alligoat

Well E, my 3035 case is WR! 3-4 atms at the watchmakers and doing fine in the saltwater, but not to any great depths yet- doubt I'll make it diving this year. My Euromariner is also doing well and WR- put a WM9 dial in there w/ some TC SL hands and it glows well at night. It's the A serial case with lugholes and a nice 93150 with 501B end pieces- the bracelet really fits the case beautifully.

Nice build! My only criticism would be the yuki 93153 bracelet- with everything else being so good, why not get a decent bracelet? I like the 7836 that came on my Josh 1655 Explorer- it's a great folded link bracelet- and certainly more vintage, and very correct for a rep bracelet. I think I read that Mary at Watch International sells them ($55?), haven't checked to see if Josh sells them.

Also, there's a 24-704-0 crown that you could use. The 703 is a wrapped crown- ss wrapped over a base metal. The 704 is solid stainless. They are the same size and design and are interchangeable.

Looks like a 19mm strap to boot!

" and the only non-genuine part that I know is the crystal" LOL, he forgot to mention the case etc!

Looks like the mods got in there pretty quickly and straightened things out

You could always go to Rolex and pay too much for the end links! At least you'd get the right ones.

I wear my 1500 Date on a 78350 rep with a pair of 045 rep end pieces. I keep the gen rivet bracelet in the drawer since I prefer not to tear it up. I think the 78350 came from DW, but I'm not sure. I have a few of them, they also go well on Daytonas and pre-Daytonas.

I've never figured out what the difference between 501s and 501Bs is. One chart says a 501B will work, so it's worth a try. These charts aren't always correct either- a 16800 should have a 93150 w/593 ends, but other ends will fit. Also, you don't say if your 16710 is a gen or rep- that could also make a difference also.

Yep, it's just a rep bracelet- like a 93150 where you use the detachable end links. Would be good for an early 16610, the 16800 or 1680,1665, 5513 etc.

Everyone pitches a fit about the DW 78350 w/ the 571 ends, but the ones I have compare favorably with the gen 78350/571 that I have. The DW 571s fit well on the 6239 cases and on my Phong 6238 case.

First of all, nothing beats a gen. A 1675 is still reasonable, you might find one for $3K-4K. The 5508/5510 and 1665 are going to run $8K and up. So a 1675 is going to be your best bet, costwise. A franken is always a franken, it's not a gen. The value of a franken is in the parts that were used to build the watch and the watch may have to be disassembled and the parts sold off individually to realize that value. And parts are getting harder to find. Gen owners and franken builders are competing for the same small pool of parts. Rolex no longer makes any of these parts and hasn't for say 20 years. A franken isn't really an investment, it's a love and there's no real money in love! The most expensive part of a franken is generally the movement- a 1530, 1520 or a 1575 are typical. But since Rolex no longer services these movements, and parts are getting harder to find, you have to wonder if it's really worth it to use an old movement. You have to figure a service also when using an old movement, $200-300, and there's always the possibility of getting a dud. No one ever sees the movement unless you remove the caseback. The frankens I like the most these days are the ones that typically run $500-1000 to build. Some of them aren't even frankens, they're just fine reps!

Looks like to me that all you get that's original is the insert and the movement- everything else is rep! And I agree, 1530 parts are getting scarce. I think you'd be better off building a rep with a 2846-2 movement and some good quality rep parts. Depending on how resourceful you are, you could do it for $500+ and it certainly beats spending $2K for a Minh Quy rep.

Another beauty Chi! Way to go.

The dial print isn't all that good- it should be gilt, but it looks yellow. If you put a Clark's crystal on there, that's a plus. CGs aren't the stubby short ones like on a Josh vintage sub, that's good news. A gen crown and tube would help. But if you don't like the watch, it's either time to move on or just wear it as a beater and tear it up.

I don't know what the situation is with the DW cases at this point. In the past they were not that good in that they ended up with a bulge at the crown position. These were 6239 cases from 3-4 years ago. The earlier 6239 cases didn't have the bulge. Also, DW is selling a 6238 case these days, but I'm not sure what it looks like- does it have the bulge? The cases look ok w/ the 6239 bezel, but when you go to the plain 6238 bezel, the proportions just don't look right, IMO. If you go the DW case route, it may mean a lot of softening of the edges and filing and polishing of the bulge to make it look right. DW cases are like a moving target- they're always changing- so who knows what you'll get. All you can do is try.

Those are just cartel watches- symmetrical pushers, 6234 dials and the 6238 dial w/ dauphine hands.

16800, 168000 and 16610 all have the exact same assembly and parts are interchangeable

Boy, E, I think that may be a tough one. http://www.parnishop.com/index.php?main_page=popup_image&pID=445 here's a Parnis unmarked dial didn't see anything on raffflestime, but you might ask Ken You need a 27.3mm dial set up for Rolex- his stuff is 29mm maybe you buy a Yuki dial and paint over the Rolex markings http://www.ebay.com/itm/Custom-built-Submariner-Diver-Automatic-watch-Ceramic-bezel-/200945937215?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item2ec94fab3f#ht_3146wt_1398 or just go with a sterile submariner- problem is nowdays they're all ceramics!

The movement I used had the DWO already in place- it was from an SSD V2. It lines up fine in the window, I just couldn't bend my wrist enough and snap the pic at the same time.

Looking good D! I wouldn't worry too much about the bracelet- the stretch doesn't look bad to me.

Mymanmatt got me a very nice DJ case with a sapphire crystal and I put a gen DJ dial in it. Case, crown, crystal and fluted bezel were very reasonable costwise- you need to check him out It took a 2836-2 movement

So I'm thinking that's the cartel dial since you've got the Venus movt- looks very nice.The 6239 bezel is something I've done, after I saw it on VRF This is the cartel dial w/ the a7750 and a DW case. here's the one from VRF:

Looks good to me. Insert looks the same as mine- c.1981. You've got the original datewheel also

LOL, I thought that was a Jacek picture! Just couldn't find the watch on VRM. But I didn't go back more than 3-4 days