TeeJay

Not entirely sure... Let's have a tot up assuming deconstructed and incomplete projects were finished, I'd be looking at...

Rolex 1655 Explorer II

Rolex 5513 Submariner

Rolex 6240 pre-Daytona

Rolex 6200 pre-Submariner

Rolex 16622 Yachtmaster

Tudor Oyster Prince Date (custom build, no model number)

Tudor 7919 Submariner

Tudor 7016 Submariner

I haven't got a list of catalogue prices and am not much of a mathmagician at the best of times, so what would that come to? About $25-30,000?

Progress looks good, TeeJay! Maybe 2011?

My 6263 is back in action with a new crown and a very old bracelet:

Thanks It'll probably be 2011 by the time I have the spare cash for the parts I'm pretty happy with the Tudor sub as it is and just fancied field-testing the strap, but my plans for the Daytona project aren't 100% finalized yet. Much depends on what movement I can obtain, and if I can get hold of a Tudor chronograph dial (with the same color scheme as this dial) at a reasonable price I'd love to do a conversion from a Daytona to a Monte Carlo, but again, it's a matter of obtaining a suitable movement and dial If the worst comes to the worst, I might go with a 6263-style watch, and just leave the crownguards in place (I don't have a dremel, and don't fancy filing them away by hand ) Yours is looking fantastic

I got some new shoes today...

I actually purchased the strap for this project,

but thought I'd best give it some wrist-time, as this watch is not going to be finished anytime in the near future...

That's a beautiful watch, a fantastic project indeed

+1

Look at it this way, all the time you wear a watch, it will pick up nicks and dings, it's unavoidable. A watch doesn't necessarily have to be vintage to have a few nicks on it, but at the end of the day, all the time the watch is on your wrist and pristine, you will be worried about knocking it. Once it has taken a few hits and picked up some scars, there's no need to worry about keeping it pristine, and you'll not be worried Of course, this does require an appreciation for the wabi-sabi aesthetic...

Of them all, I like option five the most, regardless of accuracy

The old Tudor dial's markers have a little indentation cut into them for the lume dot to butt against so the lume is actually touching the marker... I would post a close up but y'all would laugh at my lack of "lume skills".

I don't have access to superlume, but if you ever want me to take a look at the lume, just let me know

T, nice! Another thing that I've noticed, at least on my rep Datejust, is that it seems the "light" reflects back onto the top of the marker and instead of a dot it looks like a lit "rectangle". It's got to be the shape and angle of the actual marker, I think, as I put new "lume dots" on my Vintage Tudor dial in the same spots as the original dead stuff and all I see is "dots" at night as the markers have a different shape.

DJ:

Old Tudor:

Thanks, bro, it's an interesting result for sure Might it be because the lume on the Tudor dial is slightly further from the rehaut and at a different angle, rather than the DJ dial?

I don't think that they do most things "by accident" I'm sure it was a well thought out plan!

I think you might be right there

+1 - love the DJ and the lume is quite nice on it too! It's a very, very comfortable watch I was surprised as well after I got mine. I didn't even realize there were lume dots on my stick dial until after I took some macro's of it.

They really are very understated and versatile watches, I'm certainly starting to understand their appeal I'd never really worn a DJ long enough in the past to really notice the effect of the lume reflecting on the rehaut, but now I have, I'm wondering if that was the original intention of the Rolex boffins

Probably not news to anyone with a DJ, but I made an interesting observation while wearing this to a wedding reception saturday evening...

As y'all know, I'm a big fan of dive watches, due to the night-time visibility of their large lume markers, and I figured that the small lume dots of certain DJ models would not be adequate for my requirements. However, I forgot to take the watch off when I got in and just went to bed, woke up a few hours later, and when I went to check the time, I was surprised to discover that the reflection of the lume on the rehaut, served to increase the visible glow to something nearer to the size of a Planet Ocean marker, and perfectly visible As above, probably not news to anyone owning one of these watches, but maybe of help to anyone considering getting a DJ but maybe being in two minds about the lume issue... If you wear a suit on a regular basis, forget about the subs, get a DJ, the lume will be more than adequate at night

It's funny, I'm not so keen on the polished mid-links of the Yacht-Master or GMTIIc, but I really like how that's looking, it's a massive change to the entire feel of the watch

