Stephane

Another very usefull review By-Tor. Maybe some will find there are too many subs reviews, but your opinion is an absolute reference for our community. So thanks for putting this one toghether for us. I can't speak for the Euro but the WM9 is a keeper for sure. Cheers Stephane

Ah ah, well, what can I say An MBK case is way more expensive and is not easy to find. Here you have the right movement + a nice case back and it could become a great Tudor franken. Since you helped me, with UBI of course, to start a project some months ago, I wouldn't mind starting a second Tudor one Anyway, I would be more than happy is a lot of members of RWG got one of these.

Hard to say something else but You made a great choice for sure Bruce

Ubi & Freddy: I have no better pics and the watch is packed now for a trip for some mods But, from what I see, it is a different case indeed. Here some other crops.

Mine is not that serial Freddy. It's 777356. But yes, according to my latest information the ETA 2483 is genuine and the case is good to very good. I have no idea if the case is gen but I would really suprised. It's an Oyster from Rolex and honestly it doesn't look genuine to me. But again, I'm not very good in that game. For sure, if everybody is having a different serial, then it might be a gen case. But that would be incredible...and we should buy them all.

I think it should look like this, right Chris?

@Chris: interresting that you found this one Let me guess...Is the inside of the case back stamped with lV 68 ? @T. That was a great retirement. Hope you are in great shape now @Ubi and Alligoat: so that movement is correct then? That is great news.

@Alligoat: yes, that is how I build my franken too. But a matte dial is indeed very rare these days as is a silver date wheel. So, in my opinion build a finished franken would cost a lot of money in the end, probably 2K and require a lot of patience to find the parts @Jojo: oh, I'm jealous of your SD...sure a great piece to own too. Congrats my friend

Congrats on the Neo Frank. My 16800 was a good deal though. Without papers and with a chaotic history people do not want to pay a "market price" Which made this one "affordable". Thanks Mrandazzo. It's the first time I see a silver datewheel on my wrist and I wish I had some of them to install in my frankens. But who knows...projects are never really finished are they Hmmm, interresting comment. From what I read and experienced myself it's not an easy one to rep though. If you have some secrets or some tricks, we'd love to hear them

Thanks so much for your nice comments guys. It's trully a "different" sub, as you say, a mix of old and new. Staying here push us to go for genuines, it's a natural move in my opinion. But you are right By-Tor: I'm looking! Currently I have a Snowflake and a 1655 project going on... So my Rolex collection will always be a mix of frankens and gens. @Alligoat: your franken is stunning. The gen too of course Cheers Stephane

Good to see you back Cronsell @ Pug: wow, what a nice Rolex

Listen my dear, I am personaly fed up with your comments. I am saying this in my name, not in the name of the Admin team. In my honest opinion, this place would be better without your presence. The reason being that your are a racist. Your are primitive to a point that you sound just ridiculous. Well, in the end, maybe it's better that you continue to post...it will educate us all. "How to recognize a racist?"....see that guy's posts. My 2 cents. Stephane

So true. I wish I was as sad as those who went for them in the 70's

You summed it. And it's a shame to feel obliged to hide the gens ... @ all show us your gens

No reason to be burned my dear Capice. It's a matter of taste and fellings only. All the other watches you mentioned doesn't talk to me at all If I had the funds, I would buy every single genuine variation of the Submariners (date and no date) and Seadwellers Absolutely. In example "Who wants to buy my Franken Single Red for 1.500

V, I will second what others said: you belong here. This place, in my humble opinion, is a community. Sure it started up with Reps for all of us. But year after year I guess it is only natural to go for gens. Don't let others put you down: it's pure jealousy probably. You enjoy gens and have the budget for them? That doesn't make you a criminal, is it? You contribute here and made a lot of friends, well that is what it's all about in priority. I'm sure that there are lot of members owning gens and willing to share them with us. But probably some do not want to be seen as "Showing Of" their gens. Which is quite stupid in the end. In my circle, I have very few persons enjoying watches. That is why I'm happy to share my passion with my RWG friends. I sincerely think that the person who was rude to you is NOT important. Your stay here is! Cheers Stephane

No, yes, no, yes... Difficult to decide but you are so right: it's perfect Beautiful photo again BT. The first one I see that makes me like the Pepsi VS the Coke

