panerai153

I tend to agree with nanug about these two. The DRSD is the king of dive watches, and because of it's popularity the prices have risen proportionately. The 1680 sub is a wonderful watch, but certainly not as big and "attention getter" as the SD. If you are looking at being a little more "under the radar" you might want to have a look at the White SD as well as the White dial 1680. To be perfectly honest, if it were me, rather than buy the ones you listed, I would search for and old MBW 1680 or 1665. They both take gen parts, and with a little work and modding, both of them can be made very gen like. Of course with these gen construction MBW's, you can take the nodding as far as you and your budget want to go. Here are mine, based on MBW's

AJ, that looks absolutely beautiful. Legend is a wizard when it comes to AP mods. I have one done and two more in the lineup. After his mods, these are as close to one of the multi thousand dollar Frankens as you can get, for a whole lot less!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OK, I 'm sure that's what he meant, the insert. I've seen a few pretty good deals on watches over the years, not as quite as good as this one, usually it involves a messy divorce and the seller wants a non public fast sale. Called "hiding assets"!!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

DRSD today Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In the first paragraph of your post, you said an aluminum 16610. Did you mean stainless steel, because to my knowledge Rolex has never made an aluminum watch! Stainless, stainless/gold, solid gold (yellow, white and rose gold) no exotic metals, ceramic, etc. and certainly not aluminum. Like others said, probably 95+ % of used Rolex watches are sold without papers. Most folks who buy watches could care less about the boxes, and over time the papers get misplaced, lost to thrown away. So, that is not a plausible reason. Also that's BS about not having time to take it to and AD, unless you live out in the sticks like me and are 100 miles from the closest AD.. This deal sounds fishy to me, as that selling price is about a third or less of the going prices. I would guess that this watch is either a good replica, or a stolen or "found" watch, none of which are worth either the 1k or the hassle that comes from having a watch with a dodgy provenience. AFA finding out if it's stolen, Rolex no longer provides that service except to dealers at their request. If a watch is stolen and reported to the police, if the owner has the serial number, then that info may be sent to the area pawn shops. They may also send stolen watch info to AD's and jewelers who deal in watches, but all of this is on a local basis, so if a watch were stolen in Houston TX, a pawn shop or AD In say New Orleans would not have access to that info. I'm not even sure if a Rolex Service Center checks serial numbers on watches that are sent in for repair. So what I'm saying is while you might buy a a stolen watch and own it all your life with no problems at all, you would always have that doubt in the back of your mind that " this watch might be stolen, and I can't treat it as a normal legit watch" Personally, no matter how good the deal is, it's not worth the hassle and worry. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have a Seagull in my FC V3, and while it's not a slow beat, it has been a very reliable and accurate movement. Almost two years and it works like a charm. Only problem is they are hard to find here in the USA. I bought mine on EBay from a seller in Portugal. I contacted them later last year to purchase another movement, and they told me they no longer carried them, as Seagull had raised the prices quite a bit. . Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Mr. A, this is a gen AP, correct!! That looks really, really nice. These just keep getting better and better. Kudos to you my friend, for all the work that you have put in to bring these AP ROO's up to a whole new level. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Not a wristy, but this is what I wore today.

I doubt that this has been replicated, it's a beautiful watch and one that I have admired for a while, ever since it was reintroduced.. Really too bad, because it probably wouldn't be that difficult to rep. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I agree 100% with Ken. The guys who forward hundreds or thousands of packages a week are experienced and have the resources to keep up with the trouble spots and do their best to steer packages away from those shippers or ports of entry. Shipping a couple of packages a year, does not a shipping expert make you! Don't get me wrong sometimes the agents as well as the dealers screw up, but considering the sheer numbers of packages they send, the confiscated ones are a pretty small percent. Most dealers have a vested interest in getting your package to you safely. If you have a guaranteed delivery policy, I guarantee you are going to do your best to see that the package get's to it's destination safely, the first time. Every time a watch get's seized, and the dealer replaces it, his profit margin shrinks. If your dealer tells you that EMS is the best route at the time, best to listen. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Really turned out nice!! Beautiful build. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

GMT IIC Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The coronet on the dial looks wrong. The genuine is small and in the same position on that Roman numeral dial, but it is much crisper and distinct. Go to google, Google "Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date", scroll down to images, open the images and there are lots of photos of gen Dates. Only thing that would lead me to believe these may be gen is that there are tons of old Date and DJ cases and dials floating around. Lots of these older watches have been cannabalize do for their movements. Rolex has sold millions of these over time as this is and entry level Rolex, and has probably been their best seller for decades. A good rep dial would be almost as expensive as and old gen. Hope this helps Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Very, very nice!!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

