M5Man Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 I have always had "modern" watches and focused on Pannies and the like, however I am desperately in love with the 1665 DRSD. I have done TONS of searches and am fairly settled on a MBW or a WM. Definetely want somthing that I can mod easily (swap out gen parts) and am looking for some advice. There seem to be alot of cases (older seems to be better), and limited dealer choices. I know to stay away from the guy with "yyy" at the end of his name and George seems to be the other choice for MBW. I want to buy a watch to keep for a long time and ultimately mod to a full blown frankensub. Can anyone offer up some advice? I would gladly trade for a kidney, my secondborn, etc. Thanks! M5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 My advice... Go for the white font 1665- Better dial, and more realistic for a vintage... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M5Man Posted November 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 My advice... Go for the white font 1665- Better dial, and more realistic for a vintage... Thanks for the fast reply Ubi. Is this an MBW or is it a WM? Suggestions on dealer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrington Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M5Man Posted November 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 OMG - thats amazing! What did you use as the base? MBW? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Mine's an MBW... Fitted with gen insert, T-39, crown, tube, springbars, 580 ends, 78360 bracelet on 93150 clasp... Still woking on the datewheels... Waiting on the latest prototype to be delivered... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eunomians Posted November 25, 2006 Report Share Posted November 25, 2006 Yeah, go for the white. The DRSD and Single Red are sooo rare that it there would be no doubt that you're frontin'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazz Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 I also prefer the white 1665! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Understood Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 What happened to M5Man? My dear bhoy, buy a watch that will accept genuine parts. By this I mean genuine bezels and crystals will snap on with no modifications whatsoever. The "bug" will bite you and before long you will be as obssessed as our dear Ubiquitous, darling lad that he is. I understand he moans and writhes in his sleep about Rolexes dancing about upon his body. Let us hope you do not sink so low. In any case (I do kill myself with my puns) you will not be satisfied with any watch as delivered. Having an accurate case will only open avenues of future modifications otherwise unavailable to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdavis Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 Have a look at the TTK "WBM" Sea Dweller that he recently posted. I feel certain that he has it in white as well as the red. It should meet your requirements nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrington Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 My advice... Go for the white font 1665- Better dial, and more realistic for a vintage... Personally I think BOTH dials for the MBW are quite accurate. However on BOTH of them the crown is the wrong shape, everything else being OK. You could go to the trouble of having a MBW blank redialled by classicwatch parts, but then the dial will still be obvious to a Rolex wis as the serifs on the fonts are too exagerated and the lume is too domed. You can't win really. That's why I had The Zigmeister lume my MBW white letter dial as well. As we speak it's winging it's way across the Big Pond. Then I will have the best of both worlds. WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 Personally I think BOTH dials for the MBW are quite accurate. Except for the fact that the white is more accurate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrnixon Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 I have a real 1665 (white) on my arm today so I had a quick look at the pictures to compare it. I was impressed how similar they are. The only big thing I saw was the text on the back side of the watch is in the wrong direction. On the real one all letters are in the same direction (up side of the letter is towards the out side of the watch) but there are at least two different backsides of the original 1665 so it might be different on the one I dont have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 Indeed- You are correct. The script on the back of the DRSD's have the 'ROLEX' text going straight across, while the white's have the text following the curve of the caseback, along with two coronets on either side vs. the single coronet on the red. It's always possible to see great whites with the DRSD back, as service centers may have replaced a DR dial with a white, however, one should be more suspiscious about a DR with a white caseback, as that would indicate a conversion to DR has taken place (which happens fairly frequently due to the DRSD's rising value). For what it's worth- There are fewer great whites than there are DRSD's; production span for the DRSD's was much longer in terms of years, and many great whites have also fallen victim to DRSD conversions. In addition, it seems that certain dial variants within the great white production have been especially sought after by collectors (a la rail dials). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrnixon Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 I didnt know that the different backs of were switched at the same time as they changed the colour from red to white. Interesting, thanks. What I meant with the text of the back side was that "Rolex Patent" is in the right directon but the text "Gas Escaple Valve" is up-side down. On hte original white it is all in the same direction not in both as in the pictures above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 Ahhh.. Yes. The backs are very different between DR and Great White... DRSD- Great White- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrington Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 (edited) Except for the fact that the white is more accurate. Be interesting for you to show me Randy as I can't see much difference between the MBW DRSD and the mark IV version of the DRSD dial.I can spot an equal amount of faults on both the red and the white versions of the dials although the letters seem to line up better with each other on the red. Maybe it's just my old eyes!! I can then decide which dial to put in as I have got them both now!!!!!! And lumed by the master The Zigmeister. Edited November 26, 2006 by Sherrington Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 Be interesting for you to show me Randy as I can't see much difference between the MBW DRSD and the mark IV version of the DRSD dial.I can spot an equal amount of faults on both the red and the white versions of the dials although the letters seem to line up better with each other on the red. Maybe it's just my old eyes!! I can then decide which dial to put in as I have got them both now!!!!!! And lumed by the master Ziggy. Maybe you mean MKV? MBW dial looks nothing like the MKIV... Gen (MKIV): MBW: Then again, it looks nothing like the MKV either... Great white (genuine): MBW: Neither are super accurate, but the white looks much closer to me in terms of font and font spacing. Coronets on both are off, and neither has fonts that are crisp enough. Speaking of having both, I also happened to have both in hand very recently. Guess which one I ended up parting with? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Koko Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 mbw tuned is best Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrington Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 Maybe you mean MKV? MBW dial looks nothing like the MKIV... Gen (MKIV): MBW: Then again, it looks nothing like the MKV either... Great white (genuine): MBW: Neither are super accurate, but the white looks much closer to me in terms of font and font spacing. Coronets on both are off, and neither has fonts that are crisp enough. Speaking of having both, I also happened to have both in hand very recently. Guess which one I ended up parting with? No I meant the mark IV dial, as the mark V dial has the ft in italics (although the "Sea-Dweller Submariner 2000" on the mark V is closer to the MBW dial. I think the MBW dial is a copy of the mark IV dial with ft in standard font and a closed 6. For some reason the red fonts on my MBW seem brighter than the ones on yours, maybe it's the photograph (although it does vary somewhat on the gens due to exposure to the sun etc. There is a pink version of the DR!!!). When you say nothing like can you give me some pointers as I think it looks pretty close? If you look at the wording it looks to me like nearly all the letters line up as on the gen dial, or near enough). I know the fonts are too bold and not crisp enough but that is common to both dials. And the fonts on both MBW dials are the same (apart from the "ft" and the "m" markings) If you look at the wording "Certified" on the white dial it doesn't line up with the letters of "chronometer" the same as the gen dial does. The "1" out of "610" is over the "n" in chronometer on the gen, but not on the MBW. Also the swiss t<25 is too far away from the six marker than on the gen. I do think the crown on the white dial is slightly better than the red though. I suppose we could go on about both dials, although I do like them both. Problem is we are nit pickers over minute differences. But maybe thats what drives us to get closer to perfection??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 Well, to me, the MBW dial is far from the MKIV dial due to the manner in which the lower hemisphere fonts are printed. MKIV fonts are done in a series of dots, as pictured in my prior posting. Perhaps from a distance it appears close/similar, but they are certainly no where near being the same in regards to detail. As for font spacing... The biggest alignment issues are with the SEA-DWELLER/SUBMARINER 2000/2000ft = 610m lines. Compare these lines with the MBW, and they're off. Personally, I think the MBW DRSD dial is somewhere between MKIV and MKV... Not identical to either but has a mix of characteristics between the two. The white dial stands to be the closest, but that's just my opinion. We do strive for perfection... But, the only real way to achieve it is to drop $9k US for a genuine DRSD dial, or simply buy a genuine 1665 DR (to which there is no substitute for). Still... I think we can both agree that building these watches is what really makes this hobby fun... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrington Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 (edited) Well, to me, the MBW dial is far from the MKIV dial due to the manner in which the lower hemisphere fonts are printed. MKIV fonts are done in a series of dots, as pictured in my prior posting. Perhaps from a distance it appears close/similar, but they are certainly no where near being the same in regards to detail. As for font spacing... The biggest alignment issues are with the SEA-DWELLER/SUBMARINER 2000/2000ft = 610m lines. Compare these lines with the MBW, and they're off. Personally, I think the MBW DRSD dial is somewhere between MKIV and MKV... Not identical to either but has a mix of characteristics between the two. The white dial stands to be the closest, but that's just my opinion. We do strive for perfection... But, the only real way to achieve it is to drop $9k US for a genuine DRSD dial, or simply buy a genuine 1665 DR (to which there is no substitute for). Still... I think we can both agree that building these watches is what really makes this hobby fun... I think we will agree to disagree on this one Randy!! And yes that's what makes this hobby fun. I doubt any of the people we come across in our everyday lives would even know what a Rolex DRSD or 1665 is anyhow, let alone take a 20x loupe out of their pockets to see that the fonts are a series of dots or that the swiss t<25 is too far away from the 6 marker!!!!!!!! Edited November 26, 2006 by Sherrington Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TTK Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 (edited) Gawd......could this be any MORE boring....it's worse than the weekly meeting of The Cheltenham Ladies Macrame classes.....in fact they're more stimulating......I think I'll go and poke my eye out with a red hot needle.......now I KNOW why I always stayed away from supplying MBW watches......! Edited November 26, 2006 by TTK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 I think we will agree to disagree on this one Randy!! And yes that's what makes this hobby fun. I doubt any of the people we come across in our everyday lives would even know what a Rolex DRSD or 1665 is anyhow, let alone take a 20x loupe out of their pockets to see that the fonts are a series of dots or that the swiss t<25 is too far away from the 6 marker!!!!!!!! Actually, if you've ever seen one in person, then you'd know as well as I that you don't need a loupe to see the dots! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TTK Posted November 26, 2006 Report Share Posted November 26, 2006 @Ubi....nice sidestep Ubi.....no takers then...eh.....all the Rollieheads have decided that the nights are fair drawing in....so it's put another cardie on ......brew up the tea....and get bizzy miss lizzy with the Dremel....eh...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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