Tudor Submariner

[predfan2001]

I've run across a few pics here of Subs being redialed to look like a Tudor. From the best I can tell reading a few threads, nobody offers one. Dang it. I'd love to have one. Has anybody seen a source. If not, what are the options. What about starting with a nodate sub and having someone refinishing the dial.

[TeeJay]

I'm after one of these myself. From what I gather, it's a case of DIY Assembly. I was directed to this site as a source for parts:

http://www.classicwatchparts.com/catpart/c...7mggtkf0d6jq4h3

[predfan2001]

I guess that's why no more people put together a Tudor Sub rep. If you bought a rep. Sub, original Tudor dial and upgrades you'd be almost as much as the real thing.

You know, several years back I bought an early 60s Rolex Oyster Perpetual that confused alot of people. It had a dark brown dial that faded to gold towards the center. Some people thought it may have just faded over time, some thought it was made that way but had never seen a dial like it. But the whole time I had it, people kept telling me that I could get the dial refinished in any color I wanted. And it was fairly cheap to do. If that can be done, why can't somebody (with the ability) just disassemble a rep and refinish the dial. I've seen the opposite enough on eBay (you know, Tudors with refinished dials to look like a rollie).

[TeeJay]

I guess that's why no more people put together a Tudor Sub rep. If you bought a rep. Sub, original Tudor dial and upgrades you'd be almost as much as the real thing.

You know, several years back I bought an early 60s Rolex Oyster Perpetual that confused alot of people. It had a dark brown dial that faded to gold towards the center. Some people thought it may have just faded over time, some thought it was made that way but had never seen a dial like it. But the whole time I had it, people kept telling me that I could get the dial refinished in any color I wanted. And it was fairly cheap to do. If that can be done, why can't somebody (with the ability) just disassemble a rep and refinish the dial. I've seen the opposite enough on eBay (you know, Tudors with refinished dials to look like a rollie).

In all fairness, there's quite a difference between refinishing a dial in a different color, and re-printing all the markings and text... It's not going to be cheap, and the results may not be so great. I agree, the parts for the tudors aren't cheap, but, that's the price you pay (no pun intended) for an obscure item...

[Jetsons]

TeeJay, try to hunt down a gen before prices get more out of hand than they alreasy are. if you're interested in the later sapphire models, these are priced quite a bit lower than the acrylic models. I've seen complete & minty examples on TZ for between $1K-1.2K but they don't show up too often. The big plus here is that the gen would always be worth what you paid.

An alternative would be to start with a watchmaster Tudor Sub (based on the MBW 1680 case) and go from there. His dials are quite good as are the case backs. The two watchmasters that I have seen have the military dials and axe hands but not sure if that is what you're after.

If you recall, Ubi built one terrific no-date Tudor sub about a year ago. You might check his post and see all was involved. He used an OEM dial which fit nicely in the MBW case. Not sure if an OEM Tudor dial would fit a rep 16610 case.

[TeeJay]

TeeJay, try to hunt down a gen before prices get more out of hand than they alreasy are. if you're interested in the later sapphire models, these are priced quite a bit lower than the acrylic models. I've seen complete & minty examples on TZ for between $1K-1.2K but they don't show up too often. The big plus here is that the gen would always be worth what you paid.

An alternative would be to start with a watchmaster Tudor Sub (based on the MBW 1680 case) and go from there. His dials are quite good as are the case backs. The two watchmasters that I have seen have the military dials and axe hands but not sure if that is what you're after.

If you recall, Ubi built one terrific no-date Tudor sub about a year ago. You might check his post and see all was involved. He used an OEM dial which fit nicely in the MBW case. Not sure if an OEM Tudor dial would fit a rep 16610 case.

Thanks for the advice The model I was thinking of was military issue with square incices and the 'snowflake' hands. I'm juggling several options in my mind about what to do with my Submariner, like Great White, tudor or even a 1953 era 6200. As much as I love it, I don't like the cyclops, and I hate having to change the date. Also, I have to accept that at 28 and not exactly 'corporate smart', I don't generally look like the kind of guy who could afford a genuine Submariner, but figured something a bit more 'vintage' on a NATO strap might be more plausable, so I figured I'd swap out the dial, crystal and bezel, and just keep them in storage, that way, in a few years, if I wanted, I could always restore the watch to it's original state. I did consider the idea of trading it for a vintage sub, but, this was my first high-end watch, so sentimental value means I'd rather modify it rather than completely get rid of it.

[Edge]

The cost of getting the hands and dial is about 2-300 USD from michael. Very good guy and very good work. Get a redial and buy the military hands. Oh and you'd need to add a bezel to that.

Edge

[polexpete]

Yup and you can end up with something like this although this is an original dial. The after market case with caseback engravings are hard to come by and are not interchangable with MBW 5513 cases.

P.