aeromatic

Case fits gen springbars, IMO you should just shape the insert to make it fit with a small gap and maybe polish the edges of the Case to make it look older, but out of the Box it is still perfect. ( to perfect in shape for a 30 Year old Watch )

I like to polish the yuki case using "Autosol metal polish to take away that factory fresh look, i use a slightly "course" cloth which gives a less reflective shine but still keeping the high quality look! for other cases i use a 3m scourer pad or wirewool and then polish it back up to the required effect.

because my 6538 franken is my attempt in replicating the Sean Connery (goldfinger look)i did not want to make the watch look 50 years old but to be in the condition that was seen in goldfinger, made in 1964 so say his watch would then be 5 year old approx.

No! Leave the yuki case as is!

Smokin!

who says that projects have to be ultra-expensive! great work! im working on a red sub custom which involves doing away with the mag-lum crystal and getting george to machine me a high dome tropic 19 style glass, and recasing it in a trusty comex (new series vintage case)

I wore this one today at the office.

Nice!

2783 ETA powered Repsub! love this old watch! even better now i have fitted 6mm thick george loiz made (tropic 19 style)crystal!

It does look like an old crystal in the photos and if that is the effect you are looking for then i think you have a good idea, how does it look to the eye , I dont suppose you have any old crystal to compare it with????

it looks much better to the eye, as i said this crystal was not fitted to the watch but layed on top of the existing crystal

if you see the photos that i placed the crystal on top of the dail direct,although there wasent much space betweed the dial and the crystal(the closer to the dial the clearer it appears,

i also should experiment with an amber spray paint which is used to re-colour old faded car indicator lenses although this may give too much yellow tint to the crystal.

when i get down to the workshop again i will take a photo of an old crystal that has yellowed that was taken of an old omega watch in fact this old crystal gave a less clear look. unless i get the required effect i wont be fitting this to my watch! im only planning to do this to one watch that iv aged!

I think just a single coat of spray would work well Indeed, marker pen on the inside of the crystal. I forget who's project it was, but it was an aged military Sub. Really looked the business, so I'm sure you can get the same effect with the stain

yes i will try a single coat thanks very versitile varnish is iv seen some great dials aged with varnish! at that watch road show out of the 14 rolex subs on show 3 had this yellow patina and they looked superb! i believe that by aging a crystal to desired affect this in turn will make the dial looked aged too!

This is very encouraging news. I spoke to Stilty about the possibility of using one of his Datejust adapters to fit an ETA movement into an accurate or genuine 1016 case. He believed it could be done, but I would have to sand his adapter ring down to the appropriate thickness. If DW can provide a 1016 as accurate as, say, Yuki's, and make an appropriate movement holder, then his could be the last 1016 rep I'll need. (Third time's the charm!) Here's hoping he can produce 1016 dials of similar quality to the best of his Daytonas.

The last I heard from DW, he said the 6238 should be available by the middle of this month. I will definitely be in line for one of these!

sounds great! i try to buy most of my parts from the same seller to ensure a correct fit im looking forward to yukis movent adaptor after my expensive 6538 i want to build other watches but with gen movements costing over 1500usd you can buy the parts, fit an eta and then in your own time save up for a gen movement!

Gorilladame, I don't want to misrepresent myself as some kind of insider. I just happened to exchange a lot of emails with DW in the last month. After a while, you end up talking about more than, "Where's my Daytona dial?"!

The only other information I know at this point is that the April batch will include a 1655 (see below). I was looking into getting a 1016 case but, like the Yuki cases, DW's would only take a genuine movement. (Any way around that?) No pics of the 1016 available, unfortunately

Would love to hear feedback on the Explorer II, since it's a watch I'm starting to really like, but have a lot to learn about.

im in regular contact with yuki and he emailed me to to say that he is working on an adaptor for his cases to accept eta movements which will be reversable when you want to upgrade to gen movement!

I think that attempt might have been a little too heavy, but you can probably strip the varnish off and retry I think I remember that someone tried a similar effect with a marker pen

yes i agree mabe a pine stain, or only one coat of spray, the desired affect should be a light patina that can mostly be seen looking at it from an angle actually its looks better in the flesh than in the photo ,the crystal was also resting on top of another crytal installed in that case so that dident help much! yellow marker pen?

the varnish can be removed by rubbing it of with a cloth!

If I recall, a while back Dems said that a clear crystal was one of the things which he considered a potential tell for a rep (I believe referring to vintage Daytonas...) As with everything, I think it's a matter of finding the right balance of techniques to create the desired effect

Teejay i agree with you completely thats what this experiment was all about finding a balance and an aceptable affect as with all experiments it may succeed or may fail anyway, it only cost the tin of spray the crystal was a cracked one!

Unless I am missing something, why would you want to purposely turn a good lens into a bad lens? A discolored lens, in my opinion, does not lend a rep any credibility, it just makes it difficult to read the dial & indicates that it is time for a xtal replacement.

its just an experiment thats all! i read somewhere that a member was trying to yellow his crystal with exposure to the sun some people want to age there watch to extream some people dont! "patina" i have aged a crystal by scouring it lighly with a scotch 3m pad just to take away that factory fresh look!!!and you can alway polish it up!

Some more photos super customised vintage based lastest update! george loiz made crystals

george loiz watch on the left 7mm thick crystal and my 5512 6mm thick tropic 19 style

Well i guess we both love tall crystals george loiz has a stainless steel crystal retaining ring and mine has a nylon one

the crystal on the 5512 sub was "donated" by our local bus company from a bus stop canopy! no we dident vandalize it they replaced it and the builders left the broken window at the scene!!!

i would like too thank george loiz for working many hours on my watches without pay!!!!what a guy! aeromatic!

