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Showing results for 'ndtrading'.
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I went to NDTrading's site and the bezel insert they're showing on the 5508 now has a small metal ring around the pearl. The one that I got from them 3-4 months ago was just an acrylic pearl- no metal surround. This is also a NDT 5508 with a 1520 movement, 6mm Rolex crown, and gilt hands not quite yet 'aged' to match the dial lume- it's still a work in progress. Also, I still need to age the pearl which will just be a little staining to darken it- easier than messing with the hands which entails pulling the movement and taking off the hands.
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Have you missed all of the threads regarding Vietnamese cases & NDTrading?
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Stephane -- What is the story on the case back? Where is it from (NDTrading?????)? What case did you fit it to (MBW???????)? Do you have more pics?
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I was trying to be kind, but Doc is exactly correct. Gen (with appropriately faded bezel) in top left corner I still like the watch though. Just needs a better dial. You have to be very careful with NDTrading dials -- a couple are pretty respectable, but many are obvious aftermarket jobs.
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My dial on left (which is the same as yours, except that it has been relumed), NDTrading on right
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I do all my own stunts.......and Mods. The case is from NDTrading. Here are a few more pics:
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NOBODY This watch from Paul isn't too terrible: http://www.pam111.com/product_info.php?cPa...roducts_id=1811 This watch from Silix has an eta: http://www.silix-prime.com/product.asp?id=1851 Andrew and Josh might also have some of the vintage "Bond" type subs, all with flaws. OR you can go to NDTrading and buy expensive parts and build a Bond sub, but their cases don't necessarily take an eta movement- more like a gen Rolex 1030/1530/1520 movt. Building an NDT Bond will run $2000-2500 or more w/ a Rolex movt. The search for a Bond sub isn't an easy one.
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I don't think so, but you could try- or try with a $15-20 rep 5513 insert. PMWF lists the size for the 5513 insert, OD is like 36.50, ID is 30.30mm. Maybe Natalie at NDTrading would sell you the insert only- never hurts to ask. It's not the greatest, but if you stain the pearl, it might look OK.
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Back from Ziggy's Spa... Modded+ 1680 Eye Candy...
Sir-Lancelot replied to seadweller3's topic in The Rolex Area
Yes a genuine white 1680. The reds are crazy $$$ and just an unfinished dial would cost many thousands. If you try to fit a 1680 dial into the MBW it will be garbage (resale) and that's not good. You would ruin the red dial trying to put it into a MBW case because the date dials are 1mm or so larger and would have to be trimmed down. On the other hand NDTrading's case would accept the genuine dial, but they are BIG $$$ for aftermarket cases. Go for a 5513 dial since that's what the MBW case was copied from. They look better anyway in my opinion and you can always resell it later. A 5513 dial would fit perfectly without modification. That's my plan when or if the dollar ever comes back. -
I'm thinking NDTrading, only it's a 6538 with the 6mm crown, not the correct 8mm Brevet crown. Lume on dial markers looks pretty white, which is better than the stock NDT dials which are too yellow IMO. It cost me a little over $2200 to build a 5508- $800 for the case, $240 for the dial, $880 for a 1520 plus $200 to service, hands, crystal and crown/tube- maybe it's closer to $2300! So his price for the franken isn't too bad. That bezel insert is straight from NDT- signature flat pearl!
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I prefer the NDTrading case. If you look at the area where the "ears" of the endlink rest, you can see the edging/step of the NDT case in the picture here The watch at the bottom with the smooth fold-over is the NDT: As well as at the base of the crown/tube: Now the MBW has only a smooth transition from where the caseback covers to the edging of the case shown here: here are a few more of the NDT. I would say it is like a Channel that that surrounds the caseback: I hope this helps ....
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Paul's DRSD has a working HE valve, and I would think this one should also. But, I don't think a gen T-39 will fit or a gen insert for that matter. To do that, you have to go to the MBW ($350+) or up to the Vietnamese cases from NDtrading or Jewelry and Watch. But it might still be a fun watch to play with- trim the cg's, reglue the crystal for WR, put a good pearl in the insert, maybe even a gen crown and aftermarket tube, drill the lugholes, grease the o-rings and have it water tested. If you did the work yourself, you could probably do it for under $500 including the tools and the watch.
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The cases (most likely out of Viet Nam) come from NDtrading & are custom made to fit the 1570. Without any mods, they are the most accurate vintage Rolex cases I have seen. But whether these bare cases are worth nearly 3 times the cost of an entire MBW watch is a judgment call.
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Yes & no. It all depends on which flaws (every aftermarket dial has a different set of flaws) offend you the least. If you are interested, I have a new (unused) NDtrading DRSD dial for sale & I can save you some money. PM me if you are interested.
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I fully agree with you. It's how the watch is globaly that makes it vintage or not: aged dial, light scratches here and there, second hand or used crystal... All these parameters must be there for me otherwise I feel like wearing a modern watch. Yep, sure. I have only one NDTrading (5513), and was a bit disappointed though. It's currently being redone. Would you really recommend NDT for 1665s? I mean their price is so high that it would put my trilogy at an insane value.
