alligoat

Thanks for a great write up/ photo comparison M. The valjoux 234 is a later model of the V23 and the v23 is the little brother of the v72, so they all have the same assymetrical pushers, and many of the same movement parts- heck, they look the same when you open the caseback- 23/234 is bi-compax, 72 is tri-compax.

Mark Greenberg (molarrycu or whatever) on Vintage Rolex Market had a used crystal for $85 recently. It did have a small nick on it. Patience is the key when looking for gen Rolex parts. I recently bought a gen 16660 insert for $125, it was in very good condition, really almost excellent with one tiny scratch on it. Keep an eye on VRM and the other forums selling gen parts.

It's stamped 726 under the balance wheel at the bottom.

Sounds like one of the early reps with the 6 o'clock subdial following the hour hand.

Can you say Natalie from NDTrading Corp? A step above Yuki and like woof says, if you can bargain her down, all the better.

AM tube is an aftermarket tube- it's a copy of the gen tube and fits a Rolex crown. In the old days the crown and tube on noobs were not copies of the gen assembly like they probably are today. The tube installs in a noob case, but it is always a good idea to clean out the hole with a 3.0mm x .35 tap- this is a Rolex tool that you can find at Ofrei or Jules Borel or at a machine parts sales place. The stems from rep movements all fit gen crowns. The asian eta is not the same as the DG2813. the asian eta is the chinese copy of the swiss eta, not quite as good as a swiss eta but better than a DG2813, IMO.

Boy lewis, that's great. You got your watch fixed and now you have a guy who does repair work. That's one of the keys to enjoying this hobby is having someone who will work on your watches. Now you can buy more reps and know you can get them fixed if need be!

Interesting! The more things change, the more they stay the same. The noob is over 5 years old and it's changed and yet some things are still the same. Your crown is too big again, original noobs had big crowns then they got smaller, closer to gen and now it's big again. The crown guards need work still, I've seen better cg's on noobs out of the box. Pearl looks decent, 4 years ago noobs were notorious for the 'zit' pearl. Date font is thin, it used to be thicker. But date mag looks ok, maybe a tad strong. Crown on the clasp is typical noob, could be a little better, but it is what it is. I've heard the new batch of noobs are back to weak lume, it wasn't too bad 5 years ago, but it has never been stand out. SN is M092117- yep that's the 2nd gen noob w/ rehaut engraving Nice pics and enjoy your new watch. With a smaller crown and a little trimming of the inside cg's, it could look pretty good. Here's a whited out pic of my old beat up noob, 4 years ago. trimmed the cg's, installed a gen crown and AM tube WM pearl, note the thicker date font it was a good beater in it's time, and was WR. Now days it's been replaced by a Euromariner

Wore this DJ to the gym today- no sweat Thursday But it won't make it to work, don't know what I'll wear there today. Hey woof, what's a Bermuda 16610? Is that one that was water tested in Bermuda?

I can vouch for Justin. His bezel for my 1016 build which used an old 1601 case worked beautifully. It even passed the WR test at the watchmakers. I would think that LHOOQ could come up with a good set of dimensions. @ Jkay, are you thinking of wholesaleoutlet990? I've seen bezels there for various Rolexes like the 1500 Date, etc.

Like LHOOQ says, even with the J&K crystal, you'll have to sand the inside of the bezel because the crystal is correct, but DW's crystal and bezel are a little too small on the OD of the crystal and the ID of the bezel- chinese engineering. The yuki tube and 703 crown should be fine, but it's always a good idea to run the 3.0mm x .35mm tap thru the case hole before you try to screw in the tube. You also need the case tube wrench for installing the case tube- just another $35 tool, kinda like the tap (unless you can find the tap for less at a machine parts distributor.

Yeh, woof, I knew you were kidding. At least I was right about Katt being in the MSP area..., it's too far for me to go for watch repairs, but I go there for vacation in the summer to get away for this gawd awful Texas heat for a week or so.

Gee, woof, that certainly is nice of you to offer! There's a guy over at RG, named Mendota, (I think he lives under a bridge) and he's in your area. You might check with him. Servicing an eta movement is pretty simple and should run $70-100, possibly a little more if you have to replace parts. You might check out RG and RWI, come to think of it, seems like there's a guy (Katt?) who might be able to help you out. Good luck and if you can't find anyone, let me know. My watchmaker charges $75, but it's always best to find someone in your area, it's quicker and easiest.

Seems like I remember the hybrid starting with a set of TWB end links, the hollow mid linked noob bracelet center sections was then used, but I can't remember where the clasp and divers extension came from. Lume on Clark hands is pretty good. Otherwise, you have to get a set relumed by someone like pbdad or ziggy.

The lugs look pretty fat to me! Don't know if the big crown has a Rolex crown emblem on it or not. You could probably fit a 2846 in there. But Yuki's 6538 dial is 27mm, so it won't fit. So I guess it's a typical rep case- not copied from anything.

You might try turning the crown while pulling on it as you depress the button. Don't press the button too hard- it's so easy to booger up the keyless works on the asian 21j while pulling the stem out. My experience is that they are much more finicky than the etas.

I wish Tudors did something for me, but great work J!

Other than a little bit of sanding/rounding over/polishing on the inside edge of the bottom cg, you've gone as far as you want to go on the cg's. But you need to consider a gen crown (and tube). Here's a gen w/ the 703 crown- notice how it's flatter and wider Once you get a gen crown on there, you can revisit the cg's if need be.

We just went thru the pusher deal on DW cases a month or so ago. The jist of the deal is that the DW pushers vary slightly from the Rolex/Ofrei pushers, so it's not an easy swap. If they're working, you might want to leave them alone. On the crystal, you might need to sand the inside of the bezel to fit over the gen crystal (or any good aftermarket one for that matter). DW's crystals are about .2mm too small in the OD. I fit a gen bracelet on one of my DW cases, no problem, fit beautifully. But mine had 571 end pieces. If you have Daytona end pieces, you should be OK.

Nice job J! That DW looks great! Old guys like me can't tell if they're brushed or not- at least w/o perfect lighting and strong glasses.

Looks good. A smaller crown would definitely help, and it wouldn't hurt to square up the inside edges of those crown guards a little.

I agree with everything preacher says. Although my build was a little different, I used a 1601 case to build an Explorer I, I did use a 2824-2, but I had a stilty ring which I used as a spacer. But everything went together smoothly. I also picked up a NOS 24-600-0 crown which fit the tube perfectly Pie pan dials are tough to come by, but maybe a DJ 16000/16200 dial would fit. Like preacher says, a 2836 might work if you have a pie pan dial- I've never seen it either.

www.cousinsuk.com might not be $16, but it should be reasonable http://www.cousinsuk.com/catalog/12/0/2473.aspx just enter DG2813, and it should come up for 9.95 pounds- which I guess is around $16usd

What I like about the PT1680 is the Swiss 2846-2 movement. If you trim the cg's, and install a gen crown, you have a pretty decent rep. Better yet if you install a gen insert. And you can always get it serviced and then it should be fine for 5 years or so. The Josh 1680 is OK, but you're taking your chances with the asian 21j and the cg's are stubby, but if you trim up the insides of the cg's, you'll get by. I guess you have to look at it from the point of view of how long you're going to wear the watch- a few months, get Josh. A few years, get PT.

Looks good to me Marty. I've got the same ETZ DW which I plan on putting on a 2846 and sticking in my MBW 1680 if I can ever figure out what to do with the red sub dial. ByTor has got me to the point where I can't stand to look at the MBW red sub dial!