panerai153

The Post office has always been somewhat frustrating for me, as I live out in the country, My mailbox is half a mile from my house and the carriers refused to bring a package to my door. Even wih Express mail, thye would leave a notice in my box and I could pick up the package the next day, as the mail always comes too late to get the package on the same day. On the other hand, FedEx and UPS drivers deliver right to my door. Another thing, postal rates have gone up by at least 3x in the past few years. Mailing a package to Europe that used to cost around 30-40 dollars depending on weight is now over 100 dollars. The morale of most postal workers is terrible. I know quite a few of the folks at our local PO, and they constantly complain about fewer people, more work, and bosses that are constantly demanding more output. The old PO from years ago is long gone. As someone else said, the PO is now being staffed by part time workers, much like Walmart. With the USPS billions in debt, no one knows what the future holds. I prefer FedEx or UPS, but using them for International shipments poses lots of problems, especially using them to ship rep watches to other countries.

I really like the watch. i believe that they should be commended for all the time ,effort and money they expended to get this project off the ground. i would be up for one in Blue if there are any still available. I asked someone above if they could give me the info on where a list was located on the other forum.

i believe that everyone over there that has been around for a while is trying to forget collaboration 1 !!. I was in on that deal, and actually got a watch, but I believe that there were quite a few folks who got stiffed in that deal. I am assuming that the one we are talking about was the Omega Railmaster homage?

Great job!! I agree, only and oyster will do.

I would work on the dial you have. A yuki is made for a 1570 movement, and you would have to cut the dial feet off to make it work. One of the biggest problems facing modders of the 1680, is how much do you want to spend? A white dial 1680 can still be found in reasonable shape for around 5-6k a nice Red sub around 8-9k, so when you start modding a watch that is not incredibly expensive, yopu have to be careful that you don't end up with a rep that's over half or more the price of a genuine. My rule of thumb is not to spend more than 20% of what a genuine in comperable condition would cost, so if you are building a red sub, at 8k, you could afford to spend up to around 1600.00 USD and still be OK. Where the price goes out the roof is when you replace the movement (25.00 USD 21j for a 1500.00 USD 1570!!) So having gotten my sermon out the way, here is what i would do. 1. Get the dial and hands relumed with a good vintage lume job 2. replace the insert with an aged genuine as well as a tritium pearl. 3. Tropic 127 crystal (genuine) 4. Genuine crown/ tube (Good relacement tubes are cheaper than genuine and work as well). 5. If I were replacing the dial, I would find the best white letter dial, as they are more belivable than reds which are much rarer. I just saw 2 genuine 1680 white dials in excellent condition for 600.00 USD each. Of course red dials are way more expensive, saw one of those over there too, wanted a cool 3800.00USD for the dial! 6. Good bracelet/clasp and 580 end links. Not necressary to be genuine, but good reps. 7. Movement service Good luck. The 1680 is an iconic watch, and one that should be in every vintage Rolex collectors collection.

How are the sales coming over there? i managed to read through about 12-13 pages then skipped to the last three pages. I didn't see a list of the ones who signed up. could you let me know what page the latesrt list is on? @slask, What watch is that on the diver in your signature photo?

The case isn't one of the old MBW's as they all had Rolex between the lugs misspelled "polex". If you look at the movement the number should be stamped on the top. You may have to spin the rotor around to see the number. All ETA 2846 movements are stamped. Not sure about the markings on the Chinese 21j movements. Looking at your first movement photo, I see numbers right below the edge of the rotor. looks like 2846, but can't tell for sure. If it's slow beat, that's probably the movement, otherwise probably a 2836 (Fast beat). At any rate if it is a 2846, factor in a movement service, as they are all old movements, and my experience they all suffer from D&D (Dry and dirty). A good service while it's apart will save you headaches in the not too distant future. Now that you have the dial out, you can measure it and find a replacement that is the exact size.

I doubt that there are that many shill bidders, but you never know. there are literally thousands of people on Ebay every day looking for "bargains" most of them are shrewd shoppers who know what's real and what's not. However there is a pretty considerable segment who are looking for something cheap, and see it for 20% of the retail selling price. those folks are the swindlers dream. they lack knowledge, but they are in a buying frenzy to get a "Steal". Usually in the end, they are the ones who get robbed! If you don't have the sense to step back from a listing and ask yourself a few simple questions about the item, like why is this seller selling this brand new Rolex with no reserve, and at about a forth of what other similar watches are bringing on Ebay. then look at all the other Red flags, and run like crazy away from this one!! This listing sets off all the warning bells and red flags. A seller with no feedback, Hell, I won't even SELL to a buyer with no feedback! Very vague and incomplete listing, one photo. Where are the boxes and papers for a brand new Rolex? Shipping economy in a plastic bag, no box? Come on, this one has scam written all over it. Surprised the Ebay police over on The Rolex Forum haven't jumped all over this with both feet.

What I would really like to see is them do a diver homage to the Rolex Deep Sea Challenge!! now that would be a hunk of stainless anyone could be proud of.

Beach week this past week. wearing this big hunk of titanium!

Very nice looking watch. I like the blue dial version, but don't know how it will look with the s/s black bracelet. Better all stainless or maybe on a strap. I may order one, although I'm watch poor right now!!

You might as well ask for the keys to Ft Knox!! Rolex has clamped down on their parts to the point that they are almost unobtainable. Most of the watchmakers who have parts accounts with Rolex will not sell you anything out the back door,as Rolex has no qualms about closing their accounts for parts. Even guys here on the forum that have had good relations with Rolex watchmakers cannot get parts anymore,at least not in the USA. Occasionally parts come up on the parts sales forum.Vintage parts are easier to find, but quite expensive. The Vintage Rolex Marketplace is the best place to look for vintage parts.

