meadowsweet_

My kiddo shattered my new phone so I'm back to taking questionable pics with an iPhone 5 haha. Tudor Big Crown for this rainy weekend in the Pacific Northwest

Wow Bart, just... WOW!

Thanks Bart. Took a gamble and love how it turned out. Satisfies my urge to blow a wad of cash on a Daytona too haha!! Man, in retrospect the subdials and their hands look BAD up close. Definitely going to be a huge improvement I think with that other dial and mods to the sub hands...

•PROLOGUE• Over the last several years as I've built (or more accurately, had built for me essentially) franken versions of vintage watches that I admire, my interests gradually honed in on one particular area: Tudor. There's always been something so "honest" about Tudor to me and how the brand has always held its own while perpetually living in the shadow of its older sibling. Like Rolex without some of the fuss, if you will. Make no mistake, Rolex is unquestionably the king of the tool watch (imvho the 1016 is the greatest tool watch ever made), but for whatever reason, it has always been Tudor specifically that has spoken to me in the most "real" and personal way. This was instilled in me at a young age: my father wore an 80's-era Tudor Sub (which he always wore on an incorrectly-sized 19mm bracelet. ALWAYS... haha) As the secondary gen vintage market soaring higher and higher into the strata of rare air, it's getting harder in my eyes for me to personally "pull off" iterations of some of the rarer, more desirable references be it Tudor or Rolex (6263/6239 I'm looking at you). I just have a hard time seeing myself wearing a (perceived) near half million or near-million dollar wristwatch whilst, say, fly fishing or working on my old rusty Fastback. And besides I like to really WEAR my watches. I tend to put them through their paces. Tool watches used as actual tools. They way they were always destined to be used imho. Like I was saying, Tudor had always really "spoken" to me and always been my true love and focus, and gradually my (very) small collection of watches has morphed into a collection made up entirely of the Shield and the Rose (save for my gen 5500 of course lol). There was, however, a big hole in my Tudor collection that still needed to be filled: an exotic-dialed chronograph. The next move was clear: it was, of course, high time for a bad*ss Home Plate!! (**Side note: for me, frankens tend to be "go big or go home"-type builds, thus the small size of my collection. I know this can be a fool's errand sometimes, but it's what I enjoy most about the building: seeking out the best to make the best of the best so I may enjoy it the most**) (I*NOTE: Some reference photos via the Internet and stock photos from VintageWatchmaker are intermingled throughout some of these photos. Ok first, inspiration/reference shots for the build.) •PART I: THE MOON SHOT• So with the decision made, I contacted VintageWatchmaker Jensen and inquired about one of his Monte Carlos. Jensen and I have been friends for many years and once we talked it over a bit, he agreed he could get one started right away, and so we (mostly Jensen of course) began moving forward full steam ahead with the build, noting some modifications to make along the way and sourcing a few parts prior to assembly. Now, my only reservation about the 7031/0 was its size. Clocking in at right about 40mm, I had never been super keen on its size nor that of some of the more substantial classic sports chronos in general, what with their beefy crown guards, larger bezels, etc. (like the Zenith Daytonas for example). For me personally, they've always felt just a bit too big and cumbersome on my admittedly diminutive/scrawny wrists. So, in coming up with a solution to dissuade my reservations about its size and also do something I felt was completely unique, I decided to take a moon shot on an aspect the build (the quite expensive build, mind you). But first, to be clear: I wasn't overly concerned with perfect "correctness" overall, because accuracy isn't always what I find most gratifying with certain/most frankens and builds. It's really how much I enjoy the end result that matters most (the way it should be, imvho). And as far as classic, "exotic"-dialed chronographs go, the Home Plate is already in it of itself extremely unique. Still, I wanted to take things FURTHER. I wanted something I had never myself seen before, yet something that still felt "vintage" and as if it still had one foot in the "real world", so to speak (clichéd I know...). So I asked Jensen if he'd be interested in helping me realize this, uh, somewhat "different" iteration of the 7031/0 with one very specific and very major modification in mind: I wanted the crown guards removed completely. I was concerned Jensen might just flat out say "NO" or politely tell me how stupid of an idea it was. Frankly, I wasn't even completely sold on the idea myself yet, but I said "screw it, let's roll the dice anyways". Damn the weather... Fortunately, Jensen sounded like he was on board with the the idea right off the bat and agreed that, at the very least, it would at the make for an interesting project. Eventually, even he got pretty excited about the end result... (Stock Phong/Jensen 7031/0, about to get a serious makeover) •PART II: DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS• Although it should be pretty clear at this point that I was hellbent on creating some sort of fever-dream vision of a borderline "6263-esque" Home Plate, but I still wanted the rest of the details to be as accurate as I might be able to make them. I was also hoping to make some additional tweaks here and there besides removing the crown guards at the get-go of the build. All said, it actually only took a few weeks of the back-and-forth with Jensen, a couple lengthy email exchanges, and