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1655 super Franken finally complete!


denimhead

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Finally complete after 12 months of hard slog, i present my 1971 1655 Explorer 2 for your comments and feedback. Many Thanks to Ubiquitous for his advise in terms of re-shaping the crown guards,hopefully not too bad a job for my first attempt. Not a cheap project, but nowhere near what the asking price of the dubious 'Gens' out there are currently fetching.

Heres the menu!

GEN - ROLEX 1575(1570)MOVEMENT

GEN - DIAL (EARLY FROG FOOT CROWN)

GEN - HANDS(BOUGHT SEPERATELY SO SADLY NOT A PERFECT MATCH TO THE DIAL)

GEN - BEZEL

GEN - CROWN AND TUBE

PHONG CASE SET

CLARKS CYSTAL

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post-12988-0-76792300-1314787002.jpg

post-12988-0-15508400-1314787017.jpg

post-12988-0-26643300-1314787031.jpg

post-12988-0-68791100-1314787043.jpg

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Very nice build. You should only be a little bit carfully with shaving the CG's from inside. ;)

Hi Omega, yes i totally agree. its my first go at re-shaping a case. Do you think it Can it be made better in the right hands?

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The only thing I would do is try to square up the inside corners of the CG more...

Good Evening U, removing the crown and stem tomorrow evening and hoping to get a better finish,i'll email you over a few shots to see what you think,do you think i should be aiming at a 90 degree angle on the coners?

Cheers M

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Not quite 90 degrees, need to keep a little slope but print some photos of gens and copy those

KGrHqIOKp0E4lUynNboBOOMLPl40w0_31.jpg

Ebay is always a good place to look.

Thanks for the picture Alligoat, its a great reference picture for tomorrow nights re-shaping. I've studied so may pictures from every angle known to man. I guess every watch is going to be unique due to the use of the watch during its lifetime and how they have been re-finished over the years. To your knowledge do you know if the 1969 -1971 models had a more pointed crown guard? I have seen this come up on a few of the forums when refering to the 1655 case variants, where any of the early 1675 cases used and casebacks re stamped i wonder?

Cheers DH

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Hi Omega, yes i totally agree. its my first go at re-shaping a case. Do you think it Can it be made better in the right hands?

I can't tell you if there are right hands needed, but I can guarant you - to get good results you have to use the right tools! ;)

I use a modified file with a correct shaped angle. After the rough-work for finish and to get sharp corners sandpaper (1000). At last some polishing, but very light to keep the sharp edges.

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BTW, what datewheel you used on the gen movement? Seems not to be a silver one... :g:

Good Morning Omega, it is silver but quite faded. Were the original DW silver or white? I was always under the impression that they were normally changed to white when Rolex serviced the watch.

Im picking up the watch later today as its just been serviced. I am going to post some pictures of my re-shaping attempts hopefully tomorrow.

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Finally complete after 12 months of hard slog, i present my 1971 1655 Explorer 2 for your comments and feedback. Many Thanks to Ubiquitous for his advise in terms of re-shaping the crown guards,hopefully not too bad a job for my first attempt. Not a cheap project, but nowhere near what the asking price of the dubious 'Gens' out there are currently fetching.

Heres the menu!

GEN - ROLEX 1575(1570)MOVEMENT

GEN - DIAL (EARLY FROG FOOT CROWN)

GEN - HANDS(BOUGHT SEPERATELY SO SADLY NOT A PERFECT MATCH TO THE DIAL)

GEN - BEZEL

GEN - CROWN AND TUBE

PHONG CASE SET

CLARKS CYSTAL

Mnay Thanks guys for all of the nice comments and sound advise. I have done a bit more on the case in terms of sharpening up the inner corners of the guards this afternoon, still not perfect but better i hope!

post-12988-0-71111400-1314891496.jpg

post-12988-0-94695100-1314891539.jpg

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