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I don't know what's more amazing--the dial or the endlinks! Love the bright red "Daytona", love the tall hour indices and the shadows they cast, love the gentle curves of a genuine coronet! Superb!

M'lud: I'm presently working on two 1016 projects, with a lot of help from ChiMan12 and jmb. The first is based on a 1601 Datejust, while the second starts out with a 16203. The 162xx franken is a tried-and-true method, so you can be assured of having a very nice 1016-alike in the end. The 1601 build may have some surprises in store, but -based on discussions with my collaborators- there shouldn't be any major problems. (Fingers crossed!) I believe the older Datejust can be just as good a 1016 rep, but there is a higher level of uncertainty right now. There's a 16234 on eBay that's selling for $210 OBO, though you'll have to find your own bezel and crystal. Generally, 162xx cases have been selling for $200-400 on eBay in recent months. A crystal is $5.25 from Clark's, while a gen wil cost $150-250, depending on whether you get a modern Tropic 22 or a Superdome. (Neither crystal is often listed for sale or auction.) I spent $40 for a gen crown/tube, but if you're patient and lucky, you could just as easily get 3 for $15. But make sure you're buying the right ones! The crown/tube of newer Datejusts are incompatible with older models. Alternatively, a complete 1016 case set from Yuki is $400-450, but none has been reviewed on the rep forums. I believe Brightlight will be the first to give it a try, so that'll be a post to watch out for. Stilty can help you out with the movement adapter. Yuki makes the best 1016 dial available, other than the odd rarity on eBay. (The ones currently listed are a bit funny-looking and cost nearly as much as Yuki's, so don't bother.) As for hands, Jojo35 may still be selling his genuine vintage Tudor Sub set for $350. If that's too much for you, you could go with Yuki ($10) or Clark ($15), if he has any in stock. Mk II Watches used to sell Mercedes hands that were supposedly very good. Unfortunately, 1) they cost over $40 2) the hour hand is longer than most, and 3) I'm unable to find Mk II's parts page on their website.

I'm no Sub expert, but I think it looks great! Did it take a trip through jmb's legendary Bucket of Metal Shavings?

I hate to tar an entire country with the same brush, but any watch being sold out of Ukraine should automatically be viewed with suspicion. Mind you, similar pieces have showed up with sellers claiming to be in Israel, but I believe the source is still the same. Generally, you'll see sellers with lots of familiar brand names on oversized watches, purportedly from the early 1900s. Some look decently put together, but others are hilariously bad, especially the dials with panzers and U-Boats printed using an inkjet. (There are lots of German military-themed pieces for the swastika dudes.) The sheer number of "valuable" watches, and the bizarre concentration of all these antique pieces in the Ukraine should raise a few eyebrows. The low price may be a giveaway if the seller gets greedy and puts a 'Buy-It-Now' button on the auction. Depressingly, an "Omega Regulateur" will sometimes go for more than $2000 in a free-for-all. (Hint: Omega never EVER made a regulateur.) It could be that some of those bids are from the seller's pals, but I think it's likely that people have been suckered into paying hundreds or thousands for something they believed to be authentic.

I'm very sure the Omega is a fake ("marriage watch", if you want to be kind) put together by the usual suspects in Ukraine. Movement is probably genuine, and sourced from an Omega pocket watch. Case, dial, and everything else are most likely bogus, and -as your second link shows- the watch is much bigger than others of this style. By the way, I've been to Heirloom Gallery several times and spoken to the owner, Shawn. Nice guy and an amazing collection of vintages, especially Omegas. It's a must-see if you go to Singapore. EDIT: On second thought, I'm not too sure about the movement. There's a superficial resemblance to the Omega Calibre 19''', but key differences and the crude level of finish overall lead me to suspect it's a Russian clone.

Jeez... a JLC Valjoux 72! That's not your usual Zodiac- or Clebar-sourced movement! Just beautiful. It's great to see persistence paying off in the end.

Thanks, pismo. Just to confirm: Your endlinks look like this? And not like these? Question to the Rolex experts: Were the endlinks on genuine 7836s constructed in both configurations, or were they all integrated with the rest of the bracelet?

Are the endlinks attached to the midlinks like on a gen, or do they detach easily? Very nice looking bracelet; I'm really tempted now. The watch looks good, too!

You're welcome! Slight correction, though: The comparison was between rep and gen 18mm deployants, not 16mm. Also, if any of you can tell me where I can buy a 20mm, honey brown, curved-end, gator strap for an 18mm deployant buckle, I would be extremely grateful. A couple of the bigwigs at Omega WUS have these beauties, and they are amazing (and amazingly expensive).

Some dude made a photo comparison of the rep and genuine 16mm clasps some time ago. Note that the rep clasp in that thread is one of the better ones. There is a cheaper style of deployant found on the lower-priced Omega reps. They're not close to the originals at all, so you should be able to spot them easily.

Thanks to the thread title, I got a nice mental image of a Rolex ad featuring Leonard Nimoy. Brightlight has a modded 1665 on sale right now. It's not a 1680, but the only difference is 15.

BP FF:

Oliver was a man ahead of his time. Two or three years ahead, by the looks of it!

That's the weird thing about this myth: There's no evidence whatsoever of there being any link between McQueen and the 1655, not through ownership, endorsement, or even being in the same photo as someone else wearing one. However, I have it on good authority that a number of people have watched one or more Steve McQueen movies while wearing Orange Hand Explorers. FACT!

When these three go into the water, the sea level rises! Wonderful shots.

If so, this would be the second time in a row that an anticipated rep was let down by poor photography. After Perfect Clones released its first batch of pictures of its PloProf, one of the main complaints about the rep was the greyish markings on the bezel. Subsequent photos showed the contrast to be just fine. I hope this is the case on this 1655.

Nice catch! Now I'm really thinking about getting the cheapo version.

Is it me or does the date wheel look yellowish? Still, I'm tempted to get the budget Asian version, just to get a closer look!

Wow, why didn't I check this thread earlier? I'm honored you'd put me in such esteemed company, TeeJay! So here are a few of my favorites. Ubi's 7032: Someone's already posted Freddy's epic, white 6542, so I'll go with his Honpo: jmb's fantastic, I-can't-believe-he-did-that, Tudor: And, most of all, Stilty's sensational, inspirational Explorer:

If only Pbdad could rig up a bright green light inside the dial!

I'm jumping on the dial-swap bandwagon. It's going to turn that 1665 from good to amazing!

Not one Omega today? Gen for Thursday:

This is my favorite among Pbdad's creations, and I never thought I'd be a fan of fantasy pieces until the Abyss showed up. I'm not sure how many guys here are into computer games, but it looks to me like something that might be found in the Fallout universe. (For the uninitiated, Fallout takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. However, it's not our world, but an alternate Earth in which the fashions and values of the 1950s continued into the future... right up until the bombs fell.) Perhaps you could gin up some fake rivet heads and glue/braze them to the sides of the DSSD bracelet? Sounds easier than rolling your own links!

It boggles the mind... RIP, Nick Hayek.