freddy333

Sorry, but I have never been moved by most of the Tudors. The only Tudor that does anything for me is the 'Rose' dialed Oyster-Prince Sub If someone ever makes an accurate 7928 rep, I would buy it. As far as chronos go, I think the Rolex models (without date) are much cleaner & more striking than their clunky Tudor cousins.

There are 2 things you need to be able to repair a mechanical watch -- the proper tools & the proper skills. The tools can be purchased from ofrei.com or most watch supply houses. The skills require either some type of training (try timezone.com's Watch Class) followed by lots & lots of practice, or alot of trial-and-error experience followed by lots & lots of damaged movements & practice. Once you acquire the tools, the rest is just a matter of time & effort.

Try this or use the Search.

There is a big difference between gen Valjoux & Rolex movements and Vietnamese made cases, which directly affects their value & pricing. These movements are highly sought after & supplies are limited (since they have not been manufactured for several years). Meanwhile, manufacture of these Vietnamese (& copy cat) cases will only increase in time. When demand is high & supply is limited, prices go up. But when the demand is marginal (there is a very small number of buyers of these Vietnamese cases) & supplies are plentiful (& increasing), prices go down. This is basic supply vs demand.

I would agree with ximenes, if you do not have a press handy. Just be sure to place some (soft) rubber jaw covers on the vise so you do not damage the case or crystal. Also, you have to be careful to center the case in the jaws & apply gentle pressure evenly. You will likely have to press a bit, then rotate the case in the vise & apply a bit more pressure, then rotate again and apply more pressure. Keep rotating the case, pressing the crystal down a bit at a time until it bottoms evenly against the case.

Correct. However, if the crystal or case appears worn or pitted, you might apply a very light coating of silicone grease around the inner sidewall of the crystal to help seal it. If you do, be sure to clean out the inside of the crystal & case before installing the movement since a bit of the silicone will have been 'scraped' up around the front face of the crystal when you press the crystal down onto the case.

I would be interesting in 1 to fit a 2836-2 into a 16013 case.

IF you actually receive the watch that is described/pictured there, then you are correct. The problem is that Idolreplicas has now proven that the watches described/pictured on their website have NO relation to the watch you may or may not receive. If you get the watch pictured, then you are very lucky. But if you get a different watch, then I can only say that you have been warned.

No. The watch I received is 1 of the $139 'Top Popular products' Idolreplicas has listed at the bottom of the $399 Daytona page. The difference, he said, was that the $139 version had an Asian chronograph movement instead of a 'Swiss' movement. I doubt that any of his Daytonas actually contain anything Swiss, least of all a Swiss 7750 movement. The watch I received is the typical 'Canal Street' type of junk that is sold on the street corners of many cities for less than $50. It is the lowest quality & an obvious fake. However, it does have a low-profile case. It is not the same low-profile case that my original 116520 rep has -- it may actually be even thinner than my case, but it does not have any engravings between the lugs. I think you are missing the point here. The watch I received does NOT contain a 7750 -- Swiss OR Asian -- or any other type of chronograph movement; it has a cheap, standard Asian 3-hand movement with day/date functions in place of the chrono functions. Contrary to Tony's guarantee that 'The Pictures you see are of Actual Watches taken at the Studio of IdolReplicas.com, You will get exactly what you see in our Pictures', the watch I received is VERY different from the watch described/pictured on Idolreplicas.com. Assuming you receive the same watch I got, the only part that is usable is the case. My guess is that the $399 version is the same thing I got, but with the Asian (not Swiss) 7750 movement that is pictured on the Idolreplicas site. But, based on my experience with Tony & Idolreplicas, I would not be surprised if the $399 version is the same as watch that I got. Idolreplicas is NOT a reliable rep seller.

Looks just the way a 16520 is supposed to -- beautiful.

This 1 has running seconds at 6 too

Note that he is now offering a 'Swiss 7750' Daytona for $399. Right. What do you wager the chances are that anyone actually receives a watch with a Swiss 7750 beating inside it? No, wait, let me answer that -- 0. If you want a low profile Daytona case, $139 is a good deal, but beyond that.......Buyer beware.

A word of caution for anyone considering purchasing a watch from Idolreplicas This guy is either pathologically inept or crooked -- like alot of rep sellers out in the wild, most likely, a combination of both. I had a number of email exchanges with Tony prior to purchasing the watch shown above wherein I pointed out, conclusively, that some of the pictures on his website were of different watches. But Tony was adamant that I was mistaken & that the watch I was guaranteed to receive was, as he loves to point out repeatedly, exactly the same watch pictured on his website. Of course, I went ahead with the purchase knowing full well that he was full of warm crap. But I was willing to risk the $139 in the hope that at least the case would be correct........which is precisely what happened. Of course, as soon as I verified that the watch is not the 1 pictured or described on his website I sent Tony a brief, but very detailed message with pictures that left no doubt that I had been taken for a ride, as I had expected (though I did not tell Tony that part). To be honest, I fully expected our communications to end there. But just minutes ago, I received a response from Tony. Make of this what you will -- Thank you for your feedback, I'm sorry about this case, our new staff upload the wrong information. It's japanese automatic movement, it's not working chrono funtion. I have the swiss 7750 movement with stop watch function, its item number is rol12356, but it's price is higher, it's $399. The japanese version is $139, just like the one you purchased. The 3 subdials of your watch isn't for stop watch function, they are for calendar function. I'm so sorry about the mistake. you can ship back the watch to exchange to swiss version, u just need to pay the price difference. If you don't mind and keep the watch, i will give you some discount in your next order, also i can send you extra green sticker along with your next order. I will provide you the factory address if you want to ship back. Best wishes, Tony

