aeromatic

The Rolex "style" Asian clones are complete rubbish, multiple failures posted across the forums, they fall apart. Not only that, the dealers charge genuine Swiss ETA prices for them too! They must make serious $$$ from selling them....

Buy a true Swiss ETA movement, or the much cheaper and more reliable "unmodified" Asian clone

Thanks noted!

Don't be fooled by a badly pimped movement. Take the eta (clone) if you want to play it safe. Especially if its a solid case back.

Thanks the eta clone is a single bridge and more suited to our vintage reps!

Does anyone have any experience with these asian (rolex cal)clone eta(double bridge) movements or the eta customised single bridge movements

mabe as a alternative to transplant in our franken reps?

we could buy these from trustywatchguy as a complete watch and change this movement with the movement out of our vintage reps!

here my new product

work in progress...

sorry for bad pics(iphone 8gb)

Wow ! i love this project of yours have you considered making one for a customer? what would be a rough idea of the cost say to have made the case?

complete unpolished

WOW! Very nice selection there! Any chance of some close ups of each watch?

Hi there redwatch i need to replace my camera to get a close clear shot the 6538 bond i have done a post check out my 6538 post

and thanks for appreciations! aeromatic!

Some of my collection of vintage reps including my king of kings 6538 big brevet crown and some future projects

gmt pepsi thin cased with dome acylic crystal with a semi matt dial may replace the dial with a yuki dial and handset with a small 24 hour triangle

i will also paint a water based mat varnish (tinted) to the date wheel to aged the pure white date wheel

the 5512 has had its case and crystal aged and the 2836-2 eta replaced with a slower beat 2783 eta that was taken from a 1970s military watch

i may put a yuki 5512 guilt dial in and handset

A noob blue twotone submariner love the dial on this one the only thing it needs the crown replaced its too big!

And a redsubmariner great case needs to be toned down a bit!

And 1665 submariner comex

Gorilla Glue!

That,ll do it!

@JJ, I can't see your pic ... is it still online? Gotta see this beauty in profile!

Its still on line! i hope it is so when im not wearing it i can see it on RWG! Aeromatic!!!

Hi Everyone,

I've been snooping around for a little while now: great forum!

Looking forward to discussing and possibly buying cool watches. At the moment, amongst som rubbish, proud owner of a gen Tudor Oysterdate.

Cheers, Julian

Hi there julianbrightness how are you? look after that tudor they have a style of there own! i loved my visit in Amsterdam! nice friendly people!

At one time, I rather enjoyed and preferred the well worn and heavily abused look of vintages. Times and tastes change however, and these days I prefer my vintage pieces to look like well cared for pieces. The condition of my Tudor franken is how I prefer my oldies to be... Not NOS, but with enough patina to give it some character...

Superb Watch! i think i better push up planned tudor project now i have your super photo!

FYI!

DON'T Get it WET or Dunk in water! I broke the Cardinal Sin......Since the Dealer claimed it's Water Resistant......don't assume it is!!!

Here's my Comex 1685 with same case or build as yours, this from Joshua.....after I dunk it in a bowl of water to clean it:

Sorry for the Pix.....I took without aadjusting the WB!

I applied grease to all the rubbere o-rings.....but guess where the water got thru?????????

the crystal!

Here it is after I sealed the crystal and did some Bastardizing (waiting for new movement......the original died after the water bath !):

Hi Hikeusa we tested three of them we got from trustytime with my watchmaker friend in a bucket of water left over night and i used mine for swimming no problem at all i know that some of these reps quality is hit and miss... we even tried to remove the crystal to see how it was seated these watches we tested had very tight seal how did you seal it in the end?

Nice, but nothing new or improved as far as I can see. Better pics, as Nanuq requested, would of course help.

i dont have a good camera at the moment so i borrowed some photos of my watch from trustywatchguy (trustytime.com) i hope they wont mind this is a much better watch that the older top grade vintage range as i own most of the old range and i believe some parts are interchangable with gen!

My ultimate goal is a watch that appears, more or less, to have been recently overhauled. That is, sporting a clear crystal & working crown, but the rest of the watch should look used (not abused). Works for me

Hey Great watches! is that a tudor sub you have there cos thats one of my next projects using a eta 2783 with a tudor rotor from yuki!

I hang around the genuine vintage forums a lot, as I have several genuine Rolex and Tudor watches. Contrary to some of our folks who are really into the "Beat all to hell" look, the genuine vintage guys want a watch that is as unpolished as possible, and aged , but not extreme. the most desirable obviously would be DRSD's that were put in a safe the day they were purchased and never taken out in the sun. Obviously, my feelings are somewhere in between. I want one that looks it's age, but not abused.I'm not into the "shake the case inside a coffee can full of nuts and bolts for 30 minutes" I have a 16750 from the early 80's and it has a naturally faded insert, but the case looks unpolished and the dial indices are almost as white as the day they left Rolex. I also have a Tudor 9411 from 1981 that has a great dial with creamy colored indices. It has a beautiful Blue dial, however the insert was replaced by Rolex San Francisco.It's all in what you want it to look like, and that's an individual thing.

Hi panerai153 i agree with what you say! i have some old none rolex swiss watches that look old but were locked away in a loft space for years!

unpolished and aged!

[quote name='aeromatic' date='25 January 2010 - 06:42 PM' timestamp='1264437770' post='783375'

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

Hi There Nanuq how are you thanks my cameras not to good i will replace it some day soon, there is some good photos on trusywatchguy (trustytime.com) check it out!

i found the dial to be a very good one trusty said that these are limited editions but at 248usd with eta i found the price reasonable, oh and it is water resistant i tested it!

