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My grail


wiesn089

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MY GRAIL

Hi guys,

I would like to present to you the result of over two years of intensive research, frustrating realisations, nerve-racking customs, supplier and transit troubles, but also pure chance, lucky circumstances as well as incredible helpful community advice.

preview626501sm.jpg?t=1310944992

My 6265 Sigma Daytona. Jumpy.gif

The Beginning:

My fascination with this particular model started when I was researching the history of the one very watch which got me interested in mechanical timepieces in the first place, Omega’s Moonwatch, the Speedmaster. I knew a lot about the Speedmaster’s history and was fascinated by the fact it had withstood the challenge of going to the moon and back without any problems when I bought my 1999 model. One thing I knew little about though was the other watches it had surpassed during NASA’s initial testing for a suitable watch.

Enter Rolex’s Cosmographs. Though NASA had most probably tested a 6239 Daytona, I immediately fell in love with the 6263/6265 version of the watch when I googled the Speedmaster's contenders for space travel stardom. Because I had converted my Speedmaster to the 35th anniversary limited edition dial which is sporting a white dial with black subdials, I fancied the idea of also owning a 6265 (silver bezel contrasting the black one of Omega’s chronograph) with black dial and white subdials.

I came across another rep forum while researching the gen and there I heard about some ominous guy from Asia named DW who was selling supposedly very accurate vintage Daytonas. After further research I decided to pull the trigger on a V23 copy movement 6263 version from DW. To make a long story short it took ages for the watch to arrive until I received it broken eventually. Of course I had to pay horrendous import taxes beforehand. The chronograph didn’t work, minutes didn’t count, it didn’t reset to zero properly and it didn’t keep time. I was frustrated to say the least and was ready to throw it into the trash even though I had ordered a gen T21 crystal for it. yuk.gif

By chance I then found this forum and just had to read every single thread concerning vintage Daytonas. Freddy’s, Ubi’s and all the other guys’ wonderful examples took my breath away and I started to hate my cheap, shabby V23 copy even more.

Because I still was on a tight budget I started to look for a gen Valjoux 23. I figured I could at least afford one of these, since Valjoux 72s were way out of my league whistling.gif . That way I would be able to wear this ugly non-working piece of junk I had fitted with a gen T21. Because I got very frustrated by the search, I read even more about vintage 6263/6265s and started hanging around VRF and TRF. This didn't help either.

I was ready and willing to give up on the project altogether again, when totally out of the blue I got the chance to purchase a serviced Valjoux 726.

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F*** out of my league, I had to have it! black_eye.gif

I bought it and my vintage Cosmograph was en route again. I collected some more parts and sent everything off to Domi who modified my V23 case to fit the V726 and built a great watch I was finally able to wear at last.

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Insanity ensues:

Ok since I don’t want to bore you with further details of my journey, here’s a quick summary of the rest. Though I did like the watch Domi had assembled for me a lot, because of the intensive research I had done there were many things that bothered me. I had literally become obsessed with Cosmographs and every ever so tiny little flaw made me look down on mine. When I was offered a genuine Sigma dial madness took over completely. prop.gif

After another year of collecting parts and more research (thanks Mr. Mazzariol cc_detective.gifwink.gif ) this is the final result I came up with (Domified again):

preview626502sm.jpg?t=1310945810

Specs:

- J&W 6265 case with custom engravings (ca. 1974 serial matching the dial)

- Serviced Valjoux 726 movement (correct base caliber Rolex used for their 727 - with correct 21600 bph)

- CousinsUK pushers (supposedly the same Rolex currently uses at service)

- Genuine 703 crown and tube NOS

- Genuine MKII 6265 bezel NOS

- Genuine black rare "step-down" Sigma dial

- Genuine handset NOS

- Genuine Tropic 21 service crystal

- Genuine 78350 bracelet with genuine 571 endlinks

- Pressure tested to 5 bars

- Running +10-15 secs a day (pretty good for a 30+ year old movement imo)

I would like to thank everyone who helped me at some point of my journey, either personally or through their posts in this incredible forum. This endeavour would not have been possible without you and the inspiration I got from your projects! Especially Ubi, Freddy, LHOOQ, Coolfire, Rosnik, Chefcook (enjoy the Speedy biggrin.gif) and the list goes on and on...

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Thanks for reading!

drinks.gif

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Now that's a looker! Nicely done and some great parts thrown in there! Love that NOS bezel! Looks fantastic! :thumbsupsmileyanim:

P.S. I wish you guys would stop building these damn daytonas! You are all making me want one each time I see them!

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Absolutely gorgeous build, S! :thumbsupsmileyanim:

I've always thought your Sigma dial deserved a better bezel, and it looks like you went for the best. Wear it well, and watch your step: Your 6265 now tops my list of 'RWGForum Watches I Most Want to Steal'! :cowboy:

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collecting rolexes does that to you sometimes, drives you mad trying to get your rep to perfection, but for me it usually goes away in 2 months of wearing my reps. But yea, I have three rolex projects under construction too hahaha.

Good job on the project, collecting the parts must've taken you years. I've already seen at least $2500 worth in parts just from the first few lines of description 0_o

Edited by praetor
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Wow, simply "wow". :black_eye:

It's an amazing piece you have here ! :thumbsupsmileyanim:

I am already in love with this Sigma dial, it's a stunner !

Wear it in good health :)

I've already seen at least $2500 worth in parts just from the first few lines of description 0_o

I think there is a lot much more bucks in this project :D

For $2500, no Gen dial / hands / bezel / 571 endlinks / custom case / etc :)

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... Chefcook (enjoy the Speedy :D)...

hehe, thanks S., I am wearing your Speedmaster as I am reading this (in the meantime switched to the black dial).

It is great to see how good your Daytona project turned out. To me this is one of the best - if not the best - Daytona in this Forum!

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Congrats on finally getting the result you wanted. It's always nice when your hard work and in your case 2 years of persistence pays off. That is hands down the best vintage daytona project I've seen, and your pictures really compliment the watch. Wear it in good health, building something like that provides an entirely different type of satisfaction than "just" buying a gen.

Edited by Notloc08
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  • 2 months later...

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