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Thanks, guys! I appreciate the cultural significance and the rarity of the exotics, but on pure aesthetics I find the standard dials hugely appealing. And if anyone is worried about pulling off what looks to be ~$20-30,000 watch, don't be. These wear fairly anonymously on the wrist (an $80 SOSF will get more attention), though that doesn't make them any less gorgeous. Now I just wish I had a black panda as nice as the one on Freddy's Honpo!

Since we've established that this isn't a purely 6263 thread...

How many things are wrong with this Broad Arrow? Blurry as they are, the pictures contain conclusive proof. The description is the icing on the cake... OF LIES.

Love that dial, J, and it looks great paired with rivets.

I think I like it better on metal, but Seamaster 300 for a sunny Sunday:

And if you wanted to save a few bucks, there was always this option: Lower prices for tool watches? What ever happened to that?

$210 was also the advertised price for a Rolex Daytona in the mid-60s, so keep that in mind if you want your time travel to be more cost efficient!

Gen Speedy on hollow links:

I guess we can now all forgive ChiMan for once thinking the Puretime 1655 was more accurate than the one from Josh! Your eyes have been redeemed, C!

Thanks, all, for the kind words, and for the vast pool of knowledge that has accumulated here in RWG-Rolex. In particular, stilty's old 1016 franken was a huge inspiration to me, and made me realize that reps weren't strictly a "take it or leave it" proposition. Between these two Explorers, the SM300, and the 6239, it's been a VERY busy couple of months for me, watch-wise. Stressful? Not really, though these projects can lead to sleepless nights due to giddy anticipation! While it's nice to wrap up all pending projects, I do get that uneasy sense of, "What the hell am I supposed to do now?" There are still large, Submariner-sized holes in my collection, so maybe I should do some more reading toward that end. J: I told you I'd get those lughole and bezel beauty shots! They're all terrific, but the finish on this bezel is a touch better than the one on the Space-Dweller. Quoth the raven: 'What a shine!' C/Andy/Sly: Looking forward to seeing what you all have in store with your 1016s! And if any of you have a spare service dial lying around... Red: I saw that listing come up last month. Hell of a price for a refinished dial! It took me some time to start liking Freddy's white GMT, but I just don't see that happening for an albino Explorer.

Yes, we have no Oysters:

The 1016 takes the same diameter springbars as a Sub. They're just a bit shorter, so they don't fill the holes.

