alligoat

Darn Chi, now it's a work of art- those vintage gold hands are bee-u-tee-full! Congrats!

Welcome aboard. I'd think the best order of business is to spend maybe a week reading around here and then maybe decide on one watch to build and focus on that one build. You appear to be way too excited and scattered to build a rolexomegabreitling right now, if it can even be done.

If it has a pie pan dial it's a 1601 DJ (1603) and if the dial is flat it would be a 16030/3035 quickset.

With a 3035 movement, I'd think it would be fairly easy to build a matte dial 16800. I'd use my Euromariner case with lugholes, but you could also drill lugholes in a WM9 case, or a TW Best case. These all have gen-like bezel assemblies which are nice. 4-5 years ago I built a 16800 w/ a noobmariner case- it's been a great WR beater, but alas, the 2834-2 eta needs to be serviced. Noobmariner on the right

I think so and also Explorer I

Watch ebay like a hawk and be patient

Good looking watch, Chi, I like it! I like the way you used a 6538 dial in there. Did you consider using a gilt set of hands at all on this build?

Snap-On #55 works pretty well- PN- DBCE55A.

I don't know, if you find a movement for $1500 and an old tritium dial for under $500, you're in for $3600 which ain't bad.

I'd figure $500-600 on the BK WM9 V2 I don't really know on the BK Transformer, but if you add up the total of what you've got, maybe you can get 75-90% of what you've got in it. Just my thoughts

This bears repeating. Stem alignment on the 2836 and 3035 are similar. Also, alignment on the 3135 and the 2824 are similar. I once saw a noobmariner sub that had been fitted with a gen 3035 movt.

I agree with stilty on this. The key difference between the 16800 and 168000 cases and the 16610 case is the depth of the rehaut. The 16610 has a greater rehaut depth. The supposed expert misspoke in that the big similarity between the 168000 and the 16610 case is that the same type of steel is used in the case. They all use the same bezel assembly and crystal, insert and crown and tube.

I'm not following what you mean. On one of my DW's, I removed the movement and then took a small screwdriver and tightened the pusher up from the inside- that brought the cap on the outside down on the post (base) tighter. Or are you going to have to order another pusher from DW? LHOOQ might have mentioned they are $25 each.

You guys need to quit taking your stupid pills for a few days and see if that helps. Justin has already explained it. The SSD in no way copies anything Rolex makes, so forget about 25-286 or 25-295 Rolex crystals. They won't fit an SSD! JMB came up with the MG25-295 from Borel and it fits fine in the SSD. I pressed mine in using the original SSD gasket. It's not as tall as the SSD V2 crystal and has no laser etched crown. It also has straighter sides like the gen. If you don't like mineral glass, that's your problem and you're SOL- put on your big girl panties and get over it!

I agree with DT- a better pearl and trim the inside of those CG's- then you'll have a pristine gilt 5513. Nice job so far

My Josh 1655 is 3838448 at 6 o'clock w/ Stainless Steel and Registered Design 1655 at 12.

The 1570 replaced the 1560 around 1965 and the 1665 debuted around 1967+, so the 1570 (1575) is the only technically correct movement for either a 1665 or a 1680.

My wholesaleoutlet 1675 is 35.0mm ID, which may be the same as the 6542 since they both take a T-116.

I've never seen one. I think they existed maybe 8-10 years ago, but rep mfrs change with the times, kinda like lugholes- they're gone. And gen Tritium dials don't usually fit in the CN Sub cases- too small. A noobmariner will take a gen dial- like a 16800 matte in my noobmariner w/ lugholes- the watch on the right Used to be you could pick up a gen tritium dial for around $100, now days it's probably $200.

I'm with woof on this. I'm happy with my PT 1665. Gen crown, aftermarket tube, jmb crystal retention ring, G&S T-39 high dome crystal, MBW great white dial, trim the CG's and it's WR to boot. The early 93150s w/ the 580 end pieces are OK also if you don't look too closely at the crown emblem on the clasp. The 2846 with the silver DW is working well. I've got around $400 in mine and think it's a good value. The only upgrade that I've had in mind is to get a PBdad relume of the dial and hands.

I was thinking more along the lines of what LHOOQ said, where it was a color change brought on by the deterioration of the paint in the earlier dials. Kind of like the early Sub dials that changed from black to chocolate like the early 1680 red subs.

Nope, completely different, at least on the 1570 movts- they begin w/ a D. Are there even SNs on the 3035 and 3135? Don't recall seeing any.

Actually there's no difference between the 16800, 168000 and 16610 dials- they are all interchangable. First it was the matte dial until around 1984, then the white gold surrounds came out, still with Swiss- T<25 (tritium) and the flat S may be the 168000, but it was also seen on 16610's and even some of the later 2003-4's had the flat S with the Swiss Made at the bottom of the dial. Here's a 168000 with the regular dial SN- R2xx,xxx

Oh, just quit your day job Chi! Great job, I can see a run on those Zodiac GMT movements already starting to happen. What about the DG3804, have you dona anything with those?

Certainly it's just a V72 with a Rolex chronograph bridge added. But it's a V72C which means it the triple date and it's missing those parts on the dial side. Might be best to stay away unless you're willing to take a chance.