alligoat

I agree about holding off. Maybe you can find something in the $4K range. Vintage Rolex Market, Rolex Forum and Timezone are good places to look.

What you need is a Datejust 1600/1601 case. I picked up a used one on ebay and built a budget 1016. The case cost $130, jmb built a bezel for $45 plus shipping, LHOOQ sold me one of his hand me down dials- a nice relumed Yuki dial from back in the days when Yuki had nice Explorer dials- and I picked up a gen 24-600 crown. I used a 2824-2, a stilty spacer ring and a set of Clark hands. I spent a little over $400 not counting the 2824-2 which I had lying around. Sorry about the crappy pic. The key to picking up a 1600 DJ case is patience! You just have to keep looking

I tried to edit my post, the 702 crown and 703 crown are NOT interchangeable, but the forum software wouldn't let me do it for some reason.Each has it's own separate tube and they aren't compatible.

You'd also need a 7020 tube since the 703 and 702 are interchangable. For that reason. I'd just stick with the 703 assembly. And you can just put a gen 703 on the rep tube on the PT SD.

Check out raffles-time on ebay. He's in Hong Kong and has a movement spacer- I think it's a #2, that will do what you need. Fits in the Rolex case and holds the movement in place- 2836-2 is correct for the 16030 case.

There's really not much to glueing the insert to the bezel- some G-S Hypo-cement or maybe a few drops of epoxy. Glue the insert onto the bezel and after it dries, you can press it onto the watch. Sounds like you're missing the friction washer- the flat little washer that goes in there in between the crystal retention ring and the bezel. People bend it slightly to create more friction. This is all assuming you have a copy of the gen bezel construction like on MBWs or Josh's vintage subs. If you have the chinese bezel assembly with the 8 sided paper clip in the bezel, you can play around with that to make it tighter. Sometimes it helps if you have a crystal press for installing inserts and bezels. Don't know of anyone doing this stuff in the UK, but there are modders in the EU that could help you.

Hm, I thought they were interchangeable also, but when I checked dimensions, I found: 2813- 25.6mm x 5.45 H 2836-2- 25.6mm x 5.05mm H This info was found on Jules Borel's website. So it looks like the .4mm of extra height is screwing you up. Maybe you could swap in a taller caseback to give you more clearance.

I'd put a gasket in there, screw on a stem and install it. It looks good to me. With a gasket it might not screw down as tightly, but that's how it's designed.

Here's a gen to compare with- from 2007 I agree with highoey that your 'L' in Rolex is a tad too far to the left. But the problem with Rolex is things are always changing. I looked thru ebay and found another far left dial, LOL, this one is five ticks on the Swiss Made, whereas yours is three- but we all know that doesn't matter.

The first fliplock bracelet- the 9315 came out in the early 70s. The 93150 came out in 1976- clasp code VA. Prior to the 70s, a 7206 would be a correct option or a jubilee possibly. 5513s ran from the early 60s til around 1989- SN Lxxx,xxx. 1680s ran from around 1969 til 1980. But lots of earlier watches have been fitted with later bracelets, typically the 93150

I like your m.o. for gluing the dial feet and I agree with freddy about sanding/roughing up the surfaces. Thanks for sharing, it looks like a good way to do it.

The first one looks like a M092117 noobmariner, and the second one might be a Wm9 v2.5 or somewhere between a 2 and a 3. The crown guards on the second are a tad overshaved- too much gap in one of the pics. The dial looks like the WM9- maybe a little bit of puffiness on the lumed markers.

I checked Ingod44 and he has no dials for sale at this time. He comes and goes w/ dials for sale. Yuki has a decent gilt dial that would fit and the price is fair http://www.yukiwatch.com/catalog/item/6380817/7445432.htm He also has a later dial with white lettering, and it doesn't look too bad, but Yuki's quality varies, so you might not get what is pictured. NDT is more expensive, but more consistent in quality typically. You're looking at cutting/removing the dial feet. A 2824-2 would fit in this case and with a spacer ring and a set of hands (eta), you'd be close. Crown would be either a 6mm or a 5.3mm. LHOOQ knows more about the 16200 build, I've only done the 1601 Explorer. But he's crossing the Canadian Rockies so he may be out for a while, or maybe he'll check in, who knows...

Which movement are we talking about? 1575 GMT A21j GMT 2836-2 GMT

Most people around here who are serious about the Datejust opt for the 36mm one since gen cases and dials are readily available and you can build a nice franken for a reasonable price. The DJ II is newer so gen parts are rare and that basically leaves you buying a rep. But beyond that, you're just going to have to jump in. I wouldn't worry about the tells as much as just trying to buy a decent one that you like which will hopefully give you good service. Good luck.

Get a noobmariner bracelet and use the hollow mid links. Throw the clasp and SELs away.

I've got one of those jmb bezels and they sure are great. I wouldn't have been able to build my 1016 w/o it! 1601 DJ case, 2824-2 motor, 24-600 crown and a relumed Yuki dial courtesty of LHOOQ- one of his hand me downs! Watch is WR to boot. I love the understatement. Thanks again JB!

Nice job JB! These blue subs are somewhat custom like this one at Time and Gems- it's a 16800 with a refinished dial http://www.timeandgems.com/Rolex-Mens-Stainless-Steel-Submariner-Blue-Dial-_p_294.html I've also seen pics of the 1680 blue, like someone else mentioned, for the Japanese market.

I have put a couple of aftermarket case tubes in noobs w/ gen crowns. I used a rat tail file to remove the old tube, tapped the hole and counterbored it slightly. These were the old F520117 cases. The newer M092117 case may have the better copy tube and crown, at which point all you would need to do is swap the crown. My noob SSD (Z539117) has the better copy tube and crown and today when I was doing something else w/ the case, I checked a gen crown and it screwed right on there.

I don't know of any way to get a good replica crown, so that leaves buying a used gen crown as your best bet and then hoping that it fits on the replica case tube, which now days there's a fairly good chance that it will. Jewelerstools on the bay has them, maybe around $50, or maybe you offer him less. Don't know about freight to your locale. Also, check out yukiwatch.com and see if they have anything. Trimming up the crown guards a little might make your crown look better. The crown and tube that came on my noob SSD are so good that I haven't even changed them out. We've gotten to the point nowdays where the crown and tube are decent copies of the gen.

I do kmow that this is a 'frog' dial. The Crown emblem above ROLEX resembles a frog's foot. Those were the early dials and the straight seconds hand is also early. Bezel looks fine, but looks different from this EXPII at Robert Maron. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROLEX-VINTAGE-EXPLORER-II-1655-STEVE-MCQUEEN-/200646840027?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item2eb77bcedb But there are like 4 versions of the bezel on these 1655s. Fixing the GMT hand hopefully is just a matter of repressing it on it's post. But that hand sure is orange. After 40 years it should have faded, is it a replacement?

It's pretty much a matter of test fitting it as you sand away- just don't go too fast. Are you using a crystal press?

Looks like a plain old cartel 1680 to me. CG's could use a trim for sure! But it has a decent pearl, so that's a plus.

Yep, DB, your ring is too tight. 30.27mm would be about right on a 30.30 mm crystal. Like Ronon says, you can sand down the inside w/ a dremel or by hand w/ some 200-400 grit sandpaper. The 30.3mm on your crystal is what Cousinsuk shows for their T-127.

On my PT 1665, jmb turned a crystal retention ring out of SS for me. That solved the problem of the PT retention ring, got rid of the flukey nylon gasket and the bezel snapped down right over the retention ring. The whole thing turned out to be WR and is basically a copy of the gen assembly at this point. The flat little tension washer is in there also.