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MBW case is good. Gen crystal & crown are both available (ebay & other sources) for around $100+ each (plus a bit extra for a gen tube). (The items in this picture are NOT gen Rolex parts - they are for illustration purposes only) Gen bracelets can also be had for between $400 - $1,000, depending on which bracelet you decide to use (folded link, riveted, solid link). A gen dial WILL make the watch, since that is what you spend most of your time looking at. For a 1680, I would expect to pay no less than several hundred dollars & on up from there (depending on condition & the condition of the seller's finances). But I would save yourself a huge wad of cash & have Ziggy relume your MBW dial, or try an NDTrading dial, which improves on some of the MBW's more obvious faults. Unless you go with a gen movement, I would (& do) use the MBW datewheel. It works for me (Although this is a SD, the MBW datewheel in the 1680 should be similar)

Properly serviced, the Asian 7750 seems to be as reliable as the Swiss version, so I do not know what you would gain by spending more for the Swiss movement. I primarily deal with vintage Rolex models, so I cannot answer your questions about new/current Subs/Seadwellers. Although I have only sourced parts from them, either NDTrading or Phong will sell you a Frankenstein watch (a watch assembled with a mixture of gen & aftermarket parts). Otherwise, they are diy projects (use the Search to find threads dealing with the specific Rolex model you are interested in).

I have a friend who will be visiting Singapore & Vietnam over the next few days (staying at the Macau Veneitan Hotel) & he wants to know if there are any rep-related shops or dealers in the nearby area that NDTrading or similar quality reps?

I stand corrected, having just talked to Phong, he has nothing to do with NDTrading. I am sending my 1665 project to him for 'aging' next week, wheni get it back i will take some shots.Interested to see if he can really make the watch look 30 years old.

As I am unwilling to pay NDTrading's outrageous prices (& cannot afford a gen dial), the plan is to vintageize & use the 1675 dial from the movement donor watch that is on its way from Josh. The 1675 dial shares the same basic layout as the 6542 with the exception of having 4 words below GMT-Master instead of the 6542's 3 words. This is a temporary option until something better comes along Option 2 is this aftermarket dial, which is obviously closer than the 1675, but it is pretty 'off' as well

If you have either a genuine or Vietnamese-made (NDTrading, J&W, etc.) GMT Master 6542 case, please PM me.

I have never bought anything from them, so I cannot tell you if they are reliable. But they have much more realistic pricing for the same dials (unfortunately, none of which are very good) that I have seen on NDTrading & similar sites at much higher prices.

He misspelled it. Try searching for 'ndtrading' (no spaces) or go to their site.

