Today's best 6542, the "Pussy Galore"

[Ronin]

Correct, the mid-case never changed throughout the 4 major revisions of the 6542.  There were dial, bezel and insert changes over the years.

 

Keep in mind, looking at pictures of 65yr old 'used' watches is not a good way to gauge things.  I'd venture to say they have ALL spent time on the polisher, and with 65yrs of wear and tear I am sure no two will be the same.

 

As far as clone movements are concerned, instead of trying to reverse engineer and make a replica/clone movement- I would much rather see an aftermarket attempt to build a moment platform that:

1.  Matches alignment with crown/tube holes

2.  Accept genuine/aftermarket calendar wheels

3.  Accept genuine/aftermarket hand size (and with an ETA Option)

4.  Have a mounting system that leverages genuine case mounting (and with a case clamp option)

5.  Has accommodations for Genuine or ETA dial feet, or Pie-Pan/6542/6538 dials

6.  I really don't care about BPH.  No one is fooling anyone anymore... 

 

A reliable, plug-n-play movement(s) that allow reliable swapping would be ideal.  I would almost think the thinner ETA-2892 would be the best 'base' for something like this. With it's thin 3.6mm height, just push it out from 11.5"' to Rolex 12.5"' ligne, and play with canon pinion height and proper spacers. There is definitely enough room top side for overlays, pie-pan dial's, GMT complications.

 

 

[automatico]

"I would much rather see an aftermarket attempt to build a moment platform that:

1.  Matches alignment with crown/tube holes

2.  Accept genuine/aftermarket calendar wheels

3.  Accept genuine/aftermarket hand size (and with an ETA Option)

4.  Have a mounting system that leverages genuine case mounting (and with a case clamp option)

5.  Has accommodations for Genuine or ETA dial feet, or Pie-Pan/6542/6538 dials

6.  I really don't care about BPH.  No one is fooling anyone anymore... "

 

I am with you 100% except on number 6.

Old model 10xx and 15xx rlx run at 18,000 bph and newer 15xx run at 19,800 bph.  A vintage rlx project with a 21,600 bph ETA etc will pass the 'layman's sweep test'. 

The higher grade cases and dials now available for vintage rlx projects are good enough to pass as genuine 80% or 90% of the time but a 28,800bph movement will not pass...imho.

 

"No one is fooling anyone anymore... "

 

I will admit fooling myself is not easy but slower beat movements seem to help...in some cases.       pun for fun

 

One comment on using genuine rlx 15xx in vintage projects:

I have had my share of watches with rlx 15xx movements and will say they excel at one thing...they build running reserve quickly, maybe because of the low friction nature of the autowind assemblies.  Otoh, ETAs do not seem to build reserve as quickly and china '21 jewelers' are duds in my experience.  YMMV.

[freddy333]

Anyone that is aware of the correct bph for a gen 6542 & close enough to the watch to note the movement of the sweep seconds or gage the beat of the movement will undoubtedly detect the many obvious tells of a non-gen dial, handset, bezel, etc. So if you are able to find a slow-beat ETA, great. If not, I would not fuss over it since no one but you (& RWG) will know the difference.

[Ronin]

Exactly. 10yrs ago I think our Frankens could fool actual Rolex collectors because the vintage Rolex Market & Internet knowledge base hadn’t reached critical mass. 
 

I mentioned before, I go to a lot of GTGs pre-pandemic. The Frankens and eBay specials are showing up with no intent to deceive. It’s almost become a right of passage to show up with a questionable vintage Rolex. 

 

Case in point, there is always a 6542 available on eBay. Pretty amazing for such a rare watch 😉🤔
 

That said, I wouldn’t sweat the details as much these days. If you land on an aesthetic AND reliability, and in budget. Enjoy it.

[curiousbunny]

Okay, how about this?

 

 

Rolex 1575 movement 19800 vibration per hour:

 

904L Foundation base.

Glucydur gears, seconds, minutes, hours.

Nobium hairspring. Rolex use 85% nobium alloy. Zirconium and glucydur added in mystery percentage.

Anodized 904L reversing gear and stem lever gears.

Teflon spray coat bottom of gears. 

 

Each gold color in Rolex movement is glucydur.

 

Since it's regulator on hairspring and not a freesprung hairspring modern Rolex, it's much easier to 1:1. 

 

6542 Case:

 

Bakelite plastic easily break... Sapphire bezel dipped in acrylic coating looks like genuine, but stronger than genuine.

Fit genuine 1030 movement and proper crown and stem position, but uses 1575.

Proper lug holes.

 

 

1575 GMT is 28,5mm x 6,47mm

1036 GMT is 28,5mm x 6,30mm

 

Rolex Movements & Calibers Table | Rolex Comparison (watchdoctor.biz)

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2021 by curiousbunny

[freddy333]

Let's play spot-the-rep. From an arm's length, can you tell which is which?

You old-timers, who know the histories of these watches, please withhold your responses.

[Nanuq]

[curiousbunny]

Freddy... Do you always walk in public with a full wrist? You're scaring the Apple Watch kids.

Edited April 29, 2021 by curiousbunny

[Ronin]

Old time sworn to silence. 😉

 

@curiousbunny the dimensions of the calibers are in fact close, but the dial pie-pan dial and calendar alignments will make it challenging. 

[freddy333]

1 hour ago, curiousbunny said:

Freddy... Do you always walk in public with a full wrist? You're scaring the Apple Watch kids.

 

A "full wrist"? Well, if Castro could do it...........

Everything scares the Apple watch kids.

[curiousbunny]

Kid: Mom? How come his watch doesn't change screens?!! 

Mom: He's a big oil executive, he needs 5 different time zones

Kid: Dad checks many time zones too!

Mom: Dad checks social-media for younger women... For research purposes.

Kid: He doesn't check for oil?

Mom: I'm sure there's oil on her.

Kid's mind: Future business plan, there's oil on girls, must find girls. 🤑 🤑

Edited April 30, 2021 by curiousbunny

[curiousbunny]

Look what I bought today, Constant Horological Oil OY 32K type 1-3 30 ml (Replacement for KOCH oil) | eBay

 

30 ml of synthetic oil for less than $20!

 

Few guys at NAWCC said KOCH oil are just as good as Moebius. The linked oil is KOCH replacements since they're no longer in business. Appearently Moebius oil cost over about $40 for 2 ml, enough oil for 12 watches. Some NAWCC guys are saying that's great value.

 

I guess $20 for 180 watches is decent value.

I don't buy Burgeon Tool either. Watchmakers only purchase Burgeon when specialty specific tools are needed. Esslinger does the same job at $70 a kit... $70 vs $400

I've seen a few Burgeon tools for $300 a single piece.

This is like Craftsman vs Snap-On mechanic tools. They both last equally as long. One is $20 a piece, Snap On is $300 a piece.

[automatico]

This is a little bit off topic but if anyone wonders how much it might cost to make rep-rep rlx 55xx, 1680 or SD cases here is an example (they look a bit more like vintage SD cases).

They are $35.95 USD including delivery.  I figure they cost $12 or $15 to make.

The main differences between these cases and $700/$1000 cases are details, numbers, and letters.  Spend a day detailing one and you are in the groove.  Sorta.

The Big Problem is they are made for 28.5mm dials.  Boooo! on that but they could make them for 26.0 or 26.5mm dials for the same price if they wanted to.

Raf.... has some oversize dials that might work.

 

eBay item number  203114283734 

 

I do know the '1655' case for my shortcut Ex II project is very, very close to my J$W case except for letters and numbers.

 

Saw this a little later:

Daytona type cases for $55.85 + $3.50 shp:

 

eBay item number  272296280963

[Ronin]

10 hours ago, automatico said:

eBay item number  203114283734 

 

These are positioned as "SeiLex" Seiko+Rolex Homages.  Rolex'ish Case meant for a NH35/36 (aka Seiko 4R) movement and therefore the larger 28.5mm dials meant for SKX's and SRP's. 

 

If I had to guess, the Bezel is a "Nylon" ring tension bi-directional system on the acrylic dome models.  (Similar to what BP-Factory uses on some of their Vintage models).  Guessing the sapphire get click bezels.  The Nylon system sucks. Breath on it, and the bezel rotates.  At least the "Wire" system can be tweaked for tension.

 

Also, the adhesive rings for the inserts are usually too thick, best to just use GS hypo... 😞

[automatico]

"If I had to guess, the Bezel is a "Nylon" ring tension bi-directional system on the acrylic dome models."

 

You are probably right.  This would explain why they are so cheap...fewer parts that have to fit correctly.

 

My old Paul/Abay 5514 and SD cases had the crystal lightly pressed down over the case neck but not quite touching the case top.  The 'spring wire' rotating bezel was pushed down over the crystal and the spring wire snapped into the space between the edge of the crystal skirt and top of the case.  If you bumped it, the crystal and bezel fell on the floor.