Wow, what can I add that hasn't been said already... That's a fine project to be sure

I have to admit, the latest Milgauss never really appealed to me (I don't like the lightning bolt hand) but this certainly looks like a nice watch

I've pretty much always been satisfied with out of the box lume on my watches (some have been better than others) and also satisfied with the luminous properties of NightColor paint. I don't need a dial to glow like a torch and light the room, but I do need to be able to read it in the dark... After a while, the eye adapts to the darkness anyway, so even weak lume can be clearly visible once the eye has adapted

Best of luck with future endeavors, and take it easy

How about a Ulysse Nardin Maxi Marine Diver?

The first Submariner I bought had a Swiss movement, and that gained at least 45 seconds a day (at the time, I didn't know how to adjust a watch's timing myself) If your watch is consistently gaining a minute a day, then it is just a matter of popping the back and adjusting the movement accordingly, and that should resolve the issue /) For what it's worth, I now only buy watches with Asian movements, and have been able to adjust them to +0.5 seconds a day... Welcome to the party

PS The barcode is just a sticker, not a feature of the design

*shrugs*

I have to admit, personally, I'd just install the updated bulbs rather than buying a whole new car... I guess different priorities for different folks

Maybe a dusting of matte spray varnish would take care of the texture of the aftermarket dial, and maybe even make it seem a bit lighter?

As long as you are planning never to sell or insure the watch & do not mind causing raised eyebrows among those in-the-know, you can paint the lume in a dayglo color like red to match your wife's fingernail polish. But reluming a valuable vintage Rolex, especially with modern lume, seriously deflates the watch's value & makes a nice gen look questionable. As I have said elsewhere, I am all for refurbing a seriously worn out vintage piece, but some things really should be left as-is (or, if refurbed, as they should be).

I'm not trying to be argumentative here, I quite simply do not get it, so a couple of points...

1. No one has said anything about selling or insuring a watch, infact, I specifically said above that as long as those were not considerations, then they are quite simply not salient issues when it comes to discussing the functionality of the watch. Surely it is better to have a watch which is readable in the dark as well as the light, than to have a watch which is only readable in the light (especially when the watch was originally designed to be readable in the dark)

2. What are the chances of actually running into someone 'in the know' in everyday real life? Neither Nanuq, yourself or I are exactly noobs around here, we are not exactly 'looking for the best sub' or scared about being called out by strangers in the street, so I would again respectfully point out, that I do not understand why someone would prefer a dial which does not glow, over a dial which does (and therefore more useful) simply because it 'is less accurate', when the chances of running into someone who actually knows the subject, is much less than the chances of needing to be able to read the watch in dark conditions... The point I was raising, was one purely of functionality.

To go back to the SUV analogy, it seems (to me) to be like someone who would benefit from all the all-terrain capability of an SUV over a family station wagon buying an SUV, but rather than actually taking it 'off road', leaving it in the parking lot and making themselves walk over the terrain which the SUV is designed to be able to navigate. Sure, someone would have to be either very rich (and thus not care about the consequences) or very foolish to want to try taking a Ferrari along a wilderness trail, but the SUV on the other hand, is designed for the offroading, so why not use it to its full potential rather than simply leaving it in the parking lot?

Tasty

No change in climate, no need to change the watch

I believe the reason for Nanuq's regret is that a tritium-powered Rolex Sub has little or no glow after 40+ years. Reluming such a watch with modern lume is like permanently cementing a toupee on your head & then being self-conscious that someone (who knows what the real thing looks like) might mistake you for a poser.

I understand that tritium would lose it's glow after 40+ years, but surely it's still better to have a watch where it is possible to read the time in the dark than not? I'd've thought the easiest answer to some elitist snoot who commented on the dial glowing would be "Yes, I had the dial re-lumed so I can still read it in the dark... " would be a reasonable answer (especially if there is no discussion of selling the watch, so value/de-valuation would not be a salient issue...) I totally get what you mean about the toupee comparison, but must respectfully disagree, as a toupee is a purely cosmetic item (might keep the head a bit warmer...) and worn out of personal vanity and insecurity, dial lume, is a functional aspect of the watch, which enables it to be more useful... Oh well