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Thanks a lot Freddy. I have been writing to the gentlemen at Yuki which reply that their case ships for USD 700 crystal, bezel, bakelite insert, tube and caseback. Looks fair to me, therefore as I'm ready to pull the trigger I'd appreciate a confirmation from you and all those in the know: Can I use this to build my 6542 rep with JoeyB's insert (and date overlay), a 2893 movement with GMT "hack" and whatever has to go there?

News update: Back to the starting point given I have just lost the modder. There apparently was a misunderstandment as I was under the convinction that he'd build the watch while he thought I was just asking him to source a movement. Either way I'm stuck once more... Does this perhaps mean I should just lay down and avoid? But no I won't. For the time being I'll just keep on gathering parts. Then I'll see what to do with the modder. Hopefully one of them will read this topic and decide to apply Back on track. I found this on Yuki's site Is there any reason for not using it? thanks in advance!

Thanks a lot gents! Ingod apparently is out of stock on both the black and white 1675 dials. Any other viable alternatives? Searching the forum does not lead me to additional clues.

Hi all, Currently sourcing parts for my new pet-project. InGod sells this: http://www.ingod44.com/rolex-gmt-master-6542-no-crown-guard-pan-am/ But it does not look like something I can slap onto my ETA powered build. Or is it?

I got these from Akira right now!! So far so good Now on to reluming, ageing, assembling with movement, hands and whatnot...

Good evening (this side of the pond) everyone! I'm a Rolex Explorer 1 freak! I first came accross this excellent forum while googling for "Rolex Explorer occasion". I had never considered the possibility of going the 'rep' way but after a little reading and picture-watching I realized that building my own watch would be way funnier than just going to the local AD and paying for the real thing. So I eventually decided to give this thing a go. At first I tried to get in touch with a couple of well-known modders which apparently were so busy that they did not even care to tell me to beat it. Since these gentlemen evidently did not need me as a client I thought I'd educate myself to the task. Of course I had to stumble a couple of times (attempted modification on a crappy 21j 1680 which resulted in a badly faded insert and a dial looking like the 'Swamp Thing', a broken keyless-work on Andrew's 1016 wich anyway had a wrong and totally off "Precision" dial), before considering that I would never make a living out of this. Then I took the 'ready-made' path and bought a complete already-modded-and-aged watch which got stolen while in transit... ok! Time to try something different. Foreword: All that follows would not have been possible had I not met two trusted and respected members of this community and all-around nice individuals: LHOOQ and AKIRA Therefore thank you, thank you and thank you! Working with both of you is a privilege! I had read some of LHOOQ's contribution to the forum on the Rolex Explorer subject. I therefore thought it wise to ask his advice. What I go back were not only suggestions but a constant stream of knowledge and support exceeding common courtesy by far. pics courtesy of LHOOQ The bezel is JMB's the best out there I am told. Dial is MBK. I have been comparing it with various pics of genuine 1016 I have found on the net and (to my eye) it looks very convincing; the only flaw being that of the coronet's 'mouth' which in gens bearing a similarly slender logo is not round but almost rectangular. Crystal is a genuine GS-22 (thanks Dropbear!). I still needed a case on the which to fit all these nice parts. After a long brainstorming session with both LHOOQ and Akira I chose to go 'franken' and was lucky enough to immediately find a (mint!) 16200 case in the hands of Dropbear which had also been selling the crystal. Movement and hands were a tad harder to come by (in fact as I write I still am waiting for it), because as I definitely had been aiming for the stars I was not going to stop right now! LHOOQ spoke in wisdom and declared that the best of the best can only be TC's! So I wrote a line to this gentleman and we closed the deal in no time: A set of 'TC's Submariner' hands, his newly-available 'TC Super Clone' movement and three complimentary (thanks TC!) retainer rings are on the way (hope to be getting these soon!). Once the theoretic aspect of the matter was taken care of I had to find a way to deal with the practical part: I needed a modder... enter AKIRA! I already owned one of Akira's mods so I knew about his potential, but the best had yet to come... The lugholes being drilled to accept 'gen' springbars And speaking of springbars: Did you know that 1016 ones have rounded edges? I did not... now I do LHOOQ owns a genuine 1016 (wear it well and proudly!) So what's more natural than asking him to take a serie of pics of his watch to use as a working-model? Would you have accepted? HE DID! He snapped the pics and handed it to Akira which used it as an overlay on a serie of similar pictures he had taken of the 16200. Upon superposing the images he then obtained a very precise idea of the areas of the 16200 case which would need reworking. The case arrived with its own tube and crown. Did you know that the 1016 uses a very particular type of crown which is not the same as, say, the 16200's, and that therefore the case too would have to be drilled in order to accept the particular 'gen' tube fitted for this particular 'gen' crown? I did not have the faintest idea... Akira did. This is the story so far. Right now there's a problem with the dial which diameter is a tad too large to fit in the 16200 case. Some more reshaping will be necessary. This is still a W.I.P. but I already feel it's going to be something very, very good...

