ubiquitous

BT- I enjoy the white dial quite a lot, but the black dial is a nice change as well. It's a versatile combo... But the white dial (to me) is the 'classic' El Primero Daytona Ziggy- Yessir... 10 days turn time total! You never cease to amaze me on this stuff... And the work you've done on the movement is phenominal- it now looks brand new! I couldn't believe this was the same one I originally sent, and neither could Jess... A night and day difference from the old dirty movement I sent you! And the movement started right up... Ran through the night, and is now on my right wrist (white one is on my left). Thank you for working your magic on this (as always)! Hmmm... So, do we open up that barrel? (I have no idea how )...

I'm sporting this pair today (under a long sleeve shirt )... Maradona style...

Yessir- Got the movement back yesterday afternoon from Ziggy; I had everything put together before dinner

Installed a Valjoux23 in mine (with Ziggy's help)...

Just a couple of pics...

2006/2007 marks the end of any 15xx movement support; I'm not surprised you were turned away. Select European markets may still service, subject to parts availability.

At the end of the day... It's anyone's outsider guess as to why Rolex does what they do. If anyone knows, it's the people behind the closed doors in Geneva...

Yes indeed. A forum member on one of the gen boards submitted pics of his friend's 1665 DRSD, accepted by a Rolex AD and sent in to an RSC for service. The dial, a very poorly done repaint went either undetected, or someone just didn't care. I agree that part of the problem is probably attributed to (the lack of) experienced staff; the individuals at RSC who would know these watches inside and out are probably on the cusp of retiring from the business. These are the guys who have had extensive careers at Rolex Service with their knowledge gained from first hand experience through the years. As this turn over takes place, the new techs may not have the knowledge or expertise to properly identify such pieces. I do know that one of the other factors in the equation is the 'collector' aspect. By this, I mean the phenomenon that has become collectible vintage pieces. As collectors try to increase the values of their watches, many pieces were sent in to RSC's for verification and full service so that one could offer service papers and docs to further increase the value of a watch (by confirming authenticity and provenance). Unfortunately, such has been the case where one could verify in writing from an RSC that a watch with a very specific exotic dial (a PN for instance) is indeed genuine, and that individual owning the watch could then swap out the dial with an aftermarket, keeping the original dial for himself (worth beaucoup bucks) but with verification papers showing that the dial in the watch he is selling is genuine/original (when it's not). This has burned collectors and Rolex as well... And is why they stopped verifying. There were some other mishaps as well... Like RSC NY, DAL, BH authenticating 5517 dials when they're really not qualified to, etc. I suspect that these issues, as well as several other contributing factors are why RSC's no longer do any authetications on things like dials...

What is there to say about the watch? It's a franken... No doubt. And there are a number of flaws... The pics, to me, tell all. Dial is not correct. Hands are not correct. Bezel assembly is questionable. Bezel insert is wrong. Crown does not look genuine to me. Caseback engraving is performed incorrectly and is inaccurate. Case is suspect. Probably more flaws, but those are the ones I noticed immediately.

I'll see what I can do. I'll try to do a recording of my white dial EP400...

Well said Eddy.

Well, anymore, it seems that Rolex doesn't care what dial you have on your watch- Could be genuine, fake, original, repainted, etc. Rolex has stated that they are not in the business of authenticating dials any longer; they've been burned too many times in the past by providing this service. In fact... Just recently I have seen a couple of instances where a watch with a very poorly refinished dial made it through an RSC for service. The dial was one of the HK dials (you know the ones- heavy serif font, and a misaligned ROLEX 'L' under the coronet). The RSC in this case didn't even offer a replacement dial to the 'aftermarket' piece that was installed. They just serviced it and returned the item.

DOH!

I got a chuckle out of it

Just as Heywood mentioned... $13k and sale as final; no recourse when (not if) Rolex Service informs the poor fellow who ends up buying this one that it's not genuine. The seller knows it's fake... Those terms/conditions and price tell the story...

All issues resolved here as well. Thanks Admin!

Nicely done!

The MBWs typically have the dial glued... This instance also comes up when building a watch where a genuine dial is used with an ETA (Rolex for example), as the dial feet are almost always in different positions (unless the genuine example also uses the same base ETA for the movement).

Simple! Glue the stem in too! (just kidding)

Wow. Just amazing, Mark. Absolutely amazing. I don't know how I missed this thread... But your 3646 has turned out phenominal! A work of art, that one. Needless to say... I love it!

.Have a look at the details... Like the caseback (specifically the engraving...). The movement is correct, I believe... Some other tells are present as well... But all in all, this is a dangerous piece (and with someone representing this as genuine, it's no wonder why franken-makers get a bad rap).

Oops... Yes, the first pic is of a completely different watch (please disregard... It was not part of the actual set, but found it's way into my post...). I'll edit and remove in a moment...

This is one of those pieces... Posted on another forum, but I thought it would be interesting for the education of those here (who may be interested in genuine vintage Rolex as well). This is an interesting frankenwatch... I'll let the pics do the talking. But what's more... Who is making such pieces? I have a few sources in mind, but have not confirmed anything as of yet. Someone is going through quite a lot of effort in building such a piece... It's apparent that it's fake to someone who is familiar with this model, but to someone just cutting their teeth in the collector's world, this could be a costly mistake... Pics were borrowed from the original post- They are not mine.

If you need the hack, you could simply place the movement in a movement holder and reinsert the stem. This will allow you to hack the hands.

$10 watch? Hmmmmm How about this one which was built using a bunch of old junk parts?