When I was searching for a 7206, I emailed NDT twice about their bracelet, never got a reply

I'm pretty happy with the phong 7206. I have the 7206 that came on my puretime 6542,frankly it's pretty crappy. I tried to use it on my 6542 build with the MingQuy case, the end link fit was terrible! Probably a 4-5mm gap between the case and the endlink,enough that you could read the writing between the lugs! Don't waste your money on that one.

I wouldn't worry about 3 or maybe 4 .I would invest in a nice travel case like watchmeister said, adds some credibility. Always carry them in your carry on, NEVER in checked baggage.

I believe that for a lot of folks,the hunt is the most important part of the whole watch experience. finding parts, visualizing the finished product are the best part. After the watch is complete,the member feels the need to move on to the next project. For many of us, the luxury of putting that project in the watch case and moving on to the next one isn't feasible. We need to sell them on to finance the next "project". Unfortunately, the guy who builds the project almost always takes a big hit when he decides to sell. Sort of the price of playing the game. Another factor, and one that I remind new members about when they start planning very expensive builds, is that when the price of the watch gets over a certain figure, the number of potential buyers drop of a cliff. There just aren't that many folks who are willing or able to fork over 1-2K for a rep. When the price of a rep gets into that area, the seller is really competing with the genuine watch market, as there are lots of really good genuine watches both new and used for sale in that price range.

I can appreciate your problem.When I built my 6542, I searched high and low for a rivet bracelet just like what you are looking for. 7206/80. I finally ended up buying a expansion from Phong, but it didn't have 80 end links. I can't understand why something like making endlinks that fit a 2mm spring bar would be so darn difficult.

what I'm wearing today and every day at the beach!!

If it were mine, I would either send it to The Zigmeister, or Jack Alexyon @IWW. Jack has done several genuine restorations for me.I would say that The Zigmeister is the master of vintage lume!!

Before you buy a dial, I would have the watch in hand. Different. Cases take different size dials.

Some of the sub models use a bigger dial/ case than the genuine, so a yuki dial might be too small. If that is the case, a genuine of good aftermarket insert, genuine crown and a slow beat movement would really help. also crown guards, drilling out the lug holes to fit genuine springbars. Definitely and insert with a better pearl, yours looks nothing like a genuine1680 tritium pearl. A trip to one of the good modders here on the board for the work and have the duial plots and hands redone with more realistic vintage lume. Datewheel or overlay with flat 3's and open 6's and 9's The problem with some sub models, you cna only go so far with modding as the case construction is not close to genuine and genuine parts won't fit. I would go back and read some earlier posts about modding the 1680, there aare lots of good posts with photos and plenty of good information. Also some photos off the wrist with good head on shots as well as some of the crown /crownguard side. Who it came from is also pretty crucial as well.

In 1965, I graduated from college and my first job paid a grand 400.00 USD /month gross.I believe I brought home about 325-330. So buying a 200.00 USD watch represented a pretty good chunk of not very readily available change. And considering that there were lots and lots of folks out in the world who were making quite a bit less per month, buying a Rolex wasn't something that you did on the spur of the moment. I bet few people walked in to a jewelry store on a whim and walked out with a new Sub or Daytona. As Freddy said, while the Daytonas were not budget model. I believe that one of the reasons it was not as popular was at the time it was a "Retro" watch. Practically everyone was producing auto wind/ date dialed watches, the Daytona was a throwback. It was a manual wind non date watch. This was a period of time when America was beginning to go upscale in a big way,Ii believe that lots of buyers felt that the Daytona wasn't quite modern enough for them. I bought one in about 1978, just couldn't get used to the manual wind, non date, and traded it for a submariner or SeaDweller (I can't remember which) after owning it for only a few weeks

Somebody must have tipped him off!!

The Zigmeister did the same thing on my 1665, he made a "faux" valve which didn't require drilling all the way through the case.

This is a huge problem, and ewill get even worse as time goes on. While the author holds out some hope that Rolex will join the fray, I don't think it will happen. Rolex SA is in the business of selling new watches, They aren't interested in spending a lot of time and money setting up and authentication department for 50 year old watches. They won't even respond to simple requests like "was the white dial 6542 ever produced for Pan Am, or is this just a myth"? As the vintage Rolex watches get older and parts get scarcer and scarcer, you will see more and more aftermarket parts being used sometimes out of necessity, often times to defraud. Honestly,If I was in a position to buy really valuable vintage Rolex watches, I would not do so unless the watch could be authenticated by someone who is much more knowledgable about all the variants and nuances of that particular model. As the writer stated, a dial upgrade may make the selling price several K higher, but if it is detected by and expert, it immediately lowers the price dramatically. If it turns out to be and aftermarket dial, you are just out of luck!! Possibly as was stated above, the lack of authentication will drive down the prices of vintage rolex watches. I believe that wat will hapen is the same with all collectibles. If you have something in very good condition with an impeccable provenence, the values will hold and in fact go up.Watches that have no history, are difficult to authenticate, and/or have known non original or aftermarket parts will not be as valuable. This in itself creates a problem. What about the watch that has been back to a RSC several times over it's lifespan and is now on it's third crystal, second crown/tube an has a service dial and replacement hands? Will that watch be penalized as an "orphan" because it's not in it's original "from the factory" condition?