freddy333

I did warn you.

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Although many refer to the original plastic insert as being Bakelite, that is incorrect. I believe that Rolex replaced the Perspex inserts with standard metal parts late in 1956. The change to metal was mostly due to the fragility of the Perspex material, which is why it is relatively rare to find an original 6542 with its original insert & even rarer to find an original insert in good condition. But there are a few mint examples out there A bittersweet way to celebrate what should be a happy event.

Thanks for the history Demsey. My experience is similar. Back onto the 6542, I have unearthed a couple of interesting tidbits about Perspex, the material that was selected for the original GMT's bezel insert. Apparently, it was not by chance that Rolex settled upon the relatively fragile Perspex. In fact, the name Perspex has been ringing bells in the back of my head for months now, but I have been unable to make the connection. Until today. While I was going through some of my old British motorcar manuals doing some research for a friend, I found the answer.........Beginning in the 1940s & continuing well into the 1950s, (Standard) Triumph, Morris Garage (MG), Jaguar & other British sports car makers used a plastic material called Perspex to make the fixed & sliding windows that preceded roll-up glass windows in some of their cars (for some of you younguns, it was not that long ago when roll-up glass windows were an expensive option in sports cars) More importantly, the same material, Perspex, because it was easily molded into many shapes & was somewhat anti-reflective, was also used to make windscreens & machine gun turrets in planes used in the 2nd world war Of course, due to Pan Am's familiarity with airplanes (Pan Am was an airline, after all), Perspex was an obvious (& readily accessible off-the-shelf) choice for the GMT's insert. So, now we know how & why the GMT got its Perspex insert

I just picked up the April issue of Watchtime magazine &, as fate would have it, they have a feature called 'Red Hot & Blue', which describes the process of bluing screws (the same process is used to blue hands). So if you are interested, pick up a copy of that magazine.

I could get used to this

(Includes all of the original album items, including the slice of 'wedding cake') I have a number of Beatles bootlegs, but this is the very 1st 1. It appeared in Canada just days after the Beatles' 1st appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show (Feb 64) & is also noteworthy because, until the release in 96 of the Beatles Anthology, it was the only source for the original version of 'Love Me Do' with Ringo playing the drums instead of the version George Martin ultimately released that featured a studio musician Martin hired for the session (Ringo only played tambourine on the officially released version)

classicwatchparts.com

Give me a couple of minutes...........

I have not been active in LP collecting for many years, but the last time I checked (20 or so years ago), it was worth $400-$600. I am guessing that its value has approximately doubled since then. Unfortunately, I sold my stereo copies when I started a business many years ago & kept only the 1 mono copy. And not to hijack my own thread, but I kept a number of other Beatles LPs (& picture sleeve 45s) that are rarer than the 'Butcher Cover' (this is 1 of my old insurance pics) Compared to the Butcher Cover, there are FAR fewer of these still in circulation (the numbers are, at best, in the 10s)

The diameters are the same, but the 1575 is about .25mm taller. Since the 1675 GMT has a slightly taller case, I suspect the 1575 may not fit (without modding) into the 6542 case. The current dial is from MY, which I described in my previous 6542 phase 1 update.

Yes, but it is actually called the 'butcher cover'.

Thanks. There are more (watch) pics in the 1.2 update thread.

If you like the white wheel, use that. Just be aware that your watch will deviate from spec. The ETA part will not work on the gen movement (or vice-versa). I would troll ebay in search of a champagne 3035 date wheel. They come up for sale quite often & depending on condition will cost you anywhere from $50 to $200 or so for a NOS part.

Ditto Alligoat & congratulations on breaking your rep cherry.

Tribal - I expect to see some really picturesque wristies from your trip. Have a good time.

There are some spectacular pics in the wristies today. Still lugging this around

I asked MY about that early on, but he was unable to do a white dial.

Due to a number of circumstances, I ultimately moved the 1030 over to my 6536 Sub project (which will be complete as soon as Silix delivers the cases I ordered over 2 months ago The parts list was posted by auto somewhere in that thread or 1 of the related 6542 threads.

If someone knows a source for an accurate white 6542 dial, please let me know.

The DJII (no comment)

All I have are the 2 pics (no details), but these are being introduced at Baselworld 2009 & I have no idea if these are replacements or additions to Rolex's current product line. New TT Sub New TT DJ Since I am not into wearing yellow gold &, with 2 notable exceptions (GMTIIC & SS Daytona), I have not generally been a big fan of Rolex's modern watch line for some time, I am probably not the best to critique these new models except to say that I think Rolex is turning their marketing sights toward the far east & away from the US & the west. I think it is safe to say that most of the early reactions have ranged from subdued horror to astonishment (both good & bad) at 1st sight of these new 'beauties'. However, as with most new Rolex releases (I have been around long enough to have seen this cycle repeat itself more than a few times), once the initial (& expected) nah-saying subsides, the new-ness begins to fade & small numbers of celebrities & style leaders begin buying these, I suspect their popularity will be on par with Anniversary Subs & modern Milgausses.

It is within that link (which is now working).

17 winds to fully-wind the spring sounds too low for an A7750. Did someone replace your mainspring with a shorter 1? And if the stem stops at that point, I fear there may be a problem.