freddy333

Although they have been known to act like pipe bombs when crossed, they are tubes in 1 of my Futtermans.

Get another job, sell your blood & sperm as often as possible & try to limit your food intake to the essentials. Works for me.

Wednesday

1030 = 28.5mm dia, 5.85mm height, 18kbph 2846 = 25.6mm dia, 5.05mm height, 21.6kbph 2824-2 = 25.6mm dia, 4.8mm height, 28kbph It can be done, but, depending on the case, swapping movements will require some combination of spacers &/or case modifications to make things fit/line up correctly. Unfortunately, due to the case-to-case inconsistency of most aftermarket cases, there are no hard & fast rules to this game. In my (limited) experience, you pretty much have to custom make parts to fit the ETA to your particular case.

Paloalto sells very overpriced gen parts (mostly used). Again, I would check with Stan (see link in previous post above).

Rolex Service in UK (London) is much more customer service oriented with respect to vintage owners. If you wish to keep your dial & handset (or insert), simply have that written into your service request (make sure it is clearly stated what you do not want replaced). As long as the lume is not falling off of the dial or handset (which can cause damage to the movement & is why Rolex may suggest replacements), they should not give you any problems. If you want, just ask them to service the movement & replace the seals.

Yes, the Silix ROLS176 is the only rep I have found with both the correct bezel & case dimensions for use in vintage Rolex projects (my 1st 6542 currently resides in 1 & I have a 6536 waiting (since January) for the other to be shipped). The trouble is that Silix is slow to the point that I have finally been forced to seek assistance of the Mods in getting him to respond. After repeated promises (since early February) that 'we will ship your watches this week', all I have received are excuses & apologies, followed by more of the same. Until further notice, I would deal with Silix ONLY as a last resort & ONLY with money you are willing to gamble with.

Ah, the old '25 Jew' movement - these do not work on Saturdays. It should work, but you probably just need to unbend the set lever & be sure the set screw (that goes into it from the other side) is threaded into it when you reassemble. This is a very common problem with ETAs. You have to use the proper (black jewelers) screwdriver when gently pressing the stem release button.

Riveted rep bracelets are crap (when they work, which is not often) & you resize (in theory) by either moving the pin in the clasp to another hole or, if that does not provide enough latitude, by unscrewing the screws near the clasp, remove links & reassemble. While the theory is simple, the reality is often anything but. These bracelets are usually assembled with stripped or broken screws & other parts that do not fit correctly. If you are able to get the screws out, you may not be able to get them back in. I always toss these bracelets in the rubbish & replace them with just about anything else.

Nice.

I would go ahead & invest in the TZ toolset. They are good, quality tools & the set is designed for the beginning watch enthusiast or budding watchmaker. As your skills & knowledge level increase (assuming you stick with it for a long time or work on alot of watches), you will develop your own preferences. But, for now, I think the TZ kit will make your life alot easier.

Drawn to the Brevet today (Tuesday)

Actually, you would want a thinner case (not thick), but you might search out some of the threads by Ubiquitous about his 2 beautiful 16520 frankens. Ubi has more experience with these models than anyone else here & he knows his stuff.

The 2836 is slightly thicker (5.05mm) vs the 2824 (4.8mm), so you may run into stem alignment &/or caseback space issues. But if you can get it to fit in your case, I believe the hands & dial are transferable, so it should work fine. Is there a reason you cannot repair your existing movement?

Other than the solid end links & different clasp design on the modern bracelet, I believe only the model number is different on the links. I do not own a WM9 (or any modern Subs), so I cannot verify that your watch will fit. But as it is a simple 5-minute operation to switch bracelets, I would give it a try yourself.

I have never dealt with Andy, but if, by quality, you mean manufacturing quality, then they are ok (not great, but ok). If you mean accurate, relative to a specific gen model, then no, the quality is poor. Specifically, regarding Alligoat's comments about using Silix cases, you might want to read this, this & this. And to update my 'still waiting' comments in some of those links, to date, I am STILL waiting (& receiving email excuses from Silix describing yet more delays ).

Without measuring the inner & outer diameter of your existing crystal, it is nearly impossible to say what, if any, Clark crystal will fit your case or whether it will be any different than your current crystal. I think the crystal you have is about as good as you are going to get short of a gen (&, before you ask, no, I do not know if that will fit your case either). Frankly, the crystal is probably 1 of the last things I would be concentrating on. Read this.

Save for Rolex's higher labor costs, it is usually best to have Rolex service your Rolex watch. In addition to the reasons previously mentioned, I would add that Rolex specs some hard-to-get oils that few watchmakers outside the official Rolex service network have access to. Also, if your watchmaker does not have a Rolex parts account, you will likely end up paying more for any parts required or you could end up with non-Rolex parts in your watch.

I agree, but, with his reference to 'NATO', I wanted to head-off a mistake in the making.

Cam - Thanks for the post (I have registered on your list). It looks like you got the design & colors right but, to be clear, Bond's strap was not a NATO. It is just a plain strap with a buckle at 1 end (see this link). If your plans are to make NATOs, would it be possible to produce at least 1 plain strap for me (though I think it is highly likely that others will request the same thing)?

Manually wind the watch 40 turns & then set it (dial up) on a table & keep an eye on it for the next 2 days. If it keeps reasonable time for the next 36+ hours, then the watch is just not receiving sufficient winding from your daily arm movements. If it continues to stop intermittently, then it likely needs a general overhaul (clean, lube & regulation).

Generally, if the crystal is Plexiglas, it is vintage.

Who has the best graphs?

Something tells me you are probably right.

Oppie today (Monday)