alligoat

Interesting comparison. I can't read much Italian these days, but I see some issues on the Polizia model which are not improvements. 1. The crystal sucks these days and is certainly a step back. It's way too thick and the slope on the outside top edge just creates a wok feel to the case. 2. The bezel looks fatter than the earlier version 3. The bracelet is solid mid links and the crown emblem on the clasp is terrible. My pearl is decent and the crown/tube assembly is a good copy of the gen. But overall, I'm somewhat disappointed with the Polizia model- that crystal just kills the whole watch.

This depends on how easily you can pick up the gen parts at a reasonable price and just how important it really is to you. I just got a SSD v2 which I'm converting into a 16660 matte dial SD and the rep crown and tube are really pretty good- just like the BK crown and tube- so I'm not swapping out at this point. If i decided to in the future, I would pick up a used 24-703 crown for around $50 and an aftermarket tube for around $20 and install them myself. Installation labor is really only worth $25 as far as I'm concerned. I tap the case hole and then install the tube with the tube wrench and some loc-tite ($80 worth of tools). Crown is simply a matter of unscrewing the old crown from the stem and screwing on the new one. Crystals are a little more hard to come by and run $125-250. Installing them is another $25 deal. Maybe the clarity of the Rolex 25-295-C-1 is better than the WM9/BK crystal, but I doubt it's much. I have a gen sub and the crystal looks the same as my rep crystals, but the laser etched crown is just about impossible to see w/o a loupe.

Clark hands worked fine on both of my frankenjusts

Most frequent would be either the Datejust or the Day-Date. Wasn't expecting to see.... maybe a vintage Daytona

freddy333 comes to mind- I know he put a 1570 movt in his MBW case, also drilled and installed a working HE valve. Might of had to mod the case around the 9 o'clock side to get things to fit- a little dremel work.

Did you order the Datejust hands for Tudor? If you order the DJ hands for Rolex, you will get the wrong ones since Rolex hand sizes don't fit an eta. Also, Clark's doesn't sell DJ hands for the asian 21j.

I was pretty impressed with the job PBdad did reluming my aftermarket (Yuki) 16660 matte SD dial- it was flawless Sorry about the crappy iPhone pic...

Looking good! I have a replacement dial on my 16800, c. 1998 and it still glows like a torch. Turns out Rolex took some of the last tritium dials and lumed them with luminova- dial still says 'Swiss- T<25'. Made me think you could have pbdad relume your dial and hands and then it would all glow! Crappy pic, but trust me! It still glows.

The pics are over at Repgeek! Look in the GTG section

I'm liking the bracelet mod and the cg's look good for a Josh case. Great work.

Nice set of watches. The Tiffany and Cartier signatures add to the value. The Explorer II is an early 16570, early 90's. a regular EXP II from that time would be worth around $4K, so maybe this ones $5K-6K. I'm thinking the GMT is a 16750 matte dial, but it could be a 1675. With the all blue bezel and Cartier signature, maybe $5000-7500 The sub looks like a 16610, but it could be a 16800. Price, maybe $5K-6K. They all appear to be in good shape, if they're pristine, that adds to the value. The GMT strikes me as the most valuable of the 3.

The clasp is easy, just unscrew the last screw on each end and remove the clasp from the bracelet and put it on the other bracelet- it either works or it doesn't. i've swapped a couple of gen clasps into MBW 93150 bracelets. The SEL's are a different matter, you've got to split them open w/ a knife from the back side and likewise pop open the last link. I've never done it, but Ubi did a very vague somewhat tutorial on it. Once the stuffs all apart, you just realign it all and press it back together. Like I say, i've never actually done it!

Yep, highoey is right, this Yuki bracelet is neither a 93150 or a 93250- it's a cross between the two. I still think the noob is the best place to go for a hollow mid link bracelet, swap out the clasp and the SEL's and you're good to go.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ROLEX-VINTAGE-EXPLORER-II-16550-CREAM-1986-/200652673303?pt=Wristwatches&hash=item2eb7d4d117 Well indy, what I always do is run thru ebay and see what they say. Alas, there's only one watch and it's from Robert Maron out in LA and it's listed at $10,500. It has a jubilee bracelet which is kind of a funky swap. Should be a 93150 or a 78360. So maybe $7500 is a fair place to start unless you want to start lower.

The dial looks fine to me. Swiss just means c. 1999-2000, luminova, as opposed to the current Swiss Made dials w/ SL. Nice write up sneed! I like the idea of trimming the rehaut some. What I've noticed and don't like is the slope on the outside edge of the crystal on my SSD- V2. The crystal sits pretty high and the slope messes up the rehaut also, from the outside.

Some of the chinese vintage reps actually have gen like bezel construction features and this Silix one may be one. I got a couple of reps from Paul 5 years ago, the DRSD and the 5513 and they both had the gen like bezel/ crystal retention ring assemblies like the gens I even put a nice aftermarket dial in the 5513 and it's WR. Couldn't fit a gen/aftermarket crystal in there, but the rep crystal was ok. I was able to fit a nice acrylic pearl in the bezel insert And both the 1665 and the 5513 cost $139 back in the days and came with Swiss etas and free shipping! So you might just get lucky with the Silix 5512. And it doesn't look bad anyway.

Saw it on VRF this morning, quite the GTG!

LOL, The one thing ByTor taught me was just how bad the MBW red sub dial really was. The MBW white dial is fine, but to the trained eye, the red dial is terrrible. Add to that the fact the MBW case is really a 5513 case and won't take a decent gen or aftermarket 1680 dial w/o serious mods, building a decent red sub w/ an MBW case becomes a challenge. MBW sub dial- 26.2mm Gen/good aftermarket 1680 dial- 26.5mm MBW case takes the 26.2mm dial but not the 26.5mm dial Do you shave a decent dial down .3mm or enlarge the case to take a 26.5mm dial? And I love the old original MBW 1680 SN- L341,xxx. Granted the 5513 was produced until the L serial #, circa 1989 or so, but the 1680 sub was only built til c.1980 and 6 mill SN. So, if you're going to buy an MBW 1680 sub, better get a white dial! And you'll still spend $300-400 modding it, but at that point you'll have a very nice rep.

Ironically, that spring-clip washer is the same as what's on the noobmariner bezel assembly.

Nice job JB! So when people ask who has the correct Rolex DW overlay for a vintage 1680/1665, we can say JMB!

Looking good DB! That was a quick build, or maybe it just seemed to all come together quickly. BTW, that Yuki is kinda mislabeled. It has the separate end pieces, so it's really not a 93250 which has the SEL's (solid end links) which are permanently attached to the bracelet. So it's fine for your watch for now.

I don't think jsizzie realizes that this is the 'new' Submariner, the 116610, not the old 16610. Here's a pic of a gen w/ fat lugs and chunky cg's. Trevor's isn't that bad, IMO. Same fat lugs and chunky cg's!

Get the watch and then decide. I'm with kbh, these watches are so new, there are no aftermarket parts available and really you might as well just enjoy it.. Check out what BK does, I believe he does some mods to the new ceramic subs.

Go for it! Price is fair, it's got the asian eta and blue lume, it's as good a starting place as any.

With a bezel ID of 30.5, a T-21 should fit. Check Cousinsuk, they may not have their own T-21, but maybe they carry a Sternkruz. Cousinuk show the ID/OD of the crystals which is a big help.