watchgal

I would rather have a gen dial and an ETA 2846 movement than a rep dial and a Rolex movement.

 

^This

To each their own I suppose! 

So I've found a 1570 movements  either hacking or no-hacking variants.  But they do not have the date mechanism on them.  Apparently a D serial version can have the date mechanism added to it.

Can anyone tell me if that will fit my 1680 case above?  And adding the date mechanism - anyone done that or know if it's difficult thing to do?

Thank you freddie.  Wow so a possibility it's genuine?  hmmmm intresting!

I'm waiting to hear back from the VRF guy that had a bunch of movements for sale. Fingers crossed he's still got a 1570!  I'll snap it up if so!

Would it be sacrilegious if I made it into a TT?  Obviously it would be a total franken, but hey anyway I spin it its a franken - I've come this far  

Yes thats true panerai153 - so maybe I won't go much further than movement, dial and hands then   we'll see eh!

Here's some pics of the case I have.. 

You might try over on the Vintage Rolex Forum Marketplace. Please do not mention reps or here or anywhere else remotely related to reps. they will kick you off and you will be forever banned. They have lots of  parts, just need to visit often and stay on the lookout. Sales posts there are carefully scrutinized, so much, much less chance of getting an aftermarket or rep parts than on Ebay. Serviced movements should be a good bit less than 2K. If you want to build a really nice 1680, I would also think about a gen dial as well. I would rather have a gen dial and an ETA 2846 movement than a rep dial and a Rolex movement.

 

Here is mine, gen dial,  insert, pearl, crown/tube endlinks bracelet/clasp running  an ETA 2846 slow beat movement. Excuse the speck of dirt on the dial partially obscuring the 660.

1680a.jpg

This one looks fantastic    well done!

Thanks guys. I'm well aware to  never mention a rep to well, anyone other than on here or the guy that gave me the case!

I know who majola is - I'll email him and see if he has any.  I assumed he wouldn't as he didn't have any posts recently on VRF listing them. In fact, very few seem to land on VRF.

I want to get the watch going, wear it and then look for  gen dial and hands over the following months.  My plan is to have it all genuine bah the actual case. Then I'll keep it forever and wear it during those times when I don't want to wear my genuine watches... like on holidays or out drinking to the wee hours of the morning! 

Hi RWG,

I am the lucky recipient of a 1680 case with a lovely aged rep dial.  I'm looking to add a Genuine 1570 movement and am having trouble locating one that isn't almost $2k - on eBay they fetch silly prices.

Does anyone have any ideas where I can find one?  Also, I will need to find some hands too but they seem to be on the aforementioned auction site.

I have no idea who built this case, it looks very very good..  I'll take some photos and will upload them today to see if we can identify who may have built it.

I can't want  to wear it!

cheers

Lovely!

Are these available anywhere still?  I'd love one but finding it hard to track one down

Thats a very cool dudes watch!

Hi RWG!

Help a girl out

I've got a 2 year old Hublot Big Bang Ladies 38mm Quartz - the swiss eta version I believe. I bought the watch from Trusty in 2011 and it's been a great watch until recently.  

When I pull the crown to set the time, the crown stem is loose in the movement and the hands are very hard to set to the correct time.. the winding stem just spins and nothing happens. It's either a super easy fix or isn't I'm guessing.

She needs-a-fixin-up.

Does anyone know of any Australian watch makers that will take a look at my Hublot?  I paid $288 for it and whilst thats not a lot of coin, the watch is in great condition and is too good to put out to pasture. I'd much rather spend some money and make the watch I have right than buy another than could do the same thing in another year or so.

Help.. anyone have any watch maker dudes that they can refer me too?  happy to go OS too but would rather not wait months and months for it to be fixed.

Thanks in advance.

This is it

http://www.ttw888.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=279_307&products_id=4960

Great review!

What size straps does the Diver take? Same as the Offshore?

Cheers

Hi Ubi.. I'm sorry to drag up such an old thread but hubba hubba I want! I was wondering tho, what mods did you have to make to the steel case? I'd love to put together something like this and have access to the main parts I'd need... assembly is the killer tho cos I'd have to find and pay someone.

Great looking watch and really well done

Oops I missed page 2... the thread got bumped a month ago LOVE LOVE the white Ubi, the watch looks stunning. Well done!

Thanks watchgal! I think we must have very similar taste in watches! Having all these projects open... however, is not good. I'd like to finish them all, but realistically, I probably can't. I certain don't want to be this crazy guy that has tons of hobbies and with everything in pieces.

Did you end up getting the dw from the guy I recommended you to? It's certainly your decision on how much you need to put into this watch. It really depends on how much you like it, whether or not you like to keep it for a very long time. I mean if you buy a 100% gen, it will cost you at least $3500 for a used one, and the total amount you will spend to mod yours will be much less than that.

What you have looks pretty good. I don't think anyone will notice the 60-click bezel, in fact the markers do look better than the v2/v3 120-click ones IMHO. The only thing you need to mod on yours is the dw. Once that's done, you are done.

