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Hey guys, lots of interest in 20mm and 24mm versions of this strap. I'm happy to do an order and will only need 10 pre-sales of each size for me to go ahead with an order. As this will be a custom order, price will be $22 shipped Worldwide via Airmail, tracking will be extra. For those that would like more than one size I will offer the following discounts: 1st strap - $22 2nd strap - $17 3rd strap - $12 Please respond in this thread stating what sizes you would like. Once we reach 10 of each size, I will contact everyone for full payment. Lead time is 4-6 weeks. Beautiful quality, not the cheap stiff material. These are very soft and comfortable. These look great everyday and even better on those tropical vacations. Length is 280mm Sign up list. 20mm 1. Sogeha 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 24mm 1. macosie 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Beautiful quality, not the cheap stiff material. These are very soft and comfortable These look great everyday and even better on those tropical vacations. 22mm x 280mm $19 shipped Worldwide via standard Airmail, additional fees for tracked shipping.

My goal was to build a 5513 that aged like it's seen the world. It's not about beating-up a watch, but making it believable that it is 50+ years old. I guess I'd call it "giving the watch it's character". It's the little details that make the difference on your wrist! I absolutely love the way the dial, hands & case turned out on this one. The dial in particular is absolutely gorgeous and the way the GILT Rolex letters reflect the light alter certain angles is unmatched by any cheap printed dial. There's a reason why a GILT dial alone on a gen Rolex adds about 30.000$ to it's price. Doing these build properly takes a lot of time, I often start work on a watch and then abandon it for weeks until I have an eureka moment about something I could do to get the look that I want on the dial, hands, case, and so on. I also lost count on how many hand-sets, bezel inserts and dials I wasted due to experimenting (so don't feel bad if you ended up damaging parts while trying something new :)). What I used: CASE: 5513 from Sead BEZEL: Phong Fat Font Insert BRACELET: Yuki 7206 Folded Bracelet MOVEMENT: Replaced w/ a low-beat 2813 DIAL: Tropical GILT dial from Vietnam HANDS: Clark's GILT Mercedes Hands CRYSTAL: Michael Young (CWP) Tropic 19 CROWN/TUBE: Athaya 700 What I did: CASE: The stock case was too round for my taste and the stock lugs slightly too thick, so I completely reshaped the case from all sides and angles (including the lugs from top, bottom & side). I re-defined & polished the bevels/chamfers several times to make them look like they would look on a watch that has been polished (but not extremely over-polished) the years. Crown guards were trimmed on the inside and re-shaped from the outside. After getting the case in the correct shape, I aged it & polished it several times over and over to give it character. Last but not least, I drilled the tube hold, tapped new threads and drilled a cut a countersink to install the 700 tube properly (without the countersink, the tube and as a result the crown will stick out too far and look hideous). DIAL: I aged the lume of the gilt dial & gave it a nice patina as I'd expect it on a watch that has gone so tropical. I also aged the dial itself a little to give it some patina that goes well with the tropical turned brown color - not full-blown radium dust like I did on another build recently (since this represents a tritium watch), but a little to make it believable that there was some radioactive substance, sun-light and other corroding factors present. HANDS: I used several steps involving different mixtures made of various minerals & chemicals and even soft-drinks to get this look that resembled old gilt tritium hands. BRACELET: The 7206 bracelet from Yuki looked like it was brand new, especially the inside of the bracelet (which was brushed) bugged me, since I own a few genuine folded rolex bracelets and a bracelet this old shouldn't be brushed on the inside anymore - even if has been restored at some point. I aged & polished the inside of the Yuki bracelet to mimic the look of my well-taken-care-off gen folded bracelets. BEZEL: It's a phong fat font insert that was aged, browned, re-coated and pressure-fit into the the bezel ring. - Note about my Vintage Builds: I often receive PMs from members asking me if I could build a specific watch for them, but I declined all of these requests for the reason I mentioned earlier - doing these vintage builds properly takes time and passion for the work. I don't think you can do this on a "contract basis". I end up selling many of my watches, but even if I start building something with the intention of selling it later-on, I build each one of them as if I'd build them for myself. So if you like some of the watches I build so much that you want one, I appreciate the trust and I'm definitely flattered, but I'd ask you to not PM me and ask me to build a specific watch for you. I'll put up whatever I decide to sell in the Sales Section. Eye-candy:

With Ubi's return to the scene with Prevendome as his central thematique', I figured: "why not grace RWG with a unique project"? What you are about to visualize is a 6538 BC sparked off when T and I were casually discussing about a possible one-off "Tropical Project" which involved a whole lotta [James Bond 007] association, the 1960s, R.O.L.E.X, heritage, and a distinctive lustre of sun-bursting dial that chameleons according to the intensity of inward / outward sunlight. Without further ago..I will first post this beauty against a black backdrop, with another marine blue to come in a bit. Rushing off to work, 9pm till I come...

Hello all, I have been doing some research (killing time) while waiting for my 5513 case to be engraved, polished up and to then sit down with my watchmaker and complete my 5513 build. In that time I've been wondering about how to get the gen bezel insert a bit more "unique." In that, I've been looking up how to get a tropical insert, as I think I sort of prefer it to the faded out "ghost" look, although some of the ghost inserts are *gorgeous* and those of you that have them, you know who you are and I'm jealous. That said, I think I'm going the tropical route, I've always like the sort of black/brown colorways and I think it'll be eye-catching. Here's some links on what I've found on "baking" insert's to achieve a tropical effect. I will let you all know how it comes out on mine. Warmest Regards http://forums.timezone.com/index.php?t=msg&goto=5111077&rid=84922#msg_5111077 http://forum.atgvintagewatches.com/showthread.php?4872-Tropical-Rolex-a-worrying-discovery! http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=188300 I'm sure there are a few other good resources out there... I'm keen to try this! Baking my dial worked well.