panerai153

I think you are probably right. There are plenty of really bad stuff coming from good companies. Sometimes you wonder who designed this aberration!. Certainly most of the modern designers have totally forgotten about "Form follows function". You are also probably right about the watches probably being in the design stage when the recession hit, and when "bigger is better" was king. I have been reading a lot lately about folks returning back to more basic items, not going for so much bling. In fact in one article I read, the writer was speculating that a lot of the major luxury goods manufacturers were a bit worried about the trend to simpler, less expensive items. I think one of the things that surprises a lot of us older folk who have been around Rolex for many years ( I bought my first one about a year out of college in about 1966) is their move away from their ultra conservative posture of so many years. It seemed like Rolex SA agonized over every little change. People have been begging for a slightly larger datejust, sub and SD for years, to no avail. They got solid end links, sapphire crystals and a blue mainspring, but no bigger watches. Then all of a sudden Rolex got on the bling bandwagon with that ridiculous "Leopard" daytona and the YM (which to me the version 1 is not so bad.) and several datejusts with ridiculous dials. And it just kept getting worse. They took beautiful functional watches and bloated them up with totally unnecessary "improvements" 1. DSSD.- I had one, had it modded, really nice watch if you have 8" wrists, but on my wrist, it always wanted to "turn turtle" Also, when you make it bigger, why not make the dial bigger as well? Mine is long sold and forgotten. truly one that I won't regret selling.Wouldn't wear one diving, all that shiny on your wrist= Barracuda magnet!! 2. GMT IIc- I have one,don't wear it very often.I like it, also wish it had a red GMT hand and a Pepsi bezel. I'm like By-tor, I'm more a vintage fan, so my genuine 16750 gets about 10X the wrist time of the IIc. 3. Explorer - Truthfully, I was never an Explorer fan, so I really don't have a skin in that game 4. Yachtmaster - Never owned one, too blingy for me.I'm like Freddy, if I had a nice 44 foot Swan to go racing with, the new one would probably be OK, of course it would be more appropriate with boat shoes, Grey flannel slacks and a Blue blazer, with your Yacht Club crest on it of course. If you don't fall into that rarefied category, I cannot see it at all. Get a Yacht, get a Yachtmaster, otherwise get a 1665,1680 or and older 16610. 5. Daytona - I haven't liked Daytonas since they went from "Oyster" to "Oyster Perpetual" , so you can see how old fashioned I am!!. And the new ones from what I saw in the BaselWorld photos are awful. Not as bad as the "Leopard", but getting close. Just my thoughts for what they are worth (2 cents)

You are absolutely right, I was referring more to the beginner diver and/or newer diver. not someone with hundreds of dives and Mixed gas certification.My instructing career was before the popularity of Nitrox, Heck, Dive computers were not available when I started. you worked out all your dives with Dive tables. Way back!! Now the computers work out everything for you, including surface intervals, fly,no fly, etc. One of the things thati nexperienced divers often fail to grasp, is a problem at 30 feet is a minor annoyance, At 60 feet it's a problem,at 100 feet it's a real problem. We have lots of folks around here that Rig dive in the Gulf , mostly spearfishing. Almost every fatality has been linked to a diver following a fish down, all of a sudden he's at 120-150 feet and running out of air, and no dive buddy in sight. Recipe for disaster. Back to the main subject, i wouldn't have a problem diving with a rep, provided it was properly prepared and pressure tested. You have the skills to take one apart and grease all the seals, make sure the crystal gasket is tight and then put it back together and pressure test it. i believe the key to the process is after making sure everything is greased, sealed and tight, is a pressure test under controlled conditions. One, you can get the watch out the water while the tester is pressurized and keep the insides dry, also you can get a good idea as to where the water is getting in by the bubbles of air coming from inside the watch. The biggest problem with the running faucet, drop it in the bottom of the pool techniques is that if it isn't water resistant, it will flood. if it really floods, you can damage the dial, lume, etc. even though the movement can be dried out and runs OK. Second, if it floods, you still don't have any idea as to where the water got in.

Bk, When you say pressable HEV, do you mean the valve opens from the outside. That is you can take a small dowel, etc. press on the HEV from the outside and it will press in? Lots of those ar earound, and if the HEV isn't sealed, sure water ingress point. MyETZ 2010 was like that, and I had mine epoxy sealed, but it still wasn't able to pass a 3 ATm pressure test, as it leaked around the crystal.

