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16520 El Primero, question regarding my viet case

jcher

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Hi guys,

I'm currently building a daytona 16520 zenith and yesterday I received my viet gen specs case for it. However, it looks strange to me and especially the bezel as it doesn't sit on the case.
Might I ask you for some feedbacks as the case was quite pricey? (hopefully I'm posting in the right sub forum)

Thanks in advance :)

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The engraving reads R900969:

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I wasn't expecting the bezel to sit like this on the case :

IMG_40530cfe5c3ebe441877.jpg
 

tripdog

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Not gen' spec', looks eBay spec'.
 

jcher

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tripdog hi,

Thanks for your feedback on the 16520's case, I was stupid enough not doing my homework and go for a quick deal. I haven't tried to install the Zenith movement in the case and hopefully it'll fit else I would be out of 1000€...

Alternatively, if the movement does fit as advertised would my best option to change the bezel as I can't return it to the seller?

Thanks for your help!

Btw, I was under the impression you spoke french, was I correct?

J.
 

JohnnyBe

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Since i did a 16520 build as well,
you should consider a gen bezel,this one is nowhere near gen spec.
The case is ok,it needs some reworking though.
Please invest in a gen bezel,gen 703 crown,phong pushers,phong hands, cal.400 and a gen dial an this will look sick.
Other than that try finding a gen 2100 caseback,because this one is way too thick or maybe try finding a caseback from Noob 4130 daytona.
 
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jcher

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Since i did a 16520 build as well,
you should consider a gen bezel,this one is nowhere near gen spec.
The case is ok,it needs some reworking though.
Please invest in a gen bezel,gen 703 crown,phong pushers,phong hands, cal.400 and a gen dial an this will look sick.
Other than that try finding a gen 2100 caseback,because this one is way too thick or maybe try finding a caseback from Noob 4130 daytona.

Thanks mate! Great info there!

I already have the cal. 400 and I have ordered from Phong :
-Dial (for now, might go GEN if I was to find one not too expensive)
-Pushers
-Hands

Looking forward!
 
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JohnnyBe

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Thanks mate! Great info there!

I already have the cal. 400 and I have ordered from Phong :
-Dial (for now, might go GEN if I was to find one not too expensive)
-Pushers
-Hands

Looking forward!

For me the dial of 16520 is the whole beuaty of the build.Unfortunately Phong's dial didnt do it for me and after one month i ve ordered a gen 16520 dial.
The chances of finding a cheap 16520 gen dial are zero to none at the moment.
You ll be lucky finding one around 1.5k..
 

jcher

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For me the dial of 16520 is the whole beuaty of the build.Unfortunately Phong's dial didnt do it for me and after one month i ve ordered a gen 16520 dial.
The chances of finding a cheap 16520 gen dial are zero to none at the moment.
You ll be lucky finding one around 1.5k..

So now, I finally manage to source everything (almost) :)

I have a gen dial (NOS), gen hands (NOS), gen crown, gen tube, gen bezel (NOS mark 6), gen crystal and the Zenith el primero.

Questions:

1) I read somewhere that the gen hands won't fit the Zenith 400 - is that true?
2) Where to find a good aftermarket band ?

Thanks
J
 

JohnnyBe

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So now, I finally manage to source everything (almost) :)

I have a gen dial (NOS), gen hands (NOS), gen crown, gen tube, gen bezel (NOS mark 6), gen crystal and the Zenith el primero.

Questions:

1) I read somewhere that the gen hands won't fit the Zenith 400 - is that true?
2) Where to find a good aftermarket band ?

Thanks
J

For the bracelet i would go for a JF 16610 bracelet and have the midlinks polished,for clasp you could get a rafflesdial clasp for around 20$.Of course you could get a gen bracelet with clasp which would be lot more than 2k..Im sugggesting the cheaper option.
Also manage to find a 2100 caseback from the noob 116520 because the caseback of the viet cases is way too thick,or quote phong to see what he has.

Regarding the hands i dont remember but i think they fit,even if they dont a good watchsmith could mod it to fit.
 
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jcher

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For the bracelet i would go for a JF 16610 bracelet and have the midlinks polished,for clasp you could get a rafflesdial clasp for around 20$.Of course you could get a gen bracelet with clasp which would be lot more than 2k..Im sugggesting the cheaper option.
Also manage to find a 2100 caseback from the noob 116520 because the caseback of the viet cases is way too thick,or quote phong to see what he has.

Regarding the hands i dont remember but i think they fit,even if they dont a good watchsmith could mod it to fit.

Super, thanks for the appreciated feedback :)

I forgot to mention but I manage to also source a gen caseback. This build is going to be awesome :)!


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Dizzy

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Wow this is going to be a fantastic build. Can’t wait to see it finished!
 

jcher

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Wow this is going to be a fantastic build. Can’t wait to see it finished!

Hi

Thanks :)

however it isn't as straightforward as I thought it would...

As previously written, for my build's specs:
- ruby 16520's case (complete),
- zenith 400 (Ebel 134),
- GEN dial
- GEN crystal
- GEN bezel
- GEN back case
- GEN tube
- GEN crown
- phong's hands (I have a spare set of GEN hands too)

Unfortunately, I have couple of issues:
1) it seems that the chrono pushers are too long hence I can't fit the movement in the case properly
2) phong hands won't fit

Any recommendations on the above?

Thanks in advance :)
 
Last edited:

jcher

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Here are some pictures:

Screen-Shot-2020-06-09-at-18.35.0490b44a5cd7b4e16e.png

IMG_5681243bd920e5155a3a.jpg
 

tripdog

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Check that the tubes of those pushers are screwed in fully - there's a slot in there to tighten them. If they're already screwed down, then you'll have to remove some metal from the ends - but with the pushers in place because you'll be taking off the slots in the ends.

Phong hands never fit - for $200+ you'de think they would fit, but no, they never do. They need to be broached.
 
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QueTip

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Check that the tubes of those pushers are screwed in fully - there's a slot in there to tighten them. If they're already screwed down, then you'll have to remove some metal from the ends - but with the pushers in place because you'll be taking off the slots in the ends.

Phong hands never fit - for $200+ you'de think they would fit, but no, they never do. They need to be broached.

What he said
 
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jcher

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Check that the tubes of those pushers are screwed in fully - there's a slot in there to tighten them. If they're already screwed down, then you'll have to remove some metal from the ends - but with the pushers in place because you'll be taking off the slots in the ends.

Phong hands never fit - for $200+ you'de think they would fit, but no, they never do. They need to be broached.

Thank you very much guys :) I'll try that and let you know ! I'm so looking forward to complete this project that took me months of sourcing
 

jcher

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Check that the tubes of those pushers are screwed in fully - there's a slot in there to tighten them. If they're already screwed down, then you'll have to remove some metal from the ends - but with the pushers in place because you'll be taking off the slots in the ends.

Phong hands never fit - for $200+ you'de think they would fit, but no, they never do. They need to be broached.

My watch smith says that he can't get it to work out even following your recommendations. He now blames the tubes' diameters.. Moreover the phong hands holes are apparently to big... :-( :-(
 

jcher

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so close, yet so far...

On the 3rd and 4th pictures you can see that the movement doesn't fit correctly as the pushers are too long. However could the heigh of the movement be incorrect (EBEL 134 - zenith 400)?

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dropbea2007

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Pushers look like 626x pushers, not 16520. Only handled gen 16520 pushers, but I cannot imagine the aftermarket would be so far off.