alligoat

Thanks Chief for the update. Along the same lines, I ran across another supplier on ebay this morning: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...=tab%3DWatching Jewelryoutlet2005- at first I thought it was the same as the guy down on Sugar Land- Faisal Ali- and his two companies- wholesaleoutlet and jewelryoutlet555, but it appears to me to be a different seller. I was wondering if anyone had tried one of these 295C crystals yet- it looks like he has the groove in the center of the crystal, wonder what the date mag is like.

LOL Marty, if you know how to get a tap out of a case, let me know. That MBW case is sitting on the bench with the broken tap in it. I can't for the life of me figure how to get it out- but I do have some ease-outs from my flooded Galveston Bay house- the workshop had 6 feet of water in it- maybe the smallest one would work. I sure hate to waste a perfectly good case.

Shawn, tube installation isn't easy- I just busted off a tap in an MBW 16610 case last month- guess I should have drilled it first. Removing the existing tube- either a rat tail file jammed in there- turn counterclockwise to remove, may need to heat slightly if it's glued in there, or a T-8 or T-9 Torx bit might unscrew it for you. Last resort is turn it out of there with a pair of pliers- you'll never use the tube again anyway. Clean the hole with a Rolex tapping tool- 3mm x .035- the one for the 6mm and 7mm case tubes- you can go to JulesBorel.com and you'll find one for $35 plus s&h. If your existing hole is too small, you have to drill it out before you tap it, or you risk busting your tap like I did last month on my MBW. Don't know the size drill bit- maybe 3mm. After tapping the hole, you need to chamfer or countersink the case so the tube will sit correctly in the case and the crown will screw down flush. A larger drill bit the size of the outside of the case tube will do the trick- can'rt remember which size though. You then need the tool for installing the case tube- julesborel again- another $35 or so. It's the new sytle tool for installing Rolex case tubes- 6 and 7mm. I use a little thread-lock compound and screw it in after dry fitting it first. After that you just unscrew the rep crown and screw in the gen crown to the stem of the movement and away you go. BTW, the Euromariner case tube will accept a gen crown, I believe- it might be a whole lot easier if you just replace the rep crown with a gen and leave the case tube alone.

Welcome aboard. You're in the right place, now all you have to do is start reading, searching and learning. You don't say which type of Daytona you want, so first off you need to establish that. Modern or Vintage, for instance. I will tell you that the modern ones with the running seconds at 6 are not terribly reliable. Vintage models like the 6263 are OK, but once again you have to compromise on the low end of the price spectrum (under $500). And if you decide to build a franken, you could easily spend $2000-3000. There's so much to learn, it will take weeks or months! Also, if you spend some money and join up, you will have access to the dealers section. Then you can see what all is available- well worth it IMO.

Welcome aboard. The last Air-King that I bought was maybe a model 5500 with a 1520 movement- gen- for $880. You might consider looking around for a gen. The older ones can be found for a reasonable price. Good luck.

2483 is correct for an early 7016- 25 j/18000 bph. Late 60's like 67 or so. With a better crown and insert, it would be a beautiful watch.

Nice find! Can't read the movement # below the balance- 248x maybe- but it looks like an old ETA to me. There are reps of the Tudors out there, but this one looks good to me. Pearl on the bezel insert looks suspect, but it could be the lighting. The crystal should go over the case, but should have a retaining ring which also holds the bezel assembly, I believe. For $275 it's not a mistake and could be a very nice score.

Wow! Sure hope you're able to overhaul it Freddy, that's one heck of a find!

Shoot Stephane, you know the formula, a noob case from Omega with the drilled lugholes, a silver datewheel from like an MBW 1680 red sub- open 6's and 9's, round top 3's, my datewheel is white in my franken and in my gen, but the open 6's and 9's are the key gen crown and tube WM pearl in a noob insert, or file down a gen insert, or a WM pearl in a jewelryoutlet insert- file it down also 593 end pieces and a 93150- maybe MBW again Hardest part is the 16800 matte dial- they've been going for $600 on the bay lately. Or you could pick up an older tritium dial w/ white gold surrounds- but not as nice as the matte dial 16800's A relume of dial and hands by Ziggy would be a nice final touch. The killer at this point is the matte dial- they've become so expensive- I got mine two years ago for $100 and paid Ziggy $50 to relume it!

Great write up Stephane and a beautiful watch- certainly the matte dial 16800 is my favorite watch at this point in time gen on the left and franken on the right. The franken gets the most wrist time because I worry less about tearing it up. Actually Eourtimez is working on this already. But it may take a while.

