aeromatic

...by the way AEROMATIC...who is hammering who?

actually im hammering someone and it aint you!

Hi Red...

Why sell it???

To buy another (very expensive) gen of course

these frankens will have a value and will become highly collectable in there own right! superb watch jojo! as a matter of interest what would be your askin price?

Any time AEROMATIC but...to be safe...wear your antiradioactive suit...just in case...oh...bring your voodoo doll n some pins n nails to cast out bad spirits...u know what i mean

yes i will and i know what you mean aeromatic

It's great that George is able to custominze his own watches to make what he feels is a cool watch. His execution doesn't really fit my tastes but great to see more creations like this.

Hello gavidoc i know what you mean,actually he has his eye on a new rep from eurortimez that i think he will not touch at all the perfect rep mabe! george is an excellent watch maker or should i say technician, at the moment he is making a solid gold crown for a customer on a gold rolex datejust in fact all the local watchshop/jewellers have used his talents when they needed a crystal or a hard to find stem when a part cant be found localy he gets to work and in no time he has made the part.i suppose its a bit like doing a mild custom job on a car some people wont like it others will and some will bend both ways like me although i dont have one of these custom watches myself i will go for it and have at least one, it just needs planning i want to keep the vintage feel of the watch but with a supple custom job. aeromatic

Time to kill? Watch one of the below streams, no download required and perfect quality.

Will add more.

Casablanca

Psycho

Enjoy

S

great love classic my fave is the long sleep with bogard! aeromatic!!!!

Hello mate, I wish to retract my statement about baby oil/oils after thinking about a tread a few days ago.

Oils will attract grit and become a grinding paste. A dry teflon lube will not, the propellant will evaporate and leave a dry non sticky lubricant behind

never tried that great! i found that johnsons baby oil is very fine and none sticky and none greasy ,i think they do two type the other is greasy! what was the thread name? how about using a little thread grease the copper you use on nuts and bolts that evaporates leaving a lubricant too

aeromatic

A few years ago I mentioned that a vintage crystal often has a slightly amber tint to it, and wondered if strong UV would produce that effect. Someone took a gen T39 and exposed it to strong UV and after less than a week he reported that it was going slightly amber, but it had also developed spiderweb cracks all over it! He panicked and pulled it out, but really... what he had was accurate. There are threads on TZ with people showing off their spiderwebbed domed crystals.

I use museum grade glass over my artwork, ostensibly to prevent it fading from UV, even incident scattered UV from the windows at home. The pieces I've protected like this are still as new, but others that I bought from individuals were not protected by anything more than windowpane glass and when you shift the matting you can clearly see where colors are faded.

To me, that means the bulk of insert fading comes from the sun.

Hello nanuq yes i agree about the amber tint i want to experiment with a amber paint which is used for restoring amber classic car lamp that over the years have lost there colour i will try this on the inside of the crystal i have tried a none rolex watch crystal(very old)with a very dark amber tint on my sub and it looked great not only that it actually made the dial looks aged too without having to do anything to your dial ,yes the sun is the way to go natural fading i will experiment this summer i will hang out a yuki bezel insert out in the sun, we have a strong sun here in cyprus i will post photos of it every week to see the different fading stages and compare it with gen bezel insert!

And it wont be bad to your skin!!!

thats right or your threads(cloths)! hello fxrandy!

Never watched the show myself. Tried for ten minutes but it 'Lost' me. Felt like I was watching Twin Peaks again!

But whenever I saw clips I could never understand why the Fat guy never 'lost' any weight if anything he seems to of put it on. I guess there was no shortage of In flight meals!!

He stashed all the peanut butter he found on the plane!

Any of you guys fans of Lost saw the first couple of episodes yesterday and thought it was good. Confusing as always lol but good!

Sneaky picture of a Rolex Daytona Jin has on the plane....does he have a rep? Customs decided to pull him in for it ....and the fact he had over $10k undeclared in cash!

yes i am, lost is cool! because you can get (lost in the episodes) in cyprus they run a little behind so wont see the first episodes till summer ! do you know of any web sites to watch it! cant wait until summer! aeromatic! now i wish i stayed in the uk and not moved here!!!! aah well im lost for words(no pun intended!

Hmmm, Red Sub with bloodshot eyeball pearl - I like it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now you are talkin! smokin!!!!!

Hi I'm the proud new owner of a nicely modded MBW Great White 1665 - I am in the process of cosmetically aging it as I prefer a more worn look than the previous owner. ( pics coming tonight)

The bezel isn't as smooth or easy to turn as I like (it's not totally difficult) but I would like to see if I can make it spin more freely. I did take off the bezel and the ring inside it in order to bleach the bezel. It snapped back on no problem. But it turns stiffer than I would like (it was this way prior to me popping it off).

is there are secret to adjusting this at all? It's certainly not broken or anything, but compared to my 5513, it's tighter turning than I would prefer ideally.

