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Showing results for 'ndtrading'.
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Franken project, will a 1570 fit a MBK 1680
yachtmaster replied to yachtmaster's topic in The Rolex Area
Thanks everyone, Im getting a NDTrading case woohoo. Freddy333 you really are a walking rolex bible. thanks -
Cats - I hate to be the sole black cloud, especially considering all of the time & effort you have put into this (which is obvious since the case looks tremendous). But that dial does not match the case. It is too large (the minute & Swiss markings at 6 are almost completely hidden beneath the rehaut) & the fonts & crown are just wrong. I think you need another dial that is more up to the level of the case. A stock MBW would be an improvement & an NDTrading would be a big improvement. And, while I love the daylight color of the lume, I think the bright glow in the dark just exaggerates the problems with the dial. I do not mean to hurt your feelings, but I am just being honest.
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Gen - ebay. Aftermarket - NDtrading or Jewelryandwatch for Vietnamese-made with nearly exactly dimensions or Eurotimez (see Collectors forum for website) for MBW/MBKs that are more reasonably priced & will accept many gen parts. Use the Search for details.
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Definitely Stephane for the Single Red (my mostly gen double red is not for sale) nejad - Your quickest option for an assembled red franken would be to buy from Phong or NDtrading. The upside is that you get an assembled Red or Double Red that is as close to the real thing as you are going to get (short of building it yourself). The downside is that commercial franken builders all tend to cut alot of corners & quality suffers. However, you can always buy 1 of these assembled frankens & then have a reliable watchmaker perform a full service to correct all of the problems. Either way, as Nanuq said, if you want a good Double Red & you want it quick, it will be expensive ($3,000-$4,500).
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Congrads on the acquisition. I mostly agree with the above, but the 6538's main claim to fame (aside from the Bond connection) is its oversized (8mm) 'Brevet' crown, which is rarer than hen's teeth (unless you are willing to spend upwards of $1,200 for a barely functional part or $1,500+ for a good 1 & you would still need to track down a 24-8000 tube). The good news is that a 6536, which is 1 of the projects I am working on below, is essentially the same as the '38 except that it is fitted with a standard 6mm Twinlock (or Brevet) crown. All of that aside, I would swap out the lens & insert/pearl. Personally, I am not a big fan of those Nato straps, so you might also consider a gen 7206 rivet bracelet with 65 end links. But, of course, that is a judgment call Having said all that, you also need to be aware that your case is larger (thicker) than a gen 653x Sub. That is probably the biggest difference between the NDtrading & rep case. So it may not pay to spend alot on gen upgrades.
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thats a nice project watch. i would start with a clarks crystal and better insert.. maybe a gen crown. You'll never find a Brevet one but maybe a old style 702 triplock or a new 703 would be a somewhat acceptable service replacement. I'd do a little sanding on the case to take the sharp edges down and send the dial out for some vintage work or swap it with an NDtrading dial. I dont know much about these early subs so i cant comment on the dial. I would bake the dial for a bit to turn the writing a bit more of a gold color then have it lumed with vintage looking tritium paint.... then of course you toss in the gen movement
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It looks like NDTrading is trying to get $1,500 for 1 of their aftermarket Sub dials
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Your link does not work, but I assume you mean this watch Looks pretty good to me. But if you want 100% perfect, buy a genuine Rolex Explorer II from a vintage watch dealer. 1st, before spending $3,600 on a franken (that you did not build yourself), I would spend some quality time researching this model (EXII) yourself. Go to timezone, google & download as many good, clear pics of gens as you can (from all angles). Then compare the gens to this franken. Here is a gen to get you started (this model also has variations) 2nd, from what I have seen, most franken sellers like this advertise a nice, shiny watch that appears very well constructed & freshly serviced. But, from what I have seen, the watch you receive may not look quite the same. Think about the beautiful pictures of food that McDonald's & other restaurants use & compare those to the item you actually receive. This is frequently the case with franken sellers. Not that NDTrading does not have some nice items (I have purchased a few parts from them myself), but the old adage that says 'If you want it done right, do it yourself' was never more true than in the case of franken watches.
