alligoat

I've heard it referred to as 'elephant hunting'. You set your price so high that if you ever do happen to make a sale, you have enough 'meat' to live for a year or two. But the trend, as represented by a legitimate auction house like Antiquorum, is definitely up. And of course, I don't see that replica market going away anytime soon- there's just too great a price disparity.

Thanks r11co, an interesting little read.

Clark's Watch Supply- nostalgia2000 on ebay

Ironically, it would stand to reason that they would use a 2834-2 because it is a DD movement similar to the Rolex, but my DD rep has a 2836-2 in it. And the 2836-2 has a day feature, only it is at 3 o'clock next to the date. Another case of the chinese making alterations to the movement- like they do for the 2836-2 GMT's.

My nephew got the SSD this week and we were comparing the crown and tube to the gen crown and aftermarket tube on my noobmariner. The SSD crown matches up beautifully to the gen crown and the tubes are the same large size. Someone here a month or two ago said the gen crown fit the SSD tube and I'm not surprised (haven't tried it myself). So I'm with Jet on this- why go to the trouble of changing out the tube and crown? I think putting a better pearl in (watchmaterial) and trimming the cg's a little are all that's necessary. Not much you can do with the etched crown at 6. They say the noob is the best out of the box, but now I think the SSD is.

I use wet/dry sandpaper from the auto parts places, but the grits that I buy are 320, 400, 600 and 1000. Progress from 320 to 1000 and then I usually put some polishing compound on the 1000 and then like Freddy says, buffing w/ a dremel, or hand polishing w/ a cloth. Cape Cod Cloths are good also for a final polishing.

Fitting a gen Day-Date movement into a rep case probably isn't worth the time and effort. The Silix Day-Date movt is a modified 2836-2, so first of all, you'd have to get the older 3085 movt to even have a chance of the stem/crown lining up w/ the case tube. Next, would it fit the rep dial? I don't know. Would the day and date line up w/ the windows on the rep dial?You'd definitely need new Rolex hands- they're different from the ETA hands. And where do you think you're going to find a Rolex Day Date movement? And don't forget, rep cases are a little bit bigger than gen Rolex cases- how you gonna keep the movement from moving around? If you like your Silix Day-Date, enjoy it and service it for $100 if you have to. If you really want a gen Day-Date, look for a vintage- they're less expensive. IMO, it's just not worth t to put a gen DD movt in a rep case.

A 16233 is a TT Datejust, but there are enough fools out there bidding this watch up thinking it's real. http://cgi.ebay.com/Rolex-Submariner-16233...1QQcmdZViewItem Item # 150197691406 if the link doesn't work. Please report.

I've had my eye on the same watch from the time it came out originally from Tag Heuer and especially now that it is in rep form. I recall that the gen runs $3400 or so retail, maybe less if you shop around. So if you buy from Andrew, look at what a great deal you're getting. If you service the 7750 movt for a couple of hundred dollars, it's an even better deal. As for the gold, well you take your chances. I'd figure that the crown, pushers and bezel will hold up OK, but the mid-links on the bracelet have always been the downfall in the past on TT reps for me. Dont' go in salt water! And if you take the bracelet off and put on a nice dark brown crocodile strap w/ a gold Heuer buckle, I'd still think it's a kick butt good looking watch. And a real TT gold Heuer bracelet might cost $500-700, maybe more, but you'd still have a whole lot less in it than a gen and it's a great looking watch.

Chief and Jet are absolutely right, buy at your own risk. Faisal Ali sells a lot of Rolex replica parts, but most are only so-so. Finding decent vintage inserts isn't easy- especially with a decent pearl. The part # is 315-5513-0 for this insert- if you could get a gen. Ofrei sells the illumes dots for $10, and on some inserts, you can remove the incorrect pearl w/ the ring around it and pop in the all acrylic pearl. I did this on a couple of vintage subs from Paul, a DRSD and a 5513 w/ Explorer dial, and it ain't perfect but it is a vast improvement. Puts you over the 99.9% hump- 99.9% of the people won't know it ain't real.

You might check with some of the 'Down Under' members- isn't Offshore from Austrailia? Ziggy is the master of the asian 7750 and just serviced one of mine, but he is in Canada and currently on vacation. Shipping watches to and from Canada hasn't been a problem- watch for repair and return- gets it thru Customs. He even replaced a couple of defective parts- something most watchnmakers won't have- spare asian 7750 parts. But Ziggy won't be back til January and you have to have a reservation- it could easily push you into Feb or March. And of course, finding a local watchmaker should be a priority regardless, it makes this hobby so much more enjoyable.

