praetor

they bumped up the price again? They're really making it hard to stay in this hobby. If it were a 9315 bracelet though, I would buy it in a hearbeat T_T.

Santa can buy souls ppl!!! He's selling them off to private collectors too OT: can I get a shot of the coronet again? something doesn't look right.

Sponsored by Rolex Also if you look @ the video that automatically plays after this inspirational speech, Rolex is actually embracing their history and you can see this UBER RARE Pointed crown guard DRSD!!!

I've heard a method to tell gen crystals. Look at the bottom edge of the crystal. If you can see the layers of the crystal with the naked eye (you'd have to contrast this against the light) then it's not gen because rep crystals are usually layered much less than a genuine one, which appears quite smooth

you mean have a rep of the 6238 or this particular replica? This one doesn't look too good; it seems to have a 7750 movement and you should notice that the swiss printing is cut off by the subdial. I think the one at josh looks better tbh. DW is always a good choice though.

lol...y you bring up old thread to ask this question???? The answer is no. the feet position is different. rolex @ 13 min and 37 min for 3035 the ETA is about 42 and 11 min

get a working one of these bad boys + ship anchor + underwater camera, tape them together and submerge them under a lake =D

are they really the same size??? wow.. would never thought. Isn't it much harder to get a 6536 insert??

the only parts I can afford to put on my watches are tropics, crowns and inserts (some inserts). That's good nuff for me. =D

I'm not really happy with the paint job either. Krylon is terrible. I'm trying to source better spray paint (graffiti quality, i.e. montana or molotow). Making the blanks is truly a laborious process, I have to file them individually to 27.9mm. Plus I'm really busy for the next 2 months. I screwed up another blank while trying to strip the paint >.<. So... maybe 3-4 months from now if it's not snowing outside =(. I'll try to do a write up next week. This was sort of a last ditch effort before I get really busy.

yea, that picture was from antiquorum. It's a rare insert variation which goes all the way to the edge of a superdomed crystal. I've seen it in at least 2 examples. But most 1665 inserts are like the 5513 one. I don't know how much gen insert goes for now, but I got mine for $165 from some website (not vrf or any other forums), which I think is a steal XD

height difference you say??? maybe nanuq can pitch in on this Gen drsd mk2 my gen FF insert for my mk3 drsd

jmb- yea, these are a pain in the ass to make. That's because I make the blanks myself from the printing plates that I used to print. I'd have to waste 1 plate, drill a hole very accurately, paint it with a can of spray paint (which I found to be very hard to do, I'd have to strip it 7 times already). As for the printing, I've perfected the printing process except for one thing: printing location. I don't have any dial holder of any sort so I rely on marks made on the plate. Ideally, I would have to have a dial holder and know exactly where I would print next time, but I'm cutting corners. I kept my printing project under $500 dollars XD. And yea, you can never get the process perfect, especially with different size fonts like lume plot + marks for example. If anyone wants me to do a full write up on the process I'd be glad to do it. Right now I just wanna chill and relax

It took me two whole days to get to this point. what you see in the case is a prototype dial whose print is smudged out because I screwed up luming. The paint job was [censored] up to begin with anywyas So here's the story. Out of 9 blanks I've made from the emulsion: 2 were drilled misserably 2 were drilled slightly off centre (unacceptable) 5 were drilled perfectly, but severely scratched 1 dial Out of the remaining four blanks: 1 was painted perfectly 2 were painted satisfactorily 1 was painted miserably. Out of the three painted blanks: 1 was printed perfectly 2 was re-printed until it's almost good. I used alcohol to wipe the previous prints, which ruins vintagizes the finish of the paint. so it's an 11% success rate. but at least I have one good one =D

is that you nanuq? edit: we are the top of the food chain, look who's lying on the ground.

this is what the carrera that I dream of: This is the one I have, close nuff.

wow, that's really nice and really expensive 0,o

I think that most vintage rollie reps would pass the wrist test from casual observers/ collectors. It's not them we're fooling, it's ourselves. That's why it's necessary to go the distance XD

And.. the didal is aftermarket, questionable font. The hands are over sized The winding crown looks like a 6mm even thought it says triplock (it's aftermarket)

Thought I'd share this. Getting frustrated after about the 30th attempt (have to re-spray paint the dial each time I fail). The fonts get sharper, but still have alignment issues... sigh. If only the red ink isn't carcinogenic. I guess it's time to work on the 1016 dial blanks now hmm.

At least you can drink. I suffer from a syndrome called ALDH2 deficiency and it runs in the family. Basically, it makes for the build up for aldehydes if alcohol is ingested, which can cause DNA and tissue damage more rapidly, which ultimately cause aging and cancer. So I am genetically programmed to avoid mass consumption of ethanol.

cool story bro. can we get a clear shot of the dial? the patina looks amazing. which handset did you use?

If there is no trademark issues involved (in your case that is, which is a sterile dial) , you can pretty much find a local pad printer in your area. Have a design ready, a vector image design. They typically charge around 75 dollars to print up a dial (for the set up) and a couple of cents per print.

one year later... refinishing a genuine dial.

haha lol. I've spent nearly 500 dollars on my pad printing equipments too XD. It was either this or NDT dial. The choice is obvious. I don't plan to be a dial factory either though, it's very labor intensive especially with the misprints and the resulting cursing. It's been one year in the planning stages...remember this video I posted J? The one that made you look for your printer in your storage? hahaha. So far haven't produced a complete dial yet, but we'll see.