freddy333

Published Oct 2007 & beautifully illustrated. Covers a number of the most popular 'cult' (or grail) watches from the likes of Rolex, Jlc, Patek, Tag, Vc, Panerai, etc.

I have emailed Josh to see if he can get other MBWs like the 5514 or 5513 Subs. Even if he cannot, having an easily accessible (and reliable) source for 1680s & 1665s is great news for everyone. His 1665 does look like a 'gen' MBW (and the way mine looked in its pristine (unmodded) state).

My all time fav is this 'Daytona' close-up from Kill Bill

Breaking from 2 traditions today. Instead of beginning the workweek with my Double Red, I thought I would strap on my daily Daytona. And instead of posting a pic of the daily Daytona on my wrist, I thought I would post a pic of it on a friend's wrist, which is FAR MORE prettier than mine

Kurt - I prefer vintage to modern & both look spectacular, but I think the modern version looks more realistic. I think the NDTrading dial is too smooth. If it had more texture, I would probably prefer it. A number of people have posted methods for adding vintage texture to a Rolex dial (here is mine) if you want to give it a try.

It sounds like you forgot to set the locking screw (a small, squarish screw that sits along the outer perimeter of the datewheel ring that you turn to partially cover (lock-in) the date wheel). Either that or the datewheel was not installed all the way.

Diesel - The caseback is not flat, it is just narrower than the caseback that came standard on this watch (the standard caseback is the same one that comes on other 7750-powered Daytona reps). I simply removed the rotor from the movement & then swapped the original (too deep) caseback with an extra DW I had laying around (other than the caseback, I believe the case is a standard DW Daytona case). This all came about after I had posed (to DW) the idea that he consider selling these watches, but powered with a manual-wind Asian 7760 instead of the auto-wind 7750, so users would not have to mod the movement (and purchase the extra, shallower caseback) like I did. I have not seen the actual 7760 movement, but it would be thinner than the 7750 since it lacks the auto-wind components. The sticking point is, according to DW, that the 7760 is considerably more expensive than the 7750 and he would have to price the watch around $700-$800. He did not think there would be a large enough market at that price range. I disagreed and told him I would poll RWG members to see how much serious interest there was. After some initial buzz, a number of members posted that they felt the price was too steep (and too close to the V72 DW kits) & interest seemed to fade, so we never went any further. Personally, I still think this would be The Best Buy in Daytona reps, because I continue to receive compliments on my watch from people who are pretty good at spotting Rolex reps and the feature that fools everyone are those asymmetrical pushers. These 7750-powered Daytonas with asymmetrical pushers seem to be even rarer than the gen Paul Newmans, which is VERY rare. It would be nice if the dial was a bit more accurate (subdials a bit smaller & the crown lowered a bit to its proper location). But, like I said, what makes this watch unique is its asymmetrical pusher layout. And short of a $2,000 investment plus the time & effort to track down and assemble a V72 DW, I think this watch makes alot more sense. I certainly would have bought one.

Please check your email.

Congrads. Waiting for the pics.

R -- Does this look right Assuming the spring arm & rectangle part is now correctly positioned, it looks like whatever cam the rectangle part is supposed to move is out of alignment or something, because I am still unable to press the top pusher lever. It does not move at all, and the bottleneck is definitely where that rectangle meets the cam. Actually, it almost looks like the 'U' shaped side of the rectangle part is not even fully seated against the cam. But I cannot get the cam to rotate in either direction to try to realign it with the rectangle part. I have tried reseting the chrono several times, but that does not make any difference. Which screw are you talking about removing and am I going to have problems getting the cam reassembled after I remove it (or the screw)? I have never disassembled that before. I do not know if this is related, but this movement still has the original problem that started this whole mess -- the hour totalizer hand keeps moving when the chrono is OFF. The odd thing is that if I reset the little spring on the chrono reset lever, the hour totalizer is fine......that is, until I use the reset pusher the next time (like when I was trying to realign the cam in the paragraph above), the hour totalizer hand starts running again. When I removed the bridge to check the reset lever spring, it is fine--right where it belongs. And everything else looks correct also. Does that make any sense?

Zig - Thanks for the reply. If I understand you correctly, I tried that already, but, in that position, the pusher is locked.....I cannot push it in at all. Tell me if this is correct: I rotated the rectangle 90 degrees, counter-clockwise, so the 'U' shaped edge is resting against (and in between) the cams to its right. Then I moved the arm to rest against the outer, sloping edge of the rectangle (its the edge at the top of the rectangle in the pictures). Does that sound right? With the rectangle & arm in that position, the pusher is locked, so that I cannot press it in at all. I have to run now, but I can take another picture of the rectangle & arm when I get back to be sure I have it in the right position (I am pretty sure I do).

Outstanding work, Tribal!

Delta -- Did you forget to complete your post? In any case, I did see Josh's updated 6263 bracelet, which is better than some of the previous vintage rep bracelets, but I still think a gen folded link 7835 makes more sense on a DW. All 3 of my DWs have 7835s that I got from Andy (Timeman). I know the 357 end links are not spec/correct, but, as you know, the correct ones are just about impossible to locate & insanely expensive if do find them. The 357s leave a tiny gap between them & the case, but it is not noticeable under most conditions. So, all things considered, I think the 7835 with 357s is a better compromise than a rep Oyster bracelet

I would be interested in 1 of these (without date).

