aresnans Posted March 24, 2007 Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 Greetings All, I ran this buy a VIP member to see if there was anything too sacrilegious before posting on the forum. Yes, I know that probably everyone on here is a mechanical/automatic watch aficionado so I was hesitant to post such heresy. My only rep until recently was a poor Rolex Daytona purchased 2 years ago before I was a member of RWG. It of course has improper hand spacing, non-functioning chrono, cheap Asia ST-6 type movement. I damaged the hairspring tweaking the tension in poor lighting and had to do a hairspring assembly transplant from an Otto Frei ST-6 movement $12.95. It now runs 7 seconds fast after 9 days, I am very happy. It looks great on my wrist. The appearance, size, weight, etc, are perfect but it screams replica to anyone who knows anything about Rolex watches. I've researched all the problems with the Asia 7750 movement: extra gears, dry movement, dead chronos, mods, etc. It is clear there is no stable, dependable alternative except the El Primo Zenith version. While everyone from my waitress at NEO China to impulsive noobs buy the 7750 Daytona to have it fail after a few months to a year their will be no impetus to get anything better from the Asia manufacturers. Personally, I like the appearance of this watch, the weight, and size. What is on the inside will be deemed fake by anyone that opens up the case back. Here comes the HERESY: Is there not a quality quartz or hybrid kinetic movement with proper hand spacing, smooth sweeping seconds at 6, fully functional chrono that could temporarily solve the Daytona issue until a automatic mechanical movement presents itself? I just want to wear the watch and not have rep issues as far as external appearance nor hacked undependable function. I have seen quartz watches with smooth second sweep using small stepper motors for second and chrono hands. I'm sure there are also pathetic Quartz reps of the Daytona out there. That is not what I'm going after. I guess this could be a question for the venerable repair and mod gurus. I look forward to the replies. Regards, Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugwash Posted March 24, 2007 Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 Here comes the HERESY: Is there not a quality quartz or hybrid kinetic movement with proper hand spacing, smooth sweeping seconds at 6, fully functional chrono that could temporarily solve the Daytona issue until a automatic mechanical movement presents itself? Not to my knowledge, no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest chronomat123 Posted March 25, 2007 Report Share Posted March 25, 2007 I've wondered the same thing. But let's take it a step further, for those of us attempting to build our own ElPrimero Daytonas ala Ubiquitous: Has no one found an alternative, maybe Russian or Asian, to the extremely costly El Primero? I've heard that Poljot makes some chrono movements with the same subdial layout as the El Primero-- yet I've never seen one myself. Anyone ever find anything? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddos Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 My old project (01/01/2002) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfreeman420 Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 Here comes the HERESY: Is there not a quality quartz or hybrid kinetic movement with proper hand spacing, smooth sweeping seconds at 6, fully functional chrono that could temporarily solve the Daytona issue until a automatic mechanical movement presents itself? You may want to look into a lemania copy based vintage daytona. They are manual wind and for the most part are pretty accurate. Although I have 6 or seven asia 7750 3 of them being modified daytonas and only one has died. Maybe im lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 For a 16520, there is but one answer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndonville Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 For a 16520, there is but one answer... How does that Ebel work for you? I've been reluctant to buy a Daytona for years because of the movement. Hate to be this forward about it, but, what does that movement cost? Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 Hmmmm.... The Ebel movement is a 134, which is an El Primero 400- Same base movement Rolex used for the 4030 in the 16520. Same goes for the Movado below it- El Primero 400 aka the PFC 3019- 31j. I purchased the Ebel movement for $800; the other was $1200 as I had to purchase a complete watch for the movement. Total cost that I have into my Daytonas to date- White dial = $3800; black dial = $3900. The genuine dials, which were my final addition to both pieces were a good portion of the of the cost as well; those were around $800 per dial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyndonville Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 Hmmmm.... The Ebel movement is a 134, which is an El Primero 400- Same base movement Rolex used for the 4030 in the 16520. Same goes for the Movado below it- El Primero 400 aka the PFC 3019- 31j. I purchased the Ebel movement for $800; the other was $1200 as I had to purchase a complete watch for the movement. Total cost that I have into my Daytonas to date- White dial = $3800; black dial = $3900. The genuine dials, which were my final addition to both pieces were a good portion of the of the cost as well; those were around $800 per dial. Glad your happy with them. Nice work, but, a touch over the top for me. I appreciate the information. Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 Oops... Self correction... The correct cal designation for the original EP400 is the 3019 PHC. I always get those two mixed up (PFC has the moonphase, etc). Anyways... Thanks for the kind words. For a couple thousand more, I could have just bought a genuine 16520 (or for the same money, a 116520 at retail), but the fun for me is in building. Plus, I like being able to have both dial colors to choose from every morning. Selection is always nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammalone Posted March 28, 2007 Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 I'm left in awe each time I see them Ubi. Did you use gen hands also or would the 7750 hands from a Daytona rep fit? Thanks Enjoy Oops... Self correction... The correct cal designation for the original EP400 is the 3019 PHC. I always get those two mixed up (PFC has the moonphase, etc). Anyways... Thanks for the kind words. For a couple thousand more, I could have just bought a genuine 16520 (or for the same money, a 116520 at retail), but the fun for me is in building. Plus, I like being able to have both dial colors to choose from every morning. Selection is always nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted March 28, 2007 Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 I'm left in awe each time I see them Ubi. Did you use gen hands also or would the 7750 hands from a Daytona rep fit? Thanks Enjoy Thanks, sam Yeah... Gen hands are a must for this project. Unfortunately, the 7750 hands are too large at the pinion to fit (as it is, the gen hands have to be slightly modified to fit properly). Plus, the gen hands are WG plated, and really add to the overall look of the watch which is very apparent under light/reflection; they match the WG indicies and subdial rings of the dial to tie everything together aesthetically Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuelram16 Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Hi All, newbee here, regarding the original post has anybody considered the Miyota OS20 quartz chronograph movement ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eunomians Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Well, quartz simply won't do due to the stop-tick ticking style. Ubi - wow. Everytime I see them, I want to embark upon that project. But, alas... Too many projects, not enough dinero Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuelram16 Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 Yes I agree, but I was trying to answer the original post question fron aresnans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 some quartz chronos have sweep second hands. take some seikos for example. but dont know about subdial spacing and etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gioarmani Posted April 10, 2007 Report Share Posted April 10, 2007 What about one of these: http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/catalog/...Id=prod34260109 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuelram16 Posted April 30, 2007 Report Share Posted April 30, 2007 We'll I couldn't resist it so I took the plunge, having already a non-functioning chrono Daytona REP with what I believe an ST6 Asian movement I got me a Miyota OS20 quartz chrono movement; the nice part of this movement is that it has the running seconds @ 6 so I took the Daytona apart and did the mod myself and of course I ran into a few problems: First the miyota is 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triosLescano Posted April 30, 2007 Report Share Posted April 30, 2007 For a 16520, there is but one answer... For vintages this is the solution, for $ 200 300 400 For Killy ecc.. is possible to study an application of a caliber Fred Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sjako Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 Just wondering about this one: http://www.silix-prime.com/product.asp?id=1226 see-through case back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubiquitous Posted May 8, 2007 Report Share Posted May 8, 2007 For vintages this is the solution, for $ 200 300 400 For my 6265 vintage, I chose to go with a different $400.00 path using a Valjoux 23... Since the V23 is essentially the same as the V72 (minus the hour counter), the subdial spacing works well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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