ubiquitous

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Thanks for the kind words! Much appreciated! Gen rivet will be a must! Have a feeling it will completely change the look feel of the watch... While the NATO works, my preference for Rolex Subs is definitely a steel Oyster Glad I got mine when I did! Happened on it by chance. The seller had some blurry images... And not a single one showing any great detail. I noticed some of the little crimps on the crown at the base of the teeth and figured it was either genuine, or an artifact of bad photography. Still... For the price, it was more than worth the chance... Just glad it turned out in my favor @Valty- I know we exchanged some discussion on how far our crowns seem to thread down; does yours screw down more/less or about the same as mine?

Thought I'd try my hand at one of these... Brief departure from the 1940's dress watches I've been working on lately This project started more as a curiosity; I was intrigued specifically by the whisperings and 'myth' of dials that were so close to gen, that they may as well be. So, my adventure initiated with a dial and hand set from cc33; great guy to work with and cannot say enough good things about him. He's truly an asset to the community and I consider him one of the great authorities on Big Crowns. He's really done a lot of research on these and it shows in his fantastic builds. The dial base is a genuine Beyeler, refinished to genuine specs in the same process that such dials were produced back in their time. The gilt fonts, chapters and index are all base metal, framed up with chocolate brown 'tropical', patina. Sealing everything in is nitrocellulose lacquer... Which provides a nice, glossy mirror-like finish. Looking at the dial at an angle, one can see that the gilt attributes are actually on a different, lower plane of the dial surface; adds a lot of character and depth to the watch. After seeing the dial up close and in my hands, I knew I had to keep going. Hands are a nice set of gilt with lollipop seconds; nice match to the markers. Had to have a small repair done on the seconds hand; the tube had separated from it completely and so I had to have a new one riveted on (but it's all set now). A project just wouldn't be a project without a few hurdles along the way; it would be a bit boring if there were no troubleshooting or problems to solve and everything just went together without any effort I love LOVE the big bubble of the lollipop seconds... Maybe one of my favorite details on this watch. Perhaps especially so, considering the effort needed to get it sorted out The insert is a near mint, pristine example of a fat font I had come across on luck. It appears to be, perhaps from a 1680/8, as the fonts are slightly beige in tone. They're a great match to the cream luminous markers on the dial. I also picked up a nice, even faded grey insert, but felt that it wasn't quite as good of a match to the overall feel of the watch. Just chucked that one back into the spares box and will maybe find a use for it someday... The movement is a clean 1030, fully overhauled by the master up North And wrapping it all up is a case from Phong, matched with a gen 800 crown that I picked up for a whopping $15. Took a bit of a risk on it as the pics were not great, but there were some small details that stood out that I felt comfortable with. That... And it was only $15! Sure, it's got some wear... A knick here and a small ding there... But for the price... I ain't complaining. As mentioned in other threads, my crown doesn't screw down completely; a common problem as many gen examples out there seem to suffer the same issue. On to some pics... Insert pairing #1 Insert pairing #2 All I really need now is to find a suitable rivet Oyster (it's on a NATO for now)... For this I can wait. Got some Pateks to start working on now... Thanks for looking! //ubi

It's good.

I get about 3/4 turn on mine as well... Kinda irritating...

*drrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool* I hearts the RWB... 993 is maybe my favorite of the generations... Last of the air cooleds and last of the squirrly suspension. The newer generations like the 997 and 991 are nice too, but seems too big... Even if they are more user friendly...

Seems as though things come in pairs... Looks like I have a second chrono queueing up on the books.

Well... I use the term 'beater' maybe more in the sense in that it's suitable for just about anything the day has to throw at me And less so in that I put the watch through abuse The vintage PP are nice... But being pieces from the 40's/50's, they're not water resistant...

Excellent collection Marsu!

Bruins

Shifty ass Asians! (I'm Asian too)

Yeah... It fits. Have a gen Maxi dial/hands and 3135 fitted in my beater...

Absolutely gorgeous! I love it!

1960's beater today...

Absolutely killer! Very well done! And fantastic work by Zig...

The old EL case is Legendary! Nice find!

5514 today...

Thank you. The watch above is an ongoing build of mine. The reference is model 530, which is a 1940's piece. Dial and hour/minute hands are genuine PPCo; strap is current production Patek (Camille Fournet) and the buckle is a period correct steel buckle. Movement s currently just a run of the mill Valjoux 23, which will be converted to 13-130 specs. Steel case is custom made. This is a companion to my other build... A ref 570 in steel, also from the 40s:

Fantastic build! Love, LOVE the box! Very nice touch!

Thanks, gang. Appreciate the kind words I don't normally like to post images like this (poor quality, bad lighting), but I thought this was a fun image... Size comparison with my 201/A build... The 570 Calatrava in the center is the smallest of the 3 at 36mm. The 530 Chrono is 37mm...

Congrats! Glad to have you here!