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Personally, I used a Whoopy dial in mine. It's great, but unless someone has one in their parts box, you can't find them anymore as Whoopy sold through all of them. Right now the most reasonably priced decent 1016 dial is Yuki's. I like the NDTrading dials a bit better, but according to others that have tried contacting them, they have been difficult to reach as of late. If you are OK with a SpaceDweller dial, the ingodd44 is great. I would stay away from the eBay dials. The lume on most of them looks like it was applied by a 3rd grader.

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 think the sharpness rule fell by the wayside when NDtrading & Jewelryandwatch & other aftermarket dial resellers began producing higher quality printing (NDtrading dial - 100% aftermarket - printing was very crisp unlike typical rep dials) Now you really do need to pay attention to the tiny details (distance between index markers & lume dots, squareness of rectangle markers, correct coronet shape per dial version, texture of dial face, etc).

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

Have been focusing on vintage gen stuff lately.. Here is a pic of my tool box for Case (most case are either Phong or NDtrading), got another box of gen dials, crown, band, leather strap...etc etc.. This year i promise to finish them off one by one..starting from the cheap Silix GMT, then NDT 1680, NDT 1665.. NDTrading/ Phong would be the only route this year..since Nato is the current trend.

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

Some good hits, but this may help - The bezel/insert are from MY (same parts I have on my 6542). The dial is a relumed rep watch dial, but I cannot find the rep watch seller's site right now. A clue to the mismatch between the dial & case is that the hands are too long for the dial. I had considered using the same dial, but I ultimately decided against it after receiving a better dial from an ebay seller....& then decided against using that dial after receiving MY's, which is the best aftermarket 6542 I have found (including NDTrading's). The crystal could be gen, but may also be Helfands or another aftermarket pressing. The case is NDTrading with poorly drilled lug holes (some of the holes look too new & not drilled very evenly). Finally, there is usually a reason why an 'Authentic Rolex GMT master 6542' is being offered for sale without an equally Authentic Rolex GMT master 6542 bracelet.....& it is not because the bracelet got lost or damaged (there are no accurate aftermarket vintage bracelets for the 6542 & the seller did not want to spend several hundred dollars on a gen). This is a case where God is in the details

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.

Thank you. I hope the film lives up to all the hype. Can I assume that you likie Subbie? Sadly, no glossy COMEX. The dial was a custom job that Natalie at NDTrading did for me a couple of years ago (back when they were struggling & such things were possible). I am pretty sure I detailed the story of this dial in 1 of my early Comex or Hev tutorials. If I remember correctly, she charged me $120 & then replaced their then current (really crummy) 5514 dial with this 1 after I gave it a thumbs-up. The dial is still listed on their website (of course, the price has gone up a bit). My intention, at the time, was to use the dial in my original 10 year old Asian-powered 5514 rep when the movement died (which, back then, I thought would be any day). So, anyway, I put the dial on a shelf & waited for the POS movement to die (whoever said Asian POS movements are POS movements obviously never met this 1). But a strange thing happened..............the POS movement never died. In fact, the damned thing was still ticking away (within COSC specs) when I finally removed it from the case last month (which is where the 1520 now resides). Pretty amazing for a relatively cheap, 10+ year old rep that was my daily beater for many years. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on whether you are a half-full or half-empty glass of water type of guy), the only thing NDTrading did not get right (or bother to do, I am not sure which it was) was to print the COMEX lettering with black gloss paint. But, as you noted, the dial is so exquisitely well done that I decided to live with it & just try to deal with the COMEX lettering myself (this was actually their 3rd re-do attempt & was the only 1 of the 3 where they fixed what I told them to fix without messed up something else). After striking out with Ziggy & a couple of other dial refinishers, I started to look for ways to ( ) paint the lettering myself. Yes, me, the destroyer of every dial I have ever put paint to. But, after completely destroying a couple of test dials, I checked with my friendly, local artist supply store to see if there was some way to do this. They felt that it would be nearly impossible (even for an artist with a very steady hand) to apply black gloss paint into those tiny spaces without overlapping onto the surrounding white areas (I have trouble drawing my name with a crayon & they do not call me 'Shakes' for nothing). Instead, they suggested that I just paint a clear gloss over the COMEX lettering. The effect is like applying water to the surface of a dry flat marble material......the color darkens & appears glossy, which is exactly what is needed & any overlapping of clear onto the white areas would only be detectable with a loupe. I did some tests with a few different paints & glazes, but either they looked like they were starting to damage (melt) the white paint or were too thick or too runny. So, in the end, I just decided to use the dial as-is until/unless I can work out a paint & application method that I had more confidence in. Is the dial perfect? No. But it is good enough so that I almost posted a pic of my watch on TZ, because I thought it was a gen & I almost posted a pic of a gen here thinking it was my watch (and, sometimes, I am still not sure which is which). So that tells me my work here is done. What do you think - is it real or is it Memorex? Sorry, but no sale here........at least, not this time. I have a gen superdome that I had originally intended to use for this watch, but I have a couple pics of gens that were recently fitted with these modern gen beveled-edge crystals that give the watch a distinctly jewel-like appearance when the light catches it just the right way (similar to the crystals I used on my 62xx Daytonas). I kind of like that look, so, for now at least, I plan to keep the beveled crystal.

