Just a couple pics of a recent project that is just finishing up. I began this one roughly 6 months ago; the process of gathering parts has been slow and with plenty of pitfalls along the way. I think I've purchased at least two of everything over in trying to get the right combination of parts that i) worked well together and ii) achieved the look and aesthetics that I was after.
Here's what we have:
-Genuine Rolex 1520, serviced and overhauled by The Zigmeister.
-Genuine Rolex 5513 dial; original and untouched.
-Genuine Rolex 5513 Submariner Lumi hands, relumed in a vintage tone by The Zigmeister.
-Genuine 25-19 crystal.
-Genuine fat font tritium insert.
-Genuine bezel.
-Genuine 703 crown (waiting to be installed).
-Genuine 7030 tube (waiting to be installed).
-Phong case
-Genuine 2mm rolex springbars.
Bracelet for the interim is a Franken in and of itself; gen 580 ends and 93150 clasp; links are 93150 rep links. I am searching for a bracelet that looks just right, and will swap when acquired.
For the sake of brevity, and without further adieu, pics... (I'll fill in more of the back story at a later time)
The case back is temporary as I'm having a custom piece made. Hopefully that will be done by the end of the month.
Thanks for looking!
//ubi
Best of luck with all your future endeavors, and thanks for being a part of this community, D.
However, I have a feeling that you'll be back May not be anytime soon... But this stuff is a hard habit to quit
Cheers!
//ubi
I hate to say it, but the world is full of self serving folks who, once they find what they want, just move on. I know folks like this in day to day life at the office, and experience this type of behavior in public no matter where I seem to go.
Manners, it seems, is a lost art these days...
Sorry, buddy Yeah... I suspect the dials in the MBWs are also available for the 15xx movements as well. If you look at my MBW pic above, you'll notice that the dial feet (removed) are in the right positions for a gen movement...
For me... The sapphire black dial models always drive me nuts, as everytime I look down at the dial, all I see is reflection. Reflections of the indicies bouncing off the back side of the crystal and then again off the glossy dial. Couple that with the other reflections that the crystal catches on the exterior, and it's just enough to make me change to vintage
Plus, I just love the acrylic crystals... The charm they add to a vintage watch is something that a lot of people connect with, yet it's a difficult aspect to really describe.
Bi-directional bezel is correct. The vintage 1680/5512/5513/1665, etc. all had bi-directional bezels (no ratchets, clicks, etc).
Date should be slow set; i.e. you have to go two full revolutions of the dial with the hands to get the date to change over to set it (no quick set like the ETAs, etc).
Insert looks correct to me. In fact, it looks a lot like my gen fat font:
Okay... Found an old MBW dial in my archived pics (this is a REALLY old pic; please don't pay mind to the quality):
And here's gen:
Not the best pics, but I'll take more later this afternoon...
The interesting thing about gen dials is the finish on the back side of the plate. Usually a funky patina going on...
Well, there are certainly 'replica' Singer dials; replica in the sense that yes, even the plates and stampings are non-genuine.
I'll take a pic tonight of a replica Singer dial plate. If I have an MBW, I will snap a pic of that one as well (those have a very obvious tell, as the Singer stamp is nothing like the real thing)
Unfortunately, they are completely different, A. The 16610's crystal is about 1 mm larger than the 16600 in diameter; they just won't exchange because of that...