kikom3

Yes luck and A LOT of patience

Great twins.

The hardest part is always getting the correct case.

Even by paying $$$$$$ for the J&W case, it still does have the pusher angle symmetry machined correctly. Best ti to get the gen. case. It is not only money that counts but always depends much on the luck and chance of acquiring one.

amazing couple!!! how much is for 1 project like yours?

It depends where you get parts. All my parts are used with the exception of the crystals, bezels and crown.

All said and done, less than 4k/pc with the Zig assembly and movement service.

Movements, Cases, casebacks, clasps/bracelets and pushers were bought over the span of 2 years.

Now I think about it, it was even longer.

Most of the parts came from different ebay sites :

Case 1 + pushers - IT

Movement 1 - IT

Caseback 1 - USA

Bracelet 1 78390+503B - DE

Case 2 - USA

Pushers 2 - USA

Movement 2 (broken) - IT

Movement 3 - Israel

Caseback 2 - IT

Clasp 2 - co.uk

Bracelet 2 - None yet - looking but will use a noob 78790A for now and polish the centers

Well it's been a long time coming since I started this project.

About a year ago, after two years of saving and collecting parts, I had everything needed

for two 16520s.

Off they went to our favorite - the Zigmeister. As luck would have it, one of the movements

was useless having irrepairable damage so Zig could only complete one. I opted for the black first and

the white with all the parts stayed with Zig until I could save up and find another movement.

It's now almost a year and finally, I was able to buy and send another movement to be put in.

Christmas arrived early and they're now reunited, what was once just a collection of parts, now

two whole perfect 16520 daytonas.

To Rob and Jennifer, thank you so much. I don't know how you guys do it, you are wonderful!

Sorry cam phone pics:

WM9's planned daytona though plans to use a 7753? which is still thicker meaning thicker caseback.

Franken still the way to go. Mine assembled and overhauled by The Zigmeister :

YES FINALLY !! I called Verizon and after being transferred to "HIGHER LEVEL TECH SUPPORT" 4 times, I can finally access RWG ! Can other Verizon FIOS/DSL guys confirm ?

where are you all from ? it's been several days and I can't access it - have fios nj usa...... I'm using a web proxy just to get in

Too expensive IMO. I had mine done at a stall in the mall. The font is pretty basic.

Just look for stalls in your local mall that engraves lighters, pens, etc. and

check out their font selections.

16520 franken

Thanks for the info.

Guess the case is from J&W, Phong?

nope... MBW case kit... I bought it used from ebay awhile back

Congrat kikom. Fantastic piece of art.

Just a side question, do you need to trim the inner rim of the gen. bezel to fit onto the case kit?

Still, a super watch, wish I have the money to build one.

nope fit perfect

Here are more pics as promised.

Sorry for the late replies, been out enjoying my watch

Thanks a lot for the compliments !! My photography skills are very mediocre but will try take some better ones for sure !

Really is a work of art !

More pics :

*edited to add pics*

First I would like to thank Rob and Jennifer ! They are simply outstanding !!

I was literally speechless when I got it in this morning and have been wearing it since.

They both are first class and I really can't thank them enough!

Details:

16520 Case kit with gen pushers and crown

Clarks Sapphire Crystal 25- 295

Zenith El Primero movement 31J - Serviced by Rob - keeping perfect time =)

Gen 78390 + 503b Endlinks - Restored to new by Zig =)

Gen 16520/116520 handsets modified by Zig (a lot of work I might add)

Gen 16520 Black Dial

Gen Bezel

Again thanks to Rob and Jennifer ! Hats off to both of you !

kiko

I am waiting for the hand to arrive.

By pure coincidence I met a guy yesterday who is a close friend with a rolex dealer/ service owner.

He said he could help with gen parts - if the hand that is on the way won;t work I will think about something then.

I wonder if it 16520 set of hands is worth getting and if I can be sure the tube would be longer indeed.

I cannot be sure if my set was 116520 or 16520....

Yes, the 16520 seconds chrono tube is indeed longer. The Zigmeister does wonders =). Expecting mine back soon. Ubi also confirmed it is longer.

How about big sec hand?

looks like the same deal... too big sigh.... hope the experts can chime in

looks like the a7750 hands won't work.....2.0mm and 1.5mm vs. 1.50mm and 1.00mm for the hour and minute.

not sure if this is the same for eta/val

I wonder if the A7750 daytona hands would fit. I was told the tubes are smaller but couldn't get a definite size

Flex I have used gen hands too.

It turns out gen hands may not the best option for Franken-16520.

Agreed. I have three sets of hands, 1 is NOS, 2 is used but all gen.

From what I understand form his message, all three subdial hands would work.

Hour, minute are too big and cannot be squeezed down by that much and running chrono hand (second), the tube is too short.

I read before you replaced some parts with 4030 parts, can you tell me the part #s and parts ? If I can find the parts,

I will try to go this route.

Looks like I have a problem with the second, hour and minute hands. I bought my hands used and maybe is the reason for the problem on mine. Also have another set of hands but not sure how to measure accurately.

Here is The Zigmeister's email to me :

I can modify subdial and center seconds hands to fit as long as they are within a few mm, your subdial hands are within .2mm of the required sizes and I could modify your subdial hands to fit this movement. Both center seconds hands are not usable, they are both damaged, have epoxy in the tube as well as on the outside of the tube, and both tubes are too short and can't reach the center seconds post. It is impossible to make the seconds hand work, I have had this problem in the past, I need a correct size hand with a longer tube to reach the post that the hand attaches to. I think this is one of the bigger differences between the rollie elprimero and the zenith ones.

For the hour and minute hands, I can make slight (1-2 mm) adjustments to them to make them fit, either larger or smaller.

The size of the posts on the movemenet is H 1.50mm, M 1.00mm, the hands you have provided are 1.60mm and 1.15mm in diameter, I can't shrink hands down by this much, this is a huge difference and there is no way for me to take out .10 and .15mm in diameter. The hour and mintue hands need to be almost the exact size to be able to install them. Other El Primero's I have built were provided with hour and minute hands that fit fine, or only needed 1mm of adjustment.

I think I will try to get this generic set of hands from ebay:

Maybe the sec hand will fit better?

Are the tubes smaller on these? If it's a replacement, the tubes may still be too big...

Oh please keep us updated.

I remember The Zigmeister said he assembled a number of these already - so he should be familiar with this problem.

Yeah I read an old post where The Zigmeister said that it's an easy job but his last email said he was not sure what the fix was and to

ask where to source hands that fit. I searched and searched but could not find anyone who bought different hands. Ubi and

everyone else made the tubes smaller by squeezing them. Hope he can do it.

sorry to hear about your troubles. Mine is with The Zigmeister right now and he just emailed me about the hands being to big. Hope he can make it work.

You're welcome. Happy Holidays!

Looking good there. Been following your progress and this has been a long time coming. Congrats!

What are the other Rolex parts? Minute wheel?