ken fingerlove

Wasn't 1st April last week?

I replied on your thread - but the upshot is, no, not really. I got a buckle :S

I'm sure people have read this before, but I don't mind talking about it. Mine's all from DW, but I chose the black PN face, and sent the plastic bezel to the watchmaker. I ordered a custom croc strap from Paris, France, and got a pretty nice stainless buckle from Yuki watch. I've kept a very loose eye on eBay for 7835 bracelets, but my hope is the strap will be so damn nice I won't want to bother. The movement I got from a Seth Thomas chrono, a nice watch - and not quite a Rolex correct movement - so my watchmaker is just putting it in without swapping in the 'Rolex' engraved bridges. That's in the hope that I can turn up a more correct VJ72 in more of a beater case for transplanting later. Still not sure what is happening about the crown. My watchmaker seems to think he may be able to turn up a triplock 700, but I won't hold my breath on that. I figure a more modern crown is completely acceptable because a Rolex service centre would probably stick one in if they got the chance. Glass and pushers came from cousins.co.uk. I expect not to see it for at least another month, possibly two, which is not good, because I'm not the most patient person in the world. Although in some ways it's good because I won't have to pay him for a while, and the case, donor watch etc. weren't cheap But rest assured, when I do get it in my greasy paws, there will be photos to be had. J

Not completely convinced that dial in your last post is genuine. From my meagre analysis, the second (and subsecond) markers are very fine on genuine dials, and quite fat on the fakes. These are fat, but it may be that red on black second markers on the black and white gen dials have fatter markers than the red on white second markers of the white on black dials (by white on black I mean white subdials on a black face). - edit - the subdial markings are very fine on that though, so you're probably right about it being genuine I look forward to seeing your completed watch (but not as much as I look forward to seeing _my_ assembled watch if I ever get it from my watchmaker )

I looked around for a copy, and found several sites selling them for around 100 euros. I don't have a bookmark, but if I could find it, anyone should be able to.. Here you go: http://www.giardino.it/books/index.htm

s/county//

There is an easily visible gap at the case, and a tiny tiny tiny gap at one side. Bah, I can't quickly find a picture of the gen to compare. Not particularly inclined to ask my boss if he wants to do a quick side by side comparison

I find that the safety clasp doesn't engage properly on my WM9. It's always a tiny bit loose, and I find myself pushing it over that tiny bit every now and then. Not enough to get upset about, though..

Having a WM9 on my wrist right now, I can't imagine you need anything but a crown and tube. The bezel insert, pearl, et al on mine are all good. The only trouble is that it will take so long to arrive, that you'll probably have another one ordered before it gets to you.

Agreed, the real dial really is a step (or two) above the DW.. I'm just replying here to vent about my new strap. I ordered a custom strap three weeks ago and specified contrast stitching three times (before I ordered, in my order, and confirmed after), then I get an email today saying they received one with same colour stitching and would I accept it. I politely declined. I guess it's annoying for them, too, because it probably wasn't their fault, either.. Oh well, one of those things. Not that I could have put it on the DW yet, anyway. I haven't heard anything from my watchmaker for a few weeks. I presume no news is bad news. I ordered a buckle from yukiwatch. Hopefully that won't look as shoddy as the other 'vintage' buckle I just sent back. The excitement about this watch had better wear off soon. You'd think my new WM9 sub would distract me. Perhaps another few weeks of nothing from the assembly house will make me forget.

The text in the genuine bezel is a thin layer of platinum. so presumably a metallic paint would be slightly more accurate, but I imagine a side by side comparison would be revealing in any case.

Mine too, looks exactly like new. I'm not totally sure about the CGs now, looking at them. They may be 'new shape'. Not totally sure. Best sub

I love a movie topic. My fave 3 (trimming it to three is nearly impossibly, but off the top of my head) Jaws Kingpin The Black Hole The Black Hole is amazing. It's terrible for 40 minutes until Maximillian Schell appears, and then it becomes utterly fantastic. It also has the most insane "die - merge with a robot and descend into Hell" scene I've ever seen. I can't believe I picked a top three without Empire Strikes Back, but those new movies have really pulled that down the ranking for me.

Got mine today. Sanded down the bracelet edges and oiled it a bit this evening. The clasp could do with some edge smoothing, too. This is the refurb that wm9 was selling, so it might not have some of the features of the totally new one (like the CGs), but it looks good to me. And feels as cheap and lightweight as a genuine Rolex should! Compared to my Seiko Marinemaster, well, there really isn't a comparison. But I'll give the sub a go, and see if I can get used to wearing jewelery instead of a real man's watch. Hopefully I'll have enclosed a wrist shot, if I can.. J

Nice patina. Keep it as it is!

