alligoat

Man, I love what JJ does with those cartel crown guards! It's a beautiful watch

Nice pair of Cosmographs! What is the significance of Arizona? Has Phong opened a spa?

I'm with chronobam- get the cartel 1680 from Josh. those have gen like bezel and crystal second choice would be from Puretime, but I hear they have screwed up the bezel assembly to non-spec these days

Yep Dutch, I think I need to get one of those cartel cases and get to work!

That is very nice! My only comment would be if you could slim down the outsides of the crown guards, I would think it might look a little better

TC is really your only option- Startime cases are gone from what I hear and Sean's may not be available either and is certainly overpriced. JMB can drill the lugholes or PBdad out in LA. Personally, I'd go with the TC 2824-2 and cut the dial feet, but you could do a Yuki 3135 and save the feet and have it serviced.

Looking good J! Looking good J!

That is nice- correct DW, CHS and a beautiful dial. With a 2836-2 you could even have the correct beat. But still a beaut nevertheless- congrats!

Or you could call it a 6239- the last bezel on the 6239 was the 50/200 like you have. Nice watch!

I think jmb has installed a HEV or two. The sub case and 1665 case take a 26.5mm dial. Phong sells the HE valve, I believe.

Which 5513 case do you have? And is it set up for a specific movement? It looks to me like the 2840 closely approximates the 2824-2. The 2836-2 and the 2846-2 are very similar. Changing out the pinions should be an easy swap- probably is the same parts as TC uses.

Will it fit in your case? Height is 4.7mm, but does the stem line up with hole in the case? Better figure a service in the equation- that will be more than the cost of the movement!

Well, you're on your way! I like the mock up of the DJ- can't tell if it's a champagne or silver dial, but either one will work. The DW with a V72 is a nice watch. Casewise, I don't know if you can do much better- those DW cases are pretty good- especially considering what they cost back when. I like the silver dial with the silver bezel- it just makes a nice combination that I particularly like. Considering all the gen parts you have already, a phong case really wouldn't be worth it, IMO. You'd just be trading rep cases and paying too much for the phong. Look forward to seeing the 1675 when you get it done.

It's all FAKE- SN of 4576567 will never fly on a 1665! And buying from South Korea is certainly a risk. Look at the side profile of the lugs- ouch! And the seller as much as admits that it's not real!

A homage watch from Charles Hubert- with the Miyota 8215- looks like a gold DJ and only cost $175 from Amazon. It looks better than the pic!.

Like Joey says, or it could have been a two tone with a black insert and a gold bezel. Interesting how you have an insert attached w/o a bezel Bracelet is weird, but you could always pick up a more appropriate one from VRM or ebay. Here's a TT 1675 to give you an idea of what they look like http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rolex-Two-Tone-Vintage-GMT-Master-Ref-1675-Nipple-Dial-/261736438277?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item3cf0b51a05 Yours looks like a good project watch- good luck!

Well, you've got a plan and what would appear to be a fairly liberal budget. Have you purchased anything yet? A breakdown of where you're spending the money would be helpful. As for pitfalls, you won't know what those will be til you find them! Datewheel overlay- you'll need one of those in the champagne color (gold). Are you using the TC 2824-2 for a movement? Misikped has built the 16613- might check out his work. Ruprekt over at RWI also has done this watch with success- might check him out. texrob has a post on the TT 16613 over there also- check it out. Good luck!

The trick is to show you a picture of a genuine watch- like that one and then sell you a bad rep. So you may be dealing with a scammer- look out!

I'm with dbane- +1

This is a full sized DJ- 37mm, which would be 36mm on the gen. This is the man's size but women wear it also. I don't know about the 6 and 9 being real diamonds and the bezel is CZs also- probably. Movement is probably the Asian 2836, but there's not much you can do about that these days. I personally would consider $348 cheap if it would keep my wife happy, but I would doublecheck about the size with her. A lot of women wear the 31mm boys size and then there's the ladies DJ which is 26mm.

Looks good, my preference would be the champagne dial with the stick markers, but I'm old fashioned!

OK, this looks to be an early 16610 R serial sub, according to the serial # on the papers. That would be 1988. Dial is ok, fliplock on the clasp has no lines- could be a holdover from the 16800/168000. Seeing the 6/9 open numbers on the datewheel would confirm it's early heritage, but dw could be changed during service- they do wear out. Pictures pretty much suck- if you're in England you could maybe go see the watch. Oh, pearl looks like shit. Time to replace the bezel insert. Price is ok, but not a steal. Movement probably needs a service- it's a 25 year old watch! Seller's pics suck- oh, did I mention that- buy the seller first.

I guess being called out is not the correct term- especially in this case. With a watch of this caliber and lineage, you'd think someone would notice, but I guess there just aren't that many people who really know their watches. I wear a varied combination of gen, rep and franken watches and I never get called out either. But if I saw someone wearing a vintage sub like your 6538, I would certainly say "nice watch" if at all possible. BTW, LHOOQ hangs out, or used to, in Toronto.

Holy cow! A brand new 58 year old 6538- that must be a safe queen! The more I see it, the more I like that pristine dial, hands and crystal. Beats that MKII Kingston all to pieces and besides, it says Rolex on the dial. It sure would be interesting to see if you ever get called out, DB.

The King watch is similar or the same as the Puretime 1680- bracelet is ok, end pieces are incorrect- 285s came on the earlier 9315, but not a deal breaker IMO, still a passable bracelet- 93150s are hard to find These 1680s have a funny bezel assembly- might be best to leave it alone if you get the watch- trying to swap out crystals could be a problem. The 2846-2 movement is a nice one- hopefully you get one that's in decent shape- they are old- ETA quit making them in the late 90s, I believe