some minor tweaks here and there, etc. before Jensen finally had the watch headed my way. My lovely new Home Plate, here forth dubbed "The Knucklehead" haha... (Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Knucklehead...) (And a couple quick shots before full specs, including a cameo from its older sibling 7924 Big Crown...) •PART III: SPECS• --Case-- Obviously, the case was the focal point of the mods and where the meat of the work had to be done. While removing the crown guards was obviously the BIG modification to be made, I also asked Jensen if he could slim down the thickness of the lug shoulders just a little when he was shaving down the CGs, making the overall dimension of the case more proportional without the CGs. All said, the crown guard removal, thinner shoulders and more "low key" pusher/crown area (nickname starting to make sense?) gives the watch's silhouette a smaller, almost Daytona-esque feel and wears much smaller on the wrist now than, say, your everyday Monte Carlo or Big Block. Again, this bodes well for me and my scrawny chicken wrists too! If ever there was supposed to be a "Paul Newman" Tudor of some sort, in my mind perhaps this could have (or should have) been it... --Pushers-- Fortunately for me (and ol' Knucklehead), Jensen and his old man (Phong) had recently begun offering MK1 style screw-down pushers for some of their early Daytona builds. Good ones too. I had always preferred the cleaner look of the MK1 pushers with their flattened knurls and the plain tubes/buttons without that machined grooves you find on the later iterations of the screw-down pushers. Coincidentally, and from what I could find amongst a plethora of reference material, Tudor seemingly fit some of the early 7031/0s with those same pushers (they probably were, in fact, the same exact MK1s from shared Rolex/Tudor parts stock I suspect as they were also in use during the same period on the early Oyster Daytonas) and Jensen was gracious enough to fit a pair of his MK1s on the Knuck and even went so far as to file down the knurls/teeth a bit flatter for me to really give them that "smooth" look I was hoping for. In my very humble opinion, they turned out perfect. Compare the photos below (Knucklehead first; gen example second), I think Jensen just absolutely NAILED this part of the build. It might just be a trick of the eye, but with the CGs missing, the pusher tubes seems especially tall. Once I wear it for a while longer I'll decide on whether or not I think it'll be necessary to shorten the pusher tube lengths just a tiny bit so they sit more squat on the case they look great as they are so I'm on the fence about it still... (The Knucklehead's pushers) (Pushers on an early gen 7032. Just ignore those crown guards lol) --Crown-- Easy-peasy. Kind of haha. I was patient and eventually nabbed a NOS 700 crown on the 'Bay for cheap (relatively speaking) and had a sealed 7000 tube in my parts drawer. Regretfully, it's didn't make it to me in time for assembly so for now, I've got a Phong twinlock on there with the gen 7000 tube; should be an easy swap next time the watch goes in for work/service. I was keen on using the slimmer 700 over the more substantial 702/703s, and they were found on early. Sessions of the 7031/0. I certainly paid a premium for a NOS sealed twinlock, but with a fresh set of gaskets it'll give me good piece of mind regarding aesthetics and waterproof-ness and Jensen assured me that, regardless of crown choice, he would make doubly sure the watch would in fact be watertight and pressure tested before making its way to me. The Knucklehead is, after all, (now) one of my daily drivers and certainly gets put through its paces (like all of my watches). With the crown guards gone, the crown sits nice and flush right up to the case, nestling in nicely underneath the bezel when properly screwed down all the way. --Dial-- In preparation for the build I, of course, spent a considerable amount of time pouring over reference material, particularly looking at various dials options for the Knucklehead. With DW now out of the picture, good options can seem limited. I wasn't 100% sold on the JAW/VW stock dial that was supposed to come on the watch from Jensen, it was quite good but certainly with its faults. Yuki's Home Plate dials left much to be desired I thought and neither Tonnywatch nor Minh Q had one to sell. NDT also had a dial but it looks terrible and very sloppy from the photos I saw on their site. The DW dials were certainly great and may still be some of the best, if not the best aftermarket dial option out there (still) for a Home Plate but I certainly wasn't holding my breath about tracking one down M2M on the boards or "cold calling" someone who might be likely to take pity on me and sell me an extra. I began to compromise mentally on the idea of the Knucklehead moving forward with the JAW/VW stock dial for the time being while I made one of those desperate late night, weeks-long eBay searches we all tend to make from time to time and, 'lo and behold, I lucked out and happened upon what appeared to be a completely random dial that was somehow miraculously better than any of the above options (at least in my very, very humble opinion) and which I acquired for the grand sum of- wait for it... $88. BOOM!... Definitely not perfect, the outer track numbers were too thick, the date window a bit too small, the "Oysterdate" text was perhaps a little wonky, and the subdial numbers were a bit different than those found on the gens (hard to tell, but photo overlays tell the tale). However, the indices looked way better than those on many of the other options, the subdials were correctly sized, had a nice texture, and were colored correctly. The tone of the grey background was nice and light (but not too light, still "rich") and even had a