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You don't think there's at least one potential buyer on RWG? This place is chock full of nuts! Good luck on the build, and keep the pictures coming!

I refer to my Speedmaster as "Reverend Moon", while my Seamaster 300 goes by "Captain Queeg". My 6239 and 6263 are called "Joanne" and "Redford", after Paul Newman's main co-stars. I call my Space-Dweller "Major Tom", while my Explorer with the genuine dial is called "Travis Tritium". Actually, I just made all that up. Who the heck names their watches, anyway?

An excellent combination!

Hold the phone... That's not what I think it is, is it? If so... AWESOME! Blancpain for today:

Something for you...something for my crews

Sorry for not being clearer. I was using DW 6239 and DW 6263 as shorthand for his two basic case types. Aside from the engraved reference number, a 6241 or 6265 are just a bezel swap away. In other words, the accuracy and quality of the DW 6265 are on par with his 6263.

I received my 605 today. Contrary to the information I quoted in the OP, the 605 is very similar -but not identical- to the 589. Unfortunately, it's similar enough that it similarly does not fit on a DW case! I can see more of the 605's hoops through the lugholes than I do of the 589's, but not enough for the springbar pivots to extend. I hate curving springbars, but I think there's a slight chance they could work here.

It honestly doesn't bother me so much, especially since the difference is harder to see on silver dials. But I'm greedy, and I want my V72 Daytona!

Which type did you want? There are good exotics being sold by the Indonesian seller on eBay; better than DW's Newmans. For a standard silver 'ROLEX COSMOGRAPH', Phong carries a nice example. From DW, the only 6239/V72 dials I've seen him carry are standard black, either plain 'RC' or 'RC' with 'DAYTONA' above the bottom subdial. These look OK, though I wish the printing were more distinct.

Have a scaly, Speedy Friday!

Shame about that one. I'd heard nothing but good things about Kirk Rich, but when I saw your subdials... Well, the Big Red you have in the pictures looks good!

A couple of years ago, lanikai sold me an MBK 1016 dial for $50. Mind you, I would have happily (well, less happily) paid $100 for it, since it's better than most Explorer dials selling for $150. I'm not sure if prices have gone up since then, or if Sub dials are supposed to be more expensive, but that's one point of data.

If you're going with the Sea-Gull ST19 -aka "Lemania"- that means you're not going for a DW Daytona. You have to realize that DW's 7750s are the best vintage Daytonas you can buy for less than $1000. Yes, the subdial spacing is off (by <0.5mm), but it is a more accurate rep than what the cartels sell in almost every other way. The asymmetrical pusher layout (i.e. reset pusher is farther from the crown than the start/stop) is the most noticeable feature, but it's not just that. For a 'budget' case, the dimensions of DW's 6239 and 6263 are remarkably close to gen, and they will accept gen parts with little or no modifications required. I suppose you could choose the ST19-based rep if reliability were all-important, but there's no reason why the 7750 can't be made to last. You could have the movement serviced immediately, or you could have have a watchsmith remove the auto-wind gears, as praetor suggested. I have one rep with a modified 7750 (16 months) and one with a stock movement (9 months). Neither has failed yet. Bi-compax means the ST19 has two functional subdials. It has no hour counter at 6, so the one on the cartel rep is a dummy. Please post a picture of your 7 Daytonas! Give everyone a chance to take apart the bad ones!

Fantastic, Pete. Whatever happened to the refinished gen dial you had some time ago?

Didn't know him personally, but I've seen -and been tempted by- so many of his beautiful pieces. RIP.

This one's for Don:

Oh, brother. The guy who originally posted the pictures just responded to the charge that the letter may not be kosher: Emoticons fail me: BAH-HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Don't spend a lot of time on VRF, eh? Most anal place on the Internet, after ***traffic!

The easy tell should be the trapezoid on the bezel. Of course, if he'd bought a rep U1 modded with a gen bezel, that would be a real head-scratcher. Don't really see where the funny part comes in, but diff'rent strokes and all that...

I love J's workbench pics. They're always a sign of good things to come.

Just wait. I asked J to have the caseback read: "To My Darling Jocelyn, On Our 50th Anniversary Love, Melvin OYSTER GAS ESCAPE VALVE PATENT PENDING" APRIL FOOL!

Do let me know if they find some. As I've said before, a lot of guys who buy these 7032s would be a lot happier (and slightly richer) if they'd stick with the 30-minute counters on their 7734s. Personally, I almost never use the chronograph on my 7032, though that may be due to my fear that clicking the pusher will detonate the movement!

Well, I was hoping to post once I'd had the darn part ordered and installed, but J. Borel had me waiting weeks without delivery ("on backorder," they said), while I've been having some trouble with Cousins lately. However, deja contacted me a month ago with the likely solution: If anyone can suggest an alternative source for 8000/3, please tell me! In the meantime, big thanks to deja for unraveling this unsolved mystery. Robert Stack would be proud!

Yep, there's something very "Good sir, please, my Uncle is former Prim Minester Ned Limpopo" about the whole thing!

This may be more applicable to the albino GMTs of Freddy and JoeyB, but there were a bunch of very interesting pictures posted on a recent VRF thread. Here's a couple: