lhooq

Meaning "Rest In Peace" i.e. HMT Watches is shutting down.

The engravings are meaningless, and often have no bearing on the end pieces they're supposed to be replicating. I'm very curious about the $55 7206, though, as I'm not sure if I've ever seen one. For that selfish reason alone, I say you should go for it!

Happy 1016!

Very, very good! Akira does great work, and the gen dial/crystal put it over the top.

HMT R.I.P.

All that text and not a single use of the words "Mayer" or "Texas"! Considering how the 3CROC debate eventually led to microscopic comparisons of the Singer engraving, it's going to take more than that dial backside shot to convince the VRF guys. I'm curious as to whether the handset on this one is original to the watch. I've never seen a 6263 (let alone a 6240) with those early subdial hands.

Looks like a genuine early 703, based on the coronet shape and the underside crimping.

Based on what I've heard from several modders, it's a less tricky and more routine job than I had previously imagined.

Fat-shaming watches, Ronin? Check your skinny-lug privilege! To be frank, I find the SD4000 pretty nice for a modern Rolex. But then I start laughing uncontrollably when they tell me the list price, so that's a no-go.

Don't bother with the Yuki 7836. If it's anything like the one I received a few years back, you get a better-looking clasp, but also big headaches thanks to fixed endlinks that aren't a particularly good fit on anything.

We need to see more of this one, DH! The work of a mutual friend, perhaps? A rare gold watch in my collection:

J, you're probably right about the value. I thought this might be a slightly later dial due to the high ROC and lack of sigmas, but nailing down the production years of these black dials confuses me. Was there any pattern as to when the sigmas appeared?

Wish I still had my old Motorola MicroTAC. Flipping the mouthpiece open and pulling the antenna out made me feel like the boss of bosses!

Cool Lange, GenTLe. Between that and iggi's brilliant skeleton, it looks like fancy Sunday here! My big hunk of steel:

As a whole, it's more the absence of negative tells: Sharp printing with characters spaced properly and serifs where they should be, correct dishing/grooving of the subdials, Singer coronet, disintegrating tritium spots... I can only guess what this thing is going for these days, but I figure anything less than $3000 would be a good buy. Yes, that's the world we live in.

Terrific job! A couple of years ago, I found a generic Swiss-made crystal that had a profile almost exactly the same as a domed Tropic 22. Unfortunately, the optics were all wrong (looking straight at the dial, it was as if it was encircled by a dark shadow), so I had to toss it.

I'll take Hyjynx's Aquatimers and kernow's big-ass SMP chronograph (the one with the yellow highlights).

If that's not a genuine dial, then it's the best aftermarket black dial I've ever seen.

rolojack: I meant to ask you in your build thread, but what did you use as a crystal for your 1016? Did you sand the edges of a beveled crystal?

Wonderful! May it stay on your wrist for a long time to come!

I have come here to calmly sip my coffee and discuss vintage Rolex builds. And I'm all out of coffee.

A few years back, one of the guys here ordered a 1016 replacement case from Yukiwatch for something like $400-500. Same inaccuracies: It had the wrong crystal and bezel, and was just your average bad DJ rep case with nice engravings!

Congratulations! I agree with the others about the WatchNY bezel. Otherwise, start setting funds aside for a gen dial and pray that prices don't rise faster than your rate of savings!