ubiquitous

Do you want best bang for your buck? Or are you willing to invest some money, time, etc? For 'best Sub for the money'... The $100 Noobmariner. No doubt. Otherwise, you have to build it. Personally, my favorite recipe is... TW Best case TW Best crystal (with invisible crown etch @ 6:00; visible with a loupe) Noobmariner dial Noobmariner bracelet Genuine insert Genuine crown and tube ETA 2836 (gold or nickle... Doesn't make much difference since the caseback is solid, and neither looks like the gen 3135 anyways) Noobmariner datewheel overlay Shape the CG's a slight amount, shave the insert down, assemble the parts listed above and the result: 2.5x Date mag Deep rehaut Hollow linked, short SEL bracelet Genuine inserts/pearls However, at the end of the day... There is simply no denying that a rep is just a rep. If you are seeking absolute perfection, save your money and buy the real deal. Cheers, R

EL's? You mean... El Genuine?

Only 14k... For a 6263. Not the correct 18k...

Interesting... Have any pics, MD? I've not seen one of Paul's 1665's or 5513's... I'd like to see what kind of ring Paul is using...

I don't see a microstella balance...

Franken-DW today...

How does the rep insert that you're going to replace look? One thing you could theoretically do is transplant the pearl... That is, if the rep insert is up to snuff. That would be one hell of an expensive pearl, though

Yeah... A bit much for a franken-project

Oops! Also forgot to mention the 93160 bracelet for this one... One of the first steel tool watches to have an SEL bracelet... You'll need one of those too. So... $2800 in parts...

The crystal I can source... The actual bezel and ring w/ click, I have no idea where to find. I've been looking for a matte dial for a while now for someone else... That's going to be tricky to source. Caseback is going to be near impossible to find as well. At the end of the day... You'll have $2k+ in parts alone if they can be found. The more important factor in the project (even more so than money) will be patience. Parts do turn up every now and then... Just have to be in the right place at the right time, with the right coin

Well... The 16660 and 16600 have a crystal that is almost 1mm smaller than a 16800/16610; rep SD's are based on rep Sub cases, so in theory, a modern 16610 case wouldn't work. Now, if you used your MBW case, you'd have to drill for a new valve, new caseback, new bezel w/ click, and of course, proper dial... And, that's if you can find the parts. 16660's are highly sought after as the next big hype... You'll be in fierce competition with purist collectors for parts that may or may not fit.

Indeed... 16660 is the transitional... First sapphire crystal SD. Have a look at this... Eyeballing the pic, the insert appears to be the same size as a vintage insert.

Forgot to mention... Hollow links, too....

Very strange. Only thing I can think of is that it's for a 16660 SD... 16800 is the same size as the 16610... All 1665's/1680's/551x's use the same size inserts, and vintage with acrylic crystals don't have the metal surround on the pearl anyways.

Personally, I still prefer DW's v1.0 dials... Even with the incorrect coronet position, they were far better.

Hell... I don't even understand what you mean...

Well... There are a few things that should probably be explained... The concentric rings and radial sunburst finish of the dial were washed out when I eliminated the noise from the pic They are there... The crown is situated much lower than the v1.0 dials... Everything else you pointed out is as you see it. Perhaps the new owner will post some pics of it (which should be better than mine)

On the aBay (which merely identifies the origin of this particular Chinese made Sub), the retaining ring was something I had to add. The lip for the crystal accepted the crystal, though it was a little loose; once the retaining ring was pressed on, it held properly. If you want to install a genuine crystal to any case other than a vintage MBW, you'll have to either source a retaining ring, or glue the crystal in place; subsequently, you may have to glue the bezel down as well, as on the CN Subs, the crystals are tension fit to the original rep crystal (which is of completely different dimensions when comparing to genuine). Hope this helps... R

MD salaries are high... But how much of that is paid into things like malpractice insurance, etc.?

Thank you! I've got it pretty well modded- Lots of gen parts, and a few more mods left to do. It's been a fun one to build... As for the markers on yours... I would imagine that reluming would be possible. I myself lack the talent to do lume jobs, so I'd probably farm the job out to Ziggy (who does a gorgeous job of vintage lumes). If you have a steady hand, it would be worth a try. But I think given the course texture of the dial, the lume, if mixed too thin, would bleed under any tape/masked areas

Hey Bob- This is the most recent DW I had in my hands. What do you think of the dial?

Here's an old aBay 1680 with a spare crystal retaining ring and T-19 installed...

Here is my DW 6263- Modified with a gen crown, tube, T21 crystal and Swiss Valjoux 23... While not a Sub or SD, it is a non-MBW

For vintage 1680/1665/551x? The only way to make them wider is to paint/lume them wider... If you have an MBW, the markers are already pretty decent...

I'm going to guess closer to $2k - $3k.