panerai153

Thanks a lot guys. I really appreciate your input. This saved me from purchasing an insert that wouldn't fit my "future" watch.

my question is, are the bezel inserts for Submariners such as 16610 interchangable with the 16660 and 16600 Sea Dweller Bezel inserts. I'm trying to gather a few genuine parts for my WM9 SD when it comes in (hopefully in my lifetime!!) I see quite a few genuine inserts for sale from time to time, but I'm at a loss as to whether or not the Sub inserts are the same.Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum. There are literally hundreds of posts about the 1680. this is by far the most popular Rolex vintage, and the most modded. You have many different avenues to approach building a 1680. you can start with an early model MBW and go from there with genuine parts, or you can start from scratch with a Yuki,etc. case and throw in a genuine movement or an ETA with the correct spacer.You can spend a ton if you want to go the route of all genuine,i.e. Dial, Bezel/bezel insert, hands, crown/tube, crystal, movement,bracelet,endlinks,springbars. What you want to build will be determined by your budget and time that you can spend looking for parts, etc. My advice to you would be to spend a lot of time reading about the options open to you before you jump into the project. We quite often see unfinished "project' watches for sale on the sales forum, put there by sellers who have given up on the project because either the funds ran out or they became frustrated by the speed of the project. another caveat, no matter how close to genuine you make a "super franken", it's still not a genuine 1680. Should you decide to sell it later, your options are limited to the replica sales forums. There are quite a few modders here on this forum that have wonderful "super frankens' that they built. A lot of these are watches that the owner has 2-3 thousand dollars investeed in. The only problem here is should you want to sell, watches in that price range are only desirable to a very small number of buyers, so keep in mind that should you loose interest or need to sell. you may be looking at taking a loss. Good luck

I asked the same question a month or so back. I didn't get a response. Either it doesn't exist, or it's so top secret that only a select few know about it. I have a WM9 SD on order and it would be nice to have some place to go to get updates and photos. Good Luck

Hwere is a link to a post about 10 down from yours that is asking about the same thing LINK It seems like everyone who owns a DSSD has the same problem to some degree. The OREV fonts and spacing aren't exact in most cases, so they (factory) have to try to compensate. If you line up the E at the top, the K at the bottom doesn't line up, or the O is too far down, etc. Unfortunately, this flaw will drive some folks crazy, others it really isn't such a big deal. I have seen photos of genuine DSSD's taken dead head on and the OREV doesn't line up exactly, so it isn't just a "Rep thing". But to answer your question read the linked thread and see what happened when it was attempted!!

You can go to timezone sales, Watchuseek sales and for vintage, the vintage rolex forum. All list Rolex watches for sale. You can google any of the above to find their websites.

I can certainly see your dilema.ihave been collecting watches off and on for 40+ years. Ihve gone for yeArs with one or two, becAuse I totay lost interest . Same with reps, I was really big into reps and gens several years back, probably had 25 plus watches 15 gens and around 10 reps. I realized that they were all gAthering dust in my safe, only 2 or 3 were being used. I sold everything except 3 or 4. Got completely out of reps for around 3 years. Now I d try very hard not to impulse buy, only watches that will get wrist time. I have set and absolute max of 10. So when I get close to that number I really have to think " is this one really what I want"? Gens will make you think a lot harder, because of the price. A 5K Rolex is Not and impulse buy, at least for me.

Those are beautiful. I'm sure your friends will be amazed and pleased with these watches. You do great work. looks like modders are going to have to find another source for the MBW cases, the way ETZ is acting lately, I wouldn't buy anything from them. Quite a few very unhappy folks around the forum who are owed money or watches/parts,etc. from ETZ!!

Almost everyone who builds GMT's in the mid range watch lines use the 2893-2 as their base movement, so short of a Rolex movement, I don't know who would make one with the hand stack configuration of the Explorer. Next question, is the 2893-2 even going to fit. It seems like quite a few folks who tried to transplant the 2893-2 into GMT IIC's ran into problems with the hands not clearing the dial indices.Is the Explorer similar case wise etc?

I believe your friend made the right choice. The meters first dial all other things being close to equal, is the more valuable of the watches. If your RSC still services vintage subs, I would definitely take it there and have them service it. One thing he is going to get the service papers that authenticate the watch, and should he change his mind and want to either sell it or trade it later on, the RSC paperwork will help.Rolex is getting pretty picky about the old watches, and a RSC service may not be possible, but if it's available, it will be worth it. Another thing, using a RSC or a really good Rolex watchmaker( one with a current parts account) isn't going to be a whole lot of difference in price. There was a thread on VRF a couple of months ago, and the prices quoted by some of the really well trained guys was right up there with RSC's prices. I'm with alligoat on the wearing thing, this watch may have been a beater 25 years ago, but it's out of that price range now. If he has it restored correctly, this one should be worn, but not where it can get beat up, or test the water resistance. For that he should get a nice 1680 Rep like your yuki or a MBW, and wear the hell out of it.

That's a beautiful old sub with lots and lots of character. If it were mine, i would do the bare minimum to it. When you said "in for service", are you sending it to a RSC or to a Rolex certified watchmaker with parts access? If RSC, I would be very specific about what you want done and what you DON"T want done.You wouldn't want to get it back with a service dial, hands and polished out to the max! BTW the nice fellow in Hammond LA was probably Anton's Jewelers. Walter Anton was a Rolex dealer and had a pretty good watchmaker working for him back in the 1980's and 90's. I bought a used sub from him in the 80's. Great fellow to deal with.

