panerai153

Yup, i was one of those. my interests have moved on, and i wrote the 375.00 USD off as a bad experience long ago. YM looks really nice, but i'm just a little afraid it's a little too "Blingy" for me. I might spring for one down the line when one comes up on the used market, but no interest at 500.00 USD

I have a 2000 "P" serial 16610 and it has lug holes. Luminova dial/hands with the white gold surrounds.

My experience with my watches that are reps of genuine dive watches, such as Rolex 16610,1680,as well as two PAMS, etc, has been mixed . I have a pressure tester, and a year or so back, I tested all my watches , here are the results below. Some may be water resistant to immersion in a glass of water, but won't survive a dive to the deep end of a swimming pool. Here is a list of watches I tested and where they leaked or didn't old skool EL PAM 063 -failed leaked from crown/tube/stem DSN PAM 24A - failed, leaked arounf Crown/tube/stem WM9/BK v3 Rolex 16610 -passed 5 atmospheres ETZ Rolex DSSD - failed, leaked around crystal Euromariner/BK Rolex 16610 - passed 3 atmospheres MBW Rolex 1680 - passed 3 atmospheres MBW Rolex 1665 - passed 3 atmospheres ( Since the test it fogged when I sprayed it with a stream of water under pressure accidently. now retired from underwater use!) PT Rolex 1680 - failed leaked around crystal noobmariner Rolex 16600 - passed 3 atmospheres UN Maxi marine Diver - failed leaked around crystal That's the results of my watches, your identical watch from the same dealer may not test the same. I wish they were all water resistant. It would simplify things a lot. I have always wondered why you can buy lots and lots of water resistant "dive" watches for around the same price as a high end rep, but the rep makers obviously don't need to make them water resistant, because we keep buying them anyway. honestly, I have several genuine dive watches that are probably cheaper than some of my highly modded reps. I wear them when diving. my three dive watches that I use are a Doxa 1200T, MKII stingray (Blancpain FF homage) and my Ocean7 LM7 Ploprof (Omega ploprof homage)

Very nice !!

I sort of have mixed feelings about these builds. i built one a year or so ago, and it's very nice, but cost a ton! So what I would suggest would be this. if you want to go first class, what you have planned is a really good approach, but expensive. the other approach which would be a lot less expensive would be to find a good old MBW "polex" case and go from there. Use a 2846 slow beat ETA, nice dial, genuine crown/tube, genuine insert/pearl, genuine or good aftermarket T39 superdome. You might not have an example of a 1665 that is as nice as the "full blown" build, but you will also have about 2-2.5K in your pocket. It all boils down to how dedicated you are to building the perfect 1665 and how much money you are willing to spend. What I always think about with these builds is: No matter how much you spend, and no matter how close it is to the genuine, it's still a replica. Another consideration, should you ever decide to sell, the low end build will be a lot easier to sell. As you can see from some of the high end builds that end up on the sales forum, the number of buyers for a 3+k replica are pretty few and far between.

Here is a photo of a 9421/0 It is a Tudor Chrono, but it doesn't look at all like a Monte Carlo.

He probably shot himself ini the foot with his description. Most serious Doxa collectors wouldn't pay a premium for one that may be hard to bring back to original. Sounds like the fellow has owned the watch from new, but obviously doesn't know too much about Doxas. Probably should have read some of Dr. Peter Millar's articles or better get a copy of his book at least to look at and see what he has. The reason i said that i felt like it was overpriced, was simply the fact that he is asking what a really nice watch with a good Beads of Rice bracelet and the correct crystal/gasket, etc.would bring. I have been through the ordeals of trying to restore Doxas. I had a French Navy issue Doxa 300T Divingstar at RWG in Pennsylvania (they were the official Doxa repair center in the USA) for over a year while thye searched for a crystal gasket and a new crystal. After a year, they sent the watch back to me unfixed. They just couldn't find the parts, and they were Doxas official repair center! Jack Alexyon at IWW was finally able to find a crystal and gasket, but it took another 6-8 months of looking. If I had the parts at hand I would buy this 300 Black Lung in a heart beat, but I don't so I wouldn't. I used to be a regular on the WUS Doxa forum, and there were always guys buying beat up Watches or watches missing bezels, crowns, etc. and it was sad to see the futility that they exibited when a project couldn't be completed. Lots of Doxas probably got recycled on Ebay after the buyers realized they couldn't find parts for them. I tend to agree about the glass. It really looks like the original or darn good replacement acrylic. Hard to but certainly not impossible to get those types of scuffs and scratches on Sapphire. As to "Diving days are over" I would bet that when he got the watch serviced, they ran a pressure check and it failed, either that or at some point, he got moisture inside. If the crystal was changed, and they couldn't find the proper crystal gasket (unobtanium) or case O-ring, etc. the watchmaker may have told him, "don't get it wet!"

