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Whenever I go to Singapore, I end up eating Hainanese Chicken Rice every day for lunch. My favorite spots to get it are at Tian Tian at the Maxwell Food Centre, and at Wee Nam Kee on Thomson Road in Novena. I cannot tell a lie: I love HCR. Forget about reps, unless there's a GTG planned. There are several great vintage watch stores scattered around, though. Chat up Shawn at Heirloom Gallery and see his awesome Omega collection.

They're all winners, ubi. Don't stop the music!

Mm... those hands are more like it, jmb. That dial just went from dainty to deadly!

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Admin, and big BIG thumbs up to the Super Fiorillo Brothers!

I couldn't view the pictures from behind the firewall at work, though -knowing Ubi's standards- I could have safely commented, "HOLY CRAP! THAT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 6265 FRANKEN I'VE EVER SEEN!" Well, I'm home now. So... HOLY CRAP! THAT'S THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 6265 FRANKEN I'VE EVER SEEN!!! I wept when I saw the macro of the Big Red service dial. So #@$@% beautiful...

While there's a lot going for the yellowed-lume-on-white look, I agree with alligoat on the C1 suggestion: Go monochrome! (Er, aside from that red pointer, that is.)

Honestly, I think I prefer the watch.

I've gone through the Sternkreuz catalog looking for something close to a Tropic 22, and came up empty. As far as I know, the only suppliers of T22s (the newer style with the beveled edge) are Clark and GS. The exact reference number of the latter's escapes me right now, but Automatico provided it in a recent post. As you you say, though, the crystals do vary and it looks as if the Clark T22 may be a bit too tall, and may require some sanding. I hope to confirm that soon. Brightight: Like Andy, I can't see the pics at work, unfortunately, but you already know my early impressions!

It's good of you to notice the finer points of that picture. Congratulations, Sql_pl!

I just noticed that Phongy-looking Milgauss. A minor furore occurred in the sales section of RWI when someone tried to sell a silver-dialed, 1560-powered version for $1800.

The darker the brown leather, the better. You don't want to overwhelm that lovely dial.

Oh, you tease! Negotiate a good price on a group buy (i.e. 2 of them) and I'll fly over to Bangkok this weekend!

I took the train out of Hung Hom Station in Kowloon. Two hour trip with zero scenery to speak of, but it was comfortable.

Take my advice with a grain of salt, since my trip in January was from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. I've never been to Shenzhen. But from what I've read, the Shenzhen-Guangzhou express takes an hour, compared to the two hours for a train ride out of Hong Kong. I hate to guess about travel restrictions within China, but you should be OK for both cities.

Jojo, how do I know this isn't a 6240? It's not that I have $24K in my pocket, or that I'd mind owning a 6240 (to put it mildly), but I really can't tell. Is it just the pusher design?

Wait until you get to the pool of Datejusts and cut yourself against all the sharp case edges! raptor: There are supposed to be reps available in the very first mall you encounter after crossing the border. It's Lo Wu (or Luohu), just like the station. But whether you go to Shenzhen or to Guangzhou, I recommend contacting a dealer beforehand. Do not expect to see a wall covered with all the reps you want to buy. 99.7% of the watches you see will be crap, and making prior arrangements is the best way of making sure you don't go empty-handed. Friday to Monday should give you plenty of time to wander, though, and GZ isn't that far away. The high-speed train will get you there PDQ.

Oh, no, no, no... After all the warnings I got about "Mr. Slimeball" (I think that's correct?), there's no way I'd be dealing with him! I was referring to our very own Justin B., who received a few parts while doing a bit of work for me. Just a little buffing, drilling, chamfering, countersinking, deburring, and lathe work!

hackR: That's a REALLY nice dial. I love blue-sunburst Datejusts, but blue linen is something I'll be thinking about now. Good ol' monochromatic 6263 on beat-up 7835 today.

They look nice on yours, though I'm also wary about seeing those tweaked hands against a proper Rolex dial. As I write, I've got two Clark handsets (along with, ahem, a whole bunch of other stuff) slowly making their way from Texas...

The sad thing is -like with desirable movements- it seems like the good old days were just a few months ago! Peaks and valleys, I know, but it's sure hard to imagine prices coming down again when you're in the middle of an uptick. (See: Gas prices circa Summer 2008.) alligoat: Are those MkII Sub hands on your Mini-Vantage?

I'm annoyed by confusing model and parts reference numbers! It should have been Dorfex.

Great job putting everything together!

I have to disagree with Brightight. The 16xx-series Datejusts (like the 162xx's) are 35.5mm across and are usually referred to as 36mm cases. They are just as wide as the 1016s. The main differences between the 162xx and the 16xx are -Caseback: 162xx is closer to the 1016 design and has a higher depth rating. -Crown tube: 162xx uses a thinner-diameter tube, so crowns are incompatible between the two models. -Case design: I believe that the 16xx bears a closer resemblance to the 1016 from the lugholes up, while the 162xx is a better match from the lugholes down. I also think that the 162xx is closer, overall. Aside from the caseback design, the 162xx has a flatter, lower midsection that is more similar to the 1016's. The 162xx has beefier, more outwardly-bowed lugs than both the 16xx and the 1016. The tops of the 16xx's lugs curve more gently, but are skinnier. (At this point, I wish I had some photos to illustrate, but I'm at work and behind a firewall!) One downside to using the 16xx as a base is that you will not be able to drill the lugholes to accommodate 2mm springbars. The holes are too close to the edges of the lugs. If the Silix case takes a Tropic 12, then I think it may be too small. The 1016 and the above Datejusts take crystals with a 29.5mm inner diameter.

Great to see that 6239 with all the hands attached. The red sweep makes it even more of an eye-catcher!

Andy, there was a brief discussion on 1016s a couple of weeks ago. Genuine 1016 cases are very rare, and very dear when they do show up. Yuki is an option, but one that hasn't been tested yet. It looks good in the pictures, but it's hard to gauge the accuracy from the angles the shots were taken. NDTrading has a pricey replacement available. It may also be due to the angles at which the photos were taken, but I think it looks terrible. MBK sells the best out-of-the-box 1016, and it's also a good base for projects (as shown by Lanikai's and crockey's gilt-dial Explorers). The dimensions are a bit off, though. The problem with most of the cheaper (i.e. $250 and lower) 1016 reps is that they're based on old rep Datejusts that are all over the place, dimensionally. You can take a close look at a couple of mine here. One came from Hont, and the other was from Narikaa. Pretty much the same case. That said, I would like to give Silix's ROLS048 a try if I were embarking on another cheapo 1016 project! It looks like a promising base, with more softly-contoured lugs, thicker midsection, and lugholes in roughly the right place. The caseback is very different, though.