Heywood

Hi All,

Sorry if this has been asked before (but I could not find the answer in my searches). What would you guys recommend to install and seal the pushers and tube to case please? Loctite blue CA? O-rings? or something else? If o-rings are the answer, where could I find the right sizes please?

Thanks,

ttocsa

If he is still supplying the same pushers the pusher to case seal is the least of your worries. The pushers that I installed on my DW case leaked despite being lubricated with silicone. Not a single bubble from the case to pusher seal though. Everything else on the case sealed up good and tight. They may seal good enough to wash the dishes, but I'm afraid to shower or swim with the watch on. It failed the pressure test at 3 atm. I didn't re-test at a lower pressure, so it is possible they will withstand lower pressure. I think that if you want a good water tight watch you need to replace the DW pushers with aftermarket daytona pushers. The aftermarket pushers are of much better construction than the DW pushers, but the holes need to be re-tapped to accept the threading on the aftermarket pushers. Maybe Avitt will chime in when he reads the thread and offer some suggestions-he was very generous with his time and advice when I was working on mine. Btw, thanks again Avitt! Good luck ttosca.

I called the Omega service center about 3 years ago for a quote and the price at that time was $200. Included full movement service, seals and polishing. I think they said crystals and other parts were extra. If I remember correctly they give a 2 year warranty. This was the Omega service center in the US, somewhere in Pennsylvania if memory serves, but I may be wrong.

Nice work! Looks great.

Now that the Yachtmaster II is out, does anyone have experience with one that has actually been delivered?

I've heard this model is available from gayreps.com.

There are a few options that I've found. 1) First is MBW at around $350usd, requires some modification to look correct but they're cheap, relatively. 2) The next is http://www.jewelryandwatch.com/, the prices this guy asks are pretty outrageous. 3) The other option is this guy in vietnam, doesn't list the 5513, but he probably could get it, don't know what sort of prices he asks http://www.vintagewatchesmq.com/sub_menu3....;brandcode=part. I suspect some other members can offer some other suggestions. I'd love to find a decent case that doesn't require modification and doesn't cost a fortune. Hopefully somebody will chime in with more info.

Congratulations on a job well done!

That's a very nice piece. I've been keeping my eyes open for a 12892 for a while to go in a 16200 datejust case, hope I'll be as lucky with that project as you've been with yours. These project watches always look better with only genuine parts showing.

I'm sure your wife will love it!

Would love to see the gilt dial, any chance of a swapout?

Regardless as to the rarity of mystery dial on there now, it is at least 5 years' too young for a '64 1675, judging by the elongated minute indices.

The gilt dial would set this off perfectly IMO.

Congratulations on a very nice find! I've got to side with Doc on this one-gilt dial all the way.

the market is certainly bearing high prices on all things genuine and vintage thats for sure. simple economics would suggest that markets will only bare what buyers are willing to spend and yet the only way ive seen any prices moves is upwards. some of the good guys could be getting even more than they are charging im sure.

its getting to the stage that dials and hands will be worth as much or more as the complete watch for some models and we are going to start seeing good watches being parted as they become more valuable that way. its a strange state of affairs thats for sure. i know others are thinking along the same lines too in as much disbelief as myself.

there will be a balance soon im sure in some respect though its not going to see prices fall, just settle and remain extremely high. its also going to mean the value of good vintage rolex arent going anywhere but further out of the reaches of most id expect. i kicked myself at biting the bullet and getting on the wagon with my gens later than when i should, only to see them more than double in value already. i now wish i hadnt picked up some more then too

ive just watched mutliple sets of 5513 and 1680 tritium hands fly out the door at $700 a set. not one set stuck about for more than a few minutes. my own thought was that at $1000 a set they wouldnt have remained unsold for any longer.

If I'm thinking of the same hand sets you are referring to they were actually priced at 700 Euro. I'm still in shock!

Thanks.

Wow, where do you get such perfect codition vintage crown & tube?

Or do you considering selling?

Thanks.

I got very lucky and picked it up for next to nothing. I'm saving it for a rainy day!

That's a beautiful watch and a great story to boot. Thanks for sharing them with us.

Any Rollie experts know if the modern 24-7030 triplock tube can accommodate the 24-700 crown? Will it sit flush to the bottom when the crown screw onto it?

Since the 7000 tube is almost impossible to be found, can this be a compromise?

