alligoat

Delivery date's been pushed to December 1st. Looks like we're having a little bit of difficulty getting these out the door. Weren't we first looking at these 2-3 months ago? And the price is going up!

The only thing that I would think, freddy, is that GAF (Rolex's counsel) would close this down since Rolex themselves would never condone something like this. But then again, maybe the patents have expired and of course, I'm not a lawyer. I'm just befuddled because the bidding has gone so high.

Bidder #3 has no experience and Bidder #4 appears to be in the trade, so to speak. Is #4 a shill? No real collector would fall for this. Especially when you can build this watch for under $3K!

I'm with you Lonnie, I reported it also. The more I looked at it, the more it stunk. Like you say, we don't even know if it has a Rolex movt in there. And I agree w/ Bytor, an MBW bezel insert, could even have an MBW case w/ fake HE valve. Really way out of line for a weak Franken- if it is even a Franken.

I just ran across this eBay auction for a DRSD- amazing price http://cgi.ebay.com/ROLEX-SEA-DWELLER-1665...1QQcmdZViewItem refinished dial, replacement case, replacement bezel no bracelet ugly crown And the biddings up to $12K US! I was looking at building a jewelry and watch DRSD for $2800 today- leaves a damn fine profit margin for a weeks work!

You can even buy the DRSD dial from http://www.jewelryandwatch.com/ Spend $1000 on the 1575 movt Case w/ working HE valve from J and W set of hands also And for around $2800 have a franken DRSD!

I'm with torresp on this, check the diameter of the dial and make sure it fits in the 16610 case before you do anything else. Gen dials are typically smaller than the rep dials and it could be too small for the case. And as I recall, a 14060 has a whole set of different dimensions than a gen 16610- like slightly smaller. Double whammy.

Rehaut depth appears to be OK. Rehaut thickness is pretty thick. Look at the crystal from the side and see how far it projects above the bezel insert. Does it have good projection above the bezel, like about 1mm? And it came from River, so I'd figure it's a TW Best- he and Eddie Lee are the two most commonly associated w/ the TW Best cases. joshua has a TW like case w/ deep rehaut also, but as I recall, the date window/cyclops were positioned too far to the right at the edge of the case. You could take the bracelet off and check the SN- F520117 is a noobmariner case, but this case appears to have deeper rehaut than a noob.

Congratulations, freddy! Wear it well and in good health. I guess you got your case clamp issues all squared away.

Cyclops on a plastic crystal is integral to the crystal. Buy a 5513 plastic crystal from ofrei- they're cheap. Or you may have to measure it and try to match another crystal to fit- good luck.

A guy at work told me today it was a $125 replica! Poor OJ!

Looks like an early F serial # to me- heavier date font, Swiss Made between three ticks, tight and ever so slightly sloped cg's, pointed 4 on bezel insert- maybe a late D serial.

You need to email him and see. I'm very happy w/ my River noob and think it's the best deal out there. Of course it doesn't hurt that I've installed a gen crown and aftermarket tube, trimmed the cg's and installed a watchmaterial pearl (after loosing the original one).

Early submariner 16610's had the 93150 band with 501B end pieces. Around 2000 or so, the 92350 band with SEL's came out. SEL means solid end links which are part of the band itself and not separate like the old style. Noob has the 93250 since it is recent- 2006.

Wow, predfan, you've found luenfat again! This is him- reincarnated w/ a new name. Looked thru his stuff quickly, but didn't find any date wheels. His name pops up on the LH side when you're looking at specific items- luenfat123!

Yea, for $18 you won't get hurt too bad. Correct end pieces for the GW 1665 would be either the 580 or 585 end pieces on the 93150 hollow mid-link band. And of course, there would be no notches on the back side to get at the spring bars. That's why you have the lug holes! The closest I've come on a rep band are Pauls DRSD and his Red sub- each w/ hollow mid-links and the 580 end pieces (with notches on back. I'd love to find a rep 580 end piece w/o the notches on the back.

I like that timeholder link- you can't go wrong with a $34 watch. And if the lugs holes are slightly off-center... well, it sure would be cool if it was a TW best case! What are the chances....

I'd go for it- at that price, you can't go wrong. I like that case w/ the lugholes and you're right in that the rehaut looks ok. Just check the shipping from China.

You biggest exposure on a TT Rolex rep will be the bracelet. Bezel and crown are likely to hold up ok, but the bracelet takes the wear and tear. If it has an ss clasp, that would help- some of the older ones do- like a TT jubilee and even the vintage submariner oyster bracelets. But gold plate will wear thru if worn every day. And buying real gold bracelet can run $300-400. I have a TT frankenjust that I wear on a leather strap just because I've never found a good rep TT bracelet that I was happy with.

Keep in mind one thing, Kotaro, the clasp on a GMT II is shorter than the standard submariner clasp. Your clasp is correct in that respect, it's just that your crown is off-center. Shoddy craftmanship in replica watch making- or lack of quality control. Maybe someone like Silix could sell you a GMT II band for a reasonable price. Give them a try.

If you have a colored gear, it's asian 21j, like on josh's site http://www.pc-80108.com/rlss10009-black-be...ing-p-2311.html If you have a movement like River puts in his noob/begin sub with a true copy eta, it looks like this http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/riv...TA%20Submarine/

I'm with Lonnie on this one, I'm not sure it's worth sending back. Maybe Andrew would give you $100 credit towards another watch, or something like that. I've got the eta copy movt in the noobmariner from River and it's doing fine, looks just like an eta 2836 w/o the markings. Paul was even showing pics of an eta copy w/ the markings- how are we ever going to be able to tell the difference between what's real and what's a copy. Here's a pic of River's copy movement- this is what yours should look like. http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b327/riv...TA%20Submarine/ Andrew also sells the noobmariner w/ the asian 21j for $118 like Josh. Maybe he'd send you one of those and call it even! Then you'd have two subs!

Yep, Josh's beginmariner comes with the DG2813. This movement comes in either color, silver or gold. Look for the WO mark under the balance- the balance is the wheel that turns, also called the balance spring. WO is the symbol for PT Resources, the mfr of the DG2813- over in China, of course. Your rotor should look the same as UB7's only gold in color- big rotor screw and no ball bearings like an eta rotor.

Certainly a better bezel insert would help, and perhaps a larger crown- the current one is 6mm. But the nice thing about these vintage reps is that no one knows anything about them. You could take this watch and "age" it and probably never be called out. It's just an old sub you got from Gramps!

Very nice photos and yes, no drooping cg's. So we have drooping cg's on 5512, 5513 and 1680, but not on the 1665. Also, the 285 end pieces w/ the cut outs on the back side are interesting. And it looks like the 24-702 crown and tube assembly to me. Just out of curiosity, what year does this watch date to?