Well here it is... My franken 1680 vintage Submariner At first i couldnt deciede if i wanted to go with a red SUBMARINER dial or the white SUBMARINER dial. It seemed like everyone was building red submariners and thought a white one would be different. The gen white dial submariners are much cheaper but not as rare. Ive never actually seen a gen red dial in the wild so i thought it would be sort of unrealistic to have one. The necessary basics would be... mbw case.. gen crown etc etc... You guys know the drill when it comes to these projects, the more gen parts the better. The movement wasnt a big deal to me but the slow beat ETA was going to be a future transplant. Fortunatly I lucked out with this one and got it with an ETA slowbeat 2846 that was recently serviced by The Zigmeister!! What more could you possibly ask for. The ETA 2846 for those that dont know has a lower beat rate and perfectly mimics the rougher "sweep" of the older rolex Submariners. The new gen subs are much smoother than the old ones. The easiest "tell" of a rep vintage Submariner is the smooth sweep of the second hand.. the old gens werent smooth like the new ones This was a no brainer and i had to buy it. Probably the biggest feature of this watch is the GEN Rolex 1680 white letter dial.. yes gen dial. I think i might get in contact with The Zigmeister and send it off for some vintage lume and aging. I bought an NDtrading white sub dial that i was thinking about installing but im using it on a 16800 project instead.. SPECS: Vintage MBW 5513 'Polex' Case Lug holes drilled to gen spec 1.3mm diameter Gen spring bars installed Tightened bezel insert Sanded and recessed vintage insert with good acrylic pearl Gen t-127 crystal Gen white letter Submariner dial with feet cut off - Dial provided by a senior RWG member :mrgreen: Clarks aftermarket Tudor hands for ETA fitment. Flat top 3 datewheel removed for sticking/alignment issues very sad about this Perfect date magnification with the gen crystal t-127 Gen triplock tube and crown installed with all gaskets and water tight. Crown guards filed to perfection Caseback polished and vintageized and polished again Case polished and reworked to vintage perfection Slowbeat ETA 2846 movement at 21,600bph - freshly The Zigmeister serviced and accurate to +2sec/day Caseback seals replaced and greased for water resistance Hybred 93150 bracelet built from parts, solid links for added weight and modded noobmariner clasp (gen 93150 and clasp is in the works....) Rep end links for now. I have good rep 580's that need to be drilled out and modded. Bracelet polished and vintageized to perfection. This bracelet was brand new before i attacked it. Gen divers extension from newer sea-dweller installed. I was considering installing a gen 1570 cal. movement out or a datejust but i dont think im going to bother. The ONLY benefit to me would be the silver flat top 3 datewheel that works properly but i dont think its worth the $1000 price tag. The ETA 2846 does a perfect job of replicating the vintage Rolex beat rate. So anyways, heres a few pictures i took while i was photographing my new Gunny strap on my Fiddy. I know ive been promising pics of this beast so here they are and more to follow when i have some free time. Sorry that its such a short review and not up to par with the masters but its just a teaser. I havent seen many people talking about the vintage rolex lately so its time to throw this one out there. Heres a nice shot of the watch and you can really see the true beauty Here you can see the gen dial and a better look at the modded crown guards and gen Triplock crown. Of course a 24-702 crown would be the perfect addition here but i refuse to spend $300 for a freeking tube to fit the 702 crown i have. Not gunna happen. You can also see the nice acrylic pearl. I chose not to vintageize it quite yet. Maybe if i send the watch off to The Zigmeister for custom vintage lume, then i will add a little thinned out amber varnish to the pearl later. What do you guys think of these endlinks? I think they fit ok. I sorta like when the end links are kinda bent and dont fit right. I might bend these a little so they are a little flatter more like on my modded MBW1665 sea-dweller. They look a little more worn out that way. Heres the bracelet that i built. I took the 93150 off my comex project watch for now. Im not sure if its MBW but i think it is. Its marked 93150 with the typical 'too big' engravings. the diver extension is from a gen sea-dweller bracelet. The clasp is a 93250 Noobmariner clasp that has been beaten, sanded and modded. I need to do a little more work on the fliplock as you can still barely see one of the lines on it still. Its not noticable with the naked eye but you can see it in these pics so now its bothering me haha. You can also see where a little of the case material was lost while drilling out the case for the gen 24-703 triplock tube. Unfortunalty this is normal and hard to avoid except on the thicker MBW1665 sea-dweller case. Heres another caseback shot and you can see the incorrect end links and the nicely polished and worn caseback... This is the last pic I have for now.. you can see the crown guard work and the gen crown.. the lug holes nicely drilled... and again the gen rolex dial and gen crystal at the perfect height I would like to thank everyone on RWI and RWG that gave me the knowledge and ideas to spend all my freekin money on Rolex franken projects.. especially Cib0rgman and also you Stephane for showing us all your damn frankens!!... thanks a lot! LOL Cheers dizz

At $150usd, I still figure it's a good deal. That's what I paid for an aftermarket 5513 dial. It's cheaper than an NDTrading dial at $400!

