alligoat Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Here's my 16014 Frankenjust. Gen case with the plastic crystal, gen crown and tube, gen dial in silver, but aged to a light beige, off-white color, tudor hands, Luenfat overlay and a 2836 movt. I ended up having to go to my watchmaker finally and he wasn't too excited about this project, but in the end, even he was pretty excited about the outcome. He fabricated a spacer to hold the movement in place. I haven't popped the back to look , but may do that later this week. The oyster band is vintage solid mid link w/ the safety clasp from my WM 1680. Can't remember what band I put on the WM, but it was a while ago. Thanks to Ubi and nfs060 over at RWI for their help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 MD- Looks fantastic!! The DJ franken is one of the best frankens to build- Straight forward, cost effective and looks great! I know you've been working on this for sometime now... And your patience and hard work has paid off. Enjoy your beauty Cheers, R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falco Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 nice one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RWG Technical Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Looks great, congrats on such a fine piece. Wear it well! RG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted January 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Thanks guys for the kind words. I guess what I like about this franken is that what you see is 98 % genuine Rolex, well maybe not that much now that I think about the Tudor hands, but the only other thing that's visible on the watch itself and not Rolex, is the datewheel overlay from Luenfat. The overlay isn't perfect, but it's still awfully close and I doubt anyone would be able to call it out unless they were a WIS. I guess a more correct bracelet would be nice, but I pulled the genuine band off of my 1966 Date and put a rep band on it so I wouldn't tear up the gen flimsy old band. Now it's back to photography 101 class, white balance, etc. Oh and by the way, I followed Pugs tutorial on posting to Imageshack and was doing fine, except that I was never able to upload my picture to this site. Any suggestions... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest RiverwindMDS Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Nice piece Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heywood Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Nice work alligoat! That turned out great. As Ubi mentioned this one of the easiest and most affordable of the Rolex franken projects. Everybody should have a Datejust. I've got one in the pipeline right now along with an Explorer 1, both with modern saphire Datejust cases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gioarmani Posted January 15, 2007 Report Share Posted January 15, 2007 Handsome piece; quite stately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RollyPolly Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Very well done! A little more pricey then a full rep. But frankens wear like gens and when you are called out, you can truthfully spit back "friggen right it's real". Only it has a different heart beating in it's chest. My 16030 is very nice to wear, but my 15000 Date to franken-Air King conversion is the one on the wrist 90%. Wear it well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gioarmani Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 Curious--is this one geting sold, or just a keeper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miquel Posted January 16, 2007 Report Share Posted January 16, 2007 A timeless classic. Very nice! My uncle has similar, but gold. I think the datejust oozes class. Good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted January 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Well, Gioarmani, I haven't sold a watch yet, but I do give a few away to my relatives- the nephews for testing, so to speak. I'm thinking about building another Frankenjust because this one turned out so well, IMO. I just love an ss oyster band, the off-white (used to be silver) vintage dial, and the bright shiny WG bezel. Understated elegance. And as my watchmaker pointed out, the case is in excellent, almost mint condition, amazing for a 25+ year old case. You spend more money building a franken (I have just under $500 in this one) but I certainly find this the most satisfying of all my watches to date, gen and rep included. And heck, $500 ain't bad when you consider MBW's start at $400 before you do any mods! I'm hoping this is the other pic I saved and not the first one I posted, another washed out pic of my franken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gioarmani Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Well, Gioarmani, I haven't sold a watch yet, but I do give a few away to my relatives You looking to adopt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tribal Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 Damm nice, great work looks fantastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted January 17, 2007 Report Share Posted January 17, 2007 ...but I do give a few away to my relatives... Funny... I find myself doing the same thing Gave my franken DJ to my father... He wears it everyday Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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