freddy333

Nice composition (love the Alfa dash ).

Wearing a Sub today

The only differences I have seen are attributable to wear.

This item has a number of issues - Oddly shaped case Odd date font (could be an overlay) No pics of movement Low previous sales numbers Terrible previous sales satisfaction percentage (anything lower than 100% with less than 200 previous Rolex sales is cause for concern - 94.7% should be a BIG RED warning light, regardless of the total number) I would let someone else risk getting taken. DJs (from reliable sellers with good, lengthy sales histories) are common on ebay. Wait, watch & you will win.

Ending the work week wearing 1 of my GMTs (running well within COSC specs - +/-2 secs/day)

Sad, but contrary to pronouncements over the past few years, this news has been predicted for some time.

Should have gilt hands & I would have Ziggy mod the dial to eliminate what looks like new lume. Also, not sure about that caseback? Other than that, if you beat the case up to look like a 40+ year old watch, it looks reasonable for the price.

2 in a row.

Just ended. If you missed it, you did not miss anything. And, as usual, most of the law enforcement personnel (especially Bruckner) appearing in the feature are wearing big, gold watches. How many honest cops can afford a gen $20k watch? So who's conning who? 'nuff said.

Watching it now. The usual fear-mongering & flame-fanning by the media, with few references (so far) to watches. Mostly, the usual rubbish that anyone with more than a brief experience is already well aware of.

I guess Rolex changed the procedure in recent years & dealing mainly with vintage Rolex, I missed that. When installing tubes, I follow the guides in vintage Rolex Technical & Service manuals, which were consistent from the 1970s through the early 1980s (the years covering most of my watches) (1974) (1981)

Halo - I am very sorry to hear about the fire & related issues. I know you can never replace the personal things lost, but, hopefully, you were insured & will be able to rebuild the rest better than before.

Even without the gen crown, a beauty. If its bezel was not so delicate (& expensive to replace), this could easily become my new beater (now sporting a Jubilee)

(1969 100 watt lead) Almost back on topic (6542 among the knobs of a '74 'Paul)

They are not listed in either the parts or service books for the 6542 or 24-600 Twinlock. It cost me $200, so I will clean it up & use it on another project (or, if I am able to make it reliable, it could make a reappearance here ).

Yes, that could be it, too. Or some other part that came loose & wedged itself between the bottom of the rotor & some part of the case &/or movement. If the OP can remove the caseback & take a look, either of these should be immediately obvious.

Most likely, the auto-wind module requires cleaning/oiling, as does the rest of the movement. The movements in rep watches are, for the most part, used &/or unserviced, so it is quite common to see problems out-of-the-box. Options are (in recommended order) contact the seller for instructions, have a local watchmaker overhaul the watch or, if you have the required tools/skills, fix it yourself.

Probably, less to worry about with a modern part like a 703 (assuming it does not have any damage) than with a 50+ year old part. The other common vintage parts that comes to immediately mind are those gen superdome crystals, which, even as NOS, are now likely reaching 20+ years of age (assuming the 1 you get came from the final production run & not from an earlier 1 ). Plexiglas, especially, has a tendency to age & become brittle & this is not a good thing when you are swimming or bathing. This is why, although I picked up a gen T39 for my beater a few years ago, I decided against replacing the brand new superdome from Clarks, which looks almost indistinguishable from the gen & provides far more reliability & peace of mind.

I just missed the proverbial bullet with my Phase II 6542 - After washing my hands, I noticed fog on the inside of the crystal. Of course, this means moisture has found its way past the case seals & into the case. So I removed the movement & replaced the crown/stem onto the tube & dropped the case into a glass of water (of course, this is not a good pressure test, but it will reveal gross leak points into the case). Sure enough, there was a small leak around the crown cap. Even though the seals in the tube & crown cap were new & properly lubed, they were not water-tight. So I r&r'd the tube with a new gen, replaced the seal in the crown cap & retested. Same again - still leaking. So I swapped the Brevet out for a NOS Twinlock 600 (the crown most 6542s were originally fitted with) & retested. Dry as a bone. Although it looked & screwed-down ok, the Brevet cap was obviously not sealing. So I went over the inside of the crown cap with my 10x loupe &, sure enough, there was minute pitting & wear along the threads & inside the crown that had escaped my original inspection with my 4x loupe. Something else I noticed - Although the Brevet felt fine, the NOS Twinlock feels so much more silky & sure that I think I am going to leave it on there (unless I can locate a NOS 6mm Brevet, which I have little hope of finding). I guess the moral of the story is that while the rarest vintage Rolex parts may add a bit of icing on the cake, they may also be incurring a handicap in the feel & reliability of your watch. So, sometimes, Rolex may be right in demanding that we replace these objects of our RIS affection with more modern parts.

In a word, yes. The process is virtually the same as grouting tile - Clean the metal to remove oils/debris (I used denatured alcohol) Apply paint into the engraving with Q-Tip or your applicator of choice While wet, moisten (not soak) a soft, lint free cloth or paper towel (I used Viva paper towels) with paint thinner (denatured alcohol) & wipe LIGHTLY across top of metal. 1 wipe ONLY. With a fresh paper towel moistened with thinner, repeat above step. Use once & throw paper towel away. Repeat until most of the paint from the surface is removed. Slight blemishes will be removed when you polish the metal once paint is dry.

As long as the engraving sinks below the surface, there is sufficient depth to hold paint - lume or non.

Apply the iodine only to the backside of the lume. Get as little on the hands as possible. It will not damage them, but can leave stains that are not very authentic looking. The iodine provides enhanced patina (be careful not to apply it too evenly - a bit of splotchyness is good) & baking gives the parts some age. This is an art, not a science, which is why most of this requires experimentation to get the look YOU want.

I agree about the straps (no). Apply a bit of iodine (for color) to the backside of the lume & then bake the hands in the center of your oven. (I usually place them, shiny side up, on aluminum foil.) As far as temps & times, you have to gauge it by eye. Start at around 300 degrees for 5 minutes. Then, pull them out & have a look-see. If they match the dial, you are done. If not, put them back & increase the temps 50 degrees for a few additional minutes. Be careful not to go too high or too long, because dessert can go from tasty to overdone in less than a minute.