jmb

Freddy - I see the Spaceview crystal there, you doing a build? I'd love to have a Spaceview but they usually go for a lot more than I feel comfortable paying. Here's what I built. Picked up a non-working movement/dial/hand set, a case, and case-back and built a watch head out of it. The movement just needed a light service and I was able to muddle through it without tearing anything up. Once I had a working head I ordered a band from Borel that I figure would be fairly period correct. My case looks the same as yours except for the gold plating.

I have not built for myself, or bought, a rep in years and even Frankens are getting a bit expensive for my blood. BUT, I have recently been playing around with Bulova Accutrons and they are really starting to grow on me. I've built up two with the Accutron 2181 movements and they are so appreciative they hum to me! Kinda like a purring kat.

Iz that a baar or Nanuq!

I usually find that the tube starts out sticking waaaay too far out of the case, hence the need for the counterbore...

R, I was not going to rat you out! In defense of rm1406 he did NOT snap off the tube.

I have a lot of people contact me wondering why they can't just screw a 24-6020 tube into a rep case so they can use a Rolex crown. It sounds like such an easy process, anybody should be able to do it! Not quite so simple, though... Most rep cases have a tube hole that's too small so it will need to be drilled out and re-tapped: A lot of folks do this and are bummed when the crown sticks up like a third-eye zit! Most people don't look at the new tube that closely and fail to notice the chamfer/angle between the tube's crown threads and case threads so they keep cranking on it until the tube snaps off in the case: I have quite a few sent to me in this condition... It seems all that would be necessary would be to countersink the tube hole to allow the tube to set flush against the case: Well, not quite - crown still sticks out too far: The amount of countersink is dependent on the crown being used so from this point I just increase the countersink into a shallow "counterbore" untill the crown sits about the way I want it. The amount of counterbore will vary so I'm not going to say how deep, that is something you have to experiment with to find: Screw the tube in, just right: And you're all set!

Sounds like my bolt-bucket. It's got so much in it now I have to drag it and so deep I can't find anything in it. I need to toss it...

I would bet a good portion of Automatico's stash that it's for a 2836 if it came from fleabay...

In Fairbanks they have, or used to have, a "Midnight Sun Softball League." I remember taking in a few games when I was at Ft. Wainwright... We had to put tin-foil over the bedroom windows or the wife couldn't sleep!

Geeze, Nanuq, I thought that was one of your "light" vintagizing tools and it can even wind watches! I love multi-purpose toolz...

Hell yeah!

That's a bit drastic, I was thinking more in the line of chucking the crown in an electric drill and lettin' 'er rip!

Sure glad Automatico chimed in, I wuz gonna suggest Vise-Grips! On that screw you don't want to back it out too far or it will let go of the lever...

Fitting a rep SEL to anything other than a case that was produced by the same "factory" is often an exercise in futility!

Prayers going out from Texas to our Cousins across The Pond. I can't fathom living through something like that and it only reinforces how grateful I feel for living in a country where I have the right to defend myself from soulless thugs and cretins.

Another unusual watch that is probably more form than function... http://newatlas.com/hm6-alien-nation-watch/49842/

Super job, as usual, Rolo!

You get the "Thinking outside the box" award. Bravo!

I have used a couple of the Clark and they fit and function nicely. As mentioned polish to your own spec.

AFAIK, the end link will need to be taken apart, the end-link assembled onto it with the proper pin, and then pressed back together. Yet another reason to only build vintage!

Gee, almost like a family reunion! rm - I'm getting old, I doubt I have time left to even use a small portion of them! The last Yuki "Rolex" Explorer dial I used still seemed gen-spec but they also have one with ETA feet. I would suspect it to be the same dial 'cept for different feet location.

Glad to see it turned out so nice! Congrats on a super job and great first build. Yes, the additional "dial seat" room is kind of a pain but unfortunately such is the world of rep parts. When I first started using these cases the dial seat was around 28.5mm, IIRC. Over the years they've slowly creeped larger and larger - I suppose this is to easily accommodate the wide variance in rep dial diameter. I voice my complaints when they first got to 29mm but just received a "sorry" this is what is now available. I was told he could get special runs made but I would have to pay up front for a 500 piece minimum. I told him I didn't think I'd live long enough to go through that many cases...

Yummy!

580, for sure. I really don't like the looks of SELs, too "artificial" if you know what I mean...

I like gadgets but this might be taking it a bit far... http://newatlas.com/hysek-collosal/48882/