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Hi everyone, this is my first post here and wanted to show my Tudor build. Comments and feedback welcome. case, Rafflesdials bracelet, Rafflesdials hands, Rafflesdials dial, genuine Tudor ( linen ) Movement, genuine 2824 ( couldn’t find a genuine Tudor version )

Freshly built Tudor Ranger 90220 "Oyster" Shield dial Built with the newly released Tudor ranger dial offered from Raffles this year. Its the most accurate option available for this reference If you are in the market for a Ranger. this is the way to go. All those butchered franken watches on eBay have terrible dials and hands and are selling for $1100+ Specs: Raffles Case set with flat case back with Tudor shield engravings. Clarks T12 acrylic crystal Raffles Ranger Dial - aged lume Raffles Time Ranger hands - aged lume Raffles Tudor 19mm Bracelet with Shield clasp Eta 2824-2 clone movement with rotor removed - manual wind Aged lume on hands and dial with air brush paint to achieve perfect match. Removed acrylic crystal and gasket - modified bezel to accept T12 crystal attempted to clearance inside case back but due to dial shape I was unsuccessful so it ended up being manual wind "oyster" greased gaskets and watch should be water resistant ( washing hands, showering , swimming) Thanks for your interest. As always questions and comments welcome.

Good day y’all ! Hope everyone and all your families are doing well ! Does anyone have the Tudor Anthology book ? I would need to ask a few pics… Thank you very much ! ⏱ ♥️ xoxoxo

Hello, I am trying to assemble a Tudor. Please can anyone suggest a seller for high quality Chapter Ring, Ceramic Bezel Insert and a Dial for Tudor Pelagos? Also, is it possible to fit Black Bay Dial in a Pelagos Case? and last but not least, anyone pointer for custom dial site to fir ETA 2824 many thanks

Hello guys, i am about to order a watch set (case, dial, hand, bracelet etc) from raffle dials. just wondering, if they supply a good quality sets? Obviously, not as perfect as gen but all am worried about is Bezel Insert and dial quality. Bright and perfectly painted numbers and logo. pls can you share your reviews and experiences. thanks

Hey everyone, Recently I've acquired a Tudor 9401 custom build and I'm very pleased with it! It wears well and currently I have it on a gen vintage jubilee I've noticed that the font on the dial is off though and the engraving on the caseback could also be better. I'm making this post to let you guys make a judgement on it, where are the shortcomings and where could I find a better dial & caseback? I've noticed mq makes good dials but wondered if these fit on a ETA 2824 movement. After a quick search I've found a gen bezel insert and it's on it's way! https://imgur.com/a/5EiGV7M Kind regards M

Want to buy a genuine 76100 dial. U got one, or might know where to get it?

Ladies and Gentlemen - I am in love with this piece!!! I might opt for the gen in time (gotta save up like a normal person lol) but wondering if anyone has seen or expects a quality rep? https://monochrome-watches.com/tudor-black-bay-fifty-eight-39mm-79030n-review-price/ Seems like everyone is focusing on the boring new Rolex 39mm models....and this fake 904L steel. Lame. Do you guys like it?