The top pusher on my 116520 Daytona just stopped working. The lever does not seem to be connected to the chrono mechanism and it looks like the rectangular part (in red circle) in this picture may have moved out of position. Also, the end of the pusher lever, which you can see sitting in front of that part, may also be out of position. Does anyone recognize this part or have a picture showing its proper location Here is wider view of the movement showing the part's location

Great pic Stephane.

Welcome and thanks for the link, but I think just about everyone here is aware of this (as well as the rest of the items covered on that link). You might spend some time browsing through the pinned articles at the top of each forum. That way you can reduce the chance that you will be posting redundant info.

I agree. And a rep wherever it came from.

I just received a set of new gen Daytona 1165xx hands today (these are the later, wider version, so the comparison will not be a perfect one) I thought everyone would like to see how they differ. Of course, the most obvious difference between the 2 sets is that the gens are wider & the reps, which came from my 3.5 year old 116520, are narrower (the first batches of gen 1165xx Daytonas came with these narrower hands & I believe all rep Daytonas to date come with these also). Aside from the dust on the rep, there is not much visible difference between the 2 based on the appearance of the metal. However, the thing that literally jumps out at you is the difference & quality of the paint applied to the top of the hands. The rep paint is thin, matte & somewhat unevenly applied (the edges appear jagged at close magnification), it looks almost like it was applied with a magic marker. The gen paint, by contrast, is thick (almost like nail polish), gloss & as you would expect from Rolex, applied with near-perfection The small sub dial hands are another story As you can see, the gen hand has a much higher grade of finish compared to the rep hand. Also, the crimp at the end of the tube where it is bent over onto the hand to hold the tube in place is much cleaner and, I assume, heartier, so there will be less chance of the hand coming loose and swinging freely about the tube's axis (a common problem with Daytonas & some other chronograph models). None of the 6 gen hands (3 small subdial hands, 2 minute/hour hands & 1 large chrono seconds hand) fit the 7750's pinions out-of-the-box. The minute & hour hands are both too small, and all 4 of the other hands are too large. However, through a process of trial-and-error (squeezing the tube with a pair of jewelers' pliers to reduce the tube's inner diameter & then broaching the tube to enlarge it to the correct size), I was able to fit all 3 of the subdial hands as well as the large chrono seconds hand to the 7750 (Ignore the appearance of the hands in this picture - They were just broached (by hand) & are covered with fingerprints, which will be removed before final reassembly) Unfortunately, the tube diameter of the gen minute & hour hands is just too small & broaching them would be out of the question. So unless someone (Ziggy) knows of a trick here, I think I will probably have to refit the original rep hands. But the only visible difference I can see between the gen & rep minute and hour hands has to do with the quality & application of paint. So if I can figure out a way to mask off the unpainted areas, I should be able to reproduce the thick gloss black paint of the gen hands with either black nail polish or model paint. Stay tuned as I will be adding some additional pics & info over the next hour or two......

As long as the major luxury brands see current year sales exceeding the previous year's sales, I think they would rather spend their time & resources on shoveling money into the bank than battling the industrial rep machine. But just wait and see what happens when gen watch sales start to taper off (or nosedive) & the profit train starts running out of coal........Then, the legal [censored] will hit the replica fan & every 4th post here will be something like 'Do you think they will try to shut us down or go after us?' And with the word 'Recession' looming on the horizon..............

It is someone who is singled-minded in his pursuit of watches & watch collecting. So much so, that he is able to answer questions about watches without having to refer to a reference book. I believe the term was coined by members of TZ (timezone.com). SEARCH TZ's archives for 'Watch Idiot Savant' to get the story.

Diesel - I am surprised a professional watchmaker is unable to locate an exact match. Based on your description, it does not sound like such an odd shape. In fact, it sounds rather generic. Have a look here or here.

You are right about the growing prevalence of quality reps & their growing encroachment on the gen market. But I think you are wrong about what it is leading to. The gen makers are wise to the 'problem' and, eventually, I think they will be forced to start taking a more active role in pursuing rep makers and distributors. It would also not surprise me to see Rolex, Panerai, Patek and a few others banding together into a consortium of sorts & following the RIAA's lead in taking legal action against a few end-users (rep buyers) so they can draw alot of media attention to the issue. Remember how the RIAA suddenly started grabbing headlines (and quickly dampened the mp3 downloading craze of a few years ago) by suing a handful of children, grandparents, single moms, even deceased great grandmothers for downloading free mp3s from 2 or 3 popular P2P sites. This is a good reason to keep RWG & similar/related sites well under the radar.

Are these the 12/9/3 or 3/6/9 (with running secs at 9) subdial layout? If the latter (for use in a vintage Daytona), count me in for at least 1 (and do not tell Ken's wife).

The one I saw was threaded, but the factory had coated the tube with epoxy or some other permanent glue to lock it in (it is a good idea to seal the tube, but I use a semi-permanent cement like GC so you can still easily remove the tube when you need to). You might be able to remove the tube without damage by heating the case more, but I think it would probably be a hit-or-miss affair.