Wow, debuting in a little while will be one hell of a competitor to the NDtrading case for 1680 sub. New kit will be priced competively, as in LESS, and include dial and hands......How does Steve know this? Because I'm nice and correspond with dealers who I have never bought from, and those that I only bought from, but still help anyway for the sake of the forum.....Never recieved compensation besides friendship, which is worth more than a watch. I have pics, but the set up would be a give away as to who the supplier is.....so I will have to keep them to myself for now. Maybe, if someone can promise me confidentiality, they can see these pics, and post opinion. Maybe even help the cause in making the end product more accurate. ( I would like to nominate stephane for the honor, BTW) I have been told not to say [censored] but I think this post will help more than hurt, and buddy, I hope you see that......And don't worry, secret is safe and I will take you up on the visit offer as soon as I can...... Now, is everyone as excited as I am? PS., funny thing is, I don't think I could ever pull this watch off so I would never want it myself.....but a dang good opportunity for RWG members.....so excited.....

NDTrading case+dial/2=approx..... Lets say 900, case dial and hands...... maybe....not sure yet as dial is not completed. Last leg.

You tease..... So I think if anyone sends one in they're nucking futs. Get a NDtrading dial, pop in in and then send it in. Rolex will insist on replacing it with the new gen dial, and you could sell the old gen dial for big bucks. Oh, and some rhetorical tease........ There's a new 1680 case and dial for Cal 1570/75 coming soon....not vietnamese. And less expensive than phong too.... Can't say anything yet though. Can't post pics either...dead giveaway of the source, who doesn't want 100's of emails before he/she is ready.

I am doing some preliminary research for a 6542 project & could use some input. This is 1 of the gens I am using as a guide Some info about the gen 6542 that I have found so far (please offer corrections if you have factual evidence to the contrary)...... Bezel originally made of brass, but Rolex later began fitting steel replacement bezels because the brass often cracked or broke Bezel insert is Perspex (bakelite, an early plastic-resin material) with 24-hour markers painted (with tritium) on its underside Crystal is T116 (Plexiglas) Case dimensions are 39mm x 13mm Calibres are either 1036GMT (1954-1959), 1065GMT (1957-1959) or 1066GMT (1957-1959) Originally fitted with a 'roulette' (dates alternating in red (even numbers) & black (odd numbers)) datewheel (though Rolex often changed this to the standard black datewheel during servicing) Correct handstack order for this model is (from bottom to top) - GMT/hour/minute/seconds My plan is to power the initial project watch with an ETA 2836-x, but this will likely be swapped out for a gen movement eventually, so the case would need to fit either movement. I am also trying to keep the total parts cost (excluding a gen movement) to below $600 (+/-), which leaves out any of the Vietnamese (NDTrading) cases. So 1 of the things I would like to know is whether any of the CG-less vintage GMT or Sub reps sold by our collectors will accept a bezel that measures 38mm across (OD) (the insert is 4mm across, so I would estimate the required case opening to be 28-30mm (OD)) Ideally, I would like the case to be engraved with the correct '6542' model number between the lugs (the number inside the caseback is irrelevant). All of the rep cases I have seen measure either 38mm x 12mm (Silix Sub) or 40mm x 12.5mm (Josh/Andrew GMT with CGs that would need to be ground off), but I am willing to live with a case dimension inaccuracy of .5mm - 1mm if it will fit the bezel. Any ideas?

Is this the same G-S that supplies (no pun intended) the numerous watchmakers & jewelers cements? Good info to know, but I will not be able to make use of it until I hone in onto a final case. No dial yet. I am considering a couple, but the NDTrading seems to be the best so far. Just a bit pricey. But, again, the key is finding a case to match the bezel. Once I have that hurdle behind me, the rest will just take time (& a bit of money). I really do not want to have to spend $1,000 (or thereabouts) on a case (& I like the bezel I found much better than the bezel that comes with the NDT case), so the NDT 5508 case is probably out. And, anyway, for NDT prices, having the correct case engraving ('6542') would be a must, which would eliminate the 5508 anyway. But I appreciate the suggestions. Please keep them coming.

