bruce79

I have always liked Oris.

I've got one that I'd sell, it's for acrylic crystal though. PM me if interested.

There are a ton of good franken 1655s out there. As others have said, it was certainly a risk...and believe me, scammers know what they are doing. With that said, I bought my gen 1680 from the original owner who was an older gentleman, really didn't know how to use a camera. You should have seen the crappy pictures he sent. But something seemed right about it and I took a chance and got an amazing piece.

The bezels are indeed slightly different for the sapphire and acrylic crystal datejusts. They can be interchanged, but the crystal won't look right as the height of the bezels are different. I've got a gen engine turned bezel for acrylic crystal if you're interested.

$775 for a modified 93150 bracelet is a bit steep in my opinion. As mentioned, that's probably why it's still for sale. Should be more in the $500ish range.

+1...since this isn't a sales thread. Nice offering but IMO the parts are worth a fair amount sold separately. Gen 1680s can be had for $5k give or take a few hundred.

Sounds like it will be something quite obvious to a watchmaker. Take it to someone rather than doing it yourself...sounds like that's what you're going to do anyhow. Good luck and try to source some gen hands to complete your beautiful watch.

Those were the ones that started it for me. I went back and forth between the CN & TW so many times. Spent so much money on mods. And the classic epic rants between The Zigmeister and RBJ that used to go on for pages and pages and pages. I think RBJ still lurks around RWI, I know he has an account open. These are certainly much simpler times.

Nothing beats the gen....but be careful. Gens can be as addicting as reps...and more expensive.

I'd say if you're building a franken piece, the 702 reproduction from J&W would suffice. Hell, I might even pick one up. My only concern would be the pitch on the tube fitting the case. You obviously would never want to mod a gen case to fit a repro tube. But a rep case might afford more options. As far as a list of where to get 702s, that would be quite challenging I suspect.

Once your eyes get used to a 702, you can pick one out from the profile quite easily. For a vintage 5513, 1680...anything other than a 702 just doesn't look right. That said, the 703 is a way better crown in terms of design, protection from the elements and function. The 702 on my gen 1680 is quite beat up but still does the trick. Looking for a replacement though as my crown doesn't thread as much as I'd like anymore. sigh...

RBJ is still around and posting on RWI. Quite surprised actually.

I thought the LV hands were fatter than the standard sub hands. Great find tho.

I dunno, that looks a lot like a 702 in the VRF ad. The 702 fetches far more than the 703 so I suppose it could be considered a bonus. I'm no crown expert tho.

There were some 93150 from the late 90s that had round 3s on the last bracelet link. Not sure about the clasp though. I certainly wouldn't say Rolex never put a rounded 3 on the clasp...it's just a matter of when it was done. I would scour VRF...tons of info on there.