I thought I'd share this Tudor 7922 big crown build that I finally have near completion after a few months of messing around with cheaper builds. Added are some thoughts that might help others since this is a very uncommon build. Specs: Rubyswatch 6538 case ETA 2451 18000 bph, non hacking DIY movement ring from a silix case Athaya 8mm crown and tube Vietnam 7922 gilt dial, aged by hologramet Jkhorological hands Default Vietnam plexi shaved ~1mm Phong insert and pearl Tropic dive strap total cost: ~$1400 Notes: •Case I've noticed that a lot of people advise that the dial is the most critical component of a rep and that you should start with the best available dial and go from there. I'd have to disagree and say that the case is the most important part. Before getting the Vietnam case I tried the HR and Silix, and both of them nearly put me off from wanting to continue wearing a vintage Sub. They're just too big in diameter and don't look right on the wrist. To me the early Submariners are basically regular sized watches from the era (read: SMALL by today's standards) but with an oversized case in order to make them super durable and functional for divers. It's a specific look. When you watch the early Bond movies, the 6538 does not look like a big, eye-catching watch. There are certainly some awesome looking HR and Silix builds, but to me the 1-2mm dial and case difference is a deal breaker. I'm probably in the minority here as I'm partial to smaller, vintage, particularly military watches. With that said, I think ability to accept gen parts is an even bigger factor. If you bother to wear a rep watch in the first place, you're probably attentive to detail, and over time you are going to want to improve your build. The cheaper cases are dead ends in that regard. Getting the Vietnam case opened my eyes, not only to how elegantly designed the early sub cases are, but to how easy it is to improve on this build with gen parts in the future. Regarding Rubyswatch, this case was not perfect. The finish is spectacular: chamfers on the lugs are excellent in my view, lug holes are perfect, caseback and bezel function smoothly, engravings look great, and everything is brushed or polished as it should be. There is a minor flaw in the way one of the lugs is cut on its inside edge, but I'm being very picky there. Unfortunately the crown and tube I got were very bad. They didn't screw together properly and I stripped the threads in about one day. The tube itself was bare inside with no gasket and the crown didn't fit snugly as it should. Worse, the tube hole drilled into the case itself is not straight, it inclines as it heads into the watch, so that when I installed the Athaya tube it was noticably drooping downward off the side of the watch and would never have aligned with a movement stem. Long story short, I managed to bend the Athaya tube upward, probably about 3°, to exit the case properly perpendicular to the "ground", and the crown functions as it should. Despite the trouble, I would recommend dealing with Rubyswatch, I'm sure she would have accepted a refund or gotten a replacement if I had asked. Just be prepared to do some work if you want to pay half of Phong's prices. As far as this build goes, from reading around (here and VRF) I determined that early Tudor 7922s from ~1956 were cased with 6538 cases where the 6538 is struck out on the caseback and replaced with 7922. The 7922 big crowns were perhaps all military issue watches (MN, USN, etc.) total numbering in the 1-200's. There is a lot of confusion because later on, ~1958, Tudor seems to have released small crown subs labeled 7922 and big crown subs labeled 7924. Interestingly, the later 7924 used its own case that looks slightly fatter and has more bull-nosed lug ends from the side (more like a 5513 or 7928). So repping the 7924 seems like a lot of work since no one makes that case. I would need to fix the caseback and between the lug engravings to make this case totally accurate. I should also age it but so far I can't bring myself to do it. •Movement It was a pain in the ass to get this movement working after I lost the correct cannon pinion but the slow beat rate is something you immediately notice in the gen watches so it was worth the effort. Hopefully it won't cause trouble for a while. Originally from an interaktiv build so thanks to him. •Crown/tube The Athaya stuff looks and feels awesome and was really a lifesaver as shown above •Dial These are really hard to find so thanks to hologramet, who I think did an excellent job aging this one. As far as accuracy goes, it doesn't make sense that a big crown would have a 100m dial, but sure enough you can find several examples of seemingly original big crown Tudors bearing the shallower depth rating. Perhaps not many people build crownguard-less Tudor subs because there is really no accurate dial. The Tudor script in particular is different on these compared to the more famous 7928, which all the rep dials do a great job mimicking. See the difference, gen on top: The correct font is taller, thinner, and more calligraphic. They all look like that. It's subtle but a dead tell once you notice it. I realized this too late and just decided to go with the most expedient and nice-looking dial available, since not even Minh Quy seems to get it right. Let me know if you are aware of a more accurate dial... I may try to print one in the future. •Hands JKhorological are the best cheap hands I think. The proportions are off but it's not clear to me if anyone does better, even for ridiculous prices. Are the Michael Young hands still available? Hands are important to me and I might have to spring for gen eventually if I can ever find them. •Crystal The crystal coming with the case seems fine to me, although it was way too tall so I sanded it from the base. Maybe I need to go even a bit further? •Bezel The teeth on the Vietnam bezel don't seem totally accurate but I'm just so happy they aren't the big ugly square Silix ones The Phong insert I got also isn't totally accurate, it should have a narrower triangle and the pearl should sit higher. I really haven't seen one exactly like this on a gen watch, but I love the early, no minute hashmark and rounded font look. Almost all of the gen 7922s I've seen have either the round font/red triangle/minute mark insert or the later squared font with serifs insert that was undoubtedly a service replacement. All three I've described can look really nice and it was a hard choice. I bleached this one for a couple min and I'm really happy with the result. No more [censored] gluing in crappy Silix inserts!! Oh, and I definitely need to do something about the stock pearl!!. Not sure what yet as all my aging strategies would get washed off over time.. •Strap I really like the tropic straps even though they didn't appear until the 60s somewhere. This will be an unpopular opinion but I don't understand using a leather strap on a dive watch, leather is not going to hold up around seawater. But I do have to admit that some of the brown and black ones can look really nice. I'll eventually get a 7206 from Yuki or ruby and deal with that, but this project has already broken the bank for now. ____________ Well that about covers it. Hopefully this was an interesting or helpful read for a few of you. I'd like to hear what you guys think; there are some incredible builds around here and I wish I had stumbled upon this forum sooner. I appreciate the knowledge base here that helped me with the build and hope I'm adding to it a bit.