There are basically two ways to do this, the long term and short term. If you chose the long term like I did, you start off with the gen bezel/ insert then later you replace the Crystal, then the dial and finally you add the yuki movement, converted by misielkped with gen parts and a gen crown. My process took over 5 years, back then the prices were not as bad, also you have some recovery time between purchases of parts. Still expensive, but not all at once. The second method is buy the noob watch, and find all the parts, over a short time span. More expensive, but you get to the final stage a lot quicker. It all depends on your resources, and the depth of your wallet. I wore mine a lot over those few years, totally enjoyed it, but the ICHS movement was a big deal to me. To most, it was not noticeable, but during those times twice a day, when the hour hand was traveling over the GMT hand, it was a sure tell from arms length or further every day. Everyone who owns a genuine Master II or a IIC Would know that on their watch, the hour hand never crossed the GMT hand as it was below the GMT hand. We are probably a little crazy, as I have only seen one other Rolex GMT around here, in the past 20+ years and that was a two tone "root beer" with the nipple dial. It belonged to one of my friends, and orthopedic surgeon. We compared my gen 16750 to his, but he left town about the time I got my IIC, so he never saw it. Tons of Subs, DJ's and DD's, but the GMT never was popular, at least out here in the sticks!! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just back from misiekped, he worked his magic as usual !! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree with whoopy, use phong's case, and get the rest of your parts from other sources. It may take you longer, but you will end up with a much better watch in the long run. AFA all gen parts, probably not economically feasible. I would use a 1570 movement, gen date wheel, hands, insert, Pearl, crown, endlinks and bracelet. I don't know what your budget is, but a gen DRSD dial is going to be expensive!! Go over to the Vintage Rolex Forum and look in the marketplace, DRSD dials come up from time to time. You can get a feel for the quality and price from there. I built essentially the same watch several years ago, I used and old MBW case instead of phong. Just to give you and idea, I only paid 150.00 USD for the watch, from a guy that had gotten out of reps. It had already had the CG mods and had a gen tropic T-39 superdome Crystal. Even with the cheap start, I have well over 3k in the watch today. When you start adding vintage gen parts, the costs add up pretty fast. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just got mine back today from misielkped, exactly the same specs as m1ars00's GMT. This isn't a cheap build, but it's a beautiful watch, and one that you can wear anywhere and not worry about having to walk around with your left hand in your pocket!! There are two guys on this forum that to me are as good as it gets when it comes to building Rolex frankens, Mymanmatt if you are looking for a Datejust or DayDate and misielkped if you want the best GMTIIC you can find. We are blessed and lucky to have those guys here in the USA for Rolex work. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

JMB also does engraving. He is in the USA however. If you only send the case, which would be the best as the watch movement needs to be uncased, you could probably get it through customs without problems, Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

1680 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The problem with using private couriers like DHL, FedEx or UPS, they all have their own in house customs clearing. More than likely this is designed to expedite packages, as they all have a pretty tightly controlled delivery policy, overnight really means overnight to FedEx, unless Mother Nature or events beyond their control get in the way. They can't afford to have an overnight package sitting in U.S. Customs for three days. The way to solve that is their own in house customs. I believe that when they pull a package like a watch, they are more concerned with valuation rather than whether or not it's a gen or rep. More likely to get a customs bill, or a letter that your valuation is too low, and you need to give it a realistic valuation. Then again, it very well might go right on through without further delays. AFA Chicago, I believe thus was temporary, and they have moved on to other things. Sort of like the Chinese cracking down on reps. Here today, gone tomorrow! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Great swap. I have one in my V7, put in by our master watchsmith misiekped. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Finally back to left wrist!! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Matt is the man for DJ and DD builds. I have a DD that he built, and an AirKing he built for my wife, and both are beautiful. I wouldn't been consider anyone else for those builds. He also built me a darn nice 16613 sub as well. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sending back is risky, you expose your watch to customs seizure, theft or damage twice, outbound and then coming back. As automatico said it's a black hole and sometimes packages just disappear! If you insist, I would opt for priority international, at least it's trackable to the final destination. Were me, I would try to find another watch, m2m and make one keep the rest for spares or sell the unneeded parts. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk