freddy333

Frankens were never a sane financial investment for the reasons stated. But for those who either have very deep pockets (to pay a watchsmith to assemble the watch for you) or the skills to do the work themselves, they remain the most cost effective way to the look & feel of the real thing. Of course, alot depends on the percentage of gen parts used & the quality of the work involved in the assembly. Placing a gen movement into a rep/aftermarket case with a rep/aftermarket dial/handset does not make alot of sense because it will have little effect on the look & feel of the franken. On the other hand, powering a gen dial/handset in a rep/aftermarket case with a gen movement takes the enterprise to a much higher level since what you see & feel is gen. Of course, when dealing with vintage Rolex components, maintenance is & will be an ongoing dilemma since costs are constantly escalating & supplies -- those that remain available -- are tightly controlled by the mothership. I think if you have the passion, knowledge, will & cash, frankens are the only affordable way to experience vintage Daytonas, SDs, Subs & GMTs.

David, I am shocked and saddened by this devastating news. Although distance limited our 2 decade long friendship to the virtual world, Bob was an inspiration in the truest sense of the word. His passion for watches was the fire that made RWG burn so brightly & 1 of the things that kept so many of us coming back for so many years. To say that Bob will be missed is an understatement. And that statement itself is an understatement. I have no idea what, if any, Bob's final wishes were, but I think it goes without saying that his 1st choice would have been to remain with his family & friends. However, a distant second option might have been to be buried behind the wheel of his beloved Land Rover with his Double-Red strapped to his wrist. It is with great sorrow that I say -- Requiescat In Pace, Bob.

Minor Update on CF 3G -- After (more than) successful completion of my testing, I reassembled the CF/1,700mAh-powered 3G & checked to be sure the case closed & closed without crushing or adversely affecting anything. All good! HOWEVER -- I do not think the thicker 3,000mAh battery will fit inside the 3G's (thick) case. The 1,700mAh battery is 2/3 the thickness of the 3,000mAh battery & the 3G's caseback literally just snaps closed with the battery inside. Unfortunately, because the 3G is designed for its battery to fit into a cut-out in the mainboard (below the HDD), the only place to fit the larger battery (which takes up about 4/5 of the iPod's interior dimensions) was above the drive (between the drive & caseback). My initial reassembly was intended to be temporary as I had expected the battery to be sufficiently loose that it would end up flopping around in there, which would not be good. But, to my surprise, once the final case latch locked, the unit feels like a single, solid component. Of course, that is a good thing for mechanical stability (none of the internal connections should become disconnected), but there is just no room for anything more. So, case closed, literally.

Update -- Just past the 15-hour mark. For the past hour, the battery indicator on the screen has read 0, but the 3G is still going strong. Since it has run a good deal longer than I expected (or required) it to, I have decided not to risk the lovely battery by running it dead. Were it not for the 2 Rockbox-related crashes, the CF/1,700mAh 3G performed flawlessly. With top quality source material, these things really sound wonderful & I am looking forward to being able to listen all day, literally, without having to stop to recharge every couple of hours. Next on my list is to replace the headphone jack in the other 3G & retry the MicroSDXC drive. I think the CF drive profile is too tall to fit the 3,000mAh battery. But it has a better chance with the MicroSD setup, so I think it worth taking another shot at it. Finally, once the other 3,000mAh battery arrives (this battery has a ribbon connector to fit the 5G rather than the 3-wire plug the 3Gs require), I will begin work on the 5G. More to come --

Update -- Just made it past the 12-hour mark & there is still 22% left on the meter.

Based on my results so far, I think you could make it there & back.

Success! My original goal was to produce a 3G that will run Rockbox for at least six hours without completely draining the battery to the point of damage or decreased lifespan (six hours running on the Apple OS should translate to 10-12 hours). It's official -- the CF/1,700mAh-powered 3g just blew past the sixth hour & the battery meter still reads 61%! &, remember, that 61% is based on Rockbox's estimates based on a 1,200mAh battery. So, if the new 3G continues running as it has done over the past six hours, the battery indicator should 0 at around the 12 hour mark...............theoretically, with a comfortable (& unreported) 500mAh left in its tank. Based on my experience, the unmodified 3G generally ran at least twice as long under the OEM Apple OS versus Rockbox, which, due to its far wider features & functions, is a battery drainer. So I would expect people running the modded 3G & the Apple OS may reach the 1 day mark before requiring a battery tap. At this point, I will probably continue to monitor the 3g's performance until the battery display indicates 0 & see if/how much longer it runs. I think it is worth the risk of possible battery damage to find out how long this thing will actually run. p.s. Now that I think about it, lithium batteries benefit from a few cycles of full charge/full discharge/full charge. So I think the battery may be capable of reaching even greater heights after being optimized that way. Stay tuned. p.p.s. Just did a bit of research & it seems that current thinking is that my original assumption was correct -- full discharges are bad for lithium batteries. That said, because the Rockbox indicator is likely going to give up the ghost shy of a few hundred mAh, I think I will let the 3G run until it goes dark just to verify if/how far the Rockbox indicator is off (or not).

