Jimmythree

Rlx '6426'... Not really. It is something I stuck together about 12 years ago and traded away. Got it back last week, the fellow I traded it to never wore it. It is same as new except for a few spring bar scratches on the lug backs. Case is from JMB and I do not know where he got it...34mm and takes Rlx oem spec crystals and bezels. Crystal is a GS 12 and the bez came with the watch. Aftmkt case tube with genuine 5.3mm crown. The dial and hands are from Yuki 12+ years back. The markers are yellow aged, the script is goldtone as are the hands. The movement is a low mileage swiss ETA 2789 with the autowind assembly removed. Why was the awa removed? Because the case has a 'flat back' and will not clear the a/w rotor...it's really a 'tooter' type case. Can't find a solid case back that will clear the rotor, have one with a crystal in it but that lets the 🐱 out of the bag. Besides that, it says 'Oyster Perpetual' on the dial. Sterling silver (.925) 16mm buckle on a ZRC strap. Check this out...eBay item number 203157031954 '100% guaranteed authentic!' A 6426 is manual wind with acrylic crystal and this one states: "Rolex self-winding movement" "Scratch Resistant Sapphire Crystal." J3 is automatico.

A pair of APs... Another pair of apes... J3 is automatico.

Lucien Piccard 'Four Barrel'... J3 is automatico.

Tri- Wiz Watches... L to R 855/1000, 404/1000, 25/1000. All NOS. J3 is automatico.

Regarding the iggi Omega above... I have often heard: "It's not the month or day I am unsure of anymore, it's the year" as time flies by. As I stagger through life, I am usually aware of the year, month, day, and sometimes the hour, but not the minutes past or until. The Omega answers this question with a quick glance. I like it. J3 is automatico.

Kienzle Atlantis Mechanique wristie with two in the background, all with Unitas (now ETA) 6497, all 'nos' from the early to mid 1990s. The two in the background are in original condition with MG crystals and leather straps. I put a 34.5mm sapphire crystal and 22mm Breitling type bracelet on the other one about 20 years ago. They are 44mm wide not counting the crown. Nos Arnex 'train watch' with Unitas 6497 from 1970s/1980s... The Arnex is 16 size same as modern RR pocket watches, but not RR Approved. They were often referred to as 'Transportation Watches'. https://www.txantiquemall.com/the-arnex-pocket-watch-history-values-and-vintage-models/ J3 is automatico.

I have been digging through what my wife calls 'the watch junkyard' trying to find a particular watch and have not found the lost watch yet, but have found a lot of 'watchjunk' I had forgotten about. I do not work on a genuine Rlx watch very much now, so much of this 'junk' had been forgotten. So...from time to time I will post a pic or two of forgotten 'watchjunk' etc. Q...Why? A1...Because RWC decided to stop selling parts to knaves like me and I am glad to find this 'junk'. A2...The forum has slowed down so I'll post something now and then. Found this yesterday... A few clasps and straps...now 'nos'. Ha! Note the 'Tooter' clasp and dive extension. Did not know I had them. The DJ clasp marked 'same as new 'came off of a new bracelet. The 14K gold filled bracelet from the empty box went out on a 1550 or 15505 OPD. One of the straps has a 'swimpruf' tag on it and it is not made the same as the other one so I assume it is water resistant. Who knows? Jimythree is automatico.

NOS Mido, probably from the 1970s, not sure, I've had it 20 or 25 years. Have a later model nos stainless Mido and the crown is missing, can't find one. It has a cork gasket in it. A watch trader gave it to me, box and all, because he could not find a crown. Cork! Don't know what this one has for a gasket on the 'hidden crown'. Kryptonite probably. NOS Universal Geneve Polerouter, vintage Omega wind-up, '100 jewel' Waltham (with 17 jewel auto movement). They sorta fibbed about 100 jewels...but it has enough jewels mounted all over the winding rotor, movement spacer etc. to make 100. Have not found the MIA Bulova Beau Brummel yet. It is slow going... Box with the TAG Heuer has all NOS watches, box to the right is all pocket watches, bottom box is misc. watches. Someday I'll take a 'watch family' picture. J3 is automatico.