Tomorrow I will be flying back home. Have travelled from HK > Singapore > Hanoi > Saigon > Hanoi > Singapore > Hong Kong for the past 3 weeks... ... still in Singapore as we speak. Will try to post some interesting pics. Mainly taken in Vietnam. will post full shop name & address ( i have taken notes in my smartphone as I travel. I will post detailed info when I post the pics.) Singapore Mainly window shopping for me. I found some interesting 1675, subbies etc... 1. People's Park Complex China town 2/F (vintage gen) 2. Golden Landmark Shopping Center (vintage gen, rolex parts, dials) be careful of franken/ hot watches in the above places (demanding for gen prices) Vietnam Saigon (Opposite Sheraton Saigon) Minh Quy (cheaper than NDtrading) Bich Lien Omega S300 @ $350 Franken Tudor Monte Carlo e.g. 7159/0, 9420/0 Franken Daytona 6263 @$2,500 Franken Explorer 1655 @$3,500 Blancpain Fifty Fathoms (both bigger/ smaller bezel version) @ $350 as for myself, I bought some cases and dials/hands etc (e.g. 1655, 1680) from Minh Quy...I picked up a 6265 SS bezel from Mihn Quy for $30 when Phong was selling this very same item for $450... when you are in Vietnam, forget abt Phong or NDtrading and their pricing.. their factories are all based in Viet. I'll be doing some serious shopping next biz trip. safe travels & enjoy. PS: when you are in Hanoi,be careful with some motorbikes - the locals tell me that some bikers will grap your bags or wallets from behind. Use Airport Taxi. I will be able to give you some safe taxi company numbers once i get home. forget abt reps in Hanoi unless you are into Chinese reps.

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 :-)

Initially, for this 1, a chs (for 6542 - GMT/hour/minute/second) 2836-2 from a standard GMT rep. Once the watch is complete, the next step will be to upgrade to a 'slow beat' 2846 modified with GMT functions from the 2836-2. There are 2 main keys to this backup project - 1. Fitting MY's bezel/insert to this case. Once that is done, I think the case can be made to match the NDTrading case, but for a fraction of the cost. 2. Finding a reasonable rep or aftermarket 6542 dial that can be relumed & vintagized to good effect without paying NDTrading prices. In other words, a good base dial for less than $250. If I can successfully pull these 2 off, then the rest is a cakewalk.

Kind of agree with you...dishonest in a sly way for selling a movement (the only original part) with a fake datewheel at a markedly higher price than its market price. Honest in an equally sly way for selling a bunch of junk from his 'personal collection'...and advising customers as to the origin of such parts... Why not selling the movement only and get over with? Because by throwing a bunch of non-gen parts on it...he's doubling the price. I'd buy an NDTrading dial from NDTrading only. As far as the cost...in my own opinion...nobody takes a big loss in the bay...not for a 'buy now price'. I haven't seen a lot of frankens in the bay lately. Always amusing Cheers Alex

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.

Not sure if it will be the best, but I appreciate the compliment. After Ziggy does his stuff on the dial (which is already a winner in my book), I think this watch will definitely raise the bar again. And I agree with you about the NDtrading and similar dials. The quality of these aftermarket dials (none of these are repainted, they are all newly made from scratch) is evident when you compare them to the MBW dials. But, on the other hand, we often lose sight of the fact that the MBW dials will easily fool the average Rolex owner as well as 99% of the public (and that is not an exaggeration). We are MUCH more critical than anyone we might typically run into in a bar or restaurant. Even most of the sales clerks in ADs would never be able to tell an MBW dial from an NDtrading, even if they knew what to look for (this is not a recommendation to try to fool your local AD, because store managers & watchmakers usually CAN tell the difference).

