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Love that space dweller and does NDTrading still do business?

For me it has to be the 5512 4-line gilt, courtesy of NDTrading and a once-over by ChiMan: And ingod44's Space-Dweller dial was amazing out of the box: Lastly, I was convinced that this RCD was an honest-to-goodness, refinished 6239 dial. I've had to revise that opinion, but it's still a pretty damn terrific effort from an unknown source:

Hi all, Been looking for some time for a decent 7206 rivet bracelet. Really do not want to spend 1K + for a gen, so evaluating other options. I have been searching all the forums sales boards for months with the hope of finding one of the highly sought after old style Yuki's with no luck. Most have said to avoid the new version. Anyone have any experience with other vendors? Phong and NDTrading both have a 7206 or maybe other suggestions. Any help much appreciated.

Sounds like you're in the same boat as me. I'm putting together a 1016 at the moment - I wanted to replicate the Ian Fleming model. The only place I could find a chapter ring dial with white lettering was NDTrading and I don't want to spend $300 on the dial, especially as I already have a whoopy dial the same as tomhorn's one as above. I'm leaning towards doing exactly what tomhorn has done, I think that's a lovely 1016 by the way Mr Horn! Another thing to take note of is the positioning of the Swiss - T 25 lettering at the bottom of the dial. Sometimes written like whoopy's near the top of the index markers, sometimes written - like Mazzariol's picture - in the middle of the index markers. I'll be following this thread closely - I need guidance myself. All the best with your build Lo', something tells me we might end up with twins!

I looked at ingod44 but his chapter dial has gilt lettering and I wanted white like the Ian Fleming. Also he is out of stock. I don't like the look of the NDTrading dial at all especially don't like their prices! Does look like I'm pis**ng into the wind then. Oh well not the first time.

Ranked in order of bezel/case accuracy - gen, Minh, Phong, NDtrading, Yuki (you will need to research their current web links as I do not have them).

1675, yup cwp which I believe has the same stock as minh Edit: ndtrading is the one I was thinking of that has the same stock as minh, cwp is Michael Young

I went on NDTrading but they only take wire payments. I do not buy like that.

Most of the 1019 cases I've seen (photos only; never handled one) are not very good, regardless of price. Both Phong's and Yuki's high-end cases look very inaccurate. The only one that might pass muster is NDTrading's, but it's hard to be certain from the photos available. As for this one? It looks like a standard rep Datejust case, which is very, very different from a 1019 case's dimensions.

Finally i have the case set in my hands and i will post some pic's of what i received! Retaining ring The case set it's amazing, the quality it's really really good, the profile it's unbeliveable, look at how good it's the thin profile and the theeth of bezel and correct caseback are very good! I dont like too much the dial and the insert so if i found a genuine insert at good price i will go whit gen, or fit a yuki ones whit some aging work (need to do this on the case and on the bezel also)! I have managed to view if the NDTrading dial feet, and fortunally will fit perfect :-) The genuine 1530 need to wait because i grab a butterfly one's from a friend but he told me come back from the holiday, whit the service and all the other waiting time, i dont think i have it in my hand before 3 months! For the moment (i'm located in EU so i need to wait a little bit for NDT dial) i would manage to make some work of aging on the dial (first try so perfect trial dial, no need this one) and try to mount whit an eta 2846, the only problem now is movement ring to hold the eta movement! I also managed to found a good matching lume vintage handset for ETA so i hope i found the movement holder and mount on 2846 first and swap later in 1530 butterfly! I try to mount the bezel but it's not easy, anybody have info about mount a bezel like this? Thanks to ALL :-)

Hey Guys, i am a terrific superfranken project for my 1665 drsd. My case is an oldschool MBW and i found a Nice 1570 caliber to put inside. Do you think it will be ok for my watchsmith ? Because a famous rolex modder told me that the 1570 is very hard to pût inside a MBW case (but he did not precise if it was the same with old school MBW case... As for the dial, which is for you the most accurate 1665 DRSD dial on the market (Ndtrading ? Phong ? Yukiwatch ? Minh ? Other ?) Thanks for your help.

There was an old thread on this someplace that inferred that Yuki made two versions of the dial and you had to specify which one. If you haven't already, you might want to ask. Looks like NDtrading has one also. Price is a bit steep though. http://ndtradingcorp.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=470

JMB´s case is very very nice! I would warmly recommend you that case, as a lot of people have built 1016 Franken`s based on it (me inclusive). It will accept a dial up to 28mm (at a max 28,26mm the "game is over"). Smaller than 28mm dials are not recommended! Don´t worry if you find a nice dial but in 29mm (a pricey example is NDtrading/Minh ... for example). Dials can be downsized, if you have the right tools and know-how! Though, it is hard to up size a dial that is too small for a specific case. In this case someone with the right tools and knowledge has to lathe you a precise fitting ring around the dial (stepped and glued to the dial). Something like the movement spacer ring, but flatter and tighter! Here is some example from the internet on how to downsize a dial: You would need a "mainplate" on which you would attach the dial with it´s dial feet, locked* (very important) in the slots where they belong to! In the middle part of the "mainplate" you need to attach a screw/bolt etc., centred very precise of course. Then attach it to a drill/dremel with slow speed and with a not too rough grade sandpaper attached to a hard surface (for a precise filed dial edge) you can slowly start to file down the edge. Key moment is to have a "vacuum cleaner" (with small socket) catching the fine dust right near the edge where you sand, to avoid the precious dial to get pretty dirty and uncleanable! *Have a look at the left picture, that hook on the right edge of the mainplate is for locking the dial feet. Please share your results when you finish your project or as a work on progress Good luck!

I think you may have an ingod service bezel there which are too big, if you can post a picture i'll confirm it for you. I'd like to have a look at your case too if possible. If you really want a good correct flat top 4's bezel then you will need to use either an ndtrading, phong or MQ one, but they're not cheap! Better option is to see if ingod will do you a deal on his complete case set which does come with a really good bezel ironically enough might also what to consider using the GMT parts from the 2836-2 in the watch and transfer them to a 2846 therefore creating a slowbeat movement, also you'd need to remove the gearing that controls the adjustable 24hr hand if you wanted it to function as per the gen. Remove the hacking lever if the dial is meant to be pre 1973 too. Cheers DH

Yesterday I bought a 116509 and right before doing the payment I realized that a sec@9 116509 with racing dial is a fantasy Rolex One man, one word...I payed the watch. To get this watch from fantasy to something existant, I at least need to install a 16520 dial. But where to source one? All I found was that NDTrading has some gen dials...price on request...guess why Any other ideas anyone?? Sent from my wooden drums using Tupperware

Hi A, The 1675 case is quite a bit thinner in profile than the 1655. Saying that though if your going to buy a Gen 1675, change the dial,hands and bezel then at least you can always swap the stuff back if you change your mind and you won't loose any money. Unless your in the company of a 1655 geek no one will ever know. By the way ALL offered aftermarket cases are wrong in one form or another. I've had em all over the years Phongs, ingods, Ndtrading etc and the biggest tell is that the cases are too big so the bezel doesn't sit correctly over the 4 and 8 placement on the bezel. Here's some pictures of an ingod case which i spend a few hours modding, biggest advantage with their case is that it has the correct outer sunken groove on the case back as per Gen, so you can work to that as a guiding point when removing excess metal!! Metal removed from both sides of the case and a lot of material removed from the CG's including the lower half to create an up turned angle, work to the inner CG's too. Cheers DH

Well, that's assuming you can actually get one ordered ... I emailed a couple of weeks ago asking to order one, and it's been radio silence ever since. Given the recent posts about the dial size, I think I am eliminating that one as a possibility now, I have been waiting on Whoopy's project to come together (thanks for your patience MD2020). Am about to just go with the NDtrading dial (despite the price) just to get my project done ...

phong has them, pretty pricy at about 300.00 USD. I bought one a while back and it was supposed to come with 80 endlinks, ended up with 382 end links which were for a Tudor of some kind. Will accept gen springbars though which most will not. I believe yuki has one, his will not accept gen springbars, NDtrading has one listed, but I couldn't ever get them to return my email asking for info.

