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ubi: I came THIS close to buying that one! (Meaning I looked at your sales thread a whole bunch of times that day.) El Peruano for Thursday:

Wow! When did genuine dials become de rigeur for V72 Daytona builds? You won't regret it, Valty! Now, how about the bezel?

Looks like an 8-bit dial, J! Congratulations for getting this far!

I'm going to give it a thumbs up, with reservations. There are several details that I like, but it's too fussy when taken as a whole. The problem with many modern Tudor designs is that they just don't know when to stop.

Thanks! The left-side crown rotates the blue inner bezel, which is a 12-hour counter. The red hash marks are for the telemeter, which would have been completely useless if this watch had been taken into space (as many claim)!

Is the inside all you can see, red? You need to be more superficial! Also, it's a Poljot 3133 movement, and not a good 7734 substitute. Actually, I've been looking for one of these OKEAH reissues for a while, but prices have been rising quickly in recent years. It's now one of the most expensive Russian military watches. I think the record is over a thousand for a vintage example last year. Ten years ago, these were easily under $100! krustybrand: Beautiful! Is it a 7736 or a Venus?

From Russia, with 23 камня...

At least the bezel, I'm guessing. And knowing ubi, it's probably a Mk I plastic!

Not at all. It's great to compare what's out there! Damn, the cartel 6263 has nice endlinks...

Uh... J? Do you do one in blue?

How sad! C'mon RWG... Let's each chip in a few bucks and buy S a Noobmariner!

Carrera for most of the day: But then this neat-o strap arrived, a gift from a cool guy in Hyde Park. Thanks, B!

Ugh. I object to the U-boat back story, but not on those grounds. Cohen can be a real hack sometimes. E: Are you on the Cote d'Azur yet? Wish I were there!

And you polished up that ring so carefullee That now you are the Ruler of the Queen's Navee!

I've got these in my rep collection: But I would love to own one of these:

ADDENDUM Let's take a closer look at the dials. DW's Daytona dials can be some of the best available, but the quality varies tremendously from one design to another. My dial, which DW called a '6240', seems to be one-of-a-kind, as I've never seen another in this configuration (ROC sans 'Daytona') or coloration. It turned into this shade of champagne/silver after a several months, while the registers have a distinctly brownish tinge under direct lighting. This also seems to be the only DW dial missing a 'T SWISS T' script at the bottom. Nuts. The first difference that leaps out in the macros are the subdials. No, not the wider spacing of the 7750, but rather just how rough the edges and printing look relative to the gen. Printing white on black is tricky, which is why low-contrast text has been a tell on so many reps. (Even Rolex had many indistinctly-printed black dials, particularly from the late 60s to the mid 70s.) The concentric grooves are much finer on the gen, but -amazingly- there's an identical number of circles on both the rep and the gen. Count them until you go blind! The contours of the subdial are also similar on both, with a puckered center rising from the depression. However, there are gen examples with flatter subdials. When I put together my 6239/V72, I was particularly obsessed with all the metal bits on the dial. This is not the best angle to see the difference in height, but the gen hour indices are about twice as tall as on the rep. They're not quite as high as the blocks you see on Datejust dials, but they come close. This may seem like a minor difference, but the reflections they make on a silver dial can be stunning. The tall blocks also make for a far more interesting dial when it's viewed at extreme angles. Then there's that one metal bit on top. As Freddy pointed out, the coronet sucks on every rep dial out there: DW, Phong, ig44, Yuki... you name it. There are some lighting angles that make the rep coronet look a little bit finer, a little bit more rounded on the surface, but the gen coronet looks fantastic every single time. If you want a donor dial to rip apart, look for the "wide-mouthed" Singer coronet, which is correct for all manual-wind Daytonas (save for a few jewel-encrusted weirdos). That said, a "tight-lipped" Beyeler coronet is still a massive improvement over what's pinned to the rep dial. The fonts on DW's dial were a big advancement over his previous efforts, and I believe this is the best aftermarket rendering of the ROC text. But the fineness and detail of the genuine script couldn't be clearer. It's harder to spot from a distance, but it's an easy tell within a foot--assuming you've seen a gen dial before. Moving onto the hands, DW's are remarkably good other than the dull pointer on the sweep. Unfortunately, they're a headache functionally, and you'll likely need to glue the centers to the tubes (per Freddy's advice) in order to get consistent resets to zero. Other differences: The lume on the gen has decayed unevenly around the edges. The DW looks like it has mothballs marking the hours, though that's correct for newer service dials. The fake aged lume on the hands is better, though newer DW hands appear to be completely white. DW's minute track is too far from the rehaut, helping to ruin the illusion of proper subdial spacing. Unfortunately, this inboard track is common to all of his standard dials. The exotics look OK in that respect. Rehaut depth is just about perfect on the 7750 rep. Dials on reps powered by V23s and Mystery Movements sit noticeably lower. I think that about covers it!

