freddy333

Even if it does not fall apart (& most of them do), I replace the rep riveted bracelets with either a standard hollow middle link rep Oyster bracelet (many of which look very close to the gen versions) or a gen folded link bracelet. All the riveted rep bracelets I have seen make an otherwise good rep look like a cheap 'fake' to me. The links are too short, the 'metal' is flimsy & poorly made (which is why the bracelet usually binds & breaks so quickly) & the 'rivets' look fake.

Looks like a fine time was had by all, and I am glad you made it home with your watches intact. I would guess you did not have a police escort? Not sure about all of the watches tabled, but I do know 2 of them -- those 2 vintage Daytonas of Avitt's have become franken-lore here on the east coast. Vbarrett -> You are not the only tea-totler.

RG - Not much to add about your numerous watchmaking skills that has not already been said, but I think your photographic skills have taken a giant leap forward recently. Those are some of the best darn tootin' macros I have seen from any source & on any subject. I guess you have something better locked onto your tripod than a digi-point-n-shoot.........

Love that pic, Vic.

Cousinsuk.com has the long tubes, which are similar to the gens. But you have to factor shipping into the equation, which can run about $20, if I remember correctly. I have not seen anyone else (other than Rolex) selling the longer tubes. I think your only options if the hole threads are stripped are to either tap the hole or glue the tube into hole. Whatever you decide, if you plan to be doing any more crown/tube swaps, I would recommend getting a set of taps (2 in a set). Cas-Ker.com has them for $50 (The larger tap fits the case tube hole & the smaller tap fits Daytona chrono pusher holes) Here is the link

Another park, another Sunday (with the beater)

I know you are trying to fill a small hole, which is why I recommended what I recommended. Here is the link

Yes, sorry I forgot those. But the 7750s used in most other vintage Daytona reps do not have asymmetrical pushers. Also the Valjoux movements are thinner & manual-wind.

Sometimes they fit & sometimes not. It is very hit and miss. The problem is due to the variability of the rep screws & threading in the bracelet holes. This is why I prefer to buy & recondition used gen bracelets instead of trying to patch up the reps.

Yes. This is a (two tone) rep/franken version of this Without a doubt, the difference in fit & finish between the two are palpable. Even most frankens lack the feel & that emotional X-factor you get from a gen. But the differences have narrowed over the years as material and design quality of reps has improved. Cost aside and given the choice, I cannot imagine that any sane person would select a rep over its gen counterpart. But when you factor cost back into the equation, it is hard not to consider the number of good reps you can get for a fraction of the cost of one gen. And this makes it possible for most people to be able to 'test drive' a particular watch model to see if it will fits one's lifestyle over the long haul before plunking down the price of a gen.

Correct, but only in the case of the vintage models. One of the easiest ways to tell whether a vintage Daytona is genuine (or a franken, constructed with the same Valjoux base movement that Rolex based their modded version on) is by the pusher layout This is a standard Valjoux 72 movement, which has an asymmetrical pusher configuration Rolex changed the escape wheel/regulator system & machined (decorated)/engraved the pillar plate with its own unique model numbers (note the engraved '727' below the escape wheel & the additional text on some of the bridges) However, beginning with the Zenith-powered 1652x Daytonas and currently, the pushers are symmetrical.

Like every other part on a rep watch, rep bracelet screws lack the fit and finish of the gen screws. (Courtesy of 'The Rolex Report') If you are used to handling both, it is fairly easy to see & feel the differences.

Well put, Archi.

Some very fine timepieces everyone, but I do not know how some of you know, in advance, which watch you are going to wear tomorrow or the next day. I have enough trouble deciding what to wear today. But my hat goes off to those who can plan ahead & stick with the plan. For me, I am counting the seconds until I leave to attend a soir

This is why it is advantageous to have the lower subdial 'frozen' at 12...... On the genuine vintage Daytonas, the subdial at 6 is the hour counter for the chronograph (the chronograph is a stopwatch, for those of you who are unfamiliar with vintage Rolexes). For every 2 complete rotations of the chronograph's minute counter (subdial at 3), the hour subdial clicks over 1 notch in its scale to denote 1 hour of elapsed time. However, and this is the important point, when the chronograph is not in use (which is 99% of the time), all 3 of the chronograph hands remain at the 12 o'clock position in each of their scales. The only moving hands are the normal centrally-fixed minute & hour hands and the running seconds hand, which is located in the 9 o'clock subdial. In an ideal world, all reps would be able to replicate all of these functions exactly. Unfortunately, none of the currently produced movements include a functional hour chronograph counter in the 6 o'clock subdial position. There are a few, like the Lemania/Venus used in Josh's Daytona rep, which have 3 subdials, but the 6 o'clock subdial functions as either a calendar or a duplicate hour hand (it mimics the movements of the watch's main hour hand). Remember, when the chronograph is NOT running (which is 99% of the time), the subdial at 6 should be pointing at the 12. So what modders have been doing is disabling whatever function the 6 o'clock subdial currently has and permanently 'freezing' the subdial's hand in the 12 o'clock position, so it looks like a genuine chronograph subdial in the OFF position. Since the hand in that subdial would only move once every hour when the chrono is running, it is rarely ever seen moving on the gen watches anyway. So having it 'fixed' permanently in the 12 o'clock position is actually a much better alternative than having it functioning incorrectly.

