JoJo35

He's listing it @ $375 or best offer on the bay. I picked mine up for less than 3. I agree the book is a wealth of knowledge, but sadly, my ultra rare crown jewel only has a snapshot in the book, and another one of my rarest gens isn't even mentioned

Hi Shundi, Just curious, is that tropic 12 a dome, or a later flat top series? Cheers, JJ

Thanks for not giving in Kurt The 5513 is one underline he'll never own

For our gen enthusiast: http://www.network54.com/Forum/207673/message/1257595619/FS+-+various+sets+of+vintage+tritium+hands

Looks good Lani! What type of solution are you using?

Reds??? LOVE 'EM!

Looks nice K, beautiful job on the cg's and crown/tube. Would your friend consider a different insert? It appears that it may have originally had a pearl which was slightly too large, leaving a hole noticeably bigger in the insert (or is that just my eyes?). I have a correct "round rolex" caseback if he may be interested. Cheers, JJ

While waiting at home for the deluge of little ghosts and goblins, I had time to set up my lightbox and experiment with the macro function of my G6. I usually use my A620, but since the G6 has a better lens and more features, I figured I might as well learn how to use it. I started by taking some shots of two unique watches that really caught my eye when I first saw them. One slightly older than the other, but both with blue steel second hands. Classic rolex for sure! Next, two of my all time favs, the GMT and the big red ahhh... red ...and here, some really odd markings ??? ??? and my last shot of the night, 34mm vs full size

I just finished taking some pics of the watch with the new crystal much better now!

Wow, I never even heard of that stuff. Thanks for posting up Brightight, I knew there's always an easier way

Hi Red, thanks for your input. I agree that Novus is great stuff, and in fact I've been using it for years. Take a look back at my original post, and you'll see I included Novus as the final step.

Stephane, I'm glad to hear you're going for a datejust! As you know I've got both date and datejust. Because of its larger size (at 36mm), the datejust has always seemed to be a more "upscale" watch when compare to the lowly 34mm OP date. However, like most underdogs, I've grown a fondness to the "little" watch. Would you believe I enjoy wearing it more than my gen 6263?

Thanks everyone for your replies. Lani, the best part about this is that it works better without having to make the sandpaper wet. Don't forget, the watch crystal is tiny! (Compared to a lacquered quarter panel!). Relatively speaking, such a small amount of product is removed from a crystal by sanding that all it takes to clear the paper is to give it a flick with your fingertip. Another plus is (besides less messy), the crystal remains dry, which allows you to easily see how much you've sanded off, and how much still needs flattening. The crystal I repaired is a dome, so the stiffness of a fresh piece of sandpaper folded into quarters remained flat and stiff enough to do this job by hand. If this was in fact a T-127 flat-top, I would tend to agree that a small sanding block would be needed to ensure "flatness" PS: from 3M's description of "finesse it": Designed for use on all automotive paints to remove grade MicroFine 1500 or finer sand scratches with a wool pad, or compounding swirl marks with a foam pad. May also be used to remove fine scratches, stains or oxidation. ...so, going finer than 1500 would simply be a waste of time

Some of you may remember a recent post of mine of a watch I had found and purchased. I'm still very happy I found this piece, as it is a very rare 1500 date. The case is in great shape, IMO the dial is better than average if not superb, and as an extra bonus, it has the original hands/crown/bracelet. While going over the watch and cleaning it up before the photo shoot, I noticed that there was a fairly large scratch (noticeable in the picture) in the crystal. After attempting to polish it out failed, I realized it was much more than just a scratch after examining it with a loupe. Apparently, somewhere along its 45 year old lifetime, the watch took a hit to the crystal that fractured the glass (or plastic, in this case). Like a windshield that takes a hit while driving on the motorway, it cracked in a rather small spot but never grew any larger. IMO, it would be foolish not to replace a crystal that has a fracture like this, since the integrity of the crystal is obviously compromised. Since this watch is a rather rare genuine vintage rolex, it only goes to reason that nothing less than original equipment would do in regard to repairs. In this case, a (rare in itself) 45 year old plastic crystal... but where would I find one? A quick rounding up of the usual suspects (aka ebay) led nowhere, since all that was available was the later version "flat" crystals. This watch required an original dome. I finally found one, but just my luck, the crystal was used and was described as having some "light scratches"... hmm... I bet you can see where this is going! Since buying this part was the only game in town (and it only cost $60), I figured it was worth a try since most scratches can be easily rubbed out. When the crystal came, I took a good look at it, and noticed something a little worse than just a scratch. Apparently, someone attempted to repair the scratched crystal with a dremel and a small buffing wheel. In an effort not slam the guy too much, I'll admit I tried that method once myself. I soon discovered that even with the dremel set on the slowest speed, buffer contact with a plastic crystal heats up too quickly, and "burns" a depression into the plastic. Although the depression can be rubbed by hand to regain the clarity of the plastic, the convex depression in the crystal remains and causes a refractive effect which is very noticeable. So, as I'm sure you can imagine, I had a dilemma. The solution I discovered was so easy I felt I had to share with our community. The stuff I used to fix this part are things I had lying around. I'm sure that for the more experienced, there may be better/easier ways to do this, although I chose to go the low cost route and use what I had First, I started with a sheet of 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Next, I folded the sandpaper sheet in half, and then in half again. What I ended up with was a quarter sheet sized piece of sandpaper that was easy to hold, and flat/stiff enough to use on a relatively tiny watch crystal without needing to use a sanding block. I gently sanded the crystal, which conveniently began to turn opaque everywhere the sandpaper touched. The depression in the plastic remained clear, which was an easy way to tell how much I sanded off, and when to stop. After the crystal was sanded down sufficiently, I put the 600 off to the side and folded up a piece of 1500. Because plastic is relatively soft, I found that (unlike metal), it is not necessary to to go though each step of sanding (600, 800, 1000, 1200 etc). I had good results from sanding with 600 and going directly to 1500. After sanding it smooth with 1500 grit, it was time to polish (by hand!). I know most of you now are thinking "oh, ok, poly-watch cream". Although that will work, IMO it is a rip off. Just think about it, I just got done sanding down a plastic watch crystal, and most likely, I would probably need to go through an entire tube of poly-watch. What else could we possibly use to do the same job? Well, since poly-watch is essentially a light polish, I figured I may have some things laying around the house that will do the same job. Since I'm an admitted car nut, the first thing that popped into my mind was automotive polish. Luckily for me, I had a bottle of 3M's "finesse it" . This is a more aggressive polish used in the auto body industry, but easily attainable for the average guy. I found that it worked just as well if not better than poly-watch. I also experimented with another product I had that is sometimes used for clearing up fogged over plastic headlamps. The product is called Novus, and I found that it was slightly less aggressive, and left a beautiful crystal clear polish to the crystal. All in all, I ended up with a beautifully rare gen made even nicer by the replacement of a faulty crystal with another original equipment dome crystal that now looks as new as the day is was born. I hope some members here will find this helpful. I'll post up some more pics tomorrow if I get the chance to take some JJ

Thanks TJ!

Great choice Lani, the LV Milgauss is a beauty

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to post up your kind comments. My next step now is to send this piece up to the master for his expert service

It's a beauty Avitt! Thanks for posting

A good friend and fellow vintage rolex enthusiast mentioned to me that the rolex collector community seems to admire different styles of rolex in cycles. He mentioned that is wasn't that long ago when bubble backs were still all the rage, and were very much the "it" watches in the collector community. I'll be honest, I've never really thought much about it until recently. Until now, I've focused mainly on the sports and tool watches. Maybe because I'm getting a little older now, my tastes for sports watches has been fulfilled, or perhaps because now I've learned enough to appreciate much more than I used to. Recently, I've had the opportunity to open the door to some true vintage. In this case, a 100% original 1952 6084 Semi-Bubble Back. IMO, for a 57 year old watch, this piece is in astounding condition. With nice clean sharp edges on the case lugs, and the very rare original "super oyster" crown (most of these crowns were replaced with screw down twin-locs upon servicing). This piece also has a set of beautiful alpha hands, and a blue steel second hand.

Thanks for the comment ubi. I'm not really into Tudors so I haven't been following any sales posts. I actually thought the date wheels might be of interest for some members though.

For those who may be interested, check this

He's out of his mind. I've watched some of his stuff for quite a while, and have seen fakes. For example, The serifed font appears to be re-dialed on the "underline" dial he is selling. (I spent about an hour comparing it to my gen underlines, looking at each letter, comparing mine with a loupe, etc., I'm pretty sure it's a fake). IMO, STAY AWAY from this seller.

I've got a nicely toned set of GEN tritium tudor hands (to fit ETA)

...Prince, is that you? jk'ng

I think vlydog may be selling a gen bracelet in the FS section