alligoat

Beautiful, Bobby, absolutely beautiful! The crystal is excellent- I love the projection above the bezel. And a CN case, would love to hear more about it. Cheers.

Yes a noob will accept the gen crown and tube- but it is some work. You need to tap the hole with the proper tool, then you need to chamfer the hole opening so the tube will seat in the case at the proper depth. This will likely ream the backside of the case slightly since the crown position on the noob is lower than a gen and the gen case tube is larger than a rep tube. But it can be done. BK uses a rep crown and tube on his BKmariners that is a good copy of the genuine. The crown is correctly sized and matches the gen. BK actually went to the noob factory and got with them to make this mod!

Amazing indeed. Finding these parts is just incredible. What about the case, JoJo? 1520 movement, NDT case? I can't see you using an MBW with a non-working HEV.

UNBELIEVEABLE! Where do you find a 24-700 case and tube? I'm with Stephane, you need to share more of the details w/ us on this incredible watch. WOW.

Pics aren't even consistent- two types of HEV's- big one and a small one- one case w/o lugholes and one with. HEV on a 1680! And case marked 5514. Junk!

The 2005 model from WM9 is OK, but the latest model is better (and more expensive). The 2005 has decent rehaut, the crystal sits nicely above the bezel, bad pearl, crown guards could use a slight trim (typical of all Subs), bracelet has solid mid links, but decent clasp and the etched crown on the crystal at 6 o'clock is too visible. But some of these faults are present on the 2007 model also (etched crown, solid mid links, crown guards). Case is either the TW Best or MBW- both good cases at the time, but today's cases are an improvement, especially in the bezel assembly which is a closer copy of the genuine assembly. Installing a genuine bezel insert, and trimming the crown guards would be a good start. With those two mods, you'll have a very convincing rep. Swapping out the crystal would also help, but don't know how easy it would be to find another crystal w/o the noticeable etched crown. A bracelet from a noobmariner (with hollow mid links) is a possibility (keep the WM9 clasp), but I don't know how well it will fit the WM9 case- all you can do is try. But you've done well for your first Sub rep- remember, no rep is perfect and even the WM9 2007 needs mods to make it better. And now that you're here you can continue to read and learn more about how to build the almost perfect rep. Welcome aboard.

Very nice JoJo! I like that folded link bracelet and the crown- no dots under the crown- are you using a 24-700 or 24-701- late 60's, early 70's? Cool!

I've got the same watch, paid a little over $100 as I recall. No, it is not a Swiss movement- it's a DG2813 or some variation thereof from PTS Resources in China. Look for the WO symbol under the balance when you open it up. The seller lied, but you should also know that you can't buy a true Swiss movement for $100. Probably can't fit a gen dial- the dial would be too small for the case. Crown and tube, yes. Don't know about the bezel insert- haven't tried. I bought it hoping it might be a stray TW Best case with lugholes- it's definitely NOT, good old CN. But if you have it water tested and it passes, it would be a fun beater- the DG2813's are fairly reliable. Even if you don't go swimming w/ it, it's still a good looking military type sub- low key.

WOW! Great job Freddy. Your creativity and persistence are amazing and the results is fantastic. Watchmaker Extrodinaire!

I was just trying to give you a little flack! Actually, looks good and with a little polishing you'll be there. I wonder who's made more 1665's, Rolex or MBW?

Beautiful watch, lanikai. The dial is beautiful. For the pearl, maybe a little of the amber shellac would give it a slightly aged tone. But I do think it looks OK as is, also.

Yeh, it took me a little bit to find mine on my noob- really a non-issue, IMO.

Dang Marty, you better go to lining up the drill bit a little better before you go to drilling!

Look forward to seeing it T. And heck, even your 'just playing around" is pretty damn nice.

Certainly a beautiful watch, Tribal! The only thing I can think of is a 'Swiss-T<25" dial, a vintage tritium pearl and Ziggy relume job (maybe with a vinatge color)and it would be perfect.

Excellent, CBR. Now the crown has a little breathing room. There is no doubt that rolex crown guards vary. There was a period during the 60's when the 5513 had 4 different types of cg's! Pointed, square, rounded.... And when you're talking about a 35 year old watch, you have to add in it's history- scratches, dings and dents, polishing, etc. it's no wonder there is so much variation. Looking good now baby!

Is a reset hammer spring also referred to as a flyback lever? The pointer on the balance bridge is also wrong- OK for a 6234/V72A, but long gone by the time the 727 came along. Obviously the pillar below the balance has been refinished- and engraved with 727- just like Phong does. And the train bridge with the engraving 'Swiss Made Fabr. Suisse' on early 727's was painted with gold paint. Later 727's in the 80's had no engraving on the train bridge. At this point, most of the movements we're seeing are fabrications no doubt. With aftermarket bridges added to mimic a real Rolex movement.

How can that dial be so corroded and the movement looks basically fine? Interesting find B-T, thanks for sharing it w/ us.

Thanks Freddy, now I see what you mean by 'flat sides'. Interesting that you chose a 2893-2. I'll be interested to see how it fits in there.

Welcome aboard! Now you've found a safe haven and can enjoy yourself, buy some replica watches and learn a lot in the process.

When the 16610 came out in 1988-89, it had a 93150 bracelet w/ 501B end pieces, lugholes and a tritium dial (Swiss-T<25). The 16800, 168000 and 16610 were all available for a short period of time (R serial#'s). Tritium was discontinued around 2000, SEL's came out about that time, before or after- I don't know exactly. The lughole case went away around 2003-4. One of the reasons I'm eager to see the Eurotimer w/ lugholes is because I'd love to recreate an early 16610. I realize the engravings might not be correct, but a gen tritium dial, maybe a vintage tritium insert and hopefully a 93150 w/ 501B's which fit well would complete the package- oh and a Clark's 295C w/o the etched crown (Rolex started the etched crown around 2005-6). But I'm still waiting for the Eurotimer with lugholes.

When you say "now with appropriately flat sides" what have you done? The lugs look thinner in the second set of pics. Also, have you checked the inside of the case to see what size dial you're gonna be able to fit in there? It frustrates me no end because so many of the rep dials are about 1mm larger than their gen counterparts, typically making the gen dial too small for the rep case. I'm thinking the 6542 dial is around 27mm.

That movement is NOT a GMT movement. And unless you're a chinese watch shop, you not going to be able to mod it to make it a GMT movement. BTW, that seller claims it's a Swiss, but what if you ended up with an asian eta copy movement?

Boy, that lazer printing sure sucks. But if it works for you freddy that's great. Keep us posted.

The old saying goes, have you tried the SEARCH button yet? And start reading in the Breitling section- there's easily a weeks worth of reading and that will keep you busy for quite a while. Good luck and welcome aboard!