Stay tuned!! With all the butt ugly watches Rolex exibited at Baselworld this year, the steroid DSSD can't be far behind

Jojo, What would be correct? The crystal that came on the watch looks like a T-39 superdome, it measures 30.61 OD. Would the only real choice be to grind down the one that came with the watch to achieve a lower profile?

I had a DSSD, the one from, long gone Eurotimz their 2010 "ultimate" . I pressure tested mine to 3 atm. and it failed. bubbles around the crystal and they were steady so it wasn't trapped air under the bezel. The construction of the crystal retaining ring, case, etc. are completely different from the reps and genuine. back a year or so ago, there were some very good posts about the DSSD (Back when it was "hot") One had several very good schematics comparing the rep to genuine's case and retaining ring crystal and gasket.I have pressure tested all my Rolex Reps and about 40% have failed. The only ones that have consistently passed pressure testing were my MBW vintages and my BK/WM9 16610, as well as a noobmariner SSD I would seriously recommend getting yours pressure tested before you take it into water. Just because it looks like a real DSSD, it isn't. The rep factories have zero quality control, so you have no idea as to the way it was sealed, or even assembled. Another thing to consider, if you get fresh water ingress, and you can get the back off and get the inside dry, you shouldn't have any damage, or minimal damage,If you get salt water ingress, I can assure you, by the time you get back to the surface, discover the problem and get the back off you are going to have a corroded mess., Bye,bye DSSD !! It doesn't matter how deep you go, the greatest pressure change is between the surface and about 15 feet. This is proven every dive by folks who have ear problems. You will have intense painful pressure at 8-15 feet. If you can clear and equalize the pressures, you are fine for any depth. Also if you are a beginner, I doubt you will be diving below 60 feet, and then only if you have a few dives logged. I was and instructor for 15 years, and I never took check dive students below 30 feet while they were students. I have never understood the fascination with depth. At 60 feet, you have 60 minutes of bottom time, at 100 feet less than 10, plus a decompression stop. At 100 feet, almost all the color spectrum is filtered out so everything is shades of brown, Grey and black, unless you have a dive light. Above 60 feet, the colors are visible, and that's where the interesting diving is to me. I like to take photos, so it's easier in 30 feet than 80 feet. I would agree completely with Mr Bill, go get yourself a nice cheap Dive watch such as the Seiko Monster series. They are great watches, very accurate, and prices are way less than what you paid for the DSSD. I have three genuine Rolexes, and I never dive with them anymore. The newest is 11 years old, and I don't trust the seals and gaskets to dive with it anymore. I have a MKII Stingray and an Ocean 7 LM-7 Ploprof that are my dive watches

If you can get the T-21 to work, it will be a great improvement over the crystal that comes with the watch. I'm slowly gettinig stuff together for mine. Actually I looked through all my parts stuff, and I have a T-21, so that's one more piece of the puzzle. Thanks for the info about the bezel. I agree, if you can do most of the work without removing the bezel, It would probably be better. Undoubtably when these were being produced ( GenuineRolex), they must have had some special tool to remove the bezel. If I remember correctly, the Omega Seamaster 300's had a similar spring. You could press the bezel to one side, and pry up the other side and they would come off pretty easy.The only thing you had to be really careful about was not losing one of the tiny spring loaded ball detents that were the "Click" mechanism!!

looks like a 1665 sort of day!!

Sorry about the above reply, I tried to edit my reply, and I got all that formatting stuff in the post. Looking good. I have a similar project going on, mine also has that tall T-39 which looks totally wrong. Interesting about the T-21. I happen to have one, and it would make a much better replacement. Mine must use the same case as yours, because the markings are the same, 6538 on one side 5508 on the other. looking forward to seeing the rest of your mods. I would like to know how you got the bezel off, as I tried but couldn't get mine off. It has the same spring that holds it in place. i don't want to break something, but I do need to get the bezel off to replace the insert as well as replace the plexi as some point. Thanks

