freddy333

Not.

Fresh off the bench (details here)

1st quick & dirties of my (just completed) Comex 5514 Sub (shown here next to its gen-powered siblings) Rolex 1520 Rolex Triplock 702 Rolex 2mm springbars MBW 5514 case with working Hev Gen T19 crystal Clarks 1570 handset (vintagized to match dial) Gens for comparison _______________ UPDATE - A more formal shot of the completed watch In the name of the Queen, I now pronounce my search for the holy grails complete.

Based on what I can see (fuzzy pics & no movement or service paper shots), I have doubts.

Overall, it looks good. Nice & clean. I assume he replaced the crown/tube with a gen Triplock (cannot tell without a full-frontal shot)? But I would have Spin remove the lume at 12 o'clock on the dial (dead give-away of a fake Daytona - the gens do not have lume there) & replace the bracelet with a gen or at least a strap. The current bracelet does not fit or look correct.

You are certainly in good company Ending my workweek in dual time zones

If accuracy is your primary goal, then the Valjoux is the way to go since the subdial placement on the 7750 differs slightly from the (Valjoux-powered) gen watch & it beats faster than the 18k bph V23/V72.

I do not own any of these At least, I hope not.

A beauty, but what engraving? Do you mean inside the lugs (under the bracelet's end links)?

I forgot mention that over-oiling can result in symptoms very similar (& as debilitating) to having no oil. Dip about 1/2 of the tip of your oilstick into the oil & that should provide the proper amount for each oiling point.

Life is tough all over.

Ahoy, Euno. We missed you!

Flex - Any non-original part (including Rolex service parts, if they differ from the OEM part) in a Rolex watch will (negatively) affect its ultimate value to serious collectors. But so can a damaged dial. It is a balancing game & you have to make an executive decision. Were the watch mine, having seen the new picture, I would have Universal refinish the dial. However, & I think this is your goal too, for non-tool watches, I prefer a watch that looks like it just came back from Rolex service, as opposed to a vintage watch that 'looks its age'. The dial you receive back from Universal will look, for all intents & purposes, almost exactly like 1 of those NOS dials you see popping up on TZ every once in awhile that makes people (like me) pant & drool. Still, on the other-other hand -- If you use the dial as-is (unrefinished), no one who looks at the finished watch will ever believe it is anything other than (a freshly-serviced) gen. The age & patina on that dial is unmistakably genuine, which adds alot of credibility to your watch. So, you really cannot go wrong whichever way you decide to go. Just make absolutely sure you go with a gen (& age/model correct) bracelet or strap

With a bit of spit & polish, it would be a fine timepiece. As is, I would guess somewhere between $800-$1,200. Fully serviced/restored, possibly twice that, maybe more. Longines are difficult to value (I have owned a few vintage gold models), so I would get it professionally appraised.

Flex - Universal has done 2 of my gen dials & they do outstanding work. Unlike NDTrading & other purveyors of 'professionally refinished' dials (which are, in fact, nothing more than 100% newly made, aftermarket parts), Universal is the real deal. Their professionally restored dials actually do look like the original & without the usual telltale (aftermarket) mistakes. However, I would give some serious thought to leaving the dial as-is, since it does not look to be in very bad shape in the picture.

My thoughts exactly.

Nice steel, gentlemen.

I do not have that bracelet on-hand to check, but the indents look marginal. At least, in your picture. Does the clasp's springbar have good tips & does it have a good amount of tension when you squeeze it between your thumb & index finger? If not, that is your problem. If the tips are good & the internal spring feels strong, you may be able to slightly deepen the indents with a hand drill. Just be very careful not to slide out of the indent or drill out more than you need to slightly deepen the indent - they are really not meant to be deep anyway.

Outstanding work, Lani. It looks like a professional job. Well done.

Once you remove the hands, manually wind the movement through a couple of 24-hour cycles to get a good idea of EXACTLY where the date changes over. Then, once you know about how many manual turns of the stem it takes to get close to midnight, turn it VERY slowly until the split second the date changes over. STOP. Install the hour hand & run it through another complete 24-hour cycle to be absolutely sure the hour hand is pointing where you want it to when the date changes over. Do not be surprised if you are off by a few minutes, which means you need to remove the hour hand & repeat the steps to find the exact point of date changeover. Once you have the hour hand where you want it, install the minute hand & run it through another 24-hour cycle to be sure both it & the hour hand line up at exactly 12 when the date changes over. Once you are happy with the positions, install the seconds hand (I would not worry about its exact position since Rolex specs allow for 30 seconds +/- of midnight (you can neurose over it all day trying to get it exact, but if it is within +2/-1 minutes it should be fine).

That symptom is typical of a gummed-up auto-wind module. There are 2 additional gears as well as the bearings in the rotor itself. I would remove & disassemble the module & clean all of the individual parts (including the rotor) in the ultrasonic using a mixture of 1 tablespoon of plain ammonia + 1-2 drops of dish detergent (not dishwasher detergent). Run them through at least 2 complete cycles (10 minutes each). Afterwards, rinse & dry well. Then re lub according to ETA specs & reassemble. That should eliminate the rotor spin during manual winds as well as significantly quiet the rotor during normal (auto) winds. Should you still need replacement parts, try julesborel.com

I seem to recall that Andy's Daytona dials were the same 1s that Phong sells, so you might look his over & then check with Andy to see if he can get it for you at a more sane price.