 

The spring bar holes in the lugs were correctly spaced (not too close to the top or bottom), and the case neck, case tube threads, He valve etc were oem spec.  Looking back, the cases were pretty good but the bezel set-up was horrible. 

 

Btw...

Honor Blackman (22 August 1925 – 5 April 2020) was an English actress, widely known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers (1962–1964), Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger (1964), Julia Daggett in Shalako (1968) and Hera in Jason and the Argonauts (1963). She is also known for her role as Laura West in the ITV sitcom The Upper Hand (1990–1996). 

from Wikipedia  

[alligoat]

Interesting! You could build a SeiLex watch for a little over $100.

Case $35.95

Dial $11.05

Hands- $7.05

NH35- say $40

If that black sub dial said Rolex on it, you'd be golden!

I do like the NH35/36s- I've built 4 of them with Dagaz/Namoki/etc, dials and hands. Also used a couple of Seiko aftermarket dials.

Stainless Steel Watch Case Repair Accessory for NH35 NH36 Watch Movement 39.5MM | eBay

For Mingzhu 2813 NH35 NH36 Series Watch Movements Repair Accessories Watch Dial | eBay

Watch Hands with Green Luminous Three Pointers Needles for NH35/36 8215 Movement | eBay

[Sogeha]

19 hours ago, Ronin said:

 

If I had to guess, the Bezel is a "Nylon" ring tension bi-directional system on the acrylic dome models.  (Similar to what BP-Factory uses on some of their Vintage models).  Guessing the sapphire get click bezels.  The Nylon system sucks. Breath on it, and the bezel rotates.  At least the "Wire" system can be tweaked for tension.

 

Also, the adhesive rings for the inserts are usually too thick, best to just use GS hypo... 😞

 

Correct. I bought a few for none rep builds

[curiousbunny]

I lost 2 screw pins. Does anyone know where to buy replacements that fits?

[curiousbunny]

I meant to delete one of the pictures.

[freddy333]

6 hours ago, curiousbunny said:

I lost 2 screw pins. Does anyone know where to buy replacements that fits?

 

Been there, done that.
Unless someone here has them, I think your best (& easiest) option is to take the bracelet to your local watch maker & have him replace the pins. Most watchmakers stock these. Otherwise, most watch parts supply companies sell them, but you will need to know the size & thread pitch for proper fit.

 

Best option is to replace the bracelet with a better bracelet--either a gen or 1 of the generic, Swiss-made replacements most watch parts supply companies sell. These tend to be Rolex-quality, but without the brand markings.

[curiousbunny]

2 hours ago, freddy333 said:

 

Been there, done that.
Unless someone here has them, I think your best (& easiest) option is to take the bracelet to your local watch maker & have him replace the pins. Most watchmakers stock these. Otherwise, most watch parts supply companies sell them, but you will need to know the size & thread pitch for proper fit.

 

Best option is to replace the bracelet with a better bracelet--either a gen or 1 of the generic, Swiss-made replacements most watch parts supply companies sell. These tend to be Rolex-quality, but without the brand markings.

 

I dont understand these guys.. All the manufacturing tools in the world and they couldn't make the bracelets similar, differential equations/derivatives for machine's movement, integral for product shape.

 

Putnam is university level math competition. Look at top winners from M.I.T, Harvard, Stanford.. Chinese surnames plentiful, yet they couldn't replica these watches.. 

 

List of Previous Putnam Winners.pdf (maa.org)

 

MIT students dominate annual Putnam Mathematical Competition | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Edited May 20, 2021 by curiousbunny

[curiousbunny]

I'm not saying the best mathematicians in China should work for a replica company. At least give us an average engineer.

[curiousbunny]

I'm considering a vietnam 6542, waiting for mainstream rep is unlikely. Which watch case is most accurate? Ruby, Phong or vintagewatchesMQ?

Edited May 23, 2021 by curiousbunny

[Sogeha]

Some have speculated that they all start out as the same basic casting and the level of hand finishing is different. It is certainly better to judge each case individually as they do vary

 

MQ is a PITA to deal with 

[RickFlorida]

5 hours ago, curiousbunny said:

I'm considering a vietnam 6542, waiting for mainstream rep is unlikely. Which watch case is most accurate? Ruby, Phong or vintagewatchesMQ?

How does one even get a hold of Phong?  I asked him a simple question a month or two ago and never heard back.