freddy333

Every Venus/Lemania copy I have had worked extremely well & ran as smooth as butter. Excepting the secs at 6 versions (only used in the modern 1165xx Daytonas), which can be problematic (search out Ziggy's reviews of this movement for details), most 7750s -- Swiss or Asian -- are fairly reliable but no where near as smooth-running as the Venus/Lemania copy. Unfortunately, the dimensions of these 2 movements (Venus/Lemania vs 7750) differ somewhat, so I do not think you can swap them back & forth without case modifications (I have never done such a swap, so I cannot tell you what mods would be required - this is something you would likely need to experiment with on your own). As for which is better in a vintage 62xx Daytona, my 1st preference would be an asymmetrical pusher 7750 with its rotor removed & auto-wind function disabled to emulate the manual-wind Valjoux originally fitted into gen Daytonas. For me, having the correct pusher layout trumps other design parameters when it comes to vintage 62xx Daytonas. If the asymmetrical 7750 is not an option, I would go with the Venus/Lemania copy with hour totalizer subdial frozen. Finally, the standard symmetrical pusher 7750. The latter 2 options are available from various collectors listed in the Collectors Forum (use the Search). The former, asymmetrical 7750-powered models are more exclusive. Search for '6263' & my handle for a number of relevant postings.

To All

The stem should fit just about any Rolex crown. But you need to match the crown to the model of watch, not the movement.

Yes, I am sure that is part of it. Yes, apparently they do.

Ah, yes.

The stem was probably cut too short, which does not allow the base of the crown to clear the end of the tube In this case, the winding gears may not mesh correctly, which can cause clicking & other problems. Best to have a watchmaker look at it. Either refer this back to the seller (if still under warranty), try Ziggy (search out Ziggyzumba) or check your phone book for local watchmaker & phone them to see if they are willing to work on rep watches.

I believe the new edict is directed towards sellers of Rolex branded parts, not whole Rolex watches. Rolex has a long-standing history (not to mention a trail of court cases) of doing everything in their power to strictly limit sales of Rolex parts to authorized Rolex agents within the official distributor network. For years, Rolex has been doing battle with ebay & other online auction platforms over the issue of an individual's ownership of (& ability to sell) individual Rolex parts (Rolex has always taken the stance that Rolex S.A. owns ANY & ALL individual parts bearing a Rolex trademark). But when profits were good, they tended to ignore most of what went on online. However, as has been predicted previously, once sales begin to slip & profits weaken, they put their lawyers to work locating potential sources of missing profits.

Comex Wednesday

I do alot of business with Ofrei (placing at least 1 order/month) & as long as you know what you are doing/talking about, you should not have a problem. Bob Frei, the owner, is the 1 people often have trouble with. He can be a bit weird sometimes (ok, very weird) & he does not like to answer newbie questions. His business caters to professional watchmakers (who work on gen watches) & if you keep that in mind, you should be alright. Other supply houses offer the same or similar products & may be cheaper. But Ofrei's website is usually more up-to-date as far as what they have in stock than some other suppliers & they ship fast.

This morning, I received 2 email offerings of Rolex items via email from ebay sellers that I regularly do business with (1 of whom is a very senior & respected TZ'r whose name shall remain anonymous so please do not ask). In both cases, the reason given for why they are hawking their wares via email instead of ebay - 'Because e-bay has refused to handle items with the Rolex logo on them'. More evidence that when the (economic) going gets tough, the gens send out their lawyers, which reminds me of this - 'Intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded us with envious eyes, and slowly and surely joined their plans against us' - War of the Worlds (paraphrased), H.G.Wells

A well-made tourbillon is quite a sight to behold.

I do not know which is more clever - the design of the tourbillon or the animation that mimics it? Both are brilliant. Thanks Nanuq.

Actually, you are the 1st to make the Carlin comparison, but I am not sure I get the Memphis reference? Did the Memphis sheriff do a Lebowski on Carlin or something? The journey begins here & continues here.

Thanks, Lani. Back to the beater Tuesday to settle accounts 1 way or the other

Thanks, but you can chalk the map location up to chance. As for my (modded) mug, you may have seen it hanging in a museum piece

With the economy the way it is, Groucho's admonition that 'you can shake suckers out of your sleeves' may not be so accurate after all. But that ebay seller might have sold the movement off-line, which may have been the case since he did not relist it again for a lower price. My movement build was going full guns (I have already collected 12 out of the 14 items I need for the 1030-to-1036gmt conversion) until I ran into a major snag -- I realized that the main plate is missing a (threaded) screw hole & channeling for the calendar yoke screw & spring. So, although a number of different movements are based on the standard 1030, some of them (like the 1 intended for the 6542) may have their plates modified during assembly. I am waiting to hear back from a contact that Stilty gave me to see if it is possible to machine the plate for a reasonable fee. If not, I will have to acquire yet another expensive movement & either sell this 1 or be forced to build a 6536 (which uses the standard 1030).

The sad thing about all this is that these functions are easy to implement & google, yahoo & most of the majors follow the rules. These indexes will ignore pages that instruct them to do so. Spammer robots, on the other hand, do not, but that is an altogether different kettle of beans.

A real beauty, Pete. And the addition of an age-appropriate gen bracelet puts the Silix over the top.

Monday evening

It must take alot of Moebius to keep that beast greased. Very clever.

Some good hits, but this may help - The bezel/insert are from MY (same parts I have on my 6542). The dial is a relumed rep watch dial, but I cannot find the rep watch seller's site right now. A clue to the mismatch between the dial & case is that the hands are too long for the dial. I had considered using the same dial, but I ultimately decided against it after receiving a better dial from an ebay seller....& then decided against using that dial after receiving MY's, which is the best aftermarket 6542 I have found (including NDTrading's). The crystal could be gen, but may also be Helfands or another aftermarket pressing. The case is NDTrading with poorly drilled lug holes (some of the holes look too new & not drilled very evenly). Finally, there is usually a reason why an 'Authentic Rolex GMT master 6542' is being offered for sale without an equally Authentic Rolex GMT master 6542 bracelet.....& it is not because the bracelet got lost or damaged (there are no accurate aftermarket vintage bracelets for the 6542 & the seller did not want to spend several hundred dollars on a gen). This is a case where God is in the details

Familiarize yourself with the Collectors' forums & avoid buying from 'off-property' sites whenever possible. Visit your local authorized Rolex dealer (AD) and learn as much as you can about the look & feel (fit & finish) of the gen model you want. Then download as many pictures as you can find of that model (the gen version) & use those to compare what you see from rep sellers. That is the best way to end up with the best rep for you. And like Diesel said, read, read & read.

I would have just banged the damned thing against the side of the sink a couple of times. That usually gets things moving in a different direction.

Works for me.

Yes, give it a shot.