So, I am just a few weeks away from wrapping up probably my most "involved" franken thusfar, a very special Tudor Monte Carlo (a 7031/0 actually) from Jensen aka VintageWatchmaker aka son of Phong. Anyways, the stock dial on the phong/Jensen 7031 isn't great imvho and accordingly, I had been on the hunt for a different dial to use for some time. With DW's (great) dials out of the picture, remaining options are kind of limited. Yuki's dial leaves much to be desired, NDT's dial is terrible and nothing on offer from either MQ or Tonny. I was at a loss. Then a couple weeks ago I made a last-ditch search on eBay and actually stumbled upon (and won; $88, score!) a pretty nice dial from a random seller. The details are pretty good from what I can tell (dial is still en route to me) but it doesn't look like any other Home Plate dial I've ever seen. My first thought was maybe it could actually be a random old DW dial, but comparing to pics of DW 7032s on the boards made me think otherwise. Curious to see what others think of it and if anyone has any idea of its provenance: Hard to see but the subdials are nice and recessed and have the correct guilloche texture, the lume plots look good and have an awesome texture, the hash marks on the minute track are nice and thin, shield looks good, the grey background looks quite nice, etc. Granted, those outer orange numbers are a bit too thick and "Oysterdate" looks a tad odd among a few other deficiencies; but compare then to the stock Phong/Jensen dial (below) that was supposed to come on the build initially. Above dial is better to my eye, both definitely have their individual pluses and minuses but overall I prefer the random eBay dial. Thoughts? Also, for what it's worth: The eBay seller seems to be listing a stream of random aftermarket Tudor dials; only listing one or two at a time. eBay profile says he's located in California by the tracking number for my dial originated in Vietnam. The dials all look pretty good all things considered and as far as I can tell they're not the same as the usual suspects you see for many of these dials (7149, 7159, pres. seal snowflake, etc.), perhaps a stream of new good "Vietnam" dials are slowly trickling onto market? eBay seller id: bivintagestore2014

Everything about this rep is sweet IMHO, except: 1: The hands, especially the minute hand has residue on the gold face (it was photoshoped out in the QC pics) 2: The spring pins they used are sheeite. Superb watch from 2 feet away. Hoping to get another set of hands in case I cant get them polished out.

I love this watch, was a little peeved to have some hour hand scuffs on the face from the factory. QC photos didn't show it. Still amazing though.

Just received a replica Tudor Black Bay 79230 from Joshua at Perfect Clones. I also own a genuine 79230 and the quality of the Perfect Clones is identical. It would be difficult to identify the clone without removing the case back to inspect the movement. Joshua followed all the communication and quality steps outlined at the outset of the transaction. I would have no hesitation in dealing with Joshua/Perfect Clones in the future.

Hello all, I'm going to show you my first build (or, better...assembly) that has been very easy (only effort was to source the parts) and very rewarding... Googling for watch parts I stumbled in "Raffles Dials" that has some ice cases and dials and hands (I say "some" because some sellers have a larger choice...) The price was right (cheap) and the quality was looking good (even a good picture can't tell anything about the "feel" of a well polished case or the "real life" detail of a dial...) so I pulled the trigger for : 1) TUDOR SIGNED VINTAGE STYLE OF 34MM STAINLESS STEEL PRINCE WATCH CASE WITH SMOOTH BEZEL AND 19MM LUGS SIZE FIT ETA 2824 MOVEMENT (First pic) 2) 27MM SILVER DIAL MARKED TUDOR LOGO WITH SILVER STICKS AND DATE WINDOW FIT ETA 2836 OR 2824 MOVEMENT FOR MENS STEEL PRINCE DATE WATCH (2nd pic) 3) ONE SET OF SILVER TUDOR PRINCE WATCH HANDS WITH LUMINOVA FIT ETA 2836 OR 2824 FOR MENS 34MM WATCH (3rd pic) As said before the price was good as I paid the whole set a little less than 81 USD... (with a little discount from Ken) But I was still in the need of a movement... Since I don't like the look of the cheaper Asian 2824 I went for a better look clone (although the solid case back)... Look at the pics #5... isn't it a beauty? That was 87 USD shipped (bought on eBay)... Now what? I can't assemble the watch myself! (Never done before and I have no tools at all!) Solution? : Bring the whole package to the Watchsmith... He said it was a very easy task (everything were fitting and there was no needs for additional spare parts...) and he was asking a very little money so I bought a nice Blue Croc Strap (Morellato) from him. The Pics from 6 to 12 show the final result... It looks a really nice watch although a minor flaw... (the date window is a bit off center) All in all it has been funny to choose the dial,the bezel,the movement... I will do it again (..next time it will be SS and Gold...) Thank you for reading this and thank you Ken (RafflesDials)... You have acquired another happy customer! P.S. Sorry, I don't know how post pictures between the text lines...

Hello all, I just bought a Tudor Prince case/dial/hands/glass/crown from Raflles Dials and a 2824 clone to built my own Prince... I won't go for a bracelet, in this build I much prefer a leather band... My question is : where can I buy a SS Tudor buckle? I don't want to spend a grand (found on eBay at 79€...) since the whole watch costed me 160€... Any suggestion? Any member has a spare one? Thank you!

Hey RWGeeks! So a few years ago now, my father and i got burned on some japanese auction sites and we received what we thought was a 7928 Tudor Sub. Instead it was a franken watch with a 9411/0 case set and real 2824 movement (longines or something not tudor, doesn't have the KIF shock protection). The current spec is: Gen 2784, gen dial, gen crown, clark crystal, yuki hands (tiger concept hands on the way), clark tube, unknown bezel assembly + retaining ring. So I've been going under the assumption that the case is a replica case, i mean why would you put a real 9411 case with franken parts + rep dial (i have been wrong before)? The case has: - Proper engravings: 78xxxx serial number (roughly 1972), the 9411/0 engraving too - 2mm lug holes - Decent shape - maybe you can help me out with this one. - Caseback looks decent but has C.R.S instead of 9411 on the inside. - Unknown bezel assembly too - Fits 26mm dial Please let me know if you have any ideas on the case. Does the rehaut look too 'wokky'/angled? Thanks in advance guys!!!

Hi guys, Really need your input! Got this one some time ago, but have no idea if it's Gen, it's should be.. at least it looks nice. Thanks in advance!

Hi guys, Really need your input! Got this one some time ago, but have no idea if it's Gen, it's should be.. at least it looks nice. Thanks in advance!

