alligoat

Try Mary in the TD section, that's where I got my 7836 from.

The pins bend allowing the bracelet to stretch. Michael Young in HK and others replace the pins to recondition the bracelets. There's also a company in San Francisco that does this. I don't know if the pins are available to the public, but taking the bracelet apart is a chore in and of itself. It might be better to let a pro make this repair.

People have used a 2824 and it may be that they used a dial spacer in doing so, but I don't know where they got the dial spacer from. They may have changed the canon pinion to a taller one- is it the H4, I don't know. I subscribe to the theory that a 2836 fits the 16000 DJ cases and the 2824 fits the 16200 DJ cases. In building my 16800 franken I also used a 2836 in an ST3035 case and it worked fine. And a ST3135 case takes a 2824 movement. The 2836 closely approximates the 3035 Rolex movement used in the DJ 16000s and the 2824 matches the 3135 movement. ST3035 and ST3135 are Startime replacement cases for the Rolex subs. The ST3035 case is no longer available.

I built a couple of 16000 DJs back in 2008 and it was fairly simple. I used a 2836-2- back in the days when you could get a swiss one fairly easily. Then you need a DWO- date wheel overlay- you can pick those up from rafflesdials.com. The correct one has open 6/9s and round top3s. Hands came from Clark's but in your case CousinsUK would be an easier choice- DJ type hands for eta- 150/90/25. Also a movement ring- #2 from raffles is needed. You have to remove the dial feet from the DJ dial and glue the DWO into place- this is the tricky part and when that's done, you can use dial dots to attach the dial to the movement and you're ready to install the movement and dial in the case. You'll need some hold down tabs and a couple of screws. The Rolex 600 crown will screw on the movement stem, but you may have to trim the stem or if it's too short get another one. Ssteel is in the EU and you might contact him if you need some help. I'd show you a pic of my two watches but Imageshack is acting up today. The models I built were the 16013 and 16014.

Ofrei.com shows a Sternkruz crystal at 30.6mm and a GS at 30.61mm. http://www.ofrei.com/page419.html So I'd figure your bezel is a little tight for the 118 crystal. You can sand it down slowly and keep trying to test fit it, or take a Dremel tool and keep going around with the sanding wheel tool. I don't know how tight is good enough- 30.55mm maybe give or take- that's why you go slowly. Automatico would know more about this probably.

Did you clean the hairspring? I watched my watchmaker dip the hairspring in a cleaning solution, allow it to dry and reinstalled it and voila, the watch was running at a good rate. Before cleaning it was also way fast like yours.

Good luck, I agree with what automatico says, but maybe you can make it work

I don't think that's an MBW! Wrong serial number and it says Orig Rolex Design- MBW would say Orig Polfy Design and the inside of the caseback would be marked Gelena Shiterand. When you change out a case tube, it's always a good idea to run the tap thru there first to clean up the threads- 3.0mm x .35 is the tap size. BTW, people have been having trouble with the Athaya 702 crowns lately, good luck!

325 pounds is $400usd- Not a bad price for a Smiths watch- a cool homage watch of sorts. Good luck with your build, hope you get it all sorted out.

MQ is supposed to be on the same level of quality as Phong, but you have to watch him closely- check the QC pictures.

I did manage to buy a 16800 matte dial from NDTrading a couple of years ago- it wasn't Natalie whom I had dealt with around 2008-9 when I was building a 5508. It appears that the response came from Vietnam and I was able to pay for the dial with Paypal. My friend that I was buying the dial for claims it was MQ's email address. We did get the dial- paid $250 and it was a fairly decent matte dial until my friend went and had it relumed with blue chromalite! If you go to the website and pick out a part and contact seller, who knows if you'll get a response- maybe you explain that you're on this forum and are building a watch. We all know that the lawyers can't shut down a vendor over in Vietnam. Of course I also wonder how Phong has managed to stay out of trouble after all of these years.

That's a very nice build! There's a couple of small niggledy details that would help. One, people like to see the 2846-2 used in these vintage 1680 and 1665 builds since it has a slower beat closer to the Rolex 1575 movement's 19800 bph. secondly, there's a more correct DWO from a guy in Australia https://www.ebay.com/itm/ETA-movement-part-date-disc-silver-2824-2836-2893-oyster-date/124164404995?epid=854440495&hash=item1ce8c67703:g:jSAAAOSwQItTy1X8 this one has the flat top 3s and is a good copy of the original used in the 1575 movements in the 70s and early 80s. Of course, as is the case, Rolex did use other DWs, especially when servicing a watch- they don't care because it's still a genuine Rolex part!

you might try rubyswatch.com, but I didn't find a 1665 case currently pictured. You'll have to email her and see if it's available. http://www.rubyswatch.com/Products/watch-cases/sub-c1665 She does show a 5514 which has a HEV, but it a Comex model- not exactly a 1665 case, but close. MQ over in Saigon is another possibility, but I hear that he's difficult to deal with and quality sometimes is lacking. You might try negotiating with Phong- if he lists a case for $1400, you might be able to get him to sell it for $1000- I was able to do that quite a few years ago when I was making a group buy with some other chaps. Anything you buy is going to need some additional shaping- you can't expect a new case to look like a 40-50 year old watch.

