- 3/3/20
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As a hobbyist watchmaker, every once in a while, I receive a project request of exceptional taste, beauty and importance and as some of you may know, I have a particular soft spot for the vintage 4-digit Daytonas.
I had the pleasure to meet Tphilip - through a certain online auction platform of all places - and what came to be was a truly unique build with many technical and aestetic challenges, that rivaled most if not all that I have worked on for someone else this far.
The central task was to give a unique authentic 6240 Small Daytona silver Soleil dial a new body with a beating heart and it was complimented in conclusion by Tphilip and me with the most breathtaking set of build stats any vintage enthusiast could wish for:
- authentic 6240 Small Daytona Panda dial MK1
- authentic acrylic bezel MK1
- authentic Millerighe MK0 pusher
- authentic 700 crown and tube
- authentic hour, minute and slim MK1 hour counter hand
- authentic US Jubilee bracelet
- Phong 6240 mid case and caseback
- Girard Perregaux Valjoux 72 converted to Rolex Cal. 72B
- custom made MK1 slim running seconds, minute counter & main chronograph hands by me
Build notes:
To match the beautiful exterior, we decided to make the hidden internals an equally pleasing vintage Rolex experience. The Girard Perregaux movement has been serviced and functionally and aestetically converted to a Rolex Cal. 72B with a freesprung balance assembly with Microstella regulation on the balance wheel and a Kif antishock system, a Rolex trainwheel bridge and a Rolex chronograph runner bridge. All chronograph wheels have been hand-plated by me in 18kt rosegold. The result is not perfectly accurate just yet, I will soon revisit the project and reshape the main chronograph bridge, reset the case screw plots at their right places and remove the Valjoux engraving underneath the balance wheel including a „72B“ engraving to be added and finally adding the correct 5-line chronograph runner bridge.
The MK1 hands set for the 6239 and 6240 Daytonas is identified by the hair-thin running seconds, the swordlike thin counter hands and the thin running chronograph hand with a very short tip. The existing authentic hands have been completed by me with a running seconds, minute counter and running chronograph hand, made and shaped from scratch and with white enameled tips and black Rhodium plated - no incorrect paint but correctly blackened steel.
What is left to say after the technical nitty-bitty? I am honored that I had the pleasure to bring together and contribute my own creativity to a true beauty - with scars and battle wounds, a piece that exhales soul and history and has been brought back to life in a cohesive unit to be enjoyed for many more years to come. My thanks go to Tphilip for the trust and I’m saying goodbye for now, sending this special piece across an ocean - to see her again soon.
To be continued...
I had the pleasure to meet Tphilip - through a certain online auction platform of all places - and what came to be was a truly unique build with many technical and aestetic challenges, that rivaled most if not all that I have worked on for someone else this far.
The central task was to give a unique authentic 6240 Small Daytona silver Soleil dial a new body with a beating heart and it was complimented in conclusion by Tphilip and me with the most breathtaking set of build stats any vintage enthusiast could wish for:
- authentic 6240 Small Daytona Panda dial MK1
- authentic acrylic bezel MK1
- authentic Millerighe MK0 pusher
- authentic 700 crown and tube
- authentic hour, minute and slim MK1 hour counter hand
- authentic US Jubilee bracelet
- Phong 6240 mid case and caseback
- Girard Perregaux Valjoux 72 converted to Rolex Cal. 72B
- custom made MK1 slim running seconds, minute counter & main chronograph hands by me
Build notes:
To match the beautiful exterior, we decided to make the hidden internals an equally pleasing vintage Rolex experience. The Girard Perregaux movement has been serviced and functionally and aestetically converted to a Rolex Cal. 72B with a freesprung balance assembly with Microstella regulation on the balance wheel and a Kif antishock system, a Rolex trainwheel bridge and a Rolex chronograph runner bridge. All chronograph wheels have been hand-plated by me in 18kt rosegold. The result is not perfectly accurate just yet, I will soon revisit the project and reshape the main chronograph bridge, reset the case screw plots at their right places and remove the Valjoux engraving underneath the balance wheel including a „72B“ engraving to be added and finally adding the correct 5-line chronograph runner bridge.
The MK1 hands set for the 6239 and 6240 Daytonas is identified by the hair-thin running seconds, the swordlike thin counter hands and the thin running chronograph hand with a very short tip. The existing authentic hands have been completed by me with a running seconds, minute counter and running chronograph hand, made and shaped from scratch and with white enameled tips and black Rhodium plated - no incorrect paint but correctly blackened steel.
What is left to say after the technical nitty-bitty? I am honored that I had the pleasure to bring together and contribute my own creativity to a true beauty - with scars and battle wounds, a piece that exhales soul and history and has been brought back to life in a cohesive unit to be enjoyed for many more years to come. My thanks go to Tphilip for the trust and I’m saying goodbye for now, sending this special piece across an ocean - to see her again soon.
To be continued...
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