freddy333

How long was the wait & did you have to jump through any hoops (eg, purchasing other watches/jewelry to be permitted admittance to THE LIST)?

Most of my experience is with vintage pre-1990 (16xx) Datejusts, which used the 24-600, so take this with a grain of salt -- I believe the later 5-digit Datejusts (eg, the 16200) need the later 24-603. As I recall, the differences lie in each crowns' inner (stem) tube assembly. The 600 contained a screw-in (ie, removeable) inner tube assembly (if interested, you can search out my thread detailing an inner tube transplant from a 600 Twinlock to a Brevet crown) & had a slightly larger diameter, while the inner tube on the 603 was slightly narrower & was NOT removeable. That said, I believe the case-side case tube threading -- where the case tube screws into the side of the case -- is the same for both case tubes. The only difference should be the diameter of the opening inside the case tube through which the crown's inner tube assembly fits through. As long as you have the correct (matching) case tube for your crown, either crown/tube should fit the 16200. But, again, as I do not work on many 5-digit Datejusts, I cannot guarantee fitment of the 603 to your case without replacing the case tube. So, unless someone else knows for certain or you are able to purchase a 600 with return privileges, I would suggest searching for the correct 24-603 to avoid problems or having to replace the case tube.

Adding to previous post --

"Increasingly, there’s a considerable risk involved in wearing a Daytona or a bejeweled Royal Oak, which is why many languish in private vaults. “A lot of my friends and clients here (Monaco) take off their jewelry and put it in a safe before they fly to London,” he says. “These days there are very few places in the world where you can show off your wealth if you want to. It’s basically here and in the Middle East.”" -- Robb Report, Sept 2023

In my experience, no owner of a gen 65xx Sub would wear (or admit to wearing) a rep/franken. These guys just wear a modern Sub or something else. It is sort of like expecting guys with rare Ferraris to be driving around town in Pontiac Fiero 'Ferrari' conversions. Not saying it did not happen, but none of the rare gen watch (or car) owners I know would ever do it.

Correct, but with an asterisk. As I recall, vintage Rolex crystals were made for them by GS, but these were manufactured to Rolex specifications, which differed from GS' standard lines.

Based on this pic, I assume you were able to assemble a working balance. Does it balance properly on your poising tool? If it does & you get the collet/spring reassembled without incident, you should be well on your way back to ticking heaven.

In general, I agree. However, critics will point out that there IS a slight difference in the appearance of OEM Rolex crystals vs Clark's or any of the better aftermarket replacements. Many years ago, there were 2 or 3 threads (1 from me) comparing OEM Rolex versus some of these others & the difference in clarity & the way the lens refracts the light are apparent. Whether the apparent optical variations matter more than a crystal's water-tightness is up to the viewer. Unfortunately, I am unable to locate any of the threads I was referring to, but have a look at Dwelling on the Appearance of the Sea and Lot 159 vs The DW.

You have a couple of issues here -- for 1 thing, the 80 end links are permanently attached to bracelets, while the other end links you mentioned are separate/detachable. So the 80s are not directly (or easily) swapped with the other end links. Further complicating the issue is the fact that different links, although often very similar in appearance & their ability to be 'fit' onto cases they were not specifically intended for, often vary in just 1 dimensional parameter (e.g., spacing between springbar channel & lug mating) that may not be obvious but which leave them jiggly or ill-fitting. Finding proper alternative end links was a serious problem many of us ran up against in the early days of RWG when attempting to find properly-fitting alternatives for OEM 62xx Daytona bracelets like the folded-link 7205/71, 7835/271 or 7835/371 gens of which are priced way beyond the stratosphere & more or less unobtainium today (fyi - the best alternatives we found were the slightly more ubiquitous (ie, costing 1 ball rather than the usual 2) folded-link 7835/357, which is what I have on all of my 62xx Daytonas). The bottom line -- Until/unless the rep factories clone all of these early Rolex bracelets, rattle'y may be your best or only option.

