6538 Case

[one80]

Who currently has the best 6538 case?

Still Phong or Minh, or have the Ruby/HR/Silix cases improved?

 

And who is still around that does case reshaping too?

[automatico]

"Who currently has the best 6538 case?"

 

That is a very good question.

 

Short story:

Having owned a genuine 6538 years ago (sold it too soon it turns out), I was not overly impressed with the watch in general when I owned it.

Q...Why?

A1...It was small and did not look much like a 'submariner'.

A2...The 1030 is not one of my favorite movements, I like the 15xx much better.

Looking back, I miss the price increase I could have profited from but do not miss the watch at all.

 

With that out of the way...

I have seen quite a few 6538 projects and very few appear to be genuine, even at first glance.  Some were too big and some just had the wrong 'look'.  It's hard to explain but easy to see.

Otoh, righteous 5512/5513 project watches seem to be more accurate overall...imho.

 

Still the question remains..."Who has the best 6538 case?"

My answer is there is really no correct answer, but my guess is the 'best' 6538 watch will be the result of a very good $$ case with good letters/numbers, spring wire bra$$ bezel, a super fine $$ 'gilt' dial, professional $$ 'ageing', and expert $$ detailing and assembly.

If you only want a decent 'knock around' 6538 with an ETA or A21 and a decent dial, the same advice applies, but without the $$ symbols.

 

I know this answer is no help to you, but it is a friendly caution about what lies ahead having chased a few of these dreams/nightmares myself.

Hopefully someone who knows more about aftmkt 6538 cases will have a much better answer.

Good luck!

[alligoat]

Building a 6538 is simply a question of how much do you want to spend?

Phong is the top of the line so to speak, but I wouldn't recommend putting a 1030 movement in any watch so that leaves you with a case and a dial- looking for a movement.

2846-2s are a good slow beat ETA, but don't know if it will fit in the 6538 case. A slow beat 2824-2 would be another possibility- but that's somewhat of a misnomer since 2824s are all 28,800 bph. But maybe you could find an older ETA that's the predecessor to the 2824 with the 21,600 beat or even a 18,000 beat and close to the 4.6mm heigth.

You could check out Ruby for a little less money.

http://rubyswatch.com/Products/watch-cases/sub-c6538

Get the case and dial and once again you're looking for a movement, but it's probably a fair amount cheaper than Phong.

HR, Helenarou has a 6538 and it used to be that you could get the branded 6538 with an ETA clone for around $500-600 maybe- you just have to ask since they don't publish it on the site.

I ran across a 6538 on Trusty- might be a good place to go first- see how you like the watch and maybe even try some case reshaping yourself.

https://trustytimewatch88.io/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_11&products_id=15561

But the problem with Trusty these days is he'll say he can't get the watch anymore- it's out of stock. Last time he told me that, I went to Marvellous and he got me the watch I wanted.

I'm not sure what Silix's deal is these days- last time I tried to go there it messed up my computer.

Rolojack is a master of case reshaping but he's MIA these days. That leaves you to age your own case- bang it up, smooth it down, repeat. Google 6538 and check out the pics and go to work.

[one80]

23 hours ago, automatico said:

Having owned a genuine 6538 years ago (sold it too soon it turns out),

 

Still the question remains..."Who has the best 6538 case?"

My answer is there is really no correct answer, but my guess is the 'best' 6538 watch will be the result of a very good $$ case with good letters/numbers, spring wire bra$$ bezel, a super fine $$ 'gilt' dial, professional $$ 'ageing', and expert $$ detailing and assembly.

 

That's a shame - would be a great time to still own a gen 6538.

 

The plan is to get the best gilt dial I can find (and have that underway now), a gen bezel, crownartcustoms insert, gen crown and tube, and ideally a 1030 movement as I can get one for a reasonable price.

I'd like to have as much gen as possible, even knowing the cost is a lot more.

 

 

2 hours ago, alligoat said:

Building a 6538 is simply a question of how much do you want to spend?

Phong is the top of the line so to speak, but I wouldn't recommend putting a 1030 movement in any watch so that leaves you with a case and a dial- looking for a movement.

2846-2s are a good slow beat ETA, but don't know if it will fit in the 6538 case. A slow beat 2824-2 would be another possibility- but that's somewhat of a misnomer since 2824s are all 28,800 bph. But maybe you could find an older ETA that's the predecessor to the 2824 with the 21,600 beat or even a 18,000 beat and close to the 4.6mm heigth.

You could check out Ruby for a little less money.

http://rubyswatch.com/Products/watch-cases/sub-c6538

Get the case and dial and once again you're looking for a movement, but it's probably a fair amount cheaper than Phong.

HR, Helenarou has a 6538 and it used to be that you could get the branded 6538 with an ETA clone for around $500-600 maybe- you just have to ask since they don't publish it on the site.

I ran across a 6538 on Trusty- might be a good place to go first- see how you like the watch and maybe even try some case reshaping yourself.

https://trustytimewatch88.io/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_11&products_id=15561

But the problem with Trusty these days is he'll say he can't get the watch anymore- it's out of stock. Last time he told me that, I went to Marvellous and he got me the watch I wanted.

I'm not sure what Silix's deal is these days- last time I tried to go there it messed up my computer.

Rolojack is a master of case reshaping but he's MIA these days. That leaves you to age your own case- bang it up, smooth it down, repeat. Google 6538 and check out the pics and go to work.

 

Thanks.

As above, I'm planning to use as much gen as possible.

 

I thought I'd read somewhere (here or RWI) that the Phong and Ruby cases came from the same place, and Phong just does some more reshaping? If that is the case it makes sense to got for a Ruby case and have some work done, though she only has the products listed and no option to chose a serial and year...

 

Have messaged Rolojack too, as the thread says he partially back. Just waiting to hear.

 

[alligoat]

https://rwg.cc/topic/196701-rolex-sub-franken-help/#comment-1574728

This is from 6 months ago

Things that are still true

1. very few gen parts are available- most of them are high priced fakes

2. using a gen 1030 movement is a waste of time and good money- you can do it, but the pros discourage it.

 

What impresses me the most is the guys that can build a nice rep for $400-1000, one that's aged and looks the part.

You can spend $4,000 -7,000, but what do you have? An overpriced replica. One that 99.99% of the people could give a $hit about.

Oops, that was a year and 6 months ago!

[automatico]

"What impresses me the most is the guys that can build a nice rep for $400-1000, one that's aged and looks the part."

 

Agree 100%.

 

A few of us may have the same opinion and have kept quiet but I'll say it out loud:

Some of the 'professional' modders/case/dial/parts seller guys are basically crooks and they think we are stupid.  IMHO

 

The best 'case guy' I know of is Rolojack...he is honest, but he is busy.

Proof:

SOLD - 1972 Rolex 1016 Explorer - Watches - RWG

SOLD - 1974 Rolex 1680 Submariner 'red' - Watches - RWG

A few guys on RWI also have good reputations.

 

To sum it up...

You can put a 160xx/162xx DJ or 150xx/152xx OPD together for a few hundred bucks that will 'fool 'em all' (as long as it is not opened up).

The 5512/5513/1680 that 'will fool 'em all' will cost a few thousand bucks.

The 6538 that 'will fool 'em all' needs to be 100% genuine.

 

Maybe change 'will fool 'em all' to 'they will not laugh in your face'.  Ha!