Jetsons

To confuse matters, many of the original red dials were replaced by rlx during service to the white letter. This is one of the reasons the red dials are so darn scarce. The superdome should be correct for both. J, congras on the superdome. It' as gorgeous crystal but will knock your socks off when installed on your 1665.

I can only say from experience on the classic Taiwan cased 16610 which has the same case as the MBW. The gen bezel assembly which I have, will not work. I have glued it to the case and looks terrific but you will loose the ability to rotate the bezel. I doubt it will work on the newer CN subs. With regard to the gen insert, depending on which 16610, it needs to be ground to fit the shallow rep bezel, at least on the Taiwan best & MBW. The width of the gen insert is fine. I have a gen installed and it is a very worthwhile upgrade. From what I have read, the dial can be made to fit but the feet will have to be removed and the dial trimmed to fit the case. However, some of the newer CN dials are darn good and a much cheaper alternative to destroying a perfectly good & expensive gen dial. Crown & tube should be no problema. The threads of the case may have to be retapped. BTW, only the vintage sport MBWs (1665 & 1680) will accept OEM parts with minimal modifications. The 1665 seems to even take a gen dial with no problems. Best of luck with the project.

I have about a dozen watches in my collection (excluding the quartz stuff) of which four are reps, excluding the Pam 063 which I gave to the little lady. Only a couple of reps & gens have found new homes over the past couple of years. I'm not much into letting go of my toys. All find their way to wrist at least every couple of weeks (somtimes swap in the evening). Each has a little story to tell as most were difficult to source or find parts for. My gens are all out of production which added to the challenge of finding minty examples plus adds spice to the relatively small collection. Even if there were some that I didn't wear much, I don't think I would part with most of them. I'm on the look out for another rep addition. Not sure which yet but would love to see an accurate matte dial pepsi 1675.

Oliver, what kind of mods did the gen GMT Master insert need? Does it have to be ground paper thin as in the OEM 16610? Would the width be a problem? Yep, the vintage MBW/WM are the only way to go if splurging on OEM parts. It's a thing of beauty when those gen inserst easily snap in place.

Thanks for the compliment, Tribal. Very much appreciated! These two aren't going anywhere. It took a quite a bit of effort & lots of help from friends to get these two guys to look they way they do. DWSmoot, as I mentioned above, the classic Taiwan best case is no longer manufactured. You might contact EL and to see if any can be sourced. There are others that look very good as a platform for mods. The TW 16610 had the side case holes & bracelet drilled to accept 2mm spring bars, case nicely polished and OEM insert installed. There are acouple of additional improvements that I would like to do but all in good time.

Great purchase, Bytor! I was admiring that beauty at TRC. I initially thought about locating an MBW or WM 1680 but decided on a gen vintage Tudor sub instead. I love the watch. I rarely see one on a wrist (as opposed to its famous relative) which is a nice plus, IMO. Looking forward to your traditional detailed review on ths guy. Enjoy! Jet

Fellfell, this is what is called the Taiwan best case 16610 which is deeper than the standard CN plus has the correct cyclops position. From what I hear, this older case is no longer in production. I believe EL offered his last piece for sale recently. By "trusty" I was making reference to a reliable time keeper. Jet

The one I pictured above is the MBW 5514. Very sweet watch with the substantial 1665 case. Darn thing is near quartz accurate. Cheers, Jet

This sucks! I was not aware that dolphins were treated with such cruelty or hunted to this extent. I couldn't watch the entire video either.

Very nice, Tribal! The little deatails sure do add up on this one. I would love to get a hold of this dial and transplant it to my TW 16610. You must be getting close to adding another watch box. Enjoy! Jet

Great watch, Bill! I'm rather fond of mine as well. The 5514 was my first quality vintage watch. I almost fell of my chair when I opened the package. Here is a shot of mine with a Ubinized insert. I recently intalled an OEM vintage insert and it looks superb. It's on my wrist as I type. BTW, did you install an OEM crystal? Looks very, very nice!

Beautiful straps & great diversity, Kruz! It's much easier to change a strap than the entire watch. Cheers, Jet

Many congrats Randy, and well done. A BIG thank you for all the extraordinarily informative posts & all your help! Looking forward to your next 2K! All the best, Jet

I'm with you, Kruzer. I have a terrifc MBW 5514 but the Comex dial is so darn rare, that's a liittle tough to casually pull off. I highly recommend the white letter MBW 1665 dial, with is excellent. Randy, you must have one gigantic spare parts box.