Update -- Battery 75% @ 4 hours on Shuffle.

Megabytes. The HDD's PIO transfer specs pretty much reflect what I was seeing during my song transfers to the HDD-equipped 3G, though it occasionally varied a bit above that for brief periods. So the CF's average transfer speed, about 30meg/sec, virtually doubles the HDD's, essentially halving the time it takes to transfer data to/from the CF card. Not only that, but data transfers burn-up the most battery capacity. Now, there is bad news & good news. The bad news is not related to the mods, but the good news is. The bad -- At some point, with my fiddling around, I must have broken the connection to the headphone jack's left channel. A replacement headphone jack has been ordered. The good -- The photo of the 3G below was taken after about 1 HOUR of run time. Even better, the 1,700mAh battery had just eaten through two of my 24-bit/92kHz hi-res ALAC files without losing a single % of capacity. Then, Rockbox crashed, which it does on a small number of ALAC files. This has been an ongoing problem with Rockbox that I have referred to their developers (to date, without response). It is unrelated to the mods. After rebooting the 3G, the battery indicated 88%. HOWEVER, over the next few minutes, it slowly climbed back up to 99% & it has held steady since then. But back to those 24-bit ALACs -- On the other hand, the 850mAh battery would have dropped at least 2-3% by the end of 1 of these 24-bit files. In fact, in 15 minutes, the 3G will have been playing for 2 hours & the battery is holding at 98%! Also, if you use Apple's OS rather than Rockbox & listen only to mp3 & AAC (rather than ALACs or FLACs), your run-time is naturally much longer than Rockbox anyway. So, even without these mods, with a good 850mAh battery, you should be seeing at least 6-8 hour run-times (Apple specs "up to 8 hours"). To be determined -- Some of these batteries discharge logarithmically. That is, they may sit at 100% for 10 minutes & then drop 12% over the next 10. So I will keep an eye on the discharging as the 3G plays & report how long it takes to reach 15%, which is generally considered the lowest discharge level that will not damage or reduce the battery's recharge capacity. Oh & remember that Rockbox's battery capacity setting options only go up to 1,200mAh & the 3G now has a 1,700mAh battery, so Rockbox may indicate 0 battery when in fact the battery is still at 20%. Anyway, let us see how it progresses. I have to say that I am both surprised & extremely happy with the result of these mods.

Update -- The 3G's running swell with the CF drive & 1,700mAh battery. I had to transplant the wiring/jack from the 850mAh battery onto the larger battery because the latter's jack was too large for the socket in the iPod. But after a bit of silver solder, shrink wrap & 1.5 hours to top off the half-charged battery, the 3G's been playing solidly for 30 minutes without any issues & the battery state indicator on the iPod still reads "100%" charge. Unfortunately, the Rockbox OS's settings for "Battery Capacity" max out as 1,200mAh, so the iPod's battery status, which is based on this "Battery Capacity" setting, may poop-out 500mAh before the battery actually runs out of juice. I have not yet tackled the 3,000mAh battery, in part because it is 30% thicker than the 1,700mAh battery, which appears to just fit. I will also need to "donate" the wiring/jack from an OEM style battery to get it to fit in the iPod because these LG batteries are made for a device that connects to the battery through contacts built into its side. But I think those contacts are removable & there will be simple + & - connections I can solder the transplanted wiring/jack to. Then, I will just have to figure out how to provide another mm or so of space between the big battery & inside caseback of the 3G.

Took my Aryan 'Master out of her case today to exercise her legs --

Nice piece, but I think most members would find it easier to view your post if you left out the black highlighting. It makes reading a chore.

Update -- The intermittent "Panic" crashes continued with the Lexar MicroSDXC, so I ditched the MicroSD option & reinstalled the CF drive along with a slightly beefier 1,100mAh battery. I am currently charging the system with the new battery & will perform some tests once the battery is fully charged. A bit of a disappointment, but I think I may be able to get the 3,000mAh battery to fit after all. It will require some battery surgery in the form of transplanting the wiring/jumper/connector from 1 of the small, OEM-style batteries onto the big battery. Not quite sure if/how to go about it, but I will report back later today if I make headway. For now, I think CF is the way to go with the 3G iPod. I also discovered that the 3G's run-time is about 1/4 that of the standard 5th Gen iPod. So that may tip the scales in favor of the 5G as the main source when all is said & done. I am not sure how it got that way, but my 5G is filthy inside, including the headphone & dock ports. So everything will need to be thoroughly cleaned before I can get a final tab on performance, functions & sound quality. Stay tuned --