Very interesting link to the vintage Fifty Fathoms. just as and aside MKII watches made a couple of homages to the Fifty Fathoms, one called the Stingray and the second the Seafighter. Also Bill Yao, the owner of MKII bought all the rights and patents, specifications, etc. from Tornac Rayville. So MKII owns the TR name. In factBillYao produced a very limited edition (15 watches) of the Tornac Rayville. Possible plans to produce more in the future. Here are a couple of photos of my Stingray. Top one is at home, and the second was taken while snorkeling in Barbados

I agree the crystal sure looks like and acrylic to me. look at the scratches at 6. Another thing, I don't know how they would get a sapphire crystal to fit. I would say that considering it has this dodgy crystal and a cheap oyster bracelet, his asking price is a bit on the high side. Doxas were as hot as a 3 dollar pistol a few years ago, but it sort of looks like the demand has cooled some. Some of that I believe is from folks buying one that needs work, and then finding out that replacement parts are non existent!! Unfortunately, there isn't a Vintage Doxa Forum and Marketplace like Rolex has. Better have the parts in hand before buying the watch. I can speak from experience, I had several that were never restored to the level I would have liked, simply because there weren't any parts available.

Thanks, thats why I posteed the request, I went with my old Ebay info and it kept turning up dead ends. i was actually trying to look at the prices that they were asking for an 8mm Brevet crown. I bought one from tthem a year or so back, and want to sell it, as the project I was going to use it on never got off the ground.

Andy, There was one for sale on the WUS forum a few days ago.I'll check and see and send you a link if it's still around.

Thanks very much for the info.

Absolutely beautiful photography. You have a lovely place. Maybe only those of us who live out in the country can really appreciate the solitude. Friends come to visit us and they often remark "it's really freaky out here, it's so quiet"!! It's not really so quiet, we are just hearing sounds that you are not used to. Thank you very, very much for this great blog, wonderful photos, beautiful women, unattainably expensive cars, bikes and watches, and lots of sage words to live by

Tried to find something from them a few minutes ago, and it looks like their Ebay store is inactive, or all the stuff has been removed.Anyone have any ideas, or gotten anything from them lately. i even tried to google them and the only thing that came up was their Ebay store.

WOW!! Serious Bling.

I think I have one from a failed 6538 project. I think mine came from Natalie. I'll look in my parts box and if ican find it, I'll shoot you a PM

I would sell the two you have, and then put some money up and get a genuine. the price is going to go up. 5-6 years ago, really nice, absolutely correct Tudor subs were selling for less than 2-2.5k. the same now are over 3k. With the world in a financial crisis, who knows, they could be selling for 500 USD in six months. The nice thing about a genuine is just that it's genuine. If you need to sell it, there is usually a ready market for vintage Tudors. Incidently, the one I have cost me less than 2k a couple of years ago. That was for the head only. I got the movement serviced and swapped the hands out (It had Mercedes hands that were installed by Rolex San Francisco) a pretty decent bracelet with a Tudor Clasp and I still have only about 2600 USD in the watch. My second alternative would be go for the J&W Tudor. It's pretty nice and the price is pretty good. In fact I believe phong is having a sale right now on a lot of his watches.

I would use the MBW case. It is constructed closer to the genuine. Bezel assembly is better and closer to the real thing. Stick with the snowflake, your dial has square indicies that were used with the snowflake hands only. One problem is all Tudors have the engraved caseback which your MBW doesn't have. May be able to find one on the genuine forums, or have someone engrave yours, but all of that isn't necessary if you are only trying to build a nice user, not a super franken. looks like you have a good start on your project. What movement were you planning to use? The old Tudors had a slow beat ETA, usually a 2784 in the later snowflake models, you can still find those around, probably would need a service if you found one. Good Luck with your project. Here is a photo of my genuine 9411/0 Blue Snowflake.

