alligoat

Welcome to the club. And remember there are worse addictions out there! I've learned how to do a lot of the mods here on this forum- not that I've saved any money, but sometimes it can be satisfying. Crown guards are easy, inserts and pearls aren't too bad and changing the crystal isn't too bad. Luming, I leave that to the pros! But it sure makes a rep look good and well worth it IMO. With your Euro, maybe you mod the cg's, perhaps try the Watchmaterial pearl upgrade in the bezel insert and see what you have. With the noob dial, you should have some decent lume and on my Euro, I couldn't even see the etched crown except under 3.5x mag. What I like about this series of subs is the great bezel construction and how the size is spot on when compared to a gen. But the down side is that you may find yourself buying a gen sooner or later!

In the past, Paul's noob sub w/ eta (aka the so called perfect sub) was a good deal. I guess it still would be if you got a true eta. But now days there's just no way to know until you get the watch- and who wants to fool around with shipping it back, etc. if it isn't an eta. PT's WM9 sub at around $345 w/ eta is probably the best deal right now, if there are still any available. The Euromariner w/ the DG2813 is the cheapest ($278), but then you're taking a chance on the DG movement. Both cases are more correct than the noob case. The Euromariner with eta and WM9 sub are more expensive, but very good. All have the correct bezel assembly and are the closest copies to the gen so far.

Looks like a very good price, especially w/ b&p's. This is about the best 'wholesale' price you're going to get unless you're doing a private deal. The pics of the watch look fine- T<25 dial, 93150 bracelet- all fine for a 96 model. I just paid $3250 for a 83 16800, probably in nowhere as good a shape as your 12 year old watch and thought it was a decent deal. I do figure a service when I'm buying used Rolexes like this- it's really a wholesale market on the bay.

The major problems with this watch are that the cyclops is too far to the right and the rehaut is too WOKKY. WM9/PT or Euromariner/MBK don't have these major flaws.

Thanks BK, always a pleasure when you share your expertise with us. Now if I can just figure out how to get the Euromariner bezel assembly apart w/o tearing it up, cause I'd love to file down that top ring a little!

The closest I've seen around here is something like the TT sub w/ Serti dial from Josh. http://www.joshwatch.com/rlst10003-wrapped...362-p-2536.html But I'm not sure if taking an expensive aftermarket blinged out dial and putting it in a rep is a good move. Heck, the dial might not even fit in the case- gen (and probably aftermarket bling) dials run in the 27mm range, rep dials tend to be 28mm. CN cases generally won't take a gen dial, but noob, MBW and TW Best will.

Just get out your checkbook, Dizzy! Actually the v23 option should be quite a bit less expensive than than the v72 route- you can still find those on ebay in the $500 range last time I looked, but a service will run around $300 still. V72's are hard to find for under $1K these days- too many people like us building Daytonas! Good luck.

Size wise, the gen insert fits beautifully as far as the outside of the bezel is concerned. However, I'm finding that the inside top ring may sit a little too high, pushing the inside of the insert up along the crystal edge. I was not able to get the bezel assembly apart on my Euro V3, so I just put it aside for the present time. There's a bottom compression ring, the click spring, a top inside ring- keeps the click spring down- and the bezel itself. It's basically a copy of the gen assembly. I still have to trim the cg's and drill the lugholes and plan on dealing with the insert at that time. I did install a Clark's crystal and that went fine- but the etched crown on the original crystal wasn't noticeable to me, but I wear reading glasses. I did finally see it w/ some 3.5x mag glasses on- that is what I use to work on watches. I believe BK did trim/file the inside top ring down on a Euro/MBW that he worked on. The original insert on my Euro was glued in there pretty well- contact or rubber cement, maybe. A WM pearl in the Euro insert might be a good inexpensive improvement if you don't want to spring for a gen insert. I plan on gluing my gen insert in anyway- just as a precaution because I'm kinda rough on my watches- I've beat up my share of bezel inserts and lost a number of pearls!

Congratulations on the matte dial 16800, JoJo. Excellent choice and together with the triple 6, it will make a fantastic pair.

There's no doubt that Charlie's wearing a YM. My nephew says Charlie is quite a fan of Rolex warches and that he even gave one to Alan as a way of saying thanks... I've never been able to figure out what watch Alan is wearing in the show either- looks like some kind of black dialed chronograph. Kinda like Obama's watch- black dial, but what is it?

Visla's got a good pic, but also, use the search button. Eurotimez did a write-up a few months ago pointing out some the differences between an ETA and a copy movement. The copy movements are everywhere these days, so it's really getting to the point that you have to trust the seller and Chris is a good one to trust. But you do pay a premium for the ETA, especially these days, but they can be serviced which is a big plus.

Finding a rep friendly watchmaker was one of the happiest days of my life. Glad to hear it all worked out. Of course, this doesn't bode well for your growing addiction- now it will only get worse!

If the watch fits your budget, go for it! There's no way to go wrong, except growing tired of it. The GMT is a great watch and I personally like the ones with the black bezels best. The nice thing about wearing a gen is that if someone questions you about it, you can tell em to go take a hike and not worry about it!. Or maybe try to softly reply, "No it's not a fake." I love to wear my reps, especially as beaters, but sometimes when you're going out, wearing a gen is the best thing.

Good point, Freddy. I wondered the same thing myself. Another option would be the Far East upgrade, so to speak. Take the 3035 and put it in a solid 18KYG aftermarket Rolex case with a gen dial, hands and crystal and a solid gold bracelet. The solid gold Datejust for around $5K. Last week we did see a 16610 case from Sean at ETASwiss for $600. But a 16610 takes a 3135, not a 3035 movement. I do keep waiting for NDT to come out with a 16800 case. Natalie already has the 16800 matte dials- but most people are probably taking out the later gloss dials w/ WG surrounds and putting in the matte dial- the 16800 'matte dial upgrade'.

It's a bunch of expensive "BLING". The people who buy this stuff have more money than sense (cents!). The aftermarket dials have a lot of diamonds and other precious stones and are of course overpriced. But I'm sure the watches have real Rolex movements and are legitimate in that respect.

Yep, the spring bars are fixed- not movable or drillable really w/o a lot of work. Movement looks to be an ETA, but it could be a copy movt. You can pop out the pearl and put in an Ofrei illumines dot or get one of the NOS pearls on ebay- my NOS pearl snapped right in to the bezel insert, http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Vintage-Rolex-Tri...id=p3286.c0.m14

Polexpete's right, a decent 16800/16610 Submariner dial can be found on ebay for $150. A set of 3035/3135 hands from Clark's run's about $20. I've never seen anyone put a 3035 in a rep case, but a noob case might work, As Freddy says, you might have to do some shaping to the inside of the case to make room for the movement. And the crown/stem position might not work in the case, but all you can do is try. Have no idea how you will secure the movt to the case. I've built 16014 and 16013 frankens using a 2836-2 ETA and the crown lined up correctly. Since the 2836-2 fits in a noob case, maybe a 3035 crown will line up all right. But you're basically in uncharted waters, so you're really on your own.

Here's a nice 16800 matte dial from a reputable seller, but it's in the US. This is the seller that I bought my 1680 from 3 years ago for like $2450- it's now worth probably $6000. http://cgi.ebay.com/Rolex-SS-Submariner-16...A1%7C240%3A1318 I firmly believe this watch will be worth $8000-10000 in 3-4 years. That's why I bought my 16800 matte dial this year. Of course, dollars and euros will continue to slide and we'll all need to make over $100K per year just to survive. But if you're wearing anyone of these gen Rolexes, at least you can be doing it in style!

Oops! Rule # 1 is don't take a rep to a Rolex repair shop. You're lucky the guy just told you he can't work on it- you'd be pretty bummed out if he confiscated it because it's counterfeit. I don't know that they really do that, but NEVER take a rep to genuine watch dealer- you're just asking for trouble. Too bad about screwing up the keyless works, but if you find a good small independent watchmaker, it's a simple $30-40 fix. Remember- no AD's.

Very nice, BK. I'm with you on the lume- I think it's just cool to have a good lume job- especially on a rep.

Well Freddy, the auction has over a week to run, but I'm wondering if the price is a wee bit too steep. The guy has a $200-300 in the servicing, maybe. Maybe it'll just sit.

http://www.ofrei.com/page_151.html Scroll down the page past the last bezel insert- Illumines dot.

Iwould think that the daywheel was removed, it wouldn't fit in the case otherwise.

But have you tried to put a new asian movement in your watch- it's not that simple and when and if you get it done, will it last? And if you have it serviced, the servicing costs will exceed the cost of the movement, unless you live in China or Thailand. So don't let the cheap price fool you.