Someone on one of the other threads said today, I believe, that now George is having some other problems. The OP said that there were bezel problems.Someone else on another forum said that they had gotten an Email from George that they were assembling watches and they would be starting delivery in June. It looks like George got a little ahead of himself with all the projects going at the same time. He had problems it looks like with the TT Sub, but that seems to be sorted out now.Check BK's posts on his storefront. He seems to be in frequent contact with George. It's very frustrating as I'm sure you know. The fact that his website is worthless from and information standpoint adds to the feeling that we the customers are being left in the dark.Having said all that, I'm sure he has to be very careful about his exposure to the general public. If you or I can get to his website, so can the watch companies,i.e. Rolex as well as the authorities. Time spent on these forums answering questions, returning PM's and Emails take away from the time spent building watches. Hopefully, someday soon, we will all see a post from one of our members," My WM9 SD is here"!!

Freddy, That is a beautiful watch . the old 6542 "PanAm's" are my absolute favorite GMT. Unfortunately, I am destined to only drool over the genuines and the Franken's that are of the calibre of yours. They are waaaaay out of my price range at this stage of life! powerball where are you!!!

R, that's a great looking DSSD at a really good price. Quite a bit less than the ETZ and I'm sure not 1% of the hassle! My question is how is the factory lume? My ETZ is just marginally OK, but a relume is definitely needed. Thanks

Wearing "ol Blue" Today

This watch personifies what the author was talking about in the previous thread. I am a great fan of Rolex, I've had probably at least twenty or more genuine, and at least that many replicas.The solid gold models leave me cold, I had two genuine 18k Day Dates back in the mid 1980's, still can't figure out why!! Must have been going through that mid life crisis we all hear about, but never think will happen to us.At any rate, I see the solid gold models exactly in the same light as the author. And of all these, the yachtmaster is right up there near the top. Below the blinged out Diamond dial/bezel models, but still way up the list. Amazingly, I see lots of gold watches that don't scream ostentatious like the gold Rolex models. maybe it's the perception I have that are the favored watches for rappers and "wanna Be's". IF i had 10k to spend on a watch, it sure as heck wouldn't be a gold yachtmaster!

Nice looking watch! I'm sure if you can keep the price point around 250-300 USD, you will sell a ton of them. I also vote for the blue lume and double AR, I sort of like the circle T.

I tried to buy a couple of the silver datewheels from ETZ several months ago, and they were out and weren't planning to get more. They told me that they had to have a minimum order of 50-75 to have them made. At that time, they had no plans to get more unless there was a big enough demand that they could make an order.

I wrote a short review with photos of the 2010 ETZ version. I think it's a really nice watch, however with all the problems going on with ETZ right now, I wouldn't recommend them. This one also allegedly has the 316F steel, but according to one of the forum members who did some rather involved metallurgic tests, none of these are really made from true 316F stainless. Honestly, if yours has been Vac lumed and your satisfied with it, I wouldn't worry about these versions. they do correct some flaws, but other things are still wrong. Here is a link to the review DSSD 2010

BAAAAAD!!

I'm sure nanug is your man for this project Actually, there have been several very good reviews/how to's on this subject. I would suggest you use the search function, possibly not specifically for a 1680, but "Rolex case aging" etc.

I know this comes up quite frequently, but since BK posted on his storefront that Gorge was finally assembling watches for his WM9 preorders (this on April 28th). I was wondering if anyone who has a preorder directly with WM9 had received any updates, shipping notification, received a watch, etc. I'm sure mine is way down the list, as there are folks in line ahead of me by at least 9-10 months, but the first preorders should be getting pretty close.

That DRSD.com page is a great comparison of the variations in the SD dials. It's too bad that the rep makers can't find that page on their computers! With those clear crisp close-up photos, it looks like they could tell what is right and what is wrong. Because the DRSD is such an uncommon and expensive watch, I hesitate to own one, because it will be closely scrutinized by every real Rolexhead that you might run across. Maybe if they ever got the dial right, but the font problems are a dead giveaway.

Rolex 1680 for today Tudor 9411 for tonight

I have to agree with Logan. As much as we despise the out and out scammers, whether they are selling on sites like "bluefakes" or ripping off unsuspecting buyers on Ebay with fake Rolexes,they are selling fakes as genuine. We tend to take the moral high ground, rationalizing that what we are doing is not bad, because we aren't intentionally trying to pass off something counterfeit as the genuine article, however we are buying and selling fakes, which in the eyes of the authorities is one and the same.This to me is just a tiny bit of "the pot calling the kettle black" I would suspect the reason these folks were caught was the blatant advertising on websites of fake goods. While they were not trying to fool anyone into thinking that what they were selling was the genuine article, they were thumbing their noses at the companies that they were copying. It would not surprise me that companies like Tiffany,Chanel, Gucci, etc. would come down hard on them. Especially after some of these same companies lost their bid to take Ebay to the cleaners over counterfeit goods. Just my opinion, but the lower we fly under the radar, the better I like it.