lhooq

How about a Roger Dubuis Excalibur or Easy Diver? Cartier was my first thought, but the only Must 21 reps I can find are the $108 economy models ($88 with the special code!).

MORE JUNK OUR GOVERNMENT IS LETTING IN OUR COUNTRY.LEAD LACED TOYS FOR OUR CHILDREN AND ITEMS MADE BY SLAVE AND CHILD LABOR. WHEN WILL OUR GOVERNMENT STOP THIS???

Looks nice, but... No, I don't need another black Panerai. Nope, nope, nope!

Sub Lub:

whoever: When I get the Greenlander, you'll see it here! sempire: I remember that! On the road to Niagara-on-the-Lake, right? Things are blooming here, too:

Endlinks, yes. Spring bars, no. Every rep bracelet I've ordered has always come with endlinks.

Oh, crap. And I meant 358s (which came with the 7836 from Mary) instead of 380s. Looks like we've got another outbreak of Rolex dyslexia!

It's still rep 380s for me, I'm afraid. I wussed out on executing ccjoyce1's idea, and left my 605 and 589 untouched.

Beautiful work, E!

It's pretty much done. The only problem is a bad stem, which is causing the crown sticking out! I hope to have it finished by this week, in time for the next board meeting, sock hop, or ice cream social.

Busy Rolex weekend. The 4-liner has been a fixture on my wrist: Meanwhile, this little DJ isn't quite ready for the prime-time just yet:

Thanks for the compliments, all! Don't you love seeing familiar names in strange places? Nothing says Swiss quality like Sears! M, it's a trick of the light, I think. All three hands are unchanged, but they look silver at certain lighting angles. The neat thing is that this effect seems to correspond with the picture of the gen, tropical 5512 in my post. This is Chi's build more than anything, so all credit goes to him. I just happen to be the lucky owner!

