Mendota Explorer

I sent this guy another email explaining to him the details that point out that his watch is at best a higher end replica. This hits home for me as I was scammed many years ago and lost a lot of money and then again recently from a once well known guy in the vintage world, a Mr. Steve Mulholland who used to be a straight trader and then scammed a lot of people for a lot of money and the last I heard he is in jail in Florida someplace.

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Man, that sucks. Was it on a complete watch or parts? He was a total straight shooter, too, back in the day. Completely legit seller. That vintage guy out in CA also destroyed his rep with the whole John Mayer thing - Maron, I think?

A friend of mine terminated his contact early and waited in line to pay cash for the iphone 6 when it came out. He already had an iphone 5 and spent almost $900 cash to get the new one FFS. Crimony, at least get the 6+!!

If the Batman had the latest improvements to the bezel insert that would be a fantastic deal.

I'm so far out of the loop when it comes to the latest Milgauss versions. Is this one the latest and greatest blue dial?

It looks the part and I love a good ol sub on nice leather shoes

Instead of getting the correct engravings (As this would add no value to your watch), I would get a Athaya 702 Crown and Tubes.

The crown you currently have are for modern sapphire subs.

@Pam007 - after doing some research it appears the early red subs all came with 700 crowns, and during service were replaced with triplocks . Athaya offers both a 700 and a 702 and they are both fantastic. Which would be more desirable for an accurate build? Would you go 702 or 700?

Nice!

Happy birthday Nanuq! Enjoy that beauty.

Very nice and very gracious of you. Please count me in!

OK, twist my arm. I'll take the silver dialed one on the left, please.

@Beachcomber - wow, that piece was beautiful. Stunning. Do you remember which year yours was produced?  Looks very similar to the one I had found from '72.  The one I found a few years ago was supposedly all original.  It was being sold by a very reputable Italian watch dealer and jeweler for around $9,900.  I don't think it had all of the original box and papers, but I can't remember now.  If it had been 2005 pre-recession, I would have done it in a heartbeat.  In fact, I would have flown over and made a trip out of it.  I miss those days!  Sigh.  

 

I love your natural aged PT 1680. It really looks great. I had a couple pass through my hands and I regret parting with them every time I see pictures of yours.

 

Open up the inner cg a little if you can..

 

 

and if you decide to part with it, lmk

 

Thanks DVNE.  I thought about how I wanted to handle this one, since it was my first vintage piece, and I decided that I wanted to have the NOS, well cared for look and just let it age naturally.  I treat my belongings well, and I have seen a lot of vintage pieces that have been extremely well cared for.  That sealed the deal for me.  That was even before I had started seeing the amazing super genken builds over here that are also pristine and in NOS condition.

 

I need to take the sheen off the dial markers and if I could add a slight bit of texture to the markers as well, the dial would be perfect.

 

I want to change the crystal for a T19.  MD2020 tried doing this for me (before he went rogue on everyone here) but the crystal cracked right away. I think he needed to finesse it, after reading up on how others have successfully added gen and gen spec crystals to the PT. I'll try doing it myself and at the same time address the dial markers.

 

I'll work up the courage to address the crown guards someday. A hair off the inner edge and then just taking a hair off the outer tip of the guards would create a perfect gen profile.

 

It looks the part and I love a good ol sub on nice leather shoes 

 

Instead of getting the correct engravings (As this would add no value to your watch), I would get a Athaya 702 Crown and Tubes.  

The crown you currently have are for modern sapphire subs. 

 

I agree with you.  Engravings are a waste, IMO, especially since 3 out of the 4 lines are already perfect.  Only the serial # that is wrong and if anyone were to see it and know what it meant, then that's an opportunity to develop a new WIS friend!  

 

Yes, the Athaya 702 would be a perfect upgrade and it is on my list.  The PT tube accepts gen and gen spec crowns as is - would I need the Athaya tube, as well?  I bought my crown from a great gen vintage parts seller in Switzerland.  He labeled it as vintage 7mm and I never knew what 7xx number it was. So this one is for sapphire crystal subs?  What part number would it be?

^ Thanks diesel and rusky!

Wow. Best watch box ever. Evuh!

Pardon the yellowish hue. My basement lights all have alabaster glass!

Very nice looking Sub and a red one at that, one of my faves. I had the real thing once and miss it every day. I'm a gin man myself, but I appreciate a good bourbon .

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Thanks Beachcomber! I really like the wrist presence of this. It feels perfect and the red accent on the dial speaks to me. I feel fortunate that my birth year of 1972 is still within the red 1680 production range. Someday I plan to reward myself with a gen red from my birth year. I found a nice one 3 years ago but it was overseas and I also didn't have the funds to do it. Someday!

I can definitely see why you miss yours.

Thanks

I use a Sony rx1r which has a full frame sensor (light and small for taking wristies but packs the punch of a full frame season.. Perfect!) I use macro mode and an f stop of 4-8 mostly.

It's really all about the sensor size, I was always under the impression that the number of megapixels mattered, I guess that was the clever marketing. They really don't matter, it's all about light and bigger sensor = more light

 

I'm sure the operator and the subject material also contribute to these great pics.    The digital sensor is really similar to the format size of print film.  Those large format cameras, such as Hasselblad, took unfreaking believable pics because the film was so big. If it wasn't so inconvenient to use my DSLR I'd use that more, but the phone camera is right there, the pics are decent enough, and since the phone is connected to the ether at all times it is easy to just upload through Tapatalk or Photobucket.

Great looking piece and I really like the strap.  Nice of the wife to partake in the hobby with you.  

