alligoat

It's still coming up at $529.99 on my screen. If you're looking at the Sub for $375.00, you're looking at one of the older subs- not the new and improved one!

cg's are crown guards- on the case- they protect the crown. IMO, = in my opinion

Actually, rather than change the insert like Omega says, I would just get a watchmaterial.com pearl and install it in the insert. And trim those cg's on the inside edges. That's it. There's not anything you can do with the crystal (and the prominent etched crown at 6 o'clock) and the crown and tube are pretty good copies of the gen crown and tube, so why change them.

Oops, I didn't pay attention to the pearl, but you're right CBR, it sucks. Is that a Phong pearl, or NDT?

That's cheaper than Phong for sure.

So Honpo is selling a 6263 w/ a V72- can you wade thru the japanese and tell me what the price is? At any rate, cool find Freddy. I guess I'm not too surprised- I've always thought it would be cool if they came out with the v72. When they sell for $800-1000 and up on ebay, you know there is a market for them. I've wondered what ever happened to the old Valjoux tooling for making the V72. As I recall, the old story about the Venus 175 was the stuff was sold to a Russian entity and then to the Chinese and now we have the copy movements. Of course, this could also bring the price down for us.

Actually the price isn't bad. But I think I'd have to do something with the dial- like get another one. still for maybe around $2K with a new dial, you could have a nice 5512. Oh, and then there's the bracelet...

Excellent V! Like you say, a real beater, but certainly a beautiful one at that. All the better if it's WR. Good job.

Beautiful watch avitt! Congratulations.

I think an old tritium pearl would look good and maybe a slight trim on the cg's. Other than that, my theory is wear it and ENJOY! Nice job. I subscribe to the theory that it's only a rep, so there is only so much you can do without going overboard. Oh, I am getting ready to put a relumed dial in my WM 1680- it's my latest deal- relumed dials and hands- more fun at night and during the day when you come in out of the bright sunlight. You can't relume a gen, but why not a rep- it's only a rep!

I'm with you guys, that 3-6-9 dial is cool. I'm finding that I like the lighter colored vintage lume- these NDT dials are just a little too dark yellow for my liking. I also like the nice white dial print on the 3-6-9 dial. Great job, Rob! Ironically, I'm loving this 16800 on the right with Ziggy's C-1 lume more and more each day- a beautiful white color. My gen on the left though has a nice yellow patina, but it doesn't glow anymore and of course I can't do anything about it as a collector. For replica watches, relumed dials are definitely the way to go

The watch looks very nice. I'm on my 5th noob at this point tho, so I guess I'm partial. Two to nephews, one BKed so to speak, gen crown and tube, better pearl, shaped cg's, insert sanded; one made into a 16800- same mods, and another waiting for final disposition... I'm not exactly sure what 'widening the bezel lip' really means, but my only reservation with the noob is that the bezel is just slightly smaller than the gen bezel- maybe like .2mm on the inside- so fitting a gen insert requires sanding all the way around the perimeter, plus sanding the back side to recess it in the bezel- a lot of work. That's why last time I used the noob insert and just put the WM pearl in there. But my noob is my favorite beater- if there's a chance I might tear up my watch, I wear the noob, and it's WR so it's great for swimming, etc. Here's my noob on the right, gen 16800 on the left.

Maybe we need a C answer, None of the above!

I voted B, not that I'm really an expert. So I went to the old standby- ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/1958-Rolex-GMT-Master-...Q2em118Q2el1247 An old 6542 from Watch-navi And a bezel from Pandora's box http://cgi.ebay.com/Rolex-GMT-Master-6542-...1QQcmdZViewItem Haven't checked Michael Young yet to see what he has.

I got an email from J&W for a similar Tudor for $950 today. Appeared to have a different bezel insert- which BTW, was still incorrect- Phong never seems to get inserts right- always has a bad pearl. His watches are expensive, especially when you take into account they are frankens- built from a combination of genuine and aftermarket parts. But I doubt you could pick up a correct Tudor for under $2K these days. I don't know if the 9411 should have a T-125 with a cyclops, but that would be an easy fix and a correct insert could be had for under $100 if you look around. It ain't perfect, but if it's what you really really want....

@Vddubgrub To change out the bezel and insert, a crystal press is all you need. I'm assuming you can either pull the bezel off with your hands or a dull kitchen knife. Just go slowly so you don't lose the click spring- it is prone to flying out. And as Ubi says, lots of trial and error. After you hang around here a while you'll pick up lots of tips in the how to's. And hopefully once you snap your gen insert into your gen bezel with a crystal press, you will be able to press the whole assembly onto your WM9/Euromariner. Sometimes the gen parts don't always fit the reps like you would like for them to. Good luck.

Paul, Jay (Silix) and maybe even Josh and Andrew have the inexpensive Bond type no cg's Subs. They're OK, but certainly not on par with the NDT frankens. But keep in mind the cost differential- an NDT franken will run over 2K to build, you can buy a Bond sub from Paul or Silix for $100-250, say. But when you're buying the inexpensive Bond subs, pay attention to the dials- the gilt print can be too green- stick to white print, and the yellow markers can also be a problem- you might need to do a little ageing to make them look more realistic. But they can be fun watches for not much money. Put them on a Nato and see what happens.

To add to triplehd's list, MBK2008 WM9 - 2007 Z series 16610 http://www.watchmaker9.tv/products/rolex_0...riner_16610.htm Hopefully Euromariner will be out soon w/ the 16610 w/o the rehaut engraving and the lughole version- also w/o engraved rehaut. Same old deal- lot's of choices to fit your pocketbook and level of OCD.

Congratulations! A 16520 certainly qualifies as a labor of love.

I've been sanding down the cg's with 360 wet/dry, also lately. Pull the movt, tape off the tube and the edge of the bezel and cut some thin strips of sandpaper and work them back and forth. Works so well, I haven't had to follow up with any polishing. It's a little slower than filing, but after filing you have to use 360/600/ and 1000 to smooth it out.

The reason you file down the edges is because it's too sharp. If you need to, 600 or 1000 wet dry sandpaper should work and maybe a little polish afterwards- auto stuff will work, just not too much to take off the brushed finish.

For $75 you can't go wrong. With all due respect, your AD dpesn't know his 16800's. And don't forget, the 16800 is 316L, whereas the 16610 is 904L. 501B is correct for the 16610, but different type of stainless steel.

Is this new Submariner going to be labeled 116610?

The one thing that I've noticed about the noob clasp is that the crown emblem is too short- too fat, whereas the gen crown on the back of the clasp is longer, narrower. 593 end links are correct for the 16800 and 168000, but I have seen 580 and 501's (no on 16800's that were stated to be 100% original. But who can really say a watch is 100% after 25-30 years. But then again, Rolex has been known to use whatever was in the parts bin back then. The 455B's that you have are nice, they don't have that typical replica cut-out on the back side. I'm still waiting for the MBK 93150 to arrive- Chris says it's overdue, just like the Eurotimer w/ lugholes. But the Eurotimer w/ lugholes will have the deep rehaut- better suited for an early 16610 than the 16800. I like what you did filing the grooves out of the safety clasp- looks good.

Thanks for the update, chefcook.