How do I love the 1016? Let me count the builds: In the back and to the left is my very first 1016 project, based on a Narikaa vintage Explorer. Beside it is another 1016 based on the common rep Datejust. This one is from Hont, but spruced up with an MBK dial from Lanikai. In the foreground and on the left is the Space-Dweller based on a 1601 case from ChiMan12 and topped off by a bezel by jmb. And to its right, finally, is my latest -and in all likelihood, final- 1016 franken. The last two projects may still be tweaked in the future, but otherwise, I'd best get a gen or move on! So why another Explorer, and why so soon after the last one? In my Space-Dweller post-mortem, I wrote about a crisis of confidence that I experienced midway through the project. I had yet to touch a single part of the build, but I had become convinced that the 1601 case wouldn't work for a 1016 franken. I was worried that the 2472 movement wouldn't fit (despite C's patient reassurances), and that the exterior dimensions were too far off from the 1016's. It turned out that I was splendidly wrong, but I sweated enough to take drastic action. Beginning with stilty's Explorer from 2008, the 162xx Datejust case has been the way to go for 1016 frankens. I used to think it would be too expensive to go down that route, but it's funny -and a bit scary- how flexible your acceptable spending limit can be! Regardless, I'd been tracking a 16203 on eBay for some time, and the price had just dropped by another $100. I bought it, sweated some more, then decided on proceeding with parallel projects. So now I had two 1016s underway. How would I go about differentiating the second, if the first was going to be a mid-60s Space-Dweller? One option I considered was to go for the old gold: Both crockey and lanikai had had beautiful results with their gilt MBKs, and the dials sold by Yuki were very nice. But in all honesty, the glossy dial doesn't do a whole lot for me, and feels a bit antithetical to the Explorer concept. What did capture my imagination was the timeless look of the 1016 dial with white markers, either in Luminova or freshly laid tritium. Yellowed indices are nice, but I wanted a 1016 that looked like it had popped out of a Rolex ad in a mid-70s National Geographic. Unfortunately, there's a shortage of good 1016 dials out there, and almost all of them are finished in vintage yellow. I also screwed up by not bidding on two separate service dials that had come up for auction this summer. (I thought there were more to come!) Finding a dial would be the hardest part of this project, and I'm still not 100% satisfied with the results. The search continues. Case Work As with the Space-Dweller, jmb fabricated a Tropic 22-size bezel based on my estimated dimensions. It looks fantastic, as seen below. The picture on the left is one of my favorite details on this watch, as it shows off the bezel's overhang and the way the crown nestles underneath it. On the right is a closer look at the gen crown and tube. This is an older, 6mm tube, so Justin had to drill the case (which took a 5.3mm tube) and retap the hole to get it to fit. To be clear: I'm not so anal about the details as to want the correct tube in there. Rather, I had ordered the crown/tube based on a listing that said it was compatible with the 162xx. It most definitely was not! J also drilled out the lugholes for gen-size springbars, and gave them a bit of chamfering and blending. The lugs got a light polish, while retaining all evidence of a hard-knock life. The end result looks great in profile: Oh crap... I forgot to blur the serial number! 1601 vs. 16203? One of the reasons why I decided on parallel projects was to satisfy my curiosity about which Datejust case would make a better 1016 franken: The contemporary 16xx or the more modern 162xx? This was discussed in a thread a few months back, but here's a quick list of the pros and cons: Lugholes: 16203 can be drilled out for 2mm springbars. 1601 cannot be drilled safely, as the holes are too close to the edge of the lugs. However, the smaller holes aren't so noticeable on the 1601 due to the reduced surface area on its flanks. Caseback: The 16203's is a match for the 1016's, and more water-resistant than the 1601's, to boot: Mid-case shape: In a previous thread, I noted that the 16xx more closely resembled the 1016 from the lugholes up, while the 162xx was a better match from the lugholes down. The 1601's lugs curve more softly, which is more appropriate for older Rolexes. From the crown, note how soon the character line starts to fall away from the bezel and toward the horns of the lugs. In contrast, the 16203 has a flatter midsection, before abruptly turning downwards. (automatico perfectly compared the modern Datejust's profile with shrugged shoulders.) Overall, the 16203 has the superior dimensions, because of its drooping lugs and taller sides. But when viewed on the wrist, it's a close-run thing between the two. Take a look (from top to bottom, 1016, 1601, 16203): Crystal I originally had a Clark crystal on this watch until automatico turned me onto the GS equivalent of the Tropic 22. The GS PA464-64C won out, as described here. Check out the refractions along the edge: Bracelet This project was underway around the time Josh's 1655 showed up, and with it came the promise of a good rep folded-link bracelet. I've come very close to paying $300-400 on a genuine 7836; good thing I was outbid every time! This bracelet comes from Watch International, and it was able to take proper 1016 springbars with no modification, as detailed here. Movement I had wanted to get a low-beat movement for this one. stilty suggested a 2824/2836 hybrid, but this seemed to be beyond my abilities. (I plan on revisiting it, though.) I managed to snag a vintage ETA 2452 in decent condition, but realized too late that it came with a snapped stem. Ultimately, I went with a high-beat Seagull ST2130, which is basically a 2824-2. Solid reliability, but so boring. Dial Sourcing a dial was the single biggest cause of delays for this project. First, I ordered a matte 1016 from Yukiwatch, thinking that it looked pretty good in the pictures. What arrived (and Brightight can back me up on this) was a completely different dial with many flaws. I got a refund, and noticed that Yuki had updated the pictures several days later. While visiting my watchsmith, I caught a lucky break by running into someone who had bought three Yuki 1016 dials last year, and kept them as spare parts. I bought one on the spot, and sent it off to Goin for a relume in white. Goin also matted the dial a bit more, as it had a bit of a sheen on it. The hour/minute hands are from Clark, the sweep from Yuki. Good work on the relume, but I'm still not completely satisfied by the dial. The numerals and the stick markers are too thin, while the coronet is small and uninspiring. The gap between SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER and OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED also needs to be bigger. I think that Space-Dweller dial has spoiled me forever. The End? Despite my nitpicking, I'm pleased with the way it all turned out, but I will continue looking for a better dial and a suitable slow-beat movement. But here's a little story to keep things in perspective: During one of my visits to the watchsmith for this and the Space-Dweller project, I met someone who just happened to be wearing his genuine 1968 Explorer. He was nice enough to hand it over to me so I could compare it with my Space-Dweller side-by-side. Honestly, my franken looked legit at first, second, and third glance. Turning them on their sides, the first difference I noticed was the size of the lugholes, and then the droop of the lugs. Every other tell seemed minor. Last year, I tried the same thing with 1016 Project 2, and went away feeling depressed by how different it looked. This time, I felt great.

Perhaps, but the five-week interval between buying a very expensive rep, and selling it as a gen for 21x the price, doesn't suggest desperation so much as premeditation.

