Kime

... as a total newbie here in France, I am pretty uncomfortable buying anything from the usual suspects, Trusty, PT etc. Thanks

Everyone wants to do one of these but few are willing to put the money in that it costs to do well. A budget version of this is EXTREMELY hard to do... possibly even harder than the 3k+ option... for example, no budget case for this build exists currently, without some pretty damn great case mods. There used to be a Puretime 6542 which is no longer available which I did a build with, that case is not great at all but kind of acceptable and I think I read somewhere that PT is selling these again? Maybe that is an avenue to explore. Other than that you really have to park this desire until you have more $$$ :-)

Yes what he said... its pretty bad. It looks the same as the one Josh was selling a year or so ago. It was so poor I just threw it in the parts box and it hasn't seen the light of day since. A WASTE OF YOUR MONEY. DONT DO IT.

Interestingly, if you read the feedback he has previously sold 2 leather jackets... they probably came from the same market trader :-)

Interesting... do you think HR are reading this thread :-) These new hands have taken on board many of the points made here and seem to have tried to address the proportions issues that exist in almost all lower budget had sets. If they were flat they would be winners, they have a what appears to be a similar "rounded" surface to the MY hands, but even so, I still think they possibly now represent the best single hand set buy for a vintage sub (pre 5513) out there particularly for "oversized" dials. It certainly is better than buying 3 sets just to make one.

Love this. Great pics... and thanks for sharing the build details. Can I ask the cost of the case with engraving?

Has anyone posted illustrator versions of these dials for download?

Cheers buddy... came too late to that party it seems

Sorry to sound like a total noob but I'm outta touch... where can I buy an MBW? Case looks good enough to me after some basic mods that I can myself :-) happy days ! :-)

Very interesting... I contacted tonny about dials and his prices seemed slightly more than MQs... what price was this dial?

Is that hodinkee post for real? I read it as a joke but then realised there was no punch line? lol

I'm fairly confident that this STUNNING watch being sold by very trusted dealer HQ Milton is being sold with a Yuki 7206? What do you think my eagle eyed chums? :-) But WHAT A DIAL ! http://www.hqmilton.com/watches/1966-rolex-submariner-5513-with-tropical-glossy-gilt-dial

That's the problem, the MK1 dials are impossible to find. In about 7+ months I gave up and bought this one as posted. No, you read that wrong... the dial that came with it was a fake (a terrible one at that) the one I posted is a genuine dial but incorrect for this age of watch which is 61-62. The dial I posted is a MK IV, it would have been a few years later, not much later probably something like 63-64 onwards. Yours could be a MK3 or a MK4. I can't find a better reference page for these PCGs/dials right now, anyone got one? Tudor collector has some text but its very brief and with no example pics. http://tudorcollector.com/subs/submariner-model-7928/

All parts I have at the moment are gen so that means so far so good. It only needs some bezel work really but such provenance does make me think a bit more about how will proceed that's for sure.

Wow What a history my little watch has... if only it could talk :-) this information is an amazing find... thanks for that ! So it was part of the "40 Royal Marine Commando, Based at Burma Camp Malaya, 1962 to 1966". Certainly dates it correctly... were these watches service watches given by the military? I have to presume so? Well, I guess this should change from a "build" to a "restoration" :-)

Slay that dial is defo not genuine, who makes it? The problem I found with "high end" rep dials out there is that they seem to have the wrong fonts. The gen early gilt dials have a different font, compared to my white print dial, with "less" or no serifs in the 4 lines bottom half text, (well most of the ones I have seen don't anyway, I'm sure one will come out of the woodwork as soon as I have said that). It is the white printed dials (like the one I have) that have the noticeable serifs on the 4 lines text. The rep dials seem to have serifed fonts on the "gilt" dials but are incorrect. So in this case the nice serifs that MQs gilt dial has, which we normally curse the rep dials for not having lol, are not unwarranted and to my eyes look wrong.

About a year ago, I bought something from someone on ebay which started me on a journey… I think I bought a strap or something equally mundane but the seller asked if I would be interested in any other watch related parts as he was selling some stuff from his late father who was a watch enthusiast, collector and amateur, but skilled watch smith. One of the many things he offered me was “an old broken Tudor watch”. When I got the bad pictures the case wear looked good, the dial was a very poor copy which was worrying, the crown was not in the movement and the case was “not openable” so it was not possible to know what the movement was or if it worked, if the tube was good or the crown itself. He was selling it “as is” but it came with a bracelet that appeared to be a gen early pre 7206 rivet which could be correct to the case. It was fairly cheap, not super cheap but I thought in the worst case the bracelet alone should almost make me my money back. This is what I got… A very early PCG Tudor GIlt Sub... everything seems to be gen, the crown, tube, super domed plexi, case, caseback, insert (prob a later one), the bezel had a bad repair when I took it off but it appears to be gen (but I am not 100% sure there) and not only was the movement a gen 390 but it runs perfectly and even the hands appear to be gen gilt period, all be it lumed very very badly. The dial however was trash… so I started a hunt for an early gen gilt Tudor dial. After months of looking and WTBs I gave up on the gilt dial, I considered buying a rep… only Phong and MQ make decent ones, with MQ being the only real really close “true gilt” one but even that has inaccuracies and was something like 800USD. A few weeks ago I managed to find another early Tudor dial with great patina. Not correct to this watch but I figure a gen dial is far better in this case than a rep one. (debate begins on that point). Here are some pics which were a joy to take… the dirt, the wear, the little repairs, the honesty in the case is really nice to see. If anyone has any clues on those case back engravings (military?) please let me know. I hope you enjoy them... Case Case back Bezel Dial So the build begins…

100% MQ dial and possibly hands. I know this as I have been hunting for a gen gilt dial for my case for a year... can't find one. (will post the story and pic in a mo) As a result I looked at all the options for a rep one, this is def MQ and is approx 800 USD !!!

+1 There is no doubt that his cases are the best around and most accurate, I am not saying they are 100% perfect but from what is out there, they are the best. If we take the "second most accurate" MQ, his cases are often wrong in the smaller details, caseback engraving serial and model engraving fonts etc. are often wrong and you cannot be sure that what you get has been tested AT ALL.

Cheers Freddy !

Anyone know the best stem position to leave the movement in when removing the crown/stem. Winding or Setting?

Is the gilt printed or "proper"? :-)

Not sure they are... the one side shot gives me the impression the holes are small. I would like to do a 1680 build and I think (always hard to get a straight answer) that his current 1680 is the same case it would certainly be a half decent start if the movement is kept as is.

Holy smokes... some amazing finds there... thats going to be an excellent build !

Presumably that is this one from Josh? http://www.pf-818.com/0rlsv01005-vintage-1680-asia-2836-best-p-9551.html