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As usual, Alli hit the nail directly on the head. But I have to take some exception with By-Tor here. While most of us could ID this dial as aftermarket, 99.99% of the general public cannot. In fact, even with the aid of a dozen (richly illustrated) 'How to spot a fake Rolex' guidebooks in hand, most of the general public would still not know the difference. Trouble is (& I think it was Alli, again, who 1st observed this a couple of years ago) there is only a small handful of WIS types who CAN tell the difference, so most of the time, effort & money we spend trying to squeeze that last iota of accuracy out of our project watches, is going mostly unnoticed by the world at large. But, to paraphrase 1 of Ubi's comments, the joy of building is half the fun. Therefore, it seems to me that unless you enjoy the process of building frankens to stringent specs, it really does not make alot of sense to spend NDTrading prices on a pre-assembled watch since anyone with enough knowledge & experience to appreciate such a rarefied model will know, at a glance, that your model is a 'fake'. Everyone else will miss the whole point altogether.
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First of all, let's get something straight- there is no equal to a genuine vintage Rolex watch. So then we start down the ladder. Next would be a franken put together from various vintage parts- hopefully all genuine. Of course, when you are buying 40-50 year old watches, you have to realize that the chances are that some of the parts have been replaced. Plenty of people buy and sell old Rolex parts, putting together better watches- they may even sell them for high prices claiming they are all original. After that you have the companies like NDTrading and Jewelry and Watch (Phong), who sell 'replacement' parts. These are better quality than typical run of the mill rep parts, but they are still rep parts. With a little bit of aging and modding they can be made to look very convincing. MBW/MBK puts out nice vintage replicas in the $350-500 range, but they also need modding to look convincing. And unlike NDT and J&W, MBW's don't have real Rolex movements taken from donor watches. In the replica world, it comes down to how much money do you want to spend. But more importantly, the first question is going to be, are you happy with a decent quality rep or should you really be buying a genuine watch? No rep will ever be equal to a gen, there are only levels of closeness to the gen, but a rep is always a rep.
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Won't this watch take a standard 5513 assembly? Flat washer and bezel with insert. An MBW perchance. And of course, if that won't work, there's freddy's and my friend down here in beautiful Sugar Land, TX- Faisal Ali- wholesaleoutlet999/jewelryoutlet555. Seems like he sells the bezel assembly for the 9401 Or NY-RSC- but that could get pricey. Natalie at NDTrading.... Does the crown/case tube assembly look like a 24-702 assembly? The case tube looks like it to me.
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Very nice. NDTrading case/bezel? ____________ Ziggy (or anyone) - Any chance you might have a spare crown wheel (the ring, not the core) laying around for a Rolex 1030?
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hitecpro is from the United States- Cleveland, OH. He sells a lot of Rolex stuff, I've bought from him before. This dial and 1570 movt seem a little overpriced- and the movt looks kinda rough. As I recall, his name was Alex... can't remember his last name. You can buy a 1500 Date w/ a 1570 movement for $1000-1200 and a 1680 dial for $300-400 and you're off to building your own franken- get an NDTrading 1680 case for $1200.
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I don't recall who showed the pic of a 3135 movement, but the engraving was the big tell on it also- the Swiss and 3135 were much bolder than on the gen movement. On this one, DW is referring to it as vintage. The dial doesn't look bad either IMO. With an NDTrading case at around $1200, you'd almost be there. This is about what we spend on similar frankens. It would be interesting to know what DW's cost is on these!
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Mingquay, another Vietnamese seller (same as NDTrading).
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The MBW dial was designed for an ETA movement, which places the center point of the date at a slightly different location. If you replace the MBW dial with an NDTrading or another good aftermarket dial that is made to fit a 157x calibre, it should align correctly.
