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Mbw 5512 Modded


Falco

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After all your nice feedback for my MBW 1680, here's my MBW 5512 for you to see;

Gen vintage dial

Gen vintage insert

Gen insert dot

Gen vintage Dome crystal

Gen vintage crown

Gen new tube

Gen springbars

Aftermarket/rep bracelet hollow link 93150 (pretty close)

Fitted ETA 2846 for more accurate beat

Drilled lugholes, filed crownguards and smoothed/rounded case

Painted MBW hands to match vintage dial-lume colour

Glued crystal together with crystal o-ring and greased all other o-rings to waterproof

Again all mods done by me.

Planned: upgrade w/ part to skip date-set function in stem, fit correct 580 gen endlinks

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Edited by Falco
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Falco, not much to add except to say that it looks FANTASTIC! :thumbsupsmileyanim:

Which case did you use and did you have any problems fitting the dial?

Amazing piece and workmaship!

Thanks!

MBW uses the same 5513 case for 1680, 5512, 5513 and is marked 5513.

However inside the caseback it's marked 5512 which is good.

No problems fitting any gen parts into MBW case, everything just drops in.

Dial feet needs to be cut unfortunately, and tapping tube (and countersinking) hole is necessary due to some residue glue.

Edited by Falco
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"MBW uses the same 5513 case for 1680, 5512, 5513 and is marked 5513.

However inside the caseback it's marked 5512 which is good."

except that no one pays any attention to the inside caseback markings on the 5513/5512. the large majority of 5512 have 5513 casebacks and theres a few 5513 with 5512 casebacks around. most of the 5512 with actual 5512 casebacks have RSC replacements on there. curiously all RSC have are 5512 backs now so any 5513 requiring new backs today get 5512 fitted. rolex werent very particular when using them since no one was ever meant to see inside these and the stamping here is meant more so rolex know what the case back is for rather than for identifying a watch. the lugs were meant for this.

is it a refinish on a gen dial plate or a complete aftermarket dial?

good work though, you should try thinning some of the material from the case under the lugs at the sides. these cases look too thick for the 5512/5513 from this era but are closer for the 1680 etc, probably as the same case is used for all the MBW but wasnt at rolex. its a real shame as it gives them away if you dont do anything about it. while these have a squarish profile the gens of the same time looked longer/thinner, theres more of a hook when you look on the profile.

i can take some pics if you want as its hard to explain but very easy to see when you look.

i found that gen dials for the 5512/5513 went right through the mbw case i had here being smaller than the opening in the case itself. havent tried with the 1680 dials which may be larger in diameter. they are about 25.4mm from memory with the case opening being about 25.95 or so

Edited by thewightstuff
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thewightstuff, I forgot to mention its a relumed genuine vintage rolex dial from a reputable seller.

You're partly right about the dials, gen 1680 dial is to wide to fit the MBW case, needs trimming

but I've tried one 5512 dial and one 5513 dial (another of my projects) and both do not drop through

however they can move around sideways just a tiny half a milimeter or so.

Not a problem anyways, if it should turn out so I'll just put a tiny ring of silicon glue between case and dial interface.

I'm assuming there's discrepency between MBW cases (they're not made with rolex swiss quality control :rolleyes: ).

Oh, about lug text 5513 or 5512 on the case, well it still going to say Polex too :whistling:

if that bugs someone erase/polish bit of the text out and possibly re-engrave

or even better get a custom MBW w/ independent serial nr, correct Rolex spelling etc (wouldn't that be nice)

EDIT: nobody noticed the crystal? it's the sexy dome style

Edited by Falco
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After all your nice feedback for my MBW 1680, here's my MBW 5512 for you to see;

Gen vintage dial

Gen vintage insert

Gen insert dot

Gen vintage Dome crystal

Gen vintage crown

Gen new tube

Gen springbars

Aftermarket/rep bracelet hollow link 93150 (pretty close)

Fitted ETA 2846 for more accurate beat

Drilled lugholes, filed crownguards and smoothed/rounded case

Painted MBW hands to match vintage dial-lume colour

Glued crystal together with crystal o-ring and greased all other o-rings to waterproof

Again all mods done by me.

Planned: upgrade w/ part to skip date-set function in stem, fit correct 580 gen endlinks

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Wow, i really like it... i am surprised at how good the aftermarket bracelet looks.. especially the endlinks.

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Nice project!!!

Stunning!

One small detail you may want to look at is removing the date wheel and modifying the setting lever. Part 445/2. This way you will only have a two position stem. Only a small detail, but I'm going to update that on my EX1. If I can find one, I will swap out movement for Longines 644.1 movement. This movement is based on eta 2890. Very similar to 2892-2, but minus date, so only two position stem. And the extra bonus with this movement, is it was specially made by eta for Longines in a 12.5'''. Discontinued in the 80s so it may be tough to find.

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Nice project!!!

Stunning!

One small detail you may want to look at is removing the date wheel and modifying the setting lever. Part 445/2. This way you will only have a two position stem. Only a small detail, but I'm going to update that on my EX1. If I can find one, I will swap out movement for Longines 644.1 movement. This movement is based on eta 2890. Very similar to 2892-2, but minus date, so only two position stem. And the extra bonus with this movement, is it was specially made by eta for Longines in a 12.5'''. Discontinued in the 80s so it may be tough to find.

Thanks Stilty :thumbsupsmileyanim: , I've already ordered the 445/2 part, see top "Planned: upgrade w/ part to skip date-set function in stem..."

I'll look into the Longines movement, could be very good, but difficult to service?

Thanks vacuum :thumbsupsmileyanim:

Thanks Eddhead :thumbsupsmileyanim: Bracelet is actually from a so called "Trusty 1:1 top grade vintage" which I bought for the grey datewheel but

the wheel turned out to be a disappointment. Bracelet turned out pretty good after some work. Looking for gen 580 endlinks since the rep 580 ones couldn't handle

expansion.

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