freddy333

Yes, slightly, depending on which movement - Vajloux 23/72 or A7750. No. No (unserviced) rep should ever be considered to be trouble-free. However, the problems that plague the secs @ 6 7750s used in modern Daytona reps are inherent to the additional secs @ 6 componentry, which are not used for the secs @ 9 7750s that are used in vintage Daytona reps. Properly serviced, the standard A7750 (secs @ 9) has a very good track record as a generally reliable movement. Your choices for DW Daytonas are the Valjoux 23 (2 working subdials), Valjoux 72 (3 working subdials, same as the gen 62xx Daytonas) or asymmetrically pushered A7750 (3 working subdials). You need to use the Search to more homework, but I will give you this (ignore the prices quoted in that thread & contact DW (not me) for details).

Thanks, Alligoat. That just said it all.

Beater again (with a friend) on Sunday

I was not able to figure out how to do that without damaging the dial. Although I was unable to produce a realistic patina with any of them, here are some of the things I tried light spray of brown paint light spray of paint remover light spray of bleach heat (though I remain convinced that heat, in some form, is the key) UV light light sanding

Thanks for the kind words, Lani.

Better insofar as they are made to fit the gen 157x movement.

The MBW dial was designed for an ETA movement, which places the center point of the date at a slightly different location. If you replace the MBW dial with an NDTrading or another good aftermarket dial that is made to fit a 157x calibre, it should align correctly.

Thanks All. There were a number of options I considered, but, ultimately, decided against. 1 of these were to use gen tritium hands. There were a couple of reasons I decided against using gen hands. For 1 thing, after I relumed them with Bergeon lume paste, the gen hands I have seen just did not look much different from the Clarks hands I ended up using. So I saw little to be gained. Secondly, most of the tritium hands I found for sale had darkened with age & would not match the white index markers that I spent so much time, effort & money to have made that way. And NOS white hands are few & far between. Finally, when I factored in the cost of most of the gen handsets I found (typically between $200 & $400+) & compared that with the less than $20 cost to purchase & lume a set of Clarks, it just made no sense whatsoever to spend 10 to 20 times as much for nearly the same (visual) result. But I can see why some might see value in just knowing their hands are gen.

With compliments from such long-time & knowledgeable members, all I can say is Thank You.

Thanks. Yes, the dial makes the watch & takes this franken to a whole new level beyond its modded-MBW roots. This is the 1st (& only) aftermarket DRSD dial I have come across that got the crown & overall layout correct (not perfect, but close enough). (I only wish I could find the source so I could procure another.) And after Kent did his magic on the lume (there were a number of false-starts over 7 months, but he finally got it right (Ziggy - I only used Kent because you did not feel you would be able to do what I needed)) & I vintagized the dial, it looks sufficiently gen to have already fooled a senior TZ'r whose golden eye is rarely deceived (unfortunately, the slight glow from the lume I used on the hands gave it away.........but he was still quite taken aback & impressed). The fading technique involves masking the black areas with a special paint masking solution (used by professional art restorers) & then lightly brushing the red lettering with a bleach dampened Q-tip. Dangerous & requires steady hands & alot of patience, but it can be done. 1 of the reasons I chose not to fade the red lettering to match the gen model was because of the difficulty in bleaching only the red without affecting the adjacent black background (though this can be repaired to some degree). The other reason is that the natural fading that occurs on the red lettering is a very rare occurrence & I thought I was pushing my luck (& credibility) by going that route. Maybe for the next 1..........

Non-gen parts Dial (purchased early in 2008 from an ebay seller who only had the 1 & relumed (to my specifications) by Kent Parks & then vintagized (by me)) Hands (relumed (by me) Clarks) Case (modded MBW with working Hev) & Caseback (modded Vietnamese) Crystal (Clarks Superdome) Insert (PMWF) & Pearl (Ofrei Illumines Dot) Gen parts Movement (freshly serviced 1575 calibre with NOS flat-3, brushed silver DW) Crown/tube (7mm Triplock 24-703-0) Bracelet (93150 Oyster with 580 end links) _______ Update - Hands have been replaced with Tritium gens. Oh, & it has been running within 1sec/24 hours (at least for 1 day).

Beater today (Saturday)

True, but it was not that long ago that I would have been fooled by this thing. I think we often forget how truly jaded we are & how far we have come in learning about (& becoming sensitized to) all of the minute details that separate a cleverly assembled franken from a gen.

If the 3 wheels indicated have jewels below the caps above their arbors, then this is a step in the right direction (there should be jewels at the other end also) Here is a 2nd gen secs at 6 A7750. As you can see, the wheels are different (the 3 main wheels simply pivoted around posts coming up from the plate (without lube or jeweling at these critical points)), but I do not see anything that tells me they have corrected (with jewels) the inherent issues Here is the bare top plate from the same 2nd gen movement, which has jewels for the 3 subdial wheel pinions

Almost all of the Collectors have them. Check the Collectors forum.

Brilliant.

Sorry to hear this & I know the feeling. I agree that it is probably worth a return trip to see if they correct the pricetag. If not, then you can either threaten them or give them your card & politely request that they phone you if they want to sell the watch. With the economy the way it is, you may very well get the call.

It could also be a Dior watch.

I like that. I have always had a thing for jumping hours watches

Thank you. It took forever & there were more downs than ups, but it shows that perseverance does pay off. Only 'Spectacular'?

Just do not bid. You can register a complaint with ebay, but unless you can validate your claim (that the seller is mis-representing the genuineness of his parts), I would not expect them to do anything (& rightfully so).

I agree with all of the above & also note that the seller appears suspiciously selective in his use of lighting & focus (or, more precisely, shadows & defocus), which are the hallmarks of almost every scammer.

Just as I was about to walk out the door on my way to dinner, a package arrived containing the last piece to my DRSD puzzle (a dial). So, after some quick unpackaging, I did some equally quick parts swapping & completed 1 of my other grail watches..........with time to spare (to still make dinner). And here are the 1st pics of the completed project (with a friend) For comparison, this was my goal (though, after alot of soul searching, I opted not to bleach out the red text)