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oh sorry.. got it.. it's gen. v slow today. it's from VN (NDtrading quality)..
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Before seeing Freddy's project, I actually didn't believe in making the 6542. Even NDtrading had their item removed a while ago...
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I recognise that watch , glad you like it. The numbers between the lugs on most rep Rollies are etched, not engraved. Only the high dollar Vietnamese cases sold by NDTrading and Jewelry & Watch have the numbers engraved like the geniune. As far as engraving it to be more gen like, I don't think it would be worth the trouble since you would have to remove the movement from the case and find a way to engrave over the exisitng numbers with a dremel tool and engraving bit of some sort. Still, maybe some of the other Rollie experts here will chime in, maybe someone out there has the ability to do this mod easily. Cheers
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Is there an "underground market" for high-end reps?
alligoat replied to trios's topic in General Discussion
Phong is jewelryandwatch.com. We call him the 'Vietnamese Connection' because we believe his parts are coming from Viet Nam. I assume that Phong takes V72 movements he buys (around $1K) and rebuilds them with Rolex copy parts- bridges, etc. He also engraves standard bridges. He can end up with something that is very close to looking like a real Rolex 727, or 722-1. He also must have access to aftermarket gold 6263/5 cases. but if someone is machining a 6263 case, it can't be too hard to do one in 18K. People here are building a 6263 for $2-3K that Phong sells for $5-6K. Of course, NDTrading is another high end rep dealer- particularly with early Rolex Sub models. Pop in a gen rolex movement and you have a nice franken. The original goes for $15K-30K, you build one for $2K-3K. These make sense if you enjoy watches but can't afford the gen- they're very good reps. -
bwhitesox - pics are being posted. please see below. click me polexpete -I have only been able to find cases for 1655 Explorer II + NDTrading type dial and hands complete set ($650), 1680 cases ($450) from Minh Quy.. Minh Quy was suggested to me by a number of people as well as friends on this forum...
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The distributor is called NDTrading, but I do not think that is the name of the company or factory that makes them (I kind of doubt it is).
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I agree with Alligoat. I have 1 on my bench that I got a couple of years ago from either Josh or Andrew I used the Hev pin & gasket from that watch's case for my DRSD (you can Search out the tutorial on how to drill out the Hev hole in the side of an MBW case). I happen to love that bracelet, but, to the best of my knowledge, the clasp is a fantasy design as Rolex never made 1 like that. The watch does have a nice silvered ETA datewheel, but, unfortunately, the font is not quite exact. And anyone who would know or appreciate the datewheel's silver color would also ID the san serif font as being wrong. The other reason I bought the watch was for the dial, which is pretty close to NDTrading's Doublered, but also suffers from its same primary problem - narrow index markers at 6 & 9. But if you can find someone to widen those markers & relume all of the markers, I think it would best the standard MBW Doublered dial. Mine came with a gen ETA 2836-2.
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Where to find the best 6263 dial for a V72?
freddy333 replied to symbebekos's topic in The Rolex Area
Flex - Universal has done 2 of my gen dials & they do outstanding work. Unlike NDTrading & other purveyors of 'professionally refinished' dials (which are, in fact, nothing more than 100% newly made, aftermarket parts), Universal is the real deal. Their professionally restored dials actually do look like the original & without the usual telltale (aftermarket) mistakes. However, I would give some serious thought to leaving the dial as-is, since it does not look to be in very bad shape in the picture. -
Where to find the best 6263 dial for a V72?
freddy333 replied to symbebekos's topic in The Rolex Area
All aftermarket dials contain inaccuracies & many of the inaccuracies tend to shift or vary (in their location, severity, etc) over time and/or from version to version, so it is difficult to say whose dial is best. But, given that, DW's generally tend to contain the least objectionable compromises to MY eyes. Someone recently posted a picture of DW's 626x dial selection elsewhere in this forum (use the Search function). You might scope out some of DW's more salient competitors - NDTrading, Andy & Phong.
