alligoat

It would be great to know what Ubi's formula is for making a bezel w/ the acrylic pearl. The PMWF insert isn't bad, I guess, and I believe if you could get the vintage acrylic pearls from watchesandparts over in Hong Kong that show up on ebay every so often, but aren't cheap for a pair ($60+ or -), you could make your own insert. I've also noticed that this guy has a vintage insert alone, that appears to have the acrylic pearl for around $60. Don't know if it's any good. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...p;rd=1&rd=1 But I'm with tribal on this, you need an insert with the acrylic pearl, no metal surround. As for the T-39, I'm not really sure what is correct, but a domed crystal from Helfands (or is it Clark's?) wouldn't look bad and who's going to know! Chances of running into delgado or one of the other WIS from TZ are slim and none in my mind!

Even if you're not gonna replace the crown and tube, this is a must do if you're serious about WR. Also, it's a great oppurtunity to take a few swipes at the cg's w/ a file and straigten them up. The last tube I pulled from a noob did have something on it- glue? Mine took a little coaxing- pliers and rat tail file to get out. Now it's on to countersinking the hole.

Rehaut looks conical to me Date mag appears to be to the right too much But if the price is $108 like Josh's beginmariner.... Movement is the PTS Resources DG2813- I just gave my beginmariner to my nephew for destruction testing. He managed to kill TTK's noob in six months- we'll see what he does w/ the DG2813. I'm going to try to resuscitate the old noob w/ a DG2813- probably the 21600 bph model.

Both my noobmariner and my beginmariner had the same lighter font date wheel like your noobmariner. From your pic of your beginmariner, it looks like you have the older heavier font date wheel on that watch. I never did get my beginmariner to the watchmaker to check the beat- it was doing fine, but I gave it to my nephew when he gave me back the dead noobmariner. I don't know if my watchmaker will be able to revive it, or if I'll have to do a transplant- I was kinda thinking a Miyota 8215 might be a good choice. And my nephew knocked off the pearl- now I get to try the watchmaterial pearl on the insert.

Go to the section "Knowledge Base" and read the second post by gioarmani- Regulating a 2836.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BEZEL-INSERT-RING-FIT-...3QQcmdZViewItem pearl is from www.watchmaterial.com/

I'd have to agree w/ you bk in that the straight on shot of the dial looks to have the date window too far to the right. Also, in the shot of the etched crown, the rehaut appears greater than that of a noob. This idiot even puts Swiss ETA in the description of the movement. And I love the 116610 hologram on the back of the watch.

Why not mod your so called perfect sub? Crown and tube, good insert w/ pearl, trim the inside of the cg's and you're there. And bklm had a tutorial on how to make a good insert for around $50 yesterday, aftermarket tube from Clark's, and a gen crown for another $50 or so. For under $300 including the cost of the watch, you'd have a very nice 16610.

Excellent job, Fred. You made a great choice and your pics are great, too. Wear that watch in good health and with your friends who sport gens and don't look back- just remember, you paid less than 1/20th of what a new gen would cost and 99.9% of the people will never know the difference.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=230147872274 I just find it amazing that people go out and post out and out fakes. Obviously ebay and the authorities do nothing about it. But I do love that noob serial # F520117! The most replicated serial # in the world

V23's aren't cheap these days- best deal I saw was $450 on the bay. I wonder about the mystery movt and getting it serviced by someone like ziggy?

Well Fred, I'm sure you did fine. Andrew is a trusted dealer and the 2836-2 is a proven movement. If you got the 'noobmariner' for $188, you can't go wrong- it's a great deal. Maybe you could post a pic or a link, so we can see which watch you got.

You could always get Paul's current GMT Master and then order a jubilee bracelet. I've been known to order a cheap chinese movt watch for $60-70 just to get the bracelet. http://www.pam111.com/product_info.php?cPa...products_id=815 And some dealers like silix-prime sell bracelets individually.

freddy, my thought is for the long haul, the v23 will be much more reliable.

A good V23 is going to run around $400 plus or minus, and you sure got to hope it doesn't need a service, but like the V72, they are old....

Glad to hear it worked out for you, Norman. I think the beginmariner and the River sub with the chinese 2836 copy movt are two of the best deals going. Both have noob cases, look great and you can't beat the price. Of the chinese movements, the DG2813 from PTS Resources is one of my favorites.

I'd have to agree, that certainly looks like an asian 7750 movt to me! A true gen would be worth at least $2000 wholesale!

I bought from Paul. Worked out fine, again and again and... Or you could try Andrew, he has the noob w/ eta Or you could try eddielee " " " " " " Watchmaker9 had it last year for $500, but I think he sold out!

Check out the Swiss Jaxa type opener here and then scroll further down to the economy type opener w/o case for $11.95, or go all out and get it w/ the case! http://www.ofrei.com/page557.html

The beginmariner is not a bad watch to start with. In fact it's a good watch to start with. It has the great dial, good case, best positioning of the date window, good hollow link bracelet. I've been happy with the DG2813 movt- it's keeping good time. I think of it as a good beater- I wear it jogging, working out, doing yard work and I don't worry about beating it up a little. The next step up would be Paul's so called perfect sub, same case, bracelet, and dial as the beginmariner (all of these watches are referred to as noobs) but it has an eta movt. The Perfect sub has the date window a little too far to the right, but it has the eta movt which has been serviced, is WR (o-rings lubed w/ silicone, pressured tested, I guess) and it has better rehaut. It's not a MBW case. And it's $200 more. Keep reading, buy a Beginmariner and after that you can see what else you want to buy.

bklm gets his at www.watchmaterial.com I thought getting gen parts in Germany was easier than here in the U.S.- like maybe because you're closer to the source (Geneva)

This is the third fake Daytona that I've seen in the last couple of weeks. All three of them had a picture of the movement and there was the same pointer on the balance bridge- this is clearly not a Rolex detail. Someone is building these watches with old V72 movements and then people have the balls to try to sell them on ebay as original. Here's another one with the same balance bridge- this ain't no microstella balance! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...p;rd=1&rd=1

I bought this Oysterdate from Silix: http://www.silix-prime.com/product.asp?id=1294 And it came with a very nice 78350/19 bracelet which happened to have correct end links- no cut out notch on the inside ends at each lug- marked 557. I ended up putting it on my gen 1500 Date so that I wouldn't tear up the original flimsy Rolex band. This rep band does have solid mid links, but it still fits my vintage Date nicely. Jay and Angel sell bands/straps separately, so you might give them a try.

http://www.perfectclones88.com/rlss10004-b...362-p-1060.html The hour markers are the same size as the standard 16610 Submariner. The LV has the larger hour markers. The pearl is what you get- it ain't bad, but it isn't perfect, as is the case with 95% of the rep pearls. This is what we call a fantasy watch. The original blue Sub was a Model 1680, whereas this is copied after a 16610. Rolex doesn't currently make a 16610 in blue. BTW, the date window on this model is too far to the right- a common problem on some of Josh's sub reps and also some of the other dealer's subs. But, what the heck, it's a good looking watch, enjoy!

People add the gasket in an attempt to improve the WR of the case/crystal interface. I've also read about people running a small bead of silicone around the bottom and then installing the crystal and pressing on the retaining ring. On one rep, I just glued the crystal down, but I don't really recommend that approach.