Thanks.

Bertie,

I don't think it will work without filing the tube down. I thought a visual reference might be of help to you. These photos are of a 24-700 crown and tube set.

Hope this helps.

Looks pretty good to me, even has the kinda funky looking early style coronet. I'd definitely put it to use if I were you.

Damn that case looks good! Best work I've ever seen. Can't wait to see it finished.

Nice work Freddy! That's a great looking piece. Everybody ought to have a Datejust, they go with everything.

Michael Young at classicwatchparts.com will refinish your dial for around $100 bucks and I believe that they will supply a blank to fit your movement for $30 bucks if you don't have a dial. Their work is pretty good and much cheaper than ND Trading. If you have your own dial you can also use International Dial, a US based dial refinisher, that does decent work. They have done several dials for me, quality was decent and the price can't be beat at about $35 bucks. Here is an example below. Please excuse the crappy pic, looks better in person.

Very cool!

That's awesome! Nothing quite like custom machined parts. I'm looking forward to seeing the completion of this project.

Yes, very nice.

The 2836-2 will work in 162XX series case, as long as you remove the date disc, etc. I built a franken Air-King a few years back and used a 2834-2 movement and it worked fine. It is when you get into date overlays that stem alignment becomes a problem and then you need a 2824-2 or 2892-2 movement.

Heywood, you can modify your 2836-2 to a two position stem, since you don't have a date window. This way when you pull out the stem, it automatically goes to hack/time setting and bypasses date setting. I posted a turturial on this a while back on the mod. I coverted a 2824-2 on my franken ex-1. I have a gen dial and matching gen hands with 16200 case and gen 78360 bracelet.

I did remove the date spacer to fit the case and it it lines up perfectly. I may end up changing the movement to a two position eventually, thanks for mentioning your tutorial post. I think I remember you posting about your explorer franken some time ago. I wish I had a genuine dial to use, but haven't come across one yet. Fitting the dial to the case was the most difficult step of this assembly. The diameter of the rep dial is several mm larger than the original so I had to to reduce the rep dial to fit. I used a small rubber washer on the front of the dial and inserted the screw of a dremel mandrel through the hole in the dial and screwed it to the mandrel, then with the dremel running ground down the diameter of the dial on a grinding stone until it fit the case. Amazingly it worked and didn't trash the dial.

Just finished up this project. Genuine 16200 case, rep dial from Josh, ETA 2836. The band is a hollow link 93150 rep with a genuine clasp. Runs about +1.5 seconds per day after being regulated. This a pretty accurate version of the 14270 with lug holes I think. I may put a genuine dial in it when I come across one. What do you guys think?

That MBW is a great base for a nice explorer. I've been looking for one these for a long time.

Just for everyones information the lug spacing on the full size explorer model 1016 was always 20 mm. The air king size explorer model 5500 had 19mm spacing. The 1016 was marked on the dial "SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED", while the 5500 was marked "PRECISION".

Congratulations! That's a great looking example of a vintage classic. Wear it in good health.

Cousins material house in the UK has started stocking a bunch of chinese movements. Try them and see if you can find something that will work. Cousins

Just a 'heads up' if anyone is interested.

Check out Watchco in Australia www.watchco.com.au

They have new Rolex 7mm triplock crowns available at $15 AUD which is approx 12.5$ USD. These are new and unused but loose packed (not bubble packed). I have found Watchco to be an excellent source of genuine material at fair prices.

I too have found Watchco to be a great resource and have done many deals with them in the past. I bought a bunch of these crowns a couple of years ago, they were not new, but all in good condition and the price was right.

I used the insert on the left, but replaced the pearl (Illumines Dot) with one from ofrei ($10). It was a perfect snap-in fit for the MBW case

(The bending second hand is due to a slow exposure)

That's a pretty good copy of the vintage dot. Thanks for posting it. The vintage dots are nearly impossible to find. I picked up some from a guy in HK who sells them on ebay, but paid around $15 bucks a piece plus shipping.

www.julesborel.com is pretty good, also cousins material house in the UK.

I'll second Jules Borel. If you set up an account with them you get access to their online database of parts for nearly every movement ever made. You just pick the caliber you need parts for and a list of parts is produced, you can just click the part you want to add it to your cart. Their database is a great resource. Folks I've talked to on the phone have always been cordial and they usually ship the same day you order.