alligoat

If you go to www.alanfurman.com/ and look up Rolex watches and scroll down, you'll see an Air King w/ the Roman Numeral dial for around $2,800 and some change. Model 14010M. Automatic movement, but not chronometer rated. It's a bare bones watch. Oliver's thinking of the vintage Precisions like a 6694, which were manual wind movements. This is the new version, but still the cheapest of the Rolex line. As ehtolcad says, "If you like the watch, get it!" And be thankful that you're not so stupid as to pay $2800 for the real thing.

Excellent job Rob! Kinda like CPR, you saved the life of an old watch! BTW, is the crystal a 127 like the old 1680's or is it different?

Take out your crystal on your rep sub and measure it. If it comes up 30.5mm, a 295 won't fit. 295C is a 29.5mm crystal. I can't tell you about MBW, but on a CN case, mine was/is 30.5. You can find a 30.5mm crystal on ebay- search under "Rolex submariner", for example. One of the guys over in Hong Kong has one, about $29 plus shipping.

Yep, I agree. My WM 1680 has essentially the same date wheel and I'm to the point that it really doesn't bother me anymore, especially when you consider that there are at least three different datewheels that rolex used w/ the 1575 movement during the 60's and 70's. 1. The silver datewheel with the flattop three's, open 6's and 9's except 26 is closed- usually on a sub 2. The white datewheel w/ open 6's and 9's 3. The white datewheel w/ closed 6's and 9's and roundtop 3's- I have this on a 1500 Date from 1966. Of course, there are the gold/champagne datewheels also and I've seen GMT's and even a DRSD w/ white datewheels w/ closed 6's and 9's and round top three's. And remember, a datewheel for a 1570 movement won't fit a 3035 or 3135 movt. It's the same old vintage Rolex story- things were subject to change depending on stock on hand.

@ Tribal, Is that the date wheel from Luenfat over in Hong Kong? I've got a couple of those, but I haven't got around to glueing them up to a movement. Someone had commented that they didn't always line up w/ the date window.

Yep, the good old Asian 21j w/ the colored gear and the blue screw on the rotor. Some of them actually keep pretty good time. I 've got a couple w/ the W-O mark which means Seagull as I understand and they're doing just fine after 2 years. Ironically, these days you can get a 16610 from Josh or Paul w/ an ETA for about the same $135, give or take a few dollars. Prices have really come down!

Let me get this straight, the guys in Phoenix, Arizona, USA and he's selling on ebay- Germany (de) in German w/ an English description. WTF doesn't he just list this movement on the regular old ebay here in the US of A. Last nite I looked at a guy w/ a DRSD listed on ebaynl (Netherlands?) and he's here in the US also. Is there a good answer for this or is this a scam?

I've had very good results with Paul in the last couple of months. I used bank wire transfer which costs me $12 here in US. The watches are fine and I especially like the 5513 with the explorer dial- big lugs holes, 38.5 mm case, nice dial w/ light yellow lume, hollow mid link bracelet. I modded the cg's and waterproofed it. I also got a dial from Paul w/ the last order to fix another watch- $8.00. That's a great price and great customer service- most dealers don't even want to fool w/ something like that. I'd order from him again in a heartbeat, but I need another watch like a hole in the head right now!

2.5x date mag is such a tricky deal! In your first picture the 9 looks OK to me, very close to 2.5x. In the second pic, the 6 doesn't look as good, but the picture is taken from closer in. Your rehaut looks good thought. It's been mentioned before that 2.5x on a 16610 isn't the same thing as on a 1680, for instance. When you look at the distance of the cyclops on a plastic crystal and a sapphire crystal from the date window, it's no wonder the older subs have slightly larger mag. The cyclops is positioned further from the date window, giving greater mag. You just don't get that distance on the 16610's.

Pretty cool. And you managed to get a 20mm Nato strap. I've always gotten a chuckle out of the shot of the Bond sub on an 18mm strap (I believe it was a shot from Thunderball).

Just for the record, my last two transactions w/ Paul have been better than perfect. On the first one, a marker fell off of a Day-Date in shipping and he sent a replacement dial N/C. On the second one, he sent me an extra dial for another different watch project for $8! Paul's biggest liability is the shippers, the last package arrived DHL and it looked like they had played football with it. The box was smashed but the watch was OK, thank goodness.