Digging through this pile looking for something... Found these... L to R...Benrus Citation, Seth Thomas Stingray (the crown at 3 turns the countdown track), and an Aquadive. All from the 1970s, all original. Watch at the bottom is a Favre - Leuba 'Harpoon 88'. Also found two Caravelle '666' divers, one in 90% condition and one same as new. Wristie... Zodiac Sea Wolf from the 1960s. Looking for what? Bulova Beau Brummel in 14K YG, have a pair, one YG and one WG, the YG one is MIA. No luck, still MIA... J3 is automatico

Rhapsody Royale in 14K gold... Low mileage manual wind 'water resistant' 34mm front loader, all original . Bought in May 2003 for $100USD without a strap. Looked on eBay for Rhapsody watches, all are lady models. Here is one on 'Timekeepers' with sub seconds: https://www.timekeepersclayton.com/product/14k-rhapsody-royale-wrist-watch-with-swiss-movement/ J3 is automatico

So does it still make sense to sell those old models, or is everything much better now? That's one good question with dozens of answers. I always liked the understated vintage models...5512/13/1680, 1016, 1655, 1675, 5500 AK etc. The newer Rlx watches, especially the latest 'flash jewelry' models do not interest me much at all. 'Flash Jewelry' = the 41mm DJ, oversized explorer, glitzy ceramic bezel submariners, GMTs etc. along with other latest models. I like the new Daytonas though. That being said, it looks like there is a huge rush to the latest, greatest flashy models, both genuine and replica (mostly the replicas with 'phoney cloney' movements). Maybe it is the newer generation of buyers with $$ to blow and not much (if any) appreciation for older models. Who knows? Not me. I saved a few 'classic replicas'. (Ha!)...unworn swiss ETA 16610 noobmariners, GMTs, 36mm Exps, AKs etc. all with new (now nos) swiss ETAs. Are they worth much $$ now? Yeah, more or less. Being nos helps a lot and since they have swiss ETA movements, they can be repaired unlike many of the phoney cloney movements in the newest models with no parts supply. Besides that, the nos swiss ETA movements are worth some $$ now. I figure a nos swiss ETA 2836-2 powered F520117 'noobmariner' is worth $475 to $500 USD (or more) today and all the 'replica noobmariners' similar to the swiss ETA powered F520117 models are worth nearly as much. The details make the difference, a few mush haves... Hollow mid link bracelets. Screws in removable links that pass all the way through the links. The bezel insert lays even or barely below the bezel top and not glued in and/or sticking up above the bez. Bezel with 120 clicks or close to it with very little lost motion. Good crowns and case tubes. Brass or aluminum movement spacers with screws/clamps...no plastic. The reflector ring aka 'rehaut' fairly close to genuine, not too wide. I have turned a few down to make them look better and they turned out Ok. Date magnifier with the correct offset from center. Some non noobs have approx. 10mm offset (compared to 9mm+/- on oem), but in my experience no one ever noticed. Etc, etc. Otoh...what do I know? I've been wearing a quartz TAG Heuer for quite a while. Typos are free, unlike noobmariners. Jimmythree is automatico.

I absolutely love the full gold look... I always liked yellow gold watches on leather straps. A group of watch traders met for many years close to where I live and over the years, many of today's 'classic watches' passed across the trading table. I got my share of them but most have been traded away or sold by now...they were not 'classics' when I had them. Gold was $200 to $300 per Troy ounce then and a nice vintage 14K Hamilton, Gruen etc. would go for $150 or $200. 'Waterproof' type common brand gold watches went for a little bit more but not much. I mentioned 'gold cap' 34mm Rlx 1505 models earlier and I still have two runners and two not running from back then...one I bought in January 1996 for $150 with the gold bezel missing and I just happened to have a bezel. Ha! Got another one from a friendly Rlx AD about the same time when the fellow who owned it decided to let the AD sell it rather than pay for service he had done on it. The other two are in parts. I guess I could put one of the 1505 cases, an ETA 2846, a no date 34mm OP dial with gold markers, a no mag crystal, croc strap etc. together and have a 'gold Rlx'. What is hard for me to believe now is not the prices back then so much as the fact that there used to be 'friendly' Rlx ADs. Now it is like walking into a den of sharks while wearing a bloody T shirt. jimmythee is automatico

Wow man this is descriptive! Thanks! Wish I could get my hands on a case the same price as you paid years ago! Me too. One that will accept a 27.9mm DJ dial. The only good Rlx deal I heard about lately was a friend got a 16233 in very good condition for $1500. He was bragging about it until he found out the jewelry store/pawn shop where he bought it paid $600 for it. Then it was my turn to laugh.

