freddy333

All gen parts except the dial, case & movement.

I thought of taking a quick snap, but, for security reasons, the store does not permit pictures to be taken. And I think there are enough phone pics of the SDDS floating around that another 1 would not provide anything new. And, as I said, I am not a fan of big watches, in general, so my comments need to be viewed through that lens. But for those who appreciate what struck me as the wrist equivalent of a decked-out Cadillac Escalade with blacked-out windows, lotsa chrome & mag wheels, it may be a dream come true. Ok, so maybe not the blacked-out windows.

Both movements are prone to failure. Some, like me, have been lucky (so far), others, like CBR, not so much. Long-term reliability may just be luck of the draw or it may help if you never activate the GMT function. These beauties are definitely not for the squeamish.

There are V72s at each end. The 1 in the middle as well as this 1 use the same case, but contain A7750s

DWs can accommodate a V72, a V23 or an A7750. All basically the same case, but internally tailored for the dimensions of the movement & fitted with a deeper caseback (in the case of the A7750)

After dinner Saturday night, I stopped into a local AD that had a Deepsea on hand for customers to try on. My god, the thing is even honkier than it looks in pictures. It is a monstrosity from every angle. Now, to be fair, I long ago lost what little interest I ever had in large watches (larger than 40mm), but I honestly cannot fathom (pun intended) how or why anyone would wear this watch with any type of suit that cannot be described as 'wet'. Originally, I thought you might be able to pull it off with sports wear (or hidden under a fur coat). But now that I have had the The Thing strapped to my wrist, I am convinced that you need to dress fit to carry a crowbar to have any hope of pulling it off. But it is definitely something to marvel at while it is sitting on a jeweler's counter under bright lights.

I appear to be 1 of the fortunate few whose chs (with 'jumping' hour hand) continues to function as an accurate (& beautiful) timepiece. But, sadly, many, as CBR experienced, have moved on to the great tock in the sky, to tick no more. Read this.

Saturday night & off to dinner

Yes, the C contains a date & was used in some of the pre-Daytona chronographs like the 6236 Sorry, but any of these tri-compax (3 subdial) Valjoux models will work 72, 72a, 72b, 722, 726 or 727. And, actually, the 72C can be made to work, but you would need to either accommodate the extra space for the date components or remove them (they add an additional 3/4mm or so to the calbre's overall height.

Cancel that! I was wrong. I think the V72C may contain a tri-date. Let me do a bit more checking & get back to you.

Yup = yes (V72C/B/A will all fit).

Yup And good luck with your project. Keep us posted & do not forget the pictures. p.s. Most of the 'NOS' vintage Daytona bezels I have seen were in fact newly made aftermarket parts. Hint - check the spacing in the 1s in '110'. If the spacing matches the other 3-digit numbers on the bezel, it may be gen. If the spacing is different, it is aftermarket. Caveat emptor.

Once again, I have to be the sole dissenter on the block, at least partial dissenter. For $100, it looks like a nice rep. At least they got the depth rating right (which the previous rep got completely wrong). But it is a $100 rep, which means it is far from accurate & not likely to fool anyone who knows anything about these watches. But when a proper SDDS does arrive & I am certain it will be sooner rather than later, it will have a nice, cozy spot waiting for it to sit, unworn, in the bottom of 1 of my cases.

Thanks, Alli. That is exactly what I wanted to hear.

I cannot wait to see the pics.

It rained all day yesterday & it looks like more of the same today (Friday). After the week I had, I would be happy to just sit & watch the rain (or build watches).

Definitely not something you see every day. Well done, JoJo.

3 universal drivers actually - PCL5, PCL6 & Postscript & I tried them all (these were among the 200 or so I tried before posting this thread). For hours!!!!!!! Sadly, none worked. I'm currently back in the 32-bit world & trying to restore the fragments of my computer's broken life back together again.

Yeah, I thought of that (as well as a dual-boot system), but I am trying to keep the new install as simple as possible (from a daily usage point of view) & running multiple OSs does not really simply things. I am in the process of reinstalling XP 32-bit now, so I should have the basic system running by tomorrow. Hopefully, it will not take more than a week or so to get all of my old apps & data installed/configured as they were prior to the Registry crash. Thanks everyone for your input.

I think Ubi hit on a point that I will rephrase - the addition of polished bracelets, shiny dials & metalized index markers is akin to a gold hammer - a little superfluous (& silly-looking) for something that is supposed to be a tool.

I saw that IW article too & the watches look great, but I think the case design works better with the bi-compax format. Alot of people (myself included) think tri-compax watches are too cluttered looking, which is why Daytonas used to gather dust on retailers' shelves until they became the iconic status symbols they are today (which is why so many people now love tri-compax 'clutter' - myself included).

You guys really know how to spoil a good guessing game. Fxr - Yes, the Silix case is a perfect fit (anyone else choosing to follow suit, be careful as Silix offers several similar CG-less Subs which all use a different/larger case). The dial is 28.4mm dia, so I think either a 29mm or 27mm dial can be made to work. After I grind/polish out some of its minor warts, the Silix should fit the bill almost perfectly. So far, this has been a very simple assembly project, with the sourcing of (accurate) parts being the only real hurdle. I only wish DW Daytonas were this easy. (Note the laboratory clean dial & inner crystal - the watch definitely did not arrive that way )

What's not to like about vintage?

Well done, guys.

Love this pic. Close to perfection. Wearing a work in progress today (Thursday). Can anyone (except JoJo) guess what it will be (specifications subject to change)?