freddy333

22 minutes ago, Ronin said:

I see no reason to buy the real thing...

There are reasons to go the gen route -- you lack the skills (or interest) to fix the few minor flaws in the clones (& they bother you), you want to be able to have your watch serviced by a pro with a parts account, you want to post macro pics of your watch on the gen forums, you have the time/money to wait & pay the price of admission, having 'the real thing' is important to you or you are an investor seeking to profit from your Rolex. There may be more, but those come to mind as rational reasons to go gen.

For anyone curious about or considering the purchase of a 4130-clone-powered 1165xx Daytona --

The Big Kahuna continues to maintain its 1 sec/day regularity & continues to spellbind me with its beauty & reliability. Simply incredible for any mechanical watch, let alone a fake Rolex.
As I have mentioned previously, these things ARE expensive -- no getting around that -- but they are an incredible value considering the additional cost, time/effort & games required in order to acquire the gen alternative.

On 6/30/2019 at 6:36 PM, tonyp1 said:

Took some pictures today. Don’t wear this too often. 

Unfortunately, all of your pic links are broken, but here are a few of my DW frankens (all V72-powered) --

5 hours ago, LHOOQ-PM said:

When DW got something right, he'd get it incredibly right.  Unfortunately, dealing with him was like walking through a  minefield--and I consider myself one of the lucky ones!

I think you just had to understand that English was not his default language & he used translation software for most of his communications. Because of this, if you did not keep things simple, misunderstandings were possible. That is why so many people had problems dealing with him. I did so much business with DW that we became friends & we had plans to meet in China when I was there to visit with my girlfriend's family. Unfortunately, due to scheduling issues, we were unable to meet.

Based on my experience, I found DW to be quite honest, reasonable & bright. I think there was a thread many years ago that discussed this (including comments from DW) that you may be able to find with the RWG search.

Whatever the case, I think many would agree that properly constructed Daytonas based on DW parts were classics, including Goldie in the pic above (which was a 1 of a kind custom case that DW designed for me -- without charge!).

If you can decase the movement, simply blow on the hand & see if it spins. If it does, then the hand's joint is weak/loose.
If it remains in position, then there may be a wheel missing teeth or severely misaligned with an adjoining wheel.

Good luck.

Most likely, the arm wand is loose on its stem tube. A common problem with reps. I posted a howto thread about this many years ago that you may be able to locate via the search.

Either replace the hand, use a TINY bit of epoxy to cement the underside of the joint between the horizontal arm wand & its vertical stem tube, or ask a competent local watchmaker to fix it (he will remove & tighten the loose hand joint with a couple of light taps from a concave staking tool).

I have never had the various Asian 413x movements in front of me to do a comparison, so I cannot answer your question. My guess is that no one else on RWG has either.
However, I am fairly certain that someone on RWI, the most popular rep site, probably has such a comparison.

3 hours ago, Rambo73 said:

he was about reluming 2 dials for me Panerai Pre V dials

could you be kind to refer me someonelse was talented than him to do so ?

Click me

Ending my work week still wearing The Big Kahuna --

In hell, Apple watches are required.

Better red than dead --

I think the growth of Rolex misinformation/disinformation has simply matched the growth of Rolex 'collectors', especially those of the younger generation, who, just 10 years ago, viewed Rolexes as "old men's watches" & opted for Dick Tracy (ie, Apple) watches over mechanicals. Like just about everything else today, truth has been eclipsed by fashion (parading as truth by those who have been trained to comply to the fashionistas).

But what irks me more than the 'Millenary, Bobs Watches, Brodinkee' clutter is the growth of Indian- & Spanish-language spam that litters google, youtube & other previously useful sources for info/data/pics/vids, all of which have little to do with Rolex & nearly always using the name as click-bait.

Not to turn this thread into a political rant, but, unless AI can change the Titanic's destiny, I think the days of the internet as a reliable source of Rolex knowledge may be behind us.

google watchmakers in your city & phone to see if they work on reps. I think you will find that many do.
You might also ask for references to be sure they are not charlatans.

Some very nice metal, gentlemen.

Working at home today with my Aryan 'Master

4 hours ago, LHOOQ-PM said:

Who else have we lost, and who else will we lose, and never find out about?

Welcome back. Sadly, we lost Bob (Nanuq) recently.

There may be others, but I only recently returned myself, so I am not really up on the social aspects of RWG.

For reference - 5513 Comex with gen dial

Andrew is a reliable, long time vendor & there are often production/supply delays he is unable to do anything about. Repeated queries do little other than to add to these delays.

If you just ordered on the 17th, I would give it another few weeks before contacting Andrew again. If you do not hear anything by the end of the month, I would email him a simple, 'Hi, can you tell me the status of my order? Thank you.'

As they say, good things come to those who wait.

Overall, looks great, especially for a 1st build!

However, I am wondering if you have the correct crystal? It could be due to the angle of the watch in the pic, but it looks like the cyclops is not centered over the date window.

An interesting item, but definitely a case for buy the seller before you buy the watch.

I am not familiar with Fizcard & have not purchased anything from Andrew for awhile, but I seem to recall he had multiple payment options. You might try 1 of the other options, or email Andrew & ask him for assistance. He is usually very helpful.

Big Kahuna today --

There is crazy inflation & then there is crazy Rolex inflation. The latter is generally crazy even by crazy standards. That is why it is said that today's crazy Rolex price will be tomorrow's bargain.

I would disagree somewhat with your description of the 23-300 as being delicate. I have overhauled 2-3 of them (1 sitting on my bench now) &, while not in the tool watch class, I would have no qualms wearing 1 as a daily driver. But I will acknowledge that Pateks generally require a higher level of care when being maintained (due to their haute decoration), parts are costly & difficult to source.