dublinlad Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 I don't post much here, the search function always turns up anything I'm looking for so I don't have to ask the same questions everybody asks over and over again, so hopefully this might help someone else out. Back in July Lhooq posted his franken DJ and soon as I saw it I wanted one for myself, bought all the parts, put it together from all the information I got both here and on the other rep sites...Jubilee was on order so I had it on a leather strap...Perfect as far as I was concerned, even kept looking at it all doe eyed and self congratulating myself on how awesome I was putting it together with such ease.... Then!!!!! The cheapo rep jubilee arrived, put it on and one thing became glaringly obvious, the dial was crooked !!, I knew it was a bit off, didn't seem too noticeable on leather, but once on the jubilee the center link was there as a reference point it made the whole thing look awful. Stripped it down to start over.... The only real work I had done before this was a replacing a crapped out movement in a $98 5512 which worked out great...and "modding" a noobmariner...that I totally F'd up, so this was the first real attempt by me to do any serious watch work that had a bit of $$$ invested in it..... The only real difficult part was getting the datewheel overlay to line up with the Rolex dial, trial and error....eyeballing the Rolex dial to be centered in the middle as well as lining up with the date overlay both left/right and top/bottom, there are no dial feet so it is a 3 handed job....as well as the fact that the epoxy I used is slowly drying and fast approaching the point where its about to set......The first time around the overlay was off by a fraction, so I lined up the date window on the dial to make it centre and as a consequence the dial had to be rotated slightly to make it work. THE TIP: I (like probably most people here) had a junked NoobMariner from my previous "effort", Asian clone movement, so the dial feet are spot on to the Eta I used..... Use the Noob dial ...with feet still attached ...to line up the date window with the overlay, makes the job a lot easier than trying to eyeball the dial as straight and the positioning of the window is exact to the Rolex DJ dial. Before & After Pics: In this pic the dial is straight, but the watch is as crooked as a rams horn And with the dial fixed: Job Done, now I'm all about scanning eBay to find all the bits and do it again, now I know why everybody who makes up these franken DJs always has more than one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest xalucardz Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 where I can find a gen case set?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HauteHippie Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 Yep, great tip. It's been mentioned before, and is definitely worth repeating. Nice franken you got there too, BTW. Which movement did you use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dublinlad Posted September 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 Cases are up on eBay every day, I paid $150 for mine without a bezel....I think thats about average, the asking price was $300, I offered $150 and got it, didn't expect to get it that cheap to be honest. I used a 16030 case/back/crown Gen linen dial Gen? fluted bezel Clarks Crystal Clarks "for Tudor" hands Datewheel overlay from a noobmariner New sealed Eta 2836-2 from Ofrei Pair of Clarks springbars One of Kens cheapo $20 Jubilee bracelets....he was out of the better ones, this one seems fine though, except for the clasp. Dunno what I used for a movement spacer, found a ring in my parts box, it fit perfectly with a bit of filing for the tabs. Total cost was $485 including the new Eta, which I think is ok, couldn't see doing it for much less than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jkay Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 Love those linen dials ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddy333 Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 Nicely done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted September 17, 2011 Report Share Posted September 17, 2011 Good job and yes, the throw down dial is a great help when lining up the DW overlay. There's no doubt that the frankenjust is a great watch for $500. Ironically, that's what it cost me 5 years ago when I built my pair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerbus Posted September 19, 2011 Report Share Posted September 19, 2011 Extremely nice! I can't believe it was that cheap! You're also quite lucky you had a ring sitting around that fit with simple modding. I only wish I had been as fortunate as you. If you want to upgrade to a better clasp, I think you can order one from one of the dealers, or if you want to put more money into it, you can always go gen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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