panerai153

I agree with ephry, you need to first decide what you want to build, and then start looking for parts. When you take the "Shotgun' approach, you are going to end up with a bushel of parts, only to discover later that half of them won't work, and you still need more. So my advice is plan your build, build your plan.( This gained form several very painful and expensive projects that got out of control because of lack of planning!!)

Sorry, the 1680 dial won't fit in a 16610 case, the 16610 is bigger. you are going to have to reconcile yourself to either building a 16610, a 16800 or a 168000, which are all Sapphire crystal watches. If you go back and do some research on Rolex Subs, the 1680 was an acrylic crystal model using the 1570 series of movements, the 16800 was the transition model from the acrylic to sapphire, and also the movement changed to the 3035 with the 16800. The cases were completely redesigned, and nothing outside of the crown are interchangeable, even the inserts won't interchange. My advice would be if you heart is set on building a 1680, I would put this case set up for sale, and try to find a good gen spec 1680 case, like the old MBW cases.

Need two for today 1. Yard work 2. trip into town to PO (Mailing parts to MD2020)

I can't speak about watch tools, all I have are the basic things to change bracelets, open case backs, size bracelets, etc.b but I do have a big collection of shop tools, hand tools etc. Pretty much everything you would need around a farm shop. Over the years I have found that unless a tool is only going to be used very infrequently and for light duty, cheap tools are "penny wise and pound foolish" Cheap wrenches don't fit as well, they are not as strong, and the finish is not as good. Same with cheap power tools, they have a very short half life when used hard. My feelings about tools are buy the best tools that you can afford. If it's your profession, then you need the best most precise, rugged and user friendly tools available. Look at what the guys who make a living with their tools use. Go in the back of any auto, truck service area and see what the mechanics are using. I bet that about 90% are using Snap On tools. Why, because they are the best. So if you have a use for a tool that is going to be used once in a blue moon, then the cheapos are fine, but if you are using it regular or it's your livelihood, then the best is what you need.

That was my first thought as well, I'm outside on my patio using an Ipad, so photos weren't too clear, but when the seller described it as a TC/BK, figured it had to be an early 16610. Nice case for a 16610/16613 but not a 1680 case. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

A Benrus Sky Chief is a pretty iconic watch. I'm sure there are lots of folks who would like to have the watch for the watch itself, not just to gut it for the val72!! These were pilots watches that were built here in the USA, and were worn by civilian and military pilots throughout the 2nd World War. Why don't you post some photos of it and let's see what you have. Also I would go over to the Watchtalk forum and one of the subforums is the American Vintage Watch forum.http://www.watchtalkforums.info/forums/american-vintage-watch-forum/ Tell those guys what you have, show then some photos and I bet you will get some offers, or you could list it on the watchtalk sales forum, or as someone else said WUS. Another possibility is the military watch Resource while this is technically not a military watch, they are interested in vintage watches, especially those with a Story. My last thought, while there are quite at of folks looking for Val72's, but there are other brands that are just watches, this is a pretty rare bird, and breaking it up for parts is a sacrilege !!!

Thought I would wear this big hunk today!!

No, I'm not sure if anyone else has done the genuine bezel/insert deal, but I'm sure there are several members here who are looking for a gen bezel/insert to do the mod. AFA my watch, the only thing that I could possibly do to make it better would be a better dial (It has been mentioned in another thread that the white gold surrounds on my dial are too thick, the gen is thinner). Another mod would be to replace the movement with a CHS movement. I might try to do the dial, movement exchange at some point down the road, but right now, I have a couple of projects In the works, and I'm pretty tapped out fund wise. Summer is the time that my attention turns to house and yard projects, so the watches have to go on the back burner for now.

Sneed12 did my build, not sure where the case came from originally, maybe a BP 116710. Mine has a gen crystal, bezel and insert. My original watch, which has a bezel assembly that looks exactly like the genuine bezel assembly, i.e. click spring retaining ring, etc, would not work with the gen assembly, it was too loose, so you have to be very careful, because just because it looks like it will fit, doesn't mean that it will. He used a caseset of his that would accept gen parts. From my watch, we only ended up using the movement and the gen crystal that had been previously installed. Even the bracelet wasn't interchangable!!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

There ia an MBW 1665 case set for sale in the tools and parts section here. Seller is a top notch guy. Case has been modded, gen crystal, and an ingod44 dial as well.you could always sell the dial if it's not what you want. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Try to find an old MBW case, accepts gen parts, it's probably the base for a very large percent of the franken 1665 builds on the forum Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I'm not a huge fan of either one, although I own a gen "P" serial 16610. To me neither one holds a candle to the 1680, but then I'm really a vintage lover!!! Of the two though, I much prefer the 16610. I don't like the g Big chunky CG's on the 116610, and the whole watch looks too massive. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Off today, off next week, Wooopee!!!

Here is the link to the sales watch I talked about in a post above. It was vlydogs, not valty, my bad. Beautiful watch with all the bells and whistles, and it was priced at a very good price considering the build.Gives you some idea as to the whole deal!! http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/152519-fs-6263/

The pin should be the length of the width of the bracelet, the collar is about 1/3 that length. Lots of folks who have never sized a bracelet, drive the pin out and when they turn the bracelet over, the collar falls out, usually on the floor, where it is immediately lost forever!! you have to be very careful when you remove these pins, if you don't have a proper pin pusher it's much more difficult. Everyone who fools around with watches should have a small set of basic tools, and one is a pin remover. Here is one, they are around 10 bucks, you can get them from Ofrei, EBay ,Amazon, or any watch supply house. Not sure where you can find the collars and pins, but if you post a photo on here, perhaps someone can help you. Also, If you are removing some links, you should have a couple of spare pins and collars with the links you removed.

