panerai153

the big "tell to me is the crown. All of the early GMT's 1675.16750 have 5.3mm crowns. they are tiny!! When you put the correct 5.3mm crown in a rep case, there is a gap between the crown and the Case guard that isn't present in the gen. A 6mm crown will fill up the gap, but anyone who owns or is really familiar with the 1675,16750 can see the difference. AFA the hand stack, the ETA 2846 and the DG 3804 both have the same hand stack as the 1675, but not the 16750. There just aren't any ready made thin cases that are correct for the old GMT's, at least not any reasonably priced cases.

Genuine 1675 all the way. Beautiful watch. I agree about the strap. Need and Oyster or jubilee.

Beautiful watch, and the nice thing about Tudors, they fly completely under the radar. If you need a gold bezel, give mymanmatt a shout, he has access to lots of very nice parts, including bezels.

A year or so back, I bought a bridesmaid dress from a company that was the payment recipient for one of the trusted dealers, watch got to me fine, no problems. This is a paypal workaround. It would be better if you didn't use the information about the companies, as there is no doubt that there are many folks monitoring this and other rep forums that do not have the best of intentions as far as reps are concerned. The less specific the better.

1675

Justin, love that Tudor Chrono!!!

6238

This is inevitable. parts that haven't been made for 20-50+ years are not a renewable resource. There is a finite supply of everything old floating around. look at the problems folks have finding parts for 1030 movements and old Tudor 390's. Parts are getting scarcer and scarcer, and on top of that some of the parts that are for sale are worn out . This reminds me of the vintage car restorers, it's not at all uncommon for some of the very old and rarer models to have almost no parts available. the only way restorers can get the car into running and drivable shape is to make the parts. Fortunately for us, there are in the Rolex world some very good quality aftermarket parts already available. my prediction is in another 15-20 years, you will either have to use aftermarket parts on your old 1680, 1665, 6542,etc, or it will be unusable. I suppose the purists could have their old Daytonas encased in a plastic cube and use it for a paperweight, all it will be good for. I can imagine the conversation at a Vintage Rolex Show or Get together in the year 2040, "Say sir, that's a might impressive collection of vintage Rolex watches you have there, are any for sale? Sure son, they are all for sale, would you like to look at anything in particular? Well sir, I've always had my heart set on a 1680 Submariner, I see you have several in your collection. Well, I do have a few, most are in pretty nice shape. What do you have in mind? Well sir, I would like one that has a good movement, nice dial, hands and a bracelet that has not too much stretch, anything here that fills the bill? Well sorry son, actually, none of mine are running, I've been looking for around 10 years trying to find parts for these old 1570 movements, and I just can't find anything, even the old cheaper Rolex watches have all been cannibalized for movements. Sorry to say, mine are all just for decoration now, the last one running was that old SeaDweller over there, and it gave up the ghost a couple of years back. I'm sorry I just can't help you. Well sir, that's too bad, I understand that there are a lot of aftermarket movements that will drop right in one of these old watches, why don't you try to get then running with a good Chinese clone movement, I hear they are really, really good now, can't tell the difference inside the watch now can you? Son. I would rather run over these watches with a steamroller rather than make a fake watch out of them with a Chinese movement. That's blasphemous talk around here. If anyone here caught me doing that, I would be drummed out of the VRF. Say, what is this VRF? Well son, it used to be a really great organization of guys like me who loved and treasured our vintage Rolex watches, we had and internet forum and all, had a lot of get together's, watch shows, great stuff. but now there are just three of us left. All the others have dropped out of sight, I suppose they decided long ago that they would rather have a running half Rolex than no Rolex at all. Not me though, I'm sticking it out to the bitter end. We keep hearing rumors that Rolex is going to start making parts for these old watches again, and we are holding out for that. Well sir, how true are the rumors do you think? I just don't know son, they were flying pretty hot and heavy about 2012, or maybe it was 2008, can't remember. Sir, that was 30 years ago!! I know son,. but you know Rolex works pretty slow, you can never tell, they could start making parts any day now, just don't know. Well sir, thanks for your time, by the way, what's that watch you're wearing? Son, don't spread this around, but it's a Seiko. Sort of looks like and old submariner doesn't it? Sir, hope you find those parts, thanks and have a great day".

Did someone remove the date mechanism, or is it just lacking the datewheel? Too bad you have had such bad luck with the 2846, I've had several, in fact have a couple in watches right now. The key to these is a proper service, clean oil adjust, and replace parts that are on the verge of wearing out.These are 20+ year old movements, some of them are indeed way past their prime. Still possible to find them occasionally in NOS condition, but even those require a service.

