alt.watch.obsessive

TRLs are the hallmark of Grade A Swiss replicas made in the real Rolex factory between 4 and 5 AM and sold through Chinese websites at CRAZY SALE prices.

Correct date disc and I think we're done here 😊.

Quite impressed with this. Even in rep form, it’s much nicer in real life than I imagined. Sport chic .

Beautiful watch and story! Always great to see it. It is just as old as you. The question is, does it have a higher net worth?

I'm guessing if she wanted it posted, she wouldn't have a password.

Nice collection Alan. It's hard to believe no one has tackled these properly. A TR is now a 150K watch. The big issue is the bezel. All the aftermarket bezels are way too thick for the older models, even if they look passable from the front.

I've experienced similar with buffalo to within about 4 feet, but that's an insurance claim at worst 😉. I always worry about people on motorcycles. A man plus a Harley is roughly buffalo sized, and they go after them all the time.

Thank you my friend! This was my first attempt with a "Dive-Tite" but will try the WT. Or just put the original back even though its profile is not very sexy. I was actually amazed that the "rehaut" you see on these comes with the crystal. Cheers!

The internet knows everything!

Getting there on the hands. I think these will do. I swapped out the glass too, but will have to go back to the old crystal as the tension ring does not quite make the dial. Cheers.

I assume the bezel is just the retention ring? I also find it interesting that everyone accepts this is how MB wore his watch. I assume he pulled the bezel off for the film. Makes you wonder if it was pulled off again for the sale.

If you happen to have a second retaining ring or can find a cheap aftermarket one, I simply place one upside down on the one I am mounting and then use a standard press. The second ring will not grab because the crystal is curved (usually).

Post a WTB for a Whoopy dial. Someone must have one they jumped on but haven't used yet.

I like this quite a bit. The gen is priced at $8,600, which is about the same as vintage I believe. Hopefully, that will bring the secondary market prices down, unlike the JLC reissues.

Next level!

Honestly, one good one is all you need. These gen dials have gotten harder to come by too and are damn expensive.

Hope everybody is OK up there.

It sounds like you might have the wrong movement for the spacer ring. A correct ring should hold the movement and not put pressure on the dial. Then, the whole assembly should be thin enough to go into the case and leave room for the case clamps to both clear the spacer and make it under the groove in the case. If you are using an ETA 2836 it may be too thick. Even a 2824 will be tough in certain cases. If you just put the dial and movement in the case, do the case clamps make it to the groove? They should. If so, you can sand away the case ring so it is thinner in those places. Also check to make sure the dial by itself fits in the case the way it should. For the feet at this point I would try a proper solution: 1. There are glue on feet with a very large base available out of the UK if you search on here. You need to sand off any remainder of the old feet and use a two-part epoxy like you are. Ignore all other claims about anything else working . The tough part is you need to stand the feet in the movement (not all the way down) in order to set the dial on top so the placement is correct or find some other way to get this right. I have an old busted movement that I have used for this. 2. Dial dots sold specifically for the purpose of sticking the dial on the movement are actually quite strong and super thin. They are actually just little dots of pure adhesive. If all else fails and there is space on the top of the movement, they work reasonably well. Good luck!

Wow Nanuq...Thanks so much for the offer. Love that second hand! The correct hands (I believe) are in the pictures below. A bit different than the standard Fifty Fathoms hands. Interestingly, both these watches are a bit dodgy. No markings on the case back, etc. They might have been cobbled together from parts too. Cheers.

Quite a story. The reason I am guessing the midcase is Waltham is because they used the exact same cases as the BP equivalents on a number of models. The correct hands can be found on a bunch of Nivada watches, but for some completely inexplicable reason, Nivada dive watches are suddenly expensive.

A couple iPhone shots on the wrist. My proper camera is at work.

No, not that modern crap. I picked this dial up years and years ago for no good reason as the only bidder on eBay from a seller in Japan for pennies. I then found the midcase and bezel a few years later by chance from a seller in Australia for cheap and the project was on. The case is not branded, but it is probably a Waltham, or similar. I do believe it is the correct case (there are a bunch of slight variants on this deep diver case). I added an AS 1701 movement (still need the black date disc) and a sterile but otherwise correct case back. It probably had the brand polished away at some point so that there is just a faint serial number left. I also bought the correct handset on eBay for just $30. Found it on my very first search! But these are not those hands. The seller must have gotten another offer and magically "lost" them. Quite disappointing. So, here we have something that is close enough for now. The good news is that there are pictures of this watch on the internet with at least half a dozen hand sets, so either it came that way or the hands were replaced over the years. I would still like to find what I believe are the officially correct hands. I still need the correct case back, or to get mine engraved. That will be tough, so I'll probably stick with the sterile back. I did find a Blancpain case back for the 34mm version for sale awhile back, but at $700 it was more than I have in the whole project by a good margin. Cheers!

See if you can bend the feet ever so slightly so that they are a tougher fit and go in at the very slightest angle. Then the clamps might have a bit more to grab (if that makes sense). Bend them in or out so the dial does not rotate.

Seeing as how Rolex could never get two consecutive dials to have the same coronet, it may be harder than it looks . I've always been curious about the conversation between Rolex and its suppliers...And then we need a crown. Something with five points with dots and an oval down towards the bottom like we've used before. Anything's fine.

These prices are a little bit before I got into small-time watch collecting, but not much. Very unfortunate that I did not really like Rolex sport watches at the time. Never follow your heart 😊. I posted a few months back that I put away my franken 1665 and 5514 and got out a gen 1680 to "beat on for awhile" since the frankens mean more to me. This was true. Then I saw what a plain old white 1680 goes for these days and quickly reversed my decision or at least the beat on part. A gen 1680 and a $3,000 franken are no longer more or less the same value.