stilty Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I'm just wondering if any experts out there know if the date window position is the same for all movements. I have a 3135 size date wheel and wonder if it will line up with the window on a genuine dial made for a 1575 movement. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eunomians Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I don't think so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 If it were within the same series/era (i.e. 1675 dial and c.1570 datewheel) then you have maybe a 75% chance it will. Attempting to match up a modern-era movt datewheel with a vintage dial, as you suggest however, you have a 99.9% chance it won't. It's a non-starter, but at least you know now. With any franken project, aside from the possibly wasted costs, one should always be prepared for some frustration and headaches along the way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Date windows on 3035 and 3135's line up. Dials are interchangeable, but the cases are slightly different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilty Posted June 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Date windows on 3035 and 3135's line up. Dials are interchangeable, but the cases are slightly different. thanks for all the info everyone. Alligoat, do you know if the 1575 will line up with 3035 or 3135? Or will I have to get a 1575 datewheel? I have both 3135 and 3035 style date wheels.. with open and closed fonts, so I could use either if I had to. I guess if I really needed to, I could just edit the scan of the dial in photoshop to the appropriate size, then print it out and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Stil not sure exactly what you're trying to do here. Maybe you could clarify exactly what movt you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilty Posted June 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Stil not sure exactly what you're trying to do here. Maybe you could clarify exactly what movt you have? sorry for the confusion. I'm building a franken-date out of some spare gen parts. One dial I'm looking at is a 27mm date dial from a 1500 date. the original calibre is 1575. I have a few spare date discs laying around to use for overlay. One is 3135 and the other is 3035. I'm just wondering if the date window from the 1575 dial will line up with the date discs I have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cskent69 Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 To my knowledge - the 1575 and the 3135 date window placement are not the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 sorry for the confusion. I'm building a franken-date out of some spare gen parts. One dial I'm looking at is a 27mm date dial from a 1500 date. the original calibre is 1575. I have a few spare date discs laying around to use for overlay. One is 3135 and the other is 3035. I'm just wondering if the date window from the 1575 dial will line up with the date discs I have. I'm still confused! Let's take a step back, never mind the dial, window or datewheel.....what movt are you using??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilty Posted June 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I'm still confused! Let's take a step back, never mind the dial, window or datewheel.....what movt are you using??? I will be using an eta movement with rolex date disc for overlay in a gen Rolex case. One dial I am looking at is from a 1575 calibre Rolex date. The date discs I have are meant for 3035 and 3135 models. I guess if I want to use that dial, I will have to source a 1575 style date disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I would think you could get a 1575 datewheel from wholesaleoutlet990 (here in beautiful Sugar Land, TX) and glue it to your eta datewheel, remove the dial feet from your date dial and glue the dial to the top ring of your eta and then glue the ring and dial to the movement. Only thing is, I don't know is if you need to use a 2836 or a 2824. I guess the watchmeister datewheel would also work, but they are a little tricky as I understand and all sold out at this time. I'm thinking about the same project, just haven't gotten that far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 One fly in the ointment you (and alligoat) are forgetting.... Using a genuine or aftermarket (the Texas guy) 3035/3135 datewheel as an overlay will not work, unless you like to travel back in time Clockwise or anticlockwise issues aside, your DWs do not have the correct font for a vintage project - your best bet is either a Watchmeister overlay or a Tudor DW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilty Posted June 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I would think you could get a 1575 datewheel from wholesaleoutlet990 (here in beautiful Sugar Land, TX) and glue it to your eta datewheel, remove the dial feet from your date dial and glue the dial to the top ring of your eta and then glue the ring and dial to the movement. Only thing is, I don't know is if you need to use a 2836 or a 2824. I guess the watchmeister datewheel would also work, but they are a little tricky as I understand and all sold out at this time. I'm thinking about the same project, just haven't gotten that far. come to think of it, I don't think I will be able to use a 1570 date disc as the date progression is opposite of the eta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 come to think of it, I don't think I will be able to use a 1570 date disc as the date progression is opposite of the eta. is there an echo in here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilty Posted June 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 is there an echo in here? haha.. i see we both came to the same conclusion at the same time! 11:53. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Oops! Yeh, I guess I forgot about that. Might have to rob a datewheel out of a cheap rep or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilty Posted June 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Oops! Yeh, I guess I forgot about that. Might have to rob a datewheel out of a cheap rep or something like that. I've got a couple of luanfat's date overlays that might work. I've emailed the seller to see if he can send me a high res scan of the dial. If he can send me one, I'll resize it to the actual size and scan the different date discs I have, overlay them in photoshop and see if I can come up with a match. If not, back to the drawing board. Thanks for everyone's replies! I appreciate the help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Hence my question about movt. That's why you sometimes you need to take a step back and consider the basics first and kick on from there....case, dial, movement, hands, datewheel etc.....like putting a jigsaw puzzle together. It's very easy to jump ahead without considering all the possible challenges and pitfalls, we're all guilty of it trust me p.s. scratch what I said about Tudor DWs - realise they use standard ETA datefont not the customised Rolex font, sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Let me mention one other thing. I own a gen Date, c. 1966, and it does not have the same datewheel as say a 1680 Submariner. My datewheel has closed 6's and 9's and round top 3's on a white background. I believe it is original to the watch. And the movement is a 1575, so it is travelling in the opposite direction from the 3035 and 3135. So if you could use a luenfat DW, I'd go for it- it's not the kind of thing anyone else is probably ever going to notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 Let me mention one other thing. I own a gen Date, c. 1966, and it does not have the same datewheel as say a 1680 Submariner. My datewheel has closed 6's and 9's and round top 3's on a white background. I believe it is original to the watch. Interesting your Date is from 1966 - same year the 1680 replaced the 5512 becoming the first Sub to have a date-with-COSC-movement as standard - the cal. 1575. Also may explain your datewheel - that can't be original, must be a RSC swapout - would make sense as the c.1575 was ubiquitous from '66 to approx '78 - reasonable to assume the watch had a service at least once in those 11 years if not later in life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted June 12, 2007 Report Share Posted June 12, 2007 I really can't say. When I first bought the watch two years ago, I thought the DW wasn't right, but since then I've run across another Date w/ the same DW and I've even seen a DRSD with the same DW (although it might of had a silver background, I just can't remember). Back in the middle 60's, I don't think Rolex watched themselves as closely as they do today. I've also seen a few Datejusts w/ shall we call it "the non-standard DW's". In the 60's, I think they just kept turning this stuff out, and of course, they were using various suppliers, so there were variations. My 1966 Date was pretty original in most respects- a silver dial that had faded to the off-white beige color- kinda a "smokey" look, original flimsey rivetted bracelet with the C&I- USA inscription on it and it kept good time, but needed to be serviced. But at 40 years old, who can really say what happened in the past! That's why I'm not so picky about DW's on the 1570 series models, gen and rep. I love the silver DW on my gen 1680 w/ the flat-top 3's and open 6's and 9's, but I still don't know if I'm going to change the DW on my WM 1680 at this point to the Watchmeister DW. And if I can build a 1500 Date Franken and have to use a luenfat DW, it's fine w/ me. I'll just be happy if I can build it successfully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pitimany Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 You make very good poit about DW, and it is "build it successfully". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt.watch.obsessive Posted June 13, 2007 Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 On the road, but I have replacement wheels for both 31 and 15 movements. Can compare sizes when I return. Thurs. I spent $39 before remembering the date changes in diferent directions LOL. Cheers, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilty Posted June 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 13, 2007 (edited) Thanks to the advancement of technology I can check if the date disc lines up with the dial in the digital world. I got a scan from the seller. I also scanned a spare date disc that I have. The only problem is, the seller does not have calipers, so I don't have the exact diameter of the dial. Since it is an older DATE dial, I'm guessing the diameter is 26.5mm, so I could be off anywhere from .25mm to .5mm in alignment. It looks pretty damn close and I think my date disc could work with the dial. Anyone out there have a gen 15XX series dial they could easily scan and send to me with exact diameter so I can be 100% sure? Here is the dial with date disc blended in photoshop. looks pretty close to me. keep in mind I didn't rotate the date disc when I layered it to line up perfectly with the window, I'm just checking for diameter. I also did a digital fit with a picture of another dial I pulled from the web. I only adjusted the width, so, the top and bottom looked a bit skewed. Edited June 13, 2007 by stilty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alt.watch.obsessive Posted June 17, 2007 Report Share Posted June 17, 2007 Hi Stilty, The two aftermarket wheels I mentioned above are the exact same size with the numbers in the same position as far as I can tell. I know each fits properly in the respective date/datejust dial. Cheers, Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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