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I ran across this when I was doing some research, this site has a whole set of dealer cards in a PDF for sownload:

My $85 tre&#$watch a21j DRSD might be here tomorrow (cleared out of SF customs this morning so Wed. at the latest) and I will do a review with a lot of pix. Of course, that's about twice as much as I like to pay for something I'm gonna "practice" on but y'all are starting to be a bad influence on me...

That would be right up TeeJay's alley...

I have a new Pentax K2000 that I am still struggling getting used to. I hadn't touched an SLR of any kind for at least 15 years or so (back in the 35mm film days) and never had used a macro lens so I'm having to learn and re-learn a bunch of crap I've forgotten over the years...

I posted numerous pics on my "upgraded" V5 five recently, just look back a few days...

I would imagine your dial has already decided for you! Just pick something you've always wanted and start scrounging.

I have ordered a couple more bezel inserts (like the one I "modified" in this thread) and I will try the urethane clear approach on them. The only thing that might be a problem is it's viscosity (or lack of) might not let it pool up high enough to get a nice "lens" effect. We'll see, inserts should be here in a couple of weeks...

Hmmm, somebody filed off the CGs!!! Very streamlined and I would think "casual" but classy looking.

+1 to Gio. I looked at their "budget" Turn-O-Graph and it's only a little over twice as much as Silix wants for it so you gauge their other prices accordingly!

Thanks, TeeJ. Yeah, I'm gonna have to get some of that lume stuff to experiment with...

Seems I remember somebody mentioning that some epoxies would not yellow, we'll see. I may do one with some polyester resin like is used on fiberglass, it is almost 100% resin and just a smidge of hardener instead of 50% catalyst like epoxy... Another thing to try (since I repaint motorcycles on the side) is a drop of catalyzed polyurethane clear (like DuPont Chroma Deluxe), that stuff never yellows. The more I think about this I may skip the resin experiment...

Gio, you mentioned that the CG were same shape as gen does just this particular model have fatter flat-topped CGs or have they transitioned away from the "pointy" slimmer CGs? I really like the looks of a more substantial CG (like this) but I had just about gotten used to the skinny ones! To me these look like a brand new gear tooth whereas the skinny ones look like a worn out gear tooth!

It seems that one thing most people can agree on is that the pearl on the Noobmariner leaves a lot to be desired. A while back I read about the "epoxy mod" on one of the forums and with new members thinking about Noobmariners it made me remember to try it out. The insert and pearl I recently put on my cheap no-date had a pearl almost identical (zit-wise) to that on my Noobmariner so I figured it would be a good victim to practice on. I used a clear "5 minute" epoxy and dabbed in a little at a time until it "flowed out" to the level I wanted. I think it improved things a lot so here are the pics... These are the kind of mods I like - FREE!!

I agree that a reproduction would apply better to a vintage piece (any copy of an old no longer made part is a "repop", or reproduction part, in the auto restoration hobby) but replica "bothers" me in that it implies a perfect copy which we all know does not exist at this time... I'm not really hung up on this but I just wonder about things sometimes. Like I use to tell the kids when they were growing up, "Words mean things". Well, enough of this - time to head out to the shop and see how the epoxy mod that I did to my cheap no-date last night turned out!

To OP, my movement issues aside I still feel this is one of the best values out there, maybe even a little better than the $148 DG2813 powered V5 DSSD from eurotimez! Cosmetic wise all I have done to mine is change the crown and tube as I have one of the "early" Noobs w/o rehaut engraving and huge crown - I've heard the later versions have a more proportionate crown. I'm glad this thread came up because it reminded me I hadn't done the "epoxy mod" to the pearl yet so I'll do it later today. You will not go wrong buying one of these.

To all you "No-Date Sub" guys, next time you have occasion to have the movement out of your watch take a peek behind the dial. I found, at least on my cheapo w/a21j, it was actually a movement with date wheel AND it had a Submariner compatible overlay on it! I now have a spare date wheel overlay for cheap Sub projects... I don't know if this would be the norm for higher end pieces but might be worth checking...

Thanks to both of you for the help, it is much appreciated. I have decided not to "waste" the onewatch date wheel on a "fantasy" so I used another one I had and will save the better one for a more deserving project.

Aack! I must have had a mental block when I saw the band price the first time! Your band cost more than all of my complete watches except two!

Coronet looks to have the right shape, here is an aftermarket "made as gen" crown and tube on my Noobmariner and you can see that the "spikes" of the coronet are considerably skinnier than yours.

mastermind, that is another thing I was told by D4M (and others on RWI) that was a common Noob movement problem - stem too long! You can prune the stem by .020" or so and at least that problem would be solved. Stopping when laying flat? Maybe we could mate it with a 4813 I got that stops when I turn it upside-down and it would have perfectly running offspring!

Cool, TeeJay, looks quite "snappy"! Maybe put a stick-marker or something at 9:00 to make it look a tad more balanced... Maybe I should send you this "incorrect" DSSD dial for you to rob the "maxi markers" from, whaddya think?

mastermind, I don't think they came with 2813s, at least thats what D4M (RWI dealer) told me after I bought it from him. He said the movements in them were even cheaper than your regular run-of-the-mill a21j. I've had pretty good luck with the actual DG2813s...

Yeah, I can dig the date wheel. It looks so, hmmm, how should I say, medieval? An extremely classy piece - you better hide it from TeeJay!

Thanks, ubi, that's simple enough. I can probably make one out of a piece of spring wire. I would guess, then, that this is a gen style bezel? At least I know what one looks like now! Looking at their "store" would I also need the "Bezel Flat Friction Washer 16800 16808 16610 For Rolex"?

I doubt I could have hit my "price target" with a gen crystal! Next time I'll have to be more careful and not bust the "stock" one... I think I'll probably take this one back apart and thin the CG and work on the bezel some. This is one of the super cheap jobs that had a sheet-metal insert so I will probably need to clamp the bezel into the lathe and deepen the "groove" the insert fits into. :-p