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Hello! I have found a 116610 sub replica that looks good to me for very cheap price. It comes broken, without bezel. I need help with finding bezel parts that will be best suited for it. I have already seen hack with springs and metal balls for spring clickers but don't know what to buy to assemble the bezel. Please write your opinion🙂 here are pictures from seller I'm waiting a delivery so wanted to start buying parts before it arrives.

I've been getting quite a few emails about building a 6542, and I don't think I'm anywhere near an expert on these builds, but there's not a whole lot out there regarding one of these builds, so I figured I'd write up a little tutorial based on info I've scrounged up. Hope it helps! First things first, the case. To start with, The PT 6542 complete watch is not a good base. Nothing on it is gen-spec, or could be made gen-spec. Like I say, I'd go with the 1655 case and grind it down. It's a bigger case, so you could get really damn close by just grinding it down - there's no problems like the stubby CG's on the 5513s. Just do a lot of checking on VRF - find a case you like and make it look exactly like that one. I don't remember what case I used. It was a Silix case, but one of the first I ever bought. From the email I dug up (in 2011), it was a ROL170. I don't know if he has that model anymore, or if you could figure it out from the pictures. I have the pics, and the watch started out as a 6538 (kind of) - it was really, really wrong, and had things like a small crown, wrong size springbar holes, wrong bezel, and so on. My personal recommendation would be not to go with a Silix at all, if you intend on using JoeyB's bezel and insert. They're too nice for a POS Silix rep (even though that's what a few people here swear by). The case is not gen-spec in any way at all. The crystal is glued inside, not outside a lip like gen, the bezel probably won't swap over without heavy modifications, and so on. My recommendation would be actually using a 1655 rep from The Cartel. What I've seen is grinding off the crownguards, thinning the case just a bit, thinning the caseback, drilling the lugs, and retapping for a gen small crown. The reason for this is because the 1655 rep will accept a gen 116 with no trouble, and uses gen bezel construction, so the bezel should swap over with no problem. I would use a gen 116 if you can get one (or a 115, whichever it is - don't remember the exact number) because it really does sparkle and look much, much better than any aftermarket. Next, the dial. I used an Ingod 6542 dial which had the lip ground off. To my eyes, it is closest to gen. However, the lume is awful. My dial arrived with all of the lume basically rubbed off. I would have it relumed by the modder of your choice (either glow or non-glow) and you should be as good as you can get. The dial will need to be glued onto a sort of "spacer" so that it can be attached to the movement. I think it was ground down (the lip) and JB welded onto a flat disc that functioned like a dial spacer. Not sure though. The InGod dial I used was messed with by PB and JMB. Not sure what they did, but I know they both hate me for it! haha Next, the hands. I like Clarks hand, as they look a little more gen (for the old style) than anything I can find. There are flaws (like the minute hand being too short) and the tip on the hour hand is not quite the right shape, as well as the "rectangle" part of the hour hand being too short. If you look at gen pictures you'll see that the hand is a little longer than newer styles - check it out and you'll see what I mean. TBH, I don't remember where I got the small GMT hand. I think I got it from Raffles-Time, but I'm not sure. Next, the movement. I started out using the DG 2804 (or the 2813, whichever is the GMT version) and hated every minute of it. It's not as easy to swap as some people make it sound, and personally I like getting stuff working for a long while, not doing a constant tear down and repair all the time. For that reason, I used the 2836GMT. I know people can bash that movement, but if it's serviced, it shouldn't be a problem. The DWO should be a roulette, which I think someone on RWG is selling for like 20 Euros. Expensive, but worth it. Mine is OK for now, but it really does irk me and I'll probably upgrade it at some point... One of those things, you know. Finally, the bracelet. I would use either a folded 6210 Jubilee or a rivet 6636/7206 (stretch or no stretch). Those would be period correct (the first being custom at Rolex AD and the other being the PanAm standard issue). My recommendation would be to check out some on real auction sites or VRF and find one you like, and mod it to look like that. I think with some case reshaping, a good movement, proper relumed hands and dial, a good roulette wheel DWO and the Joey B bezel and insert, plus a killer bracelet you'd have a top notch 6542. Now go, and make some really awesome 6542s!