Relative newbie here. Any ideas are appreciated.

Hello ronjohn i use babe old(johnsons(clear) its clean oil, none greasy and it loves stainless steel afterwards i wipe a little all over the watch and bracelet and polish it gives a nice lusture to the watch and fixes nosy bracelets too

use only a small amount if your insert is held by glue (and is not the clip-in type!) i prefer to not remove the bezel and use a cotton bud (ear cleaning)i dip the bud in the baby oil and run it along the beze/ watch case edges and turn it a few time letting it soak in!

I hate dates...(not the fruit,not dating women)...but date windows on diving watches.They happen to destroy the whole appearance of the dial...besides...who wants to know what date is...37 meters under water, when the only thing that matters down there, is the 40 minutes of oxygen that support you from not dying from asphyxiation. Take my word...i know.Thats why i build my own timekeepers with simple,good vision,well read under water dials...ETA movements and extra gasketing.Good reps have eccellent cases so...it's not the case,it's the sealing that counts.Give my regards to CRAB who liked my work.Thank u 2...AEROMATIC

Hello George loiz point taken! your welcome! but dates on subs transformed the submariner from a tool watch to a bleep,bleep,bleep watch!

actually i own a few date subs reps too. how about making me a red submariner no date dial? love the red sub with a thick cystal

like on your comex! and i wouldent part with my fave vintage gmt pepsi, but my fave vintage sub reps no dates are something else as you said clean appearance! hey find that old lum paint of yours ( hope its not still radio active?)i will be coming down your workshop, i want to re-lum my 1665 comex dial ,mabe do my 5513 too! aeromatic!

Very nice! Can you post a macro of the dial?

! here is a close up of the dial sorry about the scratched crystal my attempt at aging it!

this is the same dial but with a flat crystal (no distortion)

Hi There Guys!

I have had eta 300$ plus ,reps that have fallen apart and only fit for spares after only a few months use and i have a few cheap none etas that have lasted my son now uses almost everyday my oldest rep cost 15usd over 5 years old still going strong(very well made case) and my friend george loiz as a 5 or 6 year sub rep as long as you service them they will last problems iv found is that some reps are not lubbed properly from the factory plus quality control is a bit, hit and miss

i have seen some cheap sub reps that you can use for swimming and more expensive reps subs that you cant .

on some site cant remember which, an ex comex deepsea diver who had a large and amazing gen sub collection said that he dived with a 20usd sub rep it survived a 100m dive!

No need for a gen, I guess

Nice write up, Aero, but the Bond strap issue was discussed a couple of years ago here &, then, again, a few months later, here, & then, a year later, here.

hello freddy333 thats the second time iv stepped on you toes! Smile!! what about new members they will be looking at the latest posts not last years surely? my post was mostly about making a cloth keeper for a bond strap by using heat im sure that there will be many posts about the same watches over and over again, how many posts for instant have there been about the 6538 mabe i should have not bothered to post my franken project 6538 after the last member posted his 6538?

Please go and read the forum rules The one about Ads in particular

hello fxandy i read the rules about ads i but thought that was for people trying to pass the watch off as a gen, i told the ad shop it was a fake from the start, as i have writen on that post please read again, i have never passed of a rep as a gen

even at work where many people wear gen rolexes i always glad to show then its a rep and compare the rep with the gen

anyway if i have offended here is there anyway to delete the post please let me know?

I am so jealous. I wish some of the dealers take some time to start a 6538 project with factories that would be be cheaper than $2500

Hi docdoc i agree with you i tried to get some of them interested i even asked trusty and sent him detailed photos but he replied that the factory havent made this watch yet because they dont have a gen to work from , the nearest to it is the mbw/mbk on eurotimez around 370usd but they dont have the brevet writing on the crown and a generic crown will cost about 300usd so not that cheap! i wanted to build a brown guilt dial 6536 but cant afford to spend 2500 on a second project.

aeromatic

Let me start this by saying this project would never have gotten off the ground, let alone completed, without the selfless donations from our good brothers Lani and Ubi - Thanks R and R!!

Everybody always talks about their "grail watch", and I suppose this was mine as I fell in love the first time I saw one and bemoaned the fact that one was not repped and likely never would be. But, Lani and Ubi to the rescue!!! Lani sent me a spare dial from his Tudor project and Ubi chipped in with an A7750 movement of the proper layout and a Daytona case.

Ubi passed along the movement (he said was inop) to use in mocking up the watch, checking fits, etc. I decided it was time to jump in with both feet and partially disassembled it and fixed the keyless works and it ran like a champ! I put new rubber on the pushers (itty-bitty O-ring kit from watchbitz) and installed the missing pusher C-clips (clip assortment from cousins.com).