The NDtrading dials tend to vary a bit in color. Sometimes, they get the color pretty close. I have 1 that has nice cream colored index markers & they are almost the right size too. But on all the NDtrading DRSD dials I have seen, both the index markers & crown are too narrow for my taste.

Thanks, this is the closest I have seen an aftermarket DRSD dial come to matching 1 of the gens. The print quality is on par with the best NDtrading dials. But, unlike the NDtrading, they got the crown & text nearly dead-on. No Wild Wild West style fonts on this 1. I just wish they had used a more natural looking white or cream colored lume for the index markers instead of that weird brown that all of these aftermarket dial makers like to use. As it is the dial is passable, but if they had done the index markers in white, the dial could have fooled me. I emailed Ziggy last week to see if he can Ziggyify (whiten) them, but I guess he is still on vacation or not answering mail. This is definitely a dial that requires The Master's touch. I bought the dial on ebay from a relatively new seller -- 'preciouswatches'. At the time, I think he had 27 sold items, but he got 100% positive feedback & my gut told me he was legit, so I took a chance & it worked out well.

I think you guys are crazy that would go after a vietnamese 1665 case, given that we can get pretty good ones from MBK. I am psyched about the idea of going after a GMT. The parts for these seem more readily available in the used market. They're cheaper, too. I am not too optimistic, as it seems like there would be a lot of work in actually tracking down a supplier. Maybe Phong has the market on lock-down. I doubt it, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're difficult to obtain considering how hard the MBW's are, and they're available through retail channels. My opinion of the NDtrading dials is a little different than Freddy's, although I would say that he's a much more qualified person to be giving suggestions on this. My feeling is that even if the NDtrading dials are less accurate than the MBW dials, the quality of the dials themselves are much better. Ultimately that's what's more important to me than minor accuracy issues- the overall quality of the dial in terms of texture, dial print quality, etc..

I agree, mostly. In the hands of a competent modder, the MBW case (with the addition of a working Hev) is so accurate & well constructed that only the most knowledgeable Rolex specialist would even know what to look for to see the very minor differences between the MBW and Viet Nam (or gen) cases. Certainly, the average Rolex owner or 'man on the street' is unlikely to be able to call this out The 1 item I take exception with is the caseback since the Viet Nam part is noticeably more accurate than the MBW. With a bit of sanding/polishing, I doubt that even a specialist would be able to call this part out by sight alone (Note the deeper/wider engraving & proper location of the dot between the 'T' in Patent & the 'E' in Valve) Here is my modded MBW DRSD caseback for reference (Since these pics were taken, the end links have been swapped for gen 580s) But, at $450 (Phong's price), I do not see THAT much of an improvement over the MBW caseback. However, when the Viet Nam sellers come to their senses & start selling these parts for a more reasonable price ($200 or less), I would swap casebacks in a heartbeat. The dials continue to be the weak part of the equation & since the dial is the most important part of a watch, it is difficult to rationalize spending around $1,000+ for a case that is only few percent improved over the MBW. Long ago, Avitt convinced me to go with the MBW dial over an NDtrading dial & I continue to pat myself on the back for listening to him. However, I have since found an improved dial that, while still not perfect, corrects many of the sins of the NDtrading dial which make it, I believe, a quite suitable replacement (and improvement) for the original MBW DRSD dial. The only obvious flaws on this dial are the still slightly too narrow 6 & 9 index markers & questionable color of the lume. On the other hand, the crown, date window & text all look within spec to me

I was recently quoted a price of $800 by MQ on a 5508 case- the same as NDtrading. Since NDT is here in the US, I went w/ them- no customs issues. I do agree that a better case is a good idea. The best that NDtrading has right now is $1000 for a 1665 case (not the DRSD case- which was $1250- the difference would be the case back, I guess). Anyway, the big drawback to the MBW case is the non-working HE valve and you might have to do a little bit of filing to fit the 1575 movt in there. Oh, and file the crown guards, which is no big deal. I figure if you're going to go to the trouble of putting a Rolex movt in there, it's worth it to spend the extra bucks to get the better case, etc. Otherwise, just stick w/ the MBW/ETA and add the crown/tube, and bezel insert, etc. I just feel like putting a Rolex movt in there warrants the extra expense. My 5508 w/ 1520 movt is running $2200 and I'm not there yet!