TeeJay

I just got a brown leather strap for my Aqua Terra and it looks AWESOME! Unfortunately the rotor screw fell out and i haven't found a screwdriver "sharp enough" to put it back! DOH!

Man, that's a kick in the nuts right there... In the past, when I had to, I took the smallest screwdriver I could, and then filed the sides of the tips until I made it fit Best of luck with that, and I bet the combo looks awesome I remember how much I liked the one I customized for my dad's birthday a couple of years ago, only to be told, that the strap was too short for his wrist

How about an Omega Aqua Terra? They look really smart on a leather strap

You might check ebay- there's a model 1002- it's an Oyster Perpetual, no date. Chronometer grade movement- 1570. Maybe you could find a dial from one of those- the cases are the same size as Datejusts. Black would be rare though, heck, the watches are somewhat rare themselves- in the late 60's and early 70's everyone wanted the date feature.

It's funny, I've always been the reverse, as it always bugged me having to correct the calender at the end of the month... Crazy and lazy I know, I guess I've also always preferred the symmetry of a non-date dial That's what appealed to me with the Air-King

Don't see what this has got to do with me TeeJay?

If you want to spend your money with PWC/T4D, a drop ship dealer and a proven lying scammer to boot, then go for it!

As for this Submariner, both those replicas look pretty damn poor to me, I would rather go for the GTM2c

Or maybe a fantasy ceramic Sub:

Cheers!

Since that disclosure, I have to admit, I haven't spent with PWC, and probably wouldn't I just didn't want you to think I was promoting him by mentioning my good transaction

That fantasy ceramic isn't too bad

This won't work, as the cases are completely different sizes. Not to mention ceramic vs metal inserts.

Oh well... If the dial and insert are anything like the Electric Blue Seamaster, maybe it won't actually look quite so garish to the naked eye as it does to the camera... I found the Pumpkin Planet Ocean was another example of it being more subdued to the eye than in photos

You won't know what the rep Air King dial diameter is until you buy the watch. You could also look at a rep Datejust dial- I've seen them in the 28mm range- probably just right for the Silix case. BTW, the Silix case had a plastic spacer ring, but what would you expect from a $75 watch?

That's true, I think this will have to be something I do on faith. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but, as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained

Yup, plastic spacer ring on mine too I don't expect much, to be honest, I'm very tolerant when it comes to reps I would look at the datejust, as there is a datejust with the same markings and indices as the Air-King I had in mind, but I didn't want the watch to have the date window, so the Air-King was the only viable option

USED TO??? I'm still a catalogue junky. I have a rather large collection of catalogues...very large...many boxes worth going back many years. Not just watches...but other stuff as well.

Well, rather than catalogues, I tend to just check out watch sites now, but the principle is still the same

Agreed. I find a lot of the designs of things like "Fossil", "Swiss Army/Victorinox" etc...are making affordable implementations of pieces really inspired by watches of GREAT design. So...with the availability of reps...why not just get the watch with that GREAT design instead of settling for something that really is lacking IMHO.

In this case...I think going for some of the alternatives below are much nicer implementations of the inspiration BEHIND the Victorinox:

There's a red/black "panda" dial as well that's closer in design

Schumacher Speedy

I think you're right there I have to admit, I am really surprised that it isn't some kind of Tudor, but that's all just part of the fun of watchspotting

Oohhh, nice call on the RADO!!!

TJ, you be nice about my friends ex wife, and stop those thoughts immediately or I'm callin the missus!! lol

I say Bond in a $20 Sekonda!! That'll teach him for having too many toys!! But if it was Sir S. Connery, well thatsh a different matter entirely! I Shay a AP ROO Shafari!

You misunderstand, bro, I've had a thing for CJ Parker since, well, since Baywatch I'll PM you an amusing fact

I think I'm starting to run out of shot ideas, but I don't think I've done this shot yet...

Ultimately, these were little more than dial swaps, (although one spent most of the past year in pieces ) although I did remove the cyclops from the GMT crystal

Excellent. Couldn't agree more.

T'J,

Love the Sub on rubber. NATO web? Then why not? As 'Greystash' states, it's a 'tool' watch, brought into fashion by mere zeitgeist. Tell you what though, A Submariner on any animal skin? Faux pas. Even the 16613 on a 'water' animal hide. Remember?

Good lord, I couldn't get that Croc off that watch fast enough. I could hear the ghost of Hans Wilsdorf rattling his chains down the hall.

