freddy333

Adding to panerai53's comments, if you are going to spend more than $500-$1,100 on 1 of these better aftermarket dials, I would seriously consider sourcing a proper 1575 movement & do it right. That way, not only are you making better use of the parts you have, but you can install gen hands & datewheel to the gen movement, which, sooner or later, you will want to do anyway. And if you have cut the dial feet off a nice aftermarket dial, you cannot easily reattach them later.

Nice work, but you definitely need to put some wear on the external parts to pull it off. Which method did he use to achieve the tropical look on the dial?

I would vintagize it & swap the bezel insert for 1 of JoeyB's, but, otherwise, it looks good to me.

To begin with, you should not be wearing a rep into a Rolex store (AD). Have you read RWG's Rules in the Introduction forum? In some areas, you may be risking legal trouble by doing so since reps are considered illegal contraband in most countries &, if the staff or another customer IDs your rep, you come off as a poser. That said, we have all been there, so I get it. I would tell friends/family the truth. Never good to lie to people who matter to you. For everyone else, why not purchase a good, ETA-powered rep & then learn about who ETA is & how they rank, performance-wise, versus Rolex's movement (hint - they are pretty close). Then, when a stranger asks about your watch, instead of lying or telling them it is just a replica (which most will interpret as a 'fake Rolex'), you can dazzle them with details about ETA being a venerable, old Swiss ebauch manufacture & how your watch's case is made of the same type of steel that Rolex used to use in the 60s (as are most of the better reps), etc. That way, instead of coming off as just another know-nothing poser, you appear to be a knowledgeable & discriminating watch collector of limited means. Of course, you could always just start saving a few dollars/week to put toward the purchase of a used gen Rolex later this year or next & your problem is solved.

The key phrase is 'appropriate to that model'. Assuming the bracelets are genuine & fit within the specifications for the model, then Rolex should not have a problem with it.

As far as Rolex USA is concerned, any parts installed on or in a Rolex watch that were not manufactured by Rolex SA, are inappropriate to that model &/or are not installed as part of normal maintenance become a breach of the Rolex trademark & the watch may then be deemed to be a non-Rolex watch (franken). Therefore, swapping a Rolex bracelet or crown for another that is appropriate to that model is acceptable since this is routinely done by RSCs during normal servicing. However, installing a custom, diamond bezel or removing the date complication on a 1575 & installing the resulting 1570 in a non-date Sub case constitutes Rolex's definition of franken & is the watch is therefore no longer legally considered to be a 'Rolex'. My guess - & this is only a guess - is that if you buy all the parts that constitute a particular model of GMT, Sub or Datejust (as I have done) & assemble them into a correct watch (which is a franken-gen), the watch would pass muster only until/unless Rolex became aware that the movement serial number did not match the case serial number, in which case the watch would be considered a franken.

I recall seeing some 'ceramic' aftermarket GMT inserts for sale on ebay a month or so ago, but I think the seller may have been our old friend, Mr. Slimeball. So buyer beware.

Ditto.

You might find this & this interesting on the topic of dial feet.

Before spraying your new dial, you should do a test spray on a scrap dial 1st.

That is it - a pad printer.

I did not realize these were bare dials, which makes all the difference. If the epoxy stops working, you might try soldering the feet on. That is the recommended way to do it, but not practical with painted dials.

I think you got lucky. Looks much better now. You might consider spraying a light coat of matte varnish, which will give it a slight texture, patina & tone down some of the shine.

I would not put too much faith in that Loctite Quickset, because that is 1 of the epoxies I tried, which failed days after installation. I have spoken with other watchmakers, who have come to the conclusion that, short of actual welding, dial feet cannot be permanently attached to a painted dial.

The variable white printing would still bother me, but it a step in the right direction.

What type of epoxy are you using? I have tried a number of them, but I have yet to find 1 that keeps the feet in place.

1 of my Patek dials came out of a retired watchmaker's spare parts box, which is why its face contains some slight wear.

Typically, dial wear is the result of improper handling by watchmakers or owners.

Traditionally, a Frankenstein watch (franken) is any genuine watch that contains aftermarket parts. Some make frankens for personal use to fool viewers into thinking their watch is gen (I rank among this group). Others build frankens as a hobby, viewing it as an intellectual challenge (I also fit within this group). While others build them to sell, as genuine, to unsuspecting victims (this is absolutely against RWG's rules). A fantasy watch is a fantasy watch, regardless of whether it contains parts from a gen watch or not.

FACTOID - Gen dials like these Newmans (as well as 'red' Subs & SDs) are painted using a process called pad printing. You can search out the details, but, basically, it involves engraving the text (today, the plate is chemically etched) & dial details into a flat plate of copper or bronze (I forget exactly what type metal Rolex used). The plate is then cleaned & a swath of white paint is squeegeed across the engraving, depositing the paint only into the grooves below the plate surface, leaving the rest of the plate clear of paint. Then, a large, soft pad, shaped somewhat like an upside-down onion, is lowered onto the painted plate. The paint gets transferred onto the face of the pad, which is then lowered onto a dial blank, thus depositing the paint in the appropriate areas of the dial. The process is repeated as many times as required to raise & thicken the paint on the dial, as per the maker's specification. A new (clean) plate, containing only, say, the outer minute marks & DAYTONA for a Newman (or the word SUBMARINER in the case of a 'red' Sub) is installed in the table & red paint is squeegeed across the engraving. The pad is again brought down onto the plate to collect the red paint & then moved over & lowered onto the dial (which already has the white paint applied) to apply red paint on top of the white painted areas that are to be red. If a thicker application of red is required, the process is repeated. Over time, the red paint may wear off, which leaves the underlying white paint. This is why you may see a bit of white below the SWISS & red minute markers on the macro pic I posted above, or peeking out below SUBMARINER on some 'red' Subs or DRSDs. Most aftermarket dials are printed, as opposed to painted, which is why the printing is 2-dimensional on aftermarket dials & 3-d on gens (& Minh's Newmans).

Amen to that. I am certainly guilty of disassembling some very nice donor watches for a higher good, but I could never bring myself to grind down a gen 103x dial. Well, never say never I guess.

Well, Minh certainly got my black dial right (though I did have to replace the crown with a gen (his old crowns looked alot like some of Phong's) & paint the square markers myself), which is why I went back to him for another white. It is just a matter of time until all the other aftermarket sellers have similar (or the same) dials for sale & only a bit longer until someone (maybe even Minh himself) bests these & for 1/3 the price.

Early Newman dials had this surface texture The texture is not a requirement of authenticity, since most Newmans lack this, but it is 1 of those small details (along with 3-d dial lettering) that you generally only see on early gens. It is also 1 of the details that allow me to rationalize spending a ridiculous amount of money for a rep dlal.