Good advice from the posters above! I have a few friends in the jewelry business and they have gold plating equipment but most of the plating they do is rhodium or white gold plating over yellow gold on solid yellow gold rings where the stones are mounted. In other words, small jobs. They keep GP equipment in their shops because many of the rings they buy for resale come without stones and the stone mountings are yellow gold same as the ring. White gold settings give diamonds more 'flash'. That being said...gold plating is very expensive today because of high gold prices and the solution used to gold plate things (gold dissolved in cyanide) has gone from maybe $50 to $300+ and it will not go very far on something big as a watch case...depending on thickness of the plating. Any item being plated must be very smoothly finished and very clean because every imperfection will show and/or the plating may not stick as well as it should. Because of the cost, most 'gold plated' watches today do not have any real gold on them at all. Watches with real gold plating may have the gold thickness marked on the case with 5, 10, 20, and sometimes 40 microns being the most common. One micron only equals .001 mm so it is not very thick at all. A case with 10 or 20 microns of plating will usually last quite a while and a 5 micron case will usually not last very long. Cases with 40 microns will hold up for many years if taken care of. Cases and bracelets with less than 5 microns are called 'flash gold plated' and will wear away fairly quickly...denim jacket sleeves etc. There used to be a lot of 'gold top' cases and bracelets on mid upper priced watches but most have disappeared by now. They were regarded as better than gold plated or gold filled cases although gold top cases were in reality, just heavy gold filled cases. One type you still see is the 34mm Rlx gold top 1550, 15505 OPD etc. from the 1960s/1970s. The cases and bracelets were stainless steel with a thin gold cap soldered over them and the bezels were solid gold. The backs of the cases were not gold capped. Some examples had cheap base metal plated bracelets that would 'rot away' with corrosion. FYI on gold prices...about 24 years ago, I bought a new 'Italian' 18K aftmkt 'replacement' case for a Rlx DJ cal. 3035 movement/dial, it was around $800/$900. The same case today retails for $7000!! You can find them for much less of course but this one was 'top of the line' back then and still is. I put a Rlx 3035 in it for a guy and away it went. Still have an aftmkt 18K 'Italian' Prez case (weighs 30.9 grams with bezel, no crystal/crown) similar to the case above and iirc, I allowed about $400 for it in a trade. The trade was made in the same deal where the 3035 and DJ dial were put in the 18K case mentioned above. The 'Prez' case has a larger dial window because it was made for an ETA 2836-2 day-date movement with a larger dial. A regular 27.9mm DJ dial is too small and falls through the window. Q...Why trade cases? A...The guy who ended up with the new 18K case also had a tutone DJ with a 3035 but his 18K case with the Prez ETA movement and oversized DD dial would not work with the smaller 27.9mm DJ dial. Long story. Btw, I had some YGP Prez type watches with Asian movements years ago. They were about $100 back then, I wonder if any of the TDs still sell them today? It might be a lower $$ way to get a case. Example of GP supplies... https://www.riogrande.com/product/tools--equipment/plating/gold-plating-solutions/?sort=Bestseller FYI...here is a video from Stuller showing how some 'die struck' gold items are made... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYf5Y9Zg64M&t=29s Many solid gold watch cases are die struck, others may be cast or soldered/laser welded together out of gold strips, castings etc. Stuller is one of the largest gold ring and gold 'findings' etc. suppliers in the USA. Many rings at high end jewelry stores come from Stuller. Here is the 18K 'Prez' case... Typos are free. jimmythee is automatico

Fuzzy photo of my 25 year old T/H Sel... The OEM bracelets on these things are JUNK and literally fall apart, so I found a bracelet that was pretty close to fitting , worked it over, and stuck it on the watch. The bracelet came from an old Jaques Prevard quartz dive style watch and a jewelry store friend laser etched the T/H logo on the clasp lock. A genuine replacement bracelet in fair condition sells for about twice what one of these watches is worth (imho) and will fall apart anyway so this 'replacement' is fine with me. I paid $200 for the watch in 2011 in very good condition, so buying a $250 junk bracelet was out of the question. T/H 'LINK' watches have a similar but much better bracelet. Note...I am 'automatico' but now when I go on the forum, I come up as J3, my screen name from 2007.