DW 6263 Daytona Mystery Movement to Val 23 Transplant Help needed

[Yellobird]

Hey guys, as per title, I have a DW 6263 Daytona with his early Mystery Movement. As expected, the MM crapped out on me (something with the keyless works, slips when winding, slips when setting time, but it also has some chronograph issues, someties chrono starts, sometimes it does not). Anyway, long story short, after reading on these boards (rwi, rwg, repgeek) for years about how Val 23 movement fits the MM DW case as 1:1 easy swap I kept looking for a donor of a Val 23 movement over last few weeks. I would prefer a val 72 but I was told the case would need some work to fit 72 so decided not to fuss about the hour totaliser.

I found the 23 movement in Italy, got it delivered and moved to my local watchsmith for a quick and supposedly easy transplant. Oh how mistaken I was. As always with my frankens before it turns out there must be some issues, always. 

Today I picked the watch up from the watchsmith as he says that dial feet will not fit the swiss val 23, he also says that the key that came with the movement will not fit the rolex crown and supposedly  the stem/crown setup of the MM will not fit the val 23 somehow.

Well, to be honest I have no clue about mechanical/watchsmithy stuff like that so I have to take his word - BUT I take it with caution as unfortunately it is very difficult to find a watchsmith now who is capable of anything above sizing the bracelet or swapping out batteries in quartz. I have a feeling he was sort of trying to make up something just not to do this for me.

So here is my question - any real world experience with swapping out the MM for Val 23? Anyone in EU who can do help me with this? Domi? Others?

Here is some eyecandy of the problem:



Val 23:





Any help would be greatly appreciated! I really want to finally wear this watch! 

[alligoat]

Your stem does look too thick. You need a tap 10 stem which is .9mm. All Rolex crowns are .9mm. Should be easy to find a stem- 23 and 72 stems are the same as I recall.

Dial feet on your movement look to be 12 or 13 and maybe 43 minutes which is what I believe a v72 is also.

If the stem doesn't line up in the case, that would be another problem, but maybe a spacer would work. 

You might google and see what else you can find.

[Yellobird]

Thanks! I PMd rolojack, hope he can help but it looks like he wasnt here since the first days of july...

[thecloudhopper]

How’s your Daytona doing?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Yellobird]

Still waiting for a reply from @rolojack... 

[automatico]

The catch is finding one that is tap 10 (T10 = .9mm, same as modern rolex crowns).  Most will be T9 or T8, too big.

 

Here is one but the price is high:

eBay item number:  202374736429

 

A 'reasonable' price imho is $6 to $12.

 

VALJOUX 23-401 (T10) Winding Stem fits:

23  23c  72  72c  etc.  (c = calendar) 

 

I looked in my parts but all I found was a V72 mainspring.

 

[Dizzy]

Depending what Dw case you have, either the v23 or the v72 will fit. The stem height is different I believe. But yes your watch smith is correct, the dial will need to be glued on and the MM stem will def not fit the v23. My dw case needs the v23 I know that for sure. Maybe you need the v72. If you decide to sell your v23 let me know. You can also just get the MM serviced like I did about 10 years ago and it’s still working fine. 

 

Dizzy 

[Yellobird]

So apparently @rolojack did read my PM on Aug 13th but did not answer.

 

Anyone has any other form of contact for him? Email?

 

Would really love to get this going and it is almost a month hanging without any info whether he can help or not really...

 

On 8/18/2018 at 4:52 PM, Dizzy said:

Depending what Dw case you have, either the v23 or the v72 will fit. The stem height is different I believe. But yes your watch smith is correct, the dial will need to be glued on and the MM stem will def not fit the v23. My dw case needs the v23 I know that for sure. Maybe you need the v72. If you decide to sell your v23 let me know. You can also just get the MM serviced like I did about 10 years ago and it’s still working fine. 

 

Dizzy 

Thanks Dizzy. My DW is a MM watch so the case is a V23 case. It also has serials between lugs, my previous V72 DW did not have these and I heard this is what marks the V72 DW case as well.

 

As for the V23, will keep it for now, thank you, would really love to have this installed and get this watch to work.

 

Maybe you guys have any other modders ideas? Not sure if I can wait several weeks again for rolojacks answer if any may even come.

[Yellobird]

This beauty is still stuck at 5 past 9 😬

 

Well I can still wear it two times a day and not look like a tool but would love to wear it a bit more often and in wider time range 😂

 

 

On 8/18/2018 at 4:52 PM, Dizzy said:

Depending what Dw case you have, either the v23 or the v72 will fit. The stem height is different I believe. But yes your watch smith is correct, the dial will need to be glued on and the MM stem will def not fit the v23. My dw case needs the v23 I know that for sure. Maybe you need the v72. If you decide to sell your v23 let me know. You can also just get the MM serviced like I did about 10 years ago and it’s still working fine. 

 

Dizzy 

Dizzy, from what I learned every Mystery Movement DW Daytona is using a case that fits the V23 as the MM is supposedly a V23 copy. For V72 you need a different case from DW, with lower stem position and no numbers engraved between lugs. 

[Yellobird]

It did take a while but now we are here :