Curious as to what is dishonest about his ad??? Sounds to me like a jeweleryandwatch case, an NDTrading dial, a gen 1570 and a couple bracelets. PLUS the extra crown/tube and crystal. Seems like alot of money, but I guarantee he is taking a loss at his asking price!

Crown position on a vintage MBW isn't that bad- say like a 1680. The crown guards still need to be modded and they are too fat to begin with, but 99.9% of the people aren't going to notice. I think what POTR is referring to is that the MBW/MBK route is the most reasonable costwise. You can go a step up to the Vietnamese dealers like NDTrading Corp or Jewelry and Watch which have expensive vintage cases and maybe better dials, but at that point you almost have to put a Rolex movement in there and that runs at least a grand (US dollars) for the movement, so you've got a $2500 franken or more by the time it's over. The sky is the limit when you go from the rep to franken watch world This 5508 is a franken with a Rolex 1520 movt- over $2000 to build, quite a bit more than an MBW- say you spend $400 for the MBW, put $200-300 in improvements into it, you have a $700 watch. Third option is something like this: An inexpensive CN rep, put a better pearl in it, $25-30, mod the cg's yourself, put a better dial in- I spent $150 for a better 5513 dial, greased the o-rings and off I go- a cheap beater- ready for swimming and snorkling. A little over $300 in it for me. So it really boils down to how much do you want to spend!

cool project!!! Im working on the same sorta thing.. noob case with lug holes, 91350 bracelet, and an old NDtrading 1680 white dial I didnt even know the diff between a 16800 and a 168000 until i read your writeup here! Good info! dizz

1 of NDtrading's better dials & a case of a dial vendor actually listening to buyers when they offer constructive suggestions for improvement (their original 5514 dial had the usual narrow crown & index markers, but they remade it after I sent Natalie some pictures & a description detailing the differences between their old dial & the gen). I am awaiting an MBW case from Eurotimez, which may re-appear sometime............

And here is the dial from NDTrading

I was recently considering the same project, but By-Tor's reviews of the GMTII & some further conversation on the subject pretty much talked me into turning my sights to the more modern version. But since getting the GMTIIC, I put the whole 1675? project on hold (I have other fish on the fryer now anyway). But if you go that route (1675), I will be interested to see what you come up with. If it helps, Andrew or Josh have a 1675 that looks like it might be a good base to start from. But it has been a month or so since I did my initial reconnaissance work, so I cannot remember which collector or watch it was. Unless you are considering the next level up -- the Vietnamese/NDTrading route..........

Ubi - I am not a snowflake fan (I prefer the rose Tudor subs), but I loved the walk through. I think I would have gone with the NOS dial though. The aged lume is nice, but a genuine dial with pristine white markers just ices the cake as far as I am concerned. So is that an NDTrading/Vietnamese case? It looks like it, but I am sure it will look alot better after it has been given the Ubi treatment (Ubi'd).

Last year I bought a NDTrading dial like that and was going to put it in a MBW case but ended up selling off the stuff. I just can't justify having that much $$$$ tied up in a rep. I guess I'm just a cheap skate but I'd rather invest that in a gen. I don't mind having $300 or so in a rep but when it comes to $700-$800...that's a bit much.

Yes, those are all gen Rolex calibers (movements). NDTrading dials are designed to fit gen Rolex movements. If you want to use their dials on an ETA, you need to clip off the dial feet & either epoxy them back onto the dial in the correct positions for an ETA or use dial dots or some other method of affixing the dial to the top of the movement.

usual suspects: Michael Young- classicwatchparts.com in Hong Kong ndtradingcorp.com- Natalie, don't know if she'll sell an insert separately jewelryandwatch.com- don't know if Phong has this part And you'll have to see if they are the correct insert- we noticed yesterday that NDTrading was selling a 5508 insert which had a little metal ring around the pearl- whereas the correct 5508 insert would be an all acrylic pearl.