I don't think anyone could fault you for feeling that way. Nevertheless, I call dibs on your 6263.

Sheesh, that's beautiful! It's hard enough finding one that isn't a fake, but to find one in such wonderful condition... Don't touch a thing! However, I would look for a nice, vintage 20mm Tropic to go with it. NATO works, but I find that the shine of Maratacs often overpowers the watch.

Honestly, I haven't been to Bangkok in about 20 years, so I'm not very familiar with the place. However, there are often airline seat sales so the cost of a round trip sometimes gets as low as USD 100. The timing never works out for me, but I'm tempted to pop by to MBK to grab some KFC and a Patek Nautilus! I've been to Saigon and Hanoi, but was never fortunate enough to run into a V72 Daytona, let alone those infamous Seamaster 300 and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms fakes. I did see a lot of vintage watches that had been "decorated" with swastikas and eagles on the dial. I'm sure it's just for luck! Flex: Thanks for the compliment! I've seen your Daytonas. More pictures of them would definitely NOT be considered thread crapping by me! Anyway, here's an extra photo that shows more of the dials and the difference in details and coloration. The lack of a "SWISS" marking on my 6263 was a bit of a negative, so I'm glad to have it on the 6239:

I've just looked over it. Based on the points of wear on the bezel, it looks like a match. I wonder what the seller did to that sweep hand to get it to look so ragged?

I can't compare pictures right now (workplace firewall), but sickening if true. It's terrible how someone could take a labor of love (from a stand-up guy like Ubi, no less) and use it to commit fraud.

Contrary to my earlier suspicions, the DW 6239 midcase is not identical to his 6263's. It still has its issues, especially the "convessa tumah" on the side (to quote Arnoldo Mazzariolenegger). However, it's not nearly as noticeable on a 6239 as it is on DW's dire-looking 6238. donerix: Both flex and I made noises about flying off to Thailand for a weekend if the price was right on those vintages. I was serious, and so was flex, I reckon. James has since gone silent, which probably means he bought them all for himself! I love tropical dials, too, and you might notice that the dial on my 6263 has gone a bit champagne/beige in color. (When I bought it in January it was a whitish silver, like the 6239 dial.) I don't know if it plans on changing color some more, but it looks terrific right now. Also, I'm still kicking myself over not buying a tropical 1016 gilt dial that recently sold on VRF for EUR150. I think I hesitated over the cost of getting a 1570 to put it on. There's no way I could snip the feet off that dial without feeling like a heel. Regarding the Space-Dweller, the common story is about Rolex commemorating the Mercury Seven astronauts' visit to Japan. I'm not really sure if that's true, or just a Steve McQueen-like tall tale. Whatever the origin, they were very limited in numbers, and the one example on Antiquorum sold for USD 48,0000, which is about ten times what you'd expect to pay for a more mundane 1016. So, yes, I do wear it frequently! "Oh, this old thing?"

From Omega, unfortunately! I was buying it for a Seamaster 300, but found out too late that I had bought the wrong size--22mm, instead of 20mm. Good thing it looks pretty good on the Blancpain. Great review, by the way. I'm a big fan of the watch, too. This is another good strap option, if you want the full vintage look:

I think I can help...

I was wondering whether I should have written "DW 6263 and DW 6239" on account of the photo, but then it would've run counter the whole evolution theme. Sorry for any confusion, regardless. Antoine: The left one is the 6263, which is the later model with screwdown pushers, 7mm crown, and a plastic bezel insert. The only vintage Daytonas worth getting -and cost less than $1000- are from DW. Unfortunately, they can be a big headache to assemble, and the movement can be problematic. It took about 4 months of troubleshooting to get my 6263 running reliably, and I dread all the scary surprises the 6239 has in store for me. A lot of people swear by Spinmaster, who assembles, modifies, and QCs each DW Daytona he sells.

Thanks, J. By the time the weekend rolls around, I hope to have macro shots that linger over those lugholes! And I never realized how much the Submariner bezel resembled a Coke bottle cap!

I completed a couple of projects today, both of which bear an uncanny resemblance to pieces already in my collection. I plan to write about these projects in greater detail, but for now I just wanted to take pictures! For both the 1016 Explorer and the manual-wind Daytona, I wanted pieces that were representative of the early and late stages of each model's life cycle. However, I really like folded-link bracelets, so shooting for 1987 wasn't in the cards. So let's travel about a decade from the mid-60s to the mid-70s, as riveted bracelets fell out of fashion, and Superdomes were demolished... DW 6239 and DW 6263 1601-based Space-Dweller and 16203-based Explorer Frankens