CatchingFire

That is a very good point in my opinion. The fact that Rolex designs were classic almost timeless styles were one of the attributes that made the brand appealing. The newer designs seem much more haute couture and follow current fashion trends much more closely than ever before. This is my opinion though as the Rolex brand certainly has not lost any ground in the sales department with their new designs.

MY EYES! MY EYES! Good Lord my EYES! It looks too much like a Swatch I saw in the mall the other day.

I wear dark oiled, Iron Rangers made by Red Wing. Timeless style no matter what the magazines say, timeless styles are classics for a reason!

Very nice..what crystal did you use?

Interesting height and profile to it..

Enjoy ur snowflake!

Beats me where the crystal originated. It was mounted on the case when I recieved it. It has some odd type of patina between the crystal and rehaut so I am suspecting that it has been on the watch a while.

Oh wow! I hadn't seen those! Thanks Nanuq, I am all over those!

I forgot to add a wrist pic. Here is the one I took for the Monday wristcheck.

I will join the SnowFlake family today.

Since my 16610 and 16800 projects are on hold until I replenish the "fun fund", I figure I would show the Tudor project I just picked up from the Watch Smith!

After spending a good while trying to decide between building a 6239 Daytona or a 9411 Snowflake. For better or worse, I went with the snowflake.

What I wanted was this:

So after spending considerable time on ebay and such buying parts I found on Ebay a case/crystal (it has its issues but overall is perfect for this project). A dial which looked nice except the lume had been stripped and never replaced. And finally, a vintage Rolex crown to round everything nicely.

The dial is not perfect, but this age of a dial wouldn't be. I wanted a tudor that looked just like the above pic. But my dial and new snowflake hands didnt match each other. My watchsmith didn't have a whole lot of desire to do a bunch of vintaged lume without me paying an arm and a leg. So he gave me the recipe he uses to make the lume and some crapped out dials to practice on. Now the dial and hands are my lume job...for better or worse. I am happy with them though.

My WS orderd the proper movement ring. It isn't a spacer ring per say as it is very thin and hugs the movement only serving to lock it into place. but dang if this little ring wasn't $$$. An nice, Swiss ETA movment had its calender bits removed and was dropped in. I am not sure where the Rolex marked weight came from but it my WS had it in his "Hell Box" of parts so he threw it on.

The case came with the tube and the crystal already mounted so those were left alone except a nice light sand and polish of the crystal. Insert also came with the case. It is missing the click spring I think but I am not so much worried about that since a watch this age may mot have it anyway. It is on the list for future updates.

For right now it is on another Ebay purchase, a cordovan nato.

Ok, that is enough blah, blah, blah.

Here you go:

At this point I am wiching I would have built the 6239 as the Daytona's have really, really grown on me. But at least this project turned out pretty dang good in my newbie opinion! And I was oing to build it sooner or later so I am happy I built it when parts were available.

Yes. It was only a small rider to my home owners insurance to cover our jewelry. And after having my Ellsworth stolen from my garage, my bicycles are also included in my insurance.

or just have your case drilled

That is the best idea yet! You up for the job woof or can you direct me to who can?

Kat Von Dee (sp?) summed it up best when she said "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap!"

Clarkson (being the unimaginative tosspiece that he is) pretty much only ever wears Bond Watches. First the Omega SMP, then the Omega Planet Ocean. I have spotted him wearing an Omega Railmaster on occasion, but it is rare, and he strikes me as someone who goes from an old watch to a new one, rather than a collector. He's definitely too much of an over-compensating snob to lower himself to wearing a rep, although he did briefly sport a rep Omega (for filming purposes) while on a shoot in China (wether he kept it or fed it to Hammond as a joke is another matter) The one thing I do agree with Clarkson on, was when he said "The only thing worse than a fake Rolex, is a real one..." I tend to tune out May altogether, as he just bores me to tears. I have noticed him wearing some nice pieces now and again, but I suspect he's too much of 'a purist' to wear reps (for totally different reasons to Clarkson). Hammond is the only one I could actually see wearing reps (and is the only one of the trio I actually like) but, knowing the torment he would get from Clarkson for doing so, I suspect his collection is totally legit.