<BR><BR> <P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Calibri><FONT size=1>Looking good. I have a similar project going on, mine also has that tall T-39 which looks totally wrong. Interesting about the T-21. I happen to have one, and it would make a much better replacement. Mine must use the same case as yours, because the markings are the same, 6538 on one side 5508 on the other. looking forward to seeing the rest of your mods. I would like to know how you got the bezel off, as <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I tried but couldn't get mine off. It has the same spring that holds it in place. i don't want to break something, but I do need to get the bezel off to replace the insert as well as replace the plexi as some point.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P> <P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Calibri><FONT size=1>Thanks<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></P>

I have beeen having the same problem. Every time i move from one thread to another, i'm logged out. Also had to re log in to post here.

they are off. I haven't seen one rep case yet that didn't need to have the crown guards trimmed/reshaped

Great job. The Tudor Prince (Pre Tiger) Chrono is one of my all time favorite chronographs

I don't think your genuine date wheel will work. the date change is opposite on older Rolex movements and ETA movements.The ETA datewheel changes/rotates clockwise, the Rolex date wheel changes/rotates counterclockwise. Here is and ETA datewheel

I'm not much of a two tone watch fan, but if I were looking for one, I would haunt the different forum's sales areas and try to nab a used BKLM/WM9. They do come up for sale, not often, but on occasion. they are a cut above the rest.

Read,Read ,Read. lots of what you are asking has been covered in previous threads. As far as the crystal, the best crystal would be a Rolex. hands down the clearest, and best mag(Correct mag). I would say the second choice would be a Clark. The correct crystal is a # 127. They come up for sale here on occasion, the Vintage Rolex market has them as well occasionally, also on Ebay. Just need to look around. Last one I bought about a year ago was around 150.00 USD

Got to second what yo usaid about the "superdome". I just look at mine all the time!! Amazing crystal. Hard to believe they went from these to those ugly flat hunks of sapphire.

Genuine is 2.5X and Clarks are also 2.5X Crystal height will definitely affect the magnification ( size of the date wheel numbers) as seen from straight on. Compared to my 1680 with a genuine 127, the photo in your post looks identical to mine.Also the crystal on the 1680 does sit up pretty high.

Hi, all things considered, i would buy the Clark hands if available. As far as Superluminova, most all of the modders who are doing modding for members can do hand and dial lumes. Just need to find one that you want to do the job. Pretty important as to where you are located. The fewer times your watch has to cross borders and go through customs the better.

Acccording to "Rolex Daytona, a Legend is born" the 6239 came with a steel bezel, not the black plastic. the Newman Daytona with hte black plaxtic bezel insert was 6241. I'm not a Daytona expert by any means, so I certanly could be wrong. The book has lots of really detailed closeups of the "Newman" dials as well.

Actually , I believe that it is a 10 minute timer, used to time the race start. Pretty specialized type of watch, but i'm sure if you have enough money to race yachts, you can probably afford a Yachtmaster!! Great for wearing to the Yacht Club dance and coctail party after the races. Serious boats all have big digital timers so that the helmsman can tell to the second when he needs to be crossing the start line. Explorer is nice. Daytona is ugly!! What can I say nothing like the leopard pattern one from a few years back, but certainly not my cup of tea.

Sly, That looks great. Your Yuki must have been the right configuration? looks like you didn't have any problems with the crown /tube. Is that a service Lumi dial/hands? Really looks nice, like it just got back from a Rolex Service Center with the full spa treatment. Wondering about the bracelet don't you need a 9315 or 93150? the 93250 bracelet is the one I have on my "P" serial 16610.

Great job on the dial. Really looks nice. Age the rest gently!!. Wear it ever day doing everything with it, it will age itself.

Very nice project. Your datewheel looks especially nice. i have to concur with some of the other members about your insert. To make one really look authentic, all it needs is fading, possibly a couple of tiny scratches. i see a lot of inserts here that are all scratched and that isn't what a normal aged insert looks like. Remember the plexi crystal is higher than the insert, so the crystal is going to take a lot of the licks. i have seen genuine (mine) that had terribly scratched up crystals, but inserts with little or no scratches. Go to some of the genuine vintage rolex forums and look at the watches there for comparison. Some of the inserts are so faded, the numbers are almost illegible, but the insert isn't all scratched up or looks like itt's been sanded down.

I believe that the only way to find one with and aged,faded bezel insert is to either get one (watch) that's already been aged from a member on the watch sales forum, or buy a new one and replace the shiny balck insert with a genuine faded insert. There are always inserts for sale on the Vintage Rolex Market. I never saw a new rep come witha faded insert.