freddy333

Yes, tell me about it...... On second thought, keep it to yourself. I think I have had enough casebacks for one night. But I am curious about your comments above......Although the watch in the middle in this picture is not for sale, are you saying you would be willing to pay $800 for one of these 7750-powered Daytonas if it was already assembled?

That has been my experience too and I am in the same area.

I am chuckling to myself as I write this and the reason for the giggles is because I feel very stupid. After the watch came through the last round of testing with flying colors and I was about to put this baby to sleep, I tightened the caseback (not overtight, just snug) and the hand started to crawl again (like my skin). The problem is due to the DW caseback pressing on the lever once the caseback is screwed down all the way. I did not realize it when I swapped the DW caseback for the original (the original caseback is too tall), but the side wall of the DW caseback is almost 3 times as thick as the original caseback and so it is coming into contact with the lever somewhere along its path. I am confident this is the problem because I have spent the past 2 hours loosening, testing, tightening, testing, loosening, testing, tightening, testing, etc. and the hand only does its crawl when the caseback is tightened. It stays perfectly still when either the original caseback is installed or the DW caseback is only loosely fit. So I have been going at the inside wall of the DW caseback with my Dremel, trying to reduce the sidewall thickness to the point where it will clear the lever. After seeing how much more accurate the watch looks with the lower profile DW caseback, there is no way I could ever go back to the too high original. Here is a comparison of the 2 casebacks (the accurate DW is on the right, original (too tall) caseback on the left) (You can see where I have started to Dremel (thin) the sidewall of the lower profile DW caseback (on right) near the CRS inscription) _________ FINAL UPDATE — After reassembling the watch with the dremeled-out DW caseback, the watch has been running flawlessly for more than an hour & the hour totalizer hand has not budged from its proper null (OFF) position once. Problem solved (for real this time). Thanks to all who provided help.

A brand new workday, but the same old beater

Thank you, but all 3 have asymmetrical pushers (the button pushers of the 6239 & 6241 (the watches at far left & right) make it difficult to see because of the viewing perspective). The 6239 & 6241 are Valjoux 72-powered DWs, which use the same base movement that Rolex originally fitted into the vintage Daytonas (use the Search function to learn about DW Daytonas). The 6263 in the center is somewhat unique due to its being powered by an Asian 7750 with the correct asymmetrical pusher arrangement (most 7750s have symmetrical pushers, which are inaccurate for vintage Daytonas). Unfortunately, I cannot reveal the source of this watch just yet, but I should be able to provide more details soon. ____________ UPDATE -- After rethinking the situation, I decided that it would be foolhardy to do any grinding or bending of the lever, at least while it is contained within the movement. So, instead, I turned my dremel to the case and ground out a small semi-circular area just a mm away from the path of the pusher pin, which is where the lever is coming into contact with the case. Because the pusher is in very close proximity, I had to be somewhat conservative in the amount of metal I removed. But the lever is definitely coming into contact with much less of the case now, but not quite sure it is now able to fully-extend to its OFF position. So I just reinstalled the movement (held in place by the stem only....no movement clamps just yet) and will let it run for 30 minutes to see if that worked. If not, I will try removing a bit more metal & then retest. I will keep updating here in case someone else has this problem in future..... ____________ 30-MINUTE UPDATE -- All is well, so I reinstalled both case clamps and loosely fit the caseback. If all is still well 30 minutes from now, I will finally, and officially, pronounce the problem solved.

Ziggy -- Apparently, I was premature in pronouncing the job done. After reassembling the case, the hand began to move again. But the good news is that I just discovered the real source of the problem, which is related to item 1 above. The lever, itself, is bent causing it to come into contact with the inside of the case when the movement is reinstalled. I think you can see the way the lever sticks out beyond the outer boundary of the movement in these pictures Any recommendations on how to unbend (or bend) the lever without disassembling the movement? I was thinking that I could use a Dremel to grind down the edge of the lever that is coming into contact with the case, but I am worried that either the pusher pin might not have enough of a flat surface to operate correctly or, more likely, that the metal dust & shavings from the grinding would get into the movement.

Often, 1st generation reps of new models are pretty inaccurate. I would wait until they release the new reps late this year or early next. Those should be better. But remember that no rep is perfect, regardless of the marketing hype used by sellers.

The problem turned out to be that the lever itself was bent. Not only was the dial on this watch filthy (there were literally crumbs all over the dial & the hands had such a think layer of *greasy* fingerprints on them that I originally thought they were made out of white plastic with a worn coat of chrome paint on top.....until I started rubbing them with Rodico), but I blew a dust cloud out of the movement. I am amazed that this thing even runs. I wish I had taken some pictures of the inside of this thing before I cleaned it. Lack of QC is one thing, but to be assembling watches while you are eating your lunch.......Sheesh...... But after tweaking the regulator a bit, everything seems to be running fine now. I am even beginning to toy with the idea of capping this one off with one of those sparkling, beveled gen T21s. Funny how the addition of a set of asymmetrical pushers can give an otherwise average-looking rep the unmistakable air & presence of the real thing. (Picture taken before hour totalizer hand was fixed)

If the hole goes through both sides of the bridge AND it is threaded all the way through AND there are some available threads at one end of the hole AND the broken screw is not severely jammed in the hole AND you have another screw of the same size & thread pitch......you might be able to get the broken screw out by soaking the bridge in WD40 (penetrating oil) and then screwing the new screw in, gently, and it may guide the broken screw out the other side. This has worked for me on a couple of occasions. Another option (that I have used with success dozens of times in automotive restoration work) is to try to cut/carve/punch a slot in one end of the broken screw's shaft to fit the blade of a standard jeweler's screwdriver. Apply some WD40 (give it a few minutes to penetrate) and then just unscrew the screw.