somewhat understated, aged look to it almost. The printing was crisp/clean and there was no color bleed anywhere, something I seemed to notice on many of the other dials (hard to hide mistakes on a dial with such bold shapes and colors). At first glance, I thought it might actually be an old DW dial, but those too-thick orange numbers on the outer track, the tone of the grey, the subdials, and the lume texture had me reconsidering that notion. I guess I'll never be 100% sure of its provenance, but the dial did ship from Vietnam so maybe there's a new wave of decent "Vietnam" dials possibly trickling onto the market (or maybe it was just some old random dial, but the seller seemed to be listing a steady stream of various aftermarket Tudor dials I'd never seen before, so who knows; these dials are definitely not the same as any of the above examples as far as I can tell). Other smaller details like the thinness of the quarter-minute hash marks I found to be very good as well. **UPDATE: My newfound dial's feet for some reason didn't match up to the Valjoux 7734 so as you can see I still have Jensen's stock dial on it for now (still looks great I think!) and Jensen assured me that he'll be able to get it fitted on the watch next time I send it over to him. (Random 7031 dial. Score! Thought/opinions?) Hopefully Jensen can fix the date aperture and the white background behind the shield appliqué and we can hopefully get this dial on the watch soon! (And a stock photo of the Jensen/Phong dial for comparison's sake.) --Hands-- This was another area of the build I was kind of intensely focused on initially. Of course, no one can seem to get this small detail quite right out of the box, and I know it's proven to be a sticking point for many, many others who've built these in the past as well. And actually, considering how prominent the hands appear on this particular reference (what with their bright colors, large lume mid-sections, various sizes and whatnot) some modification was going to be necessary to get them where they needed to be. The "newer" hands that JAW/VW now use on their Monte Carlos make a much better base than they used to be as the H/M hands are now correctly faceted and the sweep seconds hand has a much nicer, longer tail section below the post hole; but the color is still slightly off. I asked Jensen to slightly thin the sweep hand, strip the original paint off of it, and repainted it with Orchard Hardware Supply Orange spray enamel (I went through a several different colors swatches until I randomly came upon the OHS) I sent to him. Personally, I find it slightly more accurate than the oft-used Tamiya Orange most people gravitate towards when repainting the SS hand; Rustoleum Painter's Touch "Real Orange" is another great option as is Model Masters "Racing Orange" fyi; check out the below photo comparison I found on some random model making forum). (Various shades of oranges for comparison's sake, options for repainting the SS hand) Even though the new JAW/VW hands are now much better, they're both still a bit too long. It's not so noticeable with the hour hand, but with the minute hand it was very apparent and, for me at least, a dead giveaway. It incorrectly extends far into the upper black section of the dial well beyond the minute track. Hell, I think the minute hand may have originally been even longer than the SS hand was! Since the watch had to be completely disassembled for the case work anyways, Jensen was happy to take an escapement file to the tip of the minute hand and bring it down into the minute track where it should be. The stock subdial hand are one of the last remaining weak points still on the watch I feel and one of the few areas that is definitely getting re-worked in the very near future, most likely when I send the Knucklehead back to J for the dial re-fit. They are way too long and a bit "chubby", the tips too blunt, and the bases are painted black when they should be bare silver metal. Still weighing my options with these... (For comparison: Guts from a gen 7031. Notice the lengths, shapes, and colors of the various hands) (And a stock photo split shot of the Jensen/VW 7031 and it's not-so-great subdial hands before modification) (And finally, the end result of the various hands mods on the Knucklehead. Not sure if the SS repainting translates in the photos all that well, sorry...) --Bezel-- I knew the Phong/Jensen black Bakelite Tudor bezels were quite good, but it wasn't until I had one in hand that I realized just how good they actually are (especially considering the other rep options and prices for gens, which is, of course, insane). Comparing the Knucklehead's bezel with hi-res photos of genuine examples, I could find very few discrepancies. The printing perhaps seemed a touch heavy-handed but that'll probably diminish/subdue a bit over time with general wear and tear and environmental exposure. All I really asked Jensen to do to the bezel was take a bit of the sheen off the acrylic to give it a bit more of a matte, age-appropriate look and to polish the metal underside of the bezel. Not critical to the aesthetic in any way, but a nice touch I thought. (Genuine bezel) (Knucklehead bezel) --Movement-- The V72s and Tudor-decorated "in-house" movements from JAW/VW are an area where I think Jensen/Phong particularly excel. Maybe it's just my personal experiences, but pretty much every "Tudor" movement I've ever received from Jensen has been beautifully well-finished and decorated, calibrated well, and run very accurately. The Valjoux 7734 powering the Knucklehead is no exception. First off, it has the correct 45-minute totalizer at 3 o'clock; many donor movements used for these builds have the somewhat more common (albeit incorrect for a 7031/0) 30-minute totalizer. Jensen's 7734 even has nice Tudor-engraved