southcoast68

That hits the nail on the head right there. Congrats to 'ole Bob, may he enjoy his $60k.

Just the other day, a friend told me he heard of a Rolex only store opening up near me in Orlando, in the Mall Of Millenia. It makes me wonder why they did not go this route years ago. Sure, it will be a big investment on their part in the beginning to set up and run their own shops, but they WILL pass that cost to the customer, and the customer will pay it because after all, its Rolex. In the long run, it will give them better control of their products and ensure to everyone once and for all "the only way to ensure you get a real Rolex, is to buy it from us". Nothing more exclusive than that. Cheers

I find it interesting that the "patented" on the divers extension is mis-spelled on both those examples. See the attached pictures of my own gen folded link oyster bracelet. Even though it does not show up on the picture, the word "patented" is spelled correctly on my diver extension. My history with this band; I got it about 16 years ago, it was installed on my GMT Master that I bought used at a Rolex AD (Gray's Jewelers in Barrington, R.I.). It was the wrong type of oyster bracelet for a GMT, having the extension link and bigger clasp, so I replaced it with an aftermarket jubilee bracelet and kept it in my parts. I have no doubt that my bracelet is gen due to where I got it from as well as how long I have had it. Its funny, just over the past few days, I have been toying with the idea of selling this bracelet to make funds for other projects. Now it seems like the rep industry has apparently come up with their own version of it, perhaps making the one I have worth a little less? Cheers

The only thing wrong with that mod is that it will make the crappy looking date font they used appear even bigger. Still, its cool to see.

Ahh, no I had not seen that one yet, thanks for pointing me to it. Beautiful job!!

@LHOOQ, yes I have seen alligoat's Daytonas, and they are nice, both being redundant since they have a units per hour scale on the bezel and dial. The albino shown above has the black inlaid bezel and bued hands, making just enough of a difference to be perfect.

I suppose that if Rolex made a special edition of the GMT in white dial for PanAm, as well as other special dials for companies like Dominoes Pizza, Coca Cola, etc., then its possible that this albino sub may have been made for a private entity. We all know how sketchy Rolex records keeping was back then, so who's to say. BTW - freddy, you're albino GMT looks like a million bucks!! I am not sure I took the opportunity to compliment before, so I'll do it now, FANTASTIC GMT!!

I know huh!! Spring Drive; 30 years in development, accuracy of a quartz without a battery, the worlds ONLY spring driven movement with a TRUE SWEEPING seconds hand. Most models at around $4k to $7k US. That's world class development for a world class product!!

Now, there is a salesman!!!!

@freddy333, speaking of rare birds, when are you going to build one of these? I gotta ask, remember, I am living vicariously through you guys Also, when cruising through NDTrading's site recently, I saw this for $4k Just out of curiosity, what are the odds of someone buying this franken and actually getting one that looks as good as that picture?

Pretty strong words, especially considering that before the '90s, Hublot did not even exist. Hublot, for the most part, has no real history in watch making and its only claim to fame is the Big Bang series which, and correct me if I am wrong here, had its ceramic bezels manufactured by Kyocera, an Asian based corporation. I've got nothing against the Big Bang, its actually an interesting looking watch that I had considered trying myself. Makers like Hublot, AP, Omega,TAG Heuer, Rolex, et.al., are all real good with marketing and putting themselves close to the well-to-do out there in the world trying to bring up the brand as being "exclusive". Its funny though, makers like Patek, Breguet, and VC have always been regarded as world class watches, exclusive in their own right, without the need for such marketing. Strong words indeed Mr. Biver, if I were a psychiatrist, I believe the term I would use would be "deflection". It seems as though having China about beating you at the game makes you lash out at the world, calling people sad, depressed, and poor. You really do not know all people, and I wonder just how many potential "real" customers you may have had get turned away from such words. They are only watches folks, I say, live and let live. If they claim that reps have no real effect on their growth, then why should they really care about what China does with reps and who owns them. You want to be considered a "world class", "exclusive" brand, develop a world class product that most people will be able to justify having, like Seiko. I'd take a Seiko Spring Drive over a Hublot any day, and at a fraction of the cost. My .02 Cheers

I'm going to say that you're spring bars are genuine. Why - you can just see the ends of them through the case holes, and they appear to be slightly rounded, much like the genuine parts.

I like the red seconds hand too, adds a bit of flair. Congrats!!!

I paid $1400 for the GMT in my signature, used from a Rolex AD, and that was about 1995 or so.

