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Since I know there are a lot of big Rolex 6538 Big Crown fans among you, I wanted to share some pictures of the 6538 GILT Hands that I've been working on for almost 3 years now. They come with Big Lollipop Seconds and are for sale in two different Lume Colors and for three different Movements. Most important information first, followed by a few paragraphs for those interested in the details Perfect / Gen-Spec for Rolex 6538 / 6538A Big Crown. Will also work for a few other references and are better than anything else available for the following references: 5508, 6536, 6536/1, Gilt 5512 & 5513, 6200 (partially) (high-res pics at the end of the post!) Lume Colors: LEFT: Eggshell (Tritium-like, light beige) RIGHT: Old Radium Light (light Yellow-ish) Movements: Rolex Cal. 1030 / 1035 / 1570 / 1520 etc. ETA 2846 / 2836 / 2824 (and a few others) Asian 2813 (aka Asian 21J) Price (including shipping): (15% discount for each additional handset within the same order). Rolex Cal. 1030: 85$ ETA 2846: 50$ Asian 2813: 30$ Only available while supplies last. There won't be a re-run once a certain movement size or color is sold out. Please note: that I will probably never recoup my investment on these, because the market for these hands is quite limited and the tooling & setup cost were astronomical. I would be insulting your intelligence if I told you that the unit production costs (or marginal cost) are higher for 1030 hands vs. 2813 hands - but in order to make it fair for everyone, I'm charging more for the Rolex 1030 hands, because whoever can put down 4-5k on a Franken, can justify 85$ on a perfect set of Gilt Hands, but for those of you on a budget who are using a super cheap 2813, every $ counts. Even at 85$, the Cal. 1030 hands are cheaper than hands from Michael Young or Phong, which are nowhere near as accurate as these. How to Order: Please send me a Private Message with the following info: Quantity, Movement and Color Your Shipping Address (need to know the country before I can send you PayPal instructions!) Vintagizing Service: For those interested in Vintagizing service (some pics below showing the oxidation), I might consider a limited run of Vintagized Hands. These will be 100$ more expensive for each handset and I will do them in batches. This is not a 24hour service, don't message me about this if you are generally impatient. It's a very time consuming process that requires full attention throughout the entire process, involves several different toxic/dangerous chemicals, safety gear, patience and an experience that is acquired by damaging a lot of handsets in the learning process. Even with practice, there is still a big risk for me of damaging the hands that I'm vintagizing, which means I have to start from scratch with a new handset. If you are interested in this service, please send me a PM and let me know! Details of the design process I went through to make real 6538 Hands: Almost every Gilt 6538 you can find on the internet has hands that look different, so it was extremely difficult to get a real original sample to work off. It was hard enough to even determine which hands are truly "original" 6538 hands and which are actually hands made for other watches like the 6536, 6536/1 or 5508 and either carelessly used by Rolex or mounted by some watchmaker later on. After 100s of hours of research over the years, I was confident that I found the real original 6538 hands on a handful of different watches, which provided me with sufficiently good resolutions and angles to reverse-engineer the hands dimensions with the help of a few mathematical approximations down to the 100th of a millimeter. Very complex process, because no photo was shot 100% perpendicular to the dial surface and there is always some perspective distortion and at 0.01mm even a small change in perspective will affect measurements. I have numerous reasons for my confidence and if you have the time to bear with me for a bit, you will know how much thought and effort I put into designing these hands 1) every part of the watches I used appeared to be original and untouched: - the red triangle bezel inserts on the watches I used as samples were in incredibly pristine condition, while showing all of the characteristics of genuine inserts from that era (if the hands had been replaced, surely the bezel insert would have been too; additionally, nobody would “waste” these pristine red triangle bezel insert on a watch that was cobbled together) - the chamfers/bevels on the case appeared to be the unpolished original chamfers - the bracelets had the same clasp code as the caseback (e.g. 1956) 2) The Dials are early "radium" dials - early dials had the lume plot @6 made of radium (and the other lume plots tritium): - Radium glows brighter than tritium; so having one bright(er) lume plot (and knowing that it was @6 o'clock) allowed them to tell the time quickly because they didn't have to guesstimate where top and bottom of the dial was located while diving in the dark. Due to the level of radiation emitted by radium/zinc-sulfide luminous material, many of these dials were changed over the years. Changed dial also likely involves a change of radium hands. So finding a 6538 with radium dial is also a good indication that the hands are also still the same as they were when the watch was originally assembled. 