Yup! I would agree that the "Hampster's" collection is probably legit! And if it wasnt, I would congragulate him on a fine rep collection! Clarkson, I would call out in public for wearing a rep even if he had on a Seiko! - Im not a fan of some one I being an @ss just because they can be.

You see so many Vintage Daytonas on stars these days as their daily beaters, I wonder how many of them are fully original pieces or pieces "put together" for them.

What sucks is my watchmaker clipped the dial feet (to fit an ETA) before pointing out to me that the dial was incorrect for my specific purpose. I stopped him before he mounted the dial though.

So, it looks like returning it is not an option.

But thinking about it

Maybe I should transfer the Bezel assebly, crown, etc to a startime case along with this dial. It would make a pretty quick project of an early 16610 or late 16800 wouldnt it?

BTW Aligoat, that watch is superb!

As crazy as it seems. I dont smoke my cigars that often. BUT... I chew on a cigar daily. My wife calls my cigars "daddies chew toys.

So I buy my cigars from a different standpoint. One that holds the taste of the cigar first and smoke secondary.

My current favorite for chewing are Ashton Heritage (Pur Sol).

Bead blasting is about the only way I have seen to get uniform finishes. Even soda blasting has enough oomf to mat the finish a bit depending on the Ti.

Thanks for the suggestion.

But with all of the 16800 projects going on I am tempted to read through the crap-load of threads and start putting the parts aside to build an early 16610.

From what I am learning, patience is a virture for collecting the correct parts to build the modern-vintage subs.

So I bought a Yuki dial "16800/16610" and matching ETA hands before I really did all of the research on the minute difference of Rolex dials.

So I wanted to put this into a modern case (no lug holes case). But, this particular dial is for a pre luminova watch and therefore a lug hole case, right?

So it is totally wrong for a TW best type case huh?

Or am I being to critical?

Who is really going to notice the T<25 when the watch is on my wrist......besides me that is?

So now I shove this one in a drawer and contact who for a modern dial?

BeBe Gilberto - Aganju

I think it just ebbs and flows. I would find it difficult to believe that luxury goods makers will spend more money on lawyers when profitability is falling. I am hearing that we may well see actual price reductions on some manufacturers' list prices. I do believe that investigation is often instigated upon complaints received by the company so keep your friends close and your enemies closer. .

It isn't a matter of spending MORE money. The lawyers employed by these companies get paid whether used or not. Might as well have them earn their perverbial keep, right?

If I understand it correctly, Rolex and such ilk have issued threats to EBay and their sister company PayPal. Some how, some way, they have some sort of monetary liability under current American copyright laws if they allow certain grey marketeers sell their wares. At least that is the word around some grapevines. It is of course, more complicated than that but that is what it boils down to I believe.

Andrew said that the current stocks of this watch aren't that nice. The earlier maker of this watch no longer manufactures the really nice one the forums know and love.

But I will ask Toro if he has an earlier version. Thanks for the heads up.

Ok Nevermind.

I have heard from 3 dealers that the original high quality rep is no longer available.

So now I have to be on the lookout in the sales sections.

Thanks

I have been reading the board for a while as a guest before finally deciding to join. I had already purchased the prerequisite Submariner and Panerai that I think most noobs buy.

But I have to admit to falling in love with the 2006 Cousteau. I love the wood and overall look of this watch. How ever, not much has been written about this watch in about a year.

So given that the popularity of this watch is not as high as it once was, which dealer would it be best for me to contact for an older rep such as this? What I mean is which one would still give consideration as to QC of an older rep since ALL the "cartel" dealers carry it?

Thanks!

On the second day of my "Staycation", I am starting off the day with a recording of The Yeah Yeah Yeahs singing Gold Lion at the South by South West music festival.