Dizzy

Datejusts are getting more popular on the rep forums lately. Might be because more and more dates and datejusts (15xx and 16xx) are getting canibalized for their movements. Gen datejust cases and dials are readily available for reasonable prices. I just finished an all gen 16030, silver stick dial, gen jubilee with ETA 2836 and it was surprisingly cheap to build as long as you can do all the custom assembly work yourself. The datejust is a beautiful and classic watch, and one of the most recognizable watches on the planet. dizz

I'll pull the last link and endlink assembly apart and see whats what. I know what you mean about the last bracelet link binding on the endlink. Maybe that connection link between the bracelet and the endlink can be replaced with another slightly longer one. I have a few ideas. I need to see the actual bracelet before I can figure out which way to go about it. Its just chunks of metal. It can be "adjusted" and made to work somehow without butchering anything. It might be a lot of work and hair pulling, but Im sure something can be done. dizz

Theres lots of tutorials here is you use the search function. I used to use files, but now i use a dremel. Low speed with the floppy sanding discs. Works really well. What you might want to do is find an old junk case from a submariner or daytona or something and practice on that before attacking your new 1665. You just need to know what shape its supposed to turn out like. I see a lot of people mod CG's and they turn out to look nothing like a real submariner. Search google images for rolex 1680 and 1665 and save some good frontal pics of crown guards and study the inside shape and angles. Its pretty easy to do. Take a little off at a time, put the crown in place and have a look. cut some more and check again. I do this about 20 times until it looks right. do you have an old submariner rep or something you can try grinding on first? I'll have a look in my junk box later and see if I have anything I can send you to practice on. I might have an old daytona case but Im not sure. dizz

lol yeah the datewheel looks hand-drawn on these two new ones... Im assuming the actual product will be better than these prototypes. Im going to order the 7206 from Yuki and try to mod the end links somehow. Even if i have to do some bending and drilling. I dont mind my bracelets looking rough so a few tool marks dont bother me. If not i will try those 1.8mm bars with 1.2mm ends that were mentioned earlier. I wonder how many returns Yuki gets on those bracelets after people discover you cant use it on the Rolex its intended for?? Sometimes these Chinese factories just amaze me. All the R&D and production work just to screw up the smallest detail and ruin the whole end product. Dizz

Yes i suppose it might be suspicious to just take a 1570 into an AD asking for service. I wouldnt be at all surprised if they refused to do it. Independant watchmakers could probably care less what you are going to do with the movement after you take it home. I wouldnt take a Rolex to an AD for service anyways... unless it was new and under warranty. I had a gen Breitling flying B when they first came out. After a year or so, the jump hour mech stopped working. My watch guy tried everything to get parts but they there was nothing available. I had to bite the bullet and send it to Breitling for service because they were the only ones that had parts for their modified jump hour movements. It wasnt cheap to fix. If my watch guy had the parts it would have been a $300 fix. Breitling charged me almost 3x that.

Unfortunately we are going to see more and more of this as vintage prices rise, and parts become scarce as time goes by.

Will it fit? I know the 16600 from the noob factory wouldnt accept a gen crystal as BK showed us..

I wonder how the 7206 bracelet on the new PT GMT vintage will be? Looks not too bad in the pics. Would be nice to get a 2846, silver datewheel and nice bezel insert for $200 then sell the rest of the watch as parts. dizz

Yes you know how i like my women... uhm I mean BRACELETS... cheap and loose! LOL

Ha Ha Yup!

nice 1680 jojo!! I love the dial. I have a gen NOS tritium white dial in mine also but my markers are just a creamy white. Ive had it in my safe for the last 2 years trying to darken up the tritium but its not working yet LOL.. maybe another 25 years... hahaha. I dont want to relume it because its mint. Luming it to look old would kill any value.. Anyways, as for the 1665, why not buy a Puretime 1665 or 1680.. take the movement and datewheel and dump it into the MBW with the MBW dial. Now you have low beat ETA and silver flat top 3 datewheel. Then put the 2836 from the MBW into the Puretime watch and sell it off at a good price to recoup some costs. It would be a simple solution to the datewheel issue anyways. The datefont on my puretime movement aligned perfect with a gen and MBW datewheel when i test fitted it during my Puretime datewindow mod, so as you shouldnt have any issues there and theres lots of clearance and the datewheel wont hang up. Just use some dial dots and the thin dial spacer that comes with the PT watch and you are set. dizz

I use the ones from WO990. They are pretty good and fairly stiff springs, but they have rounded tips. The rep 2mm bars have very weak springs but nice long flat ends, so they extend right to the outside edge of the lug holes. There is nothing like the sound of a set of gen spec spring bars snapping into place when you are installing a bracelet. @automatico - excellent website. i assume the prices are reasonable since you recommend them. I have to set up a user/pass to be able to see the pricing. I'll do that tomorrow when i have some more free time. I could use some gen spec bars for my 6265 dizz

ebay member since sept17, 2010... all (4) his feedback is from buying junk and ZERO feedback as a buyer... I would be SHOCKED if the winning bidder receives a real Rolex dizz

I remember when you could buy a datejust or date for $1000, take the movement and sell off all the gen parts for $400 or so... now just the movement is over a grand all day long.

Oh snap!! That things mint! lol Still got about 10 yrs left in it. Its pretty rough for the avg person but I think it looks great!

Ooooohhhh look at that stretchy rivet bracelet!!!! That bracelet is $150 or so from Yuki... Im hoping this watch is around $200 like the Submariners. Lug holes and rehaut are absolutely horrible though, so hopefully that gets changed before its released. I dont know much about these old bakelite bezel inserts. How close if this one? Or close at all? Even if they dont fix those problems, I would buy this watch just for the bracelet and movement and throw the rest away!

Has there been an update to this endlink/springbar issue? Are the new bracelets from Yuki able to take a 2mm springbar? One trick i did on a rep rivet bracelet was to unfold the endlink itself giving you access to the inside springback tube. All you need are some needle nose plyers wrapped in hockey tape. Then i used a flat head screwdiver to slightly open up the springbar tube until the 2mm bars slid through. Then you carefully re-fold the endlinks back to their original shape.... Not sure if that will work on the Yuki or not... dizz

I always liked how the gold hands stood out on a stainless steel watch. Yours looks great with that plain black dial and the gold bezel. Nice work!

Those are two completely different watches she showed you. not just different case sticker. Case is different, dial is different, bezel and insert are different. Both watches have very poor fitting end links. And yes in the pics of the second one you can see all the scratches from the springbars being put in a couple times by someone with a scratchy screwdriver or knife. Hopefully she lets you return it and hopefully she can find you a better quality one. Ask her to source you the "noobfactory" two tone submariner if possible.

He hasnt emailed me back yet. I refuse to may $360 for some old wrecked links anyways.

Or you could use this AR'd cyclops and get the whole underside of your rep crystal AR coated. Not exactly like gen but it will be an improvement.

NICE! Im going to email him right now... I love how these old worn out bracelets look and feel

NICE! Im going to email him right now...

Wow nice find!!! Not totally accurate but I like it!

The watchmaterial pearl is very nice. I have the same one on my SSD. Its one of the nicest pearls out there.