I never understood the obsession with Submariners. Intellectually, I could appreciate the significance of the design, both to the Rolex brand and to the evolution of dive watches. But love? A Seamaster 300 or a Fifty Fathoms would grab my attention, but Subs just left me cold. (One exception: Blue Tudor Snowflakes.) The only similar watch in my collection was a cheapo Trevor DRSD that I never wore and wasn't very good. It was a glaring omission, and one that I was determined to fix--even if there wasn't a whole lot of passion to drive me. The project began in February, when I spotted ChiMan's sales listing for an MBW 5512. It was a mostly unmodified watch that, I later learned, used to belong to miquel. That's real Canadian pedigree! I sent C a PM and even before the deal was confirmed, I started researching the 5512. That was the first time I got excited over a Sub. On Valentine's Day, to boot. (Ugh... I'm a hack.) miquel's 5512, circa 2010: 5512s were in production for the better part of two decades, so there was no shortage of examples on which I could base a project. I kept returning to a Serpico y Laino with a caramel dial and a bluish-grey insert. Beautiful! Unfortunately, tropical dials are still the Holy Grail of modders, so I settled on another SyL: Gilt dial, 5 lines, pointed crown guards. This would be the model and ideal outcome for my project. Later that day, ChiMan responded, saying that the 5512 was mine. That was a relief. I bombarded him with questions about where I could take the project, and where I should source the parts. And, oh, could you work on those CGs and vintagize the dial for me? I really liked the work that C had done on his Cornino, and the dial treatment on his 7922. He said yes and also mentioned that -coincidentally- he'd been thinking about a Serpico dial for the 5512. Game on! The search for the right dial was a real headache, especially for someone who was just getting to know the Submariner. Forgetting about the Serpico branding for the moment, I wanted a gilt dial but couldn't find one without serious flaws. Yuki's was the best available at the time, and even it had mistakes i.e. all four lines of text were in gold. At one point, I was ready to ditch the early-5512 idea and go with a genuine matte dial. Fast-forward a couple of days and I was throwing up my hands in frustration, and thinking that maybe I could live with the stock MBW matte dial, after all. ChiMan was starting to wonder whether my heart was really in it, or if my attentions were diverted by my ongoing V72 Daytona project. I reviewed all my options and realized that only a gilt 5512 would do. That's when C suggested commissioning a dial. If you've seen the new Serpico y Laino 5-line dial on Yukiwatch and wondered how it came about, well... it started here. It was supposed to be a "one-off" dial, but it seems the exclusivity ran out after a couple of months! Yuki finished the dial by mid-April, and it reached C by the end of that month. Very glossy, the text was bolder than I'd like, and there was no flat-topped A, but sheeeit... It's a Serpico! I told C to go ahead with aging the dial. And that's when disaster struck: We were both bummed out by the result, to put it mildly. ChiMan offered to end the project and cancel the sale, if I wanted. I appreciated the offer, but refused to walk away in defeat. A quick search brought some good news: Sometime in March or April, NDT had produced its own 4-line 5512 dial. It was gorgeous, and seeing it was a huge relief. The project was back on! Two weeks later, C successfully vintagized the NDT dial and wrapped up the build by mid-May. So why am I only posting about it now, at the end of July? Simple: Postal strike! Eventually, the 5512 was smuggled out of the rogue state of Canada, spending some time in Texas before making its way to me. Here it is with the NDT 4-liner, following Dr. Chi's special dial treatment: It's a stunning watch, beautifully put together and modded with a keen eye for detail. I'll let let the pictures do the talking, but I want to draw attention to a few features. As mentioned, this started out as a classic MBW 5512. After all these years, the old girl's still got it: You can already see it in the previous picture, but ChiMan’s PCG work was outstanding. As for the crown, I have a 7mm Twinlock earmarked for this project, but the right tube is late to the party. Until then, a genuine 703 will do the heavy lifting. It's the only gen piece in this entire build, so I guess that makes this build a "super-hyper-ultra-franken" in the accepted idiom... The crystal was originally a Superdome T39. I asked C to swap it out for a more modest Sternkreuz T19. This Sears Roebuck-branded 2451 cost me USD 18. I'm obviously pretty pleased about that! (And, no, I didn't order it from their catalog.) My watchsmith had a minor issue in lining up the stem with the tube, but was eventually able to secure the movement with a couple of hand-made clamps. Easy access to skilled labor is... rather nice. The 5512's a versatile wearer, and looks good on either Tropic rubber or a riveted Oyster bracelet. (Both options are historically correct.) The Tropic 20mm with curved ends cost me $40 last year. It's now selling at 4-8x that price, which is faintly ridiculous. The bracelet is a Yuki 7206, taken from my first 1016 build. ChiMan relumed the hands and did a spectacular job of it. I love the hairline cracks in the lume, even if C claims they weren't intentional. As for the insert, it's an old MBW. Blue-gray would have been nice, but I'm more than happy with the charcoal color on this one. I thought about getting a gen, but the prices on VRM make me swoon. Finally, I understand: "O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother the Submariner." Big thanks go to Chi for putting this together for me, and to alligoat for making sure things went where they should go!

It was pre-destined! Actually the Tropic looks better in pictures than it does on my small wrist. The curved ends protrude from between the lugs, and it's not as clean-looking as I would like.

+1 for Watch Bitz. Offshore, I wish you'd write about your recent GZ experiences. Your old posts about your trips to China are some of my favorite bits of writing in this forum!

Thanks for the warm welcome to the Sub Club, all. This started out as a straight purchase of an MBW 5512, but it didn't taking long for me to start bombarding Chi with, "Wouldn't it be nice if you could...?" Full credit to him for a spectacular job. Finally, I get it!

I've just received confirmation from the panel. Yes, this is my first-ever Submariner wristie: Thanks, Chi!

One gouda pun deserves another... You feta believe I'll brie back! The little Explorers are nice watches, too! Also, Yuki's 5500 dial is probably the only good Explorer dial they sell these days.

Nice picture of the Pasha, jkay! And I'm feeling an unnatural attraction to those AP Divers... Explorer on the beach:

Great to finally see the full Monty, C! I wonder how many of your watches we haven't seen? Whole lotta "genuine" in that list, R! Hopefully, I get to update my post with a few new pieces by next week...

So do the crabs in your clothes!

I was pretty happy with the yellow/brown staining I got on my last Daytona, using an alcohol/iodine mixture. I'll be trying it out again this week, when I attempt to match hands with old, sharp cheddar-colored markers.

I'm still wishing I'd bought one of those WWWs when Reg still had them! For Tuesday: Omega mesh, Fortis head:

NOS 6265 bezel? Fantastic!