3) The Minute Hand on all my examples perfectly hit the chapter ring: - If you research 6538 pictures on the Web, you will see that the length of the minute hand is all over the place, depending on which example you look at. From a designers perspective, it would make sense that Rolex would pick the length of the minute hand so that the tip of the hand either hits the chapter ring itself, or at least hits the end of the tick-mark of the chapter ring. Many other early big-crowns (e.g. 6200) have hands that hit the chapter ring, I concluded that it should be the same for the 6538. 4) Big Lollipop Seconds Hand: - Early 6538s came with both Gilt and White Big Lollipop Seconds hand. They taper off towards the and the tip hits the outside of the chapter ring. Plain Gilt Second Hands come without the curvature at the edges of the added white enamel coat, so there is more contrast/definition between the hand and the background. This made it easier to get more data for my calculations. So in combination, all these signs of evidence are making me extremely confident that this is how unaltered, original 6538 Gilt hands should look like and that my measurements are pretty much identical to Genuine & Actual 6538 Hands. So what makes 6538 hands unique compared to other handsets? Minute Hand: - The Sidewalls of the Minute Hand are very thin (significantly thinner) than on other gilt hands, resulting in a wider lume area. Most other aftermarket Handsets use the same sidewall width on the hour and minute hand - which is wrong. - Tip of the Minute Hand should hit the chapter ring. Hour Hand: - The Mercedes Star has very thin lines, thinner than the mercedes star of later 5512/5513 hands - The sidewalls of the small "inner" triangle on top of the mercedes star should be thinner than the sidewalls at the base of the hour hand (most aftermarket hands use the same width for the inside of the Mercedes star and all side-walls - e.g. Michael Young) - The sidewalls of the small triangle should also taper off as they run towards the round mercedes star and not be the same width. The result of tapered triangle side-walls is that the small "inside" triangle looks more like an Equilateral triangle, while the outside triangle is much taller and looks more like an Isosceles triangle Seconds Hand: - The diameter of all 3 circles or "balls" on the seconds hand are proportional to each other. Each circle is almost exactly 3/4 in diameter than the next bigger circle, i.e. the medium circle around the tube is 3/4 of the diameter of the Big Lollipop Circle at the tip of the hand, while the small circle at the end of the Seconds hand is 3/4 of the medium circle (or 1/2 of the Big Lollipop). - The tip of the Seconds hands tapers off above the big Lollipop circle. A big issue with watch hands is that you have to work with such tight tolerances, that there will always be a difference between the CAD drawing and the mass-produced product. So the CAD design has to compensate for the "deviations" of the machine that's being used to cut the hands. Molding Costs for watch hands are very expensive (up to 1200$ for each one of the 3 hands!) and each time you make a change, you have to buy a new mold... so experimenting is definitely not cheap ;) Because the hands are so small, 0.01mm difference can alter the look significantly under a loupe (or at full screen in AutoCAD), depending on where width is being added or subtracted on the hand. The only small detail that I’m still a bit bummed over is that no watch hands manufacturer whatsoever was able or willing to produce the minute hand with the slight chamfer around the base (where the hole is). The chamfer is also present on non-rolex hands from the same era - I have many vintage handsets with chamfer in my collection, from various different swiss hands manufacturers (most of them don’t exist anymore). Let me know what you think! Pictures below show the handset with the two different Lume Color Options under two different light sources. Stock hands on the left, compared to oxidized hands: ...and finally a few pics of my custom 6538 hands, which I Vintagized by hand: Before you call out the base: I realize that the base around the hole on the hour hand is slightly larger in diameter as on Gen hands; the reason is that the base must be large enough for ETA-Sized holes (which are bigger than Cal. 1030 holes). This slightly bigger base diameter is not visible when assembled! The Lume Plot of the Hour hand is still the correct length! Old Gen Hour Hand superimposed over mine illustrates this: @dbane883 @Kime @Bart Cordell @Nanuq @rolojack

