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Cheap Vintage 1655 Steve McQueen build

watchguyusa1

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1/10/06
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Boca Raton Florida USA
Hello all!
I wanted to share a inexpensive build that came out fairly nice and pretty darn accurate, although this is not quite as nice as some others "Mega-budget" projects , but for a fraction of the $$ ? Ill take this any day! this cost around 200 bucks and you could build a franken for far more, I hope this will inspire others to think that cheap does not actually mean inaccurate , and yes you could install a gen crown,gen this gen that but all that $$ get you only another 1-2 % to a gen? doesn't make much sense to me
BTW I owned a gen 1655 a few years back ,and although it isn't in my hand right this second to compare to this? as memory serves me correct this is scary close
cost:
cartel 21j 1655 : $135.00 + $25.00 postage
DW bezel with flat "4" Free (although the outer diameter is a hair to small)
aftermarket crystal $15.00 (IDK the source of this one)
aftermarket rivet band $45 from rafflestime(although this came with a nice folded link band that is accurate to this model)
gen spec 2mm springbars $8.00 (not yet installed)
TOTAL : $228.00

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SOLEX

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A fine example of an awesome watch!

Enjoy
 

Mendota

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16/10/08
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MN
Very nice piece and it's reassuring to see that you can assemble a great piece like this without having to break the bank.
 

Bonesey

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15/1/11
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Nice, I've done a couple of these 21j 1665's and they can come out pretty nice with a bit of work.

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watchguyusa1

I'm Pretty Popular
1/10/06
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Boca Raton Florida USA
very nice bonesey! as usual! can I ask what bezel you used? looks great with the proper "4" looks great without the cyclops too, kinda cleans up the dial a bit since its a bit busy to begin with! I would love to send you a dial to lume one day as that is the only mod I haven't been able to do yet!
what was the base watch? cartel like mine or the one that timeshop sells?
 

SSTEEL

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Congrats, now thats is indeed impressive for the price mate:D
 

Bonesey

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very nice bonesey! as usual! can I ask what bezel you used? looks great with the proper "4" looks great without the cyclops too, kinda cleans up the dial a bit since its a bit busy to begin with! I would love to send you a dial to lume one day as that is the only mod I haven't been able to do yet!
what was the base watch? cartel like mine or the one that timeshop sells?

That's two different watches in those shots. Both were based on Narikaa 21j specials. Only issue I had was that the datewindow wasn't rolex spec so the mag on the crystal was a little too the left. I solved that on the other one by removing the mag as you can see. Nothing was changed apart from the crystal and the usual cosmetic mods to both.
 

mclarendude

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Love it! Did the rivet bracelet came with the Rolex clasp?


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk
 

mclarendude

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yes you can ask Ken at rafflestime to send you one with the clasp, and you can also buy from his ebay auctions and add a note to change out the clasp for a "branded" version

Thank you!




Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk
 

Mendota

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MN
That's two different watches in those shots. Both were based on Narikaa 21j specials. Only issue I had was that the datewindow wasn't rolex spec so the mag on the crystal was a little too the left. I solved that on the other one by removing the mag as you can see. Nothing was changed apart from the crystal and the usual cosmetic mods to both.

How did you remove the cyclops from an acrylic crystal? I thought this wasn't possible or are you using sapphire? Do they make a sapphire equivalent of a T19 by any chance?
 

tr573

Renowned Member
17/10/11
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How did you remove the cyclops from an acrylic crystal? I thought this wasn't possible or are you using sapphire? Do they make a sapphire equivalent of a T19 by any chance?

Sandpaper :)

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 

Bonesey

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I started with diamon files, then different grades of sandpaper all the way up to 2000 grit, then polywatch to polish the crystal back up.