Nanuq

Very very nice! Enjoy it for a week or two, then send it off to the guy I recommended for his ageing techniques. Once that’s done I recommend a service (it probably hasn’t been done in decades) and then just enjoy it the rest of your long blissful life. What a show stopping beauty.

This reminds me, I have a hockey scrimmage in an hour!

Oh man, where do you want to start?! I've got dozens of them. It's a not too rare watch, so you have good chances of one showing up. If it was a rare beast, I wouldn't be so sure. But even then, it happens. I wanted a Pepsi 1675 GMT in the worst way, back in the mid 90s. I had looked several years, when a friend of mine heard through another friend that I was looking. He knew a guy who knew a guy, and before you know it I had a perfect example in my hands for $900. I suspected it "fell off the back of a truck" but no, it was legit. Same with my Doxa Black Lung, I heard rumors that Doxa had made these pieces with a USD logo on the dial. So I looked high and low, and finally, just as we were going out of state for a vacation, one showed up on eBay. This was before wifi and smart phones, so all I could do was place a big bid and cross my fingers. Days later I checked my email and I had won! So as soon as we got back home I sent the guy a pile of cash and he sent my baby. It happens, almost always when you least expect it!

I love his reaction when he hears the value!

Nice story!

Maybe you’re thinking of the lovely SUB 250 with the crown at 4:00 and that big sexy domed plexi crystal? What a looker!

You have a remarkably good eye! My hint referred to an ebay seller years ago who had decals made exactly like the sticker I posted in the link. Back then I guessed it would be easy for someone to take a SUB300 Pro and turn it into a "Black Lung" by putting a decal on the dial. As long as he had the FT bezel (not the Meters piece) he could get away with it. But when Vargas (lawyer for Doxa LTD) ran this project, making the Black Lungs and sending them out to the coastal dive shops, he had them engraved, probably as part of the project to track where the watches went. So the backs of the 4 lugs should have tiny hand engraved markings. I don't see them on this piece. Here's how they should look: So, a legitimate Black Lung should have these hand engraved markings. As far as I can tell, Vargas released about 15 of these pieces for the west coast, and I've tracked down 12 of them. Remarkably, four of them live here at good old RWG.

A really good way to tell if the dial has been refinished: look for the *tiny* lume dot inside the date window, on the center pinion side. If it’s missing, it’s likely a redial. Here’s mine:

Here’s mine. I see some differences in the logo. And check the backs of his lugs.... no engraved numbers. Finally, why would you ship a $15,000 watch for $8??? Last high end watch I shipped was $80 door to door.

Has anyone seen this offering? https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F372909984124 So tune up your magnifying glasses and put on your Inspector Gadget hats and tell me why I’m not at all confident this is an actual, real BL? We’ve talked about these at length here. Thoughts? Hint: https://www.vintage-diving-shop.com//gifts/aqua-lung-us-divers-decal-sticker-aufkleber.html

Here's my radial dial.

Do yours make the screwy little chittering sounds? As big magnificent birds you'd think they'd have magnificent voices too.

Nice!

Another old friend

Good news! CrazySaleMan hasn't yet announced it to the public but he's developing a NEW CRAZY MODEL of his world famous DRTRLXXLWWW. This cutting edge (by custom titanium scissors) development opens vast new wristwear vistas for watch aficionados that tend toward the *cough* forgetful. Seen here for the first time in public, our handsome model is surreptitiously installing his brand new, never before seen TRLWWWREITLING, pressing firmly to ensure the 24mm tape is well stuck. With a custom, one-off piece like this, in such incredibly high demand ... one simply cannot risk it coming off. Hence the upgrade from 20mm to 24mm tape. You cannot be too careful. I can guarantee there are, indeed, TRLs on this piece. But you have to buy one to see them for yourself.

Those would be TMLs if they could find suckers to foist them off to. Here we have the taste and panache to recognize the real deal.

You have to be careful though, the factories have tried to slip shoddy products past us. Years ago I was alerted by PM that a member ordered a DRSD and it arrived with nice thick red ink on the dial. But the factory must have been running low because the TRL was going Mauve. Eternal vigilance! It’s why we’re here. For more: https://rwg.cc/topic/3151-what-is-god-is-wrong-with-me/

HOT DOG!!!!! Please let us know if you persuade him to do this, I'd order a bunch of those!

Spending a little quality time with an old friend.

Last I heard of this was CrazySaleMan's listings for his WWWWatches with "custom DRTRL". Rumors were he was a little slow faxing them out, but people did eventually get their TRLs. I dunno, I'd steer clear of him. He looks "iffy" at best.

It's not a Turn-O-Graph, the shape of the knurling is wrong and the tic marks on the insert would be small oblongs instead of short bars. I think you've got a Hamazawa Le Gant bezel there from the 70s QS (QuickSet) version.

I made the same mistake when I found the Brevet crown for my 6536/1. It arrived and it looked too small. Sure 'nuff it was supposed to be 6mm. I did the research and convinced myself a Brevet was appropriate for an early 1958 Submariner, so you'd think it's also appropriate for a 1958 GMT and shouldn't look at all out of place.

6mm for this one. Just like my 6536/1.

Look in this topic: In there we discuss the options for bezels. Tripdog's work is displayed showing his magnificent ageing results where he takes a stock and totally unbelievable "perfect" bakelite insert and adds the back discoloration, and cracks per customer request. Remember this is a watch 60+ years old with a plastic bezel. It's got to look like it's decades old, and that means thrashed. I restored a 6536/1 Submariner and I had more leeway with inserts because mine were available as "service" parts for decades after the watch was born. So an insert in very good condition looks appropriate. In your case, if you're going with the plastic insert it needs to look 60+ years old. Review the photos in that topic to see what I mean.

A few profile views of your existing bezel would help. I recommend finding the right insert and possibly bezel, then don’t change ANYTHING else until you’ve read everything we’ve ever written here about the 6542. That’s a very very special piece and the closer it is to original the better.