•PROLOGUE• Over the last several years as I've built (or more accurately, had built for me essentially) franken versions of vintage watches that I admire, my interests gradually honed in on one particular area: Tudor. There's always been something so "honest" about Tudor to me and how the brand has always held its own while perpetually living in the shadow of its older sibling. Like Rolex without some of the fuss, if you will. Make no mistake, Rolex is unquestionably the king of the tool watch (imvho the 1016 is the greatest tool watch ever made), but for whatever reason, it has always been Tudor specifically that has spoken to me in the most "real" and personal way. This was instilled in me at a young age: my father wore an 80's-era Tudor Sub (which he always wore on an incorrectly-sized 19mm bracelet. ALWAYS... haha) As the secondary gen vintage market soaring higher and higher into the strata of rare air, it's getting harder in my eyes for me to personally "pull off" iterations of some of the rarer, more desirable references be it Tudor or Rolex (6263/6239 I'm looking at you). I just have a hard time seeing myself wearing a (perceived) near half million or near-million dollar wristwatch whilst, say, fly fishing or working on my old rusty Fastback. And besides I like to really WEAR my watches. I tend to put them through their paces. Tool watches used as actual tools. They way they were always destined to be used imho. Like I was saying, Tudor had always really "spoken" to me and always been my true love and focus, and gradually my (very) small collection of watches has morphed into a collection made up entirely of the Shield and the Rose (save for my gen 5500 of course lol). There was, however, a big hole in my Tudor collection that still needed to be filled: an exotic-dialed chronograph. The next move was clear: it was, of course, high time for a bad*ss Home Plate!! (**Side note: for me, frankens tend to be "go big or go home"-type builds, thus the small size of my collection. I know this can be a fool's errand sometimes, but it's what I enjoy most about the building: seeking out the best to make the best of the best so I may enjoy it the most**) (I*NOTE: Some reference photos via the Internet and stock photos from VintageWatchmaker are intermingled throughout some of these photos. Ok first, inspiration/reference shots for the build.) •PART I: THE MOON SHOT• So with the decision made, I contacted VintageWatchmaker Jensen and inquired about one of his Monte Carlos. Jensen and I have been friends for many years and once we talked it over a bit, he agreed he could get one started right away, and so we (mostly Jensen of course) began moving forward full steam ahead with the build, noting some modifications to make along the way and sourcing a few parts prior to assembly. Now, my only reservation about the 7031/0 was its size. Clocking in at right about 40mm, I had never been super keen on its size nor that of some of the more substantial classic sports chronos in general, what with their beefy crown guards, larger bezels, etc. (like the Zenith Daytonas for example). For me personally, they've always felt just a bit too big and cumbersome on my admittedly diminutive/scrawny wrists. So, in coming up with a solution to dissuade my reservations about its size and also do something I felt was completely unique, I decided to take a moon shot on an aspect the build (the quite expensive build, mind you). But first, to be clear: I wasn't overly concerned with perfect "correctness" overall, because accuracy isn't always what I find most gratifying with certain/most frankens and builds. It's really how much I enjoy the end result that matters most (the way it should be, imvho). And as far as classic, "exotic"-dialed chronographs go, the Home Plate is already in it of itself extremely unique. Still, I wanted to take things FURTHER. I wanted something I had never myself seen before, yet something that still felt "vintage" and as if it still had one foot in the "real world", so to speak (clichéd I know...). So I asked Jensen if he'd be interested in helping me realize this, uh, somewhat "different" iteration of the 7031/0 with one very specific and very major modification in mind: I wanted the crown guards removed completely. I was concerned Jensen might just flat out say "NO" or politely tell me how stupid of an idea it was. Frankly, I wasn't even completely sold on the idea myself yet, but I said "screw it, let's roll the dice anyways". Damn the weather... Fortunately, Jensen sounded like he was on board with the the idea right off the bat and agreed that, at the very least, it would at the make for an interesting project. Eventually, even he got pretty excited about the end result... (Stock Phong/Jensen 7031/0, about to get a serious makeover) •PART II: DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS• Although it should be pretty clear at this point that I was hellbent on creating some sort of fever-dream vision of a borderline "6263-esque" Home Plate, but I still wanted the rest of the details to be as accurate as I might be able to make them. I was also hoping to make some additional tweaks here and there besides removing the crown guards at the get-go of the build. All said, it actually only took a few weeks of the back-and-forth with Jensen, a couple lengthy email exchanges, and some minor tweaks here and there, etc. before Jensen finally had the watch headed my way. My lovely new Home Plate, here forth dubbed "The Knucklehead" haha... (Ladies and gentlemen, I give you The Knucklehead...) (And a couple quick shots before full specs, including a cameo from its older sibling 7924 Big Crown...) •PART III: SPECS• --Case-- Obviously, the case was the focal point of the mods and where the meat of the work had to be done. While removing the crown guards was obviously the BIG modification to be made, I also asked Jensen if he could slim down the thickness of the lug shoulders just a little when he was shaving down the CGs, making the overall dimension of the case more proportional without the CGs. All said, the crown guard removal, thinner shoulders and more "low key" pusher/crown area (nickname starting to make sense?) gives the watch's silhouette a smaller, almost Daytona-esque feel and wears much smaller on the wrist now than, say, your everyday Monte Carlo or Big Block. Again, this bodes well for me and my scrawny chicken wrists too! If ever there was supposed to be a "Paul Newman" Tudor of some sort, in my mind perhaps this could have (or should have) been it... --Pushers-- Fortunately for me (and ol' Knucklehead), Jensen and his old man (Phong) had recently begun offering MK1 style screw-down pushers for some of their early Daytona builds. Good ones too. I had always preferred the cleaner look of the MK1 pushers with their flattened knurls and the plain tubes/buttons without that machined grooves you find on the later iterations of the screw-down pushers. Coincidentally, and from what I could find amongst a plethora of reference material, Tudor seemingly fit some of the early 7031/0s with those same pushers (they probably were, in fact, the same exact MK1s from shared Rolex/Tudor parts stock I suspect as they were also in use during the same period on the early Oyster Daytonas) and Jensen was gracious enough to fit a pair of his MK1s on the Knuck and even went so far as to file down the knurls/teeth a bit flatter for me to really give them that "smooth" look I was hoping for. In my very humble opinion, they turned out perfect. Compare the photos below (Knucklehead first; gen example second), I think Jensen