My pair of GMT IIs

[sneed12]

The watches that really got me started in the rep hobby (just a few months ago!) were these two. They were some of the first that I'd bought parts and whatnot for, and I've been slowly improving.

The GMT IIc on the left has a new case coming with rehaut engraving that lines up. That and eventually a gen crystal (or doing the AR mod myself, not that I think it'll save any $$) are the only two upgrades I really have planned. A better clasp with deeper engraving would be nice, but not a huge deal to me. I don't think the etching is deep enough to do the black paint thing to.

The pepsi GMT II on the right has a longer story. Here's a straight on shot of it:

I bought a case, dial and hands from another member, but I was disappointed with the quality of the stuff (the dial had smudges all over it, the crown that came with the case had a broken stem bit in it, the hands were for CHS movement etc). So the project went on the back burner for a while.

Then I bought this:

wokky case, but otherwise in good shape, and I thought I could just do a straight movement swap into my nicer case and be done. I had a case laying around that was much less wokky and had better cg's, and the crown fit the tube (I suck at changing tubes).

Well, it turned out (if you look closely you can see it in the pics) the wokky one also was using the stock ETA datewheel, ie the date window is too far to the right compared to a Rolex movement. So the dial was unusable for me. I ordered another one from Trusty, a bit expensive but the only place I could find one. When I installed a datewheel with an overlay, it rubbed on the independent adjusting mechanism for the GMT hand. After some thought, I just went ahead and removed the whole mechanism--I set the offset to GMT (Chicago is 6 hours behind) when setting the hands, and now it's not adjustable--but that also means it won't get out of sync. The datewheel is an open 6/9, which I think is incorrect for this watch, but I like the way they look

I used an aftermarket seconds hand on it, and it's a little too wide--when I get back home (I'm in Switzerland right now) I'll swap it with another in the parts box to complete the look. I'm pleased with how these two turned out, however, and I'm glad to have injected some color in my watch collection! My other two Rollies are a ceramic blue Sub (with vac for lume right now) and an LV coming from BK (I just bought spot #53 on the waiting list, dunno how long that means it'll be...!) so the Rolex corner of my watch box will be a nice break from the black face motif I have currently going on...

Wristie from when I was sitting in the airport:

[freddy333]

The GMT IIc on the left has a new case coming with rehaut engraving that lines up.

Where did you locate a correctly engraved case?

[sneed12]

Where did you locate a correctly engraved case?

Watched the sale forum like a hawk. I bought a GMTIIc in need of a service for pretty cheap, and from the pics (they were quite good) it looked like the rehaut engraving was right. I dunno if there is a way to ask for one with correct rehaut engraving from a dealer.

I'll know if it's an improvement/worth the swap in a couple of weeks, the watch should be waiting when I get home from Europe.

[freddy333]

I bought a GMTIIc in need of a service for pretty cheap, and from the pics (they were quite good) it looked like the rehaut engraving was right. I dunno if there is a way to ask for one with correct rehaut engraving from a dealer.

I have yet to find a rep with the correct engraving, but let us know if yours fits the bill.

[By-Tor]

@Sneed: Great story! And nothing beats the Pepsi thing!

[sneed12]

I have yet to find a rep with the correct engraving, but let us know if yours fits the bill.

Here's the picture the seller had on his ad.

Like I said, I'll get a better look when I actually have the watch in my hands... worst case I just turn around and sell it, but it really looks to me like the R is lined up with the 9 in that pic.