TeeJay

These're my quartz watches... The Casio was what got me thinking about getting a Sub, and the Suunto-Clone was just for fun (similar to as worn in Stargate:Atlantis) I'm seeing a theme when it comes to colors...

I'm using the dark skin, simply because I find it easier on the eye than the other skin... Heck, I remember years back when I was a member of another forum (tattoo and bodymod-based) and that went through several forum designs, but one in particular, the contrast was so 'wrong' that the majority of users were complaining of eyestrain within minutes. At a glance, it looked okay, but trying to actually read anything... Torture. It got fixed pretty soon

I like the dark skin, and like the new layout of the forum, especially the additional lifestyle sections If change was required due to technical issues, then the change was required, and personally, I rather like the results

True story, on my dear departed mother's eyes and the health of my children:

I got engaged and married in '92. It was, aside the births of my daughters, to date, the best year of my life.

My best man, whom I have known since kindergarten was working as a sound engineer @ 'Bearsville Recording Studios' in Woodstock, New York. The studio was then owned by Todd Rundgren. If you are younger than 40, the name probably doesn't ring any bells, but Todd was with the band the "Nazz" in the late sixties and had a few hits on his own in the seventies. He also produced 'Meatloaf' 's Bat Out of Hell album at Bearsville when no other producer or record company saw the genius behind that body of work. He also help raise Steven Tyler's daughter Liv in Woodstock with her biological mother, model Babe Buell.

I was married in St. Petersburg, Florida. The wedding party was staying at, and the reception was held at the Don Cesar resort on St. Pete Beach. Give it a Google. It has a lot of history and is beautiful.

On the friday before the wedding we held the rehearsal dinner at the Hurricane and retired to the Don for night caps. Exiting the elevator on the lounge mezzanine the maitre d' excused himself on behalf of the resort but informed us that the entire lounge area was reserved for a private 'banquet'. There were three men only sitting at the bar. With a hmmm, and an "Oh well" we were deciding on an alternate plan.

From the bar; "Chris! Chris! What are you doing here?!" One of the men at the bar was Todd Rundgren, of course he recognised my best man as his balance engineer from Bearsville. He motioned Chris over to the bar and there was some back slapping and gesturing toward our party. We were invited in. The two other men at the bar were Joe Walsh and Nils Lofgren. They were all on tour with Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band probably gigging in Lakeland or perhaps the USF campus. Ringo was absent having long since sworn off partying. Such is the pity for this die hard Beatle fan. Oh well, never meet your heros, they will only disappoint..............

We all settled in for drinks and the casual demeanor of the musicians quickly defused any 'star struck' emotions. Another member of my wedding party happened to be the 'Bergen County (New Jersey) Yo-Yo Champion" running consecutive years in the seventies. As a lark he had brought a bag on Duncan Yo-Yo's as party favors to the rehearsal dinner. They were the 'light up' models, we all had one and the musicians were intrigued. They all tried their hand and all failed miserably to great waves of laughter. It was a hoot. That and my old Air Force Dad concurring with Joe Walsh that Frank Sinatra was "real music" were the high lights. Then...........

.......and meanwhile, my fiance'e, an English 'Roedean' girl, and accomplished classical pianist had grown bored, all the significance of "Pop Culture Icons", "Yo-Yo's" and "Bushmills shots" completely lost on her, had wandered over to the baby grand piano and was running some scales, then into, I dunno, probably some Chopin. This piqued Joe Walsh's interest and he sauntered over for some fun. Coming up from behind, he bracketed my fiance'e with his arms and started banging out a raucus 12 bar boogie woogie on the keys. At this point in his career Joe Walsh had been very haggered by the rock and roll lifestyle all those years. He and Keith Richards could very well made a nice pair of Halloween book-ends. She spun around on the bench and was brow to brow with the man. She shrieked, escaped his loose embrace and ran quite shaken to the coven of her bridesmaids. I never laughed so hard in my life. It was a golden moment.

