Most of you probably know me from my various AP 15400 franken builds and modern (5 digit) Rolex builds. Compared to those builds, this marks the start of a journey which I have never undertaken. I was fortunate enough to come across a bunch of gen parts for a Rolex 6263 Daytona Sigma Dial. In fact, the watch was complete minus a few things. The watch just arrived today to me and it's currently in pieces.
The plan for this watch is to clean everything, but not polish anything. The most difficult part of the build will be piecing together the movement and keeping it 100% gen Rolex. I'm looking forward to this build though it will probably be a long and complicated journey, and of course expensive. The watch when completed will be worth around $60,000-$70,000, though it represents more than that as it is a piece of Rolex history.
Here is what I'm currently working with.
The entire lot:
Crown and pushers:
Movement parts:
As you can see the movement is completely dissembled. There is some part of the movement that the dial is sitting on that can be seen here:
It's clear that most of the movement is here. I'm not sure how much is really present because I've never worked on a movement like this, but it appears as though most of the parts are there. However, a couple people have advised me to just buy a Valjoux 72 movement of eBay and use whatever spare parts I need from that movement, since the Rolex movement is based off of it. Realistically, I could get one of these movements for $2000. Any advice is welcome here, since I'm not sure if this is the best route or just sourcing the parts I need individually - though this might not be possible because they're so rare.
Here's another problem - The balance wheel. It appears to have gotten damaged shipping. I hope that my watchmaker will be able to fix it, it doesn't look damaged beyond repair in my opinion.
Here is the bracelet. I am debating leaving it as it is. It is pretty stretched, but not too bad. However, I may look into getting restored once the build is done and I see how it is on the watch.
Finally, here is the rest of the watch.
There's a lot of work ahead of me for this build, and I haven't really undertaken anything like this. Any advice is welcome from the community.
This thread will be updated as things progress with the build, hopefully culminating with the completion of the watch eventually.
Update here: https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...sigma-dial-build-thread?p=7275977#post7275977
The plan for this watch is to clean everything, but not polish anything. The most difficult part of the build will be piecing together the movement and keeping it 100% gen Rolex. I'm looking forward to this build though it will probably be a long and complicated journey, and of course expensive. The watch when completed will be worth around $60,000-$70,000, though it represents more than that as it is a piece of Rolex history.
Here is what I'm currently working with.
The entire lot:
Crown and pushers:
Movement parts:
As you can see the movement is completely dissembled. There is some part of the movement that the dial is sitting on that can be seen here:
It's clear that most of the movement is here. I'm not sure how much is really present because I've never worked on a movement like this, but it appears as though most of the parts are there. However, a couple people have advised me to just buy a Valjoux 72 movement of eBay and use whatever spare parts I need from that movement, since the Rolex movement is based off of it. Realistically, I could get one of these movements for $2000. Any advice is welcome here, since I'm not sure if this is the best route or just sourcing the parts I need individually - though this might not be possible because they're so rare.
Here's another problem - The balance wheel. It appears to have gotten damaged shipping. I hope that my watchmaker will be able to fix it, it doesn't look damaged beyond repair in my opinion.
Here is the bracelet. I am debating leaving it as it is. It is pretty stretched, but not too bad. However, I may look into getting restored once the build is done and I see how it is on the watch.
Finally, here is the rest of the watch.
There's a lot of work ahead of me for this build, and I haven't really undertaken anything like this. Any advice is welcome from the community.
This thread will be updated as things progress with the build, hopefully culminating with the completion of the watch eventually.
Update here: https://forum.replica-watch.info/fo...sigma-dial-build-thread?p=7275977#post7275977