freddy333

I would gladly trade 8 seconds of page loading time (and I HATE long page loads) for a quick & easy way to comment without having to post. But such is life.

Either you have poorly made (after-market) endlinks or your case was improperly made. My gen 93150/580/2mm springbar combo fits my MBW 1665 just fine without any modifications of any kind Maybe Ziggy could post pics of your end links?

To be honest, these days, I only wear watches that have a very low probability of being identified by the general public or average gen owner (THEY KNOW NOTHING) as anything other than a gen (no gold, 'jewels' & a minimum of bling). And I always try to match my watch to my style of dress & the environment I expect to be in. So the likelihood of being called out is vanishingly low to begin with. If I plan to be somewhere where WIS's might be in attendance, I will either wear a gen or keep my wrist under cover. All of my close/long-time friends know that I am an amateur watchmaker (since I fix many of their watches) & franken-builder. Acquaintances have often heard that I am an amateur watchmaker, so they just assume that whatever they see on my wrist is probably a gen (and it often is). The last time I was called out was a number of years ago & I was wearing a rep that deserved to be called out. I just did not know enough at the time to realize how obvious my rep was. The guy doing the calling out was my waiter & the incident was very embarrassing. Amazingly, he obviously knew alot more about watches (at that time) than I did, so all I could do was admit the truth & chalk the incident up to a learning experience. But that was the 1st & last time I ever got called out. The experience motivated me to educate myself on gens because I hate making the same mistake twice. Sorry, what was the question? ......... Do I have any pets? Yes, ant farm.

TZ or (if you know what you are doing) ebay. You should also check the For Sale section of your local newspaper, since you can actually inspect a watch being sold locally and avoid dealing with any import duties. As far as taxes go, you may need to pay whatever taxes are due on the item that is declared on the customs form.

The hand may just have been installed in the wrong position. A simple r&r may put it right again. But it may also have the ubiquitous loose hand tube problem that afflicts many of these. Ziggy will be able to check & fix it.

I agree. I would replace that chinzy riveted rep bracelet with just about anything else. A gen folded link like Nanuq's would be my 1st choice, too.

Another option is to replace the existing feet with 2 of these from ofrei & cement them on with epoxy (they should not fall off) click here To locate them on the dial, fit the Bergeon feet into the new movement & lock them into place where they normally go. But do not push the feet all the way down into the movement holes -- they should sit just a hair higher than normal, so that the bottom of the feet are about parallel with the uppermost sections of the movement. Place a small dab of butter or something soft & slightly sticky on the end of the feet to mark a spot on the dial where the foot comes into contact with it. Then, place the dial on top of the feet (in its correct location) & remove. The butter should have left 2 tiny spots on the back of the dial that mark the locations where you epoxy the feet in place (be sure to clean the butter off the dial 1st). As long as you placed the dial onto the feet in the correct location, this procedure is nearly foolproof.

I agree -- great job. But keep the pimp bezel off that watch -- it makes an otherwise beautiful watch look like a cheap fake.

Congratulations on the new addition to your vintage Daytona family. Yes, it is a fantasy dial, but the number of members in the International Daytona Club who are actually aware of this (or would be able to recognize your watch for having a fantasy dial) can be counted in the hundreds, at best. So as long as you keep the watch away from TZ, I will not tell anyone if you do not. Fantasy dials aside, it looks great to me. Some of the DW cases are definitely machined poorly (and I am being kind). But if the movement fits properly into the case & the pushers do not line up, there may be something more serious going on in there. Are you sure you have a Valjoux movement & not a Landron, Lemania or something else that has a symmetrical pusher arrangement? That might explain the pusher alignment problem. p.s. I just noticed that your minutes totalizer (subdial at 3) is not reset. Or did you take the pic with the chrono running?

Watchmaster (on our sister site) is a reliable supplier of MBKs & I would also 2nd the EuroTimez recommendation. While TTK is able to supply most MBKs, Eurotimez has considerably more advanced (better) customer service skills (which may be faint praise since Neil's skills in this area were almost non-existent) & he seems willing to help locate hard to find models. Pricing on MBKs seems to be fairly consistent regardless of which collector you source the watch from.