I think you're right about that one, but, the black GMT looked really nice on that strap

What would you say about this one? Personally, I really like how it looks

Yeh, it's been my experience that Rolex dials are typically 1mm smaller than the rep dials- frustrating to say the least. I thought I was dead in the water trying to build a 16800 franken until I saw Stephane fit an old Sub dial in a noobmariner case. And then, lo and behold, Omega was drillling the lugholes out on the noob case. Suddenly I had a case to build a 16800 with. The gen Sub dial is 27.4mm and the inside rehaut on the noob is around 27mm- just enough to make it work.

Here's the franken on the right, next to a gen 16800- both matte dials.

That's an awesome project build The Air-King dial I was thinking of using was also a rep dial... I might still buy the watch and see what happens. If it doesn't work, I'll have a nice Air-King. If it does work, I'll have my project built

I couldn't tell the Arabic number font/existence in the pic...or the datewheel position (if any)...but the subdial spacing and location looks similar, as well as the bracelet...but the bezel looks beveled or notched in the pics...so I'm not sure.

The Formula 1 is possible...but no black subdials and the one at 6 looks too low below the cannon pinion:

It's definitely not the Tag. I think you hit it with the Victorinox. To be honest, I don't remember seeing a datewheel, but looking at the actual magazine, I was able to make out the numbers. When I was younger, I used to read a lot of shopping catalogues, and spend hours staring at the photos of the watches, trying to work out what the blurs of the text actually meant I got pretty good at it after a while It's not a bad watch, but I don't think I'll be getting one anytime soon, as that kind of price would mean several reps, which I would actually wear, and I have a hunch that the Victorinox would wind up solely as a collection piece, rather than getting any wrist time (I don't think the red dial would be easy to pair with a wardrobe, either )

This continues to be a great discussion. And I found another pic to discuss. This one is much more subjective. The fact that the "Swiss Made" font is off-center would immediately make the watch un keepable for me. But I wonder how many here would completely overlook it if that were the only sloppyness issue with the watch. I'm betting quite a few could live with that, although I couldn't...

I don't think I could. Not when it's that off center. Even I have limits

I know I

Buy a pair of digital calipers for 10 pounds, or do you guys call it 'quid'?

Edit: I just pulled apart a Silix no cg sub- inside rehaut measures 27.24mm- maybe yours will be different, Teejay. The Air King dial is too small to fit my Silix case.

Indeed, 'quid' is the slang term, and more used between friends/family... I've never heard a cashier in a shop use the word when giving a price

Thanks for the measurements, I guess that means the end of that project

The red/black you're probably thinking is like an Omega Schumacher...but that dial config is @ 3-6-9...this is like 2-10 and just under the cannon pinion. The same goes for the Tudor's. The Ferrari chrono is red sub and black dial...with the same config as the standard Omega speedy. I've see the "high subdial" config...if anything...it looks like a Swiss Army quartz chrono:

EDIT: Hah hah...I just saw we posted at the same time...the same conclusion...

Seeing it on the bracelet, I think you could be right I have to admit, I'm surprised it's not a Tudor, but glad to have dentified it Time to add one to my wishlist

I'm even wondering if it might be one of these on a bracelet...

Can't tell...pics are too fuzzy...

Thanks for looking

Here's the only other pic I have... It doesn't show any close detail, but it's a little clearer due to the distance from the page...

Another thought, does the description sound at all familiar?

Sorry for the poor photos, they were snapped on my iPhone, in the newsagent, and the image on the page, was smaller than the nail on my little finger...

As the photos are so poor, the colors are not entirely accurate to as they were with the naked eye, so I'll do my best to describe the watch...

It has the look of a Tudor Chronograph, I'm fairly sure it's not a Daytona or Omega Chronograph...

The dial is a very deep red, almost like blood.

The sub dials appear to be black.

The hours are marked on the dial by Arabic numerals, in either white, or luminescent printing

The bracelet appears to be an Oyster bracelet...

Any ideas? If so, are there any reps of it?

Thanks in advance

Rolex back in the day used to give the customer a choice between a tropic rubber strap or a bracelet for Subs. Hardly a no no, if anything hard core functional. Below is a slightly update silicone version of a tropic strap without the rubber tire smell.

I thought I'd seen a photo of a Sub on a rubber strap before I think something like that should be quite possible to replicate from similar styled straps I've seen online, and a Rolex clasp, from a vintage NATO-style strap from a dealer I'm hoping you might be able to help me with a watch identification on the general discussion forum in a bit

I totally agree about this. People always make fun of the traditional Rolex oyster band... how "flimsy" the clasp is, etc... but it's actually very comfortable and good looking bracelet.

But only because it is so flimsy Not so much a case of making fun of it, just the thought that it's not matching in quality as the rest of the bracelet and watch... Now, the new Rolex bracelets, and the ones on the Deep Sea, those are well made clasps, which match the quality of the rest of the watch

Sub, GMT, Explorer... Oyster bracelet is the only option (imho). Some purists like GMT on Jubilee though. But only the vintages.