I know that watch-ebay & idolreplicas are the same, but I just do not see anything on idolreplicas that refers to Singapore or connects them to TonyXKF on cqout other than the fact that they both display pictures of the 1st gen Daytona rep (which is not the watch that Idolreplicas is shipping out anyway, so that is mostly a moot point to begin with). And since the prices are in fact different, I do not see the connection. But who knows?

The pics on cqout look different than the pics on idolreplicas & the cqout seller is based in Singapore. The watch I received came from Hong Kong, so I do not see much of a connection. However, TonyXKF's 116520 Daytonas looks like the same low profile case model (with the same 'fantasy' rotor design) that Idolreplicas is pitching on their site & that I purchased on cqout (from another seller) 4 years ago.

2 weeks ago, I ordered a 'rol12584' (Rolex Daytona Chronograph Automatic with Black Dial) for $139 (including world-wide shipping) from Idolreplicas.com to see if it was still possible to get the low-profile cases for Daytona 116520s like the rep I got 4 years ago. This is the watch that is now pictured on Idolreplicas This is the description of rol12584 on Idolreplicas.com Top quality Japanese Automatic Movement (21 Jewel) with Smooth Sweeping Seconds Hand Fully Functional Chronograph Pusher at 2:00 starts/stops Chronograph Pusher at 4:00 resets Chronograph All Correct Markings and Engravings exactly like the Authentic. Free Shipping on all Orders Worldwide. The Pictures you see are of Actual Watches taken at the Studio of IdolReplicas.com, You will get exactly what you see in our Pictures. This is the watch I just received from Idolreplicas Although Tony, the operator of Idolreplicas, assured me, repeatedly, in separate emails that the pictures & descriptions on his website were the actual watch I would receive, as usual, such was not quite the case. The good news is that the watch I received does have the same low-profile case that my original 116520 rep has (typical rep on top, Idolreplicas on bottom) The not-so-good news is that the movement is neither a chronograph nor 'Top Quality', as Tony describes it on Idolreplicas. The pushers on idolreplicas' watch advance the date & day in the subdials at 3 & 9, respectively (this is not correct for a Daytona). In fact, the 1st time I pressed the stem back in after setting the time, the watch remained in time-setting mode, so I already know that the movement requires keyless works servicing. There are no engravings between either set of lugs on the idolreplicas rep (my original Daytona rep has correct markings) Although the crystal does have a gen-looking laser etching at the proper location (at 6), it is slightly lower profile than most other current Daytona reps. So the crystal does not sit quite as high above the bezel as it should (compared to most other Daytona reps). Finally, the case back is actually a bit lower profile than the case back on every other secs at 6 Daytona rep, which helps the watch to present a lower overall profile when the watch is sitting on your wrist. But since this watch contains a standard movement (not a 7750 -- I have not opened the case, but its lack of chono functions makes that pretty obvious), I do not know if it will fit if you swap the POS movement for a 7750 (until I hear back from Tony, I did not want to crack open the case). So the bottom line is that if you have a working secs at 6 Daytona rep, but are bothered by its too-thick case, you can get a proper low-profile case from Idolreplicas. Just mod the CGs on this case & swap the existing POS movement for the 1 in your watch, along with its dial & case back & you will end up with a more accurate looking Daytona 116520.

Ending the work week with my beater

The Search function does not appear to be working now ('connection to localhost:3312 failed'), but you can add a working Hev A few minutes with a dremel will solve that. You lost me here? A few more minutes with a dremel will solve that And the CGs on the Vietnamese cases still need a bit of tweaking to get them to look like this anyway. The MBW caseback can be made to look very close to gen with a bit of sanding/polishing (This pic was taken before gen end links were fitted) Other than you or your watchmaker, who is going to see the serial numbers? If the price for the Vietnamese case was reasonable (no more than $400), I would agree with you. But not when you have to pay $1,000+. And I would be very surprised if the prices for these cases does not drop, alot, within the next year.

Looks like you are well on your way. Were you able to source a gen case & bracelet?

Belongs to 1 of the TZ mods.

For $300-$400 I would jump on 1 of these cases myself. But I would replace the insert & I think the other Vietnamese caseback, the 1 with the single crown, is closer to the gen than this 1 is. Not that it is bad, but I think the other 1 could pass as a gen (after a slight bit of refinishing). The 1570 requires only a bit of trimming of its outer (removable) ring to shoehorn it into a standard MBW case. Ziggy recently posted a message detailing his experience doing this.

Drool-worthy to be sure, but the other side usually gets my juices flowing

I noticed that as well. But Bulovas are generally very well made watches.

Nanuq -- No one can ever accuse you of using Rube Goldberg methods in your watchsmithing. But I doubt that many of us will be asking to borrow any of your tools.