Jump to content
When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
  • Current Donation Goals

Was playing around and I spawned a Franken Rolex Date!


chiman12

Recommended Posts

Had some extra gen Rolex parts floating around in my parts box. Was bored and decided to create a franken.

I took the 1570 out of the Rolex Date and it went to a better place dirol.gif

Because of it's size (34mm), it's not something that you see very often, but I had fun building it and it is my very first Datejust/Date franken.

It's a gen gold shelled Rolex/dial/handset/buckle with a modified 2836 ETA.

The watch looks rather classy with the burgandy leather strap. The gold shelled cases wear better than gold plated and has the more consistent gold color...no brassiness here...

P1013189.jpg

P1013190.jpg

The buckle is a solid gold gen buckle...

P1013192.jpg

The pic of the ETA. I used a gold date wheel overlay that I had handy. One day I'll figure out how to make the gen date wheel thin enough as an overlay as this would really finish off this gold franken beauty. The ETA was modified so that the quickset date and the hack function was disabled as per the gen of the time period. The gen gold hands were broached to the proper size to fit the ETA.

P1013193.jpg

P1013194.jpg

Thanks for looking!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

she looks good, the date overlay does not look bad either.

If you do go with a gen date disc, the only one you will be able to use is either a 3135 (wrong font), or 3055 with open 6 & 9. (wrong font, but closer) The flat top 3 disc from the 1570 date progression is opposite of eta so will not work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys!

@stilty...thanks for the info provided! The overlay that I'm using has that inherent rep problem in which not all the days are centered in the date window. I probably spent an hour trying to find a "fine balance" on the centering issue..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful job, Chi. I'm a big fan of 1500 Dates- own two of the gens

P1000177.jpg

My gold shell has a white faceted dial and a white datewheel with the flat top 3's etc. Hacking 1575 movt- it dates from the early 70's. It's a model 1550. The ss 1500 is from 1966, datewheel has closed 6's and 9's and round top 3's- I don't know if the DW is original or a later replacement.

BTW, it looks like you have a 2834-2 in there from your mmovement pic. But, I'm excited, I have an extra 1500 case, now I just need to come up with a dial.

Thanks for sharing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice watch you have there. thumbsupsmileyanim.gif Here is some info I picked up on the Rolex gold shell cases. Rolex service in Toronto, Canada informed me that the gold on these cases is 40mm thick and it is an actual layer of solid 14k fused onto the stainless steel.

I had a gold shell case that was worn in a spot and I wanted the gold removed so to use the case as a solid stainless steel Date case. A jeweler friend went to work to remove the gold and in the end had to sand blast it off. He tells me it was a far tougher job than he expected. In the end he removed all the gold but it took a lot of work. These gold shell cases from Rolex are far different than a simple gold plated case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, Chi, I think stem position for the 2834 and 2836 is about the same, they both are day/date movements. The 2834 has a larger OD though because of the way the Day is positioned on the dial. I used a 2834-2 in my 16800 franken, which is housed in a noobmariner case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice watch you have there. thumbsupsmileyanim.gif Here is some info I picked up on the Rolex gold shell cases. Rolex service in Toronto, Canada informed me that the gold on these cases is 40mm thick and it is an actual layer of solid 14k fused onto the stainless steel.

I had a gold shell case that was worn in a spot and I wanted the gold removed so to use the case as a solid stainless steel Date case. A jeweler friend went to work to remove the gold and in the end had to sand blast it off. He tells me it was a far tougher job than he expected. In the end he removed all the gold but it took a lot of work. These gold shell cases from Rolex are far different than a simple gold plated case.

A 40mm thick layer of gold is a layer of gold the thickness of the diameter of a Submariner. Probably 40mils thick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...
Please Sign In or Sign Up