At $59, you should rethink adding them to a scammers list. That is a sweet looking watch, and if all it needs is a better movement... Heck, I'll buy that POS off you

So, just had my preliminary chat with my watchmaker after he got the goods. He said, I've got bad news for you - your dial says Oyster - they never made a newman with this dial. Cue some persuasion and the promise to email some pictures of the genuine article. Then discussion of the pushers, which had a groove at the bottom (again okayed by pictures off t'internet). Then eventually - oh, the movement doesn't fit. I'll have to do some serious work on the case to get it to fit. So finally, the really bad news last Not that I wasn't expecting it. He's quite interested in vintage rolexes, and I think is a certified rolex repairer, so is sort of interested in doing this. We also agreed that he'd clean the movemnt and fit it, and between now and when it gives up a bit, I can search for a more suitable V72 or a V727, put the movement back in the Seth Thomas, and get the fake bridges in something that needs more work...

Ha, I was beginning to worry before realising that all the posts were 2 years old. How things change! My sub has just shipped! w00t!

And the parts arrive. I got the black Newman dial, and am going to go with the black bezel. David was very prompt with this lot, very happy. The deal came with three movement components - for the sake of being cheap, unless the V72 from the donor needs a rebuild, I'll ask my guy to put the chrono bridge in only. I'm pretty sure no one will ever see any of them, but I'll get it put in anyway. Anyone got any tips on making it look a bit older? I got the pushers from cousins, and a genuine crown is on its way - although I don't really see what's wrong with the one supplied. Glass is generic T21 from cousins, too. The bezel came with two inserts. One has dodgy 'PERHOUR', and the other one has dodgy '1 1 0'. Shrug. Anyone got one that might be better? I'll probably spend a bit of time 'vintagising' the case. I'll tape off some bits, and do the old bag of coins bit, polish, repeat. Almost certainly better to do that while the watch is in bits. I picked up the Seth Thomas chronograph on the boards here, along with a DW mystery movement daytona. It needs some work, too (the 3 o'clock hand has fallen off its double sided tape, and the hand at 9 is falling off its tape). I'll see if a V23 will turn up anywhere, and pass that onto my friendly neighbourhood watchmaker.. I am in two minds about the donor watch. It's boxed, and in nice shape. If anyone out there had a V72 chrono that was more suited to giving up its guts, please let me know. Maybe we could come to an arrangement. These tough economic climes mean that my watchmaker has some more spare time, so maybe this will get done more quickly than I expected (I certainly didn't expect to have all the parts this quickly). Will follow up with the completed article. I'm actually quite excited :S Cheers! J

Stupid question about the crown.. Is a 7mm triplock crown the way to go? Weren't these originally supplied with a diplock (?) crown? Plus I'm ordering pushers from cousins uk, which seem to be the same as the ones on ofrei.. They have Tropic 21 glasses for 3.95. Will these be OEM, and the only difference to the Rolex glass is the Rolex branded baggie? Or should I be blowing the budget and spending that huge amount extra on a Rolex branded T21? Jasper no idea about the 7750 question

If I already drink heavily (imagine Gene Wilder in Blazing Saddles ), will drinking more heavily be required? Jasper

Well, I just pulled the trigger on one of DW's case sets, days after deciding that I'd rather keep the cash. Hopefully I'll end up with a nice Black faced Newman, with a black bezel. Now on the lookout for crown, crystal, maybe pushers, bracelet, and of course, a movement. Penury here I come! J-dog p.s. I blame everyone here - I wouldn't be doing this if if wasn't for all of you posting heinous pictures!

May I ask which pushers these are? Are they on the ofrei website? Do they fit in the DW case without too much trouble? That dial looks good/great. The ones DW has on his website don't look that good. Maybe it's because of the size of the photograph... I can't believe I'm thinking about this! Please stop posting these photographs!

Absolutely - those doctors who were so proud of themselves on the tv when the babies were born should have their licenses examined very closely. The woman's obviously a nutcase, but it takes a lot more than one to tango.

Actually, this might not be my first post. I can't remember. I usually lurk. But if it is, HELLO, EVERYONE!, and here is my story. So, having been unable to find a genuine white faced GT XL, I prevailed upon your friend and mine, Angus, to send me one. The fact that it was