- 4/4/09
- 2,140
- 92
- 48
I've been waiting for the release of this one since March, when I first heard that DW was planning a 7032 case set for May. That was one long summer! But it was worth the wait, because the end result was a relatively affordable Tudor Oysterdate chronograph aka "Home Plate" aka "Monte Carlo". To be precise, it's only affordable relative to offerings from J&W, NDT, and Yuki. It's still a pricey project to undertake, but DW's achievement was to peg the minimum total cost below $900. A complete 7032 from the others could easily run for more than double that. If you're an eBay ace and go easy on the genuine bits, you could conceivably put a watch together for as little as $600-700. Which, again, will sound very expensive to most people.
Normal people.
But for some of us, that counts as a $@%^# bargain!
This isn't a review of the DW 7032, but a few pictures and a rundown of work done, and work that remains to be done. But my early impressions of the rep are very positive.
Movement: Here's where the most work needs to be done. The 7734 I have is in good shape, though every now and then the minute counter resets to 43.5 or 42. That's a clue to the bigger problem: tthe movement is geared for a 30-minute counter. It's not a fatal flaw, and not something that is easily detected, but it's sufficiently annoying for anyone who wants a full replication of the gen's functions. I've ordered parts to attempt a conversion, but I'm not sure if it will work. Even if the 30- to 45-minute conversion is successful, it is not a cheap way of sourcing a proper movement.
Hands: DW's three main hands were replaced with items from Classic Watch Parts. In stark contrast to the excellent dial, DW's handset is surprisingly off. Both the hour and minute hands are too long, and have lumed areas that are too small and too far from the center. DW's sweep hand has too short a tail and is noticeably more reddish than the 5-10-minute sector. The CWP hands are not perfect, but they are a big improvement.
Dial: I wanted the home plates to both match the color of the CWP handset, and to match the look of genuine examples. If you look at 7031/7032s being sold online, you'll notice that the tritium often looks as if it was applied by a developmentally challenged monkey on his fifth cup of coffee. So I decided to do it myself. At one point, most of the markers were neatly lumed, as I had figured out a way to corral the drying, gummy, lume within the plates. Unfortunately, I packed the dial a bit too tightly for its trip to the watchsmith, and ended up with a bunch of squashed markers. I was despondent, but when I rechecked my pictures of gen Monte Carlos, the markers looked about right!
Crown: The rep crown from DW is actually rather nice, with a well defined coronet and solid feel. Unfortunately, I couldn't use it as DW had sent a tube that would only accept a 703. Gen Triplock it is.
Bracelet: Thanks to the great experience I had on my last 1016 project, I ordered another rep 7836 from Watch International. Getting the endlinks between the lugs was a brutal experience for my thumbs, but they're in. Inside them are 2mm bars from Yukiwatch, which is another plus for Mary's 7836. Yuki's own 7836 will only take bars as wide as 1.8mm.
What's left to do? Aside from the movement conversion, I'm looking to change the crystal, but I'm loath to pay $350 for a genuine C128. After all, I can already play all of my favorite games on my Commodore 64! (Little computer joke for you little computer people out there.) I would like to experiment on cheaper alternatives, maybe even crystals without magnifiers. There are a few other tweaks I have in mind, but I'll save those for the final post.