After visiting a mobile roadshow of antique watches and seeing some great looking rolex subs with yellow patina tinted crystals

i started thinking of ways to age/yellow an acrylic crystal to fit to one of my "aged" rolex subs the problem with natural (sun) yellowing of the crystal is that apart from taking too long, this usually makes the crystal crack and brittle which will affect water resistance of the watch, so i took the idea used to age a dial by using varnish.

I decided to experiment on a spare crystal ,because the crystal needs to be clear enough to be able to see the dial i used a varnish spray with a tinting property in this case i used colorworks (teak) wood varnish spray here are some photos showing my results!

This is the spray varnish teak stain!

one of the crystal has been varnished applied under the crystal i did two passes only at a distance about 18cm

this shows the yellow effect well

here is one clear and one varnished the crystal is not fitted to the case but layed on top of the existing crystal this makes the dial look unclear like i said this is an experiment i will try a lighter shade next (pine) its looks much more authentic than what is seen in the photos and if you make a mistake you can wipe off the varnish before it dries and try again i found that two passes of spray were needed three was to dark you need to apply light passes so that looking at the dial it appears clearer and looks darker when viewed at an angle!

yes this watch seems heavier with the new crystal!!!

Hey AEROMATIC...thanks a 1.000.000 for posting my work on your loving COMEX.Oh yes!...i saw that love on your face Great pics especialy of t pearl closeup that looks like a prefried egg...great..............n don't forget...the one who drowns,wearing a rolly,knows the exact time of his death.By t way...how's your back? my arm is still killing me

yes you did a super fine job! when you recover i will get you to make me tropic 19 style for my 5512

i want it 6mm thick(love tall crystals) with slightly more curve/beveled edge i give you my t-19 as a pattern! i cant go round with a cracked crystal on a divers watch!

well george loiz finished my comex submariners crystal and "george loiz made pearl!" im much happier now that that superdome crystal has gone! the watch now sports a 5mm thick cut flat,with a beveled edge and a new retaining ring!

Heres some pics!

and the pearl and the water resistant test in a bowl of water overnight!(shes tight) Thanks george Loiz! for making this watch one of my favorite for everyday wear! next to do is a yuki helium escape valve to replace that dummy valve!!!

Well im not in a contest here! but george loiz just finished replacing my 1665 comex sub i dident like the superdome that came with this watch, to much distortion, so he cut me a new crystal 5mm thick (flat)with beveled edge and made a new stainless steel crystal retaining ring!

Amen to that....ubi!

Emotional attachment?????.......insecurities????? nahhhhhh! They're just metal you wear around your wrist! Some with leather on them.....some with rubbers!

I have both and I don't feel any different wearing either! What the REPs allow me is to own those GEN pieces that you can't find in the market anymore or if you do, it's way beyond what you could afford! Let's be honest, where can you find a GEN PAM202a in circulation? A PAM207a, or a Paul Newman Daytona...or a PAM036? If you do, can you afford it? I can't! This is where this hobby of ours fill my niche!

Great post!

I couldent have put is better well said!!!!

:Jumpy: :Jumpy: :Jumpy:

Realy nice watch!!!!

This would be another suggestion...

Ventura V-Tec Sigma

wow ! beam me up scotty!!!!

Question when is a rep not a rep? well i dont know but this watch i wear during the summer i think its a cool looking divers watch ,sporty classic good looks and you can dive with it! and it has a helium escape valve, these have been used and tested by divers a big 43mm diam. saphire crystal from the german tauchmiester company with japanese automatic movement

and here is what this watch was based on 1980ish seiko

I think the major issue with the PT crystal is the compression ring has an ID which is considerably larger than the OD of the crystal although the ID of the crystal and the case appear to be compatible. This requires the use of the nylon/plastic "spacer" or a custom machined compression ring to secure the crystal. I have no idea why they did it this way unless to use up some mis-machined parts or maybe the use of a compliant spacer makes manufacturing tolerances on the ring less relevant in order to reduce scrappage.

thanks jmb for you info and and think you are correct about the scrappage idea!!! iv decided with this watch to have george loiz custom make me a compression ring and a new flat style crystal with a T-19 beveled edge to look similar to the T-19

i will keep you posted when its done and mabe post some pics thanks again for your help!!!

T-19 might not have the necessary height to fit correctly; you'd be better of getting a helfands T39 (flat style) and adding a bevel to the edge or getting a Clark's T39 SD crystal for relatively low cost solutions. However, I agree with aligoat, and would recommend that you mic the inside and outside diameter of your existing crystal to ensure proper fit. I do know that the crystals I cited will fit an MBW, but if your 1665 is of the newest CN reps I can't say for certain what will or won't fit (I understand there are some examples being delivered with the retaining ring fitted with an additional nylon gasket, and I've yet to see one of these in person otherwise).

As for the dial- If your current dial is 26.5mm, the Yuki dial should fit, no problem.

thanks ubiquitous you have been very helpful, mine doesst have this nylon gasket i have been down to george loiz shop and he is going to make me a cystal flat style with the edges beveled to look like the T-19 and has already made me a new retaining ring, for the crystal ,thanks again your info will be useful for my new sd same case as the comex!!!!

All you can do is try! Between a 1665 and the 5513 there is little difference in the crystals. But yours is a chinese rep, some people have swapped in aftermarket crystals w/ success, others had no luck (me included). A pair of digital calipers would be a good start. Then you at least know what dimensions your original crystal is and you can go from there.

thanks alligoat i get down to george loiz shop and well check the size,trustys site i think says they have interchangable parts so i will try if not then i will get george to make me a crystal i like the case on this version im also planning to put in a yuki escape valve

and a slow beat 2846 eta, not sure about the yuki dial for fitting in this case thanks again!