jimcon11

9 hours ago, hologramet said:

Basically yeah..

Thanks, I wish I had gotten this rundown a lot earlier, this post oughta be stickied for everybody.

The Long 5 insert really makes your 5513 stand out. Oh and I guess the dark lord dial doesnt hurt either  It is one of the nicest watches on here IMO.

1 hour ago, hologramet said:

 

Remember there is no mk1 mk2 mk3 etc. mk1 is a fat mk3 (most often) or mk3.


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So there's basically the early big and small crown inserts, maybe 4 or 5 different types (red triangle, no hashmark, etc.)

Next would be the Long 5 (I love these but they seem awfully rare)

Then the MKIII fat or slim

Then the MKIIII one like you posted above with the more compressed numbers.

And there's also a later "service insert" where the numbers are really thin..

Is that a pretty accurate rundown of all aluminum sub inserts?

cherry blossoms

I had to open up a Western Union investigation the one and only time I chose to deal with MQ. Then the funds magically appeared for him. Good luck 

2 hours ago, hologramet said:

In short... that black one is an alternative mk 3. Lets call it pointy 4 or mk3.5.


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lol thanks, definitely needed a translation there.

They all look nice. I wish these weren't so expensive because the rep ones suck by comparison. Hopefully @slay will release a nice MKIII next 

What's going on with the site.. people are multiposting all over the place, and certain threads like the Rolex wristies one are not allowing replies. Is someone working on this? 

What's going on with the site.. people are multiposting all over the place, and certain threads like the Rolex wristies one are not allowing replies. Is someone working on this? 

1 hour ago, mir36 said:

Cool project. Did you already get your Ruby case? I’d be interested to see the crown positioning.  I got Ruby’s PCG a few months back and was frustrated to see the crown position as low. I can still salvage it with some filing, but was expecting better at that price point. 

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She will probably help you out if you tell her there's a problem with the case you received.

On 3/30/2019 at 9:24 AM, rower said:

So wonderfully tropical. I see a tan perlon in my future. 

20 hours ago, Nanuq said:

RWG is such a fine place for gentlemen to hang out, it seems like good things always happen here

Awesome post, awesome watch. I am planning to grab an action shot or two like this this summer.

Congrats man, that is a beautiful watch. The gilt dial without chapter ring is quite a cool look.

16 hours ago, slay said:

 

Here's an even fatter Insert:

 

Not to go too far off topic, but what is this? Explorer? this watch has no crown 

Love the insert though.

Also a good point slay.

Here's the example I was thinking of, from official Tudor website. Numbers are very very fat. Your insert doesn't quite capture the absurd look of this one, though I still love it 

On 3/30/2019 at 9:24 AM, rower said:

So wonderfully tropical. I see a tan perlon in my future. 

On 3/29/2019 at 3:47 AM, hologramet said:

In the next batch.. I recommend making the numbers about 15-20% larger, then it's perfect. Compared it to my gen mk1.

That is a really good catch. Something very hard to notice unless you compare right next to the real one, but has a noticable visual effect on the watch.

Interesting insight here. The one thing that always bothers me is that I might have difficulty getting my rep with an ETA movement serviced by a good watchmaker. I know I could always just take the movement out and have them tackle the movement by itself, but that doesn't work if I want to pass the watch on to someone. 

Other than that downside, the advantages of using ETA are immense, the biggest one being you can actually use your watch as it was intended.

Awesome looking project, I can't wait to see it together. I agree there's something strange about the first insert, it appears to be a very thinly printed mkiii. 

Excellent choices with the dial and hands, this is going to be a stunner.

Spring has finally arrived 

bump 

Good stuff everyone 

That looks pretty nice to me, you should tell us more about it. Im having a hard time placing a date on that watch just by looking at it... looks vintage but the hands seem more modern to me.

The arguments on those boards are epic. Don't get me wrong, there's some amusing arguments on the rep forums too.. especially in the ones that aren't this one.. especially in the member trade area.. but something about the persnicketiness of their users combined with the extremely high values at stake leads to some hilarious all-out wars in Rolex land. I've noticed threads where a trivial disagreement leads to whole pages displaying "content removed for personal attack".

One of my favorites was the one about the 'teen watch dealer', where various old timers faced the affront that some rich kid was apparently dealing huge value vintage pieces on instagram, and proceeded to character assassinate him for selling a 6202 Turnograph that nobody could actually agree was "real" or not. 

On 2/28/2019 at 2:51 PM, Nanuq said:

That's the spirit! I thought I'd built an admirable 6538 until a couple guys here, when pressed, pointed out things I never even saw. That led me down a better path.

One more tiny detail, count the "teeth" on a gen 8mm crown vs. the Athaya crown. That's an arm's length visual that's pretty easy to pick out.  You can refer back to my two earlier photos.

Hmm I got 24 for both 

Your big crown is amazing; it's greater than the sum of its parts, even though they're mostly gen. I'd take it over almost any of the real 6538s I see for sale. I'm doing the best I can with mine, but I kind of like pushing the envelope of the "no gen parts" build. Like you said, it's all about seeing the details that aren't generally too noticable, but can nonetheless throw the complete package off.

On 2/28/2019 at 4:56 PM, Bart Cordell said:

My small (Big ?) contribution to this thread

There are many faults that I accept on my builds but the crown is a detail to which I attach a lot of importance...

Thanks for the reference there, that crown really is a beauty. I'm starting to see that the Athaya crown does not hold up to scrutiny quite as well as I thought, but I still think it's a great aftermarket part in that it captures the spirit of the real thing nicely, unlike a lot of aftermarket parts. It would be great if Adrian stepped up his Rolex game and developed some more parts: hands, crystals, bezels, etc.

19 hours ago, Nanuq said:

That's a beautiful result.      That said, never say never ... just when you think it's done something else comes along.     

 

Look at the "case" side of your 8mm crown.  See how smooth it is?  A gen crown has thin stainless wrapped over a brass form, and you can see the rough edges on the inner face.  I'm sorry I don't have a better picture, but here are two to show what I mean.  I bet you could take some jeweler's tools and scribe the inner face of your crown to make it look more like the gen piece.  With your skills it shouldn't be hard at all.

That's interesting, I certainly hadn't noticed this before. It looks like an almost uniform tool mark from cutting the teeth that is left unfinished. Or is it just a by-product of jacketing the brass? My knowledge of metalwork is woeful. I have a spare Athaya crown that's all chewed up (from bending my tube slightly to the correct pitch) so I might experiment a bit. 

The Athaya crown looks really accurate to me, but this is one issue. Another is that the Brevet and crown markings are a bit flat and less 3D than gen.  And I believe the concavely curved "top cap" portion after the teeth is a little short, and I mean just a hair. 

I genuinely appreciate the feedback. It seems like constructive criticism is often lacking in these forums because nobody wants to sour someone's mood on a watch they are happy with, but it's totally necessary in order to achieve the best possible work and something you're truly satisfied with.  This watch looks great in some lighting conditions but rather off in others. I'm adding this to my long list of improvements:

-early 7922 case engravings

-gen 390 movement (have it, needs slight modification to fit the case)

-gold plated dial instead of brass, with more matte textured surface, slightly increase chapter ring size

-smoother lume work, less yellow color, and white paint under the plots (this is probably the biggest issue for me)

-better evenness on hand aging, slim down minute hand a bit (right now it completely covers the batons markers and I think it should be slightly thinner)

-proper big ball seconds hand

-gen insert (mkiii with big serifs is my favorite )

-gen crown or roughen inner edges 

On 2/25/2019 at 9:04 PM, Alan72 said:

So here's my finished article,jk/tiger concept hands and heavily aged dial

Nice man, that insert is accurate for an early 7922, See

On 2/25/2019 at 10:37 PM, Timelord said:

All I can say is that this has been a great thread!!   I could not add anything close to what others haven't already done!  Thoroughly enjoyed it as it as been entertaining as well as educational as most threads are on this forum.  This filled a large gap of ignorance in my understanding of this particular build., almost enticing me to take up one of these projects myself!  

 

As for winter, being a good title  for this post, it is one of the cosiest times of the year to fulfil indoor activities such as these ones, which otherwise would always be delayed!  Thanks for sharing and enjoy to good Health!

Thanks, I'm glad the thread was helpful. The 7922 is a special watch to me, something about the dial text captivated me when I first saw it. I love the calligraphic styling, and the fact that it flies under the radar being a "big crown Submariner" but not a Rolex. I've tried to learn everything I can about this reference, but I haven't gone as far as ordering books or corresponding with collectors or historians. I wish I had become interested in this watch 20 years ago, when you could actually buy one for peanuts. Collectors have realized how close these are to the famous 6538 and prices are in the stratosphere.

There are several other vintage watches that I'd like to research and replicate to this degree, but you can only wear one watch at a time and I hate seeing them sitting on the shelf