freddy333

Rolex's Microstella system is not designed to provide a performance improvement, it just permits you to make very fine & consistently repeatable timing adjustments via a pair of nuts that are difficult, if not nearly impossible, via a traditional regulator setup. Yes, the system is finicky & requires a special tool (Microstella wrench). However, if you have the tool & know-how, the system allows for a much more accurate degree of timing than any other system I am aware of. Before I got used to it, I did not get it either. But once you get it, you get it. Ebay 265389584078 or 254991498290 Startime & other watch parts houses sell them as well.

Nice work!

Most ETA balances &/or hairsprings are still available, so why not just replace the hairspring or balance without the cock/bridge? What is the caliber model?

Did you overhaul the movement (including pegging all of the jewels) before replacement? It sounds like you have a gummy or worn cap jewel that is affecting timing when the balance is running on that jewel.

Left is gen.

Wearing my freddy333 Daytona today

Although the comparison macro pic post above had many views, I am not surprised only 1 viewer took up the challenge. The differences are more interpretive than real. porschespeedster -- You are correct on all counts except for 1 -- the dial on the right is actually the fake. But you are in good company because I just asked a friend who is a master watchmaker with a Rolex parts account to check it, inside & out, & he assumed it was real, too. He nearly fell off his chair when I revealed the truth. Took a 2nd look & still could not believe what he was seeing. The only tell is the watch's lack of heft, which is revealed when the real, SOLID gold Daytona & the fake are each weighed on an accurate scale. (The steel Big Kahuna does weigh the same as the gen. ) The point of this little exercise is that for the 1st time in my decades of collecting -- & although I would be the 1st to admit that I am NOT the world's most knowledgeable Rolex authority, I AM pretty savvy -- if I had not known the background of these 2 watches, I would NOT be able to tell the gen from the fake. Even upon close inspection with a loupe. Weight differences aside, even if I could hold both gen & modified fake watches in my hands and inspect them with a quality loupe, inside & out, I could NOT tell the difference without disassembling the movement (which WOULD reveal the fake movement's non-Rolex-like internal parts fit & finish). Yes, there are slight granular differences in the exposed surface metal of the rotor & bridges that CAN be seen, but, if all else looked copasetic, these would not even register in my brain or I would dismiss them as within the normal manufacturing tolerances I have seen in all Rolexes. More to the point, if I was able to figure out that these new clones are nearly indistinguishable from their gen counterparts (& literally indistinguishable with just a few gen parts swaps), I am sure Rolex has too & probably long before I did. So it is only a matter of time until word gets out to the wider gen collecting community & then into the gen watch buying marketplace. Once this starts getting reported by social media influencers, Rolex will be forced into a corner because gen buyers who love to proclaim 'I would never wear a fake Rolex!' will quickly change their tune to 'I would be crazy to spend $50k on a Swiss-made Daytona when I could buy the same thing from the Chinese for less than a grand -- & have it on my wrist in a matter of days rather than years!' &, as you can see HERE & HERE, Rolex is only digging themselves deeper into the hole the Chinese may bury them in. As auto indicated recently, I think it is likely that we will be seeing THE MOTHER OF ALL ROLEX REPLICA CRACKDOWNS sometime soon. Things will have to get crazy, so get yours while you can. p.s. Eventually, the FASHION winds of watch collecting are going to change direction & most of the short-attention-span under-50s who, just 6 short years ago, were proudly proclaiming 'I do not need a watch' or 'Rolexes are for old men' will dump their recently amassed (& often massive) Rolex collections for the next big FASHION thing (probably some AI-based, beam-me-up-Scotty dual-reality gadget ). When that happens, the entire market may experience the largest collapse since the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s.

I have NO experience with them, but this seller appears to have some Nautilus 3800s.

Is this what you see once the dial & date wheels are removed?

I may have missed something, but why did you disassemble the movement just to replace the stem? Once the hands/dial were removed, the stem release was visible/accessible. If that did not work, it should be fairly easy to guide the stem out with a small screwdriver while operating the release. I have never attempted to replace Miyota parts with aftermarket Chinese parts, but I have a feeling, as Auto suggested, it would be alot easier just to replace the movement.

Caught my APH, red-handed, today

This is 1 of the most objective, no-nonsense Rolex videos I have seen, especially for women -- I Finally Got My Hands On a Rolex!

