alligoat

A few years ago I picked up a yellow gold DD, silver dial with stick markers and fluted bezel from Paul- I just can't get any blingier than that and even that is really too much for my tastes. The bracelet didn't match the case very well as far as the two tones of gold, so I removed the bracelet and put a nice dark brown alligator strap on with a gold Rolex buckle. I wear it from time to time in dressy situations, and the case has held up fine. It looks similar to this model from Josh: http://www.pc-80108.com/rlddf10013-full-go...8362-p-997.html A Day-Date really isn't the watch for me- probably a gold cased Datejust, white dial, gold stick markers, dark brown alligator/crocodile strap would be the ticket, but lately I've been wearing the 5508 on a dark brown alligator strap in dress situations. Oops, here it is with an oyster bracelet. But it does have a gold print dial and hands! The problem with gold is I just don't want to be called out- "Is it real?" Some people say they can tell the difference between gold plate and solid gold, but I don't buy that necessarily- and don't forget, gold does tarnish some- but you can't buff out gold plate too much! Lately I've been thinking an all gold YM would be cool- white dial, of course, but gold plate is just such a risky deal: Here's Josh's http://www.pc-80108.com/rlymf10004-full-go...362-p-4495.html But, damn, it's just like Dirty Harry- "Sometimes you just gotta ask yourself, do you feel lucky?"

Do they even make a real YM with rehaut engraving? I was looking at an all gold M serial (the latest) YM yesterday and it had no engraving on the rehaut.

I used a cotton t-shirt rag, dust blower and small little brush last time. I do have a microfiber cloth, also. I never touch the dial except from the sides. You don't want to use chemicals on the dial, but I guess you could use a dab of Windex on a rag if the fingerprints were bad on the sapphire crystal, but not on plastic. Windex is bad for plastic. I don't wear gloves, but try to keep my hands clean. The key is to put the movement back in there and flip the watch over and double check before you button it all up.

I love the white dial also. A custom run- maybe 50 or 100 would hopefully be enough. The chinese make dials for probably less than a dollar- in quantity. But something like this- probably $50-100 each. Might check with freddy- he's been trying to figure out how to build a cheap 6542- less than an NDT one.

Have you looked on ebay? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A:IT&ih=008 This will fit a TWbest, MbK/MBW case, and even a noob case, probably not a CN case. Or look around for a dial here.

Heh, heh, Steve! Getting the bezel off a noob is a bitch to say the least- took over an hour. Luckily I didn't tear it up- amazing. Cleaned it up and got it back on w/o too much trouble- had to play with the paper clip retainer thingy a little. Should have pulled the one way prongs up a little more- still a very soft click bezel- not bad for a 25 year old watch, so to speak. I'd like to get a better set of lumed hands for the rep- to match Ziggy's awesome lume job. That's the nice thing about the rep- great lume on the dial, fun to look at at nite- can't do that on the gen- the lume is pretty much dead- might be on it's last 1/2 life so to speak- a little left when you hold it under the lamp for a while- a faint glow. The dial on my gen 1680 is in better shape- still white, but the lume is also pretty much gone- don't really know why some turn yellow and some stay white. Next, I'm on to your MBW case- gen crown, gen insert (I hope it fits w/o filing too much), noob dial, eta movt. Should be easy, I hope. Thanks again. Mac

Thanks Stilty, reminds me that I have a 2824 laying around!

I wonder if Chris- Eurotimez- would source you a correct datewheel overlay- like the ones used in the 1680/1665 MBK's? BTW, I plan on hanging on to my gen- it's an investment, of course! You might keep your eye on VFR- I got my 16800 from Ponycar350. Anything under $4500 for a matte dial is a good price. You can still find the later dial w/ WG surrounds for $3500-3700- here in the USA- I've heard prices are slightly higher in the EU.

No, I didn't, but in looking with my +3.50 glasses which is what I use to do watch work, I can't see it there. So maybe it's not a noob crystal.... llsteve80 sent me a noob case w/ bezel, crystal and case back- all of which I used since Omega only sold me just the case itself with the lugholes drilled. What I really should have done is tried out another crystal anyway- trying to get a little more crystal height, but when I got all of the parts together, I just went to building. It wasn't till the watch was complete that I realized Omega hadn't trimmed the cg's- so I had to take it apart and go back and do that a couple of nites ago.

Yeh, but Stephane, yours with the noob case has the shallow rehaut- that makes it a 16800 or 168000. I did see a 16800 on ebay yesterday with 580 end links- it looked all original. I also think I saw another 16800 last week with 501's (no B ). While 580 would be correct for a 1680, 593 for the 16800 and 168000, and 501B's for the early (pre- SEL's) 16610's, it's the same old Rolex story- variations do occur.

Bruce, you were my inspiration for this project! I guess I should have scratched the 16610T and F520117 off the case. I guess with your dial- Swiss- T<25- an early 16610 would be more appropriate- 501B end pieces on a 93150 and you're there. Some of the early R serial 16610's are starting to get that aged tritium effect. I actually think an R serial 16610 would be a good investment- but Rolex prices have gone up so much in the last year, it's driving me crazy. It's much easier to build a $6-700 rep and easier on the wallet, also.

