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I recently picked up a Tudor sub from Andrew TUD031B - Submariner SS/SS Black JKF Asia 2836 [TUD031B] - $238.00 : Trusty Time Watch, Your Trusty Watch Shop This has turned out to be a nice watch. The case is 39mm and the tophat crystal harks back to the 1680 of years ago. The 79090 came out in 1989 from what I can tell, it was followed by the 79190 in 1995 which had a sapphire crystal. This watch has nice lume- it shines all thru the night. The yellow could be toned down a bit, maybe with a light brown wash of tea or coffee. Typical rep stuff- drill the lugholes and trim the crown guards. Maybe install a 703 crown with a good aftermarket tube. The bezel insert has a nice all-acrylic pearl and the bezel construction is gen like- the same as the 5513/1680. Bracelet is folded link with 380B ends and a 7836 marking and a flip lock clasp. If it was a 9315 marking it would be perfect. But there's no screws to remove links and the smallest size is 7-1/2" + which is ok for me. If you have small wrists, making the bracelet fit could be a challenge. Date font is a little thick, but the 2836-2 asian is doing fine. At $260, I'm happy with the deal. I had thought about doing a Yuki dial, but with the lume being so good, I may leave the dial and hands it came with in there. Wish I could post a pick or two but I'm having problems with imageshack these days- shit won't post on rwg.cc.

I'd suggest looking in the sales section here and on a few of the other rep forums and see what is available. You'd be surprised what guys can build using rep parts and say an eta movement. And it will be maybe 1/4 or 1/3 of the price of a Phong. And you can't go swimming with a Phong or an MQ when you've spent $5,500 on the watch- you could easily ruin the movement if you get it wet. And once again, I'd definitely stay away from a 6538 with a 1030 movement. Phong doesn't have a price for the 6538 probably because it's so hard to find those movements these days. But you know it will be more than the 5510 at $5500.

Welcome aboard! Finding genuine parts is pretty tough these days- they're either expensive or very expensive fakes. Your best bet is to accept that you're building a replica and go from there. Dials are fake, not refinished, cases are good but once again, not real and Phongs stuff if expensive. Minh Quy can be tricky to deal with and you have to watch him. Ruby's watch is ok but may not have what you want. I've done watches with real rolex movements, but I'm finished with that- it's getting too hard to keep those watches going, parts are hard to get. A 1030 movement for a 6538 is very delicate so you can hardly wear the watch for fear of breaking it. A 1530 movement for a 5510 is a little more readily available but still tough to find parts for. You're better off putting a slow beat eta in there since they're dependable and easier to find parts for. It all comes down to getting a nice case and dial and putting something together that looks properly aged and convincing- that's the key to building a good rep!

You CAN send the watch back to Andrew. It may cost you $30-40 but it's probably your best option. Send it registered airmail, it will take a while but it's easier that trying to find someone who can work on it in your country. Real watchmakers typically don't like to work on reps and often times won't. Especially a rep with a complicated movement, which I would recommend staying away from anyway.

I've always seen them called Maxi dials

Looks like the MK3 dial is late- this one on Chrono24 dates from 1981 Rolex 5513 Mark 3 MK3 MK III Lollipop Unpolished Maxi Dial... for $23,522 for sale from a Trusted Seller on Chrono24 Note that it has a 703 crown and tube, don't know if that's original or a service replacement. There's another one from 1978 with a similarly outrageous price also.

Here's a few things- the plastic crystal for the 1500 is the T-117. They're pretty easy to find. I don't know if the sapphire crystal will work or not- might not allow the hands to work. I don't know about the Yuki spacer ring but if it works, great. The hold down tabs and screws should anchor the movement in the case. You might also check out the raffles spacer ring, I believe it's the #2 ring. You might need a new crown if the one you have doesn't screw down properly- the correct crown is the 24-530. Tube would be the 24-5300- these are 2.5mm case hole sized parts. You'll need a date wheel overlay- DWO- and aligning it on the 2824-2 date wheel is a real trick- good luck. You'll need to glue the dial to the movement or use dial dots. A movement ring on top of the movement might give to enough room to not impede the DWO from turning when the date changes. Good luck!

These two blue dials have the date window in the wrong place- eta/8215 position. Watch Dials - DateJust Dials - Page 4 - Raffles Dials Lately I've been building watches with the Seiko NH35 movement- it has a nice Rolex like DW- don't know if that movement would work with the Blue DJ dial with the eta position DW. The NH35 is a $35-40 movement and nice IMO.

I'm thinking the seller means a 1601 which is a Datejust. There is a 1610 but it's a whole different beast- I saw one which was a 1610/6 in gold- more like a dress watch. At any rate, since your case appears to be a DJ type case, you should be ok with that bracelet as long as the distance between the lugs is 20mm. You can also get a rivet bracelet from Rafflesdials.com for about the same price. BTW, the only Rolex watches that are flat between the lugs are the gold DJs and older DDs .

