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Posted

Hey all,

I'm looking for a nice franken Tudor for ~$1,000-$1,200. I like the 9411 model, and I'm comfortable using an ETA 2824 movement instead of a gen.

Who is this 'Phong' guy I keep hearing about? Does he sell frankens? What's his deal?

I've never built a watch myself, so I rather buy it 'whole,' or at least have the builder (concepta?) source all the parts.

td

Posted

cc33, that's the Vintage Rolex Market. It's a great (and very fast moving) place to get gen stuff.

Yep, that Tudor is genuine. With all said and done, after a few iterations of different rep Snowflake builds trying to get just the exact look I wanted, I had spent almost that much.

Sometimes if you know exactly what you want, it's cheaper to save up and buy the RIGHT piece, one time.

Posted

I agree with the idea of buying the gen. Phong's are around 900-950 USD. His are good, no doubt, they are as close to the real deal as you can get, but they aren't. They are still and expensive rep. If all you have is 1k to spend, and it's eating a hole in your jeans pocket, then I would say phong would be a good choice. If on the other hand, you can put off the purchase and save some money, you can pick up a nice 9411/0 for 2 1/2 times the price of the phong. With the gen, if you take care of it, you can sell it on later and not lose any money on the deal, whereas with the phong, you are going to take a hit if you decide to sell it later.

Posted

cc33, that's the Vintage Rolex Market. It's a great (and very fast moving) place to get gen stuff.

Yep, that Tudor is genuine. With all said and done, after a few iterations of different rep Snowflake builds trying to get just the exact look I wanted, I had spent almost that much.

Sometimes if you know exactly what you want, it's cheaper to save up and buy the RIGHT piece, one time.

In many cases that is definitely true. I spent around that price for my Franken as well (although it also has a gen 9315T strap & 380 end links). The difference is, you can spread the money over several months instead of dropping $2,350.00 all in one go.

Posted

Are Phong's frankens?

Yes there are several sources for cases, like Yuki, Phong, Min, Josh, etc. Phong makes a nice case, but the supplier and hence quality vary.

Once you get a case, you add parts from other watches, building a "franken-watch".

This can be a dramatic, and invigorating experience.

young-frankenstein.jpg

Posted

So you're saying the dial, bezel, insert, etc. are all rep? I don't understand what you mean. What is gen and what is rep in Phong's?

Posted
So you're saying the dial, bezel, insert, etc. are all rep? I don't understand what you mean. What is gen and what is rep in Phong's?

There's nothing gen in a phong. It's just built to gen spec.

Posted

Phongs stuff is usually case, case back bezel insert dial and hands repped, and the crown tube stem crystal gen. In this case I showed you that link to give you a way of having a nice watch that you can resell without taking a loss like others have said. It doesn't make sense to dive into a project and blow $ if there's a nice example of a real one for that price. You will like it 10 times more because its gen. I love my reps but if I could afford to spend just double to get the real one I would 10 times out of 10.

Posted

Phongs stuff is usually case, case back bezel insert dial and hands repped, and the crown tube stem crystal gen. In this case I showed you that link to give you a way of having a nice watch that you can resell without taking a loss like others have said. It doesn't make sense to dive into a project and blow $ if there's a nice example of a real one for that price. You will like it 10 times more because its gen. I love my reps but if I could afford to spend just double to get the real one I would 10 times out of 10.

+1

Has also to be mentioned that the linked snowflake had a damaged dial painting. Average they go for 3K usd and up.

Posted

IMHO, don't go there on this watch. Save up for the gen. I would never build a $1000 plus franken of a $3000 piece without a gen dial, hands and movement. Either save up your money for a gen or build a lower end version. I have made this mistake.

Posted

you can get non snowflake models that look as good as a 5513 for $2200 on vrf, then add an aftermarket snowflake dial and hands for $200 and you have your SUPER franken. if you get bored of the look reinstall the gen dial and hands.

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