Didn't it use to be that you had to do a little grinding opposite of the crown (at the 9 o'clock position) on the inside of the case?

You know Tribal, I just don't think it gets any better than this. A 'perfect' sub for 1/10th the cost of a gen! If it passes the WR test, what more could you ask for? You can beat this watch to death, and it still only costs $500-700. Who cares, sure beats the heck out of wasting a gen! I love it.

My experience has been that a gen dial is 1mm smaller than the rep dials and very probably won't fit in the rep case- it will slide past the rehaut ring and hit the crystal! But all you can do is try it yourself. Some people have said that they were able to fit a gen dial in a rep case. Of course, you have to cut the dial feet and glue the dial to the movement ring, or use dial dots to hold it in place.

I guess at this point George may have run out of the 2005 models and he sent you a free upgrade to the 2007- z series ($155 value). At the same time, I would guess that the 2007 z series is running low and the 2008 M series case is next. Maybe he'll update his website. With the 2007 z series, swapping out a gen bezel insert and trimming the cg's would yield a very nice watch for not much extra money. I wonder if the 2836 is a Swiss or the asian copy movement- I've heard that a few of his watches have the copy eta.

Good point JoJo, but I guess the seller is saying it's in the second batch of 150 with WG surrounds. Hate to think what a matte dial 16660 would go for!

What a price tag! I think this one from Shear-time would be more suited to my budget! http://cgi.ebay.com/1985-Vintage-Rolex-Sea...id=p3286.c0.m14 200K for a watch, a Rolex like this one, is just too much for me. And with the market crashing, maybe you can pick it up for 100K next month!

Wow! That's pretty cheap- 32 pounds delivered- maybe $64US. One of my scuba friends might enjoy it- I keep getting her Invictas and last time I ran across a Wittnauer TT Ladies scuba watch in quartz a la Rolex with a jubilee band. She liked that one also. Certainly it's a CN movement. Wonder if it's any good....

Congratulations Stephane. It's always nice to have a gen and you certainly picked one with a cool little bit of historical significance. The great thing about hanging around here is that you learn something new every day. I like that transition from tritium, to luminova to SL and you've helped me see how it happened. I'm somewhat partial to the 93150's w/ the 501B end pieces for a bracelet- SEL's just don't do much for me. And an 'A' serial is bound to become a collector's item- you're just ahead of the curve as we say here in the U.S. Wear it well!

Interesting. You'd think Rolex would have some sort of system for denoting these oversized case tubes. The markings on Freddy's package are fairly standard- the only one in question is the one at the bottom- X03. I put a gen tube in my 16800 a couple of months ago, but I threw the package away. It fit fine, although somewhat tight, as is usually the case on these babies. I guess at this point, Freddy, you're only option is to get another case tube- maybe a Clark's, or Helfand's or another gen and see what happens.

pahapete, If you were to remove the bracelet, and read the serial # at 6 o'clock between the lugs, we could tell you what the case is (probably). Here's a bezel insert from Shear-time, but the pearl is probably tritium and a little too old for what you are looking for. http://cgi.ebay.com/Rare-Rolex-Submariner-...id=p3911.c0.m14 I got one a month ago that was very nice for a little over $60. You just have to watch patiently, eventually you'll get a good deal.

3055 and 3135 are the same as the ETA, 1570 and 3035 are opposite. Don't ask me why the 3035 and 3055 are different!

After a certain number of transactions, Paypal will no longer let you use your credit card, except as a back-up source of funds. I opened up a separate account at my bank for Paypal only use and typically only keep $100-200 in there. If I make a larger purchase, I transfer funds from my main checking account. Luckily my bank doesn't charge me for this account. I'm not particularly fond of Paypal either, but I've never had any problems with them. You just need to make sure you never put something stupid on a transaction like 'fake replica Rolex watch' when sending money to a dealer. Follow the dealers instructions and you'll be OK. BTW, they can take funds from your bank account, all they can do is freeze funds you've sent to someone else.

I agree with you, freddy. China has become the watchmaking capitol of the world.

Actually highoey, the noob case is 40mm. The problem lies in that the bezel is slightly smaller, meaning that you have to sand/file down a gen insert to make it fit- maybe .2mm. That's why everyone is so excited about PT's, Eurotimez and WM9's new subs- the bezel assembly is a copy of the gen, making mods a whole lot easier.

Beautiful watch, Chief! The list of parts alone is superb. This is the ultimate Franken, IMO. The 2892-A2 makes for a great workhorse inside, and everything else almost is gen Rolex. It's interesting to note that the dial has no lume markers, so therefore the no lume hands. Great job.