Nightstroker Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 (edited) Does anyone think its possible to take this Tudor and mod it to look like a Rolex sub? Check the CGs......their perfect! I figure that the Tudor movement is fine....probably ETA so no need to swap that. Just insert a quality dial....swap the bezel....replace the second hand and POOF!! Youve got a damn good rep! Too good to be true? Maybe.....not sure. Any ideas? Edited October 18, 2007 by Nightstroker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxmilian Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Well a tudor mini-sub is like 33mm in diameter so I dont know what you should build out of that But the links dont work for me either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Just post the item numbers for us if you can. As far as i know.. the full size tudor sub is the same as the Rolex 1680 except the rehaut on the tudor is shallower?? I alwasy thought it was the same but i know i read here somewhere that its not the same. Anyways.. if you are just swapping the dial then it doesnt matter anyways. You could probably use a good rep dial that might have the same dial feet position.. or you can use a gen dial and grind off the feet and glue it to the movement somehow... Ive seen it done before. Only real problem is that the engravings betweem the lugs would then be incorrect. Its prob not worth it to do unless you happen to have a tudor case or a complete broken watch laying around. It would be cheaper to build an MBW franken 1680 with a gen dial and crown and bezel. You can build a nice franken for $700 or so.. A vintage tudor submariner alone is close to double amount that these days. Lonnie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightstroker Posted October 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Ok...sorry about the bogus ebay links. for some reason cut and paste didnt work out. I put up some pics of the watch. Nice gen crown eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetsons Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 The mod should work fine. Tudors with 1680 and 5513 dials appear near identical to the original. The watch would also be entirely a rlx. I've seen franken Tudors on Ebay and the dial mod doesn't hurt their resale value. I have a vintage Tudor Sub and enjoy wearing it as is. The conversion would be easy enough but the Tudor is different and rarely seen. BTW, no one knows what these watches are anyway regardless of the dial. Tudor Subs were manufactured in three case sizes. You would need the large 40mm case and these are rapidly escalating in value. The other two cases are 33mm and 36mm. The one you pictured looks to be the mini-Sub which is 33mm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightstroker Posted October 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 I knew I was on to something here and it is no surprise to me that this conversion has been done before. Its funny that some people spend hundreds of dollars...maybe even as much as $1000....to create a near gen Rolex rep when you could buy a Tudor that needs LESS modifying and IS genuine. It makes more sense to spend some good bucks on a Tudor and make the mods. Atlease this way you know you are getting a gen case, movement and crown (As long as you are buying from some who has an actual gen tudor). I would be willing to dip $1000 into this if I had extra cash right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 I spent a long time chattting in one of THE vintage Rolex dealers' shop recently. Amongst the rare and valuable beauties on offer (1665, 1655 etc.) was a gorgeous blue-grey dialled Tudor Sub with matching insert and distinctive snowflake hands. Dealer told me this is the first he's had in a long long while but they're slowly becoming more collectable and pricey. Looked like this (top) with blue colour of one below. Personally I think it's just wrong to take such a decent genuine watch and turn it into what effectively would be a rep Sub, case or not. If you do however, you're forgetting you'll need a rep overlay as the Tudors come with standard ETA datewheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carl Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 I don't think that I would ever Bubba-ize a gen Tudor, especially one that looked that good. If you want a great sub rep, just buy one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightstroker Posted October 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 Ive been crawling all over the net looking for Tudors. They are much more expensive that I thought. The stuff on ebay was a little misleading I suppose. I guess it might be worth doing a Tudor - Rolex conversion (Tudex!!) if I could find an old Tudor at a reasonable price. One with broken movement would be a perfect candidate. Ill keep looking and if I do find one ill be sure to let everyone know. I do own some reps by the way......they just have the basic flaws that only people like us would notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tmg Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 NS, Tudor mini-subs are usually in the $700 - $900 range while the full size Tud subs are anywhere from $1500 - $2400 depending on the style; gilt dials and snow flakes commanding higher prices. If you want a fullsize sub auction houses or Timezone are probably your best bet for a fair price. My Tudor 7016/0 below was selling for between $1400 - $1800 a year and a half ago, now most I see are starting at $2200 - $2400. They're all going up in value. I couldn't bring myself to convert a Tudor sub, why destroy the integrity of the watch. They're cool in their own right -just my .02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dizzy Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 i had a great full size tudor sub years ago.. i bought it for $400 and sold it 3 years later for $600... wow i should have kept it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lumpy Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 I spent a long time chattting in one of THE vintage Rolex dealers' shop recently. Amongst the rare and valuable beauties on offer (1665, 1655 etc.) was a gorgeous blue-grey dialled Tudor Sub with matching insert and distinctive snowflake hands. Dealer told me this is the first he's had in a long long while but they're slowly becoming more collectable and pricey. Looked like this (top) with blue colour of one below. Personally I think it's just wrong to take such a decent genuine watch and turn it into what effectively would be a rep Sub, case or not. If you do however, you're forgetting you'll need a rep overlay as the Tudors come with standard ETA datewheels. if the caseback of the blue dial tudor has mn76 or some such engraved on it you should go back and nab it. blue dial+snowflake hands+MN76 =FRENCH NAVY ISSUE...getting more and more valuable. this is sort of a grail watch for me...i really want a gen blue dial navy issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POTR Posted October 20, 2007 Report Share Posted October 20, 2007 Gee, I'm sorry I missed this thread... I would never hack a Tudor, that hadn't already been hacked. BUT, I did see a hacked one that I was flirting with, put a low bid on it to keep track of it...... Had I known you were looking I would have posted the link so you could've bought it. Best franken I have seen in a while... because it was unique. I probably wouldn't have changed it myself, and I don't think too many people realized what it was. Why? Because it was a Tudor Sub cased, hi-beat ZODIAC SST, and it sold for a little more than $200. Forum, may I present to you the ZODOR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellomen Posted October 21, 2007 Report Share Posted October 21, 2007 I am buying a tudor submariner no date... and maybe i can get a second one. If someone is interested, sent me a PM... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POTR Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 OOO, very, very nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.