sishac

Thank you very much guys, that was exactly what I was looking for!! --- I am here: http://tapatalk.com/map.php?jdhw51

Hi all, I'm looking for a slow beat eta movement for a MBW 5513....I've got a 2872 from a swatch irony that seems to be a slow beat movement, but I haven't taken it out of the swatch case to try and fit it in the MBW case yet. My question is this....everyone says that the best movement to get is a 2846, but are there any other eta calibre's that would also fit the bill? Also, as Ebay seems to be a great place to find these movements, can anyone suggest watch brands that might carry this movement? I know that they came in 17 and 21 jewel versions...any suggestions? Thanks,

Regarding the 702/703 crowns...is it possible to take the existing crown off the stem and essentially sand off a bit from the bottom of the crown so that it is then stubbier than before?

For the past 3 years I've been driving a wonderful 2005 330cic...6 speed manual, and a convertible top!! For me, it doesn't get much better...of course when it is nice out I drive my 1965 Ford Mustang convertible... Ivy green metallic, palomino pony interior, 4bbl V8, 4-speed, limited slip and updated suspension with the Shelby drop!

Wow!! This is amazing and so in the true spirit of this forum. I am constantly amazed at the innovation and skills of forum members here. Congratulations on a wonderful piece!!!

Yuki has these dials. I don't know about the quality though, but in general I've read good review of. Yuki.

On Etsy I found a guy selling shell cordovan wallets for $95...gorgeous!! He also makes plain leather ones for $55. I think he goes by Jaw Leather. --- I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=40.040992,-75.399486

The seller states that two are 703 for SMS sub, and one is a 750 crown. I can live with the 704 on my 5513.

I should say that my digital caliper keeps on coming up with a size of 6.6mm, not 7mm:

Every day is vintage day! In addition to this 5512, I'm wearing my gen SM300!!

Beautiful job!!! I'm getting ready to start on a 5513 project, but I am thinking of going for the safe-queen look! Your watch is an inspiration!!!

Beautiful!!! I am currently looking for a jubilee for my 1675....anyone have any nice leads....I'd rather have a solid link than folded link...I know its not vintage, I just like a heavier bracelet.

So you can buy a MBW case by itself, or do you have to buy the whole watch and part it out? Can Reg get just the caseset?

I've measured a few gens and the thickness of everything seems to be about 14.5mm. I've measured a few gens and the thickness of everything seems to be about 14.5mm. I've measured a few gens and the thickness of everything seems to be about 14.5mm.

So are these for sale??? And will they fit an asian 2813?

Hey, I just got a sample of a brushed metal printable paper....if someone can send me a good pdf of a datewheel, I'll be happy to print a page of these datewheels up on my inkjet printer to see how they are. I've compared the paper to my original 1675 silver datewheel and its not half bad. My question would be what exact size to print the datewheel out at and then any ideas as to how to "cut" them out? Maybe with an exacto blade and then just use spray adhesive to attach them to the existing datewheel.

I really like the water decal idea...it is thin enough that it could be overlayed on white paper or silver for the elusive silver datewheel. Concerning the silver date wheel, has anyone thought of using silver vellum paper? I believe that they make it both opaque and translucent. You can print on it without a problem as well. I have a gen 1675 GMT with the original silver datewheel and it simply jumps out of the the matte black dial. I was personally thinking that a nice bold red datewheel would look great on the red sub that I am going to have to take apart because I broke the keyless works. This is a project that can be done (although a previous poster said it right...easier said than done)!!

I think that this is an extremely encouraging project...if you could easily print off a dial, you would know that the fonts are right, and the spacing is right. WOW!!!

JJ - thank you for the suggestion, but that did not work. I guess now I decide whether I take it to my watch guy with a dollar limit to fix it, or I take the next step, buy a few new tools, and attempt to take off hands and a dial and replace a movement. So where do I get this movement, and which one is it? I want to make sure that my dial/hands fit this. Is it the MT-DG3804B for $26 or the MT-DG2813 for $21 from Otto Frei? Thanks - Tom

So is this something that I can fix, or should I take it to a watch guy? By the way, thank you very much for responding!!! As far as getting it out of hack position, I can screw the crown all the way in, it just isn't running.