Hello all (again) Sorry for being such a pain in the butt by asking so many questions. Promise that once I gather enough knowledge (which would probably be no more than that of yours) I'll be sharing my knowledge as well. But for now, I have some questions... I am wondering if I could fit a gen Datejust 1601 dial into a 36mm made for ETA 2836 case? [intend to buy from Rafflesdial] And if so, will i need a spacer / movement ring to get everything into place? I found some threads about 1601 franken but couldn't get a hold of the writer. So, I really want your experienced guidance. Thank you so much in advance.

Just wanted to fire up a thread on a 6541 Milgauss build as I get started with it and progress through it. Wanted to share some initial QC pics of the dial and case, etc. Literally all the components of the build is en route to me and needed parts start showing up first thing next week... (Some inspiration for the build:) Dammit Slay... A genuine 6541 Milgauss is an extremely rare bird indeed with auction estimated well into the six figures if and when they even do pop up on the auction block. Accordingly, a 6541 build of your own can get EXTREMELY expensive. Maybe not a quarter mil like a gen, but still... There are few case options out there for vintage Milgauss builds and what is out there is pricey. More with this build than some others perhaps, but the case, as much as the dial, makes or breaks this project. The case is especially important because of the unique internal construction of its Farraday cage shielding the movement from potentially harmful magnetic fields. Aside from the frankly terrible budget (Cartel?) out-of-the-box versions of the 6541 that are floating around, you're left with what appears to be pretty much just two (albeit two very good) case set options: Phong or MQ. And if you've ever looked into the case prices of either, you start to understand why so few people endeavor upon these builds - Minh Q's case comes in at around $1250 and Phong's around $1800(!) iirc. So before you even start looking for dials you're already in the hole for over a grover. Damn... Now, I'm not one to skimp on my builds, but this was already staring to look like a money pit even if this is essentially a mid-shelf "budget" version of a Milgauss build LOL. So I put the idea of the build on the back burner for a while and turned my attention back to the gen-dialed 1016 build I'm working on. That is until I saw Slay's sales post with his absolutely STUNNING 6541 franken build. Slay spared no expense, MQ case and dial, gen 1030 movement, gen hands, the works... My jaw hit the ground. It was damn near perfect and now I had to build one. So I re-started my search and began weighing my case and dial options in earnest once again. Dial As luck would have it, a "new" guy had popped up on Instagram about 6 months ago peddling high end rep dials and a few cases, Tonnywatches. I started following him and was pretty impressed with the quality of the dials he was posting; "Vietnam" dials that were, to my eye anyways, on par with or very close in quality (maybe even the same?) to the dials Minh Q offers (some of the better aftermarket dials for many builds imho), but at less than half the price in some instances. I'm always weary of new sellers (who isn't, right?) but his 6541 dial looked an awful lot like MQ's and it cost about 40% of what the MQ dial costs so I said what the hell and pulled the trigger and purchased one. Looks pretty good to me; the coroner is so-so, but I have a gen white gold dial coronet to replace that one, and I'm might give those lume plots a very understated aging/re-lume. Love the fade on the reddish-pink Milgauss text and the SCOC printing/spacing looks pretty good compared to reference photos of gen dials. Certainly not "perfect" in any sense of the word, but pretty good all things considered and again looks almost identical to the $750 MQ dial. The printing is a little heavy handed and they didn't get the "crippled" R in Perpetual right amongst other minute details, but you really can't beat it for the price. Hands Only one really strong option imho for the 6541's characteristic thunderbolt seconds hand and that's Michael Young at CWP. Looks great and it's long enough to extend into the dial's minute track as per gen. The hour and minute hands, however, are the leaf-shaped hand type with the lume and I want to fit a set of the no lume all-metal "leaf" hands that were also fitted to the 6541. Luckily for me, Offrei offers the near-exact same style hands in an array of sizes and fit for ETA so they'll be compatible with my movement choice and I can get the lengths just right (like a 12.5-13mm minute hand extending into the track like the seconds hand). I'm going to remove the red paint from the thunderbolt tip and age the hands with some sulfur, acids, and some light abrasives. The below reference photo of a gen shows the style, length and aging of the hands I'm going for: Since I'm using an ETA movement (more on that in a minute) I won't have to broach the hands either (which I have an atrocious track record with). Might have been the easiest sourcing yet: a quick email exchange with Michael, payment sent and hands on their way in a matter of days. Ordered a spattering of differently sized and shaped leaf hands from Offrei. They were so cheap I was able to buy enough that I'll be able to make sure I get the aged look correct and possibly file down a larger sizes minute hand to match the length of the CWP thunderbolt. Case When I was going back and forth with Tonny about the dial, I happened to dig a little bit deeper into his Instagram and saw that he actually had a 6541 case set he was offering mixed in amongst the photos of his various small crown, big crown, etc. cases. It looked pretty good in the photo he posted and I already had some experience with one of his 5508 