freddy333

Until 1 of the factories gets the 'Original Gas' & 'Ring Lock' engravings right, how can you even think of using the term '1:1' in reference to these reps?

They are as common as house flies. All of the Rolex collectors sell them (check the Collectors' forums).

Every parts supply house (for watches) sells them (ofrei, cas-ker, cousins, borel, etc). You can probably get them from most watchmakers also.

Bike is a '72

My Motorcycle Diary

The rotor should spin when you move/shake/wear your watch. If it does NOT spin when you move/shake/wear your watch, your watch needs service. Read this.

Thursday beater

Yes, but that case is just the tip of the iceberg.

Many probably missed this thread when it was originally posted in September, but I think it bears repeating (and what follows is but a tiny sample) Click me for the motherlode

Unfortunately, your experience is all too typical. Most of these watches are assembled under less than 'clean room' conditions (often anything but clean), so dust & debris is more often the rule rather than the exception (I always plan to remove the movement to clean the inside of the crystal & dial face upon any rep's arrival). The misaligned seconds hand (I assume you are referring to the large, center chrono seconds hand) most likely has a weak/loose joint, which must be tightened or cemented to repair. This would best be handled by a watchmaker (due to the delicate nature of the hands & time/effort involved in fixing the joint, some watchmakers may either recommend replacement of the hand or may refuse to accept the work altogether). And while I hate to heap more bad news onto an already sad stack, it looks like the hour totalizer subdial hand (at 6) is 'wandering' (not resetting to 12) due possibly to being similarly loose on its tube & you might also ask for a replacement bezel since you have 1 of those with the misaligned 90. But, othersise, your watch looks great.

Ceramic is used by Rolex specifically because it resists scratches & abrasions that would damage a standard steel insert. If you run a nail across the surface of the insert of a gen GMTIIC, it should not produce a scratch. Now, anyone who believes their $300 rep contains a ceramic or ceramic-topped insert should have the confidence to take the 'nail test'. Any takers? Have a look for yourself.

Wednesday

Check your local telephone book for 'Watch & clock repair' & phone ahead to see if the watchmaker is willing to work on a rep watch. If your watch is ETA-powered, mention that since ETAs are standard in the industry (watchmakers sometimes refuse to work on reps because they believe all reps contain unbranded Asian movements, which are difficult to get parts for).

The thought & effort that went into this piece definitely shows.

Seems like a reasonable price for an aftermarket dial.

If you can, push the crown back into the manual winding position (1st click stop) & see if you can wind it. If so, pull the stem out to the time-setting position & (slowly) run the hands through a complete 24-hour cycle. Sometimes, that will reset the works.

Sorry, I do not have before pics, but this is an after pic of 1 of the dials they repainted for me. It is an exact match (minus the original's fading & discoloration)

Why does the movement seem gen to you?

They have never charged me more than about $200.

Short of finding a micro-artist to repaint the O (Ziggy told me he could not do it), I am not aware of any other options. I have never tried Ridley, but Rich requires a gen Daytona dial in order to repaint it. And they know the difference between a gen & a 'Singer' engraved aftermarket dial, which is too bad since they use the original rolex stamps to print dials.

The rule for formal occasions is small, simple & understated

The 'O' in Rolex is a known (& common) problem with aftermarket Rolex dials. Oddly, the only 1 of my Daytonas that have a nearly correct O is the asymmetrical 7750 6263 DW And even more oddly, some of the worst looking aftermarket Daytona dials seem to be get that O right. Go figure.

It is late, so I will keep this brief - The movement & dial look good. A gen dial would be an obvious improvement over the rep dial, but the cost vs benefit lines are very skewed due to the high cost of gen Daytona dials. You are correct that the case etching is the wrong type (it should be engraved instead of laser-etched), but since the space between the lugs will be hidden beneath the bracelet's end links, I would not worry too much about that. Anyone with enough knowledge to ID the lug etching as incorrect will likely be equally suspicious of finding no engraving at all, so I would go with the etched case which looks better than no etching at all. The only item that really bothers me is the bezel, which just looks off. All of the fonts look a bit small & are just slightly incorrect. But the glaring problem is the spacing (too wide) of the numbers that make up the '110'. If you compare the spacing of the other 3-digit numbers on the bezel to the 110, you will see what I mean. The 1 1 0 should be closer together. Previously, DW's steel bezels got this right (all of the black plastic aftermarket bezels I have seen, including DW's, have the '110' spaced as you see it here), but this 1 is wrong. I guess DW must have switched suppliers for his bezels since the last 1 I got from him (last year). This is too bad since someone else just asked me about Daytona bezels & I told them to contact DW. I may have to rescind that recommendation for the time being. Otherwise, good luck to you & your watchmaker.

I have yet to see any appreciable drop in the global pricing of rep watches, but you would have to be asleep under a rock (or just not bothering to look) not to know that the values (& prices) of used gens have been plummeting faster than the stock market over the last few months. Although economic fluctuations generally take awhile to affect retail prices, I am sure you will be seeing significant price cuts in ADs by Christmas if the economic outlook has not improved by then.