In the mean while, you might find another case from someone who got a broken movement. Switching cases is actually very easy. There are three small screws that attach the movement, movement holder to the case, once they are unscrewed by the watchmaker, everything come out as one unit. Then you put into another case, screw in those screws... you are done. In fact, I spent more time cleaning the underside of the crystal than actually the watchmaker switching the case. Let me thinking about my mystery BCE set... maybe I can let go of it.

I did contact him for sure, he's a good guy and we've been chatting (hi if you are reading this!) I spose I'm still weighing up whether i want to keep it. I'm not wearing it but not sure why I'm not wearing it. I think its cos I have these other 2 gens that are my all time faves and I feel guilty not wearing them when they cost so much!!! My BCE attracts more attention than I probably like too, and helloooo as if I wouldnt have known that the whole watch is bright red and very shiny

The answers will come to me, I'm sure of it!

I love your TT white BCE cougaree, thats gonna look fabulous! Oh hell, I like all your projects above.

I'm still debating on what to do with my red bce... it needs some work.. so do I persevere with it and drop more $ into it or just move it now and be done with it? Ahhhh decisions decisions

Thanks Cougaree, your advice has been a big help to me. For now, I'm happy with the watch so I'll just leave it as is.

Thanks cougaree. I like the watch, its quite funky with the red dial and strap.

I'll see how I go with it. It's probably not a big deal. Just annoys me a little that I thought I was buying one thing and got another. That's life in this world I guess - seen enough comments from other people to see it happens often.

Does this help identify the version?

Nice! I was wondering when you were going to post some pics... as you suggested several months ago that you would Congrats!

New spring bars can be bought at your local watch place, or mall kiosk. They might charge you around $2 each. Now, if you need these spring bars for your strap, you can just pick up 2 22mm, it will be just fine. If you are going to use them on the ss bracelet, you may need to try them on before buying because they may/may not fit depends on how much the pins retract.

I like all my v2/v3 bracelets. They are very nice. I'm surprised to hear that you don't like yours. However, upon closer looking at your photos, it suggests me you might actually have a v1/v4 BCE (I think definitely not a v2/v3). Your bezel looks like coming from a v1/v4 BCE. The bezel makers on a v1/v4 BCE are deeper (this is the nice) but they are a little bit closer to the outer edge of the bezel than gen or v2/v3. The pearl also doesn't look like from v2/v3. To verify this, you can check to see yours have visible crown tube (the threads are visible when you unscrew the crown on a v1/v4) See if the case underneath of the two pushers nice and straight or curved (on v2/v3 it's curved). I think v1 BCE has 60 click bezel and v4 has 120 click. If yours has 120 click, it will puzzle me because on a v4 the date wheel should have correct font. If it's 60 click one, it's quite possible the BCE is a v1, which makes much sense about the asian date wheel font.

hmmm I think you might be right about the V1 and that makes my blood boil. It's a 60 click bezel I just checked it. I sent Josh a bunch of emails making sure I got a V2/V3. The pushers look straight to me. I specifically told him what I was doing wiht the watch ie putting in a gen dial so I wanted an accurate date font. Being inexperienced as I am, I didn't realise. I should have posted photos of the watch I got before mod'ing it :bangin: This watch config has cost me about $550USD

I just spent 40mins getting the bracelet off! I need new springbars, any idea where i can pick up the right ones?

So in a bit of a red mood now.....

and with my 48

Not almost, that IS fugly

How about the one in the middle guys?

Thanks for the comments guys. I think I'll go the Breitling Pro Diver actually, It'll dull the red down a bit and add some versatility to the watch. As for the date font. I dont have anyone locally to install it for me, so I'll probably leave the watch as is. The guy that fitted the dial wasn't happy about working on a replica, so he's out of the question for more mods.

The bracelet doesn't curve to my wrist.. the links are quite flat and it gets disjointed when on. Also the clasp doesnt close tightly and overall its a bit clunky. Maybe I got a dodgy one???

I'm happy with it how it is. I have 2 gens that get 99% of wrist time anyways.. I pop this on every now and then for fun

Looks like I'll be taking a trip to the AD this weekend.

Cheers fellas!

Did you end up getting one in Aus and if so how much was it if I may ask?

So a few months back you'll remember i posted these pics...

Well I've now had the dial fitted to one of Josh's V2 BCEs. It looks pretty good. Maybe a little less 'red' than how the dial looked out of the watch, maybe the crystal is causing that. I'm really not happy with the bracelet at all, I find it quite uncomfortable. Attempts to get the bracelet off have also failed me.. I think the spring bars are really tight. So I might have to drop it back to a watchmaker to assist there. I'm also not really sure what strap I want to fit to it. Any ideas?

Here's some pics:

Viewing these pics again, they have come up looking much deeper red than how it really looks. It's certainly not a subtle combo at all!

Maybe a simple black calf on deployant would suffice... or maybe Breitling rubber strap old Pro Diver? What you guys think?