just absolutely NAILED this part of the build. It might just be a trick of the eye, but with the CGs missing, the pusher tubes seems especially tall. Once I wear it for a while longer I'll decide on whether or not I think it'll be necessary to shorten the pusher tube lengths just a tiny bit so they sit more squat on the case they look great as they are so I'm on the fence about it still... (The Knucklehead's pushers) (Pushers on an early gen 7032. Just ignore those crown guards lol) --Crown-- Easy-peasy. Kind of haha. I was patient and eventually nabbed a NOS 700 crown on the 'Bay for cheap (relatively speaking) and had a sealed 7000 tube in my parts drawer. Regretfully, it's didn't make it to me in time for assembly so for now, I've got a Phong twinlock on there with the gen 7000 tube; should be an easy swap next time the watch goes in for work/service. I was keen on using the slimmer 700 over the more substantial 702/703s, and they were found on early. Sessions of the 7031/0. I certainly paid a premium for a NOS sealed twinlock, but with a fresh set of gaskets it'll give me good piece of mind regarding aesthetics and waterproof-ness and Jensen assured me that, regardless of crown choice, he would make doubly sure the watch would in fact be watertight and pressure tested before making its way to me. The Knucklehead is, after all, (now) one of my daily drivers and certainly gets put through its paces (like all of my watches). With the crown guards gone, the crown sits nice and flush right up to the case, nestling in nicely underneath the bezel when properly screwed down all the way. --Dial-- In preparation for the build I, of course, spent a considerable amount of time pouring over reference material, particularly looking at various dials options for the Knucklehead. With DW now out of the picture, good options can seem limited. I wasn't 100% sold on the JAW/VW stock dial that was supposed to come on the watch from Jensen, it was quite good but certainly with its faults. Yuki's Home Plate dials left much to be desired I thought and neither Tonnywatch nor Minh Q had one to sell. NDT also had a dial but it looks terrible and very sloppy from the photos I saw on their site. The DW dials were certainly great and may still be some of the best, if not the best aftermarket dial option out there (still) for a Home Plate but I certainly wasn't holding my breath about tracking one down M2M on the boards or "cold calling" someone who might be likely to take pity on me and sell me an extra. I began to compromise mentally on the idea of the Knucklehead moving forward with the JAW/VW stock dial for the time being while I made one of those desperate late night, weeks-long eBay searches we all tend to make from time to time and, 'lo and behold, I lucked out and happened upon what appeared to be a completely random dial that was somehow miraculously better than any of the above options (at least in my very, very humble opinion) and which I acquired for the grand sum of- wait for it... $88. BOOM!... Definitely not perfect, the outer track numbers were too thick, the date window a bit too small, the "Oysterdate" text was perhaps a little wonky, and the subdial numbers were a bit different than those found on the gens (hard to tell, but photo overlays tell the tale). However, the indices looked way better than those on many of the other options, the subdials were correctly sized, had a nice texture, and were colored correctly. The tone of the grey background was nice and light (but not too light, still "rich") and even had a somewhat understated, aged look to it almost. The printing was crisp/clean and there was no color bleed anywhere, something I seemed to notice on many of the other dials (hard to hide mistakes on a dial with such bold shapes and colors). At first glance, I thought it might actually be an old DW dial, but those too-thick orange numbers on the outer track, the tone of the grey, the subdials, and the lume texture had me reconsidering that notion. I guess I'll never be 100% sure of its provenance, but the dial did ship from Vietnam so maybe there's a new wave of decent "Vietnam" dials possibly trickling onto the market (or maybe it was just some old random dial, but the seller seemed to be listing a steady stream of various aftermarket Tudor dials I'd never seen before, so who knows; these dials are definitely not the same as any of the above examples as far as I can tell). Other smaller details like the thinness of the quarter-minute hash marks I found to be very good as well. **UPDATE: My newfound dial's feet for some reason didn't match up to the Valjoux 7734 so as you can see I still have Jensen's stock dial on it for now (still looks great I think!) and Jensen assured me that he'll be able to get it fitted on the watch next time I send it over to him. (Random 7031 dial. Score! Thought/opinions?) Hopefully Jensen can fix the date aperture and the white background behind the shield appliqué and we can hopefully get this dial on the watch soon! (And a stock photo of the Jensen/Phong dial for comparison's sake.) --Hands-- This was another area of the build I was kind of intensely focused on initially. Of course, no one can seem to get this small detail quite right out of the box, and I know it's proven to be a sticking point for many, many others who've built these in the past as well. And actually, considering how prominent the hands appear on this particular reference (what with their bright colors, large lume mid-sections, various sizes and whatnot) some modification was going to be necessary to get them where they needed to be. The "newer" hands that JAW/VW now use on their Monte Carlos make a much better base than they used to be as the H/M hands are now correctly faceted and the sweep seconds hand has a much nicer, longer tail section below the post hole; but the color is still slightly off. I asked Jensen to slightly thin the sweep hand, strip the original paint off of it, and repainted it with Orchard Hardware Supply Orange spray enamel (I went through a several different colors swatches until I randomly came upon the OHS) I sent to him. Personally, I find it slightly more accurate than the oft-used Tamiya Orange most people gravitate towards when repainting the SS hand; Rustoleum Painter's Touch "Real Orange" is another great option as is Model Masters "Racing Orange" fyi; check out the below photo comparison I found on some random model making forum). (Various shades of oranges for comparison's sake, options for repainting the SS hand) Even though the new JAW/VW hands are now much better, they're both still a bit too long. It's not so noticeable with the hour hand, but with the minute hand it was very apparent and, for me at least, a dead giveaway. It incorrectly extends far into the upper black section of the dial well beyond the minute track. Hell, I think the minute hand may have originally been even longer than the SS hand was! Since the watch had to be completely disassembled for the case work anyways, Jensen was happy to take an escapement file to the tip of the minute hand and bring it down into the minute track where it should be. The stock subdial hand are one of the last remaining weak points still on the watch I feel and one of the few areas that is definitely getting re-worked in the very near future, most likely when I send the Knucklehead back to J for the dial re-fit. They are way too long and a bit "chubby", the tips too blunt, and the bases are painted black when they should be bare silver metal. Still weighing my options with these... (For comparison: Guts from a gen 7031. Notice