wiesn089

My donor watch (V726) was 950€ if I remember correctly. I think a V72, V726 is well worth it, if a Daytona is somewhat of a grail to you. There are still plenty parts around (though they seem to be getting pricier) and honestly these movements are nothing different than all the other vintage ones. When you care for them and get them serviced regularly you will be able to enjoy them for a long, long time. I agree with LHOOQ however, get a good and complete one, don't let a bad one ruin your project right from the beginning.

Beautiful, spectacular mods, looks amazing!

Jup noticed this yesterday on my gen 1974ish Sigma dial, it only lasted a few minutes though.

Thanks for the link, it comfirms my decision for the 15300. I think the diver looks way too huge on small wrists, especially when you're used to smaller watches like me.

+1

Great photo, Donerix! God, all these beautiful APs are killing me... my Cosmograph is looking for company

Rolex. Always thought everyone owning one was the biggest Shmok, now I own an almost complete gen 6265 and have a modern Daytona and two vintage Submariners on my wishlist.

Thanks for the further comments, guys. Rolexfinder's APs seem great as well (awesome actually), but I would prefer one with a seconds hand. Unless someone is selling one at the right price of course...

Thanks Theo, I'll go the 15300 with black dial and if I like it I might actually consider the APBands conversion kit. If anybody has an ultimate jumbo 15300 for sale in EU please drop me a line, I'd love to have one for my trip to France in a few weeks time.

Hi AP fans! I was going to get a 5711G Nautilus but after some AP Divers popped up in the wristshot threads I came to the conclusion that an AP is more of my style. I love the Diver design but I am worried about the size since I have pretty small wrists (about 16cm = 6.3 inch-ish). I think a 15300 Jumbo would be the better choice, but then again I love the two-crown design of the Diver and especially the modded beauties Uwe posted here not long ago... Could someone who has both please post a side-by-side shot so I can see the difference? That would be amazing! Maybe someone does have a Speedmaster, Planet Ocean 42mm, modern or vintage Sub or something lying around and can compare how they both wear in comparison. My daily wearer is a 6265 Daytona at the moment, I know that this will look ridiculously small compared to both APs but I think I will be able to adjust, I feel that the 6265 is more of a dress watch and lust for something more sporty. Another question: Are there any aftermarket leather bands for the jumbo so I could change the look easily and are there any smaller aftermarket rubber straps for the diver, I read that the strap might be too large for smaller wrists... Thanks

This is ridiculous, you obviously aren't very knowledgable concerning watch movements ("we are talking gen Tag here, not Valjoux 7750") yet call out "franken" movements based on screw colour and decoration which does look perfectly normal.

I don't think the colour of two screws and an overexposed picture from a totally different angle suffice as prove that this is not a genuine movement. Edit: Looking at the pictures, I can't see why you would doubt that this is genuine, it is decorated nicely, I wouldn't expect more from a re-branded Valjoux 7750.

Beautiful, JKay and mjmj!

I see amazing projects resulting from your setup, maybe one day we will have no one but ourselves to blame when something is wrong with a specific dial font...

Congratulations! Daytonas tend to do this to you, it's well worth it in the end, trust me! Looking forward to the finished project!

I love that Comex, great job!

haha, yeah

My only watch atm... well except for a digital Casio

Cool!

That's quite a bargain...

Gorgeous insert, amazing watch, glad you decided to keep it!

6265 on strap

Thanks for the kind words, I'm really happy how it turned out and enjoy wearing it very much.

Besides my recently finished 6265 Sigma, a 5513 Milsub just like this one :

MY GRAIL Hi guys, I would like to present to you the result of over two years of intensive research, frustrating realisations, nerve-racking customs, supplier and transit troubles, but also pure chance, lucky circumstances as well as incredible helpful community advice. My 6265 Sigma Daytona. The Beginning: My fascination with this particular model started when I was researching the history of the one very watch which got me interested in mechanical timepieces in the first place, Omega’s Moonwatch, the Speedmaster. I knew a lot about the Speedmaster’s history and was fascinated by the fact it had withstood the challenge of going to the moon and back without any problems when I bought my 1999 model. One thing I knew little about though was the other watches it had surpassed during NASA’s initial testing for a suitable watch. Enter Rolex’s Cosmographs. Though NASA had most probably tested a 6239 Daytona, I immediately fell in love with the 6263/6265 version of the watch when I googled the Speedmaster's contenders for space travel stardom. Because I had converted my Speedmaster to the 35th anniversary limited edition dial which is sporting a white dial with black subdials, I fancied the idea of also owning a 6265 (silver bezel contrasting the black one of Omega’s chronograph) with black dial and white subdials. I came across another rep forum while researching the gen and there I heard about some ominous guy from Asia named DW who was selling supposedly very accurate vintage Daytonas. After further research I decided to pull the trigger on a V23 copy movement 6263 version from DW. To make a long story short it took ages for the watch to arrive until I received it broken eventually. Of course I had to pay horrendous import taxes beforehand. The chronograph didn’t work, minutes didn’t count, it didn’t reset to zero properly and it didn’t keep time. I was frustrated to say the least and was ready to throw it into the trash even though I had ordered a gen T21 crystal for it. By chance I then found this forum and just had to read every single thread concerning vintage Daytonas. Freddy’s, Ubi’s and all the other guys’ wonderful examples took my breath away and I started to hate my cheap, shabby V23 copy even more. Because I still was on a tight budget I started to look for a gen Valjoux 23. I figured I could at least afford one of these, since Valjoux 72s were way out of my league . That way I would be able to wear this ugly non-working piece of junk I had fitted with a gen T21. Because I got very frustrated by the search, I read even more about vintage 6263/6265s and started hanging around VRF and TRF. This didn't help either. I was ready and willing to give up on the project altogether again, when totally out of the blue I got the chance to purchase a serviced Valjoux 726. F*** out of my league, I had to have it! I bought it and my vintage Cosmograph was en route again. I collected some more parts and sent everything off to Domi who modified my V23 case to fit the V726 and built a great watch I was finally able to wear at last. Insanity ensues: Ok since I don’t want to bore you with further details of my journey, here’s a quick summary of the rest. Though I did like the watch Domi had assembled for me a lot, because of the intensive research I had done there were many things that bothered me. I had literally become obsessed with Cosmographs and every ever so tiny little flaw made me look down on mine. When I was offered a genuine Sigma dial madness took over completely. After another year of collecting parts and more research (thanks Mr. Mazzariol ) this is the final result I came up with (Domified again): Specs: - J&W 6265 case with custom engravings (ca. 1974 serial matching the dial) - Serviced Valjoux 726 movement (correct base caliber Rolex used for their 727 - with correct 21600 bph) - CousinsUK pushers (supposedly the same Rolex currently uses at service) - Genuine 703 crown and tube NOS - Genuine MKII 6265 bezel NOS - Genuine black rare "step-down" Sigma dial - Genuine handset NOS - Genuine Tropic 21 service crystal - Genuine 78350 bracelet with genuine 571 endlinks - Pressure tested to 5 bars - Running +10-15 secs a day (pretty good for a 30+ year old movement imo) I would like to thank everyone who helped me at some point of my journey, either personally or through their posts in this incredible forum. This endeavour would not have been possible without you and the inspiration I got from your projects! Especially Ubi, Freddy, LHOOQ, Coolfire, Rosnik, Chefcook (enjoy the Speedy ) and the list goes on and on... Thanks for reading!