mucrewbtp

Has anyone recently pressure tested a Breitling Chronomat Evolution? I have one on which I greased the case back and pusher seals that I regularly wear in the shower with no problem. However, I am going on vacation soon and would like to know if it would be safe to wear it in a pool. Any test results or personal experience on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Mike

It depends on what watch you are tryign to get the bezel off of. It is very dificult to get the bezel off of a noob sub or ym without bending it. I believe this goes for anything form the noob factory. The bezels seem to fit tighter and therefore are harder to get off than the CN bezels.

-Mike

Well, I have already bough it so I will have to wait and see. If its crap i will send it back. I boutght an insert for my sub from here and it snapped in nicely with no need for filing or glue. Better than the Florida Jewlers Supply inser I had before it. Ill post some pictures of the inser when I get it.

-Mike

I just bought this insert for my upcoming DRSD project.

http://cgi.ebay.com/BEZEL-INSERT-FOR-VINTA...7QQcmdZViewItem

It appears to have a nice acrylic pearl and aged look, Ill let you know how it is when I get it.

-Mike

You may be better off just using a current 703 triplock crown and tube. The water resistence will be better, and its not wrong for the watch. If at any time the watch was serviced by RSC they would have replaced the crown and tube with the current model.

-Mike

That is a very interesting site. I would be interested in seeing the quality of their cases and dials in person.

Someone of you knows this vendor, seems possesses interesting pieces.

VINTAGE CLICK

Thanks a lot for all of the replies, this will help a lot in this mod.

-Mike

quote =

I am using the Clark tube it came with 4 different o-ring seals. Two appear to go inside the tube, one around the outer circumference, and a 4th one. Am I to assume that this goes around the threaded part that is tapped into the case? I have read somewhere else that Rolex did not use a rubber seal on this part. I want the watch to be as water resistant as possible, does anybody that has done this mod before have suggestions?

/quote

I am not familiar with the 'Clark" case tube but a genuine triplock tube has two O rings inside the tube, one under the crown cap, one on the outside of the tube down close to the case, and a plastic/hard rubber gasket between the tube and case.

notes:

(7mm case tube or crown = submariner)

1...The O rings inside the case tube and under the crown cap are identical. These three O rings are standard 6.0mm case tube O rings.

2...The O ring for the outside of the tube is easy to tell from the other three.

3...The gasket between the case tube and case is harder than the other O rings and easy to tell apart.

4...7mm crowns bottom out against the case tube when screwed down...unlike DJ etc crowns that tighten down against a flat gasket under the crown cap.

For this reason, as long as all the threads are OK and the case tube does not leak where it screws into the case...the crown will seal up just fine if the O rings are good.

5...On some generic brass 7mm case tubes...the threaded part that screws in the case is too short and fragile.

6...7mm case tubes are the same thread size where they screw into the case as standard 6.0mm case tubes...3.0mm x .35mm

7...Some accessory case tubes do not have the O ring on the outside of the case tube...genuine twinlocks and early triplocks do not either. The outer O ring is basically a dust/moisture gasket and protects the threads from dirt and water when washing hands etc.

8...It is a hassle to cut a replica case to acceot the genuine case tube gasket so it is probably easier to try to get by with a silver washer like used on a 6.0mm DJ case tubes and/or gasket cement on the threads.

9...Grinding/cutting the case so the case tube fits better is a good idea to prevent the crown from being too far from the case when screwed down. Because 7mm crowns bottom out against the case tube...you can not force the crown closer to the case simply by tightening it down.

Thank you to the above posters for the help. So it seems that I have two options:

A. don't countersink the hole, and use gesket sealant, or

B. use the included extra rubber o-ring, but I will have to countersink the case first.

Any ideas/opinions on what will offer better water resistence.

Thank you,

Mike

Hello, I recently got a gen crown and tube to use on my 1665 MBW DRSD. I am using the Clark tube it came with 4 different o-ring seals. Two appear to go inside the tube, one around the outer circumference, and a 4th one. Am I to assume that this goes around the threaded part that is tapped into the case? I have read somewhere else that Rolex did not use a rubber seal on this part. I want the watch to be as water resistant as possible, does anybody that has done this mod before have suggestions?

Thank you,

Mike

Here is a link to the auction where I got the crowns, This might help clear things up.

Crown Auction

The walls of the 7MM crown are not extremely thin, but not overly thick either. The crown looks like a real one to me, and the seller seems to sll a lot of rolex parts with good feedback. He is exchanghing the smaller crown that I got with another 7MM. I would assume that if the 703 crown has been in production for a long time that these are 703 crowns. If you look at his auctions he also offers 6.35MM rolex crowns that also have triplock markings, I got one of the 7MM crowns and one of the smaller ones by mistake. The smaller crown does have a VERY thin wall like you mentioned.

-Mike

I agree I just looked at the movement pictures on WM9's website and they are not what they are claimed to me. WM9 is a scammer trying to pass off Chinese movements as swiss. His "2892" is actually a seagull to anyone who knows what they are looking for. If he lies about this what else is he lying about?

-Mike

It is a genuine triplock, and yes I am referring to the overall diameter. I will try to get some pictures of it to post tomorrow.

Hello, I recently ordered what were supposed to be two genuine 7MM triplock crowns, I was going to put one on a 1665 DRSD and one on a 16610 sub. Problem is one of the crowns is smaller in diameter than the other, I believe it is 6.35 mm but still has the markings of a triplock. Does anybody know what crown this would be? I am planning on having the seller replace it because it is not what I had ordered, but if the smaller crown was used on the 1665 I may just go ahead and use it. I would appreciate any help that anyone can offer, i have been looking all over the internet ang have not been able to identify these.

