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I'm a sucker for Rolex silver sunbursts, and that dial's just lovely.

You could always try mailing your bracelets to Uri Geller.

Considering ubi's legendary 16520 is in the very next post, that's probably the biggest compliment I've ever received on a W/C. Thanks!

Good ol' Tropic Daytona:

Chalk one up to persistence! Well done!

Argh! I saw that SL up close when I was in Osaka last year. As bad as that finish looks, the Yeti-fur seats are much more repulsive in person!

Gen LLD today:

I'm not familiar with the albino Turn-O-Graph at all, but that's beautiful. Is that a circular texture on the dial?

Thanks, guys! Pix suggested "Saturday Night Flieger", and I curse myself for not thinking of it first! Full story on the Poljot-Hanhart Fliegerchronograph, plus the mods and relume by goin, can be found in this thread.

Giving the Hanhart lume a workout:

Explorer-on-NATO is my beater around the house and in the pool. It's just the right size and is very comfortable.

Just what the world needs. A chest-waxing, mumbling Magnum who spends the day surfing, playing the bongos, and smoking pot with Higgins. I bet he wears a Toywatch GMT!

Thanks for the comments, all. From my past research, I've only ever seen 'Tiffany & Co.' printed per the example freddy posted. As far as I know, other variants (as seen on the Subs, Daytonas, &c.) never made it onto the Explorer dial, and none of these other variants looked like the one on mine. I've also been checking old advertisements and products to see if 'Tiffany & Co.' has appeared in a similar form (the underline 'o' suggests an older style), but no luck so far. But I bought it anyway! I've been paying a lot to satisfy my curiosity lately.

I got this rep 1016 dial from eBay not long ago. I would appreciate any reactions from the Explorer experts here to help me decide whether to use this or a Yuki matte dial (that I have not yet purchased) on an upcoming project. Please try to ignore all the white fuzz on the dial as bathroom tissue paper was cleverly used as packing material: Here's my preemptive auto-critique: -Up top, ROPE is a bit spaced out; coronet's too big and too high above the Rolex 'L'. -Numerals and sticks a bit thin and maybe a bit too long? -Pleasing yellow color and texture on the sticks/numerals. -Clear print quality on the text and minute marks. All serifs present. -In the lower half, good positioning and spacing on the SCOC. Serifs might be a tad overdone. And now the big, so-far-unmentioned elephant in the room: Has anyone ever seen a 'Tiffany & Co" that looked like that i.e. caps with an underlined 'o'? If someone can find me an example, it would make me feel much better!

Stilty, thanks for your input. To my eyes, the 1016 middle case looks identical to the 1601's from the lugholes up. The upper curve of the lugs seems like a match, and I'm pretty sure it will take a Tropic 22 with the bezel off. But below the waterline (so to speak), I can see the 1016's similarities with the 162xx: the thicker and flatter midsection, the meatier lugs, and the distinctive caseback you mentioned. Still, I believe the 1601 ought to be a credible 1016 from most angles. It may look a bit off when viewed in side elevation, and at angles at which the caseback is visible, but I'm hoping it only confuses the sharpest-eyed Rolex observers. All it needs is a spot-on bezel to catch the eye and move attention away from the lower bits!

freddy: Ahh... lovely. The Tropical Daytona gets a lot of wrist time this week, as I try to sort out the kinks with the chrono:

Brightlight: My mistake. I just checked eBay and the case I remembered was complete but dented, and sold for $1500. The one you were looking at sounds like a phenomenal deal. If you do decide to go with Yuki, I'd be very interested to know your impressions of the case. It looks good in pictures, unlike the terrible 1016 replacement being sold -for $900!- by NDTrading. Finally, I would like to apologize for raising the price of your dial by an extra five bucks! I also noticed that the day after you won it, the same Hong Kong-based seller had five more with a Buy-It-Now of $111... It looks like a good dial with crisp printing of the text and markers. The numerals are more rounded than is usual, but I've seen gen examples on which the tritium goes pretty much where it pleases. My biggest reservation concerns the '6', which appears to have levitated a bit!

Er... Can I pass the mic over to jmb? I think the case is still in transit! While I can't comment on actual measurements, here's the thought process driving this current project: I used to think that the 1016 had a larger case than contemporary Datejusts, because every time I handled a gen, it just looked bigger overall. After some discussions with ChiMan12 and stilty (if you haven't read up on his legendary franken 1016, do so), I concluded that it would be best to focus on the bezel. After you get past the dial, I believe the bezel is the 1016's key departure from the Datejust. Consider: Both the 1601's Cyclope 118 and the 1016's Tropic 22 share the same inner diameter (29.5mm), but the T22 is significantly thicker (31.1mm vs 30.6mm). This makes sense, given the intended use of each watch. And having looked at hundreds of pictures of the 1016, the feature that sticks out is how the bezel extends past the sides of the case. Consequently, the whole watch looks bigger than the Datejust. I wish my calipers and I could have five minutes with a gen, or that I'd bought that genuine 1016 bezel that was sold on VRF last year! I really don't know how it will shake out at this point, but I'm confident that a 1601 plus a custom bezel (expertly crafted by jmb!) ought to be pretty damn close to the gen 1016's dimensions. Note, however, that stilty compared different Datejust cases and found that the modern ones (162xx) were the closest match to the 1016. I wanted to ask him to expand on that, but his mailbox is full! For this project, I'll be using a nice aftermarket dial with questionable 'Tiffany & Co.' branding. If it's no good, I'll probably go with a Yuki dial. (I'll find out when I pick it up from the post office tomorrow.) I'd rather not get a gen due to the cost; also, this will be an ETA-powered franken, and I'd hate myself for mutilating a real dial! Speaking of prices, I believe Yuki sells their 1016 case for closer to $400. There's no way you're going to find a genuine 1016 case for less than $1000--$2000 is more likely. (And if I remember correctly, the 1016 case that sold on eBay was incomplete.) At those prices, I'd save a bit more for a complete gen.

Yes, after seeing that picture in #22, consider me convinced! What a gorgeous evocation of the 1950s it's going to be! I really can't wait to see this one finished and ticking on your wrist, freddy.

Black, if it were my watch and my wrist (I wish). Rarity and history aside, the black dial is much more visually appealing, plus the quality of your black dial's replication looks superior to the white's.

White, but only if you can get the meatball engraved on the back!

It's a beautiful piece all around, but I'm especially amazed by the story behind the datewheel. Excellent job!

Just beautiful, freddy! The entire photo looks authentically vintage, save for the digicam's reflection! Daytona Sunday for me: