meadowsweet_

So, last week I got word that there was a pretty great estate sale going on about a two hour's drive away from me. The private home estate of a jeweler and his wife had been purchased and put up for sale. Foolishly, I waited until later in the day to head down to the sale, and sure enough, by the time I got there much of it had been picked clean (of all the good stuff anyways: case sets, bracelets, dials, bridges, etc. all gone). Out of the corner of my eye I spied a little box filled with the unmistakable little wax paper Rolex envelopes. Not much left but I managed to score some gaskets, a T21 plexi and a triplock crown. Most notably though, was a little baggie of loose hands which I felt was well worth the $40 they wanted. These weren't in a rlx envelope, but based on the rest of the items there and sold, I figured there was a pretty great shot of them being gen hands that were at some point replaced or there waiting to be used as replacements. I know that most of these hands are for Datejusts, but I wanted to see if anyone had any insight as to whether or not theres more than just DJ hands here. So, onto the photos: Not in the most pristine condition, I know, but vintage hands sets are seemingly harder and harder to come by, so I figured it was worth a shot at 40 bucks. First, the steel hands. Hour hand is missing lume, but the two minute hands seem to have a lovely patinated lume and are in pretty good shape. The second group is the gold hands (the steel seconds hands is extremely bent and too far gone I think). The varying length of the minute hands especially is throwing me for a loop, not to mention the various sized openings for different movements/dials. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that some of these were maybe from a woman's model as well, but this level of nuanced comparison is currently a bit out of my league experience-wise. Accordingly, I'd love to hear what some of you all think! I know it may be difficult to examine visually and without precise caliper measurements, but any and all help is greatly appreciated

I messaged you about one of these, but might as well cross my fingers and try my luck! Very generous of you Whoopy, thank you...

Thank you. Definitely in it for the long haul with the build. Wouldn't be able to do it without gents like you and the other resident Dayto experts here

FWIW, vintagewatchmaker is actually Phong's son Jensen. Starting a 6263 project with one of his mid cases I just picked up, and would have to agree with most insomuch that Phong/Jensen mid cases are as good as its gets without going gen (for mid cases specifically). Once you start getting into the thousands of dollars area, the way to go is Phong mid case and gen everything else, IMVHO. It's a long road to travel, but well worth it in the end I think. And also, Jensen is a SUPEr nice person with fantastic communication and customer service. I'll do business with him again no question and recomemnd him highly to anyone looking to build a near-completely gen vintage piece

Oof, I'm with storm trooper. Nevermind the bezel insert, those modern Daytona indices kill it for me. Always disliked them

Thank you Droptop, I sincerely appreciate it. Happy to be here

Hello everyone! Meant to post this a little while back when I joined, but just now getting around to a proper introductions. I have a rabid love of vintage Rolex timepieces, especially Daytonas (more on that in a minute). IMVHO, there is no finer place for Daytona lovers than RWG; so many here with such a high level of expertise and so many with some of the loveliest 6263/65, 6239/41, etc. builds I've ever seen no question. My rep/franken collection is small, although my collection of parts (mainly gen) grows daily lol. So, a little story of how I came to be so enamored with Daytonas in the first place and what has set me on my path to build a near-completely gen 6263: My father was a car guy. A huge car guy. Collected and built and tinkered with Mustangs his whole life. I grew up hunting through junkyards with him and watching him take old frames and re-build some of these cars piece by piece. It's where I learned that the hunt and the build is greater than the end product sometimes (most times lol). And he loved racing-specific sports chronographs. And I mean he LOVED them. We grew up dead-center middle class in Wyoming, Pennsylvania and frankly, a second hand watch purchase was his only option. He eventually bought himself a used Heuer Carrera second hand from our neighbor who owned the jewelry shop in town. At the time (this was 1975 or 76 if I remember), buying a used watch wasn't necessarily something you'd be proud of or "show off" per se, but it wasn't necessarily looked down upon either and besides my father didn't care, he had himself a real deal racing chrono, and one that "real drivers" wore too as he would say. Now, his "baby" was a black and British racing green 1971 Plymouth Barracuda that he had bought brand new. I swear he loved that thing more than me and my mom hahaha! Anyways on my 10th birthday (in 1981) he took me out for a spin in it. On the way home I asked him why he rarely, if ever, drove it. He had spent years saving up for it he told me, drove it pretty hard for that first year, then just put it away when my mom got pregnant with me. He told me that he was actually saving it to sell it. He said, "I'm going to sell it and put you in college and buy myself a new watch. A Rolex." When my father passed away in 1989 the Barracuda was long gone and it had most certainly helped get me into college. He never did buy himself that Rolex though. He took his Heuer with him to the next life, and after college I saved and saved and saved and eventually bought myself the exact same Carrera (which regretfully just sits in a safety deposit box most of the time; I would be devastated if something happened to it). And with little ones of my own now, buying that 6263 (that I KNOW my father would have wanted) for $25-30K is not really an option. So, I'm doing what my father may have done nowadays and build the damn thing myself. Piece by piece. I have a lovely DW-cased 7750 iteration of a 6241 (pictured), and just recently purchased a 6263 mid-case from Jensen over at vintagewatchmaker .com (en route to me now) to start my V72 build in earnest. My hope is that this mid-case ends up being the only non-gen component other than the V72. I hope to glean amazing insight and criticisms from the wonderful RWG vintage Daytona community (I've already learned SO MUCH already in the 18 or so months of lurking I've done) and I hope to share the entire journey and build with everyone here from beginning to end. Apologies for the novella, and thank you RWG for having me…

Tomhorn THANK YOU for all the great info on V72 movement donors/variations, I am frantically taking notes over here. Just purchased a 6263 case set from Jensen and share a love of the parts hunt. Can't wait to get started in earnest on my build and threads like this afford me an opportunity to get a great head start

Oh goodness, I gotta start paying closer attention. Sorry for the dumb-dumb posts. Think I'm done putzing around with Tapatalk lmao

Whoops! Sincere apologies, my old man eyes can't see much on these tiny phone screens sometimes. GLWS regardless!

Also, can anyone tell me how the pump pushers look on the above 6241? If they look not-so-good is there a good source for more correct looking ones? To me, they look to be set a little "tall"/high up, but I'm not certainly no expert on how these pump pushers are supposed to look and would love some input on these as well. Thanks!

I just recently came upon (and acquired) a really lovely 6241 (old DW case set, white pn dial, bakelite bezel and pump pushers) equipped with a swiss 7750. I absolutely love its white PN dial, but it got me thinking... I'm getting ready to embark on a 6263 build (as I may have found another old DW 7750 case set) and I would love any insight from any of RWG's resident vintage Daytona experts on sources for good Sigma dials for BOTH a 7750 movement as well as for a V72. As I am also very close to acquiescing and finally purchasing a Phong/Phong, Jr. 6263 (for a third, v72 build lol), I'm aware of the high quality of Phong's Sigma dials but I was also wondering if there were other good sources for both v72 Sigma dials (like Phong's) as well excellent Sigmas for the 7750? And since there is no finer place for me to ask such a question, I'd like to thank in advance anyone who may be gracious enough to share some insight. And lastly, a pic of the 6241 just because (please excuse the poor quality of the phone pic)

Wow, that Phong 6263 Sigma dial is amazing