Just previous, Todd had ordered another 'round of Bushmills to toast my day. Doubles. Rejoining the group at the bar, grinning like the Cheshire Cat, and looking back over his shoulder at my fiance'e 's distress with complete satisfaction Joe querried; "Hmmmmm, doubles? What's the occaision?" "Our boy here is getting married in the morning". "Great! I'm in! To who?", "The girl at the piano", he; "Good God, make them triples!".

As it was all winding down and the guests were retiring, Joe Walsh, who was by that point in his life working on his fourth marriage, put his arm around my neck in a tight squeeze; "Boyo, let me tell you something..........." He hesitated, reflected on me and my fiance'e who was sitting by my side, much more composed now, and shook his head. "Nevermind boyo, every man reserves the right to jump off that cliff. You wouldn't take my advice anyway, I won't waste my words."

I knew what he was getting at surely, but every couple "know" they are different from everyone else who walked down that aisle before them. "For us it will always be milk and honey."

No it won't, but, it will still be the best, most honorable thing you can do on this Earth. It is why we are here. Where God and nature coexist in their independent design for 'man'; be fruitful, and multiply. Be earnest in your endeavor and you will make this a better world.

Old Scottish adage: "A man is not a man, until his father dies and he finds himself the patriarch of the clan."

Hang tough P4, you go where many fools have tread, but too, many, many more "men". Welcome to the clan.

It doesn't get much more awesome than that, thanks for sharing

Depending on what you want to get, you might want to try looking on CQout.com. There is an escrow system so your money is totally safe and refundable if you're not satisfied or the deal goes south (try explaining to PayPal that the illegal product you've bought doesn't look/work like you expected it to and the dealer won't issue a refund... None of that issue with the escrow service) Dealers get booted if they get more than 4 (or five, I forget which) negative feedbacks, and if one gets booted in the middle of a transaction, then the transaction is cancelled and the money is refunded automatically... Pretty much a win/win situation

Dealers here might have some better watches, but it really depends on what you want, but, if you want to buy with a pretty fool-proof safety net, I'd have to recommend CQout, as it has proven itself to me time and time again.

Best of luck with your purchases

Congratulations indeed

I just thought I'd take a few quick shots to try and show the true color of my watch dial

No point in having a diver's watch if I can't get it wet

I can't stand the feeling of not wearing a watch... That's why I rarely actually remove mine for any prolonged period. I'll even put another watch on if I'm doing modifications to the one I'm wearing. It's weird, I know, there are enough clocks around me (wall, PC, iPhone, microwave etc) that I can find out what the time is if I'm not wearing a watch, but as above, it just feels creepy wrong to not have a watch on my wrist, although I think some of that is down to the body 'being used' to the contact/weight, and missing its absence, rather than having an OCD need to know what the time actually is on command

I don't know the details of that model case to really comment on it as such, but, as a watch case, it looks pretty damn good, and will contribute to what should be an awesome project Best of luck with it, bro

Well, I've got this on at the moment.Definatley would benifit from Chief's AR

And to follow, my only remaining Rep. Sold the rest of my tiny collection to fund a UPO from P.T. Can't wait

That B&R app is sweet

Does it have be the 'Bergeon' brand, I've seen many unbranded Rolex Case Openers on the bay for alot less.

which part of the construction on the cheaper Rolex Case Openers, might scratch the case back?

cheers

PD

I'd guess that if the fit wasn't perfect, say using one of the adjustable 3 point case wrenches, if it was to slip, it might scuff the case...

That's an incredible watch, congratulations indeed

Which tool do you use to open your Rolex subs?

How much was the tool and does it scratch the case back?

where did you buy this tool?

cheers

PD

I think many use Burgeon case openers, although, as mentioned, I've had success with rubber gloves and elbow grease

for Teejay: Hey man the tiffany mariner is too cool!!

I want one like yours! Where can I find it?? are there other Rolex models with Tiffany&co engraving on the dial???

