alligoat

I've always enjoyed the 6542 Pan Am watches, especially Freddy and Joey's efforts. But I also have an old picture of a 6542 that's certainly questionable When you look at it a couple of things might catch your eye- one is the black bezel insert, these didn't come out until 1965 or so. Secondly, the GMT hand is large- these also came out around the same time as the black insert. Amyway, I was between building a 1675 and a 6542 until I saw Ingod's white 1675 dial and that's when I decided on a white 1675 The formula is pretty simple thanks to RA and his work on building the 1675 out of josh's 1655. Josh 1655- filed down the case and drilled the lugholes the hands and the small GMT came from Raffles-time and dial was from Ingod movement is the dg3804 Bezel assembly is from Clark's amd another bezel and insert came from WSO Oh, clark's 116 crystal, Assembly was pretty simple- remove the Explorer dial and hands, glue the spacer ring from the underside of the dial to the movement and then glue the 1675 dial to the spacer ring. After that you set tha hands and away you go I put it on an old rivet bracelet- the kind that Freddy hates- and it gives a nice contrast between the ss of the bracelet and the case and the black bezel insert and the white dial. This wasn't a very expensive build and I could do more, but I left the cgs for later, kept the rep crown and tube since they work fine. Datewheel is modern, but I don't care. I was looking at Raffles-time's site today and noticed the small gmt hand is $49.95 now- I could swear I spent $25 when they first came out! I noticed that the hands look a little more yellow than the dial lume plots- luckily it's not that noticeable to the naked eye in person! Sure hope the dg3804 holds up, because I like the watch. Oh, then there's my big crown GNT from a few years back Shaved the cgs off an old sub case, and installed a flat- no cyclops crystal. But I'm liking the 1675 Pan Am better, even if it is a fantasy!

It could be the rep caseback or the 29.5mm wrench that you have, either one or both could be the culprit. Have you tried the caseback opener on another watch? I bought the cheapo set of dies early on. Finally passed them on to my nephew and got a set of Bergeon- well worth the investment. Every so often you run into a bogus caseback, but usually you can get it off with a little persistence.

Well E, if you need a new bezel assembly, it's always the old standbys- Clark's and WSO. I've come to the conclusion that none of them fit off the bat- takes time and patience to file them into shape. On my 1675 build I used a combo of the Clark's and WSO- got it on w/o the flat friction washer and it still won't turn worth a darn. Some day I'll work on it some more. On both my Euromariner and ST3035/16800 build I spent untold hours filing and sanding to get those bezels working right. You just have to be committed to going slow. Nice tutorial on coloring the hands Joey. I just use a simple topcoat method- removing lume isn't something I've tried yet. E, if you find a decent 9315 rep bracelet, let me know.

I agree with woof on this. When I did my SSDv2, I actually left the insert in there. I had a gen insert and the rep insert was so good, especially after PBdad relumed it, that I left it in.

Mix up some yellow acrylic paint to match the lume on the hands with the dial and go to town! I just did it on my Pan Am 1675 and it's pretty close. You can get that paint at any hobby store- like Michaels or Hobby Lobby Trim those cgs, they're way too fat! Is that ST pearl small enough that you could pop it out and put a yuki/ofrei one in there! Dieselpower may have a better insert- check w/him.

Have you checked lately? Maybe it's bogged down in Customs with the Christmas rush of packages

Here's a quick pic of my Pan Am 1675- bet you never knew that they existed!

For comparison- PT's movement shot

Here's a pic of a gen- yes the balance is different, balance bridge is different, but that may not be a big deal- just looks different Angus doesn't really say anywhere that this is the new improved V2

It would be interesting to see some more gen cases- I think the replacement case has thicker lugs than the older original cases.

Here's a quick pic of my gen 1680 from 1978- it's been polished, I don't consider it overly, but polished nonetheless omgiv, the big thing I see is that you need to polish the tops of the cgs over back into the case rehaut looks fine- my 1680 has a somewhat shallow rehaut

Yeh, a TC bracelet is all wrong for a 1680. Stick with the 93150 w/ 580 ends or a 9315 if you run across one at a decent price. Since it's going to RA, hopefully he'll put a good pearl in the bezel insert and do his other magic. Good luck!