bridges! And so instead of the very real possibility of ending up with a tired, old donor movement in need of possibly both a cleaning/service and a 45-minute totalizer conversion, I felt it was money very well spent for this portion of the build. The manual-wind movement keeps great time, all the chrono functions work perfectly, and everything resets precisely back to zero with a very satisfying "snap". Also, I don't know where the date wheel came from or if it's a newer(?) item for VW/JAW, but it definitely has a nice serifed font that's a lot closer to those found on genuine examples than I expected. All I know is that it's better than most of what I could find on donor 7734s and seems to be yet another Phong part that seems superior to other date wheel options for these builds. (Love that bridge...) --Crystal, Bracelet, End Links, et cetera-- So I picked up a genuine C-128 crystal for the build as aftermarket 128s with the mag at 6 can be hit-or-miss from what I could find. No cracks, not brittle, nice crisp clarity and it fit the case snugly with the cyclops lining up nicely with the dial's date aperture. Jensen sent me his stock xtal that he uses as a backup for me and honestly it is VERY close to the gen. If I were doing this build over again, I'd probably save my money and just use the VW/JAW stock one. (Gen service? 128 sourced from VRF ready for install on its way to VW) I still need to scoop a folded-link 7836 bracelet from Mary/Watch International. I think Mary's folded link bracelets are great, and when I do eventually go that route, at most I might swap on a gen clasp if I can find a decently priced one; but I'd much rather beat the crap out of a very accurate Mary bracelet worry-free rather than fret over an overpriced, tired gen bracelet. In the meantime, with a nod to my father, I sometimes put it on an undersized 19mm bracelet. Yes it looks silly, but I think it's a chuckle and obviously 95% of folks have no clue anyways haha. Most of the time it's on a leather or Tropic anyways (On a 19mm. Just like dad with his sub haha...) Generally speaking, most of the "usual suspects" for end links don't seem to agree very well with the 7031 from what I could gather. Even the fit on gen examples with their standard-issue 380 ELs is often quite poor apparently with most gen owners retro-fitting 589s that came along later with the Big Blocks for a better fit. As luck would have it, however, the 589 ends that came along from Jensen actually fit better than most anything else I tried and besides, 95% of the time I wear it on either a Hodinkee leather band or a vintage NOS Tropic I also grabbed off eBay. Jensen also provided a pair of the longer/fatter 2mm springbars and even rounded off the tips a bit for me as they poke out of the lug holes now after everything got slimmed during the case shaping/crown guard removal. Nice touch and a classy move I thought. Last but not least, Jensen gave the whole case a very understated aging treatment (something else he is REALLY talented at imvho) and finally re-polished everything (at my request), to try and further emote the feel of a well-loved, 45 year-old timepiece. (On a Hodinkee strap...) •EPILOGUE• In retrospect, the build actually went pretty fast once I had sourced the few parts I needed/wanted and got all the details ironed out with Jensen. Before I knew it, the Knucklehead was sitting on my front porch (along with my freshly serviced and also Jensen-built Tudor 7924 Big Crown, now with its new/old Rose caseback sticker!) (The Knuck with its big brother Big Crown) (And bonus shots of the BC and its new-old gen caseback sticker. Couldn't resist, thought this was cool addition. Grabbed this when I got the MC xtal. Not sure how "correct" it is though lol) (A little pre-aging and wear and tear and I'm liking the way it looks on there) (And 3/4 of the Tudor family. Including another "fantasy" Tudor 7750 chrono built with a DW 6239 case. Not pictured: the blue Snowflake, currently with Mr. Jensen getting an "MN" engraving and a COA...) In retrospect this seemed like it could have been a VERY expensive gamble; adulterating a classic in such a way, possibly "ruining" it in one way or another. However, I did have a gut feeling it was going to turn out pretty great and that in the end I would be pleased with the result (in truth, I had been daydreaming about this idea for a loooong while). Having finally pulled the trigger, I really truly couldn't be happier with the Knucklehead. And that's all that really matters at the end of the day, right? All in all, it manages to almost "hide in plain sight" and I think overall it actually looks/feels quite restrained and understated. 99% of folks won't have any idea what they're looking at or what it's "supposed" to look like anyways. This watch perhaps won't jive with purists too much (ha!), and I'm sure there's probably some franken-watch folks that may raise an eyebrow at "hacking up" a Phong/Jensen MC like this. C'est la vie I guess, to each their own... So with the MN 9411 Snowflake (gen dial incoming soon!), a 7924 Big Crown, the 6239-cases fantasy "Small Block", and now finally the Knucklehead, I'm starting to finally feel like my Tudor itch has been more or less scratched and my collection is starting to feel "complete" to me (famous last words, right?), Haha... And like LHOOQ has said somewhere in the past, I think I've got pretty much "all the good boxes checked off" now on my personal list of vintage Tudors. Thank You to any and everyone who actually read this A-Bomb of a post in its entirety (if anyone actually bothered to do so lol) and of course to my friend and watchmaker Jensen for his amazing work as always! For me anyways, this was one for the books, and a build that I'll certainly remember fondly every time I slap it on the wrist. Cheers... --Meadowsweet

