panerai153

I pretty much agree with what 247 wrote. I will add some caveats. First, the supply of ETA movements has gotten so tight and so expensive the rep makers who are selling ETA movements are using old movements that are cannibalized from older watches. Most if not all of these movements are dry, dirty and some are worn out. So if you get an ETA, I would factor in a movement service. There are some really nice Submariner reps out there, you just need to read and do your research. one question that I always ask (After getting burned a couple of times) Is the case gen like in construction, and will it take genuine parts. Some do, some don't if you buy one that doesn't it's difficult or impossible to mod the watch. If it takes genuine parts, then at some time in the future you can "Dress it Up" with a gen crystal, dial, crown, bezel. insert, etc. GMT reps. by and large they are all pretty good, of course you need to get one with a solid movement. I would recommend the 2836, but that's your choice. The ceramic GMT IIC's have incorrect hand stack (ICHS)movements (Correct hand stack movements may be available from some dealers) The correct hand stack(CHS) movements used to be a "ticking time bomb" reliability wise, but I understand they are better. Again I would buy one with the ability to accept gen parts. The biggest tell on the GMT is of courser the hand stack, but if you have seen genuine bezels and inserts, it's and easy tell, as the genuine has deeper cut bolder numbers with real platinum, and the insert looks different, the bezel has a better click mechanism, is thicker and just looks better quality. Genuine crystals have better AR on the Cyclops as well. Like the submariner, the sky's the limit with both the submariner and GMT. If you get the correct cases, you can build a watch that will stand all but the closest scrutiny, and that only from someone who is a real expert on Rolex watches and has yours in hand. I suggest that before you invest any money, you do some research look at a lot of photos and decide which route you want to go.

Pay heed to all of these experienced members who are giving you good advice. There is no such thing as a Swiss replica. The Swiss police would close a rep factory down arrest all the workers and probably the owners!! Switzerland has the most draconian anti counterfeiting laws in the world. All of the reps are Asian, primarily from China. you can build a rep and add a Swiss movement, and genuine parts, but that's as close to Swiss made as you are ever going to get with a rep.

I believe that might be a pretty tall order. most folks with divers don't want a display caseback. I don't have clue as to who may be able to do that sort of work.

Well Chronus, here's my 4000th post!!! no better way than to help someone out if possible!! AFA the Caseback screws, I believe that Toro can help you with those. And the screws for the straps , check with AP bands. Toro may have those as well. Those nuts on the bottom of your watch are regular Hex head. I would bet that a metric set of hex wrenches would have one , or you can go to and auto supply store, or a hardware store and buy the individual size that fits the nuts. you need to make sure the one you buy is a perfect tight fit, because if it's too loose, it's going to round off the inside of the nut, and then you are really going to be royally screwed!! Check with some of the guys who are modding AP ROO's, I bet they could tell you the exact size you need. I would use Blue LocTite rather than red, the red often creates a bond that requires heat to remove. you want something to prevent the screws backing out, but if you ever need to remove them, you want something that isn't going to need to be heated, or run the risk of stripping something out or breaking a screw.

they don't usually come like that. you need to buy the movement then source the dial and hands. Keep on the lookout here in the sales forum "watch parts" as well as the other rep forums, you might be able to source what you are looking for. What particular watch are you looking to build? When you say vintage Rolex, that encompasses a myriad number of models over the years. Need to narrow the field a bit.

You have a fine, fine watch there my friend, and the fact that it was your father's will make it even more meaningful over time. This is a timeless model that you can wear for many years and pass it down to your child.

Very nice. What other mods are you planning for your hybrid? I'm about to send my V3 off for a slow beat conversion, otherwise I believe that I'm going to leave it be. The lume is about what you would expect from the gen and the AR isn't bad, although I wish the Cyclops had better AR.

I agree, they do leave dark marks, those two divingstars were so bad, you could hardly see the writing on the dial. Biggest problems with these, back in the 1970's Doxa merged, and then was sold a couple of times and every time they changed management/owners, they redesigned the watches, not much, but enough that parts didn't interchange. Also they didn't feel compelled to keep a supply of replacement parts for future repairs. Getting one restored in the past 10+ years has been a nightmare, as parts are not available, even things like crystal gaskets are impossible to find. There were 38 different variations of the Doxa " No Decompression Diving table" bezels back from the 60's through the early 80's. a lot of those bezels look identical, but they aren't, they will only fit a particular watch from a particular time period, sometimes only a year or two!! It took ma over two years to find the parts to restore them, and one was never completely restored. I could never find a NOS bezel for either one of them. You are right about dive watches for diving. they pretty much need to be bulletproof, relatively inexpensive, have spare parts available, like crystals and bezels/inserts, which suffer the most. I never see any guys/gals who are serious divers wearing watches like Rolex, AP, Omega, etc. on dive trips. Our old instructor told a group of us when we were getting certified, when asked a question about watches, answered, " don't wear anything you can't afford to lose". If you are diving and you look down and your watch is gone, it's not like losing it while working in your yard. You have a finite amount of bottom time and you may not be able to go back and search. So that's why most folks don't wear expensive watches when they scuba dive. Now having said that, I f you have a nice rep Omega Ploprof, or a DSSD, etc. and you are confident that it's water resistant to diving depths, then it falls into the same category, if it's lost, it's not like you're losing a 5-20K watch! Maybe a nice watch and one you wouldn't want to lose or get banged up, but if it does, it's not like losing a gen. Sorry guys, now I have good and proper hijacked the OP's waterproof thread. My apologies.

