bertieng Posted March 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 Thanks for all the compliments. Never expected my post will attract so many feedbacks. Building the 6538 takes lots of research and patience, and even more.......finance. Reasons for going for the Bond 6538 are two: 1) Deep inspiration of the film clip 2) A vinatge that needs minimal mods and yet not as popular as the 5513, 1680 etc, and the 8mm crown is something so rarely seen in other Subs And that's how the whole story begins................ By going through many documentations, it is quite tedious to come to know there can be quite a number of variations for the 6538, and since the one shown in the Bond movie was so sexy, so I took it as the reference for my project. The first obstacle is the watch base/bezel/insert. NDT seems to be almost the only one offering the correct case spec, and that's the starting point. Once you go for their case, be prepared you have to build the watch with gen. parts coz that's what it will only accept. Movement got to be the cal.1030 with slow beat w/o hacking. Fitting in the movement was where the nightmare begins. Bear in mind the NDT case is a true 1:1 dimension ie. the inner diameter is exactly the size of the movement, the fit is simply too tight giving no room for the movement to move freely when it sits into it. This is no good since you do need to slide the movement around for proper positioning to install the crown/stem. So machine work was needed to enlarge the inner case so slightly to let the movement to slide freely once fitted but not to the extent of wobbling around. Never use the dremel coz you will not be ablt to make micro controls on the grinding. Once this is done, the rest is straight forward. It just takes patience to source and collect all the gen. parts to put the watch into place. It is both true that T17 and T19 can be used in the 6538, it all depends on the year of production. I opt for the T19 superdome. When it comes to the hands, after making all the research, a big bubble second white in colour is the more correct choice. Bezel insert with round fonts w/o the 12-15 markers reference from the Bond watch. I decided to go for the 20mm Nato i/o 18mm since it gives a more balance appearance. Here is a comparison of the T19 superdome on the Sub vs T29 superdome on the SD so you can see the difference. Sub - T19 SD - T39 Still there is a minor flaw on the watch needs to be rectified, can you spot it? Then I will say it is almost 99% accurate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FxrAndy Posted March 17, 2008 Report Share Posted March 17, 2008 Well if you look for a flaw then i would say that as a 6538 it should be an officaily certified chronometre, and mayby a red triangle on the incert, but as you based it in the bond clip, possibly a 5510, then a gilt second hand, but as rolex pretty well built with what they had to hand in a lot of cases it could have either, i do think after looking at many photos the lume could fill the marker lines more but the photos i am looking at have proberbly been relumed during servicing over the last 50 years any way. I think you have a fantastic looking watch that will astound many a collector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klingsor Posted March 18, 2008 Report Share Posted March 18, 2008 Reasons for going for the Bond 6538 are two: 1) Deep inspiration of the film clip 2) A vinatge that needs minimal mods and yet not as popular as the 5513, 1680 etc, and the 8mm crown is something so rarely seen in other Subs a very good work... it was a bit of time that i was away from the forum.... some friends has told to me to come back and see your watch... could you take some pics about the movement inside the case? the only thing i can suggest it's a fine "aging" of the dial.... you can use intense smoke.... or similar.... the dial seems to be more "new" than the yellow hands.... i'm agree about T19... it's a great work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heywood Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Hey Bertie, that's a great looking sub. Congratulations on a job well done! I love the no crown guard subs, and after seeing yours I may have gotten an inspiration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreatheDeep Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 I really like this one After reading the full thread i can appreciate how much work and devotion went into creating it. Absolutely sterling work. If i am not being too forward,could i ask what this watch cost to replicate? Many thanks Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleJay Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 (edited) Well Bert, I can only see that the Bond "Movie" watch doesn't seem to have the outline around the markers and that the seconds hand should be gilt with smaller bubble. Edited March 23, 2008 by UncleJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertieng Posted March 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 To make things clear - the true 6538 has 8mm crown/gilt hands with white big bubble second/Submariner printing in 2 or 4 lines depends on the date of production/T17 or T19 superdome/insert with red triangle and 12 -15 markers printing. So my Bond 6538 is a kind of mix. I put more emphasis on the insert with round fonts and no 12 -15 markers, and 2 lines Sub printing. I also possess the red triangle insert and gilt small bubble second, but I have decided to go for the set up I have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleJay Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 I must agree with your choice of bezel insert....how do I get one? I would like to ask you about the dial, it seems just as in the movie except for the marker outlines.....or am I wrong on that? I too prefer you choice with the seconds hand but would probably use the gilt as it's the one used in the movie, remember my now fameous movie watch fetish. In any case it's superb and I can only hope you offer a few to the community, so put me on the list if there ever is one. Again wear it in the best of health. Ohhhhhh, almost forgot. Please give me your opinion on both the idea and the accuracy of my "Perfect Bond Nato" quest. http://www.rwg.cc/members/index.php?showtopic=69796 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertieng Posted March 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2008 I will say it is difficult to tell from the clip that there are outlines on the hours indices, but from all the researches I have done I am sure the 6538 dial does have them. I doubt it will be possible and honestly not easy to offer a few of this 6538 to the community considering the time needed to source the parts, and the cost...... It took me more than three months to complete this project. As explained all parts have to be gen. once you chose to start with the NDT case. Your Nato project looks fabulous, never realized the colour combination involved until you highlighted it. Personally very much interested if you can have it weaved and available to the community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UncleJay Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 WOW, I should have read this before I got into this Bond project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir-Lancelot Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 That is so nice. I have really enjoyed this thread and have been inspired to plan a no crown guard sub of my own. thank you for sharing. respect to you and wear it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milsub5517 Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 $1600 for case and crown from ND trading 450$ for the dial 1500 movement + hands + labor close to 4K USD.. If i am not being too forward,could i ask what this watch cost to replicate? Many thanks Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoJo35 Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Wow, old post! It was however, an inspiration when I first saw it Here's the results: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fakemaster Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 We were just having a discussion about this watch on RWI. Good job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docdoc Posted September 4, 2008 Report Share Posted September 4, 2008 (edited) So apart from King planning to produce a closed copy of this project is there any other rolex rep that come closed to it? Edited September 4, 2008 by docdoc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligoat Posted September 4, 2008 Report Share Posted September 4, 2008 So apart from King planning to produce a closed copy of this project is there any other rolex rep that come closed to it? Paul, Jay (Silix) and maybe even Josh and Andrew have the inexpensive Bond type no cg's Subs. They're OK, but certainly not on par with the NDT frankens. But keep in mind the cost differential- an NDT franken will run over 2K to build, you can buy a Bond sub from Paul or Silix for $100-250, say. But when you're buying the inexpensive Bond subs, pay attention to the dials- the gilt print can be too green- stick to white print, and the yellow markers can also be a problem- you might need to do a little ageing to make them look more realistic. But they can be fun watches for not much money. Put them on a Nato and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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