Absolutely right. The more genuine Daytonas I see, the less certain I am about anything! Other than the color, I didn't get into the dial differences at all, since I was so focused on the mid-case. I'll try to amend the OP soon. I've also got an old DJ dial, and I'm looking at some tall metal indices from a different rep dial. It might be time to give the old 6263 a facelift!

I'm glad so many RWGers enjoyed it! I'll see if I can corner the guy and compare a few other models. He's a hardcore vintage Rolex collector with many nice pieces. Yeah, the later 6263s almost look stretched and are a lot pointier than examples from the early 70s. I'm still amazed by what DW was able to pull off, and would recommend him to anyone in a heartbeat--if it weren't for the iffy communications and all the long-lived, niggling headaches! Even if they're inferior reps visually, there's still a case to be made for the cartel's Sea-Gull based models...

Sunday Explorer, though this particular dial is no longer with me:

First off, please read Valty's excellent comparison of DW cases. My 6263 was purchased in December 2009, and I believe it should be considered a 2nd-generation DW case. Last night at my watchsmith's, an acquaintance wearing his prized, early-80s 6263 stopped by. Luckily, I had two of my DW Daytona reps (6263/7750, 6239/V72) and a camera handy. Unfortunately, I only had a brief window to complete the shoot, no tripod, and less-than-ideal lighting. I'm still kicking myself over not shooting the case in profile, or from behind! Anyhow, here's what I got. Gen on right: On the silver dialed Daytonas, the most striking difference between the reps and the gen is the coloration of the dial and the "depth" of the sunburst. This is even more obvious when I use the flash, resulting in a slight coppery hue. From what I've seen in the past, this effect can only be seen on original dials. Service dials have a more neutral tone, more similar to that seen on my 6239/V72. Gen at bottom: Note the different crown, pushers, lughole placement, and... brushed bezel edge? That's new to me! Also take a look at the pusher cutouts. Gen on right, from here on: I have a particular obsession with the crown side of the case. In these shots, you can see the 'shelf' of metal beneath the DW's crown--it's about twice the thickness of the gen's, though not as bad as the infamous "tumah" of the DW 6239. Also observe the thicker lugs on the gen, and (a bit harder to see) the slightly thinner mid-section. The gen's bezel insert is convex, though this is more easily seen in a later photo. There are slight differences between the mid-case contours of the DW and the gen, but the overall replication is very good. Much better than the beefier, more angular lugs found on the cartel Daytona. Gen in the middle: I mentioned the convex insert on the gen. This is obvious when you look at how the overhead lights reflect on the black plastic. Big thanks to the guy who owns the 6263! Bonus question: There's a jar of candies in the background of this photo. What kind are they?

I never really cared for U-Boat's bogus history--the Stauer-worthy tales of unverifiable military orders, and of blueprints locked up in safes since the fall of Fascist Italy. But this... I really like!

So here's what I've got... Yesterday evening I had the wonderful opportunity to compare my two DW Daytonas with an early-80s 6263. Unfortunately, I don't have access to my regular PC right now, so all the fruits of that brief shoot won't be ready until later. Here's a sample:

My condolences to everyone affected by this depraved and barbaric attack. This is a black day.

That's cheaper than I reckoned! Again, well done!

Great shot, tmg! Not too many guys chose the Milspec option, but that looks really nice.