Ever wondered what a Million dollars will buy you these days..?? Most of a 6538 Sub, explorer dial- Meters first red text. and they even throw in the 18mm Nato strap, On the house!! And this is why I love this Rep building hobby Does anyone Make this dial? https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/rolex-submariner-6538-christies-new-york-most-expensive-ever

On the Silix website they show a full 6538 watch and a "Rolex Vintage 1" case. Watch: http://www.silix-prime.org/index.php...oducts_id=2145 Case: http://www.silix-prime.org/index.php...oducts_id=4076 The watch case diameter is listed at 38mm and the case at 39.5 mm. Are these correct? My understanding was that all Silix 6538s were a millimeter or 2 larger than gen spec.

Here is what can be done without a single expensive part: Silx case, HR dial and hands, Athaya crown and Yuki bracelet. The case was totally reshaped, the steel bezel was reshaped, then sandblasted and brass plated. The hands were stripped down to the bear brass and the Yuki bracelet was repolished for a more accurate look. A very honest watch with lots of character !!!!

Specs: Silix case 6538 Athaya Brevet crown and tube Swiss 2836 movement Tiger concept second hand Clarks vintage Tudor hands set Helenarou 6538 dial Sternkreuz ST19 Rivet bracelet Nato RAF $ Fat Springbars Done thus far: case tapped to accept Athaya crown and tube, lug holes drilled to accept fat spring bars, lugs hand chamfered, plexy trimmed. pending to do: Relume 3 hands and dial to match, modify bezel shape to slim and change profile, age the insert install Athayas pearl with matching lume, remove engravings and engrave with better fonts, make a true gilt 4 liner solid gold dial. I wanna say thanx to many members that helped me out with tips and sharing knowledge and with their posts, hope its doesn't bother since it's an often seen build thread, prices are by memory to encourage other members to try their builds. so the pics: Silix disassembly Drilling and tapping the case and lug holes Athayas crown and tube ready to install crown replaced Chamfering the lugs some polishing and not chamfering the lug holes Lug holes not chamfered To be continued....

Hi Gents, just some pics from this morning let there be GILT!

Today I want to introduce a new 6538. I bought this watch in August 2015, before discovering the existence of replicas forums. I quickly ordered a HR dial with Rolex logo, a patent crown and a red triangle insert. It's a beautiful watch but I have almost never worn. Many details bothered me too. Bezel profile too wide, thick case, low placement of the crown, wide crown. This summer, I was about to put on sale when @rolojack presented the same modified watch. A beautiful work of his hand, as usual. So I chose to keep it and to entrust him. His work on case and bezel is beautiful. Look at this profiles ! But I prefer a less aged insert and a true gilt dial. So I make a new gilt dial with gold leaf, recut the crown, prepared another insert and added a Athaya pearl. I know how to make a nice dial, but I need more practice in insert aging Thanks for reading !

Good mooring every one I am no expert, but I found these 6538 and the dealer is asking only 8500$ for it The movement looks fine to me The dial is completely missed up The case I believe badly finished The bezel and the bezel insert are medium quality Any more thoughts and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. Regards

Hey all, I'm exploring a Big Crown build. This will be a first. I understand that not all movements fit into the case properly, and therefore you either need the right movement or the proper adapter. That said, when exploring Yuki's store, I saw that the dials said " 6538 Dial adapted for ETA " I noticed this dial was 28mm vs 27 mm on the standard dial for the case. My question is....what does the dial have to do with the movement? Also, if the case is a certain size...how can a bigger dial work? Anyway, I'm sure this question shows my ignorance. Can anyone explain whether the dial matters vs movement? why? Thank you all for your watch wisdom.

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! This is my first "Big Crown" and second build for Rolex vintage, so I've taken some time to source the parts and it is now done! Many thanks Big Dazza for a great dial and Athaya for a grate crown. What I've got here is Big Dazza dial Yuki 20mm bracelet. Probably will try to source yuki 7206 bracelet. Yuki gold hands. Lollipop second hand from ebay. Silix 6538 case set and plastic dome. Brassy egde, lower the plexi, redrill the lugs hole, drill and tapped for to the match new tube and lugs bevel by me. Helenarou red triangle insert. Faded by me ETA 2846 movement Athaya 8mm crown and tube 2mm fat spring bars. Thanks for looking.

Hi all, Have a question here regarding the HR (helenarou) 6538 Big Crown from the raffle. The tube protrudes from the case, not complaining, just looks a little odd. It's an ETA movement. Looks like if it didn't protrude the bezel would smack the crown. Is there a fix for this? Better case option?

Big Daz does it again! It started with me reading about some guys here, over at RWI and RWG who was very pleased with Big Daz handywork on the dials of their vintage builds. After contacting Daz he consulted me on getting a Helenarou 6538 and we agreed about shipping it directly from Helenarou to him, and after him working his magic it landed on my doorstep yesterday. It took about two weeks from me ordering it from Helenarou to me getting it modded by Daz. Verdict: Damn I'm impressed! The dial looks stunningly beautiful and the case/bezel is lightly aged to prefection. Also he was easy to communicate with and always friendly. Simply a pleasure doing business with the guy!

