panerai153

Lazy Saturday, on call so nothing much to do. Trying on some that almost never get any wrist time. Seiko " Tuna Can" 600m

Two beauties!! I have to say, Matt is the go to guy when it comes to Rolex builds.

Friday, working away!!!

here again you are up against the classic dilema of cost/benefit ratio. it's really difficult to justify most of the contemporary Rolex builds if you have a budget that sticks to somewhere in the 30-40% of genuine cost. When you build a vintage like a DRSD, you are looking at a watch that in good condition will sell for 12-15k, so it's pretty easy to justify 3K on a build, but when you build a 16610 that sells every day for 4-5 k depending on condition, papers, etc. you can't spend 3K if you stick to your budget. Same with the 16613, they are selling for not a whole lot more than the 16610, so the same thing applies to them. i don't know about the YM, i never owned one, never particularly cared for them, just a little too blingy for me, but even if they are 9k, the most you cshould expect to spend is around 3-3.5k, That's not going to get you a gen movement, bezel assembly, dial, crown and hands. I always try (not always sucessfully!) to look down the road and look at what I would encounter if I should ever need to sell the watch. Am I going to take a huge beating to sell it, will I have to part it out to get most of my money back? unless you have lots of money and unlimited budgets, which most folks don't, you have to ask the hard questions before you get in over your head.

that is really, really nice. WM9 is definitely one of the best base watches to use to build a beautiful watch like this one.

Like Freddy said, when in doubt, look under the hood. Nice looking watches, and pretty close to gen if not gen. Ask the seller, if you are really interested, to do a face to face meeting at a Rolex AD, if they are real, he shouldn't have a problem with that. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Very true, that's why for the most part, building one of these "almost gen"contemporary subs is probably not a great idea, strictly from a dollars and cents standpoint. I know, been there, done that, and got the T shirt, but you can get way over budget really fast when you factor in the cost of real gold parts, gen dials, inserts, crowns, bezels, etc.

Don't just put it in a glass case, wear it,wear it,wear it, that's why they put bracelets on them!!!

I feel sure it's fixable, and with a good service it should be good to go for e few years.

WOW, how big is that FM?

+1 to the invite him to stay for and extended vacation request.

I believe that fraggle is correct, it' different things to different folks, but in the end, it's up to the individual to determine what is and what isn't. In reality, there are only two descriptors that are accurate, genuine or rep. If it's not all genuine, then to me it's a rep. Now there are certainly some reps that are much higher grade than others. A watch that has an upgrade case, gen dial, hands,insert, crystal , crown/tube, springbars and bracelet is certainly more desirable than a bone stock rep of the same model. But in the end, it's still a rep. I find it pretty amusing to see some of the descriptions used to describe watches, especially sale watches. Obviously, the terminology, franken, superfranken,etc. are used pretty loosely. But in the end it's up to me, if I'm a potential buyer, to decide if the watch actually fits any of the criteria that we generally use for a highly modded watch.

ST would be a lot cheaper than the Sean case, but the biggest problem with the 16613 is going to be a decent bracelet. There just aren't any around at the moment. Hopefully, if the TC bracelet comes to fruition, that will be a really good source, but that's still on the horizon. Another alternative, although expensive would be to find a good solid gold mid link aftermarket bracelet in 14 or18k, then add a 16610 clasp. Even a used one will be expensive. Like alligoat stared, really believable 16613's are not and easy or cheap build!!

it will all be over in a day, then he moves on to St. Petersburg. If you feel like you're under siege, just think about the folks who live and work in downtown Washington DC, they endure street closures, traffic barricades almost on a daily basis. Every time Obama moves, everything else stops!!

