By-Tor

There are always people who go to the extremes, beyond all borders of sanity. I once saw a collection of someone owning all possible Atari video game merchandise in the world. It was three rooms full of stuff.

Sick.

I remember a famous review from Ziggy in which there was a deep insight in the 2836-2 Swiss ETA modified for correct hand stack (previous version GMT II), in which the reliability of such a modified movement was hardly questioned. Many members choose the incorrect hand stack for this reason (including By-Tor, which is the absolute expert of this watch IMO). I can tell you my experience: I own a correct hand stack GMT II previous version, which never had problems, run smoothly and changed date correctly at 12:00 PM. I heard of other members having had problems with the same watch.

One more thing:

don't you think the Anniversary is a little too ... "flashy"? I sincerely prefer the previous version of this watch.

Here is Ziggy's review of this movement.

I've owned 4 correct hand stacks, and one is a bit wobbly. Nothing serious though. Just don't use the independently adjustable hour hand too much (and wear out the transfer gear) and it'll be ok.

Genuine Rolex EXP II White:

Great watches all... but white ExpII is so amazing. I love it.

Takashi is a friend of mine, great guy!

I love your Explorer I... yours has great, nicely fitting SELs and very good crown!

I love that 5513.

I've said this before, but all the no-dates you've built are outstanding. Very believeable.

That's a beauty. I'd buy this if it were in the EU area.

The diameter is only 38mm though. Smaller watches don't sell well these days.

This is a few years old wrist shot from my summer cottage. Still love the good old Bond as much as ever. Wearing this today.

disussion going on already in here : http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=75434&hl=

Threads merged.

This post is very old, but it explains the basics.

Happy hunting (and searching)!

Let's get this going early. This time very early, it's 5AM Wednesday morning where I am.

Wearing the whitey today. I love this watch!

You're probably right Robert. The new DeepSea will probably look impressive in the flesh, much better than in the pictures. And it's probably also very hi-tech watch technically, and impressive in many ways.

Maybe I'll change my mind when I see better pictures of it.

Beautiful SMP! I love this watch!

WBK gets these Asian versions of SMP... very nice reps for the money. I owned a black GMT from him... the review is in my section, check it out.

Enjoy!

I think this is a fantastic idea.

This mght even push me to finally get another 16610. I gave up with them almost a year ago. It's like smoking... you never really "give up", you're just having a "break".

PS: I think the issue with the Noob datewheel is due to a bit too high and thin numbers, and not cyclops magnification. Not a huge issue to me... I think I want one of these.

But, come on, a good old SD is classier, isn't it.

Yes. No contest there.

Not to mention the Sub, which is just a huge step backwards, design wise. The only nice looking new watch Rolex has produced is the ceramic GMT, and even that has no spirit or feeling left from the original GMT. It's completely new watch.

I'm just terrified to think how they're going to screw up the Explorer II next, and Daytona. The YMII is probably in the top-5 most awful looking luxury watches ever produced.

The bigger Day-Date might be an improvement, but I prefer the sports models anyway.

Deep Sea? Not interested. I already have the SteelFish SuperOcean, which represents the perfect bulky diver watch design in my collection.

Going to wear this magnificent watch today.

Yes. Here's the rep vs. gen dial. I'd say it's pretty close. The Noobmariner dial is just as good though.

Rep/Gen dial comparison

BK can source it. A new member (Looseends) also got one from Andrew. So it looks like it's in production again, which is good news.

It was unavailable for a long, long time. PT tried to get more of these when he sold them out, but couldn't. It was only available with a bad "Explorer II dial" where the ROLEX and coronet were way undersized. This version was also available with correct hand stack.

This was sold as "TW version" when it originally surfaced. TTK sells this watch under "MBK", but in reality it comes from the same factory as the Noobmariner, Noob Yacht-Master, seconds at '6 Daytona and the best Explorer II.

I have reviewed all said watches in my section. There's more info.

Congrats, that's the famous "Noob" GMT that you have there. One of the best Rolex reps ever (after mods). The rehaut, rehaut thickness and profile are pretty much perfect. I remember when you got this one from PT. Great score!

PS: There are still some small details that I fixed on my GMTs: Crown (change to genuine), bezel (get one with better teeth from BK) and thinner GMT hand. Not absolutely necessary of course, but they still improve the visuals.

Which is the noob version - there are so many! Aaarrrghhh - direct link would be ideal...

Thanks

I recommend buying it from bklm1234. It gets new bezel and cg mods (which are both essential mods):

http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=75311

It's not really noticeable... until the hour hand and GMT hand "meet".

Correct stack is nice, but I have no problem wearing the wrong stack, either. I have 2 of these 16710 models (modded to extremes) and it doesn't really make any difference to me. I love & wear them both.

Am I the only one who's bothered with the engraving? It's not just the wrong and too dark font, but ROLEXROLEXROLEX should start exactly at '3 and 9' and it's way out of place on the rep. Why did they screw up something like that on a watch that's otherwise so well done? Especially when the engraving is at least symmetrically correct on almost all cheapie rep versions of this watch.

Yeah, I've heard the engraving is not that noticeable, but I still think it's a serious flaw.

I'm wearing this big boy again.

Here's a few good outside photos of the new GMTIIc, that I found from Ebay.

Also, I can't find where i can buy the one referred to as the "noob" version - can anyone point me in the right direction???

bklm1234 sells the modified version, and Andrew (Trustywatchguy) sells the unmodified one.

Read my GMT reviews from my section for starters. Good luck.