Well here is my watch of the week! It's from Paul and it's a c. 1963 5513 w/ the Explorer type dial and the T<25 added on either side of the Swiss, at the bottom (Vintage Rolex Sport Models, Skeet and Urul, page 38). ETA movt, 38.5mm case (correct size), domed T-19 crystal, large holes in the lugs, hollow mid link bracelet w/ safety clasp (riveted bracelet would be more correct technically), decent bezel and insert, retaining ring at the crystal. I modded the crown guards and might put in a gen case tube and crown later, but this watch would have had the early triplock crown and tube (no outer o-ring on the case tube) originally. And the great Paul price. The lume on the dial is subtle, a nice antique off-white yellow, not the overdone yellow of previous vintage watches. It's not an MBW, but it's awfully close and a great deal for the price IMHO. I just can't figure out why they put an ETA 2836 inside, you don't need the date or the day feature, but I guess that's all they use for movements over in China! They even take an ETA 2836 and make a GMT and a Day-Date (Rolex) out of them. Chinese modded ETA's.

Man, you just can't go wrong at those prices, even if you have to add in $10 or $20 for WU or wire chgs. I got a vintage 5513 from Paul this week and I was modding the cg's and noticed that the o-rings had been siliconed. The only weak link in the 16610 would be the case tube, but if you change that out, and put on a gen crown, this ought to be a fully waterproof watch. Heck, Paul already advertises it as such. These reps just keep getting better!

It would be a whole lot cheaper to buy a 1570 movement for around a grand and take an MBW dial and put on the dial feet! Finding a 1665 case, well that would not be easy. That dial and movement won't sell at $3K, and who knows what the unscrupulous offers are for. Can you say Frankenwatch!

Great job Randy! And three years, a lesson in patience. I've often wondered why the rep mfrs don't use more 2824-2's in their reps, it is slightly thinner and the day feature of the 2836 is rarely ever used.

I don't know if a gen or generic crystal will fit. My rep sub takes a 30.5mm crystal, not a 29.5mm (aka the 295c). One of the dealers over in Hong Kong was advertising one on ebay- a 30.5mm- go to ebay and type in- Rolex crystal- that should find it using the search feature. You might want to measure before you order. Of course, you need digital calipers and a crystal press to install it. Harbor Freight has pretty good prices. www.harborfreight.com/

I wonder what Andrew will think of his new name?? Trustyhommageguy, THG for short!

If you're looking for Tudor/ETA hands, try this link: http://cgi.ebay.com/Rolex-Tudor-Submariner...3QQcmdZViewItem Lots of other stuff, too!

The alpha hands on the Perfect Clones rep are just as correct as the hands on the original. Rolex ran this model for a number of years from the late 40's to early 60's and so the hands changed thru the years. One interesting thing to note is the shape of the case. The original has a rounder case, whereas the rep has the later style case, with more of a curve out to the lugs. In my opinion, these vintage reps are some of the best around, with their only drawback being that they could use a little gentle aging.... oops, and the asian 7750, forgot about that!

New site, so he gets another go w/ Paypal!

Good point, Sonystyle COSC isn't going to deal w/ a rep. The only thing would be if a watchmaker took the 2836 movt and fine tuned it to meet COSC specs. All that would probably include is putting it on a Vibragraf and turning the screw to adjust it, maybe checking it in two or three positions. For $50 that's about all that's going to happen!

I'd agree w/ Linder on this one. I also think that the gold eta's are from the far east and the silver ones are from Switzerland, but that is just my opinion. There's been a lot of previous discussion on the origins of the two different colored eta movements, so it's really hard to discern what the real truth is!

Cool, I just tried it on my Baxx & Bloom quartz chrono (a Breitling knock-off) and now the second hand resets to 12 o'clock. Thanks.

Are you talking about the bezel ring or the bezel insert? New GMT 2 bezel insert (gen) is 37.65 outside diameter, 30.7 inside diameter. This info is from www.watchtrader.cc/ Look under their reference section You need to invest in a nice set of digital calipers from China, of course. I got mine thru Harbor Freight here in the US for US$20. Rep inserts don't always match the gen sizes, so you have to have a set of calipers and digital makes it a whole lot easier. Once you are able to measure your insert, it makes ordering another one a lot easier

@ Linder It's not us! It's the unscrupulous people out there, the scammers, etc. It can be done and it's not that difficult. I personally don't see anything wrong if you want to collect these watches as a hobby and mod them, etc., even sell them here or elsewhere when properly represented, but when you deceive, it's a whole nuther ball of wax. It's a Frankenwatch w/ no conscience. Of course, let's not forget that technically reps are illegal, but at least they are here for our enjoyment.