Aeromatic!

The new vintage rolex submariner/sea dweller series rep from trustywatchguy is a big step up in quality and a very reasonable price made with the new 316f higher grade stainless steel it has a very solid feel to it, case finish is superb with eta 2836-2 or asian eta option.

The acylic crystal is a very thick superdome type which magnifies the matt comex dial ,the bezel is one of the thickest i have seen on a vintage rep giving the watch a unique profile it turns smoothly without any play the semi matt bezel insert is great with a flat pearl that should stay put.

the crown and tube is of a thick type like on a gen turns/winds the watch silently and very precise again one of the best i have seen.

the backcase is a very thick type and well engraved with the comex/rolex logos.

the helium escape valve is a dummy but can be drilled out and have a yukiwatch escape valve fitted

Overall this is a heavy solid watch mabe the new 316f steel is a bit too bright for a vintage watch but this can be toned down with a combination of rubbing the case with steelwool and polish it upto the required shine

this watch would be great left as it is or would make a great project possibly by fitting a gen rolex movement or mabe fitting an older slower beat eta movement mabe a 2783/4 from a 70s watch i have one fitted to my 5513 which may become a tudor sub in the near future but thats another story(staytuned) aeromatic!

a

Stunning, just beautiful.

As a matter of fact, this will be my next project.

Just curiosity, how big is your crown, 7mm or 8mm & how do you find the quality of the overall case?

Hi There ck5533 thank you! look forward to seeing your new project and good luck! i have never measured the crown my self yukiwatch has it as 7.5mm

but it looks more like 8mm to me! its big! the case i found it to be perfect after checking it with a lobe one of the best i have seen every thing fitted with ease this is very important thats why i bought all parts from the same dealer buying parts from different dealers is risky parts may or may not fit together well. thanks again!

Stunning! She is beautiful!

I want a vintage Rolex on Nato after viewing this one

Take care of her

Thanks powershot i will take care of her! i have otherwatches on steel straps but this watch looks great on a nylon strap!

Really beautiful!

Thank you Brightight for the appreciation !

Here's a side profile shot of my big crown Nanuq. Correct bezel height of the gen 6538 is somewhat taller than that of the '36:

nice shot of your big crown! question whats the correct thickness of a tropic 17 crystal? found mine a little thin well not as thick as my tropic 19- 5512!

I was talking about the bezel, not the insert

Yes you are so right! my mistake dont know why i wrote insert there!

Thanks for the great advice! When you use the wool do you just brush the watch abstractly or do you do it with the grain as you would when you "rebrush" a watch. I'm looking to try and get that really worn look, I heard that someone might have put their watch in a plastic back with some nuts and bolts, etc. and then shook it up to get random imperfections? I don't know anyone who has more insight let me know! And direction to a fading the bezel would be great too! Thanks!

Hello brendo22 i would suggest you start off brushing with a grain as you would when rebrushing to get a mat finish then rub over the watch using lighter strokes in a circular motion ,rub the steelwool in different direction for a good effect, then use a metal polish or paste

(like nanuq suggested) to polish upto the required finish you may like the watch to remain unpolished, dont worry about starting you can always polish the watch back up ,there is no need to go to extreme your watch will age with normal wear and tear,

and i would not reccmmend putting your watch in a plastic bag with nuts and bolts(unless you want to break your watch)

for the bezel i dont have any advise as i have never faded one although i was thinking of rubbing a bezel with rubbing compound until the black finish get thinner and starts looking more silvery but i would only experiment on a spare bezel mabe some member can suggest a way to do it

anyway good luck with you project!

Finally back from the dead is my MilSub 5517 -just back from a Canadian spa. Thank you again to The Zigmeister!!! The 5517 is one of my favorite Rolex's, I've always had a "thing" for military timepieces and divers and in particular this grail watch.

In its previous short life the watch had a 2846 ETA movement with a troublesome stem alignment with the crown position, this created too much tension on the right side of the dial/movement and had to be disassembled as the dial was starting to chip/flake at the 3 o'clock. I debated for some time whether to scrap this project altogether or bite the bullet and put a gen movement inside -well I chose the latter and here are the results.

A cool milsub! great work of art! i recently purchased a 5517 from a well known rep seller only to be disapointed by this purchase the case was badly done the tropic 19 crystal was very cheap thin type in the end i gave up on it and gave it to my watchmaker for parts he re-cased it and customised it to he own taste im sure he will post photos of it on RWG again well done!

I wonder if a good rep (with the correct bezel) is available somewhere. I know the crown will always be off, but at least I am looking for the correct bezel. I have look around but with no luck. Thanks for any info.

Hi There docdoc i got my parts from yukiwatch my bezel insert was to bond spec without the 15 minute graduation markings this was an expensive project for me its worth noting that the bond 6538 in goldfinger/thunderball has a none correct bezel insert for this model the bond insert is from an ealier model from the 50s thin cased model, bonds 6538 must have been replaced with an older insert sometime when it was serviced even AD rolex service centres were guilty of replacing or upgrading with parts that were meant for other models and many times without the owner consent, dont forget back then these were tool watches not vintage so any updating to the watch was seen as a good thing with the result that many vintage watches are not to original factory spec.

most early bezel inserts had a red triangle at the top(pearl) this was later changed due to divers complaining that they could not see it at depths.

some were square fond older ones were round fond.

so do we build our 6538 to bond spec or to factory spec this is only our decision!