alligoat

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

a gen 5513 dial is 26.2mm or so. Some of the cartel reps will take a gen size dial, but a lot of them take a 28mm dial- or larger- 29mm. good luck!

I thought there used to be a JK factory that did vintage subs and that morphed into JKF. I went to trusty's site and the BP factory making vintage subs is now referred to as BPF. these are both cartel subs as far as I'm concerned- they're ok and with a few mods can be decent beaters.

I just love the way they put brand new chamfers on an old watch! The winding crown doesn't have the three dots on it, so it's not a 702 or 703 trip lock crown- odd, the 700 crown was long gone by the time this watch was built. This watch would have originally come with the 702 crown and could have a 703 crown if it was changed out during a later service. To put a 700 crown on a later watch makes no sense to me. The lume on the dial is lighter on the left and darker on the right- could this be indicative of water infiltration at some point? Given the pitting, one could assume this watch spent a lot of time in a corrosive environment- i.e. saltwater. 380B end links are odd also- weren't those used on the 9315. And the sharp teeth on the bezel indicate it's a replacement.

You never know what reps will do. As I recall, a 16800 caseback will say 16800. early 16610 will say 16610 and a 16610T will say 2160

My guess is that all three end pieces are very similar- I've seen situations where they were mis-matched with cases and it really looked ok. Certainly the differences between the 16800/0 cases and the 16610 are minor- they have the same crystal/bezel assemblies and crown/tubes. Stem positions on the cases vary due to the movements, but that's about it. Oh, I do remember the casebacks are different and not interchangeable, but who can say why- just one of Rolexes idiosyncrasies.

correct ends for a 16610 are 501Bs and 593s are correct for the 16800 and 168000. WSO might carry aftermarket 501Bs- can't remember. Correct bracelet is the 93150, but they're tough to find these days. Any hollow mid link oyster bracelet with the flip lock clasp would work and probably a set of 580 end pieces would also- they're not too hard to find.