That's what I'm thinking. If I had any money to do this, I would try the following; a. buy on of these http://www.1-pc8838.com/omse01021-planet-ocean-chrono-ssss-blkbezorg-7750-p-5858.html or this http://www.1-pc8838.com/zn00101-defy-extreme-dlcru-white-asia-7750-28800-p-7408.html b. buy one of these (and hope I actually do get this case style) http://www.kingshowbox.com/goods.php?id=3924 c. buy the dial (this is the expensive part, and I did have an aftermarket dial and decided to sell it a few months back) Now, I'd have to prep the movement by removing the date wheel and mechanism since the Daytona does not need it, but I would hope that at that point, I could install the dial, swap the hands and case from the rep and have a decent seconds at 9 Daytona with proper subdial spacing. Of course, I would have to be lucky in the following points; 1. The A7750 rep movement from the Zenith/Omega which is advertised to have subdial spacing same as El Primero actually does have said subdail spacing. 2. The dial would physically fit the case without being too small or way too big. 3. The hands from the rep Daytona would actually fit the rep movement from the Zenith/Omega (China parts are known to be of the non-standard status most of the time). 4. The distance from the dial face to the stem is the same on both A7750 movements after the date mechanism is removed from the Zenith one making the case tube to stem alignment work. At the end of the day, I still would be spending a good bit for parts that may need extensive modding to fit together if they can be fitted together at all. About $300 a peice for the two reps and about a grand for the dial (or a few hundred anyway for an aftermarket, if anybody would sell me one). I suppose Phong or NDTrading may be able to source a dial, but it still would cost. I am sure everyone is tired of hearing me cry baby over this issue by now, but consider the following. If I could conceivably do this on my bench at home and come up with something feasible, wouldn't it be that much easier for a rep producer, with access to all the mentioned parts, do the same? We have seen the rep factories turn out copies of the DSSD and the ProPlof, both are watches that have very proprietary designs that do not transfer to make other rep models, then why is it such a chore for them to do this with parts they already produce? They will probably have to do the dial design from scratch, but they all do dials so well these days, I would not think that be a major hurdle. As far as what we want as collectors not being a blip on the rep makers radar, I do feel that some of our input they do go with eventually. If they truly did not care, would we see the recently upgraded DRSDs and Subs that have better pearls, proper case markings, etc.? Would we be seeing Josh putting R and D into the vintage Explorer II, even down to the folded link bracelet, right size hands and dial markers that come to the edge of the rehaut? Oh well, I'll let this drop (as applause is heard from the crowd..), but I do like the debate on this, and maybe one day we will see either a cool franken kit to emerge, or a full on rep come to market. Ciao

I have been on the soap box for this topic for a while, and I won't repeat what I have already said on the topic, but I still don't see the problem with the rep factories doing it. If the factories don't care in the fact that they sell thousands of the seconds at 6 version, even though it is crap, then I can understand the attitude they have in creating a good seconds at 9 version. But, let's take a look at what we already know; a. the A7750 with seconds at 9 in a Daytona configuration has been proven to be a good movement, especially if kept up with regular service, without the seconds at 6 conversion it's much more reliable. b. the A7750 already has been used in countless versions of the Daytona, and the most current versions visually look fantastic, therefore, case parts, dials, hands, etc. are already being manufactured to fit this movement. c. the more recent version of the A7750 with seconds at 9 and closer sub-dial spacing is already being used in the Zeinth Defy chrono rep which is a rep of a gen that carries the ZENITH EL PRIMERO MOVEMENT, this movement has also been used in a couple of the more recent Omega chrono reps, and has been torn down and reviewed by Fransisco and has been found to be a better made movement using actual jewels at critical points. d. so they have all the parts for the cases, a rep of the El Primero movement which is a modified A7750 that will fit the cases, and they have the ability to execute dials that are scary close to the genuine. Sounds like they already have the recipe and ingredients, whats the holdup?? One of the tells of a Daytona rep, for me, is the case thickness and the resulting rep from already produced components will yield a Daytona rep that is too thick like the current ones, however, its still possible to bring this to market, and folks will buy it. If we are all ok with putting up with multiple versions of each new rep introduced, I don't see why the rep factories would loose out on this investment. At lease the poor folks like me could finally get a great looking modern style Daytona with a movement that should hold up a lot better than what we currently get for a fraction of what a franken gets built for. If the members here in this forum can build world class projects without having a factory full of parts and machinery at their disposal, then the rep producers can certainly do it, they are just waiting for the right time to produce it and justify charging us double for it. Having folks like Spinmaster and DW look into producing these projects is indeed a god send since it will put the ability for more folks in the hobby to realize their project for less money and I hope it comes to fruition even though I have not a penny to spend on a watch these days, I live vicariously through all you folks. Did I just say I was not going to repeat everything I already said, oh well..... Cheers everyone

HERE HERE +1!!! Nice project ChiMan!!! Cheers

Lemania like the Seagull ST-19 venus copy would still have subdials spacing that is too far apart for it to look right. Now there are reps of the Omega Planet Ocean chronograph and the Zenith Defy Chronographs that use the newer A7750 that has closer subdial spacing. Why this has not been adapted for use in a decent Daytona rep, well, I'm still waiting for an answer on that one . Cheers

My Avatar is of Mollie, my Welsh Pembroke Corgi, she is 7 years old and is one of the biggest goof balls I had ever met second only to Sookie, my other dog which is a Shiloh Shepard. The both of them together makes living in my house nothing but pure entertainment. My signature is of my GMT Master 1675, the only genuine Rolex I still have in the collection. Most of the time I use the emoticon that is wearing sunglasses since I live in a warm sunny state. Cheers

Contact Spinmaster, he and DW offer case kits and I believe they also builds them on special order. For right now, that's really the only game in town, unless you want to build one on you're own. Cheers

You guys are starting to sound like the crew from Mythbusters. Always searching for the cool explosion. Be careful out there...

Simpson

Tree

I figured I'd share this just in case nobody had seen it. Very talented little girl here!!! Cheers

My condolences too Marty, take comfort in the fact that he is at rest and is in no pain. God Bless, sc68