Hello. I'm about to offer this watch for sale, but I need to know as much info as I can on this watch. What I know is that the bezel and bezel insert are aftermarket and it is bigger than the original as the "big crown" that is supposed to be on this watch doesn't fit. I purchased the 6538 big crown on ebay but when we had our watchmaker try to install it, it didn't fit. I'm thinking the dial is refinished as well. The serial is worn down and not readable, but the model number is readable. Here are some photos if anyone else knows anything more about this watch and what you think it could sell for, I would appreciate it very much. Thanks in advance. Carolyn

With all of the amazing big crown builds and super "genkens" on display recently, I am really itching to bite the bullet and try working on a budget Silix build to get my feet wet in the big crown world. If this works out well, I am going to make a decommissioned 6538a with 3,6,9 dial and red depth rating for my second build. There is a gorgeous example on Hodinkee that I am in love with, so that's my grail until I am eventually able to devote the time and resources to build a big crown genken. To get started, however, I am going to go with the classic 6538 as my initial attempt. My parts list so far is this: - Silix classic 6538 complete watch with rivet bracelet. I know the 7206 bracelet is going to be crappy, so if I can't salvage it I will have to put it on a nice distressed leather band until Yuki or another supplier gets them. - Athaya V2 crown and tube. - Either Yuki pearl or Athaya pearl. Not sure which one is the better replacement? - OnlinestoreHK big ball white seconds hand. How much better is the HR branded 6538 dial versus the Raffles recent superlumed dial offerings? Ken now sells both a 3,6,9 6200 dial as well as a 6538 dial that appears to be nearly identical to the branded HR dial, but at half the price. Is it worth it to spend the extra money for the HR dial on my first budget build, knowing full well that I am going to age the dial anyway and brush various household colorants on it and bake it? Or is the Raffles dial going to be good enough? The standard out of box Silix and Raffles dials are the same and have that awful/strange color tone to them, but the new Raffles dials with superlume look pretty nice. I plan to practice my aging skills on the stock dial and then move over to the nicer dial once I have a steady hand. Any suggestions are welcomed. I've been kicking these tires for so long that my toes are quite sore, so I figured it's time to bite the bullet and get started. I'm pretty busy at home with 3 little boys ranging from 10 months to 6yrs old, so this might take me a while once I actually start buying the various parts. Thanks guys!

See it here: http://bit.ly/1dV7wAF Gen or not? What does it end up selling for?

Since I've only seen pictures of heavily used examples, I cant' tell. Was the 6538 bezel originally polished?

Can you help me ID this case? Who made it? After pouring over pics of 6538 cases, I have a suspicion. But, I want to get your take... (Sorry for the iPhone quality pics). Thanks for your help!

I haven't seen these on his site before, wanted to know if anyone has one/if they're any good (especially interested if these are 'wokky'). http://www.ingod44.com/rolex-completed-case-submariner-6538-big-crown/ It looks VERY similar to NDT's and Minh's offerings: http://ndtradingcorp.com/zen/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=259

Have been lusting for a Rolex 6538 for quite some time. Especially the version with red triangle bezel and explorer dial... Guess it goes to back to seeing gen inspiration like these: Started hoarding cheap parts (total sum slightly above $100): - Silix ROL5 case set - 3-6-9 dial and hands from Rafflestime - Athaya 8 mm crown, 0,9 mm for auto movements - DG2813 movement, movement - Yuki pearl After a couple of destroyed dg2813's (or just with keyless works issues) and I started realizing my limitations when it comes to oyster homages. There also started to appear superb looking budget builds from Akira on the forums - especially some with stunning tropical dials... Took contact and it turned out he was a great guy to talk to, exchange inspiration and ideas with - and for some reason he gladly accepted to help to help. I was a very happy man, kudos mate! Here's how the case set and dial looked stock, pretty crappy looking dial to be honest: Pile of parts: Here's what Akira set out to do: - drilling lugholes - shaving, fitting plexi - reluming, ageing dial + hands - ageing insert - ageing, polishing case - drilling case and glueing Athaya tube into the case - tropical brown dial The hope was that the dial would end up magical like this gen: To be honest, I had no real hopes starting out with the cheap parts I did. It's not Phong and Minhq in the parts list after all... However, when the pictures started coming from Akiras shop I literally just fell of my chair And now, I just couldn't be happier with the end result I'll skip to end results now, hope it gives inspiration to the rest of you guys. Donerix was kind enough to make me a custom strap with buckle for this one. Please shoot in any questions here or comments! Wristies:

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.