Case originally came with a 2846, he swapped in a 2824 which is a different height, correct? But the 2846 and 2836 are the same, so why not swap in a 2836? If the original movement fit OK, the 2836 should as well.

Mike, Glad to see you up and around. Don't try to set the world on fire for a few days. If you get tired, immune system goes down, you could be right back in the same boat. So take it easy for the rest of the week, you'll feel better for it. and tell your mom thanks for the nice shoutbox post. I've got to say, when the chips are down, Mom's are the ones that always come through!!!

Figured that one wouldn't last long!!! The big problem here is the closed circle of Rolex purists who run VRF have been hoarding parts for years. More power to them, they saw the handwriting on the wall years ago. Rolex SA is not interested in repairing or furnishing parts for vintage watches. They sell watches, not repair them. But the fact is, the average Joe doesn't have access to a lot of parts, and those he can find are either almost worn out, prohibitively expensive, or both. So the dilemma we average Joe's are faced with are, throw the old Rolex in the sock drawer, or use aftermarket replacement parts to keep it going. Logical thinking you would imagine, but pure blasphemy to the merry band of purist and their followers who have all been required to drink the kool-Aid. Sadly there will come a time when even the most die hard purist will be faced with the grim truth, There Are No More Parts!! When that time comes, we will see who of the purist are truly pure. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I've sold a few watches using TZ, I believe that their sales forum probably has more folks looking than any if the other gen sales forums. AFA the Rolex forum, never got interested, like "the Rolex Forum" the conversations are generally inane and a waste of time. How many times can you endure, WOW, beautiful watch, Love your watch,etc, all over a stock run of the mill 16610, of which probably millions have been produced! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

It would be nice to know where you are located? if in the USA, there is another modder here who does lume and services watches. Vac is located in Florida, he has a page here in the repair section and modification services forum.

I have found that gen 19 mm bracelets are way less expensive than 20mm. 20mm hollow link and folded link bracelets are about 2-3 times as expensive as the comparable 19mm.

Looks more like dirt. I've never had a TC watch or bracelet, but I've probably had a hundred + SS bracelets, and I wear them everywhere, in every condition. mine have been immersed or covered in salt water, grease, gas, diesel, cow sh*t, you name it, plus dust, dirt sweat and maybe a few tears!! Everything from Scuba to repairing farm machinery. I've had then look like this one, but a good scrubbing with warm soapy water and a brush does the trick. I have never seen stainless steel rust.

Started out as and old Eddie Lee TW best.however that case is non genuine construction. It will not accept genuine bezels or crystals. To take this one to the next level would require finding a case that accepts gen bezels and crystal. There are some out there, just need to find the right one. Another nice thing about mine it has true wrapped gold midlinks. Mymanmatt put it together, and he gold plated the sides of the end links which are a big tell with most two tone bracelets

Beautiful watches. I'm not sure I could pull off the large size of the pocket watch size watches, but for those who can one of these would make a great addition to their collection. Obviously, these watches do have a fair amount of appeal. From the listings on EBay, converting old pocket watches into wristwatches has become something of a cottage industry in Ukraine. Considering the fact that there are probably hundreds of thousands of old pocket watches lying around, I'm sure there is a good supply of movements available. Keep up the good work, yours are outstanding.

Rainy Saturday

Elias, all i would say to you is this. Before you jump off the deep end of the pier, you need to check the water depth and sharks!!! Ming is a shark! He can smell a noob a mile away. I would stay away from his stuff until you are comfortable telling the really good stuff from the junk. You need to do a lot of reading, research and more reading. You don!'t want to end up paying 3K for a 500 dollar watch, which is very possible when you deal with some of those aftermarket sellers who tell you it has and aftermarket case but everything else is gen, but,but,but. I would take the advice of the guys here who have built beautiful frankens, and not have to take out a second mortgage on their house to do it. Start small, do your research and work your way up to the really super reps.

Welcome to the 6542 club. Very nice build. I think the 2893-2 is a great choice if you aren't a fanatic about a slow beat movement.

Unfortunately, I have to agree with hike. Short if sending a couple of muscle men to his front door, there just aren't many options. You probably live half a world away, and he knows that.His business is barely stumbling along, can't or won't take PayPal, and I seriously doubt that any forum member who actually reads the posts is going to send him 500 bucks by WU. I doubt that he cares if a few forum members are mad. He figures he's safe and the money is probably long gone anyway. Like those of us who were burned by WM9, you just got to put it behind you and move on.

Very nice!! Great watches, and very much under the radar!!

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