Thanks, I have to admit, it was a pretty nice watch out of the box, and other than the loose bezel, I'd've been quite happy with it as it was, but, it was only bought as a donor... It was from a dealer on CQout, but I think most dealers have the Tiffany & Co available. I'm not 100% sure how many have the narrow-edge bezel or old-style bezel insert, but they definitely have the Tiffany & Co dial. I've only ever read about a Tiffany & CO Submariner, and I think it was one of the last examples of Rolex putting another company brand name on their dials... From what I've read, a genuine Tiffany & Co submariner is harder to track down than a genuine red 1680

Thanks for the feedback, amigos

Go TeeJay. The man with a vision!!

That baking is a good idea. I think the black marker and red marker mod though wasn't the best. Did you scratch scuff the insert? I think the bleaching might be another choice to produce a more even effect.

Fun stuff. You gotta experiment on a yellowed acrylic or something for the pearl!

I can't claim the baking idea as my own, but it certainly works I think if I was to repeat it, I'd only need 30 seconds to get the result I had in mind... I tried removing the Tiffany & Co branding print with tape, but that didn't work, and I tried gently scraping it with the tip of a tooth pick and a screwdriver, but they didn't loosen it at all, so I thought easier to cover it with ink rather than risk damaging the surface of the dial To the naked eye, the black ink mod is okay, as the baked ink just looks like staining on the dial. I think the plan should be black ink, bake dial, then apply red ink... Indeed, I did both to the insert I scuffed up the edges with a nail file, and put a few scuffs over the surface of the insert, then bleached it with drain cleaner for 60 seconds. The only problem, is that I used taped pliars to hold the insert while it was soaking and for running under the tap, and that left squared lines by the triangle. I later thought I might be able to 'blend them in', with a bleaching of the specific area, (and a 'test fade' in another area) but it completely removed the anodizing by the triangle, and over the 10 marking... That annoyed me I'm not sure yet if I can tolerate it as 'chemical spill damage', or if I should get another insert...

If I do get another insert, I could always try taking the soak time up to 90 seconds, but I think that might be running the risk of completely stripping the anodizing as I did on my first attempt where the insert stripped down to the bare metal... The acrylic will pick up some scuffs fairly easily Infact, it was quite scuffed, but I buffed it clean when re-installing it, as I got an epoxy fingerprint on it, so had to buff that out with toothpaste Still room for tweeks and improvements, but for the moment, I'm pretty happy with the result

I never realized. I think this is actually a nice base for a vintage. I think that watch would have looked fine with just scratching up the case a bit, baking the hands and dial and aging the insert.

Oh definitely, the watch would've made an awesome vintage base in it's own right (and it will ) but it really was just purchased as a dial donor for the project sub, although in the end, I took the dial, insert, caseback and movement. My prime reason for aging the Silix sub and not the Tiffany & Co Sub, was because of the fixed springbars. The watch can only be worn on NATO, and, while that doesn't bother me for an occasional wearer, I like having the option of swapping between bracelet and straps, so that's why it had to go down the way it did. The Tiffany & Co Sub is currently housing the movement and dial which were in the Silix sub, and will probably wind up as a millitary Tudor of some kind (possibly a Snowflake) My only gripe with it, is the bezel rotates quite freely, and so far, I haven't been able to prize the bezel off to install the click spring I took from the Silix sub to give it the historically accurate bi-directional bezel

Very nice Not one I'd wear myself, but still a very nice piece

That's a fantastic watch

I have to admit, I only tend to use electric clippers/shavers these days as well

This was ordered on my behalf by my wife from a CQout dealer, with the sole intention of me using a few parts for my project sub. I have to admit, I was rather pleasantly surprised with what arrived

She paid for express delivery, but not FedEx, so this was a pleasant (if slightly worrying) surprise...

Why worrying, well, FedEx are known to be a good way of getting goods seized, and I would feel more comfortable knowing that the dealer had used the method agreed upon... Oh well...

Inside the box, the watch was very well wrapped

I liked the case-back so much, I decided to transfer it to my project sub...

Serial Numbers...

My first fixed-lug case... I have plans for this

The strap was a bit scratchy, but quite nicely made:

The bezel has a sharp edge, the crown guards are pretty narrow, but, the bezel rotates quite freely... Oh well...