JoeyB: I hope you meant the 3rd anniversary. If not then i want a copy of your fitness schedule

Waiting for Akira

Fortis Spacematic with "auto-quartz" in-house movement

Thanks everybody for the replies. Bottom line: The potential buyer has agreed a meeting with the seller at the local Rolex AD. The watch will be inspected by an expert in front of them.

000

A friend is being offered this watch for a sum through a ( not Rolex) reseller which is not offering any guarantee. Is this an authentic watch or a fake? The insert looks odd and so does the second hand. What's your take?

Nah... Back here there are none left; the few which still are able to work with their hands instead of pretending to be COO's of a multinational act all picky and will generally not accept to work on plain-vanilla movements, forget about asking to get a rep assembled/serviced.

Right-o but this is the easy part of the problem

I am not interested in Minh's offer. The watch is too expensive, the different combination of parts is still too expensive. I prefer Freddy's pointer regarding NDT and the possibility of sourcing a white dial from them. If I succeed in doing this finding a 1655 case should not be a big deal. The big problem will be that of finding a modder willing to take on the task. Akira has already told me he's too busy to consider taking more work. I have Pm'd RA two or three times during the last months regarding a 1680 and a 1016 I wanted him to do for me but never got a single reply. Domi gave me an 8-10 weeks timeframe to relume a dial. I have run out of options.

The box does not carry any kind of notice apart the customs declaration on which Z imprudently wrote "broken watch/parts". The thief introduced a slab of yellow notepaper inside the parcel upon removing the watch, to avoid a noticeable difference in weight Filing a report with the police back here means that I'd have to take a whole day away from work in order to spend it in a line, waiting for my turn to tell my sad story to a bored-to-death police officer which, in the end, would try his best to dissuade me from reporting in order to avoid having to work. And the report would finally be worth nothing as the postal service would not even notice it's there. All they want is a proof of the stolen good worth. Then depending on the amount at stake they will eventually decide to handle things the easy way or the hard way. In case things should become difficult (but getting this far would already be a premium), then a police report -or even better- a letter from a lawyer, would be a powerful and clever move. On a slightly more humorous note: Andy... you're talking about Royal Mail... this is Italy mate...

Thank you so much for the very useful tip Freddy!

Darn... When I opened the thread to get its link you can't immagine the anger.... Whatever there it is: http://www.rwgforum.net/index.php?/topic/155516-FS.-Rolex-1675-gmt,-built-by-RolexAddict-(The-Famouse-one) And again, any particular regarding the piece will be offered by Zeleni as soon as he's able to hop back in. I in the meantime have been filing a complaint with the postal service on my side. I have declared that the box contained a watch movement, to avoid the restriction to ship jewelry. Problem is that I am required to issue a document proving the item's value. Anybody knows a watchsmith which has/can issue a receipt for a watch mechanism worth 1000 eur (850£ or 900$ roughly)? A scanned copy would be sufficient, I'm quite sure there would not be too much enquiring before refund.

Got the picture JoeyB... just drew a line over PT's 6542

Minh replied in the end: He wants 2300$ for case and dial. Does not say wether the engraved caseback is included but I guess it is. I tried NDT as suggested Freddy; there are some very nice dials for sure although there are no white ones. So far the only rep maker which seems to offer something pointing in the right direction is PT. Of course people with your knowledge and experience will spot the "fake" from a distance but I don't therefore the modded example that Denimhead has contributed today does not look so bad in my eye. But let's live the dial aside for a while. I have read your contributions to notice that nobody has apparently come up with a viable solution for the case. Is that so particular that it is not possible to reproduce it? I have read of people like RA or TC which re-shape the cases of reps to make it look like gen Submariners. Can't the same thing be done with, say, a rep GMT master's case?

