Welp…posted this baby for sale, and it didn’t go anywhere. So, I decided to modify it more to my liking.
Mods since sales post:
- Genuine bezel ring and click spring to go with the gen retaining ring - the mechanism now is amazing!!
- Gen 16800 Blue Tritium insert
- Steel Reef adjustable link (really nice to have the micro adjustment)
Last pic is the before. Love this build, and now I’ll keep her.
Working on a birth year 1665 viet build, and it’s the first time modifying a case. The crown guards were already shaped for me based on reference photos, but I wanted to change a few things. All the work was thinning the crown guard profiles in the front to back dimension. Overall I’m satisfied with it being a first. You’ll notice the internal shape was a little asymmetrical from the start. I used a metal hand file and finished with a Bergeon 2290 polishing stick - took forever but didn’t want to overdo it with a rotary tool or belt grinder. Photos show before and after of each view.
Hoping to finish this week with a new crystal and other gen components. Will share specs then. Happy Sunday!
Sharing this in case anyone with a sapphire crystal has developed any scratches on it. This worked really well on my 16600 BP. The right side of the crystal had some light scratches.
I didn’t use the wooden applicator stick with the buffing fabrics. Since it was a flat crystal, I buffed it upside down onto a dried Zeiss lens wipe with the repair and polishing pastes. Worked really well on the relatively light (but noticeable) scratches. Would recommend removing the bezel if you do this. It’s a good, cheap solution for a sapphire crystal.
Presenting my 1680 blue nipple(service dial) build in SS.
This is a 90% gen build with viet midcase/bezel ring and aftermarket 580 end links. I’m newer to rep watches in general as of around November last year and have fallen in love with modding/building.
I love the juxtaposition of luxury components in a utilitarian build that I can wear the hell out of, and I fully plan to do so with this one. Thanks to everyone who helped troubleshoot and encouraged me with this build. This isn’t the end of this watch. I’m working through making this a fantasy build with a stainless steel insert - that is in the works and will post updates. In the meantime enjoy the photos.
Components list:
1575 movement, genuine: service dial, tritium yg hand set (lost seconds hand lume) champagne date disc, retaining ring, top hat acrylic, bezel insert with serifs, 7030 tube, 704 crown, caseback, 93150 bracelet
MQ midcase and bezel ring
Oysters Jubilee 580 end links
Presenting my 1680 blue nipple(service dial) build in SS.
This is a 90% gen build with viet midcase/bezel ring and aftermarket 580 end links. I’m newer to rep watches in general as of around November last year and have fallen in love with modding/building.
I love the juxtaposition of luxury components in a utilitarian build that I can wear the hell out of, and I fully plan to do so with this one. Thanks to everyone who helped troubleshoot and encouraged me with this build. This isn’t the end of this watch. I’m working through making this a fantasy build with a stainless steel insert - that is in the works and will post updates. In the meantime enjoy the photos.
Components list:
1575 movement, genuine: service dial, tritium yg hand set (lost seconds hand lume) champagne date disc, retaining ring, top hat acrylic, bezel insert with serifs, 7030 tube, 704 crown, caseback, 93150 bracelet
MQ midcase and bezel ring
Oysters Jubilee 580 end links
Presenting my 1680 blue nipple(service dial) build in SS.
This is a 90% gen build with viet midcase/bezel ring and aftermarket 580 end links. I’m newer to rep watches in general as of around November last year and have fallen in love with modding/building.
I love the juxtaposition of luxury components in a utilitarian build that I can wear the hell out of, and I fully plan to do so with this one. Thanks to everyone who helped troubleshoot and encouraged me with this build. This isn’t the end of this watch. I’m working through making this a fantasy build with a stainless steel insert - that is in the works and will post updates. In the meantime enjoy the photos.
Components list:
1575 movement, genuine: service dial, tritium yg hand set (lost seconds hand lume) champagne date disc, retaining ring, top hat acrylic, bezel insert with serifs, 7030 tube, 704 crown, caseback, 93150 bracelet
MQ midcase and bezel ring
Oysters Jubilee 580 end links
Presenting my 1680 blue nipple(service dial) build in SS.
This is a 90% gen build with viet midcase/bezel ring and aftermarket 580 end links. I’m newer to rep watches in general as of around November last year and have fallen in love with modding/building.
I love the juxtaposition of luxury components in a utilitarian build that I can wear the hell out of, and I fully plan to do so with this one. Thanks to everyone who helped troubleshoot and encouraged me with this build. This isn’t the end of this watch. I’m working through making this a fantasy build with a stainless steel insert - that is in the works and will post updates. In the meantime enjoy the photos.
Components list:
1575 movement, genuine: service dial, tritium yg hand set (lost seconds hand lume) champagne date disc, retaining ring, top hat acrylic, bezel insert with serifs, 7030 tube, 704 crown, caseback, 93150 bracelet
MQ midcase and bezel ring
Oysters Jubilee 580 end links
Builds are finally starting to come together after months of sourcing parts. I’ve always been a fan of this dial. Wearing this on the VF bracelet until I decide if I’ll keep it (I have a gen jubilee at the ready that I polished)
Build: VR base. Gen: dial (a bit of damage), hand set, date disc, crystal, smooth bezel.
Aside from the bracelet, I have a genuine crown and tube set that will need some work to fit into the VR case I believe. Not something I’m comfortable with so at the moment will keep the stock crown.
Love it for now although I’m into sport models more at the moment. More to come…
Just finished putting a 124273 (yellow gold two-tone) dial into my Explorer 36. I daily the Explorer and absolutely love it. But I love a watch with a warmer dial so playing around with the dial and bezel (yg plated or ss).
The build has a gen dial, hands, crown tube, gold crown and crystal (crystal not necessary- vsf is quite good). Other explorer is stock vsf. Final conclusion for me is if I want to wear it as a daily, I’ll go with the stainless bezel with gold crown and get rid of the 124270. I like this look. I’ll wear this for a while and decide the final configuration. Never loved the two-tone bracelet.
tldr: reduced the diameter of the manipulate of a DD3135 to fit a gen 16014 case and subsequently widened the internal diameter of the crown tube to get the stem to seat. Work in progress. first time doing any major modifications
Here's my first build with any modifications on a 16014. Wanted to try my hand at putting this together with some parts I'd acquired over the last several months from other assemblies. Two major mods needed to fit a DD3135 movement into a gen 16014 case: 1) minimizing the diameter of the main plate to fit within the case, and 2) opening up the crown tube to create space for the crown stem.
The movement would not seat completely within the case. I'd read the options were to modify the case, including the caseback, or modify the movement. I opted for the latter. I used a Dremel to reduce the perimeter by a significant amount, to the extent that the external surface of the tapped hole for the retention screws was almost obliterated. You can see that in the photos. This created a ton of metal debris.
After this, the movement and the crown tube did not align. I could not seat the crown stem within the movement. Again, used a Dremel while the crown tube was inserted to increase the internal diameter. I think eventually, the crown may become damaged because although there is enough room for the crown stem, the crown and crown tube are not in complete alignment - for now they work. I'll need to disassemble the entire movement to clean it. This will also be the first time I do this. At that time, I'll polish the main plate edges. Didn't take many photos of the process, but hopefully these help someone with a similar build
Dial and date wheel don't align; for now I'm okay with this.
Components:
Gen: 16014 case; 3035 dial and handset(minute hand damaged); 3135 date wheel; crown and tube, bracelet
DD 3135 movement, Clark crystal, u/Mr_TikToc bezel