So I picked up this asian red sub from a member on another board. I was told that the crystal was replaced with a clark and that it had a scratch on the inside. The crystal was VERY high, and I was told that it needed to be shaved down. I've never owned a sub, so I figured this would be a great first step. Earlier this week I decided that I was going to try my hand at modding this watch....I went to Harbor Freight and bought a crystal press, a digital caliper as well as a set of cheap metal files. My plan of action was as follows: Remove the bezel/insert and age the insert Remove the movement Trim the crownguards Replace the crystal The first thing I did was to pop off the bezel, so that I could age the insert. I was disappointed to see an 8 sided metal spring, instead of the gen type tension spring. I got over that and will eventually figure out how to put that back together (the bezel had a great feeling before!) There was a black gasket around the base of the crystal. With my new toy, the digital caliper, the first thing I did was measure the thickness of the watch. The watch measured 16.9mm thick...take a look at the picture below...that is a TOP HAT! From the various boards and a few gens that I've seen, I determined that, while there could be some leeway, a gen 1680 with the tophat crystal should be between 14mm and 15mm thick. So, obviously the crystal needed to be shaved down about 2mm. I settled on an ending thickness of 14.5mm I started the process by taking off the caseback using the duct-tape ball trick...worked like a charm...I took out the case gasket, and looked at the back. First, while the midcase says 1680, the caseback is from a 5513. I don't know if that makes a difference, but I was sort of impressed of the detail in the caseback (it was "produced" in the first quarter of 1972.) With a little help from the board I figured out what button to push to take out the stem, and after two case screw holders, out came my movement. I put it in a box and started working. I easily popped the crystal out from the midcase...it did crack a bit on the bottom, but as I was going to be shaving that off anyway, what did it matter. By my calculation, I needed to take roughly 2.4mm off of the crystal. I had a paint sanding sponge, and I simply started to rub back and forth, trying to keep a random pattern to keep things even. Periodically I checked with my digital caliper and eventually I got down 2.5mm. I put the case back and midcases together and put the crystal in the groove and measured. 14.5mm...perfect. I then turned to the midcase. I hear all this stuff about shaving crownguards...honestly I really couldn't see the differences between this case and a gen (I know there was a difference, I just couldn't see it.) I had read that the crownguards should not have an curve to them. In addition, I had read that from the back, there should be a "V" with a flat bottom. Unfortunately I didn't have a needle nose pliers to remove the case tube, so I could only do so much here. I did try to go and shape the crownguards at the top outside to make them flatter and more tapered at the top. Here is what I started with and here is what I ended up with...any comments or suggestions on how I could improve here would be appreciated....personally I think that I have to really open up the inside, but that requires that I remove that case tube, which I didn't do. After I had finished with the metal file, I used the same sandpaper sponge that I had used for the crystal to sort of go over all of the edges of the watch. I then used a cape cod cloth over that to go and try and shine things up. The outside of the crownguards still need to be polished as they are a bit rough. The rest of the watch shined up pretty well I think. I then tackled the insert. Before I bleached this insert, I bleached a pepsi insert that I had from my gmt. As RolexAddict had modified my GMT bezel to take the proper size GMT insert, I used the insert that came with the watch (a sub size insert) as a guinea pig. After about 3 5-minute sessions in a 50/50 water/bleach bath, the insert faded beautifully and actually looked like it had been in the sun for a few years. Now I tried it with the sub bezel. I know that this isn't the right bezel insert for this watch, but I wanted to do it anyway. I put the insert in the bleach solution and waited...nothing happened. After about a total of 20 minutes, I could see the sheen of the insert go, and it had faded very lightly....I then said lets go all the way, and put it in a 100% bleach solution for about 10 minutes...while there wasn't too much fading, it did turn sort of matte and lighted up a bit, so I figured that was good enough for that. I then went to reinstall my shaved crystal. I got out my new fancy crystal press, found two nylon dyes that fit, centered the datewheel and pressed. Nothing....I pressed more, NOTHING... With the crystal sitting in the proper seat of the case, it actually has some wiggle room. I have decided that in order to give it as much possibility of water-proof-ness (is that a word), I'm going to glue this crystal in and just leave it at that. I guess that when I shaved it down, the diameter of the crystal dropped a bit. So that will have to wait. Finally I said, lets put it all back together. I put the movement back in the case, inserted the crown and viola...nothing. Apparently the watch has stopped and will not start up. The watch was running fine when I started this afternoon, and I believe that it stopped when I initially took the crown out...I gave it a shake...nothing...I blew on it....nothing...I wound it up...nothing. I think at this point I have two options....either I learn how to remove hands and a dial and replace the movement, or I go to see my friendly neighborhood watchmaker and see if he can easily fix it without costing too much. Can anyone identify this movement for me though? I assume that it is a simple asian 21j movement, but the rotor is actually engraved (yes, I touched it with a pin and there are grooves on it)... So, that was my day...technically I did the mods that I wanted to do and other than the fact that the watch isn't working, and the crystal needs to be glued, (oh, and I lost one of the movement holder tab screws, so its being held in by only one tab) I'm pretty happy. The new crystal height seems very genuine to me, and the date magnification is perfect. I even ended up getting the scratch out of the inside of the crystal with some toothpaste. Of course, I put lots of little swirlys there, but it adds to the vintage character. Here is what it looks like right now: And of course, here are a before and after wirst shot: Before and After I hope that you enjoyed my writeup of my first watch mod potential....now hopefully I can get it fixed so that I can wear it.

