Heywood

Excellent work. What's your secret recipe?

The older crowns and tubes are hard to come by and expensive when you can find them. If you are going to replace your crowns and tubes the modern genuines are your best bet. I saw an old twinlock sub crown for sale on VRF about a week ago for 100 euros. These older crowns were routinely upgraded to triplock crowns when they were serviced, so a triplock is easily believable.

Lions, Here's my two cents worth. With all of the variables involved with rep cases I'd practice with generic case tubes first. If you get a good seat with the generic tube you can leave it in and use it, if you have to destroy it removing it because it wouldn't seat properly it doesn't hurt as much as if it were genuine. The new style crown tubes that have the splines at the top of the tube are easily wrung off when it's a tight fit and you apply too much force. I've twisted several off this way. It's not a bad idea to invest in a tap and a case tube tool (Ofrei, Caskser and Borel all sell these). Even when the case threads are correct for the tube I run the tap thru to clean up the hole. Like Ubi mentioned, some mfgrs use glue or loc- tite when installing the tube (my MBW had this). Running the tap thru will remove the residual glue and allow for an easier installation. I also lube the threads and tube to case gasket with a little Silicon 7 when installing the tube. The first couple of times are always the most difficult and I'd practice on spare cases if possible. These ideas are based on my own experience busting up watches as I figured out how to do this on my own and offered as the opinions of an untrained amateur. I wish I'd come across this board long ago, they're is a wealth of knowledge available here from people who actually know what they're doing.

I built this Franken-Perpetual for my wife from a genuine case, crystal, dial and bracelet. She's a pretty conservative black or navy blue suit kind of girl and I thought the classic look without any bling would appeal to her senses. I think she wore it once. The hands are not aligned very well, but it wasn't worth the time to fix them since it's just gathering dust. And hiding inside an ETA 2000. Keeps time within a few seconds a day out of the box.

Rolex Franken-Perpetual

I admire you for handling this situation like a gentleman. I hope that the perpetrator will follow your lead and respond accordingly.

16013 takes a plastic crystal.

That's a nice piece, congratulations!

Nice work KKS. That case is one of the most convincing I've seen. The rounded/eased edges look great!

That's going to be a fine piece when you're finished with it. Congrats!

Reminds me of the guys putting juked up redials in $400 Tudors and transforming them in to "Rolex Tudor California Dials" and selling them for $800 bucks. Check this one out (Please be sure to keep your barf bag handy): http://cgi.ebay.com/NICE-TUDOR-OYSTERDATE-...7QQcmdZViewItem

I've been using a 12v Ryobi. I bought one of these while we were doing some renovation work in my hotel because I was tired of lugging around an 18v Dewalt. The Ryobi held up so well under heavy use I decided to buy one to use at home too. It came with the 2 speed drill/driver a charger, 2 batteries and a flashlight for about $65 bucks.

It may be a blessing in disguise that you never received this tool. I have one and the splines do not fit the splines on the 7mm case tube. I would suggest one of these http://www.jewelerssupplies.com/Tube-Inser...Tool-Rolex.html or equivalent from Ofrei or Borel. This tool fits both the 7mm crown tubes and the 6mm crown tubes.

Kudos to you! Nice work and a good tutorial too.

Hey Chieftang, I found tweezers in the Casker catalog (800-487-0408) that look like these. They are item number 570.977, made by Horotec, $18.95 per pair. Made of aluminum with white delrin tips. I have their catalog in adobe acrobat and can't figure how to copy and paste, sorry. Hope this helps.

That's a great post. Loved the detailed photos. Congrats on a job well done!

Mighty nice work The Zigmeister!

It's a shame it's not that easy. These old 7mm twinlock crowns take a 7mm twinlock case tube, I believe it's part #700. These were replaced with the triplock crown and tube in the 70's and from what I understand Rolex hasn't made these since. Some collectors of vintage subs prefer these to keep the piece in original condition and will pay way more than is reasonable for them when they show up.

Don't mean to be a buttinski, but what you have there is a vintage twinlock crown. These are pretty hard to come by these days. Most have been changed out to the triplock as watches have been serviced. The only problem fitting this to your watch will be finding a twinlock case tube, as this crown won't screw down to a triplock. The twinlock tubes are harder to find than the crowns, but you may get lucky.

A mighty fine collection!

Thanks for the informative post!

I scored a good huge lot of Moebius lubricants last night on flea bay. I can't believe I won this auction for $15 bucks. Check this out http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=170033623321

Congratulations! Great purchase and awesome photos.

Those prices are freaking outrageous. It amazes me how you can buy a kickass rep for about $400 bucks, but Rolex charges $5k. No wonder there a couple of thousand members on this forum buying reps!

Hey Guys, Thanks for the input!