This evening I worked up the nerve to assemble the watch and I can truly say I'm in love!!! After assembling the "head" I then fitted a non-SEL vintage style Oyster bracelet. I still need to either relocate the cyclops or install a crystal with the cyclops in the right spot (this has a killer mag and is about in the right spot for a Sub), and maybe find a Tudor clasp, but this is close to perfect for me the way it sits! The only thing left that I must do is figure out how to secure the movement into the case - I can probably take the back off my Seconds at 9 Daytona to see how that is done

Wow Thats is fantastic! You have some great friends on RWG! my next project will be a tudor sub!

Great tutorial.That is a beautiful band, much nicer than the Black/Grey that everyone was using before.

Hi panerai153 yes i had one of those grey/black straps too, the new bond strap correct colours suite the vintage guilt dial of the 6538 better! glad you liked the read! thanks, aeromatic !!!!!

I like the "over-easy" pearl. I think a bloodshot eyeball would look pretty trick as well!

Yep it sure would look cool! my friend has made a red centred pearl he wanted to put it on my redsub but i wanted a yellow one to go with the indices but bloodshot eyeball mmmm yes i can go for that! aeromatic!!!!!! lets rock this joint! lets hotrod our watches too! whata ya say?

Absolutely fantastic, thanks for the mini-tutorial and photos

Thanks teejay hope it will be useful! to our 6538/bond lovers ! aeromatic!!!

With the new hd tv and new dvd hd we can see the correct colour of Sean Connery.s goldfinger gem! for many years we could only find the simple black and grey ones they are everywear! even new bond Daniel Craig has been seen wearing a rolex 6538 sub on one of these grey and black nylon straps off screen! i admire him rebelling when he is on contract to promote omega!

The correct colours are dark navy blue ,olive green with burgandy strips, these are supplied by the Corvus watch company

they have recently upgraded the fabric the old fabric was thinner and had problems with fraying around the buckle holes

the new one should fix these problems i will order one myself

Any way i have done some modding to the buckle to be more like the watch in goldfinger by removing the two stainless steel keepers and making a cloth keeper, for this you need a pen knife(camping knife) a pair of metal snips i used a pair of electricians wire snippers oh and you will need a extra strap to cut and make the cloth keeper ,i ordered a nato bond strap that has the extra piece underneath then i cut this off making it into a RAF strap,the RAF strap did not have the extra piece underneath it was thought that in a jet fighter it was not a good idea to have too much nylon on your skin which melts at very low temps specialy with the fums ect from the jetfuel.

First use the wire snips to cut off the metal keepers cut them close to the ends be careful not to cut your strap

once you have cut the cloth piece off the strap then use the pen knife heated up on your ketchen stove warning!(make sure your wife is out first!) then run the hot knifes edge along the point were you cut the the piece this is to heatseal it and

ithen stop it from fraying, then take your piece of strap cloth and wrap it accross your strap, then cut it about 2.5 times the width of your strap when wrapping it remember to do it around the buckle end,which is already doubled up or your keeper will be to tight (run your hot knife along both edges of your keeper to heat seal it)

to fit it has to fit on three layers of strap not to tight or to loose( the keeper will not be fixed in anyway to the strap but be free to move up and down depending on your wrist size. size it up then fold it and crease it holding it with your fingers checking by pushing the strap end in and out the keeper needs to stay put but let the strap end move in and out freely

then remove the keeper and fold/crease it and heat your pen knife up and run it along the folded keeper ends to heatseal it it only needs to be done about 1-2 mm dont leave the heat on the strap too long but just until it is sealed! you should end up with a thin black line this will be hidden under your strap!

6538 with james bond RAF nylon strap

photo showing the cloth keeper(this was not seen in the movie my 6538 franken! with gen rolex cal movement see my post for more on this watch!

yes this is the famed sean connery(goldfinger photo!

you will notice that seans rolex is worn on a 16mm nylon strap i found this not to my liking so i used an 18mm width to keep the understrapper look which gives this big watch a unique look i have tried the 20mm strap but some how it suites this iconic rolex well!

STOP!government health warning! this topic is not for the faint hearted!only for the open minded!

My friend is a watch customiser! he can not leave a watch alone!

Well we better keep our gens away from this guy!!!!

on this shot you will notice the very thick Home made acrylic crystal flat finished top and bottom, and notice the crystal home made retaining ring and the super home made pearl!

here is a profile shot of this watch!

again this highlighting the shape and crystal tapered end!

i would love one of these crystals on my redsub as im planning removing the factory cyclops crystal which to me look thin and cheap looking this custom watch is very supple and wood look great on a franken! i love thick crystals on subs so my friend gets 10 out 10 for this one does he want to sell it?