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Freddy, it looks like you're gearing up for the best DRSD project the community has ever seen- I'm excited to see how it turns out! I wish you hadn't brought my attention to the flaws with the aftermarket dials- ignorance is bliss! But I am glad that I've got a better feel for what could be improved. It's an interesting process of deciding 'which' flaws are less irritating to yourself, individually, and then accepting the flaws that are inherent to the chosen dial. When I looked at the MBK dials, I couldn't get over the difference in the quality of the NDtrading or 're-painted' dials, in the sense that they "just looked better" to me, even though as I've come to discover, they're actually not necessarily any more 'accurate'. As time has gone on, I've become less concerned with absolute fidelity to the original, and am more sensitive to the quality of appearance, even if somewhat flawed.
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You know, I haven't even done a lot of looking at the GMT that NDtrading offers- I'd just assumed it was 1:1 like their SD and supposedly their vintage sub and explorer. If it's not suitable as a base, then it looks like the idea of an easy to adapt GMT is even further removed from possibility than I'd originally believed. I agree that it's not worth it to go overboard with mods and $$ trying to get a chinese rep to achieve the same effect as the better options. I have tried to avoid the idea of going into the dangerous territory of the DW daytonas, but I have a feeling it might be the best choice given the options and potential $$ involved. I'm not sure if you'll still be checking this one, toomuchgear- but if you could give me some of your thoughts on the decision you made to go with a DW, I would be glad to hear what your reasoning was at the time...and whether you'd completed your sub projects before you lept off that bridge.
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Actually, I agree with you for the no dates. They are so simple that it gives them a little magic. The dial is a NDTrading. I got the watch from JustAsGood. I didn't yet post a pictorial as a gen dot needs to be installed. It will happen soon
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Just to keep the story alive, I would definitely be in for 1 of the NDtrading 1665 DRSD cases at a reasonable price. That is, something below $500. At the price Phong is currently selling it for, I would/will stick with my MBW. The Vietnamese cases have more accurate looking backsides & their (working) HEV is more accurately located slightly above dead-center (it is dead center on MBWs). But their CGs, while nice, still need modding to match a gen DRSD. All in all, I think the pluses of the Vietnamese cases exceed the MBW's minuses, but not for $1,200+. Note -- I am aware of 2 different versions of the Vietnamese DRSD cases. 1 is the earlier 'Patent Pending' & the other is the 'Rolex Patent'. Personally, I think the latter is nicer & a bit less rare so it would raise a few less (knowledgeable) eyebrows if worn 'in the wild', as some of us are known to do.
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Ok, got a Ref5500 ($910 was that bad?) Found all the other parts from NDTrading. The 5508 case, crystal, dial, hands and tube total $1240. The total is $2150, not bad I think. I was told that the Brevet 8mm crown ($400) would not fit the 5508 6mm case, is this correct? What type of crystal is used? Any help would be appreciated.
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Actually the 5508 takes the 6mm crown and tube- originally 24-600-0 and a 24-6010-0 tube maybe. IT has the dash under the Rolex crown logo. You can go with the modern replacement- 24-602-0 and case tube 24-6020-0 if you can't find the old crown and tube. The crystal is about impossible to find- T-16, and can easily run $250-300. My watchmaker put a AF 300 crystal on my 5508. I went the same NDtrading route and put a 1520 from an Air King in mine. Hands came from Clarks- used the gold hands for the 1500 series Rolex movement- then you have to paint them to match the dial- still working on that. Hope to be done in a week or so!
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Freddy, I may have asked you this before I can't remember, but it could be useful in the context of those that are interested in replacing their MBW dial with an aftermarket- could you take a look at the flaws on this dial? This one is an aftermarket like the NDtrading, but I'm not sure if it's the exact same as theirs or not. I've found that the aftermarket dials, while incorrect in some of the 'fidelity' ways that you were describing, just look way better in terms of their overall quality. I'm talking about thinness of fonts, the coronet, the spacing of letters, the texture of the dial, etc.. I admit I have a hard time getting a good shot of the dial.. Before the obvious point about the script font being too western, I've seen two versions of this dial in the genuine world, one was more typical script, but I have seen a genuine dial with font that looked closer to this. Should've saved the photo...
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Freddy, that is an awesome post. With regard to the dial, I'm surprised that the NDtrading dials aren't better than the MBW ones. I have what I think is an aftermarket dial in my 1665 that I would swear is better in objective terms than the MBW dial- but you're much more aware of the merits of these dials than I am. If it's possible to find a good aftermarket DRSD dial, I'll swap out the dial at the same time I'm doing the crystal.
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Bluebite take a look for a thread I recently made about trying to organize a possible group buy for some of these vietnamese cases being talked about. The reason why we're working on that route is because the NDtrading mark-up on the wholesale price is expensive enough to make it a difficult base to justify for those of us on a budget.
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Not necessarily- if you look at repaustria's 1655, he fitted his with an ETA movement. I would be intrigued with both a 1680 and 1665 from NDtrading, but considering the community has had these available in the form of MBK's. I would imagine that a high % of the people that would be interested in a vietnamese case would already have a 1665/1680 from MBK. That's the only catch. I could be wrong about that, though. Hopefully it wouldn't matter, and people could choose from the possibilities listed on Phong's website. The idea of building a watch from the ground up doesn't scare me as much any more.
