DRSD Project - It's back!

[panerai153]

Well, when I last posted a thread about my DRSD, I was still torn between a genuine movement and a 2846-2. After a lot of soul searching, I decided to go all the way and find a 1570 for the watch. I will tell anyone who is looking to do one of these almost all genuine ( I'm not going to call it a super franken, because it still has an aftermarket dial) It is not for the faint of heart!!

Collecting all the parts is a time consuming project, fraught with all types of problems. Also the more you know about what you are looking for, the better. Also don't be too hasty when you buy and for goodness sakes read everything in the sales ad. Here is a case in point. My first 1570 came from a fellow in Germany, bought on the Vintage Rolex Market (VRM). In my haste to get the movement, and also the sellers limited English created a real problem. He clearly said in the ad, fits a 1016. What he did not say was it was a non date, built specifically as a non date. I got the movement in, sent it up to Ziggy and several days later got the "bad news" email. Can't use this movement, it's a non-date. Almost impossible to convert a 1570 non-date to a date. lots of expensive parts!! Long story short,i found a buyer for the 1570, and bought another 1575 (Date model). Sent it up to Ziggy and although it was dirty and required a service, it worked. So from a beat up MBW with no insert, badly scratched T-39 crystal, emerged a really nice very usable 1665.

Lots of folks ask, "what did it cost"? I'm including a spreadsheet that lists the exact cost and description of the part. I blacked out the names of the seller, as I'm sure most don't want to be inundated by requests for parts. most of these were one off that and individual had for sale.I was fairly fortunate tin that the MBW 1665 I bought for a more than reasonable price, and it already had a genuine tube/crown and T-39 Superdome.I feel sure that there are a lot of members who have over the years, cultivated suppliers and stockpiled parts, who could do this project for less than It cost me. What I believe the spreadsheet does is give the average Joe out there some idea of what a project like this will cost.One of the biggest problems with these projects is the unexpected, that's why patience rules. Everything is rocking along fine, and then the last part you need is not to be found, or someone on Ebay has what you need, but they are asking twice the price you had budgeted. You have to be able to put the project aside and keep looking for something in your budget range.When I was putting this together, I went to the parts forum on RWG, VRM and Ebay every day, looking for the things I needed. Another thing everyone who undertakes a Franken project like this should ask themselves is this project feasible. we had a very good discussion about this very thing last year. Most felt that the cost of the project should be not exceed 20% of the price of a comparable genuine watch. So to use this rule of thumb, a DRSD would have to be selling for around 17,000.00 USD to justify the project costs that I incurred. That's probably within the feasibility range for this project. Conversely if you spent this much for a Red 1680 project, you would probably be up in the 30-40 % of genuine range. So when you decide to undertake a project like this, first thing you should decide is how close to the real thing is this project going to cost. Another thing you HAVE to consider, once these projects are completed,you better like the watch, because selling one is very difficult. We have supposedly 25K + members on this forum, but when you get into this type of project, the interest pool shrinks to a handful.I would expect that a very large number of these projects that end up on the sales forum are eventually parted out to recoup some of the costs.I would bet very few end up sold as and intact watch. Remember this, It's still a replica!! No matter if it consists of 95% genuine parts, it is still a rep. Because of that, if you are honest and ethical, most avenues for sales are closed to you. You cannot sell it on VRM,TimeZone,Ebay,Etc.Your only sales venue are the Replica forums.

Enough talk, here are the photos.

First is the price spreadsheet

Before restoration, as received from previous owner

Yesterday!! :thumbsupsmileyanim:

Sorry about some of the photos. It's very difficult to get good dial photos with the T-39 Superdome. Its so reflectiver, it's hard to get good dial detail. I'll keep trying!! Also I wore the watch all day and it was a little dirty, but Heck, that's what they are for. I didn't build it to put it in the safe.!!

[praetor]

A vintage watch you can wear everyday. Now that's what's a Rolex is for, not to be stored in a safe somewhere! It looks perfect, of course, except for the dial and crown (period wise). where did you get the He valve?

great project btw.

