Vintage Daytona 6263

[buildrepair7]

I've seen newbies post asking for people to do the research for them but I've spent an immense amount of time and I'm hoping for some advice from the experts

 

Been looking tirelessly through all the trusted dealer sites and online for the best off the shelf Daytona. It seems there are a million options with slight variations from piece to piece. Is there a concensus on who makes the best one? or does anyone have one for that matter?

 

Thanks so much

Edited March 11, 2020 by buildrepair7

[ceejay]

All of the off the shelf vintage Daytona's are rubbish.

 

The only 2 worthwhile options are...

 

A. Lookout for an old 7750 based DW Daytona to come up for sale. 

B, Sell a kidney and pick up a V72 based Daytona.

 

Both types come up for sale occasionally and range from 'not cheap' through to 'big money'

 

If you want a good off the shelf Daytona then go for a modern model.

 

 

[mjmj]

Here's mine saying Hi 

 

[red series 3]

I’ve been trying to fix up a Daytona. I bought parts for mine over the last ten years and have worked on many movements and assembled many watches trying to gain the skills required to put the piece together myself. So many items I wouldn’t be able to afford in this current climate. I feel almost blessed with what I have. It’s almost dark compared to the days when Freddy and Lhooq and many others were building these quite regularly. The sad part is a lot of the images of parts and builds has gone.

When I first took an interest gen dials would sell for a couple of thousand but now is just something else.

Ive seen a build tutorial on one of the watch forums titled something like how to build a vintage Daytona but I can’t remember which one.

 

 

[tomhorn]

TheSociety over on RWI started a pretty extensive thread about Vintage Daytonas.

https://forum.replica-watch.info/forum/vintage-watches/281796-let-s-talk-vintage-daytonas-with-thesociety-friends

I bought my v72 based 6263 from a fellow member in 2015, and am thankful I did it back then. Couldn't come close to duplicating it now for what I have in it.

Edited March 13, 2020 by tomhorn

[alligoat]

These days to build a 6263 with the Newman dial, I guess you could start with a Rubyswatch.com case

http://www.rubyswatch.com/Products/watch-cases/da-6263

I don't know what it would cost but I'm thinking that it's in the $600-1000 usd range.

Next you'd need to pick up a V72- that could be expensive- you'd be lucky to pick one up for $1500 these days and then you'd probably have to spend $300-500 to have it serviced.

A more correct 726 movement would probably cost even more- it has the higher 21,600 beat rate as opposed the earlier V72 which is 18,000. The V726 is more correct for a 6263 build, but hey, who's counting.

Next would be the dial- once again, let's look at Ruby's selection

http://www.rubyswatch.com/products/a14-2-|-vintage-|-paul-newman-|-6263-|-print-dial-2625

I don't know what this dial costs, you'd have to check with Ruby. Other sources are Phong, maybe around $400, or Minh Quy- MQvintagewatches.

Lastly, you'd need a set of hands- maybe $100-150 from the usual suspects once again.

Then you'd need a watchmaker to assemble it all and that could be $300-500 maybe.

Back in the old days you could build a V72 6263 for around $2000, but alas, those days are gone!

 

[Lovegmt73]

Hello
Does the cartel stock plus a nice dial and hands plus bezel is not a good start?
Don’t care about 6dial freezed


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[alligoat]

Swapping in a better dial in a cartel watch is not for the feint of heart- in other words it would take an experienced expert to do it and would require a mod to the 6 o'clock subdial.

Swapping out the bezel might work...

But I do think the cartel watches are a good start- see if you enjoy the watch and then decide if you want to spend the $2-3K to build a V72 model. Or just enjoy the cartel watch- no one is ever going to probably notice anyway. 

[GarrettP1]

Was it the DW case that everyone joked had the "tumor" where the crown was?

 

I remember the various techniques to bring that area into spec. (usually by filing by hand rather than Dremel).

 

BTW, who do you all recommend to engrave the SN on the case?

 

Thanks,

G.

[Lovegmt73]

According to the QC photos, which stock Cartel 6263 do you prefer?
I’m referring to the eye catch



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[buildrepair7]

I hate when people post questions, get their answers and then bounce. I also know you guys love photos. First photo is QC, second with an Athaya crown already installed. Third is after reluming with a vintage tint, straightening the hour markers (they're set with pins so you can just grab them with tweezers and rotate - was worried they might be glued but nope!)  and dying the hands with the same tint. The way I do the hands is to add a bit of the lume pigment to water, simply coat the hand, let dry, and then use damp rodico to remove the dry solution from the metal portion of the hand. If you want to degloss the metal just touch it with the same rodico. 

 

The athaya crown was the biggest thing to me - you need to see that bevel on both sides. The crown provided is just not good at all. 

 

Working on these is scary - theres no QC like you get with a branded watch. I found a movement bracket sandwiched between the movement and case used to keep it from moving around. After assembly I noticed you could move the movement around using the crown so I just replaced one of the brackets with a slightly longer one and now its totally secure. 

 

I lucked out with the movement, this one resets perfectly to 12 every time... a unicorn with these terrible Seagull movements. I cant complain considering how inexpensive they are. The printing on these dials isnt the best. The black chapter ring can sort of "bleed" into the white field (4:15 ish - see QC pic). The smallest Bergeon screwdriver I had was good at scraping that black bleed back (kinda like binding scraping on a guitar) 

 

I think this is it - not trying to fool anyone. Just a fun little piece. If you go too far with anything like this you're just not satisfied until perfection. All in - just a few hours of time

 

Did I go too dark on the lume?

 

PS - the bracelet is total garbage - rally strap on the way

 

Enjoy

 

 

Edited April 2, 2020 by buildrepair7

[Lovegmt73]

I hate when people post questions, get their answers and then bounce. I also know you guys love photos. First photo is QC, second with an Athaya crown already installed. Third is after reluming with a vintage tint, straightening the hour markers and dying the hands with the same tint. The way I do the hands is to add a bit of the lume pigment to water, simply coat the hand, let dry, and then use damp rodico to remove the dry solution from the metal portion of the hand. If you want to degloss the metal just touch it with the same rodico. 
 
The athaya crown was the biggest thing to me - you need to see that bevel on both sides. The crown provided is just not good at all. 
 
Working on these is scary - theres no QC like you get with a branded watch. I found a movement bracket sandwiched between the movement and case used to keep it from moving around. After assembly I noticed you could move the movement around using the crown so I just replaced one of the brackets with a slightly longer one and now its totally secure. 
 
I lucked out with the movement, this one resets perfectly to 12 every time... a unicorn with these terrible Seagull movements. I cant complain considering how inexpensive they are. The printing on these dials isnt the best. The black chapter ring can sort of "bleed" into the white field (4:15 ish - see QC pic). The smallest Bergeon screwdriver I had was good at scraping that black bleed back (kinda like binding scraping on a guitar) 
 
I think this is it - not trying to fool anyone. Just a fun little piece. If you go too far with anything like this you're just not satisfied until perfection. 
 
Did I go too dark on the lume?
 
Enjoy
 
 

Very interesting, thank you!
The most important is the pleasure you have to dress, especially when you put time, money and skills to do your own piece.


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