Thanks to all for feedback and solidarity. Concierge is a trusted person. Zeleni's been trying to file a complaint with the swedish postal service, but was explained right away that without an invoice/receipt or similar document proving the content of the box's claimed worth (1000 eur), there's no way to get anything back. On top of that he can't tell them there was a watch in there, it'd be considered jewelry so, again, no refund. I'm out if invoices and receipts for goods worth 1000 eur lately... One never has the thing he needs when he needs it... For what is about serial nos. And/or distinctive marks Zeleni will have to reply as he's the last one which saw amd handled the watch

Minh did not reply to my post enquiring about this particular dial. He also does not list it as available as a "standalone" part. I therefore would opt for the Ingod dial (I want the white Pan Am ) and because I have been told that it's the dial that best fits the task. But as of lately I seem to have been running out of luck as Ingod does not have the item I need in stock either... more waiting... .

Thanks a ton Panerai... unfortunately and for God knows which reason Zeleni has been doing exactly that and wrote "broken watch parts" on the customs sticker... it's like writing "valuables inside please help yourself". What do you want to do... I can't call him out on this... But enough wining! The friend who's gonna help me build this watch (not telling his name because I'm not sure he wants me to) is going to use the exact case you just suggested. He told me that one of the secret moves to make it credible is that of shaving the rehaut and using an Ingod dial. So I guess the guy knows his business after all Only problem now is that ingod's white dial is not in stock. I have tried to ask Minh but their 6542 dial is not listed as available in their parts stock.

Sorry for the caps but the situation calls for it... So yesterday night I was a little overwhelmed as it was the first time that something like that happened to me; a part of my brain was trying to elaborate what the next move should be so I did not react in a proper way. In fact I might say that I was slightly shocked... the idea that some lowlife could have broken inside my parcel, take my watch, strap it around his wrist and get away with it was too much. To cut a long story short: Zeleni's watch has been stolen. I have received his parcel, it was closed with a piece of grey scotch tape (my concierge got it, had it been me I would have not accepted to collect it), all that was left inside was a bracelet and four inserts. The watch is gone. I know that this is a community made of kind hearted people which can turn into nasty ninjas in case of need. I also know that I am a new member of this community so the majority of you do not know me. Nonetheless I hope you are going to listen to my call: The gentleman which stole this is a sub-par. He has made a big mistake and sooner or later he's going to do another one and I will be waiting for that. But I need your help. Please, please, please I know your eyes and ears are everywhere on the net so, if this should pop up anywhere on eBay, Craigslist, your local flea market will you drop me a note? There aren't tons of pieces like this one around, in fact there's only one like this. Zeleni and I are going to fill a complaint with the postal service in the hope of getting his/my money back as the parcel was fully insured, but I'm not optimistic, and besides it's not about the money, somebody stole Zeleni's watch for God's sake!! Thanks to all for reading.

First of all thanks to all those which accepted to share their knowledge in this thread. It's being incredibly instructive. Money is not a problem thank God but going the Minh route means shelling more dough than what I've ever spent for a gen Rolex/Tudor. Of course I understand that this here piece is something a little more valuable than your standard 3,5k submariner and comparing the cost of the "real thing" with that of Minh's rep is futile. If that 6542 had been built by someone in the forum with a name and credibility, someone which would have had the possibility to give a context, relate the story of the piece perhaps I would have pulled the trigger. Not like this. Anyhow Minh has been replying. His price is USD 4200 shipping included as you all had guessed. Now I have enquired on the price of the dial, that would be a good starting point provided Minh does not ask 1k for it I have tried to look at Ingod as Akira pointed out. There's a "1675 PanAm dial" which looks quite good for 155$ (out of stock currently), so Minh's could be an alternative I think. Pure Time's case seems to be generally considered as an ok option, the rest as elegantly described by Panerai and Freddy. I most definitely am going to try and give a go at this with a little help from a friend. Let's see if something good eventually comes out. I'll tell you: I need this little project right now in order to assimilate what happened today: As some of you may know I was the lucky guy which bought Zeleni's 1675. Today the parcel has reached my door but, to my dismay, it contains a bracelet and four inserts. The watch has been stolen. Someone en route has been opening the box, taking the watch and closing the box with a piece of scotch tape. I currently am in touch with Zeleni and we're gonna try to get the money back as the parcel was insured. It's gonna be a mess and I'm not optimistic as to that I'll ever be granted any refund. On top of that is the loss of a watch I had bought because I really liked it and which now is gone... Well at least now I have a nice new folded bracelet, if only a trifle expensive... C'est la vie! But I really hope this new 6542 project is going to help me forget this little misfortune.