Nah, I just said that if you use them regularly for diving, they get pretty beat up. Couldn't find any blood on them, so they probably weren't eaten by a shark, They just get banged around and rocks and coral are easy to bump when you are swimming in close proximity. Also, when you are getting onto a dive boat when the waves are moving everything around can be challenging to equipment at times. Here are a few of mine, the two Divingstars were purchased from a guy in France, they were both ex French Navy. this was how I received them, both had their Doxa hands replaced by Tudor Snowflake hands, which was probably the hands that the Navy watch repair facility had on hand at the time. they are pretty beat up!! Another Doxa, Sub300T Professional that I bought and dove with for a few years. It's old and not sure about these old seals and gaskets anymore. My primary dive watches now are an Ocean7 Ploprof and a MKII Stingray. Nice thing about most watches, you can bring them back from the dead. Here is one of the Divingstars after jack@IWW worked his magic And my old 300T Professional after Ziggy worked his magic

Maybe he needs to pull the sticker off and see if there is another name engraved on the rotor. If it has another watch brand name on the rotor, it probably is a Swiss ETA. Another thing, when you go to any forum and ask questions about the authenticity of a watch, movement, bracelet, whatever, it's incumbent on you, the OP, to post good high quality photos. These are crappy out of focus photos with poor lighting. Take the watch outside in the sunlight and rest the camera on something if you don't have a tripod, then take some good photos and repost them. All this rhetoric is getting nowhere.

Good to know that such a nice percentage passed. I rarely dive with a nice watch, even gens that I know are WR. Scuba is hard on equipment. If you dive regularly, your watch will take a heck of a beating. Rocks, coral, boat ladders, etc. really take their toll.

I have a DRSD That was put together by Ziggy several years ago, sadly he retired from the rep watchmaking/repair /modding business last year. I believe it depends on where you are in the world as to who you might use. Couple of good guys in EU, here in the USA, not so sure.

Even if it gets "better" I would bet that the movement needs a service. The rep manufacturers are all using used movements now, and it's no telling how old yours is or what condition it was in when it was installed in your watch. If this is a watch you intend to keep, treat it to a service. Strip, clean and oil then regulate and it will be good to go for years more.

these look really nice. Also for those of us who have wrists in the 7" range and find that the 44mm watches are bordering on too big, this new line gives us new hope that we can comfortably wear a ROO. Now to the big question? How long will it be before we see these nice watches appearing on our dealers shelves?

back to the FC V3 Soon it's off for a heart transplant, so need to wear it a lot now!!

Big D, Shoot mymanmatt a PM. He is a Rolex guy, and he lives in Dallas. He builds a lot of really nice reps using genuine or rep cases (he gets his own) genuine dials,crystals, bezels, crowns/tubes, etc. He can give you the skinny on Beckertime, and he also might be able to find you a nice DJ like the one you want. He knows all the people who deal in Rolex watches in the Dallas Ft Worth area . They sell/trade. pawn thouisands of Rolex watches in that area every year and their is always plenty of stuff floating around.

Unless they are insanely over priced, they go fast when they hit the sales forum. I agree with Tom Horn, if you can buy one that spinmaster has reworked, all of the autowind mechanism has been removed, and often the movement has been serviced. He also will modify them with genuine crystals, crowns, tube. OF course the more that's done the more it costs.

You won't be sorry!! Great watches, and they have pretty much depreciated all they are going to so if you buy one and keep it in nice shape, it's going to be worth at least as much if not more than you paid for it years down the road.

Big D, That one looks fine. Beckertime has been around for a while, and I don't know anything bad about them. you could make them and offer. They have a good guarantee, and a one year warranty. they are in Dallas TX which is probably the world epicenter for Rolex watches!! It's the state watch of Texas!! Don't blame you about the quickset, it's so much nicer to be able to set the date quickly without having to wind the hands around 20-30 times. My old DSSD is a non quickset, and sometimes I want to wear it and I look at the date and it's 20 days off, and I just say the heck with it, I'll wear something else.

Spenny, I don't have the gold plated bracelet, as I wanted mine on a strap. The same person who built my Day/Date also built an Airking for my wife it has everything genuine except the hands, movement and the gold plated bracelet. She hardly ever wears it as she has a box full of watches of here own. Her daily wearer is a gen Tag Aquaracer with diamond bezel and dial. Here is her Airking

You know in the long run you are going to be better off refunding the jerks money and reposting the watch for sale. this guy would have worried you to death over nit picking BS stuff. If I were in your shoes, I would PM him and tell him that it's going to take a few days to get the money back in your PayPal account, and the minute it gets to your bank you are going to deposit in PayPal and refund his money. something else, I wouldn't necessarily leave him negative feedback, but I would post a neutral and explain why. Might keep someone else from having the same problems you are having. Good thing you didn't mail the watch, because you would have had to eat the postage and also stretch out the deal longer.

How about one like this. It can be had with a gold President bracelet as well. I also believe that a S/S model with a S/S president bracelet would be possible. This one has a genuine dial,crystal, bezel, and crown and a gen 18K buckle. When you talk about solid 18K for the bracelet, you are talking big bucks. I have owned two genuine Day/Dates in the past, both on the 18K bracelets, and they will wear. they don't show wear like a plated bracelet, but over time the links will wear and develop stretch.

Is that a Lumi Service dial? The plots and hands look too white to be tritium. If it glows like a torch, it's probably lumi. I believe that you made the right decision. Now you have a very serviceable, usable watch for many, many years, and should nostalgia overwhelm you, or you decide to sell the watch, having the old original hands and dial are a big plus.

Give Matt a shout, prices of genuine parts have gone up some since this one was built, so I would hesitate to say what one would cost today. It's going to be more expensive that the ones from the TD's, but not terribly more. Plus is it will come with a solid serviced movement and as many genuine parts as you want to spring for. Also Matt is in the CONUS, so if you live in the USA, no customs issues, also Matt is a super nice, stand up guy, and if you have a problem with something within a reasonable amount of time, he will see that it gets sorted out.