Phelps, which case are you using for the 1655 build? Also, which movment?. Also, The rafflestime #2 ring may need to be filed down to fit

Keep looking! When you remove those pearls, I'm betting the hole is too big for the Yuki pearl.

Looks good. Now you need to take the dial and movement out of the case and tone down the lume some- maybe some tea to stain it or something else.

Since that dial is marked 'Swiss', I would assume that it is a service replacement dial with luminova. The earlier dials with wg surrounds would have run from 1984 til around 1990 when production stopped on the 5513 and it was replaced by the 14060. Those dials would have been labeled 'Swiss- T<25" and used tritium for the lume material. A set of luminova hands or even the current superluminova hands would work well with that dial. The luminova should stll glow well- it dates from around 1999.

That is a great looking red sub! I'd love to know which cartel case and red dial JJ used on that build. The only two improvements that I can think of are a 702 crown and tube and a 9315 bracelet, but those are probably not really necessary- it's already a great watch. Kudos to JJ.

Get them from Clark's Watch Supply on ebay- nostalgia_2000 maybe, $15 for a set and the lume is decent.

Yuki has the clone 3135 movement for $230, but currently not in stock. It might be worth a try when it comes into stock. Or you could go with a Puretime SA3135 but you might have to buy a watch to get the movement or contact Angus or Nikki and see if they'll sell you just a movement. With a clone movt, you wouldn't have to cut dial feet!

I've never heard of the Sea Dweller Octopus. Maybe you could explain where it comes from. The watch looks nice, but I'm not sure about the end links on the bracelet- here's a gen to compare with And another pic of the same gen No wokky rehaut on the gen either! Certainly that was always the biggest drawback to the SSD-V2- the wokky rehaut

I've never seen a rep dial of the 15200 DATE. I've never seen a rep Date watch unless it was on a scam/questionable site. The spacer ring is the #2 ring from Raffles-time on ebay. Hands would come from Clark's also on the bay To build thiis watch, I would figure you're going to have to use a gen dial- once again, ebay is your best shot.

raffles-time on ebay. If your sticking with the true 1655 hands, I could probably take mine off of my dg movement and sent them to you- someday I'll build a 1675 out of my 1655. Just haven't done it yet- I'm slow!

I likewise dealt with BigRedJoe and can't complain. He did a Red Sub for me- cgs, his smaller rep crown (from Dallas Jewelry and Watch?), installed a gen crystal that I sent him and evened up the vintage lume. He got the sub from Watchmaster and it's a MBW. I've since then put a gen insert on the watch, gen 93150 with 580 ends and drilled the lugholes. Now if I could just figure out what to do with that darn red sub dial! By-Tor has taught me to hate the MBW red sub dial. I've got a MBW white sub dial and might put that on with the Eurotimez DWO on a 2846-2 movement- another to-it project! I've also got a gen white 1680 and realize now that I prefer the 16800's because of the sapphire crystal. It's on the left in this pic- the crystal got beat to heck at the gun club on a concrete bench- ouch!

If you're on a budget, you are probably out of luck. The last decent TT 16613 was the WM9 that BK had and my guess is that it ran in the $750 range. If BK were to put one together for you now using the TW Best case, you can be sure it would cost at least that much, and probably more. Biggest flaw on the bracelet is getting the gold to return on the sides of the center links of the SELs- all too often it doesn't and that's a big tell. You could try Narikaa over at repgeek and see if he could source an MBW for you if those are still available. But remember, the rep market isn't static- new models have been introduced and the old ones are no longer made- that's probably what's happened to the 16613- it's old fashion!

The wholesaleoutlet 5513 bezel insert with the better pearl is another option- don't know but it looks like the shipping to EU could be included http://www.ebay.com/itm/BEZEL-INSERT-FOR-VINTAGE-ROLEX-SUBMARINER-1680-5513-ARCYLIC-PEARL-12-/310426361963?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4846da606b