Read this

Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on in the big watch debate, you can never go wrong with a classic steel Datejust. A real beauty that goes with everything. Wear it well.

I have only seen it on some vendors' versions of the Double Red Seadwellers. Or were they Subs????????

Parts buyers should also beware of wholesaleoutlet990 (Faisal Ali, in Sugarland, Texas). I have had similar problems with Ali on each of the 4 items I purchased from him (I only purchased the last 3 items because they were cheap, I was willing to risk the loss & there were no other options at the time). In each case, I preceded the purchase by asking 1 or 2 VERY simple/specific questions & Ali's answers were either knowingly misleading or incorrect. Example.......my question: 'Will the loops in your 'genuine' Rolex 585 end links properly fit the standard genuine 2mm diameter Rolex springbars without modification?'. Ali's answer: 'Yes, no problem.' The end links I received were clearly aftermarket & did not even come close to fitting the gen 2mm dia springbars. After blowing me off for weeks, I registered a complaint with Paypal & Ali retaliated by leaving me with the only bad feedback I have ever received. Mistakes happen, but honest sellers want to make them right. Dishonest sellers just bob & weave.

This is not really news anymore, but, yes. Current models are too costly & blinged-up to risk a blemish resulting from a dive into anything much deeper than the average martini glass. Meanwhile, by today's digital/atomic clock standards, vintage models are crude, proximate devices & most are being bought up by wealthy collectors or investors due to their increasing rarity & skyrocketing value.

No, you just had alot to learn.........like everyone else when we are just starting out.

A pin or sharp toothpick, lume (ofrei.com & most watch parts houses), a loupe & alot of the 3 Ps - patience, practice & practice. Use the Search feature to locate the numerous tutorials on how to apply lume. Tritium is no longer available.

Details please?

I am not positive about the case dimensions, but I think the Oyster Perpetual Date (15200) is 34mm with 19mm lugs, powered by a 3135 & fitted with a sapphire crystal.

That watch looks very familiar But great work on YOUR watch. That is the 2nd best lume work I have ever seen (Ziggy still reigns as The Luminescent Master). You got the surface texture just right.

There are 2 styles of tubes for 6mm Twinlock crowns -- old & new style The old style have splines that mate with the Rolex tube tool located around the inside end of the tube & the new style have the splines located around the inside of the outer end of the tube, which allows for a slightly thicker shaft on the crown. I suspect you have 1 of the old style tubes, but you need the new style. Luckily, you can get good generic tubes from Ofrei for $6.00/each.

Lends new meaning to being stuck between a rock & a hard place. It sounds like you have already laid out the cash for the expensive parts, so all you need is a case & hands. I recently bought a set of gen Daytona hands for under $300 & I think Ubi or someone recently mentioned they had an extra 16520 case they could make available for anyone building a Daytona. Seems so close to stay so far. Or did you have an all-gold (gen) case in mind? In that case........Waiter, check please.

Make of it what you will, but the heading of the 2nd page is 'Nothing's More Modern than a Classic Thin Watch', and it ends with 'a simple lesson: Don't be the guy with brand-new everything; you should always anchor your look with at least one piece that's timeless'.

Unfortunately, history does not support your premise. It took 25 years for the Daytona to catch on. The Milgauss has never lived up to expectations. After the initial, pre-sales to collectors (mostly TZ members), the highly touted LV appears to be withering on the vine. And the Turn-o-graphs are not exactly flying off AD's shelves. As long as Rolex sticks to the traditional Rolex marketing plan, they sell just about anything they make. When they deviate from that plan, they end up producing limited runs of watches that inevitably make collectors very happy (30 years later), but their bankers very unhappy (now). I am sure that Rolex will survive no matter which way the trend winds blow, but it is never profitable to hoist your sails into a wind that is blowing the wrong away.

Hopefully, with their 'leisure suits' & 'disco flares'.