case sets that I had purchased for a friend of mine, so I knew the quality was pretty good and that, generally speaking, his cases were pretty gen-spec. For sure, some modifications would have to be done (lug bevels need some tlc for instance), but again the price was right especially considering the case construction had the correct Farraday cage that is central to getting this build right. All said, case set and dial would cost me less than half of what just a Phong case set would've cost me. So again, I pulled the trigger and asked Tonny for some quick QC pics before making my purchase: (Photo from Tonnywatches Instagram:) (QC photos:) You get the idea... Pretty good if you ask me, but still much work to be done. The dial/cage construction is correct and I'm comfortable re-doing the perlage on the Farraday cage back. The only thing not pictures (which is, in fact, included with the case) is the cross-shaped metal tension "spring" that seats into the inside of the case back and keeps the cage snugly sandwiched together around the movement protecting it from magnetic field variations (well, in theory anyways haha). Other than that, I'll weigh my options on having the mid case re-shaped/thinned and maybe re-do the lug bevels. Should make a good base though for sure... Bezel, Insert, Crown, etc. Some of the finer details of the case set have yet to be seen since I'm still waiting on it to show up from Tonny, but there are some modifications that are inevitable: Gen crown is an easy one,; already have a few various 6mm gen crowns in the parts drawer and a gen 602 tube which are way less problematic than installing a 600 tube which would have been "more" correct for a 6541. No question, a 602 would've been installed during a service however, and requires no broaching/modification prior to install. I picked up a gen T-16 beveled service crystal, and as luck would have it, also happen to have an aftermarket domed T-16 from Phong sitting gathering dust. I love the look of the Milgauss with its domed crystal, but much prefer the practicality of the lower-profile beveled service so it'll be nice to have both should I ever decide to switch between one or the other. The insert that comes with the Tonny case is suspect and I had already acquired a Phong 6541 insert before I got the case, so I'm going to give the Tonny insert some heavy aging for a more worn-in/beat up look for the watch should I ever want it. The Phong insert is pretty spot on; the only thing I might do to it is bleach out the red triangle a little bit and give it a good fade. The bezel ring looks pretty suspect in the QC pictures as well, but I'll have to wait to have it in hand before I can see if it's up to snuff with the shape of the coin edge or if I'll be able to properly age it to give it an older, polished worn-in look. Tonny assured me its plates brass so I'll be able to sand/age/tarnish/polish the bezel and take it down to the brass in what I feel is a more appropriate look for a half-century old watch. If the bezel construction or shape isn't good enough however, I'll just buy one from MQ as I feel his is just a tiny bit better than the one Phong offers and both are pretty solid stand-ins for the genuine article. Yet again neither option is cheap (see a theme developing here?), so I'm hoping the Tonny bezel passes muster. The case should be here in a week so I'll know for certain then. The engravings also look a little iffy in the QC photos, and if they're too are not good enough then hopefully I can send the mid and back to JMB to be re-done. Plenty of bracelet options as I've got both an NDT and Yuki 7206 waiting in the wings and picked up this really nice NOS StyleCraft 20mm tropic rubber strap that I think will look good on either my 1016 or the 6541 for a more subdued look that's still somewhat substantial and fitting for the era of the watch to a certain degree: Movement As you can see, I've already got a decent amount invested into this build, and as nice as it might be to put a cal. 1030 into a build like this, it just doesn't seem all that practical to me because: a) the Farraday cage covers the movement so you don't see it, b ) sourcing parts and servicing a 1030 movement is becoming increasingly difficult and cost prohibitive, and c) I plan on wearing this watch. A lot. And the ETA 2782 I'm using is far more rough & tumble-ready than the 1030. I found a brand new NOS watch with a 2782 that had been sitting untouched and unused in storage for the last few decades. It's in really great shape, and after a good cleaning and oiling, will run like a dream. The 2782 has a nice low beat rate, good stem height, good canon pinion height, and the same Kif shock absorbers Rolex would later use in its 1500-series movements so it should be able to handle a fair amount of wear and tear. I got a Yuki 1030 ETA movement ring to make it fit in the case correctly, and one of the only internal modifications I'll need to do is notch out the middle ring of the Farraday cage so the movement clamps can seat the movement in the case properly. The Farraday cage is 3 parts: the interior case back, the middle ring section with a small opening for the winding stem, and the dial (the bottom side of which "completes" the cage by capping over the movement and lining up flush with the middle ring section. Like the Phong dial and cage, the dial has no feet so as long as I can get the cage pieces to line up properly and get the movement with the Yuki adapter seated firmly in the cage install should be relatively painless. All things considered, once I have all the pieces in front of me the assembly will go rather quickly hopefully. I'll update this thread as o go along with each part of the build so hopefully I can glean some insight from others and maybe be the "guinea pig" with one of these Tonny cases (and dial for that matter). Stay tuned...

