Watchmeister

I thought the going rate for anything with a 72 in it was $1000-$1200 just for the movement. Someday I will buy one but for now I will bask in the glory of my DW which is just in for service but still functioning well after 5 years.

It only takes one. And I have been that one at least once although many years ago and not for $8k.

How about all Gen except for Officne and loving it. And yes over the years I have turned down gen movements in order to maintain that elite status. This one frankened out with gen dial and off to a long gone but wonderful RWG member. In pieces but still sitting on the movement, dial and gen hands, crystal and bezel. Someday... And the collection would not be complete without: Officine is for the 25,000 Paneristi's and wannabes. Officne is for a more elite crew. We will all remember Kenji and the wild ride fondly.

Okay Rolex Experts - can I use that 7206 with those 80 endlinks on a 66-67 5512? Would that be kosher?

Great watch and great pics.

I am no expert but dial and insert look good. Case is questionable. I happen to have a 66 5512. They clearly changed the crown - typically have no dots. The lugs do not begin to have enough bevel although those could have been polished out. Here are a few pics of mine:

Theo- Wow! Thanks for the review.

Wow, these super reps are well, super. Josh - another fabulous rep.

I couldn't be happier. When Ubi sent this one I did see it was beautiful but didn't give it much thought as to how it was built. The more I looked at it the more I was realizing he had gone to great lengths. So I finally called him and then found out what lengths he had gone to. And I know intuitively that Ubi is the kind of person who will spend more time on a project when he knows it is going to someone else. Kind of says it all. On the insert I believe it is the original pearl.

A number of months ago I received a wonderful gift from long time friend and esteemed member Ubiquitous. Ubi had started to build a 5514 with some parts he had on hand but ultimately went with the motto "go big or go home" picking up a gen dial, custom case, etc and building an outrageous project. But when he finished his revised project he decided that all that work done on his earlier version should not go to waste. (read as I am one lucky SOB!) Fast forward to today and I was wearing it on my wrist staring at it lovingly (as we all do) and it occurred to me that I had no idea what the components of the watch were. So I called Ubi and got the details - and I was blown away. The time and effort he put into what was his JV project when he decided to send it to me has provided me with a varsity one. So here are the details. This baby started life as an MBW. Ubi himself did a phenomenal job on the basic case work. The pointed crown guards are stunning. The edges have that touch of softening purposely choosing to make it look like that 30 year old Rolex that had visited the RSC and been polished a few times over thirty years. Ubi then sent the custom dial he had spec'ed for this project to Ziggy for the treatment. IMHO, the dial is truly phenomenal with proper layout, good coronet and Rolex font and even proper layout of "t-swiss..." between the 28th and 32nd hashmarks: Now add a proper gen vintage insert with matching tritium pearl: And of course a proper functioning He valve installed by Ziggy: And here we have a wonderful watch and an even more wonderful gift. Great projects, great watches and most importantly great friendships are what makes RWG the place it is. I hope folks enjoyed this little story.

Congrats on a wonderful find. Now best of luck with sourcing that movement. You know you can't put that dial and hands into a watch with an alarm movement.

Enjoy the time off.

Ubi 5514 today with proper He valve :

I vote for brown croc on depolyant - it really dresses it up and no one is going to ask you why you are not taking your watch swimming.

Pete- It is very cool. But who are we kidding - it is a glow in the dark watch.

23T for me today-

If I remember correctly they stopped making that one at least 3-4 years ago. You just have to keep looking.

Very pretty. Nice addition.

My guess (and it is a guess) is don't do it. Even if there is enough height in the crown tube hole for either movement to slide that stem in you probably cannot match up gaskets to get a proper seal against the crown tube. But people who have tried it should jump in.

It was a different world. Reps out of the box are better now but some of the oldies are still the best to ever come. Here are some older watches. Some are still in the box and some are gone. All are highly modded though. I just picked random pictures. 2007 Cousteau (so I guess it is post 2006) First gen 3717 Original MBW Ap Franken Older 24A Older 7753 Daylights Original Breitling Chrono Avenger We won't get into the Honpo PAM's or earlier MBW's. My general takeaway is that out of the box reps have gotten better but many of those reps can no longer have gen parts or movements added, So overall reps have gotten better but if you like adding gen parts it has gotten worse. The funny thing is older members like myself got so used to having to buy and then significantly upgrade that we don't know what to do with today's super reps.

I have to agree. If you are going to go with a Portuguese save up your money and go for one of Concepta's. And I have to agree the first Cousteau is the best one. But remember the inner rotating bezel if off by half a notch and you are going to want a relume.

Very nice piece. I love that dial as well. Wear it well.

Thinking out loud... I agree the ultimate A7753 case is better other than the crown guard which I believe is the wrong one for a 196. As always life is trade-offs. The new A-7753 has better everything other than CG. The date placement and size is a trifle bit off but you are getting the right date font. If you are determined to go Swiss I think I would start with trying to buy a dial from the older versions. If you are going for 188 I have a spare one. You can always pick up a 7753 movement. But remember you will need a new date wheel for that movement. I know Taka, Leo and Lello all made them at various points in time. You would have to check with Taka or Leo as Lello is no longer doing this stuff. In truth I would probably buy an A7753 version, look for a new cg and call it a day. Otherwise you are buying an older 7753 version and unless it is fully modded you are looking at getting a date wheel, a crown and a relume on the dial. And yes I still have the gen dial in the 188. That one took me quite a while to find. At some point I owned multiples of these daylights but now I am down to the franken 188, a gen and a random re-cased 7753 Panda protoype. Although I haven't seen one in the flesh these new ones are really awesome. Here are most of the 7753's I have bought, sold or built over the years. They are some of my favorites.

I vote for the 3717.