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So I bought a SuperFranken today... on VRF?!?!?!


tabularasa415

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Alright, so I've been pretty active on the gen fora as most of my collection is now gen. While on VRF some time ago, I read about a gentleman who unfortunately bought a 5513 he believed to be a genuine, but turned out to be a franken. Well, everyone weighed in and the opinion was gen movement (obviously), bezel insert, and hands. The case and the dial are definitely fake. Crown?

Well, he reached some sort of settlement with the original seller, and I had remarked some time ago that if he wanted to sell it for parts, I'd be interested. Today he e-mailed me, and I ended up buying the watch as she sits.

My question to our experts here -- Where do you think this case and dial came from? What would you do to improve it? What would you have paid?

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The crown is real but the bezel insert and hands are probably not. Looks like a Yuki case set with Yuki dial and hands. I believe yuki sells the case kit along with dial &hands for $500. Add another $1k for the gen movement and another $80 for the 703 crown. So I hope you didn't pay more than $1600 for this.

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You could get this dial relumed with flat plots and clip the tip of the seconds hand so it doesnt overlap the minute marks. The insert can be a little scuffed up and faded, then put in a gen t-19 xtal and it should look pretty good. Also try your best to source a gen 93150 bracelet with 580 end links.

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Good call on the seconds hand. I think I need a different dial. If it were a feet first, the second tracks would be correct, but this is off at the bottom where the "swiss t 25" is, and it will drive me nuts.

I may also get a modern gen insert. I can't see paying $400 for an old beat up one. Or maybe fading this one is ok. What is the tell that this insert is not genuine?

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Is that a metal surround around the pearl? That would be a BIG tell- the 5513 has the all acrylic pearl.

The crown appears to be an early 703- with the tall crown emblem on the end of the crown. 702s are similar, but they take a completely different tube.

Ironic that the last three digits of the SN are 007- where's James Bond when you need him!

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The case isn't Vietnamese, so something cheaper. Phong and MQ have correctly engraved 'E's' As per Gen. Shorter Middle strokes. The whole case just looks too new. Already mentioned but even a service Insert has a plastic pip with no metal surround. The guy really didn't do his homework on this.

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Yeah... I'm tempted by a Phong case, but $1450!?!?!?! Does MQ have a website?

Does this look legit?

http://www.ebay.com/...984.m1423.l2649

Here is Ming Quy's website:

http://www.vintagewatchesmq.com/

What about the cases that higho is working on? He definitely has a 5513 case in the works. Supposed to be 1:1 and will accept all genuine parts.

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