Thought I would share few photos of the watch that got me into watches . I have been sourcing the parts for this for a while . Most all gen apart from case ( rep smp ceramic ) 2500c movement gen hands dial /crown H valve etc . just need gen case back to finish

Hi I am planing to build a Vintage Daytona Fap 6263 Would like to show my idea and would be happy about any inputs from you Guys this is how it should look in the End: Base Watch will be a Cartel 6263 like this: http://www.torobravo2015.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=39_214&product_id=1048 Crown + Tube from Athaya Dial from Phong: (it is the only dial I found without the daytona Writing on it... even tough it is quite expensive 450 USD) other options are very welcome! http://i821.photobucket.com/albums/zz133/HUGI91/19-06-2015%2022-19-03.jpg To install the Dial I will use this way: http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=145508&highlight=MOD+6263+CARTEL+GEN+DIAL So what do you think about my plans? Do I need to replace the pushers too? Any benefits of it? Bezel replacement? (Phong charges 350-450 USD... too much for my budget) Any help is greatly appreciated Have a great Weekend

Hi. I'm pretty new to building/modifying watches, but I am just finishing my first 1601 datejust franken build, and thought I would share my project with you- hoping to get some tips/ providing some pointers from my experience. I have started another build aswell, and would like to perfect my skills and keep building time pieces with a personal touch :-) this topic will include both projects. #1: - genuine 1601 case - genuine 1601 bezel and acrylic - genuine Rolex tube and crown - ETA 2824–2 - genuine blue dial - Tudor hands - movement holder raffles time #1 (slightly modified) - aftermarket leather strap # 2 - About the same specs but with the pan pie dial - aftermarket Jubilee bracelet (signed 554) ----- Just ask me whatever you want, and I will try to help you out if I can. I would gladly share my experiences/provide tips/pictures/explanations if it could be of any help to others doing similar projects ;-) trim.7BE67496-CB21-449C-8D5A-BD6A5F132EE9.MOV

a new one (hybrid from 2 other builds)! in a blinding flash abandoned a rebuild and went sideways- resulted in a NOS rad! The accident of the high-collar hands look great with the low-dome and low bezel- a completely chance combination. Lume also is insane.... ingredients: rsea rp dial (super lume) athaya high collar hands (super lume) clean molnija 3601 (little engraving) nightwatch 3 piece case with solid caseback timebandit ammo build shots lume starting to fire up indoors.... moody ones