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Hey guys, New here on this board, trying to reach bigger "audience" and share some pictures and stuff i do with you. Some people probably know me from RWI, I'm trusted watchmaker over there and I see few familiar names here. Hopefully I don't break any rules posting here but here it comes :

Hey Guys- I recently picked up a nice cheapie 40mm rolex explorer. What I am wondering is how hard it would be to upgrade this from a 21J Asian movement to an ETA highbeat so that the hand sweeps a little smoother. I am looking to try to mod this also with a gen crown and crystal but am unsure if it will take these mods. I am very new to modding and this would be my first project so any advice even as stupid as it may sound is appreciated. Also, does anyone have experience trying to get the correct hand stack on a watch like this? I have heard that the Asian and ETA are simple movements which can cause the correct hand stack mod to be unreliable and break within a couple months. Is this a myth or do I truely need a gen movement for something like this? Thanks in advance as I really hope to learn a bit more about this watch and modding in general!

Hey guys, Is anyone in touch with Uwe or knows if he's still active and accepts jobs?! For those who don't know Uwe.. He's a German watchmaker (modder if you will) from Dortmund and worked on this http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/157009-dlc-ap-diver-v3/ for example! I tried to contact him but nothing yet?! If anyone knew about his whereabouts or could advice me on how to contact him, I'd be very thankful.

Hi guys Just finished stage 2 of my 5513 modding project and wanted to share some pics of it so far. You might recall, i received this 5513 from Josh a few weeks ago. It's the much loved $118 watch that is such good value for money!! Here it is fresh out the box... Anyway, after changing the crystal to a domed tropic, and also aging the bezel insert, it now looked like this - which was Stage 1 complete! So, although i was really happy with these mods, i still had a number of things that needed doing to this one to make it as good as it could possibly be (within a very limited budget i might add!) The more i looked at the stubby CG's and the large crown, the more i realised it wasn' like the gen at all. Being on a limited budget, i didn't really want to have the added expense of purchasing a Gen crown/tube as i would also need to buy the tube instalation tool as well. So i decided to have a go at reducing the existing crown in size and also re-shaping and softening the case and re-shaping the CG's. I also ended up changing the crystal to a flatter Tropic as well - don't know why, i just prefer this one! Anyway, here is the watch before any case or crown work. And a similar shot after the crown reduction and re-shape..... While i had the tools out, i also re-drilled the lug holes to accept Gen bars..... Again, this is the first real mod work i have attemped on a Rep, and while it's not perfect, i think it was a few hours well spent in terms of what it adds to the watch. I suppose this all pretty subjective - one man's poison and all that - but IMO it is well worth the time and effort. Here is a comparison shot of the modded 5513 case on the right and a standard Josh Unmodded case of the left..... When put side by side like this, it becomes more obvious! Some more comparisons of the case softening and re-shape. So that is it done for the meantime............i think what will be the final stage 3 is to re-lume the dial and also the pearl, and then it'll be complete! In the meantime, going to wear and enjoy this one for a while i think! Thanks for looking guys!