the lengths, shapes, and colors of the various hands) (And a stock photo split shot of the Jensen/VW 7031 and it's not-so-great subdial hands before modification) (And finally, the end result of the various hands mods on the Knucklehead. Not sure if the SS repainting translates in the photos all that well, sorry...) --Bezel-- I knew the Phong/Jensen black Bakelite Tudor bezels were quite good, but it wasn't until I had one in hand that I realized just how good they actually are (especially considering the other rep options and prices for gens, which is, of course, insane). Comparing the Knucklehead's bezel with hi-res photos of genuine examples, I could find very few discrepancies. The printing perhaps seemed a touch heavy-handed but that'll probably diminish/subdue a bit over time with general wear and tear and environmental exposure. All I really asked Jensen to do to the bezel was take a bit of the sheen off the acrylic to give it a bit more of a matte, age-appropriate look and to polish the metal underside of the bezel. Not critical to the aesthetic in any way, but a nice touch I thought. (Genuine bezel) (Knucklehead bezel) --Movement-- The V72s and Tudor-decorated "in-house" movements from JAW/VW are an area where I think Jensen/Phong particularly excel. Maybe it's just my personal experiences, but pretty much every "Tudor" movement I've ever received from Jensen has been beautifully well-finished and decorated, calibrated well, and run very accurately. The Valjoux 7734 powering the Knucklehead is no exception. First off, it has the correct 45-minute totalizer at 3 o'clock; many donor movements used for these builds have the somewhat more common (albeit incorrect for a 7031/0) 30-minute totalizer. Jensen's 7734 even has nice Tudor-engraved bridges! And so instead of the very real possibility of ending up with a tired, old donor movement in need of possibly both a cleaning/service and a 45-minute totalizer conversion, I felt it was money very well spent for this portion of the build. The manual-wind movement keeps great time, all the chrono functions work perfectly, and everything resets precisely back to zero with a very satisfying "snap". Also, I don't know where the date wheel came from or if it's a newer(?) item for VW/JAW, but it definitely has a nice serifed font that's a lot closer to those found on genuine examples than I expected. All I know is that it's better than most of what I could find on donor 7734s and seems to be yet another Phong part that seems superior to other date wheel options for these builds. (Love that bridge...) --Crystal, Bracelet, End Links, et cetera-- So I picked up a genuine C-128 crystal for the build as aftermarket 128s with the mag at 6 can be hit-or-miss from what I could find. No cracks, not brittle, nice crisp clarity and it fit the case snugly with the cyclops lining up nicely with the dial's date aperture. Jensen sent me his stock xtal that he uses as a backup for me and honestly it is VERY close to the gen. If I were doing this build over again, I'd probably save my money and just use the VW/JAW stock one. (Gen service? 128 sourced from VRF ready for install on its way to VW) I still need to scoop a folded-link 7836 bracelet from Mary/Watch International. I think Mary's folded link bracelets are great, and when I do eventually go that route, at most I might swap on a gen clasp if I can find a decently priced one; but I'd much rather beat the crap out of a very accurate Mary bracelet worry-free rather than fret over an overpriced, tired gen bracelet. In the meantime, with a nod to my father, I sometimes put it on an undersized 19mm bracelet. Yes it looks silly, but I think it's a chuckle and obviously 95% of folks have no clue anyways haha. Most of the time it's on a leather or Tropic anyways (On a 19mm. Just like dad with his sub haha...) Generally speaking, most of the "usual suspects" for end links don't seem to agree very well with the 7031 from what I could gather. Even the fit on gen examples with their standard-issue 380 ELs is often quite poor apparently with most gen owners retro-fitting 589s that came along later with the Big Blocks for a better fit. As luck would have it, however, the 589 ends that came along from Jensen actually fit better than most anything else I tried and besides, 95% of the time I wear it on either a Hodinkee leather band or a vintage NOS Tropic I also grabbed off eBay. Jensen also provided a pair of the longer/fatter 2mm springbars and even rounded off the tips a bit for me as they poke out of the lug holes now after everything got slimmed during the case shaping/crown guard removal. Nice touch and a classy move I thought. Last but not least, Jensen gave the whole case a very understated aging treatment (something else he is REALLY talented at imvho) and finally re-polished everything (at my request), to try and further emote the feel of a well-loved, 45 year-old timepiece. (On a Hodinkee strap...) •EPILOGUE• In retrospect, the build actually went pretty fast once I had sourced the few parts I needed/wanted and got all the details ironed out with Jensen. Before I knew it, the Knucklehead was sitting on my front porch (along with my freshly serviced and also Jensen-built Tudor 7924 Big Crown, now with its new/old Rose caseback sticker!) (The Knuck with its big brother Big Crown) (And bonus shots of the BC and its new-old gen caseback sticker. Couldn't resist, thought this was cool addition. Grabbed this when I got the MC xtal. Not sure how "correct" it is though lol) (A little pre-aging and wear and tear and I'm liking the way it looks on there) (And 3/4 of the Tudor family. Including another "fantasy" Tudor 7750 chrono built with a DW 6239 case. Not pictured: the blue Snowflake, currently with Mr. Jensen getting an "MN" engraving and a COA...) In retrospect this seemed like it could have been a VERY expensive gamble; adulterating a classic in such a way, possibly "ruining" it in one way or another. However, I did have a gut feeling it was going to turn out pretty great and that in the end I would be pleased with the result (in truth, I had been daydreaming about this idea for a loooong while). Having finally pulled the trigger, I really truly couldn't be happier with the Knucklehead. And that's all that really matters at the end of the day, right? All in all, it manages to almost "hide in plain sight" and I think overall it actually looks/feels quite restrained and understated. 99% of folks won't have any idea what they're looking at or what it's "supposed" to look like anyways. This watch perhaps won't jive with purists too much (ha!), and I'm sure there's probably some franken-watch folks that may raise an eyebrow at "hacking up" a Phong/Jensen MC like this. C'est la vie I guess, to each their own... So with the MN 9411 Snowflake (gen dial incoming soon!), a 7924 Big Crown, the 6239-cases fantasy "Small Block", and now finally the Knucklehead, I'm starting to finally feel like my Tudor itch has been more or less scratched and my collection is starting to feel "complete" to me (famous last words, right?), Haha... And like LHOOQ has said somewhere in the past, I think I've got pretty much "all the good boxes checked off" now on my personal list of vintage Tudors. Thank You to any and everyone who actually read this A-Bomb of a post in its entirety (if anyone actually bothered to do so lol) and of course to my friend and watchmaker Jensen for his amazing work as always! For me anyways, this was one for the books, and a build that I'll certainly remember fondly every time I slap it on the wrist. Cheers... --Meadowsweet