I guess it's just personal taste Personally, I'd only wear a bracelet which had a diver's extension, as that's a function I'm likely to use (even if not necessarily for diving ) which the Jubilee and Presidential bracelets lack

I wear my modded SSD V2 on rubber as a beater...I wear it on the bracelet if I wanna dress up to head out to a bar...beats wearing a gen

Pics, bro, pics

Couldn't agree more

I say to each is own. Whatever floats your boat. I perfer the SS bracelet. I think it looks best on this particular watch.(imho) Thanks for the poast Numptyj Mike

Indeed, I think it's just a matter of personal choice

You do want. Screw anyone's opinion. They don't have to wear it.

That's the philosophy behind most of my projects

don't have a rep left to show -

what can i do when gens are so cheap

hope i can post anyway :

cheers,

Frank

Interesting watch, it looks good

Yeah and that brings it to a close nicely in that even as you say many of these issues can be tinkered with and fixed. But I for one don't enjoy that process, so I would have to send it out and if it could never get fixed right I would just be bummed out. So then I would need a gen dial and so on. It just seems like modding of some kind is the only thing that offers even partial protection for a lot of models...

I know what you mean, bro. I should clarify, that while I enjoy tinkering with watches to build them as I want them, I don't enjoy tinkering with watches to fix shoddy workmanship which shouldn't've been sold at a full price. It's like with the Quartz watches I was messing with last week. I didn't mind having to tweak the movement contacts when I did a movement transplant, as I was having to make that movement work with that particular case, but if I had had to tweak the movement in its own case, that would have irritated me... So with that MOP dial, sure, I might've scraped off the excess paint, but I wouldn't've been happy doing it, and I would've written a suitable review about it. Although I'd've been quite happy to sit and snap the dial up more, just to get an interesting antique look to it It's one thing to modify a watch because I want to, and another to modify a watch because I have to. And of course, as you say, there are folks who don't enjoy that process at all, or, who might be prepared to do it, but lack the knowledge or skills to do it... For folks like that, indeed, it'd be a frustrating situation... I guess that's the risk of using dealers who drop-ship... Maybe they should hire a new minion at the warehouse to actually seperate stock into 'acceptable', and 'bargain bin' catagories, and then sell accordingly

Thanks for the link, bro, that's certainly an eye opener, but I totally agree, the work on those markers is just garbage, and you'd certainly be right to say that I wouldn't wear something looking that bad. However, I would make this caveat: If the indice was 'shaped' as it is on the gen, and that was simply paint overspill, then I would be prepared to de-case the watch and scratch off the excess paint with a jeweler's screwdriver (I had to do that with my DIY Sub-on-a-Strap, as I accidentally touched the sharpie to an indice while obscuring the lower dial print, and hadn't realized how noticeable it was until I'd re-cased the watch, but it was the work of only a few minutes to do.) I admit, a watch shouldn't be coming out of a dealer's stock, as a fully-priced item in a condition like that, and if each of the indices need 're-touching', it would probably be an hour's work, which I shouldn't have to do, but I would probably be prepared to do it.

On the other hand, if the indices weren't shaped, such touch up work would take much longer Again, I'd probably be prepared to do it, but I wouldn't expect to be paying top dollar for something in that condition... This was why I mentioned to By-Tor, how I thought that there should be a 'bargain bin' section on dealer's sites, where a watch like that could be sold at a really reduced price, on the understanding that it is flawed, and will require modding work.

Crazy as it sounds, I actually like how the crack looks, and truth be told, I would probably have proceeded to crack the dial further, to give a really antiqued look to it

In a lot of ways the traditional bracelet has an iconic status all of its own and I think you lose a certain something when you take it away the watch head.

Oh I just realised what it was as I was typing...that rubber strap looks modern, the watch head does not. I think they clash.

I think you're right, the bracelet definitely has an identity of it's own, but, I feel Rolexes are nice enough watches to stand up on their own, without the bracelet. I admit, my cobbled together Silix Sub is by no means modding perfection, but, on the strap, I think it looks quite elegant, and I think the addition of an Air-King dial would increase that elegance Maybe not to the point of it looking anything other than a fantasy watch, but I think I will visually work (assuming the dial fits okay )

I do get what you mean about the modern strap and the older looking watch head... I think if it was a modern Sub, rather than a vintage model, I don't think the two would look so incongruous... To be fair, that is a very sporty, modern strap (when I first looked, I was on my iPhone, but now I'm on my PC, I can see that that is definitely an Omega strap) I think something much plainer, such as this strap, would be more complimentary of a Submariner