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1962 “El Corniño” pcg gilt 1675 We watch collectors admire and fantasize over the minute details of vintage timepieces, particularly Rolexes (or Panerai): brownish tropical dials, creamy, puffy lume, yellowed tritium, perfectly faded bezels exposed to harsh seawater and burning suns. We dream of finding that vintage, gilt, tropical 5513 Submariner with some faded caseback engraving of historical significance belonging to a Special Forces or Comex Diver, still stored away in an old metal box. We imagine that gilt dialled 1675 with the faded Pepsi bezel, that belonged to the PAN AM Captain of a Boeing 707 and has been all over the World. Maybe it belonged to an Africa Explorer and Photographer and accompanied him on his solitary National Geographic missions in the beaten up Series II Land Rover: deep into the wild Congo and up the Zambeze to the Victoria Falls, following Livingstone´s epic journey. We imagine us wearing it, dig to discover the story behind that comes with it, visualize all the places it has been to and the events it was present to. On the hard side of real life we also wonder, if it will work at all and possibly worry about the gen parts being truly gen. Than one day RWG comes along, with all the fantastic builds around and, after a while, You realize it might be much simpler to collect some gen parts, maybe get a 1655 rep (there are the 1675 and 16570 options), have it´s caseset reshaped by RolexAddict and everything nicely fitted, so it will be exactly as You wanted it to be. So this is a link to what I was looking for: http://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=352553 And another: http://www.hqmilton.com/watches/1963-rolex-gmt-1675-pcg-gilt-chapter-ring-dial-with-box-and-papers And a review I used for research and this text: http://www.woundforlife.com/2015/03/13/under-the-loupe-rolex-gmt-master-1675/ And after seemingly endless reading, researching, digging, dreaming, hoping, with some luck and persistance “Never give up, never surrender” this is what I gotJ: The argentinian 1962 “El Corniño” pcg gilt 1675 First let me say, that this is one of the most iconic and beautiful watches I have ever owned. Not just any 1675. Between all of the variations GMT-Master, it´s this early successor of the bakelite- bezeled reference 6542, that speaks to me the most. It has been a grail watch for a long time, so sometimes You just have to walk that extra mile to get it. First introduced in 1959, this is the pcg, gilt 1675. Nicknamed the “El Corniño” by collectors for its horn-like appearance (from El Corno in Spanish meaning the horn or the Bull´s horn, with the diminutive added “Little Horn” like Little Bighorn, Custer´s Last Stand) it features a curved profile that points towards the crown. The Corniño lasted only from 1959 to 1965/1966, making it a rarity in today’s market, while the 1675 would be produced for 21 years until 1980, a testament to its real world functionality and timeless design. The combination of blue, red and gold against the black, discontinued, Yuki gilt dial works amazingly well. RA´s caseset reshaping is just fantastic. The drilled lugholes add to the flair and with the beautifully, naturally faded gen Pepsi-insert/gen GMT bezel assembly/gen plexi/gen crown, it looks truly as if it aged magnificently. If I was a one watch guy this would be it. I´ll let the pictures speak for themselves. Plexiglass with cyclops and black hole effect 5.3mm twinlock crown Aged, yellowed dwo Small, red GMT hour hand GMT bezel assembly (necessary on the 1655) faded, semi-ghost Pepsi insert Drilled lugholes, gen-spec lugbars Gold (gilt) dial imprints, no hyphen between OYSTER PERPETUAL, even earlier issues of the 1675 had the rare OCC (OFFICIAL CERTIFIED CHRONOMETER) lettering, while this 1962 issue reads SUPERLATIVE CHRONOMETER OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED, the SWISS <T25 instead of SWISS only makes it looking like an early argentinian issue Calibre 1565 (stamped 1560 with added GMT function); this had to be replaced by a 2836-2 with GMT function, contrary to gen the GMT hand can be set independently being more functional Correct handstack for the 1675 Flat caseback 7836 stamped folded bracelet with 358 end links (this would belong to a 1969 GMT 1675 from my research). On the hunt for a 62510 Jubilee, the 62510H/550 would fit as well. For all those wondering: Is it worth it? Yes, just do it, You will be amazed. It´s not for the faint-hearted, nor for those in a hurry, it´s very rewarding once You´ve got it. Someway it took me 2 years to get here. Thanks all for reading and thanks to past and present members for reviews, hints and tips, pictures and the history of it:)

In regards to replacing the bezel on a Rolex 16710 from a Coke insert to a Pepsi insert, what are the risks or differences for replacing the insert as compared to a gen? I understand with the GEN Subs and GMT-Masters it is a matter of prying off the bottle cap bezel and it simply pops off, I understand there is little quality control with rep timepieces so, has anyone ran into any differences with replacing their bezel inserts compared to a gen, or is the process pretty much standard to the design? Thanks.