She is the N in Ndtrading http://ndtradingcorp.com/zen/

I'm just heading down this same road, and found this thread helpful. I don't have an issue using a gen 1570. For me, if I'm using a gen movement and can upgrade to gen hands and dial later. I was budgeting $3K for the build, and I think I can get where I want for that. I reached out to Yuki (no cases available) an NDTrading. Is there somewhere else I should be looking? Looks like I can get a lot of what I want from NDTrading. I was hoping to find a thread where someone compared the different aftermarket dials and hands. I can find plenty of people on eBay that seem to have hands, but knowing who's are better quality is the trick.

+1 I'll end up buying whatever 1016 dial comes out of this based on the samples I've seen posted here so far, but if I get to vote, something like the NDtrading patina dial would be ideal for me.

Yuki used to sell a very nice 5500 Explorer dial. Unfortunately, all of their current dials look terrible. Also unfortunately, I'm not sure who carries a better one. NDTrading has a $280 dial that is not only expensive, but isn't very convincing, either. And I don't believe I've ever spotted a gen 5500 Explorer dial in the wild.

Today I went to see my watchmaker. We've become good friends over the past few months. He has a gorgeous 6538 case that is known to be gen and I've been trying to buy it off him since the first day we met. He enjoys my nice little builds and today gave me a gift. The dial here is now known to me to very likely be a replica dial because of it's T<25 marking and it being a Tudor Rose Oyster Submariner dial means it should be simply marked "SWISS" or "T SWISS T" Now the confusing part is the case and caseback. I've spent hours now looking at both fakes and gens for the 7928 case sets focusing mostly on commonly faked serial numbers and common flaws i nthe case sets. It has passed the most obvious tests so far. The caseback is one that I also think is either a service center replacement likely. It's because it has no dating on it with a roman numeral and a 2 digit year number like it should. Anyways here's the photos I've gotten so far. The only reason I'm trying to identify the last 2 components is beacuse if they are indeed gen then I will attempt to purchase more high end parts in my build. Otherwise I will go lower end like Yuki parts that are less expensive or WSO instead of say Clarks or NDTrading.

You may be confusing Phong with DW, who still owes me parts and money. I've only dealt with Phong once, and it was a great experience. Other than the initial cost, that is. Regarding the PN dials, some of those shown on NDTrading look very good--better than either Phong's or InGod's, in my opinion. Unfortunately, I think they're out of stock.

Hello, Im a new member and have decided to finally attempt my first build which is going to be James Bond Big Crown Submariner 6538 I have begun to do my research and am tring to decide on what case to buy. I have read numerous threads here on RWG about the cases but there seems to be a difrence of opinions and well most of the threads are a year or older so I figuered Id start one up see if any one that had done a similar project recently and could way in. Let me state that my goal is to make my 6538 look as authentic as possible and am not affraid to spendthe cash with in reason if the parts are worth it of course, that being said my question is which case is the most authentic looking and has the best craftmanship for the money. The ones I have seen are the JAW ($1600) Yuki (about 500 from what I have read also read that some member had the dome fall out) and the NDtrading which I have not been able to get a price if someone knows more or less what they run and can tell me that would be great. Im not intrested so much in the bezel insert as they are all off and will prob hut for a beter aftermarket or maybee an original. If anyone wants to weigh in on any of the other parts to the project as far as which trhey have seen look more authentic that would be great or of any sights with good orig pieces at fair prices (only one ive seen is chrono-shop.net). Im thinking for the movement i might just buy a similar cheaper model rolex and pull the move and if im lucky maybee even the braclet even tho i havent seen any with the marked (7206/80) wich i believe is the one the orig 6538 came with. seen a couple watches on ebay for about $1800 if there are beter sugestion for an authentic 1030 cal please let me know, I figuer I can scrap the rest of the watch for parts to sell on ebay to recoup some of my cost. Opinoins sugestions and critisim all welcomed and apretiated. Thank you in advance for your time and input.