Thank you,

Mike

Thank you for the help so far, Since RSC will put the curent crown on when serviced, I will just buy the crowns I have found and install them. I hope the seller knows what style of crown tube his crowns require.

Thank You,

Mike

As freddy says, the current 7mm crown for a Rolex sub- or SD for that matter. is the 24-703-0. The tube is PN 24-7030-0. The last 0 denotes SS. Earlier crowns, 700, 701 and 702 are not compatible w/ the 703, or the 703 tube. When Rolex services a DRSD (if they still would), they would undoubtably install a 24-703 crown and tube assembly. Older style tubes are about impossible to come by these days.

Here's a Rolex crown from Mark Greenberg- moelarrycu in NYC

http://cgi.ebay.com/SS-Rolex-Submariner-Se...1QQcmdZViewItem

item # 22019253564 on ebay. Pricey, no doubt. He also has gen case tubes for around $46 or so.

These from suissetime may or may not be 24-703-0 crowns- you have to ask:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ROLEX-SUBMARINER-CROWN...1QQcmdZViewItem

item # 230212466772 if the link doesn't work

Here's an aftermarket tube from Clark's- these work, but are delicate- first you have to retap the case tube hole all the way, maybe countersink the case and finally install the tube carefully so as not to snap it off. Tools from ofrei will run close to $100 to do it correctly

http://cgi.ebay.com/Case-tube-Ref-24-7030-...1QQcmdZViewItem

item # 300165713453 if the link doesn't work.

Putting a gen crown and tube (or aftermarket tube) in isn't cheap and it's not a task for the novice, but it improves the looks and function of the watch immensely.

I already posted this on repgeek, and some members over there suggested that I post it here to see if any of the rolex experts might know the answer. I have a MBW 1665 DRSD on order and I would like to do some mods. I found a clark T39 superdome and a source for a bezel insert. I also found several 7MM triplock sub crowns. By looking at the crown is there any way to tell if it takes the new style or old style tube? Also has there been any major change with the crowns, or could I put a new style crown and tube on the vintage 1665?

Thanks,

Mike

Try looking for a seller "wholesaleoutlet990" I got an insert for a sub from them. It snapped right in my sub with no need for glue or milling of the insert.

-Mike

Thank you by-tor i have read all of your reviews and they are always very helpful. I guess you have talked me out of it. I was really interested in the movement he offered in the gmt and the holiday deal seems like a good chance ti pick up an extra watch, but I guess one good watch is better than two ok watches.

hmm... Now we have conflicting opinions, i thought the decision would be easy. I havent gotten a reply from silix yet so ill have to do some more thinking on it before I send money. If anybody else has opinions please let me know. I read by-tor's review it seemed like a pretty good review at the time, but i suppose there may be more accurate models out there now.

I decided to order the red and black version with the nickel movement and chose a panerai for my 19.99 holiday deal watch. This should be interesting.

For some time I have been wanting to get a good rep of a GMT Master. I have read the reviews of josh's retro vs. noob GMT. I also have been looking at the GMT masters on silix's site. They seem to be pretty good, I especially like the movements in them, they seem to be finished a little nicer than the standard gold colored ETA. I would like to know if anybody has one of these, and would like to know what they think about it. Or if you are familiar with GMT Masters I would appreciate it if you could take a look and give me your opinion, it looks good to me but I am not very good at picking out details from a picture. The model I am interested in is:

http://www.silix-prime.com/product.asp?id=1500

or:

http://www.silix-prime.com/product.asp?id=1402

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You,

Mike

Hello, I have two planet oceans one from Jay at Silix which is the large size with swiss movement, the other is the smaller 4th gen from Josh also with swiss movement. I really like both of the watches and wear them a lot. Coming along with this regular wear i guess is the loss of both of the bezel pearls. The inserts are still good so I would rather not replace them since the only place I have found them is on the bay for 25 dollars plus 10 dollars shipping. Does anyone have any idea where I would be able to find some bezel pearls that I could install in these inserts? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mike

is it waterproof? ie can you still swim with it? (I'm assuming you CAN swim )

The He valve is a real weak point because it is really just a screw run through the case from the inside. It's best to take the movement out and seal that off permanently with epoxy. I've done that to mine and greased the seals and I dive with it regularly on shallower dives. On deep dives I use my SFSO since I haven't had the UPO pressure tested yet. If you just want to swim though you would definitely be fine if you sealed the He valve and greased the seals.

-Matt

Any idea where can i get those watches online??

They're all over ebay. just do a search for German watches, and you will get them. They aren't really German watches though, they use a loophole to be able to say a watch that is 80% Chinese is made in Germany. I think it goes something like this: to be considered German made the watch must be at least 50% German by value. So, they can get the whole thing made in china for $10, then add a ten dollar German crystal, and there you have it, an authentic German watch made in China. BTW this gaudy use of crown guards is really getting out of hand among these hacky ebay watches. Maybe I should trump them all and make a giant six pound bronze crown guard, then glue a quartz movement too it. That will show them... that will show them all.

-Matt

How about the classic "uncle" story? I wonder why it's always "uncle", and not grandfather or brother.

"I inherited this Daytona from my uncle, and I don't know if it's authentic or not. I have a friend who works for Rolex and he said it is.

Thats the most god-awful Canal Street Daytona I've ever seen.

My favorite excuse is the "I bought this watch at an estate sale," or "Found this in a lot of old jewelers stuff." Or how about "I received this as a graduation gift but I don't have a box or papers.

Oh, I just noticed you are in the UK, I'm in the US. My offer is still out there but you may not want to pay postage.