freddy333

If I remember correctly, the retail was somewhere around $250-$300 when it debuted (& they sat on AD's shelves gathering dust for many years until Italian collectors started the buying frenzy in the mid-90s that continues today).

Yes, very familiar. Here is a static pic

My current project - a gilt 1030-powered Rolex 6536 Submariner (continuation of this) click me

My usual beater

I hope you feel better soon, Cats. I have too much time on my hand today (Sunday)

Exactly.

I posted this pic of 1 of my 6239s in early November Today, I spied this pic (taken a few days ago) posted on a gen site

It has been my feeling that, contrary to prevailing wisdom, the current mechanical watch boom will be the next bubble to burst. The largest growth spurt in the mechanical watch industry began to take off just before 9/11. That means that that 1st wave of mechanicals are now coming due for servicing. And, having grown up around mechanical watches during their heyday, I know that having a watch run properly without regular servicing is definitely the exception rather than the rule. And I also know that, when presented with the option to spend $200+ to service an aging mechanical or $100 to buy a nice new quartz, more & more new mechanical owners will opt for the cost of regular battery replacements over regular service/repairs. So it would not surprise me to see, in 5 years time, a resurgence of Swatch & more Dick Tracy types of all-in-1 devices & a serious drop in mechanical watch sales.

Welcome GB/Geneva, STL per chance? This post might of some help to you. I would also recommend that you Search out any of Victoria's old posts. She posted probably every ladies' (& many gents') watch ever made. Sadly, she left the fold some time ago & has not been seen since.

Ending the work week the same way it began

I think I know who you are talking about, but, no, the bracelet in the picture is from a seller in Hong Kong. Like the saying goes - Always buy the seller before you buy the watch.

Yes, but I have also been seeing another trend, that of sellers dismantling rare, working vintage watches (the 6542 comes to mind here) just to part out the individual components of the watch for profit (another oddity of the vintage Rolex world is that, often, the individual parts of a vintage Rolex may be more valuable than the assembled watch). In these cases, where the parts came from a working watch, the starting price is almost always very high because the seller knows they were in working condition. But when you see a 1570 or 3135 movement being auctioned with a very low (or no) starting bid, then, as Ziggy said, you are probably buying yourself into trouble regardless of the hyperbole used by the seller. As great a resource as he is for aftermarket parts, would you really want to buy a (loose/unpackaged) 'genuine' Rolex component like a movement or bracelet from someone (in Asia) like Phong?

In another thread, Ziggy touched on a subject that I think merits further comment. Along with still-sky-high vintage Rolex parts prices, I have been noticing an increasingly disturbing trend over the past year - defective Rolex movements & franken bracelets being sold (mostly on ebay) as 'genuine' parts by (mainly) Asian sellers (some with good, lengthy selling histories). Popular vintage Rolex bracelets, especially, seem to be flooding ebay's auction sections lately. Until a few months ago, I used to have to search for a couple of weeks to find a single ratty 7835 or 9315 bracelet. But, now, there seem to be 2-3 quality examples of each listed every day. How is it possible that these relatively rare & highly sought after items that used to appear in trickles are suddenly flooding the market? Well, 1 way is to play musical chairs with 2-3 unpopular or damaged bracelets to form a single popular 1. You take the end link from bracelet A & fit it onto bracelet B. Then you take the leaves from bracelet C & cobble them onto bracelet B. And, voila!, you have a 'new' & valuable example of a franken-let. Now, this can be a good thing if the seller is up-front with the bracelet's franken-history & prices the piece accordingly. But, to date, I have never seen a vintage Rolex bracelet so described. When a seller markets such a bracelet as being 'GENUINE VINTAGE RoIex', no doubt relying on the fact that each of the individual parts were probably genuine when he cobbled them together, someone is going to get taken to the cleaners - & I do not mean to pick up their freshly pressed, starched shirts. What makes this trend even more insidious is the way many Asian sellers cleverly hide their work by posting reasonably clear pictures of the item taken from angles that either obscure (in a believable way) or obfuscate their work. And since most buyers do not know the telltale signs of a franken, they get taken. Here is an example of 1 of the telltale signs of a reconstructed bracelet Note the scratched & deformed hinge that connects the end link to the 1st link in the bracelet. Under normal circumstances, there is no reason for this part of a bracelet to be damaged in this way. Unlike most modern bracelets, which have removable end links, this model (7835) has 'permanently' attached end links - the bracelet is made to fit a specific watch or watches. However, it is clear that this hinge has been opened. In this case, it was opened so the original end links could be replaced with a different pair from a different bracelet. Similar things are also routinely done with the leaves of the clasp (the leaves are the 2 flat, hinged portions that usually contain the stamped Rolex insignia, date & model designation). But, in this case, a parts swap requires the seller only to press out a pin, swap the parts & press the pin back in. If done well, no one is the wiser. However, often, the seller does not have the proper tool or know how & resorts to unbending the hinge to free the pin that way, which leaves the hinge looking similar to the end link hinge above. So be very wary when purchasing a used Rolex bracelet, especially from an Asian seller.

Still Thursday night & I am still wearing this

His store on ioffer

Nice watch that looks even better in the pictures.

Did you bring this to Gary's attention?

Sorry, I cannot answer that. I do not have a spare hand to measure.

Wearing this Submariner while working on this Submariner

I have never tried these (I was not even aware he sold them until now), but I have never gotten anything from Clarks that was not good quality. Hard to tell from the pics, but they look correct & he says they will fit a V72. And for $20, I think I will try Clarks when I build the next 62xx Daytona.

Ofrei does not sell the hands you need. I would follow Southcoast's advice & simply buy the red hands & strip the paint. But instead of acetone & rubbing, I always use spray paint remover that I get from my local paint or auto parts store. No rubbing required. Spray the remover onto the hand, let it sit for 20 minutes (or whatever the can recommends) & then rinse it off. Just to be sure I get all of the remover off, I do a final rinse with denatured alcohol (or mineral spirits, which you can get from any paint store).

Looks good, Laz. Which movement are you using & are you doing a working Hev?

Nice find. The V726 is an improved V72. Same dimensions, so it should fit any case made for a V72. Now whether the case will require modification depends on your luck of the draw - sometimes the movement fits like a glove & sometimes it does not. It all depends on how well your particular case was machined by the factory. And since the factory has no quality control, the manufacturing 'quality' of aftermarket cases tends to vary alot. Like I said, it all depends on how lucky you are in getting a properly sized case (or not). There are many threads that you can Search for that describe members experiences assembling Daytonas with similar movements.

They are only $25 now & I must say they look real good. Considering that Ofrei's Illumines Dots are now up to $20, the additional $5 seems more than reasonable to me.