+1 Phong and his son Jensen are carrying MK1 pushers now and they're pretty good. I had Jensen put a pair onto my early-iteration 7031/0 Monte Carlo (also used MK1 transitionals). I had him file/sand the knurls/teeth on the screw-downs a little bit to get them flatter like the gens. Really takes them to the next level imvho...

So, I am just a few weeks away from wrapping up probably my most "involved" franken thusfar, a very special Tudor Monte Carlo (a 7031/0 actually) from Jensen aka VintageWatchmaker aka son of Phong. Anyways, the stock dial on the phong/Jensen 7031 isn't great imvho and accordingly, I had been on the hunt for a different dial to use for some time. With DW's (great) dials out of the picture, remaining options are kind of limited. Yuki's dial leaves much to be desired, NDT's dial is terrible and nothing on offer from either MQ or Tonny. I was at a loss. Then a couple weeks ago I made a last-ditch search on eBay and actually stumbled upon (and won; $88, score!) a pretty nice dial from a random seller. The details are pretty good from what I can tell (dial is still en route to me) but it doesn't look like any other Home Plate dial I've ever seen. My first thought was maybe it could actually be a random old DW dial, but comparing to pics of DW 7032s on the boards made me think otherwise. Curious to see what others think of it and if anyone has any idea of its provenance: Hard to see but the subdials are nice and recessed and have the correct guilloche texture, the lume plots look good and have an awesome texture, the hash marks on the minute track are nice and thin, shield looks good, the grey background looks quite nice, etc. Granted, those outer orange numbers are a bit too thick and "Oysterdate" looks a tad odd among a few other deficiencies; but compare then to the stock Phong/Jensen dial (below) that was supposed to come on the build initially. Above dial is better to my eye, both definitely have their individual pluses and minuses but overall I prefer the random eBay dial. Thoughts? Also, for what it's worth: The eBay seller seems to be listing a stream of random aftermarket Tudor dials; only listing one or two at a time. eBay profile says he's located in California by the tracking number for my dial originated in Vietnam. The dials all look pretty good all things considered and as far as I can tell they're not the same as the usual suspects you see for many of these dials (7149, 7159, pres. seal snowflake, etc.), perhaps a stream of new good "Vietnam" dials are slowly trickling onto market? eBay seller id: bivintagestore2014