The Day-Date bezel pops off, but you need a knife or a razor to slide in there between the case and the bezel and lift the bezel up until it pops off. But you can scratch the case or bezel if you don't know what you're doing. Then you have to repress the bezel back on with a crystal press. A watchmaker could do it for you in a couple of minutes, it's worht say $5-10 maybe.

Sure as I pick up a crown for $20- $10 plus $10 for s&h, the price goes up! http://cgi.ebay.com/ROLEX-SUBMARINER-TRIPL...1QQcmdZViewItem If the link doesn't work, it's item #230204450374 on ebay

Yes, that's a good crown for the Sea-Dweller- 24-703-0 is the part #. The guy, Mark Greenberg, is his name as I recall, is a good seller, but you are paying top dollar for this crown. I bought a gen crown for $20 not too long ago.

You gotta love Antiquorum! I did a search for Rolex 6265 and it looks like the auction prices for this model run in the $30-40K range, some with papers. Gold and Paul Newman dials are considerably more. This watch has good provenance- papers, history, service receipts, but is probably $10-20K overpriced IMO. Of course, I figure that Anahiem Jewelry will probably sell this watch off of ebay and probably for less, unless they're ready to sit on it for awhile. But you gotta admit, ebay is good exposure.

I can't get the link to come up, maybe you could give us the item #.

First of all, it's a Date, not a Datejust. Country code is for a Middle East country, Serial # w/ D prefix is around 2005. Watch looks OK, but until you open the case, who can say. If the seller is reputable, I'd figure you're OK- i.e. buy the seller. The price is OK, new would be about $4,000USD. Plan B is to meet the guy at a watchmakers and open the case and confirm the 3135 movement.

If I had this problem, I'd probably buy an aftermarket sub insert (PN 315-16800) to start, since I believe this case is really a sub case. Watchmaterial, Helfands and Lee Raymond have decent aftermarket inserts. File down the back side and hopefully you could just glue it in- don't use too much glue or you'll glue the bezel to the case. FYI, Rolex actually makes a different insert for the Sea-Dweller, PN 315-16600 or 16660. But I would start with the sub insert first.

Are you saying that someone made a bid and it was cancelled by the seller? Maybe they weren't qualified, overseas, negative feedback...

Rolex dials are made in house these days, and Singer and Beyeler are seen on the vintage dials. But it is my understanding you could see a Rolex stamped on the back. BTW, the six o'clock diamond is crooked!

Cancelled or relisted? It's back up now, ends on xmas day.

I can't tell you anything about the diamond hour markers, but the TT is very good on the ladies Datejust. My wife liked her TT DJ w/ the white dial so much that she went out and bought a gen on ebay. When you compare the two watches together, the gold is basically the same. There is a slight variation on the case sizes, so slight that it's only noticeable on a side by side comparison. Date mag on the rep is slightly larger. Her rep came from Paul. I don't think you can go wrong buying a Ladies DJ rep- sure the diamonds are CZ's, but who goes around w/ a loupe in their pocket. Get the eta movement. And if anyone asks her about it, she can just say, "Oh, my husband got me this, isn't it pretty?"

Here's an article which points out the gap between the words Superlative Chronometer and Officially Certified lining up: http://www.bjsonline.com/watches/articles/0016.shtml Based on this, that would mean that the dial is a fake. I think this was what harley was trying to point out.

Just take a pair of tin snips and shorten it! HA, just kidding, but isn't it ironic! All this time I've read one of the big tells on a rep is the seconds hand being too short- this is the first case of one being too long.

Yep, that's the same watch that I got from Paul. I call it the 1963 model 5513. This watch came out (as a gen) in the early 60's at the time they were starting to use tritium- hence the T<25 was added to both sides of the dial at the bottom. The white reference line below Submariner was also added to a batch of existing dials which had gold printing. You can try buying the $10 illumes dots from www.ofrei.com and change out the pearl fairly easily. Shaping the crown guards also helps the looks. They're great beaters, as you say. I especially like mine since it's WR- great for wade fishing, jet skiing and swimming. Nice pic BTW.