Lugholes on a DJ case went out around 1995- the 16220, etc models. And like was said above, it looks like a DD case in ss with the flat spot between the lugs and a plastic crystal. All DJs 1601, 16013/4 etc, had lugholes so this is just a bad Chinese copy

I filed down the seat between the lugs on a cartel 5513 with the stubby crown guards- it worked out ok. I installed a 702 crown and tube and it's been a great beater- the a21j has hung in there for 4-5 years now. [URL=https://imageshack.com/i/plRWN4Daj][IMG]https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/921/RWN4Da.jpg[/IMG][/URL] I examined my gen 16800 and 16610 (R serial) and the crown guards aren't that long. I also looked at my 16800 franken with the ST 3035 case and those CGs are also somewhat short but not noticeably shorter than my two gen subs. Installing a gen 703 crown also helps since the gen crowns are typically thinner than the rep crowns. But alas, it tough to find gen used crowns at a reasonable price these days. 10-15 years ago you could find gen crowns for $30-50 used. gen 16800 [URL=https://imageshack.com/i/poX7aUJcj][IMG]https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/924/X7aUJc.jpg[/IMG][/URL] franken 16800 with ST3035 case [URL=https://imageshack.com/i/poyvK48pj][IMG]https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/924/yvK48p.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

The only thing you can do is file down the tube seat between the lugs, but that will only get you a mm or two.

You can kill yourself looking for a case, but it would be easier to just buy a rep with the 3186 movement in it. GMT-Master II 116710 LN Black Ceramic 904L Steel ARF 1:1 Best Edition SH3186 CHS (puretimewatch.io) Or maybe you could look for a 16710 GMT II rep- if they're still around, but they probably don't have a 3186 movement in there.

Wasn't Chuck in the Rolex adds- wearing a GMT Master? Looks like he has a 6542 in the pic above.

I'm not sure about taking a 6542 and making it into a 6538/6536. You might check out a 6538 case from Ruby- rubyswatch.com- password is 666888. It might not be quite as skinny as Nanuq's case but hopefully it would be better than a rep 6542 case and it comes with the correct bezel insert and bezel and it already has a Brevet crown and tube. A Ruby's case, a decent dial and hands and a low beat eta movement would make for a nice dependable beater. Of course the Ruby's case would need some gentile aging. But this is what I'd call a $1K rep- I think the Ruby cases run around $600. But maybe you could do it for less. A cheaper alternative is a Trusty 6538- call it the budget model- a few good features and a slightly too thick case but not a bad place to start. https://trustytime.io/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_11&products_id=15561 Andrew also has a 5510 and a 6536. Same thick cases but my theory of reps is you can't go wrong for $250 or so. Frankly, no one will probably notice. And some gentle aging could make it a nice rep.

Rolex prices are ridiculous these days! Check out this 16014 from Japan which is currently at $3,383.00. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rolex-Watch-16014-Date-Just-WG-Bezel-x-SS-operates-normally-Mens-1408358/293821532954?epid=2313233066&hash=item446920cb1a:g:5CcAAOSwQ5tfqK2y Of course it might need a service which could easily run another $500. Years ago I built a franken- got a $200 16014 case from HK and a gen dial for $100 and put a swiss 2836-2 in and a few other parts- hands and crown, spacer ring and bracelet and have around $500 in it. It still runs great and the eta is much better than the Rolex 3035 IMO. [URL=https://imageshack.com/i/plfKDnbfj][IMG]https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/921/fKDnbf.jpg[/IMG][/URL] These days I'd get a nice rep for $300-400 and then look for a 2836/2824 swiss and do a swap out. Riyi002 and rafflesdials.com have parts and you could also look at going that way

I know Joe trimmed the cgs, installed a better rep crown which he said he got from a place like Dallas Jewelry and Watch and evened up the color between the dial and hands- or so he said. I drilled the lugholes 6-8 yrs ago and installed a gen 93150 with 580 ends which I bought for like $300 back around 2008. Unfortunately, I think I boogered up the caseback threads- possibly when I drilled the lugholes. That 2836-2 is still running like a champ 14 years later. I remember how ByTor used to pan the MBW red sub dial- said it was all WRONG!

This baby came from Big Red Joe- BRJ back around 2006 It has a gen insert, and a gen crystal which got pretty scratched at one point. I got excited about Nanuq's mods and tried to open mine up recently to start some mods but it was a bear. Don't know if it got cross threaded or not. Will try to get it fixed. I've got a nicer red sub dial, 702 crown and tube and a 2846-2 with a PolexPete overlay. Just have to figure out how to enlarge the dial seat or shave a little off the dial.

If this is the one you're inquiring about? https://trustytime.asia/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_7&products_id=21769 the folks over at RWI aren't that excited about it, but it's the only game in town at this point since the JF is out of stock.

DWs came two ways- the 7750 movement with the autowind assembly removed or you could get a DW case and dial for a Valjoux 72. Of course a V72 DW would be worth more these days- the V72 is worth over $1000 alone and maybe more like $1500. I have a DW albino with the 7750 movement and I paid $300-350 for it back in the day. [URL=https://imageshack.com/i/poQzLPbcj][IMG]https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/xq90/924/QzLPbc.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

WOW! That is a beauty! And I like the fact that you used a low beat eta- now you care wear it carefully on a more regular basis.

If you're referring to the springbars, you might try googling. If your measurement between the lugs is 17.5mm, I would think an 18mm bar would work. All I could find is a 42mm Christopher Ward Trident GMT and it looks like those springbars would be 22mm.

I've got a TT Zodiac red point dive watch- picked it up about 15 years ago for $250. The dial says Automatic, but it's a quartz, so it must have been at that point when Zodiac was switching from mechanical to quartz- maybe early 80s is my guess. It did fine scuba diving 10 years ago- down to 125 feet.

Beautiful! You could pick up a set of 580 end pieces from WSO and that would help a little. The 702 crown and tube assembly from Athaya is another possibility, although I think some people have had a problem with the crown spring.

I agree, the 2824 case will take a 3135. And a gen dial won't work unless you clip the dial feet