That thread had me chuckling. Arguing over (LITERALLY) microscopic specks of paint

100% gilt all the way. Hands and dials in both photos. Lol, always makes me chuckle seeing that ridiculous, poorly-sized nato on there

@Nanuq beautiful Guild you've got there! What bourbon you drinking this weekend? I'm cracking a bottle of '58 Very Very Old Fitzgerald (Stitzel-Weller) later today for the holiday weekend. The original, ORIGINAL Pappy!

Rick, do you recall which "version" of Justin's case you're using? I've got one of his "V2" cases and the gen 1016 service dial I have seats inside the case snugly. Granted, I slotted the ETA 2789 movement to accept the RLX dial feet, but there wasn't any side-to-side "play" or slide with the dial when I initially test fitted it in the case.

Ironically enough, '82 was actually not that stellar of a year for Bordeaux lol... But with Nanuq's view I'd be happy with a bottle of thunderbird

@slay The WSO insets seem to have incorrect numbers on the red triangle insert I could find (4 is too fat) but everything else looks ok. Do they have more than one? Maybe I'm missing something. Under a grand for the case and dial so I'm pleased with that. At this point, is stick to Tudors and Daytonas from Phong, but then again, the Daytona cases seem to be hit or miss nowadays.

UPDATE: Received my case and dial from Tonnywatch today, and I gotta say, the quality is much better than I had expected (especially now in hindsight considering the price), and is IMVHO a very encouraging sign regarding Tonny in general. These parts I'm almost positive are probably coming from the same source that MQ uses, although I'd hazard a guess that if that true then at the very least it looks like there is another (much higher) level of finishing that goes on with Minh's operation. That said, I've handled my fair share of cases and dials from Minh and the similarities are too numerous, and at times too minute, to ignore. I could be wrong, but take a look at the photos below and please tell me what you think. Dial first, and it has a bit more sheen than I expected, but overall the printing is very, very nice, and the honeycomb texture is spot-on understated. Certeinly not perfect, but as good as I've seen in person no question. It might need some sort of matte treatment if it looks shiny under the crystal and the lume color leaves something to be desired, but the lume mix looks nice and porous so I may just "stain" the lume plots a tiny bit darker should they too look too bright/new once the dial is in the watch. This is a half-century old watch after all, and the hands are going to be aged to the dial should match and neither should look like NOS O reckon Only other forseeable change for the dial is swapping out the dial coronet for a gen one, but I'm not so concerned as to risk damaging the dial if the coronet that's on there proves to be too difficult to remove. Onto the case... At first glance, I'd say it looks pretty good albeit a little too NOS to be realisticly 50+ years old obviously, but once I get a chance to appropriately age a few parts (very slightly, wearing it will age it plenty quickly enough), it should look the part very well The one MAJOR letdown here is the insert. Yikes... But it's getting replaced with a red triangle inset from Phong so no worries there. The coin edge bezel looks ridiculous with its nickel plating shiny and intact, but the bevels and facets on it are decently shaped and the it'll be aged with abrasives and sulfur to expose the brass and soften the edges a bit. I'd like to hear opinions on the engravings too. To my eye, they're pretty decent: strokes look correct like the short middle stroke of the "E"s, correctly shaped numbers, correct placement, etc. They definitely still look like "fresh" engravings, but I think once they war down a bit from bracelet rub they will soften a bit and look even better "Registered Design" and "Stainless Steel" are both positioned well, and the serial is correct for a range of non-Brevet 6541s. The case back shape is pretty good, however the case back engravings leave much to be desired... The lug shape, overall, is quite good; perhaps a little too pointed at the tips, but just barely. The lug bevels kind of suck, but will blend in with the slight case aging or I may just have them re-cut by somone skilled at that, I'm a sucker for beautiful, sharp bevels (à la case restoration) though so who knows haha Now, onto the coolest part of the case, the Farraday cage. The cage is actually three parts. The first part is the back cover which sequesters the movement from the caseback. Although quite ugly on appearance (it should be covered in perlage decoration which I can do myself, very easy to do on a part like this) it is machined perfectly and snaps onto the center ring of the cage tight and flush The second piece of the cage and they way it's machined is key, and makes using an ETA movement in a gen-spec case like this SUPER easy (I'll explain). First off though, the brass ring is machined perfectly- and I mean PERFECTLY- for the case. It snaps in with a loud "CLICK" and locks into place Some of the machining work of the cage to take particular note of: 1) the thin channel on the top of the case back side where the cage back snaps on tight to the middle ring. 2) the channel machined into the middle of the ring lines up perfectly with the a 1030->ETA adaptor (more on that in a second) and movement clamps mounted clean and tight on a test fit into the channel flush all the way across the ring onto the plate of the ETA 2782 I have for this project (sturdy and good pinion height for this build imo). 3) on the dial side you can (barely) see the ridge with a slightly smaller ID than the rest of ring - this is where the dial sits and the thin ring on the back of the dial nestles inside of this ridge to seat properly over the movement; the surprisingly gen-like construction of the Tonny dial is critical (kudos to whomever made this dial. The construction of it is quite impressive). No dial feet and the thin brass ring on the back of the dial as per a gen 6541 dial (the dial thus creates the top "cap" of the cage") Now about that movement ring/spacer. I was super hesitant to drop $50 on Yuki's ETA adaptor ring for cal. 1030 movements/cases and I don't have a lathe so regretfully I cannot make my own. I had heard dismal things about Yuki's, most notably that they were super thin and flimsy and snap at the drop of a hat. Not to mention that anyone I had heard of using one had mentioned the need to modify it in some way or another. So after some email reassurances from Yuki that these were "new" movement rings, I gambled and bought one. Turns out they are WAY better than the old ones used to be. Much, much thicker/sturdier, machined to an accurate diameter (both inner and outer) and has the proper "step" machined into the dial side to accommodate the dial and Farraday cage ring. Lines up perfect with the dial and sits flush on the back side of the inner lip of the cage ring in the case. Again, lining up perfectly with the channel for movement clamps; absolutely no modification needed. Lastly, the hole for the tube is high just like gen, and the stem lined up very well through both the case and the cage only downside is I can't seem to get a gen 6020 tube to screw in properly so it looks like I'll have to re-tap the case. The opening seems to be the correct size, but the pitch of the threads just doesn't seem to match up. Another pretty easy "fix" and small potatoes considering everything else. So now I'm just waiting on a few more pieces to show up and I can get this thing assembled and see what else I need to do to it. I'm waiting on a hands set from Michael Young at CWP (best "lightning bolt" seconds hand you can get imvho) and I'm experimenting with some cheap-o dauphine hands from Offrei since they look correct (faceted properly and I can get the correctly sized 13mm minutes hand) for this iteration of Milgauss with its no-lume plain hands. CWP's hands are good enough (for an ETA build like this at least) but I don't want to have to deal with broaching them so I hope I can get the Offrei hands to look right. And still need to order that red triangle insert from Phong (well, Phong's son Jensen actually. Great guy...) but once I get those two things, I think the remainder of acquisition/assembly should fly!