What an evening.........nice dinner with friends & then I come home to a photo tour of heaven.......... The Daytonii are sweet, but that view is to die for. The rest of the house ain't bad either (you can trust me not to tell anyone about your bearskin deficit).

I have used alot of silver solder over the years, but only for electronics work. I doubt it would be strong enough to permanently fill & repair such a large space, especially since the surrounding material is stainless steel. It would take quite a high temperature to get it to flow onto steel (you will need to dismantle the entire case before attempting anything involving high temps). I think your best bet would be to either buy another watch or see if you could have some new metal welded into the hole and then file/sand/buff to match the surrounding steel. Or you could probably fill it quite easily with gray colored epoxy, followed by filing/sanding/buffing (most auto parts stores stock this).

Off to enjoy an evening of fine dining with 2 rarely seen friends -- one needs to unwind & the other is manually wound (A.Lange & S

Yes, you peel the backing paper away and then VERY carefully apply the overlay sticker to the datewheel. The 'art' is in getting that sticky (and dynamically flexible) piece of vinyl centered on the datewheel so that the dates appear centered in the date window of the dial. Unfortunately, there are no specific instructions here, it just takes time, patience and skill. You should know that some members have experienced problems with the overlay shifting its position on the datewheel within a day or 2 of application This requires disassembly and re-centering of the overlay. I have to say that when it works, the Watchmeister is a thing of beauty and my hat goes off to the crew that put it together. It really does look great on many members' watches. I just wish they would have been able to find a way to imprint directly onto a metalized overlay like the MBW to reduce the pixelation & shifting. In my case, the overlay shifted on a more or less regular basis (at least once every several days), and the same thing happened with 2 overlays. In the end, I gave up the good fight & decided to trade in the Watchmeister's beautiful flat-top 3's for the always centered (and properly serifed) round-top 3's of the original MBW datewheel

No. And even if they were physically interchangeable, the wheels are designed to run in opposite directions. So if you installed a gen 1575 movement's date wheel onto an ETA 2846 movement, the date would progress backwards (30, 29, 28.... instead of 28, 29, 30....). I would either leave your original rep datewheel alone or post a wanting to buy message in the for sale forum to see if anyone has an extra Watchmeister datewheel overlay they are willing to part with (essentially, a vinyl sticker with a correct (albeit somewhat pixelated) 1680/1665 font (with flat-top 3's) that gets adhered on top of your existing datewheel).

Between $50-$150, depending on local labor rates. If enough of the stem remains in the crown so it can be grasped with a pin vise or pliers & easily removed, then the cost will be minimal (an hour of labor & about $5-$10 for a new stem). On the other hand, if the stem broke close to the crown or it cannot be easily removed, then you may need to source a suitable replacement crown, which can be time consuming (and more expensive). I would look in the phone book & ask some local watchmakers if they will work on a rep watch that has an ETA movement? Most will probably be happy to take on the work. But make sure you are clear that the watch is a rep. Some watchmakers will not work on reps & you do not want to waste your time taking the watch to the shop only to be told 'Oh, you should have told me it was a fake Rolex. We do not work on those here.'

Actually, the dials (with the possible exception of a slightly 'off' DAYTONA font, hard to tell from the images) on the Newman models look pretty good to me.

Beater Everything else in my collection is fair game depending on activity, environment & dress code.

Based on the price of gold these days (currently hovering around $760/ounce), I would find it very hard to believe that a rep contains solid gold anything. There are 2 truisms to keep in mind when buying reps -- Take everything you are told with a (large) grain of salt and the basic principle of selling is to buy low & sell high.

A friend who used to manage an AD told me once that he had heard through the Audemars grapevine that a number of luxury watch brands met secretly with a major Chinese rep factory and told them that they, the watch brands, would not go after them 'in any serious way' (that was the exact phrase he used) as long as the factory agreed never to produce an exact copy of any of their watches. Initially, I thought this was preposterous or one of those urban retail myths. But after thinking about it for awhile, it sort of began to make sense. Look, for instance, at my 116509 Daytona. They got all of the complicated little details on the dial right, but then they throw on these bogus 3/6/9 index markers that mark the watch as an obvious rep (at least until I can figure out a good way to fix them). It is these kinds of 'mistakes' that make me wonder, because I find it very hard to believe that anyone could spend so much time researching to get so many tiny details right & then make such an obvious mistake that undoes all of that hard work. It just strains believability.