gavidoc is right on with his advice. The folks buying vintage Rolex are a pretty fickle lot. Ever so often you get a noob that really wants a 1680 or a 1665, and he will buy one that isn't up to snuff, but most buyers want it to be all one way or the other. There isn't anything wrong with service dials, tons of older watches have had dials and hands replaced over the years. Looking at a 30-40 year old watch, it's more than likely been serviced at least 3-4 times. the problem is when you have a mismatch, all the folks on the VRM will call you to task if it isn't described correctly, and it's not priced in line with it's condition. As far as buying an all original 40 year old Rolex, I know there are a fair number out ther, but how can you be sure? How can you tell if the RSC didn't change a bezel insert, or even the bezel, hands, crown and stem. If it was done 25-30 years ago, the hands and bezel insert will be aged enough that it would be pretty hard to tell for sure if they were original or replaced? If you happen on to one that comes from the original owner, or say one that was bought from the original owner and the second owner really knows the watch's history, you are probably in good shape, especially if the owner(s) kept all the paperwork and service history.Unfortunately, most watches bought back then were not bought by collectors, but by guys who bought them to wear the heck out of them. usually the Box and papers either got thrown away or got stuck in a drawer or a box full of papers and 10 years later, the owner had no idea what he did with them. If people were moving around a lot, as was the case of service personnel who bought Rolex watches dirt cheap in the base commisary or PX, unless they were very anal about keeping papers, boxes, etc. they got thrown out or lost during a move. The only thing I would differ with gavidoc about is replacing the hands and pearl and parting out the ones you have on the watch. If the old pearl and hands aere really in sad shape, that could bring the value of the watch down more than you might get for watch with the better hands and pearl on them. Right now it's pretty nice, and the hands and dial are a good match. What you have to weigh is what the total would be for the watch as is now and selling the other pearl and hands, or reinstalling them back in the watch and selling these seperately. also every time you crack open that old case and take everything apart, you run the risk of messing something up that will be costly to replace. Scratch the dial removing the hands, or crack the crystal, lots of things can happen, and none of them are good.

Does the TC YM have AR on the crystal and cyclops? That is a really nice looking watch. It would be nice to know what it's selling for? if it comes in lower than the original WM9 YM. it's going to be a pretty big blow to those WM9 YM's for sale from time to time. I believe that what's keeping the prices up is up until now the total lack of an accurate new model. Sort of like what the new TC subs are doing to the used WM9 V2 and V3 Subs.

That watch is beginning to grow on me. I didn't like it at first, probably because i'm a vintage watch person, and haven't been too impressed with attempts to "modernize" a classic. Truthfully, if they had left out the knurled crown and pusher locks, it would have been a whole lot nicer. As time goes on, I sort of like the new look. Wear it in good health!!

Beautiful watch and a great build. Only thing i would change and it's just a nitpick, but the correct endlinks for the 1665 are 585's. not a biggie for sure as no one would ever know unless you handed them your watch to examine. Congratulations.

Replace the chocolate inserts with aged grey, and add a pearl. I have seen a lot of vintage Rolex watches and I cannot remember ever seeing one in the wild that didn't have a pearl.

I have seen that as well on some of the WUS forums. The worst for close moderating are the "official" forums. Those forums are bought and paid for by the watch companies. So what you can get away with on the Omega forum which is a regullar forum, may very well get closed and locked by a mod on say the Doxa forum. One thing, the oficial forums will not allow is any negative comments about service problems, or conflicts between the buyer and the company. If you post, "Brand X's service is wonderful, I sent my 5 year old watch in and they completely overhauled it, polished it up good as new and sent it back FEDEX overnight and it didn't cost me a penny", that post is fine. If you post "BrandX's service sucks, they didn't return my calls or email, andI'll never buy from those SOB's again", that one will get deleted and you will get a stern warning from the Mods that you are in danger of being banned. Their philosophy is the Brands pay the bills, and they get to make the rules.

Second the popularity idea. Also if you notice, most of the Rolex and PAM's are modded. I believe that one of the things that drive the majority of members here, especially those who hang aroumd for a long time, is the desire to malke a watch better. The real thrill is in the chase for a watch and then parts to make it better. Once the watch is finished, after a time, they old fire starts burning again to build something else. So the watch that was really important in the conceptual, planning and build phase dosn't really interest you anymore. that's why they end up on the sales forum, because we are all looking to the next "project".