Tudor "fantasy" Chrono. 7750-powered DW 6239 with a gen Tidor Chronautic dial; love the extra thing 6238 style bezel but still need to shave down the crown dude to even it out a little

@Mendota Explorer @panerai153 +1. I think certain modern pieces like the GMTs and the Explorer II (imho the last remaining modern Rolex that still harkens back to the old tool watches Rolex used to make) should appreciate in value. Not my cup of tea, but I digress... if I had the money (and the desire) to "invest" in collecting under-appreciated vintage Rolexes, I'd maybe start snatching up Bubble Backs. And fast. Again, not exactly my cup of tea, but I've got a feeling it may be the next bubble (no pun intended) in the vintage Rolex collector/auction market.

High-end frankens all the way. I'd rather have the satisfaction of 1) sourcing parts for and building my own watch; there's a certain emotional attachment and sense of achievement from putting together something yourself, and 2) getting to actually wear whatever watch I please, and appreciate it to the fullest. All while not completely worry about taking it out of a safe for fear of hurting its value like some of these overly-precious gens and their are artificially-inflated perceived value. As the astronomical prices climb even higher, the spirit of these well-loved and actually used/worn Franken builds is much more in tune with what the true, original spirit of the "tool watch" was the first place: watches that were meant to be worn (and perhaps worn hard) for use with a specific purpose in mind. There's a part of me that laments the fact that some of these storied timepieces are now relegated to a life locked away in a dark place for safe-keeping, only to see the day of light when being passed from one millionaire's safe to another's, to once retreat back into the shadows... There's a reason why Joanne Woodward engraved the back of Paul Newman's Daytonas, and the inscription sums it up perfectly. And it certainly didn't say "Put This Away for Safe Keeping"...

As I type this, Aurel Bacs and his merry men are wrapping up their weekend of auctions in Geneva, and most likely patting themselves on the back for a "job well done". At least, in their eyes anyways. (100% sales totaling over $25M on the first day alone. Sheesh...) Saturday's chrono-only "Start. Stop. Reset" auction produced some seriously crazy numbers, watches hammering at prices never seen before: a mere FIVE Daytons hammered in for a total north of $7.5 MILLION. That's right, millions. For five watches. In fact, only one vintage Daytona on the block hammered for less than six figures yesterday, so it doesn't seem like the Daytona bubble is bursting anytime soon. There's was the Paul Newman "Sotto" coming in at right under $2M: Or the (gorgeous) 6239 "Medical" and its silver dial with blue Pulsations scale: Or the star of yesterday's auction, a Rolex Split Seconds chronograph from the 40's, realizing almost $2.5M: Make no mistake, these are stunning, amazing timepieces, but the prices at auction are getting to the point of being almost laughably outrageous, even to the uber-rich collectors to whom these auctions cater to. To wit, a 5500 Explorer hammered in this morning's second auction for over $20K: Sheesh. I might need to take my Explorer 5500 build a little more seriously I guess hahahaha... To be fair, I think Phillips didn't disappoint with some of its more interesting finds, both Rolex and a plethora of lesser-known (yet still amazing) chronos from the 40's, 50's, and 60's (It's totally worth it to download the Phillips app and look through the hi-res catalog pictures of all the lots. They did an outstanding job photographing the auction, no question). For Rolex, there were some lesser-seen rarities like a gold cased 6238, a rarely seen (and mint!) all gold 6542 GMT with its dauphine hands and salmon-hued dial (just look at that coin edge bezel and all-red Bakelite insert too!) and a two-tone 1675 with the sharpest insert I've ever seen: Lest we forget the black dial triple calendar Moonphase 8171 'Stelline' that's sure to break the million dollar mark later today as well: Personally though, and as much as I love vintage Tudor and Rolex sports models, my absolute favorite of the weekend was neither Rolex nor Tudor (although I was salivating over the Tudor Home Plate that sold on Saturday. Be still my heart...). It was an absolutely STUNNING Longines fly-back chrono that hammered in at a "humble" (LOL) $75K: Amazing, right? Bears a striking resemblance to the Patek that sold for TEN TIMES that amount a few lots later too, doesn't it? Hmmm... (I know I'm late to the party, but it might be high time to start looking at collecting Longines haha...) And the bonus awesome lot from today for me was one of the coolest Patek Calatravas maybe ever. A possible "piece unique" with a 3-6-9 "Explorer" dial. Classy. And a steal at the estimated $120-180K! I just think this thing is so, so cool: I'd be curious to see what others here thought about this weekend's auctions. In my humble opinion, it was a surprisingly strong showing considering the economic climate in the certain parts of the world right now; because of my day job, I know the rare wine market at least has taken a massive hit lately due to the economic downturn in China and the barrel price of crude in the Middle East, so it's very interesting to see million-dollar Daytonas literally fly off the block and 100% sale results from the likes of Phillips (it's looking like only 2-3% of the lots will have hammered for below pre-sale estimate) and their mega-auctions, with no signs of depreciation or slowing sales on the horizon either it seems. I wonder, how many of us here on the forums may be looking at the V72-powered Phong 6263s and 6239s in a very different light after this weekend...

