panerai153

6542 Today

I have a white one, gen flat top 3's and open 6,9. It's white not silver where are you located, I'll be happy to loan it to you for scan purposes.

Go to Ofrei, Jules Borel here in the USA and probably CousinsUK if you are in the EU and buy a Bergeron case opener set. It has all the openers for every size except the very newest models. The Bergeron case openers are pretty expensive, around 166.00 USD and they do not include the opener die for the larger cases like the DSSD and the newer subs and GMT's. Here is a link to the watchbiz store, operated by one of our members offshore. This is the opener set I have and have never had a problem with it. When you use the tool, you have to be very careful to press straight down and turn, even the best openers will slip if you have it at a slight angle. Very well made and from his description, he tried out a bunch of these sets before he found one that didn't slip. Link:http://watchbitz.com.au/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=50

Look in the "Tools and Parts" sales forum, someone had some DW pushers for sale a few days ago. you would need to know where your watch came from, what case, because the pushers are different, and some of the rep ones have different diameters and thread pitch.

I read through the whole 10 pages of that post, and I was impressed by the 1st post outlining the steps to convert the watch, nice photos and certainly a guy with superior skills. Unfortunately for the next 9.9 pages, there were not over three worthwhile posts commenting on the watch, the perils of a build like this, and the ramifications of these in the real world. It certainly shows to me the diminished watch intelligence of a large number of Rolex Forum members. I agree with automatico, who wrote a great post above as to what is what. If I change the dial in my genuine 1680 for a better quality dial from the same time period, not and upgrade to a Red dial, but another white dial from the same serial range, I still have a 100% genuine watch with parts from the same era. What scares me are the folks who are "upgrading" by putting a red sub dial in a watch that originally had a white dial (although this happened a lot at the RSC's when 1680's were sent in for service, back in the 70's and 80's) But I f someone today does it, that's not correct. Same as laser welding a case to restore it to NOS condition and selling it as such. Unfortunately, I believe that in the future, we are going to see a lot more vintage Rolex watches with aftermarket parts, simply because Rolex will not service them, they will not provide replacement parts, and the used parts that are available are getting scarcer and scarcer and more expensive. Ultimately, we will be faced with the dilemma of either using aftermarket parts or throwing the old Sub in a sock drawer and forgetting about it.

+1 to all the above. Read, Read and Read so more!!

This old 1665

My search function still doesn't seem to be working, I have typed in simple word combinations, looking for such things as "Rolex Brevet Crown", keep getting the "no results found". Anyone else having that problem? Any fixes or workarounds? Thanks

When you use a genuine crown, you will immediately notice the difference. The crown screws down better, smoother, usually more turns and everything is more crisp. As joey said, the crowns are accurate!! Heck they are gen. but they are also more robust. Gen crowns wear out too, just like everything else. That's why Rolex changes out the crown/tube when they service a watch. Haven't had one sent to a RSC for years, but a few years back, the watch service consisted of a movement clean and oil, new gaskets and seals, new crystal and crown/tube and pressure test. All of these are parts that are subject to failure with age and use, and all are parts that if not correct will compromise the water resistant integrity of the watch. Unfortunately, as automatic stated, the parts supply is drying up. Rolex wants it that way. If used parts can only be sourced from a watchmaker with a parts account or a Rolex service center, then you are pretty much out of luck. The independents are all afraid, because Rolex has been so Draconian in enforcing their parts policy. ALL parts have got to be sent back to Rolex when they are replaced with new parts. If you are a watchmaker, and your clientele base is primarily made up of Rolex owners, losing your parts account can be devastating, no parts, no repairs, simple as that.

Same Red White & Blue

there you go questions answered. Very nice dial, and it probably is a NOS service dial as stated. AFA value, not so sure, probably what you paid for it is a fair price, compared to luminova service dial, i feel like for the 1675 purist, the service tritium is a much more desirable dial. Consider this , if you are changing out the dials on your 1675, and you chose to use a luminova dial, you will need to change the hands as well., or at the leasr get them relumed to match the dial. Not the case if you are replacing with a tritium dial.

Red White and Blue for me today as well!!

I have had pretty varied luck with all sorts of shipping lately. USPS is crazy. MD2020 mailed two watches back to me last Wed. Priority Mail,I shipped him a movement the same day Priority Mail, he got his package on Friday, I got mine this past Tuesday! Explain that? Same with International, one package gets to the EU in 3-4 days, the next one takes two weeks. Here in the USA, FedEx is using some slowdown shipping methods to keep the prices competitive.I know how you feel!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

How muh does one of this cost man I can assure you it's not cheap!!! Daytona builds are not for the faint of heart. Beautiful watches though.