I have been working on this Ranger for quite some time and it is just about done. Such a simple watch can be such a pain in the culo! Here is the reference and here is mine. You would think that the minute hand would be easy, but it is not. It needs to be 11mm and have fat lume. The one I have on there is 12mm and the lume is a bit too fat. Ingredients: Gen case (74XXX), crystal and bracelet (7835 with 361B endlinks) Gen movement (tudor 2824) with date wheel from an older movement Gen 6mm crown Unlumed Raffles hour and second hand Clark? minute hand Yuki dial (date window is a bit wrong! and frustrating to get to work)

This is a very fine specimen. What is interesting is that it looks like the lug holes are drilled out to accept fat bars; what do you think? Do 19mm fat bars exist? http://chronocentric.com/forums/chronotrader/index.cgi?page=1;md=read;id=60736

I recently lost the pearl of my cartel Tudor Black Bay. so I ordered a bezel insert from Helenarou. Color is slightly different depending on light angle. Snaps right in. I didn't even need Hypo Cement or anything. Just wanted to let you know as I myself like to find this kind of information.

It's here, Just released the Tudor Heritage Black Bay in Bronze Trusty has them, not sure whom else does at this time, but this should be popular... http://www.ttw8488.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=352&products_id=14986

Quite satisfied with my first build. Case needs some work and I am waiting for the bracelet but I like where this is going.

I am trying to make a ranger that is very accurate. My only missing piece is a minute hand that is 10.5 - 11 mm long like in the pic below. Do you know where I can find one? A submariner one goes up to the chapter ring.