- 25/10/18
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Howdy,
some time ago I had the idea to realize a 1675 GMT Master High-End Build with Gen Caliber 1575 GMT. Basis of this build was a Milk case set and a Gen 1575 GMT caliber. For the dial, I used a VN dial, available as "refinished", singer stamped. The hand set was also Gen, of course Tritium Lume.
TomRep reworked the case and Ben Welte finally assembled everything, so that I ended up with a really convincing 1675 GMT Master Build. Well, the crown guards could have been a bit slimmer, but that didn't really matter, I liked the watch.
After some time I wanted to have a more modern GMT Master Build in my collection and I realized one based on a VN 16710 case set, which was also reworked by Tom. The result convinced me and I was, despite the VR 3186 clone movement, happier with the "modern" GMT Master II build than with the optically very similar 1675 GMT Master.
Since the movement, despite being freshly serviced before assembly, unfortunately also started to run unreliably I decided to abandon this build.
So what to do? Give the movement to the watchmaker and then sell the watch as it was? That would somehow not be me, since I already wanted to keep the Gen Caliber. However, it was also clear to me that I liked the 16710 with Clone movement better than the very nice 1675 with Gen caliber. I could tell by the lack of date quickset on the old movement, also by the fact that the hour and GMT hands do not work independently.
So I was looking for an option that would allow me to continue using the Gen caliber and still have another very nice watch to call my own. And as fate would have it, I saw a wonderful 1655 Explorer II, aka "Steve McQueen" the days.
I knew that the wonderful people in Vietnam also had case sets for the 1655 Ex II in their program, but when I saw their dials and hand sets I instinctively knew what to do ...
Case has been polished by a guy who is specialized in Vintage Daytonas and also some small marks have been made that the watch looks authentic for a 40 + years old watch.
The watch is still at the builder, but my anticipation is already gigantic.
some time ago I had the idea to realize a 1675 GMT Master High-End Build with Gen Caliber 1575 GMT. Basis of this build was a Milk case set and a Gen 1575 GMT caliber. For the dial, I used a VN dial, available as "refinished", singer stamped. The hand set was also Gen, of course Tritium Lume.
TomRep reworked the case and Ben Welte finally assembled everything, so that I ended up with a really convincing 1675 GMT Master Build. Well, the crown guards could have been a bit slimmer, but that didn't really matter, I liked the watch.
After some time I wanted to have a more modern GMT Master Build in my collection and I realized one based on a VN 16710 case set, which was also reworked by Tom. The result convinced me and I was, despite the VR 3186 clone movement, happier with the "modern" GMT Master II build than with the optically very similar 1675 GMT Master.
Since the movement, despite being freshly serviced before assembly, unfortunately also started to run unreliably I decided to abandon this build.
So what to do? Give the movement to the watchmaker and then sell the watch as it was? That would somehow not be me, since I already wanted to keep the Gen Caliber. However, it was also clear to me that I liked the 16710 with Clone movement better than the very nice 1675 with Gen caliber. I could tell by the lack of date quickset on the old movement, also by the fact that the hour and GMT hands do not work independently.
So I was looking for an option that would allow me to continue using the Gen caliber and still have another very nice watch to call my own. And as fate would have it, I saw a wonderful 1655 Explorer II, aka "Steve McQueen" the days.
I knew that the wonderful people in Vietnam also had case sets for the 1655 Ex II in their program, but when I saw their dials and hand sets I instinctively knew what to do ...
Case has been polished by a guy who is specialized in Vintage Daytonas and also some small marks have been made that the watch looks authentic for a 40 + years old watch.
The watch is still at the builder, but my anticipation is already gigantic.