Agree, it's better to start out with a good base. Like building a house, the foundation is the most important part for longevity purposes. Think of the case as your foundation. If you are going to build a watch with a lot of genuine parts, why not start with a case that accepts genuine parts from the get go. I made that mistake with my 16613. I started out with an old Eddie Lee TW best watch, almost everything that could be wrong with one was represented in this one. Most important though, it has non-genuine construction, and everything has to be modded to make it work. Two of the biggest stumbling blocks is the bezel is non genuine construction, so no gen or aftermarket bezel, and it will not accept a genuine crystal. So from sad experience, this is NOT a good watch to start a modding project with. So my advice is, before you spend a lot of time money and frustration and finally hit a dead end that cannot be worked around, get a good case and start from there. All of the ones mentioned above are good examples of cases you can work with , there are quite a few others that aren't.

Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow Americans, and thanks for the thoughts from all you folks across the ponds.

I agree with 1680. If this is a gen matte dial 1675, don't mess with it yourself. it's going to cost you several hundred dollars to replace that dial if it get's ruined. i would send it to someone that knows what they are doing, and have them match the lume. They can ad a litle super luminova to the mix and have it where it has a faint glow, or they can make it stronger and it will glow like a new dial. having said this, You need to know that anything you do to that dial is going to make the watch less valuable. Folks who have any knowledge of vintage watches know that watches that are as old as the 1675, with tritium lume have lost their "glow" completely. So if you sell it and the buyer finds out it's been relumed, you might expect some kickback, unless that was expressly stated in your sales ad. Personally, unless I was absolutely certain I was going to be the final owner of this watch, I would have the plots repaired, as gently as possible, without any added lume.

6238

You can also use a 6251H Jubilee bracelet, they were also sold with the 1675 GMT.

Mike, the Panerai on your wrist is a model 029 that's called a Tuxedo dial. Some of these are very nice. Certain models had ETA 2893-2 movements, years ago.

Since you asked the question to us, my question to you is, Would you buy a replica watch? As for most of the folks here who are regular posters, and are pretty involved in the hobby, the fun is taking a pretty good watch and making it a much better watch. That could be simply doing work on the case to soften the edges, a better movement, better dial, hands, crown, or sometimes all of the above. I'm quite sure that there are a very significant number of folks who come aboard here, simple to get a minimal amount of information "who makes the best sub, etc."?, get their info, buy a couple of watches and are gone. I would suspect that folks who fall into that genre are not interested in replicas as a hobby, but simply are looking for a nice watch that they can pass off as a genuine. AFA genuine and the ability to buy, I believe that you would be quite surprised by the number of members here that have a very nice collection of genuine watches. In my case, I have been collecting, buying and selling watches for over 45 years. I have in the past owned quite a good number of genuine Rolex, IWC, Maurice Lacroix, Chronoswiss, to name a few. In fact today, my genuine watchbox has significantly more watches in it than my rep watchbox. So I would say that your statement "While there are still a large number of people have champagne taste but a beer budget, is that you" may apply to some of the members here, I would say that a it doesn't fit for quite a few more.

The TD's are pretty resilient folks, they are all pretty adept at "workarounds" when they have these sorts of problems. I agree this is a huge waste of taxpayers money, and from the looks of some of the names appearing at the top of the "Seized" website, I'm not at all sure these are really Govt. agencies, rather more likely some quasi govt. outfits that are in fact financed by the major "Luxury goods" manufacturers. Just because you have a badge, doesn't mean you're a cop!!

I believe that joeyB has been searching for a cheaper alternative for a while now, not sure if he has found anything cheaper.

Would be wearing this, but it's up with "bunny man" !!!!! So this one has to do

Freddy has the best idea of all, get in touch with UK customs and ask them, there may be some paperwork that you need to fill out and listing the watches, serial numbers, date purchased, where purchased and the price. If you have proof that you paid the VAT in either Australia or the UK, that would be helpful. I'm sure there is a method, the guys who travel all over the world to the high end watch shows, carry way more than 50 when they travel, so they have a method of moving them from country to country without paying taxes every time they enter another country. Don't try to sneak them through, you could wear one and your wife one, but if you have 4-5 in a checked bag and she has 4-5 in her checked bag, plus the ones on your wrist, I guarantee there are going to be some questions asked, then you are at a disadvantage unless you have all the proper paperwork. Contrary to what others have said, I would NOT put anything of value in checked baggage. Checked baggage is unattended, and it is XRayed as well, so the thieves in any airport have access to your baggage, and have seen the contents. Don't think that your little TSA approved lock will work either, every crooked baggage handler has a key!! Do it correctly, do the paperwork, and then carry them with you as carry on baggage in a nice watch case. you will be a lot happier knowing that they are safe with you.