[chiman12]

Now that is a project...full detail...well thought out and the end result is fantastic! Congrats p!

[sly]

Very nice watch, I especially like your 1570 experience. If you remember, It is exactly the same thing that happen to me.

[alligoat]

Nice job, A! And your cost breakdown is very informative- helpful for showing people what they're in for when they undertake a franken build. When you consider a real DRSD would run $15,000-20,000+, your costs aren't too bad. The only other thing you could do is fit a gen dial, but who knows what one of those would cost! Congrats and wear it in good health.

[Nanuq]

Boy is that nice! Thanks for sharing the story behind the build.

[Original Scope]

Nice!You gotta love that one.

[Nanuq]

Another thing you HAVE to consider, once these projects are completed,you better like the watch, because selling one is very difficult. We have supposedly 25K + members on this forum, but when you get into this type of project, the interest pool shrinks to a handful.

Roger that. Remember Oliver's 1665 COMEX? He offered it for sale for over a year before someone finally grabbed it. Another lovely piece of work.

[FxrAndy]

Nice one, hel;l of a lot of cash to stick in but i assume worth it in the end?

[cht]

Thanks for sharing, the end result is fantastic.

Which dial are you using?

If you were using a gen dial, and the mbk case does not have rolex stamped on it, why couldn't you sell this on tz or ebay?

Also, since the mbk case is made to fit the eta movement, are there are modifications you have to make to get the gen rolex movement to fit the caes?

[panerai153]

Guys, Thanks very much for the positive comments. First off, the photos don't in the least show the beauty of this dial. It is really nice. From what I can tell, it's and almost perfect example of a mark IV DRSD dial. If I can get some better dial photos I will post them. As to the origin, I bought it from a fellow member who purchased it from another member, who if I remember right said it was one of the closest to genuine dials he had ever seen. the only fault of the dial in it's original state was the indices@ 6 and 9 were a little too thin. It was relumed by the Zeigmeister, and it looks like he solved that problem by making the indices a little wider. The first time i saw the dial was when I unwrapped the completed watch a few days ago. I have the utmost faith in the two members who recommended the dial, and I promise you, I wasn't disappointed.

As to the movement transplant, Ziggy would have to chime in on that, I really don't know what had to be done to accept the 1570 movement. However, I don't believe it required any major surgery.

Someone asked about the HEV? This is the Ziggy "faux" valve. It is non functioning, but the positive is the case is not drilled through, so a potential water ingress point is eliminated.

Another asked about selling on TZ or Ebay.First the dial is not genuine, it's and aftermarket dial (Redial on a genuine blank) A genuine DRSD dial in good condition would have at least doubled and possibly tripled the price of the build. A genuine NOS service 1665 caseback recently sold on Ebay for 4200.00 USD!!!! So you can imagine what a good genuine dial would sell for? It's not 100% genuine. To answer that,even if the dial were genuine, I know it's a franken, and that's enough for me.I have been buying, selling and swapping watches for over 40 years, genuine mostly, but a fair number of reps the past 8-10 years, and I would never sell a watch without full disclosure. If I put it on TZ or Ebay and said it was an aftermarket dial/ case,My sales thread (Ad) probably would get canceled. With most of the sales of watches on the genuine forums and Ebay, you have to depend on the integrity and honest of the seller. It's virtually impossible to discern a genuine from a rep at this level with the quality of photos that you generally see on Ebay, so your only protection is the seller telling you the truth.I wouldn't want anyone to pass off a franken to me, at genuine prices,and conversely, I would never do it to anyone else.

And last, It was a fair amount of money, but to me it was worth it. This is a watch I wouldn't hesitate to wear anywhere. I believe that I could wear it into 99% of the Rolex AD's in the USA, and not have to keep my hand in my pocket. I don't think that any of the Rolex folks around, unless it was and older person who had handled lots and lots of 1665's, could tell you that this one wasn't a genuine DRSD. And hell, if they wanted to open the back, who cares, it has a sparkling clean 1570 movement inside!!

[mrboombasteke]

I'm speechless!