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Any of you wanting to try your hand at building a Tudor Prince Date or some other 34mm watch (I just transplanted the guts from a 36mm Air-King into one just fine) let me know as I'm fixin' to order a few more cases and I'll add you to the list. Cost will be about $25.

Dean - Yeah, I know that sanding the ring is kinda tough if done by hand but without having the watch and crystal to fit things to... Glad you have it fitted and all is back together - looks nice! I didn't know PT made a COMEX version of that... J

Guess it's time to go "Maxi" for a day or two - haven't worn this one for a while...

Nanuq, I feel your pain, there is no reason you should have to suffer with that! Send it to me and I' wear it out and send it back when it doesn't glow anymore...

When I started this addiction I was fascinated with every watch I got in and tried to rotate wearing them. After going through 25 or so, like you I started getting bored. It's to the point where the only ones that really interest me are ones I can build as it's the fun of getting that "good buy" on a dial that is unusual, modifying parts, etc.

Geeze, F, that thing's a freakin' monster!

Going old-skool today...

Some metals need to have to be copper plated before other plating...

I dunno - it's sorta cool looking in a retro sort of way!

I hope so. Some of these things look like a "Baby Ben" alarm clock with a strap!

Does the rehaut have the ROOLEXROLEX... engraving? If not it's likely that model is not supposed to have it. Most of the time the coronet is etched too pronounced which is more of a tell than not being there. As rosnik points out the gen's laser etching is impossible to see without correct light and viewing angle. Most agree that it's better to be missing the coronet then having one that's easy to see.

Back to the Prince...

I found this one for sale on-line at Wingate's: LH, smooth bezels are fairly easy to crank out. I've made 3 or 4...

Pure mechanical porn...

Probably an ETA2836 (real, clone, or variant) and I think they all have the coronet except the DSSD and the Milgauss GV (greenish tint crystal).

Red, no problems at all. This may not have fit into one of the "new batch" of cases but this was one of the cases from a batch of $45 Prince Dates I bought for the 34mm cases...

I bought a budget Air-King a while back that had what I thought was a fairly good dial but it was in a 36mm case. I decided to put one of my 34mm Tudor cases to use and make a bit more correct Air-King. I sanded the Tudor engraving off the case-back and transplanted the movement and dial assembly from the 36mm case to the 34mm case. I then popped the glass crystal and replaced it with a Clark T12, turned a smooth bezel out of some 303, and installed a proper band that wasn't made out of STEBLHOX. I really like the dial, so simple and uncluttered. I think these "Rodneys" of the Rolex world need a bit more exposure so here's a few more pics now that it is the correct size!

I always found it odd that occasionally stuff goes through Chinese customs when it leaves from GZ...

I'm gonna ask my parts guy if he can also get the more "vintage" case backs like you WE example. As far as straps go, I don't really like 'em, for the most part - except the ones that have end-links and deployment clasps look pretty good...

I have been doing much web surfing and it seems the engraving on this case-back looks correct for later Prince Date watches but maybe not so for the older Prince Oysterdate models. I'm not complainin' 'cause it made a really nice looking easy to wear timepiece!

T, yeah, I fell in love with the dial as soon as I saw it!

I'm starting to like them more than Rolex!

Wearing my freshly assembled new Tudor-Toy.

"Destructive" sounds so barbaric, using the "aggressive stock removal method" sounds much more civilized!

That's the band style hackR turned me on to and I now have one on the Chrono as well!