Thanks guys for the compliments. As much as I like the vintages, I guess what I really like about the 16800 is that it is kinda a crossover- and it is becoming a vintage in its own right at this point. Finding the matte dials is getting tougher all the time. Mine was in pretty rough shape, but Zig went above and beyond the call of duty to get it right on the relume- he actually had to infill some of the matte black paint under the markers before he could apply the lume. But it sure glows nicely at night. Finding matte dials these days is just a matter of watching the bay- hoping for a sleeper- anything under $200 would be a good deal. The noob case is probably the best thing out there right now for a 16800 and Bobby's back from vacation- hopefully he'll continue drilling lugholes. MBW/MBK and TWBest cases will work (with lugholes of course) but the rehaut is too deep- geared more towards the 16610- and the two gen cases are different as far as the rehaut (bezel assembly and crown/tube are the same from what I see). I bought a Rolex Comex dial from Mark Greenberg a few years ago (probably aftermarket- but Rolex size and dial feet), I might try a 16800 Comex next. My 16800 rep is WR, good for light swimming, fishing and washing the dog- just like my cheapo noob. BTW, putting a gen or aftermarket case tube in is a PIA- when you countersink, it cuts into the backside of the case slightly, but still WR. Just a slight wallow on the back side.

On the left is a gen 16800, matte dial, early 80's. I bought this watch a couple of months ago because I was so frustrated in trying to build a rep 16800 that I finally went out and bought a gen. The markers have faded to a light yellow. The bezel insert was replaced last week with an old tritium insert which was in a lot better condition than the original insert. Of course I kept the old insert. On the right is my rep. Last month I got lucky and bought the noob case from Omega- he had drilled the lugholes and did an absolutely fantastic job. A month earlier, Stephane had put a gen sub dial in his noob case- suddenly I realized it could be done! I've always liked the noob case for it's shallower rehaut- a key feature for the 16800. Dial is a gen matte dial which was relumed by Ziggy a year and a half ago. Dial is 27.38mm and the inside of the case rehaut is 27.0mm, so you've got .2mm on either side when placing the dial in the case. Gen crown and tube, 2834 w/ the old style datewheel- open 6's and 9's and the noob insert w/ a watchmaterial pearl. I was going to put a gen insert in there, until I realized you have to file it all the way around to make it fit- the noob bezel is slightly smaller than the gen bezel. Like BK, I wasn't too keen on potentially wasting a gen insert- I'll save it for another project later. I might try the Jewelry Outlet insert later- yes, file it down, but the fonts on the numbers might be thinner- the noob bezel fonts are slightly too thick compared to the gen insert on the left. The bracelet is a rep 93150 with hollow mid links (from Paul's DRSD), gen 593 end links and a clasp from Paul's 5513 which has no lines on the safety clasp part- a feature of the older bracelets- both my 1680 and my 16800 have the smooth safety clasps. On the side pic, hopefully you can see the similar rehauts- the gen on the left is slightly more shallow than the noob on the right- but they're close. Typical noob issues are the shallow crystal height, crown is slightly lower and a better bezel insert would look a little better. A better set of lumed hands would also help- Ziggy's lume job lasts thru the night, but the hands fade by 4 or 5am. But a rep with good lume sure is nice- it's the one advantage over the gen- I can't go reluming the gen dial w/o destroying the value of the watch. Thanks to lionsandtigers for the dial, Ziggy, llsteve80 for the extra noob parts, Omega, Stephane, bklm and everyone else- it's the sharing of info on this forum that makes it possible to build these cool watches.

Very nice! BK has been a big help to me w/ my subs. It may take 10 weeks, but it sure looks like it's worth the wait. I figure he must be pretty busy- you don't see him around here that much!

When you pry it out, you risk damaging it, but if your replacing it, I guess it's not a big deal. Since it's glued in, you might be able to apply some heat and loosen the glue. Last week I popped the pearl and then worked the insert up and off from there. X-acto knives and razors can be helpful. Just go slowly and be patient.

I've never seen 558 end links on a bracelet. This watch should have 580's (585's were later), or the earlier 280 or 380 if the bracelet is earlier. I'm not sure about the dial, I'd have to study the DRSD site. But why is a guy from South America selling what would supposedly be a valuable watch on a Dutch ebay site instead of on the main ebay site? Anyway, he pulled the auction. Was he trying to run under the radar (or scam)?

Noob bezel insert is slightly smaller than a gen or the aftermarket ones- so you have to file it down- around and around you go, slowly and carefully. Or get a replacement from Neil (or maybe Chris @ Eurotimez). bklm1234 could make you one w/ a WM pearl, but it would cost you more, but it is an improvement.

I pointed it out to freddy a couple of days ago- his comment was it'll be at 25K in a few days and he figured 40-50K final. It's authentic, no doubt. I'd figure 25-35K myself, but what do I know. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...=tab%3DWatching

Congratulations Stephane! And thanks for showing me that you can put a gen Rolex dial in a noobmariner case. I just completed my 16800 with the matte dial and noob case with lugholes drilled by Bobby- oops, I forgot to scratch off the SN and model # between the lugs!

CBR, it would be cool if you had any info on where to send resume, etc. to This is a $500 million company- online wristwatch retailer out of the L.A. area. But Rolex doesn't condone online sales- or at least didn't in the past. Richard Brown says Rolex produces 750,000 watches per year, say at an average wholesale price of $5000, that would be $3.75 billion per year in revenue. So this company's $500 million in sales is $250 million wholesale maybe- that's roughly 6.67% of Rolex's wholesale business- that's a pretty good chunk IMO. I think it's all a crock of caca frankly! I'm off to google online watchretailers out of L.A.

Yep, he's on vacation. and it's been over a week and a half so far- the lucky booger!

Ubi has always been very helpful, like Stephane says, PM him. He's pretty busy these days, especially w/ a new baby, and doesn't hang around as much as he used to.

Off hand, I wouldn't think so. But one possibility would be to remove the bezel insert and file the back side with a file and reset it- reglue, that is. If the insert sits lower in the bezel, maybe the crystal will be higher.

I realize that the SSD v2 has some faults, but I still think it's a damn nice watch. ENJOY!

You could buy a gen, or a bklm1234 jewelry outlet w/ WM pearl. Did you buy the $275 Euromariner or the $475 one w/ ETA? It's all a question of how much do you want to spend.