Initially, I thought the pusher pin was the culprit, so I filed the pin down, but that did not fix it. So I think you are probably right about there being problem with the brake lever (if it was the reset arm, I would think the chrono second & minute counters would continue running also). Thanks, Zig.

Yes, that is true and I could keep doing that. But I am neurotic & my minimum requirement for wearing any watch is that it function properly and keep reasonable time. I would rather find out what the problem is and fix it than to keep having to reset it every 30 minutes. But I understand where you are coming from and it makes sense. I have a feeling it is a relatively simple thing to correct. Ziggy will probably chime in tomorrow. Thank you though.

I did a search before posting, but was unable to find anything relevant. Thank you anyway.

The hour totalizer hand (subdial at 6) is creeping around the subdial very slowly when the chrono function is OFF (it works normally when the chrono is ON). In fact, you can see it just to the right of the 12 in this photo, which was taken about 20 minutes after the chrono had been reset back to the null position (all 3 chrono hands pointing to the 12 on their respective scales) The longer the watch runs, the further around the subdial the hand will slowly move. It resets back to 12 without any problem every time. Trouble is that it also starts moving again within 15 or 20 minutes every time. Any idea what the problem is and, more importantly how to fix it?

No, veggie burger, salad & apple cobbler.

I have never been to Outback, but you cannot group those other 2 food troughs (Olive Garden, Applebee's) in with the wonderful gastronomic experience that is Houston's. Two completely different dining venues......worlds apart.

It looks that way, yes. And it is usually worth the wait. Thank you.

Went right over my head, Doc. I just re-read your original post and I get it now. I usually get those things, but I must have read & responded to your post as part of 3 or 4 responses I posted early this morning. Not enough sleep I guess.

Sorry Avitt, and thanks. Late last year or early this year, someone (I forget who) posted a response to a thread I started inquiring about info on Honpo's 7750-powered Daytonas. That person had one of these 7750 Daytona reps with asymmetrical pushers. I thought you (& most of the regulars) read that particular thread & were aware that these things exist (although they seem to be as rare as hen's teeth. You might want to PM me on this subject when you get a chance.

Chris -- Unless I am missing something, the answer seems quite obvious -- If your goal is to have the most accurate rep, then you need to buy the 2nd MBW and combine (or have someone combine) the two. If your goal is to get the best rep for the money, decide which watch has the least sins (to you) and keep (or buy) that one.

I believe the Valjoux 72x series all run at 18000bph. As for difficulties fitting the movement.........hard to say. One of mine went in like a hand in a glove while another caused me nightmares for weeks on end (there are a number of posts detailing both projects - search for 6239 or 6241 & my handle). But even if the movement fits the case, there are usually other issues you have to contend with (pushers not fitting, crown tube not matching existing case threads, difficulties installing bezels or crystals, finding a way to secure the movement into the case, having something in the case causing the caseback not to fit, misaligned lug holes, etc.). I would defer anyone considering the construction of one of these gems to consider the wisdom of Animal House: Start drinking heavily. Good luck.

A steel Rolex Explorer 1 because it goes with any dress style, the gen is reasonably priced & the design is simple enough so that there is little to give it away as a rep. It is also one of the classic doctor/lawyer watches, so it should fit right in in the law firm Here is the link (there is an Asian-powered version on the same site for 1/2 the price)

Wow, nice work, tmg! I am drooling without even liking that model. One of the Newmans en route to a business lunch (funny how Newman always gets stuck with the bill)

Fake

The (V72-powered) bookends keep COSC time (after spending a few days tweaking their regulators), and the centerpiece runs but, as I mentioned above, the hour totalizer seems to run (creeping around the subdial, seemingly counting hours) when the chrono is NOT in use. I am guessing there is a clutch that is mis-adjusted, but hopefully Ziggy will chime in with a more accurate answer.

Thanks, Tribal. I removed the rotor to disable the auto-wind & make the watch function more like the gen vintage Daytona 62xx, which, as you know, were manual-wind watches. Certainly, Valjoux-powered DWs are more accurate in their function (since they share the same base movement as the gen 62xx Daytonas), but I think this is a reasonable compromise considering the savings in both time (to search out a V72) and money (the cost to purchase another V72). Replacement of the crown & tube were the obvious next step since, having its auto-wind mechanism disabled, the watch would need frequent winding and the cheap, rep POS crown/tube would have stripped within the first few screw/unscrewings. Also, the rep Triplock crown is too wide and a dead-giveaway, and it was a relatively easy mod so it made sense to do it.