I like those vratislavia conceptums. I recently picked up a Mathey Tissot Type 20 Mathey Tissot is still around and has survived. they offer a range of quartz watches and some inexpensive Rollie knock-offs with Swiss etas.

I've heard the stories about Phong builds before- you generally pay a high price for a mediocre build. But with the 7032, it's not so badly overpriced. Consider the 7734 movement- say you pick one up on ebay with the correct 45 minute sub dial for $600, ok, then you need to figure a service- these are typically 40 year old movements, and that's another $300. Next up is the case and dial- Phong and Ruby are your usual suspects. Plus you'll need hands and a few other misc. parts. So say there goes another $750- just my educated guess. Then you have to get a watchmaker to put it together- say another $250, maybe.... So you're up just under $2K. But t least you have a serviced movement- I've seen cases where Phong will put an unserviced movement in there and correcting his shoddy build may cost you a few more dollars. But at any rate, building a 7032 isn't a cheap proposition. Wonder if a ST-19 would work?

The rafflesdials cases come with a crown- why not just use that crown? It's a 6mm and no one's gonna say, "nice watch, but that's a fake crown".

Your crown is a 6mm crown and you need a 6mm tube- either the older 24-6000 tube or maybe the newer 24-6030 tube- you might want to check out those two. You should probably re-tap the hole with the 3.0mm x .35 tap- but you need to remove the old tube first and make sure it's a 3mm hole- if it's a 2.5mm hole you'll need to change horses and use the 2.5mm x .25 tap and the correct 6mm tube for that. You can pick up aftermarket tubes from Ofrei.com. I would leave the pushers alone- DW used a bastard size for his pushers- 2.5mm x .20 whereas Rolex and Ofrei pushers are 2.5mm x .25. A change out like this is not for the feint hearted!

Oops, I just noticed the Silix case I linked to doesn't have lugholes- yuck! http://www.silix-prime.es/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=116_205_214&products_id=2134 This one does, but it's something to watch out for. Lugholes are going the way of the dinosaur! Also, you could check someone like Trusty and see what he has.

You can always go the economy route- a Silix watch and then make improvements http://www.silix-prime.es/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=116_205_214&products_id=2103 You'd need a better bezel insert- that pearl is too big and has a metal surround. The bezel might not be correct either. Can't remember if helenarou sells a better dial. A number of people have built nice 6538s and 6536s with the Silix watches- the key is in the mods and aging that you do. And you can always replace the Asian 21j movement for cheap if need be. Or even put a Miyota 8215 in there if you're so inclined. Seems like people have also put a Sternkruz crystal in there- maybe a 306 which may mean 30.6mm.

Beautiful! Congratulations!

http://www.ranfft.de/cgi-bin/bidfun-db.cgi?10&ranfft&0&2uswk&ETA_2836 You can start by looking at Ranfft- check out the 2836, 2836-1 and the 2836-2. I don't know what the differences are, probably small improvements over the years.

Looks like you dropped the first 'one' in the listing number. That is an expensive watch- way over priced! Can't tell if that's a black movement ring in there or what? I consider my DJ frankens to be worth maybe $600-750- with Swiss etas maybe. I built them 12-13 years ago when parts were cheaper and more readily available- cost me around $500 each to build back in the day. They've been trouble free so far but I guess they could be due for a service.

Your ebay number produced no results

Swapping in a better dial in a cartel watch is not for the feint of heart- in other words it would take an experienced expert to do it and would require a mod to the 6 o'clock subdial. Swapping out the bezel might work... But I do think the cartel watches are a good start- see if you enjoy the watch and then decide if you want to spend the $2-3K to build a V72 model. Or just enjoy the cartel watch- no one is ever going to probably notice anyway.

These days to build a 6263 with the Newman dial, I guess you could start with a Rubyswatch.com case http://www.rubyswatch.com/Products/watch-cases/da-6263 I don't know what it would cost but I'm thinking that it's in the $600-1000 usd range. Next you'd need to pick up a V72- that could be expensive- you'd be lucky to pick one up for $1500 these days and then you'd probably have to spend $300-500 to have it serviced. A more correct 726 movement would probably cost even more- it has the higher 21,600 beat rate as opposed the earlier V72 which is 18,000. The V726 is more correct for a 6263 build, but hey, who's counting. Next would be the dial- once again, let's look at Ruby's selection http://www.rubyswatch.com/products/a14-2-|-vintage-|-paul-newman-|-6263-|-print-dial-2625 I don't know what this dial costs, you'd have to check with Ruby. Other sources are Phong, maybe around $400, or Minh Quy- MQvintagewatches. Lastly, you'd need a set of hands- maybe $100-150 from the usual suspects once again. Then you'd need a watchmaker to assemble it all and that could be $300-500 maybe. Back in the old days you could build a V72 6263 for around $2000, but alas, those days are gone!