 

WSO 580's oddly seem to fit everything pretty well.  I keep a few sets around and with minor tweaking seem to work better than the end links that are suppose to be on certain pieces.  Plus they take 2mm bars without modification.  So a good cheap investment.  

 

Bookers Bourbon is one of my Dad's favorites.  I quit drinking many years ago so never tasted it but I get him a bottle every so often.  

 

Nice pictures by the way.

Thanks for the compliments.  That means a lot.  I am putting together my order right now for the WSO 580 ends and I am also picking up a new set of better spring bars that are closer overall to gen than the Yuki.  The pins should reach the ends of the holes with these new ones.  I think the springs in the Yuki are a little weaker or maybe the pins aren't quite as long.  I'll save the Yuki bars for my upcoming ghetto 6538!

 

I'm looking forward to trying the Booker's.  My dad gave this to me.  He's a big Scotch fan and I always get him a bottle for special occasions.  I am more of a mixer, personally, and I like to experiment with different bourbons using my same cocktail, so having something like this that deserves to be enjoyed neat or with a splash of water/ice is going to be interesting. Over Christmas I opened a bottle of the Evan Williams single barrel vintage and I liked that one.  This is many notches higher on the shelf, in fact some of the bourbon bloggers prefer this one overall to Pappy.  I haven't tried either one, and my palate is immature, so who knows.  My usual rotation of mixers are Maker's and Maker's 46, Jim Beam White and Black, Evan Williams, with Early Times and good old Jack D thrown in there.  This high end stuff is a new experience for me!

 

Not to sound nerdy, but I actually signed up to be an ambassador for Maker's a couple of years ago.  Every Christmas they mail me a felt stocking cap for one of my bottles or last year they sent me a knit scarf to wrap around a bottle.  Clever marketing tricks like that.  Well, they also put my name on a barrel head.  In about 3 or 4 years when my barrel gets bottled, I can go down to the Maker's distillery, tour the facility, and then buy some bottles from my barrel!  I don't know if I can buy the actual barrel head itself as a souvie, or even the brass plate that is on the barrel head, but that would be cool if I could.

@Droptopman - is this the Cellini you bought from Stan?  I love it.    How is the sweep of the second hand?  Does it have a 21j like most of Stan's offerings do?

OMG!! This is the most incredible pic I've seen yet.  Wow.  How do you take such amazing wrist shots? 

Sweet! The gods favor you and will reward your wait.

OMG! That truly is a masterpiece! Sadly I can not even begin to compare with my Silix cased version

LOL, same here.  I'm about to start ordering my parts for my Silix build, too.    It's gonna feel like a Fisher Price toy watch compared to that masterpiece. 

I thought I would show off the new dancing shoes for my little honey, here.  At the same time I wanted to show some pleasant surprises I discovered along the way.  Just for the record, this is a Puretime red 1680 with ETA 2846 and a gen, vintage 7mm crown.  Stock crystal, dial, hands, and insert/pearl.  I purchased the watch in 2011 from Angus and it I wear it regularly.

I celebrated my birthday recently, and one of the gifts my wife gave me was a handmade strap from Martu.  Andrea is based in Chile and she is great to work with.  She has a lot of options with very reasonable prices.  I found out about her through other threads here and on the other boards.




First off, I removed the 93150 bracelet, 580 endlinks, and shouldered rep bars that came with the watch.  I really like Oyster bracelets, so I plan to do a lot of switching back and forth between the two.  Ugh, I hate the rep bars and the fact that because they are shouldered, there is nothing protruding through the lugholes. Notice the black hole where no tips are visible!





Sadly, I have to use rep bars until I get better fitting endlinks that work with my 2mm gen spec bars.  With my current endlinks, the tips of the gen spec bars don't quite line up with the lugholes, so I can't use them with the Oyster.  I don't want to have to keep changing bars depending on what I'm using for a band.  One set should be plenty, so this means I either have get WSO endlinks (that work with 2mm gen bars) or switch to 1.8mm shoulderless bars, which is also a good option.  In the end I think the WSO endlinks will prevail since this will allow me to use the correct 2mm size bars.

Anyway, after cleaning the lug area I noticed that my case has correct engravings!  The 12 o'clock side of the case is engraved with Original Rolex Design 1680.  



The 6 o'clock side is engraved with Stainless Steel and then the serial number beginning with L.  



This is the part that is not period correct for my watch.  A serial # beginning with L puts it at 1989, which is not correct for a 1680, let alone a red Mark I/II dial!  My dial variation is from approximately 1969, so the serial should be a mid to high 2 million number.  If I *really* wanted to get accurate, I could send my case to JMB and have him engrave a new serial number for me and at the same time machine a custom retainer ring for the case.  Perhaps someday.    In the meantime, the only engravings visible when wearing the strap are the top line, not the serial # text or 1680 text, so not having the right serial is irrelevant to me.

After installing my 2mm gen spec bars into the strap, I mounted it on my watch.  The result is quite nice, if I do say so myself.




For one, I can finally see spring bar tips protruding through the lugholes.  




This is a tiny thing that no normal human would ever notice, but those of us who enjoy vintage Rolex really appreciate this detail.  I just wish the tips came a little closer to the edge of the case.  This might be a function of the bars that I am using.  I am using Yuki bars.  Maybe another set would be better?

Here are some glamor shots to show off the new look:






Thanks for looking!

Hi all. Noob question. Who is cartel? Is he a TD? And where can i purchase his products?

Cartel generally refers to Josh (Perfect Clones) and Andrew (Trusty Time). They are TDs on some of the forums but not all, so check and see if they are on the list here at RWG.

Brand new handmade strap and gen spec bars put on her today.