As most who venture into the world of Rolex reps learn, there are no perfect reps. All contain errors & inaccuracies. The goal is to learn what those differences are & find the rep whose issues offend you the least. I always recommend that people target a specific model & then spend time researching the details of the gen model you want so you are fairly familiar with its overall look. Even better if you can make a trip to an Authorized Dealer (AD) or 2 so you can try them on, operate the controls & see how they appear in reality. That way, you are in a much better position to know what to look for & what to expect before you begin The Search for the right rep for you. You might begin by downloading pics of the Daytona model you want from Rolex's website & other gen collector sites. Study them & then search the offerings of the sellers here to see which reps offend you the least. That will save you alot of time, money & frustration in the long run. Ask any of the old-timers here how they know this to be true.

Minor Update -- The Lexar MicroSDXC card just arrived & I am in process of installing the Apple OS & uploading 4,000 song files. So far, I am not seeing much improvement in data transfer speeds, which are currently varying between 10meg/sec & 21meg/sec. A bit disappointing, but the MicroSC's claim to fame (for me) is its lower physical profile so the 3,000mAh battery will fit in the case. More to come after the song file upload completes & I am able to run some function tests of the completed Lexar (MicroSDXC)-powered system.

I am not familiar with 'nh35' movements, but, if you have the skills, tools & will, almost any similar Sub movement can be made to fit a Sub case. Hopefully, someone with direct experience will chime in with a more definitive answer for you.

Not quite a match of any existing (vintage?) model, but nice work. I like it.

You are correct that the drive is not in the signal path, but it is a link in the overall chain (that dictates overall reliability), which is what I was referring to. I may not have been clear. I probably should not have said 'straight wire with gain', as that infers the audio signal, when what I meant was just that simple is generally better. The KISS principal -- Keep It Simple Stupid -- may have been a better way to put it. I think you are correct about the HDD adding "noise". Listening, critically, to compare the signals via HDD vs CF, the CF output has a lower noise floor (via over-the-ear headphones), not to mention there is 0 mechanical noise coming from the iPod case with a solid state drive. Also, I have experienced some issues with the MicroSD drive in the form of random "Panic" crashes in Rockbox (these have not occurred in my limited testing with the Apple OS, but I may just not have given it enough time to manifest since most of my testing is being done via Rockbox). According to others' reports of similar crashes with SSDs & Rockbox, they appear to be related to the SD cards themselves. That is, some MicroSD &/or MicroSDXC adapters/cards work well with these SSDs & some do not. This gets back to the reasoning behind my preference for CF over MicroSD & the simplified connection layout. So far, I have had no issues with the CF drive & it is about 25% faster than the MicroSD drive. By faster, I mean I am seeing about 30+megs/sec when uploading 4,000 music files from PC to CF-equipped iPod. In contrast, the same transfers onto the HDD produce about 15-18megs/sec, while things drop slightly to about 14-16megs/sec to the MicroSD. Also, again, because these old iPods have processors & motherboards designed to handle a max of 10-40Gb of mp3 files (although they support ALAC, I doubt they were designed for them), anything that reduces (or bottlenecks) transfer speed is directly reflected in the unit's functional operation. Trying to create a playback database or use the Shuffle feature (on the entire database) with 60GB worth of song files is slow with the HDD or MicroSD. On the other hand, it flies (ie., takes about half the time), relatively speaking, with the CF system. Back to the MicroSD/SDXC issues -- it has been established that the overall success with this configuration is highly dependent on the particular brand/model of MicroSD/SDXC used in the SSD drive. Generally, it is thought that faster, more high-end MicroSD/SDXCs perform more reliably in the iPod than do slower, cheaper cards. So I thought I would be safe using a relatively fast (& generally reliable in other contexts) Sandisk Ultra SDXC U1 A1. Apparently, others have had similar problems with this particular card. So I ordered a (rather costly) 128Gb Lexar Pro 2000x UHS-II SCXC, which is reputed to be trouble-free for these. Based on the specs of the Sandisk & Lexar cards, the latter should be significantly faster as well, so, hopefully, I will be seeing data transfer speeds closer to what I am getting with the CF setup. That would be the best of both worlds -- optimal speed & minimal profile height (leaving room for the big battery). So keep watching & I will update in a few days with the results of the Lexar card transplant.