A couple of quick wrist shots:

And then the dismantling began...

Before baking the dial, I used a black marker to erase the Tiffany & Co branding, and then used a red marker to tint Submariner red. However, the baking process pretty much obliterated that text... I baked the dial for a minute under the grill, but, I have to admit, even that was a bit more than I'd intended... Oh well, at what this cost, I can try again another time to get that 'creamy white' color

So it was then just a case of putting everything into the Silix case Sacrilage to some, I'm sure, but, I'm pretty much happy with the result

The whole lot came to just under

Today's obviously a day for new beginnings and rejuvination, so I guess it's only appropriate that I finished my project sub, and am happily wearing it

It started off as a vintage Sub from Silix, and has undergone 'a few changes'...

Case and bracelet have been 'hand aged'. (Hopefully looking between 30-50 years old overall)

Crystal has been re-epoxied into place for renewed water resistance.

New (3rd) bezel insert (sanded edges and bleached for 60 seconds).

New movement (old movement was okay, but a bit 'twitchy' on hand-winding, and the new movement had a clearer date-font, so it made sense to swap)

New dial (baked for 60 seconds, and text colored)

New Millitary-issue case-back (slightly scuffed to blend with the rest of the watch's appearance)

Bracelet built from assorted parts to fit the case (original bracelet only fitted with very bent springbars)

Original 'factory vintage' hands.

So here it is, probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm very happy with the results. Future work to include a new coin-edge bezel

Questions and comments are always welcomed

Well, it will be interesting to see how things go throughout the day. Especially interested to see the server load and how fast the forum load. We have changed to a new ISP, so I would be very interested to hear som opinions on speed from our US members, as I have received many complaints from US based members that the forum loaded extremely slow, which I blamed back then on our bandwidth.

The speed seems fine to me, T I rather liked how the screen scrolled when I clicked 'edit' Simple pleasures for simple minds, or so the saying goes Very nice work

Today's obviously a day for new beginnings and rejuvination, so I guess it's only appropriate that I finished my project sub, and am happily wearing it

It started off as a vintage Sub from Silix, and has undergone 'a few changes'...

Case and bracelet have been 'hand aged'. (Hopefully looking between 30-50 years old overall)

Crystal has been re-epoxied into place for renewed water resistance.

New (3rd) bezel insert (sanded edges and bleached for 60 seconds).

New movement (old movement was okay, but a bit 'twitchy' on hand-winding, and the new movement had a clearer date-font, so it made sense to swap)

New dial (baked for 60 seconds, and text colored)

New Millitary-issue case-back (slightly scuffed to blend with the rest of the watch's appearance)

Bracelet built from assorted parts to fit the case (original bracelet only fitted with very bent springbars)

Original 'factory vintage' hands.

So here it is, probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm very happy with the results. Future work to include a new coin-edge bezel

Questions and comments are always welcomed

*looks about*

*nods appreciatively*

Nice job

TJ,

I agree. Brushed just looks right.

When I tried on the gen a few months back, although I obviously had no intent (or means ) of buying it, it was the polished mid-links which spoiled it as a watch for me, as I felt the bracelet (though exquisitely made) took too much attention away from the watch head itself. (I felt the same thing about the Yacht-Master) I guess I'm just not a bling kind of guy (although I've always worn jewellery of sorts, be it a signet ring, a chain or set of d-tags, and a watch, but never anything blingy) I think brushing the mid-links has definitely improved the appearance of the watch, as it takes it out of the 'wrist jewellery' catagory, and into the catagory of 'really well finished, but still functional, wrist watch Now, if only the clasp had a diver's extension, I'd be happy

I don't mind losing the shoutbox, but any chance of the 'quick reply' icons, like "I agree"/"I disagree"? They were great for commenting on posts

At a guess, I'd say it was a project built by someone like myself who just likes messing around with parts rather than trying to go for a particular model I would be prepared to accept that the parts themselves were of the claimed vintage, I just think they were probably put together somewhere other than the Rolex factory