Never seen them, never heard of them. looks like they have and ETA Quartz motor. for 1K USD I think I would prefer something with a little more brand recognition, but to each his own.

6238

Seems like there was one on the sales forum a while back that had a lot of genuine parts. From the breakdown, it was pretty darn expensive. It may have been valty's watch. Beautiful, but those V72 builds with a gen dial/hands, pushers, crystal, crown/tube bracelet are waaaaay out of my price range. I'm looking at retirement in a few years, and I have to put a little money aside. Beautiful watches, but I just can't see spending 6-8+K on a rep. maybe a few years ago, but not today.

First off, I want to see if this one has "legs" If it makes me feel good about wearing it, then I'll spend the money to find a better dial. I've had gen and rep Daytonas before and none of them ever lasted very long. I like this one, because of it's monochromatic look, It's nice enough to wear with a suit, or jeans, but I've got a bunch of watches in my box and you can't wear but one at a time, so If it gets wrist time, it's a keeper, but if it seems to gravitate to the back of the line, all the time, then it probably won't last too long. Hopefully, it will be a regular in the rotation and becomes a regular wearer. Regarding the "tumah" Has anyone ever reworked that side of the case to reduce the bump? I never even noticed it until you guys brought it out, but when you know it's there, it's pretty obvious. Probably because I have never been a real die hard Daytona fan, my Daytona knowledge might fill a s mall size thimble. I suppose I need to do a lot more reading and research.

you are right, the cartel dial is much nicer. Problem is, how to find one? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

wasn't working for me either. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

I just ordered some springbars from Ofrei, which should help with the bracelet fit. @mil04, looks nice. Is that dial/watch from DW?

Freddy, What bracelet would you suggest? This is a 7205 I bought from a seller on the VRM. He's one of the regular sellers, and this bracelet had been up for a day or two, so I believe it's genuine. I opened up the end links a little and it really makes the bracelet look a lot better. much nicer fit. I'm open to any suggestions as to the correct bracelet though. AFA the dial, I'm going to start looking around. I have one more project that needs to get finished, and then I'll be able to concentrate on improving this one.

Very interesting and informative read. That's a great watch, obviously doesn't have the pizazz of a PN Daytona, but certainly a very important watch, as it was the first of the Daytonas.

It's pretty amazing how certain watches or models of watches have runs of popularity here on the Rolex forum. A year or so ago, it was all about 1665's, everyone seemed to either be building or looking for a good franken SD. Now in the past few weeks, it looks like Daytonas have enjoyed a surge in popularity. To be quite honest, I was never a huge fan of Daytonas. At a younger age, I owned a gen Daytona , Silver dial/black subdials. I'm pretty sure it was a 6263. I only kept it a few weeks and traded it for a SD. I couldn't abide the manual wind and no date. to me it was a beautiful watch with limited functionality. It seemed that it was a step backward, as almost every other quality watch was an automatic and had a date function. Over the years, I tried several reps, but none of them stuck. Today, I realize the date function while handy is not a deal breaker. I have an IPhone, so the date is a click away. True it's not as handy as looking at your wrist, but once you know that today is the 19th, you will probably not forget it. So I believe that in todays world, there indeed may be a place for and old fashioned chronograph with a manual wind movement and no date. About three months ago, I got the opportunity to buy a DW Pre-Daytona case set from one of our good forum members. It came with hands but no dial. I then emailed DW and asked him about a dial. He had one, I bought it, and in about a month and a half, the dial arrived at my door. In the meantime, I decided that I wanted an ETA movement. Well much to my regret, and wallet, I found that the regular ETA 7750 had the wrong configuration for a 3,6,9 subdial layout. I needed a 7753 TriCompax, at almost double the price!! Well, I went ahead and ordered one, and it to came in about the same time as the dial. So the next step was to pack up all the bits and send them North to the master, Ziggy, for the build. A few days ago, I got an Email that it was ready, along with a pretty lengthy description as to all that he had to do to make the movement fit in the DW case. Ity took some pretty extensive modding to make everything fit and function properly, but he did, and when I got the watch back, I was pretty impressed with what it looks like. Here is the build list DW 6238 case set DW Silver 6238 Dial ETA 7753 Movement Gen 7205 bracelet All in all I believe that it came together quite nicely. as was mentioned in a previous thread, the DW silver dial leaves some to be desired, so if it really, really finds a home here, I may search out a better dial at some point. Another thing which was entirely my fault, I forgot to ask Ziggy to drill out the lug holes, so much to my disappointment, when I tried to use the nice gen springbars that came with the bracelet, they were too big for the lugholes. I found springbars in my parts cabinet, but they are too small in diameter, and they make the endlinks fit too loose. Also one side end link needs to come off and be opened up a little. Other than that, It's done. In the photos, the crown is unscrewed. I set the time and didn't screw the crown back in , it does screw in completely! Here are a few photos.