Yes, the 3G supports firewire via its docking port. I have a plain USB-to-docking port cable somewhere, but I generally use the USB/firewire combo "Y" cable because the (standard capacity) battery does not last long when transferring more than a small bit of data to/from the 3G without it being powered via firewire. You can still buy USB/firewire "Y" cables or, as a (power-only) alternative, you can get 1 of the docking plug-to-12V cables & plug that into a 120V-to-12V (cigarette lighter female jack). See pics (from ebay). I have never used AAC, but the 3G's default OS supports ALAC. Though, if I remember correctly, you are limited to 16-24-bit with an upper limit of 92khz (not 192khz, which I believe is still considered the standard for "high-res" 24-bit audio). So it is easy to make lossless ALAC copies of standard CDs (ie, 16-bit/44khz) & store them on the 3G like any other music file (eg, mp3). But ALACs give you a bit of additional headroom in case you want to play high-res 24-bit recordings on the 3G. Just remember you are limited to a max of 92khz@24-bit, rather than the more typical 192khz. I should also mention that installing the Rockbox OS is highly recommended since that also supports FLACs, but I am not sure whether Rockbox increases the upper-end of the khz limits for ALAC/FLAC on the 3G?

With a Sub, always an Oyster.

Update -- I have begun receiving some of the upgrade components -- solid state drives (SSD) to replace the original hard disk drives (HDD) & larger batteries. The general view is that the 5th generation iPod was the best sounding due to its improved Wolfson DACs. However, to my ears, the 3rd sounds more natural & less harsh. I think most iPod listeners tend to be young & more emotionally-driven. I think they mistake mo' bass as being "better" sound. For some types of music, it may be. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I will be getting to the 5th gen mods (they share essentially the same upgrade components) once the 3rd gen mods are complete. So far, I have swapped the HDD for the CF card in the 3rd gen iPod & it is working perfectly. The benefits are faster access times (especially, now that the amount of music capacity far exceeds what the iPod was designed to access), longer (battery) run-time & the iPod is much less liable to impact-related damage since it no longer contains any delicate, moving components (HDDs are notoriously delicate & prone to impact-related damage). The iPod is also dead silent & weighs about 40% less without the relatively heavy (& noisy) HDD. It is worth noting that when performing this upgrade, you should format the new/blank CF card in a Windows PC to the default Windows 32-bit format. That way, it will be functional in both Windows & Macs. Also, since the new CF card is blank (ie, it lacks the iPod OS), the 1st time you power the iPod up, you will get the 'empty file' icon error, indicating the missing OS. Simply, connect the iPod to a PC running the latest version of Apple iTunes, which should recognize the 'new' iPod & prompt you to Restore it. The Restore process installs the necessary iPod OS, making the player bootable into its default menu system. All that is left is to upload your tunes & enjoy. My next project is to tackle the battery upgrade, replacing the current 850mAh battery, which is located in a cut-out in the lower right-hand corner behind the CF board, with, hopefully, the 3,000mAh battery that I hope will fit between the CF board & the iPod's back cover. Currently, I get about 1.5-2 hours run-time on the 850mAh battery. I would get triple that if everything was in mp3 format, but about a fifth of the music I have is in Apple's lossless ALAC format (similar to FLAC, for those who know about such things), which results in larger (& more energy-consuming to decode) music files. In theory, upping battery capacity nearly 4 times along with the increased efficiency of the SSD (HDDs are energy hogs) will hopefully result in 10-12 hour (battery) run times. Though, in cases where only mp3s are used, I have heard of 50-hour run times. But we shall see. If there is not enough space for the big battery with the CF drive, the plan is to replace it with the MicroSD drive (same 128Gb capacity), which is about 1/2 the thickness of the CF board & should provide more than enough space. I imagine some of you are wondering why I do not just go with the MicroSD option since it is more likely to leave space for the large battery? The reason is that I am a firm believer in the straight-wire-with-gain principal in audio. That is, the fewer components &/or connections in the signal path, the better the sound (& the more reliable the circuit). The MicroSD drive has 1 connection between the MicroSDXC card that fits into its MicroSD adapter, a 2nd connection between the MicroSD adapter & its slot on the MicroSD board & a 3rd & 4th connection between the MicroSD board & the IDE-to-SD adapter & the adapter & the iPod's motherboard. Meanwhile, the CF has only 1 connection between the CF card & its slot & a 2nd connection between the CF card board & the iPod's motherboard. The CF option is both simpler & contains half the connections in the signal path, so that is my 1st choice. But, again, I may end up taking the MicroSD route if I am unable to fit 1 of the larger batteries in the case with the CF board. Anyway, here are some pics to fill in some of the blanks --

Wearing the Seagul '63 today --

I just found the same dial for sale on Chrono24, which is a respected German watch website that provides buyer protection. Here is the link on Chrono24

Not quite a Dark Side of the Moon "Master", but there is just something about a good, unopened tape (at left) --