freddy333

On 4/30/2023 at 9:52 AM, skrr said:

Does the 904L make a noticeable difference..?

Under the right light, if you compare 904L to the steel most reps use, some people claim they can see the difference. I cannot.

Took a break from the Big Kahuna since I am just knocking around the house today

9 hours ago, swdivad said:

That's a fantastic build Freddy!

Do you think the QF 116520 is the best out of the box these days compared to the others like Clean and BT?

Of the 3 factory offerings on Andrew's site, I selected the 1 that contained the fewest & least objectionable sins to my eye. As always, others sensitivities may differ from mine, so you should carefully research each factory's offering & make your selection. Of course, if you are frankening your watch, everything but the case can be corrected with gen parts.

But, as I said, out of the box, these are all so accurate that it is difficult to call them fakes, at least in the way we have traditionally classified non-Rolex-built Rolexes.

1 month ago, I set my franken 116520's time to our server's clock &, as of today, it is still within 1 sec of the server's clock. I continue to be amazed at the technical brilliance of the 4130's design & the Chinese ability to clone it for a fraction of the original's cost.

Followers of this thread may appreciate this (model number is actually 116508-0009) --

Never good to hear of others misfortune, but at least it resulted in RWG falling back into its proper hands. Hopefully, you are able to work things out in a way that is beneficial for both you & RWG.

Heading into the weekend with the Big Kahuna

12 hours ago, Hayst said:

It shocked me to learn that the ADs aren't allowed to pull the watches apart,  they have to pass them through to the Rolex service centre or void the warranty.

I think either the AD was misinformed or you may have misunderstood them. Any certified Rolex watchmaker with a parts account should be able to work on your watch. Generally, only for vintage pieces, where a certified watchmaker is unable to verify a Rolex's provenance, might the watch have to be returned to a service centre. However, these days, due to cost-cutting, many ADs no longer maintain an in-house watchmaker of any level. In those cases, the watch would need to go the service centre.

There is some seriously heavy metal on this page, gentlemen. 

Welcome back, Luca.

I do not know the details of your experience with the other member, but it is too bad your return was spoiled by an apparent deception. I know in the old days (when I was a member of the mod team), reports of abuse or questionable trades would come up from time to time & were ALWAYS taken seriously. But, unfortunately, you have to remember that private transactions between members are just that -- private. So there is really little RWG staff can or, really, should do other than to listen to both sides, if both sides are willing to accept a mediator. But, in the end, it is ultimately up to the 2 parties to sort things out, either between themselves or with the help of the payment agent (eg bank, paypal, etc).

Good to hear you did finally acquire your grail.

Sorry to hear you have had to deal with so many health issues, but glad to hear they have finally begun to abate.
Get well soon.

Update --

After nearly 4 months of nearly daily driving, the Big Kahuna continues to exceed Rolex's specs -- running within +/- 1 sec/day!

On my Timegrapher, in all positions, it returns no more than 2 secs deviation with 0.1% beat error and an amplitude of between 285-310. Typical rates for a modern, well-regulated 4130-powered Daytona. Because the fashionistas are now fixated on the latest, ceramic-bezeled models, these more understated, all-steel classics tend to fly below the-radar, which is more my style.

& values for white, APH-dialed Daytonas (not counting the racy chrono sweep hand) are once again heading for the stratosphere.

This is the kind of creative spirit that made RWG famous.

I am not accepting any new work, but if this is a gen, why not have a local watchmaker with a Rolex parts account handle this?

Since a few people have messaged me asking about the rubber strap, here is a link to Horus rubber straps.

3 minutes ago, Tribal said:

Also new.

Yes, it looks like they installed a 16520 dial in a steel-surrounded, ceracrom bezeled 116500LN. That dial was never my cup of tea.

The 2023 Platinum Daytona (ref 126500) becomes the 1st sport model offered with a display caseback. It also has an updated 4131 movement. The 4131 is supposed to have a few less parts, but I do not know which parts were removed or why. What I do know is that the new movement is now decorated (not to my liking) & fitted with a skeletonized, yellow gold rotor & 'improved' ball-bearing system. I was not aware of any general problems with the 4130's rotor bearing, so the 'improvement' may be in manufacturing process & not the movement's performance. But, since they greatly increased the number of balls in the bearing (it looks like they went from 7 balls in the 4130 to 30 or 40 in the 4131), I am not sure about this? Rolex says 'the self-winding mechanism is also more durable thanks to the optimized ball bearing in the Perpetual rotor'.

Rolex is now surrounding the ceracrom bezels with metal, which I imagine is designed to address the increasingly common problem of shattered bezels due to side impacts.

On 3/22/2023 at 2:38 PM, cc'sdad said:

Still wearing my Dad’s watch gifted to me upon his passing 3 weeks ago.

Condolences on your dad's passing.
He had great taste in watches (I have the same model).

19 hours ago, automatico said:

Suitable cases are few and far between, but the movement is 50% of the chase.

The movement is 1/3 of the chase. The movement & dial represent the other 2/3. But, however you look at it, no 1 part is useable without the other 2. 

5 hours ago, automatico said:

This is not meant to be a smart remark but you might have waited too long to get started on it for three reasons...all because of $$:

1...Genuine patphils and parts are extremely expensive now, basically ruling out Frankenstein projects using genuine parts.

2...Gold is nearing $2K USD per troy ounce so solid 14/18K gold watches for F-stein projects have jumped way up in price. 

3...Many classic case designs have been melted down.

It had a cal 23-300 movement and was in first class condition.  I had it c/o and traded it away.

Problems with them today:

1...Astronomical prices.

2...No parts.  I could get patphil parts back then from the Stern Agency NYC but not now.  No contacts today.  All I have left is a nos 18kyg crown.

3...Still fragile as a baby's breath.

Good points.
I still have a 23-300 with dial/handset that has been sitting on my bench for years awaiting a Patek case -- at this point, almost any Patek case that fits -- but none are to be found anymore. As automatico said, most have been sold off for their melt value &, even with inside contacts, Patek, like Rolex, will no longer sell or permit parts transfers out of the mother ship & its satellites.

I feel your pain (but the suffering is worse because I lack such an extensive collection of new/NOS Rolex crowns).
If I gave an AD $10k for every time I have hidden an important Rolex part from myself, I would have enough to merit the privilege of buying a 116500 at retail.

Still wearing The Big Kahuna (116520)

On 3/18/2023 at 8:05 AM, danielv2000 said:

I wonder if such a dial can be “refinished”.

Most likely. Click here

I have no recent experience with Phong's watches, but, back when I was more active, I had some (repair) experience with a few of his Rolex frankens, which varied from satisfactory to nightmarish (worn parts cemented in place, etc.). As I recall, Ziggy posted a number of threads detailing some of what he found inside these watches.

At that price level, I would either buy a 2 or 3 hand gen or educate yourself on the parts required to build a franken, gathering them yourself & having a local professional watchmaker assemble everything for you.

Another option would be to consider 1 of the recent high-end Patek reps that contain gen-like movements. As is the general rule with reps, avoid the more complicated models & those with 'gems' & you should not have too many problems. Unfortunately, these high-end Patek reps are somewhat rare (I tried to purchase a Calatrava recently, but the factory ultimately said the watch was not currently available & had no ETA when they would be), so you may need to spend some time & effort to track 1 down.