Rolex Submariner 16800: 6557XXX serie from 1980. Pictorial/review of a transitional Sub Dear All, The most boaring member of RWG history is here again with a Submariner. Sorry for that Preambule I would like to say that I am in no way a rich man but at my age it would be a pitty if couldn't finaly turn some of my dreams into reality. I discovered RWG back in January 2007 and collected some wonderful Frankens. I intend to continue to build more Rolex with the help of my friends here of course. I am on PAUSE mode though. I decided to put together a "mini" Genuine Rolex collection, essentially Submariners/SeaDwellers. And, in the end, I think it's not a bad idea to share them with the community. Allthough it might be seen as a show off, it is not my intention. I wish every single genuine watch owner would post theirs here, it's a great source of information. The 16800: transition? What does that mean? The first date Submariner was the famous 1680 with the 1575 movement and a cyclop of course. In 1977, the 16800 is released and features the first sapphire crystal on a Sub and a higher beat movement with quick set date. The 3035. This movement is not the current Rolex experts favourite. It was not dedicated to the Sub only but also to DateJust in example. The production of the movement ended in 1988 and was replaced by the star: the 3135. Images of the movement are stolen from the Rolxxx Ref xxx Page xxx It's funny how we learn something new everyday on RWG! I tried to set the date and I couldn't! I was trying to do it like on a 3135 movement, turning th crown clock wise. My good friend MM explained how to quick set the date on the 3035: it's Counter Clock Wise! The dept rating on the dial changed from 660 (1680) to 1000 feet (16800). The dial was lumed with Tritium (it's the matte dial here). Later, the dial carried hour markers surrounded with white gold, and then the 16610 was released after one year of 168000 in 1988/89. The difference on the 168000 (triple zero thus) is the steel quality which went from 316 to 904. All of them were using Tritium untill 1999/2000, including the 16610, when Rolex started to use Luminova, followed by Super Luminova. My 16800 The history of this 6557XXXX watch is a little chaotic. I have no papers. My usual seller (www.subgmt.com) told me it's a great example, one of the best he had seen. My friend MM confirmed this. As you can see, it was in Germany, Hong Kong and somewhere in Japan. Now it's in Belgium The dial We already saw matte dials. One more time. The Crystal One of the first Rolex sapphire crystal! The Date Wheel The great feature is the silver datewheel I can't really reproduce it in the photos but in the flesh it's really a totaly different feeling from the white ones. The hands The hands lume does not match the dial hour markers. The dial and the hands might not be from the same factory on this watch or the hands were changed by a RSC, who knows. After 28 years, we know that some lume material turn yellowish, some brownish and some stay white. Go figure! Neither the dial hour markers or hands are glowing..., it's totaly gone! This prooves that the hands are Tritium too anyway which is correct. The insert and the pearl The only very bad idea the owners got was to change the insert The pearl is to white for my taste allthough it is Tritium and almost doesn't glow at all anymore. But that ain't a big issue though as we have plenty of inserts around Between the lugs It's cool to see 16800 engraved between the lugs. The crown and the position The crown position on the 3035 in the 16800. ...the crown position on the 3135 in the 16610 (from 99) I'm not sure one can see a huge difference from the pics, but there is a difference as the movements aren't the same height. The crown guards No comment. They are shaved to perfection The bracelet and end links Like many other Rolex parts, there are watches that carry "newer" parts after going to the service. The 16800 came with 593, 580 and 501b endlinks. The most correct ones are the 593 as confirmed by Alligoat. Mine comes with 501b. (Stock photo, I was too lazy to make more 93150 photos) The bracelet was of course a 93150. Logicaly the bracelet should be a 1980 one but it is more likely a 1995 or 1998 one (depending on the source for clasp codes of course). This one has been changed thus and is stamped W on the clasp (Stock photo, I was too lazy to make more 93150 photos) The 1980 one should not have the two lines on the flip top buckle (where is he by the way? Sorry private joke for members from 2007) (Stock photo, I was too lazy to make more 93150 photos) Conclusion It's my first non modern Sub, with a matte dial and it took 24 hours to get used to it. But I have to say that I am more than happy with this one too. About the time keeping: another mystery to me. If this watch has not been serviced then it's a miracle. It keeps perfect time for 48 hours then goes 2 seconds to fast on day 3 Thanks for looking and reading. Cheers Stephane Some more eye candy.

Agreed

Same question as in the other thread for you Tribal. Do you confirm that the quality is as good as WM9? If so, it's a winner of course.

Ok, so you confirm this is equal to the WM9 quality Tribal ? If so, then we have a winner here. Congrats Chris

Agreed 100%. But maybe you and I are very bad in that field. There are a lot of members here who can actually spot the difference in real life. Me not.

....and bear in mind that we all know what to look at... It's our sport to be picky! In real life, on the wrist, it's not noticeable

I wish I could see the photos. For some reason I cant' open them. Anyway, congrats for getting a gen. It's a long route to take the decision to go for gens. And it's an achievement to build a mix collection of frankens and gens in my opinion Cheers Stephane.