freddy333

You might want to read Slay's comments about Honpo in this thread then. I have heard similar comments from other members.

Wore the 116520 to dinner tonight (Thursday) I will probably wear the beater on the last day of the workweek (tomorrow) And I will still probably be wearing the beater tomorrow night while I am re-luming this Wish me luck.

Try Eurotimez in the Apprentice Collectors forum.

Another beauty from Pitimany, but where are the movement pics????????? I want to see that brilliant El Primero ticking away inside your watch. And what is the breakdown of parts in your watch? All gen, mixture of gens & aftermarket? It looks like an aftermarket dial & hands, but I cannot tell for sure about the case or bracelet from the pics. Actually, the hands could be gen, but it is hard to tell for sure because the pics are not clear/steady enough. But the watch is a looker to be sure.

Anyone with alot of money invested in a rare gen or franken who needs to replace a crown & places a higher value on originality/accuracy than cost. I have a 702 on my DRSD, but it was purchased before the prices took off. In fact, a number of people here posted predictions last year suggesting the rise in Rolex parts prices that we are now seeing. And I will predict, again, that, in the coming months, many people will be wishing they had bitten the bullet now before prices double or triple again.

I had a brief email exchange with Honpo early last year until he asked which watches I wanted to order. I answered with 2 & then he stopped responding to my emails. I do know that 1 or 2 RWG members said Honpo took their money & never delivered any watches. But he does display a number of unique, good looking watches that you do not see on other dealers' websites. Of course, as we all know, the pictures often bear NO relation to the watches being delivered, regardless of the seller's claims to the contrary (idolreplicas/watch-ebay is yet another recent example of this type of bait-&-switch scammer).

If you have questions about the authenticity of your purchase, your 1st move should be to bring them up with the seller. You will need to demonstrate why you feel there is a problem & give him the chance to respond.

Although some of the pics are suspect (due to the questionable packaging), the seller is generally reliable, so, based on the last set of pics, this is most likely a gen 93150 manufactured (by Rolex) in June 2007.

I believe Rolex still makes the 93150 (at least, as of late 2007) & it retails for about $850 (it was listed in a 2007 Rolex price list that someone posted on TZ last year). But you can only get it from Rolex or from within their dealer network with a trade-in. Any new or NOS gen 93150s that make their way to ebay & other online sellers will almost definitely be sold with a healthy mark-up over the retail price. As a reference, I believe the 2007 retail price for a 24-703 Triplock crown is only about $39. Compare that to the prices being charged (& gotten) for new 703s on the bay & that should give you an idea of the extent of the mark-up.

Ziggy says he is unable to widen the markers. I am not sure why this is, because I have done it before myself. Unfortunately, the quality of my work never approached Ziggy's & I doubt I will be able to match the beautiful color he used on my dial. So the plan is to redo the markers myself, but in white (my alternative preference), which is an easier color to work with & match. So, here is where I am And this is where I hope to end up (other than the lume, note the many similarities between the 2 dials) Watch this space.........

350031970762

I took a 2nd look, you may be right.

I think you overdid the staining of the index markers (for my taste), but other than that, me likie. Where do I send payment?

I think the varnish will fix the mottling, but I am going to wait until Ziggy fixes the index markers before I add any more varnish. If he had not done such a damned good job on the color of those existing markers, I could probably handle the widening/reluming myself. But there is no way that I would ever be able to produce such realistic colors (or finished results) that Ziggy gets. You really have to have an artist's eye.

Ditto that.

Toomuchgear -- Yes, this is the dial I posted pics of a few weeks ago. The purpose of the varnish is to create a texture on the dial that mimics the texture of the gen vintage dials, which have a somewhat rough texture. Filling in those mottled areas around the index markers is just an added bonus & I think Avitt is correct that an additional layer (or 2) would tend to mask that area so it is not noticeable. The index markers on your dial are even narrower than mine are, so I would definitely consider having them redone (wider).

Nanuq & SL - I think you are right. I have to see if Ziggy can widen the markers a bit. Thank you all for your skilled input.

Thanks for the input, Avitt. I think I may need to check in with Ziggy. I never thought of that (porous/absorbent lume).

Diesel -- Let me clarify. This is the original dial, which had slightly too-narrow & oddly colored index markers, but was otherwise very good as is This is the dial after Ziggy relumed it & then I applied a light coat of clear, matte varnish. (I think Ziggy had to scrape the area around each of the index markers before he added the new lume, which changed the surface texture of the dial. Then, when I applied the varnish, it left those little mottled areas around each of the index markers where the dial had been scraped smooth. I have seen 2 dials that Rolex had relumed many years ago (before Tritium was taken off the market) & the surface had a similar appearance. So that is another thing I am still debating back & forth.) The 2nd dial is my MBW dial, which has pretty correct looking index markers compared to most of the gen DRSDs I have seen. The appearance of the index markers on the 1st dial is about the same whether it is seen through the crystal or not. As usual, Ziggy did an outstanding job on the lume. However, I think the new, thicker lume intensifies the (slightly too-narrow) appearance of the 6 & 9 index markers, which, although they were not perfect, really did not bother me before the relume. So I have been wondering whether I should see if Ziggy can redo those 2 index markers to widen them a bit or whether they fit within the range of normalcy for a gen Double Red???? Toomuchgear -- Not an NDtrading, but similar. I got this dial a few months ago on ebay, but I have not seen another like it since then. Unlike the NDtrading dials, the crown is dead on accurate for a V1 DRSD (the NDtrading crowns are similar to later DRSDs) & the font spacing is much better. But, as I mentioned above, now the index markers look off (too narrow), but I am not sure if it is just me or if they are too narrow for a DRSD?????? By the way, this watch contains a gen 1570, which fits the MBW DRSD case like a glove (after removing 1/2mm around the outside of the 1570's date disc holder) With that in mind, do you think it is worth asking the Zigmeister to take another shot at widening the 2 index markers (&/or re-texturizing the area around all of the markers to remove the mottled spots)? What do you (all) think?

It sounds like the auto-winding module (& possibly click/spring) is gummed up. Ideally, you should disassemble the parts & run them through an ultrasonic. If you do not have that, at least disassemble everything & clean each part manually in a glass of warm distilled water with a tablespoon of ammonia added, followed by a rinse in denatured alcohol. Once clean (& dry), relube with Moebius 9010 & it should wind nice & smooth. (I do not know which movement you have, so you might want to check the ETA website for specific oiling recommendations.)

I think that is 1 of the best diving watches I have ever seen. It looks like it could survive just about anything you might encounter at sea. I may have to look into 1 of those......... The usual workday beater for me

Like most lowish-end gens, it looks well-built & probably a good bet for a serious diver. However, the design leaves me kind of lukewarm. But, then, I am pretty lukewarm over the Fifty Fathoms' design also, so what do I know anyway? DuDro -- Did you bring anything interesting back from your trip?

Now that is a fine piece of work. But, then, I am easy when it comes to vintage steel Datejusts. Welcome aboard.

Now what do you think (same dial from previous picture on top)

What do you think about the index markers at 6 & 9 on this dial