teton236 Posted May 1, 2016 Report Share Posted May 1, 2016 Anyone have any info on these other than what Paul posted? thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted May 2, 2016 Report Share Posted May 2, 2016 What did Paul post? MBW 6538s are probably few and far between these days- you might get lucky and pick one up in a M2M deal. But they weren't that accurate anyway. A lot of people have built decent 6538s with the Silix case and a good dial. Others have spent more money and gone the Phong case route and even put 1030 movements in there. You might do a search and see what you can find. The ones I like the most are the ones where people put them together for $500-600 or so and have a nice watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mendota Explorer Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 There's a for sale thread going on in the trade area with a bunch of MBW pieces for sale, including the 6538, 5513, 5512, 1680 red and white, and 1665. Sort of like a "hidden vault has just been discovered" type of thing. The widow in Thailand found a big cache of her husband's last inventory or something along those lines. The dealer selling them here has been working with the widow to offer them here on the board and it is authorized by the mods and leadership here. With that said, in my very humble and unskilled opinion, after looking at the pics he posted of it today, I think it looks terrible. The Silix or Tiger for 1/4th of the price look far better, plus you can use those bezels that come with the watch and the crown if you don't want to upgrade to the more accurate Athaya. The MBW 6538 bezel looks like a regular sub bezel that has been sanded down. Nothing about it looks right. You can't even salvage it into a 6538/a build because that watch was retrofitted by the MOD to use a 5513 style modern bezel and the MBW has some kind of bastard bezel. The MBW crown is horrible. Overall, it is a ton of money to spend for nothing of value. It isn't anything like the 5512, 5513 and 1680 that can make great foundations for builds. For the same price, the Helenarou is a much nicer piece. You can get the complete HR watch with branded Rolex dial for the same price as the MBW. Personally, I agree with alligoat and think the Silix and Tiger based builds look fantastic. The HR builds just look too chunky and modern, which was exactly what they were designed to be - a modern interpretation of the classic piece. Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djulink Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 11 hours ago, Mendota Explorer said: With that said, in my very humble and unskilled opinion, after looking at the pics he posted of it today, I think it looks terrible. The Silix or Tiger for 1/4th of the price look far better, plus you can use those bezels that come with the watch and the crown if you don't want to upgrade to the more accurate Athaya. The MBW 6538 bezel looks like a regular sub bezel that has been sanded down. Nothing about it looks right. You can't even salvage it into a 6538/a build because that watch was retrofitted by the MOD to use a 5513 style modern bezel and the MBW has some kind of bastard bezel. The MBW crown is horrible. Overall, it is a ton of money to spend for nothing of value. It isn't anything like the 5512, 5513 and 1680 that can make great foundations for builds. For the same price, the Helenarou is a much nicer piece. You can get the complete HR watch with branded Rolex dial for the same price as the MBW. Personally, I agree with alligoat and think the Silix and Tiger based builds look fantastic. The HR builds just look too chunky and modern, which was exactly what they were designed to be - a modern interpretation of the classic piece. Could not agree more 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mendota Explorer Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 Could not agree more I'm so glad you share the same opinion, because your 6538 build is stunning! Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Cordell Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 Could not agree more +1 this MBW 6538 look terrible. Dial, crown and bezel are very bad. Cheaper silix are better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Cordell Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 I'm so glad you share the same opinion, because your 6538 build is stunning! Sent from my SM-N920P using Tapatalk Didn't see this build.@djulink Link please ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djulink Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 6 minutes ago, Bart Cordell said: Didn't see this build Thought you did : http://rwg.cc/topic/172944-building-the-closer-i-can-get-007-big-crown Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Cordell Posted May 3, 2016 Report Share Posted May 3, 2016 Thought you did : http://rwg.cc/topic/172944-building-the-closer-i-can-get-007-big-crown Ok I remember now. I will read it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teton236 Posted May 4, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 thanks guys. I kinda came to the same conclusion after seeing additional pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
automatico Posted May 4, 2016 Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 Imho the MBK 6538 will not cut the mustard. "The ones I like the most are the ones where people put them together for $500-600 or so and have a nice watch." Me too. More $$ does not equal closer to genuine in the repwatch game. Something else...very few people have seen an actual 6538 so nearly everyone who sees one will consider it to be a replica no matter how good it is. Rolexperts who know about them will quickly spot an MBK 6538. Another imho...it is a better bet to go with a 5512/13 with a good case and dial for a no date vintage watch and MBK 5512/13 cases are hard to beat. Maybe the new cartel cases will rival them but I have not seen one up close. Two faults with MBK cases are the mismatched dial window sizes for 1680 cases and the whistle-[censored] laser burn numbers and letters. A good 6538 is hard to pull off. There is a BIG difference between a lawn mowing/car washing 6538 and a cuff shooter 6538. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Cordell Posted May 4, 2016 Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 Silix 6538 could be very nice with some skill and a true gilt dial 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpap Posted May 4, 2016 Report Share Posted May 4, 2016 So, I am one of these that purchased one of the new MBW cases. My reasoning is that they take gen spec dial and are smaller than the HR/silix cases. I have already purchased a sweet 5510 dial from Tonny. The bezel and crown does look terrible so I plan to replace them with a Phong bezel and Athaya crown, respectively. The end result will be cheaper than Phong/MQ but better than HR/silix. Of course, there is the risk that these parts will not work together, but nothing ventured, nothing gained...will keep you guys posted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djulink Posted May 5, 2016 Report Share Posted May 5, 2016 (edited) One of the main flaws of our budget build is Rehault. I had a 6538 gen in hands a year ago and have to say that MBW seems to have a better one than Tiger's or Silix's. the second good point is the gen fit capabilities. if you can swap crown and bezel, get a decent gilt dial, your way - dpap - should be interesting to follow and should give a nice result. Edited May 5, 2016 by djulink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teton236 Posted May 6, 2016 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2016 if only silix took paypal. thats what has prevented me from buying one for years.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hologramet Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 Ah, the gen size dilemma, interesting take on IT @dpap "Finally there are cheap cases fot all the cheap gult dials flying around. Hows the profile view and height of it compared to 5510? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpap Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 The alternative of course is for Bart to start mass-producing true gilt dials :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bart Cordell Posted May 7, 2016 Report Share Posted May 7, 2016 @dpap I could but I think it should not count on me to lume... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted May 8, 2016 Report Share Posted May 8, 2016 Rehaut on the Silix case may be a tad too deep for the 6538, but it looks like it could be fine for a 5510 build- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted May 10, 2016 Report Share Posted May 10, 2016 Here's a 6538 that I found on the net- it's also got deep rehaut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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