys at TZ or VFR dissected it yet?

As BK has indicated, a fairly simple fix for the Euro bezel assembly is to sand down the top of the crystal retention ring. I took a piece of 320 wet dry sandpaper on a flat surface and just turned the retention ring upside down and sanded it until I was happy. Circular motion and vary your hand/finger position to keep the sanding even. I sanded mine down to .5mm or less. The gen insert snapped into the bezel (after cleaning off the glue) and then I was able to snap the bezel onto the retention ring (after installing the click spring and the washer). Sure hope the insert stays put, it has so far, but I may still glue it as a precaution- I'm pretty rough on my watches!

Kinda a crap shoot. Buy a movement for say $25, and pay a watchmaker $30-40 to install it. Or just buy another watch...

I haven't heard that story, but it's pretty clear to me that Hillary never could have gotten as far as he did if he didn't have some non-air breathing sherpa like Norgay with him! At that point, who gets to the top first is really unimportant, IMO.

I agree with Freddy, broken stem. I think a watchmaker would be in order, and you might have to buy a whole new movement- does Borel or Ofrei sell just chinese stems?? Good luck.

Wow again! I had to reread the first post again- 100% gen... So that would mean an all original gen... with servicing by RG.

I've gotten pretty good at screwing up the keyless works on the CN movements and I would guess that's probably the case in this situation. They seem to be much more delicate than the eta movements. Then you're faced with the old dilemna, paying $30-40 to fix a $10 movement. But I've had them fixed in the past and had good results after that.

Wow! JoJo, you blow me away! That gilt dial, beautifully aged markers and that dark brown crocodile strap are an awesome combination. You certainly have exquisite tastes. You certainly keep RG busy with your creations. They are all top-notch!

The great deal about the Datejust is that it's not too hard to build a franken. You use a gen case from roling on ebay, an eta movement, Clark hands, maybe a Stilty spacer ring and you have a great watch- more than a rep, but well worth it, IMO. I built my two frankens for around $500 each

Fantastic write-up Stilty! I've been playing with my Euromariner bezel and this is a big help. I swapped out the tension ring for a gen and was thinking that I need a larger washer, now I'm thinking maybe a bezel also. At that point I'd have a gen assembly! This is a great write-up and I think it should be posted as a sticky at the top of this section.

It has been my experience that the reps are a different size from the gens. Some people have been able to fit a gen dial in a rep, but that is about it. But all you can do is try, if it's not too expensive.

Yep, it's gen.

The watch is correct, but needs help- new dial, hands, polish, crystal, and movement service. Bracelet looks good- typical cheap C&I USA bracelet.

The best sub at this time is the Watchmaker9 V2. In the US you can get it from BK, or go to George himself. A Datejust is also good OTB, just stick to the stainless models and stay away from the fake diamonds. In either case, I would get an eta movement.

The PMWF insert is fine for the vintage subs- 5513/5512/1680 and 1665. You pop out the pearl and install the ofrei illumines dot- not bad. The WM pearl and jewelry outlet insert is for the modern Sub- the 16800/16610.

Very cool, Stilty. Thanks for sharing your techniques and tips with us. That movement ring is top-notch, no doubt.

I agree with blue sphere. You can't compare apples and oranges, so which do you like best?

I'd figure it's a gen from the 40's or 50's. You can look between the lugs for the model number- at 12 o'clock and the serial number at 6 o'clock. It's a manual wind movement like a 1225 maybe, with the screw down crown. It certainly is well worn and in its original state. Question is, do you keep it like that, which is where the most value is for a collector, or do you restore it? I'd figure it's value is around $1000US. Personally, I'd get the dial and hands redone, the case polished, new crystal (or polished) and the movement serviced, if I was going to keep it, because I prefer a watch in nice shape.

Actually the gen assembly has a gasket which sits under the bottom compression ring of the 16800 bezel assembly. The ring has a small groove on the bottom side and the rubber gasket sits in that groove. You install the crystal and white nylon gasket, seat the rubber gasket in the groove and press on the compression ring with a press. Install the click spring, flat washer and bezel and insert and you're done. Assembly is the same for both the 16800 and the 16610. If it is different for the TW Best, I guess you could try to order an assortment of gaskets from Ofrei or Jules Borel and hopefully get the right size.

I must say, this MM is certainly that. I've been all through Ranfft looking at 13 ligne chronograph movements and can't find anything like the MM! http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi...&&2uswk I just find it hard to believe. Did the Chinese develop their own chrono movement? As Pitimany says, it's similar to a Venus 150, also bears a slight resemblance to the Angelus 210, but the Angelus is 14 ligne. It didn't come from the Japanese, did it? I sure wish someone would solve this mystery.

OK, the two Subs that debuted at Basel 2008- the YG w/ blue dial and ceramic bezel and the WG also w/ blue dial and ceramic bezel- clearly different cases- fat cg's, new type of clasp on bracelet. Certainly Rolex can't call them 16610's- are they numbered 116610? The GD Rolex website sucks, they don't tell you squat!

Thanks for the pics, GM. I just noticed the 727 under the balance of the MM! The v23/v72 are 13 ligne and the v22/v71 are larger- maybe 14 ligne. Early Rolexes (40's and 50's) referred to the v72 movement used as a Cal.13, which is referring to the size of the movement- 13 lignes.