"Rolex cannot make watches fast enough to keep up with the demand. With the average watch taking a year to make and the wait ranging from a couple of months to a couple of years, consumers are turning to the secondhand market. Luxury watch sales are a $75 billion market, with secondhand sales making up 30% of that, according to Boston Consulting Group. It continues to grow as demand, PARTICULARLY AMONG YOUNGER CONSUMERS, picks up." Luxury watch market demand boosted by younger generation of buyers

I think your observation is spot-on & I blame the recent crop of 'clone' movements & reps. Back when AOL was dial-up, any serious collector or watchmaker could easily ID a rep or franken. But, today, as I have discovered myself, it is often VERY difficult for all but a sainted few elder collectors to declare, with any confidence, the authenticity of a gen watch without complete disassembly. & even then..........

As more & more former of the 'Mechanical watches are for old white men!' youngsters began to amass huge mechanical gen collections & the nouveau riche began to convert their fiat investments into tangible assets like high end watches, the big 3 brands quickly became unrealistically pricey &/or unobtainium. Because of this, many of the gen forums have become literal ghost towns. At the same time, for a variety of reasons, there has been a reshuffling of traffic to rep forums, which left sites like ours in the same boat as the empty gen forums. From what I have seen, RWI is probably the most traffic'd rep forum today. At least that is where I 1st discovered the incredible current crop of modern 116xxx Daytonas with cloned 413x movements (see my review/frankening threads for details). Vintagerolexforum still seems to be fairly active, but mostly with regulars since few others can still afford the price of (vintage Rolex) admission.

Auto outlined the less expensive long road. The short (though more expensive) road would be to fit the gen dial to a gen movement & handset, or swap the gen dial for a rep dial. It all depends on your goal, patience level & bank account.

I agree with some of the other comments above. For 1 thing, any competent watchmaker can service these movements. Even better would be a competent watchmaker with a Rolex parts account. That said, due to the current asking prices for vintage Rolex parts (if/when they can be found), sourcing replacements needed to complete the work will be the limiting factor, both in time & cost. Depending on a watchmaker's expertise & work load, some of the worn parts may avail themselves to refurbishment by an expert watchsmith. But this is where you will end up spending some serious cash due to the time/effort required. I would start by googling watchmakers in your area. Unless you live far out in the countryside, you are likely find 1 or 2. Tell them you have a Rolex 1530 that requires service & be prepared to hand-carry the watch into them to examine before they are able to give you any definitive answers. You may find that, after examination, some may refuse to take the watch in for the reasons stated above, but I would be surprised if you are unable to find anyone locally. In that case, there are a number of watchmakers who specialize in vintage Rolex (eg, Bob Ridley) that you can ship the watch to for service. Bottom line - if the watch is important to you, I would open your wallet & just bite the bullet to get it done. Good luck.

Since these Rolex clone movements are supposed to be clones, I am surprised to hear a gen 3135 staff does not fit. Have you considered replacing the entire balance with a gen? I have seen used balances on ebay from reliable sellers for as low as $300 (though most run between $350-$400). As for a replacement, you can probably find them on Alibaba & other Asian shopping sites. Or, you might check with the seller & ask them to source a replacement for you.

There are a number of 36mm DJ cases for sale on ebay. If it were me, that is where I would head. Same for a crystal & any other gen parts. Good luck.

Be careful mixing & matching 7xx series crowns & tubes. I have not dabbled with any of this for many years, so I cannot provide definitive guidance (there are many old threads on the subject like this or like this that you might want to read before proceeding). However, I do recall fitment issues of crowns not fully or properly screwing onto tubes due to varying thread pitches & locations. Therefore, I would recommend that you make sure a given crown properly screws fully-down onto whatever tube you want to use before installing. You will save yourself many headaches & requests for help if you test 1st. Remember also that early 7xx crowns were essentially Twinlocks & later 7xx crowns were Triplocks, which partially accounts for the variations between tubes.

Looking forward to the finished project.