I just test fitted an ETA 2879 in one of Justin's 2824 cases and the stem lines up good. Slow beat rate too...

Bart, have you tried emailing Ken from Rafflestime? I think he may e able to get you blank brass ETA feet dials. Not something he lists for sale obviously, but I think I recall reading g that another member had purchased blanks from him. Also, Offrei has brass blanks for 2836 family movements, but the ones I saw had date windows. Might be worth checking and see if they have ones without. Can't beat the $4.50 price tag... http://www.ofrei.com/page813.html

As many a member will tell you, if using a gen dial, try to preserve the feet if you can. Retains its value and allows to to upgrade should you ever choose to do so. Yuki's dials have gen-positioned feet but I'd just snip them off and attach it to a dial spacer if using an ETA. ETA main plates can be slotted to accept gen dial feet, but I can't say for certain if that holds true for Gmt movements as well. Sounds like Yuki might be your best option for your build, however you might want to revise your budget expectations; Yuki cases for 1675s are in the $300+ range iirc, and a cartel 1655 will require more parts purchasing and modifications anyways. As you can see, it adds up (and never ends! Haha). Totally worth it though. I've toyed with the idea of getting one of his PCG case sets myself, one of the greatest GMTs ever in my opinion!

In regards to dealers of parts for builds: •"Best"/Most Expensive: Jewelry & Watch/Phong, VintageWatchesMQ/Minh, VintageWatchmaker (Jensen, Phong's son), NDT Trading -- prepare to spend a ton of money for pretty accurate case options that usually are gen spec or accept gen parts, good bezel/insert options and some decent dial options (gilt, long E, etc.; MQ not Phong). If you were in fact actually looking specifically for a coin edge bezel (were you talking about the "regular"/more common style RLX bezel or were you intending on actually fitting a 6542 coin edge style bezel on a 1675?) contact MQ. Phong's PCG cases can be hit or miss but when they're good they're pretty great. Again, prepare to spend a small fortune though. I'd go this route only I f you were trying to go as "all-gen" as possible or intent on using a gen movement. Also, scour the 'bay and VRM for gen service inserts and/or service dials (if you don't mind a service dial or are fine having one re-lumed), you might get lucky and find one decently priced depending on how much you're looking to invest in the build; to wit, black gen inserts seem to typically list for less than pepsis in my experience. •Mid-Range Options: Yuki, Tonnywatches -- I'm sure there's another option or two I'm forgetting. Tonny slings parts on Instagram (gen and rep) and is rumored to maybe use the same supplier as Minh (but at half the price). Pretty nice gilt dials and I'm pretty sure he offers cases but I haven't seen anyone "road test" one of his 1675 cases yet so i can't speak to their quality/finish/parts compatibility. Yuki offers various full-build sets (case, dial, hands, inserts, bezels, etc.), and you could even go budget ETA route with one of his 16710 case sets of you're not hellbent on a 1675 reference specifically. •Last, but certainly not least: As mentioned here by other, more experienced members, the Cartel 1655 makes a great base for a 1675 build as a 5.3mm crown fits the case correctly. Of course, a good measure of modification and parts sourcing is in order (see above options for dials, bezels, etc.) with the 1655, but imvho it is by far the most satisfying way to go about building a (wallet-friendly) 1675 that looks great. Frankly, if I were to consider going the uber-expensive Phong/MQ route, I'd rather just save up a bit more and buy an actual gen 16710 or a "bargain" 1675. But that's just me. The journey of the build is the best part anyways. Even still, it would be really nice to have a nice and thin PCG 1675 right out of the box from cartel, wouldn't it?

I'm making the 1016 into a vector file in Illustrator now. Should be able to squeeze in finishing it up this coming week. I'll post the file for download here once I clean it up and finish it

Just a little preview of what will hopefully be a somewhat meaningful contribution to this project thread. I was sending a genuine 1016 Explorer I service dial off to PBDad today to get a lume job and scanned the dial into PS/Illustrator so I could work the various elements into vectors/separate vector files. This dial presented a unique opportunity in that when I got it (and before it went to PBDad) it was COMPLETELY unlumed. Made the scan nice and crisp; you can even make out the serifs in the numerals and hour indices! Cranked up the dpi and then upped the contrast several times. I'll post the illustrator file up here in this thread once I finish with it and get it sized properly...

@photon did that bezel come with the DW case? Don't think I've ever seen one without the usual UPH bezels. Love this, and that dial is great looking. Always loved the look of the pre-Daytona Cosmographs, something about the look of the smooth plain bezel and the piston pump pushers that's so appealing visually. Elegant, understated and such a "pure" tool watch

+1 I always order directly from the website and turnaround time is pretty good. Items usually ship out in a day or two tops