In the brief time since The Golden Cuckoo was completed & seen in the wild, I must have been asked 'Is that real?' half a dozen times. More than any other watch in my experience. I always respond with 'What do you think?' The answer is always some variation of 'I don't know, but I wish I had 1!' Now, I know the Cuckoo will easily fool Joe Q Public & many Rlx dealers, but is it good enough to fool a bunch of experienced, hard core rep & franken guys? So let's see -- Based ONLY on the dial text (circled in red), which of these is a gen & which is a fake? & state the reasoning behind your choice. If you are unable to tell 1 from the other, just say that. Remember, 1 of these IS a fake.

I think you need a better handset. The current hands look very rep & betray everything else. Or, at least they look sufficiently suspect to make me feel the need to give everything else a closer inspection. With a proper set of hands, the dial might just pass without drawing too much attention to itself. It is 1 of those cases where if everything else feels right & looks homogenous, I might accept what I see on face value.

Alligoat -- Do you have any info on this? Do you mean that Phong's son was arrested per Rolex lawyers, or do you mean he was physically attacked by police?

In spite of the dial's baked-in issues, the most obvious tell for me are the hands, which look wrong/aftermarket & new/artificially-aged. In fact, if it were not for the hands, I might not even be provoked into taking a closer look at the dial. I would try to locate a more accurate handset & give them a more natural-looking patina. If you have not already done so, I would google pics of vintage gen Subs of the same era & find/study the appearance of a set you like. Then, try to replicate that exact look. In my experience, having a single, clear target to copy always inspires creativity & results in a better finished product.

I would try lower temps (200-250 degrees F) & avoid applying anything, including polish, to the lume or dial text. Whatever you use, I would try to bias your application towards the center hole & the solid brown areas.

If I remember correctly, the 6536/1 dial came from MQ, but you may be able to search out the original build threads describing the parts & construction details. Paint is probably not going to work well, because, by definition, it adds a solid layer to the underlying material. Shoe polish, on the other hand, is applied, smeared (by finger) & then LIGHTLY buffed, leaving thin/variable layers of darker color that are burnished INTO the dial rather than drying as an additional solid layer ON TOP of the dial. I think that may be why your result was less than expected. This is the type of work that I would recommend you practice on scrap dials BEFORE attempting on your target dial. As I said, you have to be careful not to over bake (ie, burn) the dial paint, which is easy to do. This is definitely more art than science.

Wearing The Golden Cuckoo today

The Big Kahuna's time was last set (to our company's email server, which is linked to an atomic clock) a little more than 1 month ago. I just checked it for the 1st time since then -- it lost 5 seconds! That is less than 2 secs/week! Of the 4 quartz watches I have, only 1 maintains more accurate time than that! Although The Kahuna does contain some gen (movement) parts, it is technically a fake Rolex, whose total financial outlay was less than $3,500 -- & without the games, waiting lists & various other issues that are part of today's 'gen buying experience'. The Golden Cuckoo, fitted with the same contingent of gen parts (&, likewise, w/o any timing adjustments!), continues to run within gen specs, +/- 2secs/day. I will say it again -- these 1165xx clones are 1 of the best buys in rep watch history. As further evidence of their accuracy, I just returned the gen gold 23-704 crown/tube I had purchased for The Cuckoo back into storage because they are nearly indistinguishable from the clone parts these 2 watches came with from the factory. Yes, these fake Rolexes are so good that it is not worth my time to swap gen parts for these fakes.

The best way I found to naturally patina a tropical dial is to add a tiny bit of black shoe polish to some of the brown/blank areas & then bake it -- carefully -- until the desired effect is achieved! Done properly, you should not see where the polish was applied & some of the shininess will be reduced. You did great work on the Explorer & I look forward to seeing the outcome of your tropical Sub. In the meantime, here is some inspiration --

Both dials are knockouts, so you win either way. But I would always give the nod to well done (ie, believable from an arm's length away) tropical dials.

$1,300 for a few vintage Rolex parts. Crazy -- but this time next year, crazy will have been a bargain.

I have not forgotten about that. It just takes alot of time to remove the curtains from the rod, pull together all the contestants & then set everything up, which I have not had. But I plan to do an update as soon as time permits.

Another interesting project. A couple of random thoughts -- Have you considered using another dial? The print of the Yuki dial pictured is pretty poor. I think even most standard rep dials today might be a better option, let alone 1 from 1 of the better franken parts sellers. Also, will you be removing the corrosion on the metal before finishing? It looks like mostly surface rust that could easily be removed. I know it is not seen once everything is cased up, but I think it would be worth the time/effort to deal with the rust before assembly.