Here is a 1675 from Reg that has been worked over by RolexAddict and a gen, mk1 1675. The rep has had the bezel corrected to fit a gen insert, and the dial has been relumed, a clark crystal installed and everything water tested. I have to tell you that the rep is scary close...yes, I know that the word "date" on the dial is a give-away, but it feels vintage, has a nice soft glow, and without a bracelet, is almost as heavy as the gen. The only other thing that jumps out at the rep is that the printing on the dial isn't as heavy white as on the gen. The gen on the other hand is simply gorgeous....the original mk1 dial doesn't glow anymore so I'm thinking of finding a service replacement for the dial and hands so that they glow like my Watcho SM300. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Thank you so much!!!!

Hi all - I just got up the nerve to start taking my 1680 from Reg (by way of another RG) apart. Yesterday I soaked the bezel insert in bleach...didn't make that much of a difference, so I'm going to try it again. Well, I have to remove the crystal to shave it down 2mm, so I need to take out the movement. I opened up the case back with some duct tape and the movement I found wasn't what I was expecting I think...so, two questions: 1. Can you please identify this movement...its supposed to be a 21j asian movement. It keeps nice time, but I was surprised to find decals on the rotor. 2. Can you please verify that in order to remove the stem, I need to push the circled recession. I'm 99% sure that is right, but I don't want to mess anything up. Finally, I've attached two pictures of my first stab at trying to shape crown-guards. I used a small metal file to try and take some of the curve out of them. How am I doing? After I take the crown out I will work on the indside. Then I will probably try to shine it all up with a cape cod cloth; And finally a picture of the caseback...apparently this 1680 has some 5513 blood in it...but it was made period correct in the first quarter of 1972 (I think).. Thanks for looking!!!

Thank you for the reply. Well, it worked great before I took it off, I guess trial and error will get it back on. Tonight I went to Harbor Freight and bought a watch crystal press, a digital caliper, and a set of metal files. When I got home I checked the thickness of my watch...it is 15.9mm....as I believe the gen 1680 is between 14 and 15mm thick, I need to now shave about 1.5mm from the crystal. Once I remove the movement from the watch, I can remove the crystal and then measure that to get an accurate reading of how much work I have to do. In addition, while I was attempting to fade my insert in a bleach solution (the pepsi GMT version came out gorgeous, while the 1680 just sort of matted up a bit), I started to work on the case edges with a metal file. I think that I will need to follow up with some sandpaper, but I think that I made a small dent. In addition, I started to work a bit on the crown guards. After I get the movement and crown out I can give it a few swipes on the inside of the crown guards to open them up a bit (they are really tight with the crown) and then also maybe shorten the tips of the crown guards a bit. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!