alligoat

I agree with Shawn, gen on bottom. The dial print on the MBW isn't as good. The crown above ROLEX is shorter and fatter than on the gen. Hour markers look slghtly smaller. Date mag looks about the same- 21 always looks bigger than 26. Rehaut isn't much taller. All-in-all, the MBW is a nice watch.

That 5508 was some kinda work! And somewhere he managed to pick up the correct bezel. Very nice. It would be nice to hear from Palp, hope he's doing OK.

"Tailor made hour wheel and cannon pinion" Does that mean taller so it will clear the hour markers? Actually, it's the minute hand that has to clear, right? Date overlay- is that with flat-top 3's or round top 3's? I've seen both on vintage Datejusts and Dates- Rolex wasn't always that consistent back in the 60's and 70's.

Very nice. Like the pie pan dial. And the vintage jubilee bracelet. Which movement did you use?

A very nice red sub went for $12,655.00 at Hess Fine Arts this week- similar dial print- open 6's as I recall. It wouldn't take much to relume that dial we saw on ebay go for $6K. Here's Hess's auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A:IT&ih=013 item 230251885320

Nice looking watch, Congrats. I look at the rehaut thickness and depth... is this perchance a noobmariner case? Does anyone know? Obviously Andrew sells noob subs. Date window position looks good, wrong hand stack, no big deal, dial looks good, cg's could use a little work-par for the course. Not a bad starting point for a GMT, a few mods and it could be very nice

The measurements on my 5508 from NDT are 30.3mm ID, 36.5mmOD- the same as the 5513/1680. So maybe a 5513 bezel would work.

Might also need a plastic or metal ring to keep the movement in place. It's been a while since I've played with a noob!

I don't think so, but you could try- or try with a $15-20 rep 5513 insert. PMWF lists the size for the 5513 insert, OD is like 36.50, ID is 30.30mm. Maybe Natalie at NDTrading would sell you the insert only- never hurts to ask. It's not the greatest, but if you stain the pearl, it might look OK.

My guess is that the stem will be too high and not align correctly thru the case tube. But one of stilty's movement spacers might cure that. The ETA 2836-2 would be a better candidate, but it is work. You have to swap over the datewheel overlay, get a new set of hands, cut off the asian dial feet and glue the dial to the movt ring. You'd probably be better off in the long run getting an ETA noob from Paul or Trusty, if that's what you're after.

I've watched my watchmaker do it. He takes a razor blade and inserts it between the bottom of the bezel and the case and taps it with a hammer lightly. Maybe moves the razor around the case and taps a few more times, lifting and separating the bezel from the case. Putting it back on requires a crystal press- so you get equal pressure all the way around the bezel and it pops back on, so to speak. Switching every couple of weeks might not be a good idea- could easily result in damage to the case, bezel or crystal.

Would this be the www.watchmaterial.com pearl that bklm1234 uses on his subs? PN 315-16800-1. Do a search at watchmaterial for 16800 bezel (which is what the 16610 also uses). These run $25 plus $6 s&h, pop out the pearl and glue it into your bezel insert. Others have decent pearls/bezel inserts for less- Helfands, Raymond Lee, maybe Nostalgia2000, all on ebay.

28mm should fit. I've found the rep dials to run 28.3 to 28.4mm. You can measure the inside of the rehaut ring- after removing the movt and dial, hopefully it is 27+mm, but not too close to 28, or the dial will be hard to position and tricky to keep in place. Also, you have to think about the date window and cyclops. Does MKII use a standard ETA datewheel- which sits outside the Rolex date window? A sub case with the date cyclops to the right might work. Like the ones that Josh, Paul and Trusty sell. Or no cyclops at all- like a Sea-Dweller.

Interesting! I wouldn't expect a 16803 to have an N serial #- c. 1991. The first 16610's came out in 1987-88 with an R serial #, and I know that at that time you could buy the 16800, 168000 or the 16610. By 1990, I would have expected production to switch over to the 16613, but maybe they were using old movements and cases. The case looks good- I look at the position of the crown on the case- nice and high, and the set of the crystal- also nice and high. Bezel and insert look correct. The caseback, if it works doesn't really matter, sure it's incorrect. I don't know if a 2836 would work in there, but the case might not be a bad deal if you could get it for a reasonable price. What's reasonable? Maybe $500-1000.

I agree w/ w.genzo. I had a couple of rep cases and couldn't make anything gen fit in them (didn't try the tube and crown). Rep dial is 1mm bigger, case is slightly larger, also. That's why I built two frankens- a little more expensive, but well worth it.

TT MBW or a TT TW Best. You got to fit the gen dial in there and its a small dial, so you only have two options. I don't know about the TT WM9- might be a third possibility. Good luck on the bracelet- maybe what you get on the rep will suffice. Or you try the $350+ TT's on ebay and swap the clasp.

I wouldn't try to slide an NDT dial past these guys- unless it had been aged a bunch. These new aftermarket dials just look too 'new'. And of course, I wouldn't try to get anything past them unless it was gen- just not worth it IMO.

I'm thinking NDTrading, only it's a 6538 with the 6mm crown, not the correct 8mm Brevet crown. Lume on dial markers looks pretty white, which is better than the stock NDT dials which are too yellow IMO. It cost me a little over $2200 to build a 5508- $800 for the case, $240 for the dial, $880 for a 1520 plus $200 to service, hands, crystal and crown/tube- maybe it's closer to $2300! So his price for the franken isn't too bad. That bezel insert is straight from NDT- signature flat pearl!

Nice pictures, looking good!

I've kinda wondered about this, so does this mean that we are finally getting a good copy of the Submariner crown and tube assembly, L-dizz?

Beautiful watch! Certainly it's an artform- to take these components and meld them into a beautiful presentation- a true franken. Great job.

Yes. Only you won't be using the date feature, of course. You can mod the works to make it two stops when you pull the crown out instead of the three that you get with the 2846, but it's not something I would ever worry about. I have a fine little 5513 with the 2836- who cares if it has three stops when you pull out the crown instead of the 'CORRECT' two- it's a rep by gosh- it's just a great looking watch at a great price!

Excellent first purchase. Congrats. In spite of it's few shortcomings, I still think it's a great rep- hope you enjoy it.

I saw that post yesterday on the VFR- took one look at it and said that's an MBW- now who the heck would go posting an MBW on VFR? The bracelet shot was not in SD3's bunch of pics that I could see- a 78360, which is an incorrect bracelet, of course. Hopefully it's a case of stuff stolen over the internet- but then it means some unscrupulous person is trying to scam someone.

I wouldn't mind finding a pair of fakes for a fake price. The springbar retaining loops look large- maybe for the gen Rolex springbars? Same old same old- know the seller. I would think our asian counterparts would come up with some decent end pieces sooner or later. The other day I used an extra link from a noobmariner on a genuine 93150- it fit beautifully- the only tell is the slightly smaller screw.