There is no gas in a plasma screens and the picture does not dull. Added: I stand correted. Plasmas do have sealed gas particles in each of the individual tiny pixels. Facts: Do you have to "re-gas" Plasma TV screens? This is one of the most common, and the most wrong myths about Plasma TVs. All plasma screens are completely, permanently sealed when manufactured. Each individual pixel in a plasma panel is sealed, and therefore cannot, and does not ever require any refilling, or recharging. Next time some salesperson tells you about "re-filling" the gas in a plasma TV, ask them how long it takes to manually insert three different types of gas into every single pixel in the screen, and then slap him. Someone told me that Plasma TVs don't have a very long life-span, is this true? If you buy your Plasma screen from a quality brand you will get a TV with a rated lifetime of around 30,000 hours. What this means is if you watch TV for five hours, every single day it will last over 16 years. I'm guessing that you'll be looking to replace your plasma TV long before that happens, and on average most people buy a new home TV every eight years anyway! The lifetime of a plasma TV is measured by something called it's "half life" (this is the industry term for the period of time it takes for the display to appear half as bright as the day it was first used). All different types of TV screens, including LCD lose their brightness over time, but because it's so gradual, it's practically impossible to notice.

It depends on what your primary viewing material will be. If lots of DVDs in a darker room home theater environment, I would suggest the Plasma. Panasonic has excellent models. You can't beat the plasma's way superior 3000:1 contrast ratio compared to LCD's 800:1 to achieve those deep black levels. Make sure the screen is properly calibrated (far from it from the factory) and burn-in is not much of a concern unless viewing lots of programs with constantly running tickers (Fox News, CNBC for example). Plasma screens and long lasting static images do not mix well over the long haul. If you'll be watching programing with lots of tickers or used primarily in bright rooms, the LCD would be your best bet. Quality LCDs provide very vivid colors and are bright but they still lack in the contrast area which is very important to achieve that high level of detail specially in darker scenes. Sub, if you would like to read about the pros and cons of the different screens for days, you gotta visit, http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=40. Home of the flat panel geeks. Happy hunting. Jet

Just a guess but I'd say it's a Bob orange Vertigo seasonal strap. My wife loves orange straps. They do look very cool on her 063.

Might look into some of these, http://www.newyorkmetro.com/urban/guides/n...avel/hotels.htm Also, check the book store for guides on NYC bed & breakfast type places. Hotel room rates have soared in the past few years so you'll have to get off the beaten path. Book well in adavance during this time of the year. Manhattan is jammed packed with tourists during the Holidays. I get a few phone calls myself.

Terrific write up Chris and the dial is totally killer. I'm not sure that it can get much closer to the gen than this. You make it sound like its a relatively simple process. I wouldn't mind practicing on a couple of cheap dials beforehand but this certainly looks feasable for us mere mortals, no small thanks to your detailed instructions. Thank you very much for sharing your techniques. Most excellent of you to do this for us. Cheers, Jet

IMO, you should reconsider seliing this one and sell off others or something else that would be far easier to replace down the road. You have one of the top reps ever made with an excellent The Zigmeister serviced 2893-2 movement & lumed dial. These guys are extinct and would not be easy to replace specially the way yours is optioned. Surely you like this watch otherwise why go through all the trouble and expense to take it to its limit? Just my 2 cents. Best of luck! Jet

This one tomorrow: Saturday: Day: The beast, evening:

Looks fantastic, J! A bit of a change from the standard issue rep crystal. I suspect you'll be starring the dial quite a bit from now on. Is that the newer T-39 with the flatter top? Congrats on a terrific MBW! Jet

Very nicely done, Sub! I'll need to do this to my TW one of these days which is slowly but surely getting there. Great ot hear that your movement was okay. You used a proper sized screw driver to release the stem so no worries.

BRAVO, Rob! That's a beautiful work of art! The Tudor Subs are awesome watches and definitely worth restoring. I'm sure you have one happy customer in your hands! I know I would be. Rlx would have probably swapped out the original dial and hands with whatever left over Tudor parts they had available. They certainly would not go through the trouble of restoring the original military dial & hand. Jet

Haven't worn this beast in a while so decided to take it for a spin today. Fantastic movement & time keeper.