Got new TT 116613! Going to put S gold bracelet bezel and gen 3135!

[Lil princess]

Hi guys

I'm expecting my new TT blue sub to arrive this Friday. From Andrew. Can't wait!

I'm going to put a gen or solid gold TT bracelet on it, plus solid gold bezel and genuine rolex 3135 movement.

What do you all think?

Good project?

[Ruprekt]

I think your in for a surprise as to how many of these parts won't just "fit". Solid gold TT bracelet $1000, gen 3135 $2000-$2500, rep gold bezel $400. Plus the price of the original watch, $300 or so? Your close to $4000 in a rep. You can pick up a gen for between $5000-$6000 if you look.

[fidhle007]

I strongly doubt there is any ceramic case on the market that will easily accept gen parts and even if it would with modding, why? Like Ruprekt said, you're looking at nearly the cost of the gen just in parts alone. Don't forget you'll also need a gen dial and hands to fit the movement, there's another $1000 easily...

[panerai153]

I believe that what you are undertaking is going to be pretty difficult and expensive. if you were modding a TT 16610,  I would say it's pretty feasible, as there are lots of parts floating around for the older subs. the newer ceramic, not so. First off they have only been out a short while, second, Rolex has really clamped down on parts. they have put the fear of God in the watchmakers that have parts accounts. I wanted to put a genuine crystal with AR in my GMT IIC, probably over 2 years ago. It took me a year and a half to find a genuine crystal, and it was 295.00 USD !! No telling what a Gold bezel w/ ceramic insert would cost, if you could find one.As others have said, even if the case accepts genuine parts which it may or may not (Don't believe those guys when they say the watch is 1:1 copied from a genuine that they disassembled. Very few are really 1:1 and even the ones that are really, really close require quite a bit of work to get them to accept genuine parts. I'm not saying that you cannot do it, because where there 's a will, there's a way , provided you have a big enough checkbook!! You can buy a genuine TT 16610 in pretty nice shape for around 5k. That's not a new ceramic, but it's genuine.

 

I have a rule when I start a build, I try to get a rough idea of what the parts are going to cost first. In most cases, if the price of the parts plus labor is more than 20% of the price of a comparable genuine, I back off. If you don't decide what you want to do, plan a budget, and make a list of what you need and the prices, you are going to end up with a franken that's as much or more than a genuine. So what you need to do first is assemble a parts list with prices. use the high side of the numbers available, so you don't have any surprises later.

 

Another thing to keep in mind, most of the modded watches at some time or another end up on the sales forum. Why? Well most of us are unrepentant watch flippers. We fall in love with a watch, but we also have a tendency to fall out of love just as easy, especially when another new one comes along that we think is "singing the siren's song to us" Another unfortunate fact is this. High end watches don't sell well at all. Most of the folks on the forum are very happy to wear a nice out of the box Rolex, Pam,or whatever. They have no interest in modding or modded watches. they are looking for the nicest watch that they can find for the cheapest price. That's a fact! So when you put up your 5k super franken 116610 w/ genuine movement, dial,hands, bezel,insert,crystal and solid gold bracelet, it looks no different than the one they just ordered from trusty for 398.00 USD. That's all they are going to pay, period. So when you look at the numbers, and see that we have 30k members, that's not really true, because the vast majority of those have come on and are long gone. When you sell a watch on the forum for 300-400 USD there is a lot of interest, because it's about the same price as a new one, but the big thing is you have already gone through the customs risks,also if there was something wrong you would have sent it back or gotten it fixed, so the buyer is pretty sure he's getting a good deal, For these watches there is a pretty big pool of buyers. When the prices get over 500.00 USD the pool shrinks some, over 1k it really shrinks, and above that when you get into the 2k and above, the pool which has already shrunk to a puddle is now just a small drop!!. I have seen some wonderful watches languish here on the sales forum for months, lots of posts, Beautiful watch, wish I had the funds, GLWS. tons of those, but sadly no I'll take it! in most cases, the seller ends up breaking the watch up and selling the parts to try to recoup some of his money. Remember this as well, no matter how many genuine parts you add, unless every part in the watch is a genuine Rolex part, it's still a franken. When you decide to sell, the genuine Rolex can be sold a multitude-of ways, Ebay, WUS TZ,MWR, VRF,, but your franken can only be sold here or one of the other rep sites. that narrows your potential buyer list exponentially

 

My advice to you, before you spend a ton on a super franken, spend a little time here, wear the TT as is. make sure you really like it and intend to keep it at least for a while before you do anything drastic. in the meantime read some of the threads in the Rolex forum on Daytona builds, DRSD builds, Tudor 7032 builds and get and idea as to what the problems and costs that you might encounter. If i were starting out with watch like the TT, the most I would do would be a genuine crown/ tube, a genuine crystal and possible;y a better bracelet if you can find one at a semi reasonable price.

[danielv2000]

Wow, Panerai153, that's what I call a great response. Hard to top what has just been written. It's true, hi-end Frankens are tough to sell. If this is your penultimate grail, go with it but at least you have a little more insight. Best of luck.

[Wks]

Can't agree more

[Lil princess]

Wow! Great reply from panerai. I think I will sit tight and do what you said. Hopefully get a gen later in the year.. Just got to decide which one!

[Tonyyammine]

Anyone know anything about the gold bracelet and bezel WSO sells? I know it's for the non ceramic sub, but how is the quality.

[mbenz]

expensive hobby indeed.

[panerai153]

expensive hobby indeed.

 

It is expensive, all watch hobbies, rep or genuine are expensive, no matter how you take it. I read here about members who order 3,4,5 reps at a time, and have 200 watches!! If they average 200.00 USD each, that's 40K USD in rep watches. On the other side of the coin are the folks who are building super frankens with lots of genuine parts.they may have 10 watches, but they may have 3-5 K in each one, so they still have around 40K in watches. Which route would I take? In my case I love vintage, so I go the Franken/super franken route, but to each his own. but no matter how you cut it, if it,s a hobby, it's going to be expensive. At the present time, I have 20 watches, 14 are genuine and 6 are reps, all of the reps are modded.