I also agree that the gen is the way to go. For long term keepers that you will wear, admire and possibly pass down, genuine watches are the right choice. Don't get me wrong, I love my reps, but honestly, if I were wealthy, which I'm not, I would replace every one of my reps that I truly love and wear, with a comparable genuine. If you aren't in a big hurry, I would haunt the genuine sales forums, TZ, WUS, etc. It's amazing how many practically new watches come up for sale every day. I would expect that you could find a gently used TransOcean at a considerable discount from new. Better to let someone else take that big hit from new to used, then if you decide later on that it's just not the watch for you,you can move it on with little or no loss to you. I've done this lots of times, and the only time I have ever taken a big hit was for watches I bought new. Also lesser known brands seem to have a greater first time depreciation than better known more popular watches. Look at the prices that folks actually get for watches like UN, Maurice Lacroix, Chronoswiss, etc. lot bigger difference between new and used than well known brands like Rolex,Omega. I would put Breitling in the catagory of lesser known, possibly more brand recognition than Chronoswiss, but not Rolex, probably because Breitling does a fair amount of advertising in mainstream publications. There are tons of watches that we know about, because we are watch fanatics, but I can assure you, very few brands have name recognition like Rolex, Omega, Seiko and a few others. I'm just rambling on, But I do love some of the gens out there!!

Probably better to send it to one of the watch repair folks on the forum, get it fixed and serviced. In the long run better than the hassle of sending it back to China, customs worries etc.

Also change the bezel to a better one with the correct number spacing i.e. 110. I changed mine out for a watchNY 6263 bezel. Not real expensive and much improved. Gen crown,reworked case,gen T-21 crystal, better bezel and a serviced movement and you should be good to go, and those mods won't break the bank

Just a little over 2K USD. I got a good deal on some of the parts though, however anyone could do the same if you just watch the sales forums and Ebay.

Sounds like yours needs a good service. Hopefully your watch guy can look at the movement, and figure out what's going wrong. A new A7750 will probably need a service so that's another expense. A Val 72 is a great movement, but you're talking about a significant step up in price between the A7750 and a Val72. also unless recently serviced, the 72's are all old movements and it will probably need a service as well. Personally, I wouldn't spend the money for a Val72 unless you were building a real super franken with all gen parts, and that's a whole 'nother story

Pardner, you need to give it a rest. you have posted essentially the same thing several times and it obviously isn't working for you. please use Mike's email and or phone, and quite beating a dead horse here. It seems like you may be the only one that Mike hasn't contacted. Personally, I'm getting tired of you passive aggressive behavior and it isn't getting you anywhere.

Some questions were raised about the color of the lume on the hands as well as the date wheel color. I took a few more photos with a better camera and here are the results. Dial face on

I think that you will be very happy with the WM9, and if you have a gen bezel assembly, that's going to be a show stopper. I believe the WM9 bracelets were wrapped gold, they should hold up pretty well, certainly not hard wear like an all SS, but OK for everyday dress wear. Not sure about the sides of the top mid links. Mine were not plated, but Matt (mymanmatt) plated them, and they look like the midlinks are solid gold.

If you are patient, I would wait for the TC, otherwise contact BK and see what he has to offer. WM9 are long out of production, they were the best around by far, but not very many were made, I believe BK ordered about 100 kits, not sure he got them all, but it sold out fast. The other alternative is to start collecting parts, and build your own. I believe the biggest problem today is not necessarily the watch, because genuine blue dials are pretty common as are inserts, but the bracelet. it's the weak link now, as most of them do not have good plating that will hold up to everyday wear, and none that I know of have the exposed sides of the middle link of the end links plated, so you can see the SS from the side, which is a BIG tell. You can build a beautiful watch with a gen dial, bezel, insert, crown, and it's beautiful and very gen like, but the bracelet brings it down a couple of notches.TC is working on a bracelet project which will use either 18k gold links (the end links that have exposed sides), or well plated links. Unfortunately, this project is still in the prototype stage.

16613 again

that's a pretty nice watch. If you get it, replacing the bezel with an 18k gen or aftermarket would really kick it up to the next level.