Fantasy Custom "Blueberry" Meteorite Rolex GMT Master II

[bezelbandit]

I've attached a few pictures for reference.

I was hoping Rolex would release the two-tone blue bezel for the GMT Master II this year at Watches and Wonders. Alas, they did not, but I wanted one anyway. After a positive experience building a Meteorite Daytona with a TD I'd been working with earlier this year, I tasked him with building a two-tone blue bezel GMT Master II with meteorite dial.

The base of the watch is from ARF factory, which recently released this fantasy bezel. The meteorite dial was sourced by my TD and is genuine meteorite. He assembled and shipped it to me in CONUS. The entire process took less than 4 weeks from start to finish.

The only issue is that the date is slightly askew, which I may take to a local watch servicer to see if it's fixable. It's not a deal-breaker, but I notice it and want the watch to be as perfect as possible.

All in all, I really like the watch. I find the ARF case to be less than perfect (sharp edges) and certainly not up to my VSF/Clean collection standards. Regardless, it's a fantasy watch and it's great to have. I hope you enjoy some of the pictures. I'm not great at taking photos but I try!

 

[GingerBubba]

Jubilee bracelet aside (all jubilee bracelets should be melted down and the molten metal poured into the eyes and ears of the inventor), that looks pretty cool! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bez625]

I think it looks great! I've wanted a meteorite piece for a while, do you mind sharing how much the dial cost?

Also would love to see pics/details of the daytona meteorite piece you had done

 

[bezelbandit]

I think it looks great! I've wanted a meteorite piece for a while, do you mind sharing how much the dial cost?

Also would love to see pics/details of the daytona meteorite piece you had done

Thank you. I think so too. It really is a good looking watch and do hope they make it one day.

The dial was 1800CNY which is about $250USD. I was able to select from about 10 different dials. It was exactly the same process as my Daytona and used the same TD who I have bought 10+\- watches from. Pics below per your request. I think the Daytona Meteorite looks great too!

 

[Reaps]

Very cool build bro. Once you go into fantasy the sky is your limit! Maybe I'll build the same one

 

[Hor-Fan]

Very nice!
Looks like the dial is slightly canted to the right causing the date alignment issue, hopefully your watchmaker can adjust the feet.

 

[KJ2020]

Very nice!
Looks like the dial is slightly canted to the right causing the date alignment issue, hopefully your watchmaker can adjust the feet.

This is exactly right. Unfortunately the insert was taped down off center in the opposite direction also. Something else that can be fixed easily by a competent modder. This watch is too cool not to fix these minor issues!

@bezelbandit
If your watchmaker can't adjust the feet, they can be clipped and the dial simply glued to the date plate. I've done this 6 - 8 times when various issues arise. I use 30 min slow cure epoxy (BSI brand) so there's plenty of time to make minor positional corrections. There are plenty of open areas on the date plate to place small drops or ribbons of glue without fear of them spilling onto important parts or into holes.

Ofc it's more work to remove a dial that's been epoxied on, but sometimes it's the best solution. Dial dots add too much bulk and they don't always make a dial immobile - there can be lateral play with stem operation. Dial dots are especially undesirable with a thick dial like a Meteorite because it reduces available hands post heights.

To get an epoxied dial off, you have to slice through the bond with a razor, then scrape away the glue from both parts. Then wipe with alcohol. The date plate needs to be removed and the datewheel separated before working on it. All this may sound complicated but I've done it several times and it's really not a big deal. 20 minutes and ready to glue again.

Some pics of one I just did. You can get away with a lot less glue, maybe 3 - 4 drops and ribbons. I've gotten bolder the more I do, heh.

After the dial is placed and positioned, I set a die with a cyclops cutout onto the dial hour markers and an old DSSD junk case on top to weight it down while curing.

This lets you see and correct for it if the dial shifts a little either by itself (the dial washer wants to push the dial around, ugh) or if you accidentally nudged it adding the weight parts. You can also cycle through the dates to make sure they are all centered, even with the weight parts in place.

 

[Bez625]

Thank you. I think so too. It really is a good looking watch and do hope they make it one day.

The dial was 1800CNY which is about $250USD. I was able to select from about 10 different dials. It was exactly the same process as my Daytona and used the same TD who I have bought 10+\- watches from. Pics below per your request. I think the Daytona Meteorite looks great too!

Only just saw this reply, thanks so much for the information. Do you mind sharing which TD did the builds?

 

[aHero]

Is this actually custom? I’ve seen a few dealers offer this. Seems to be a stock (fantasy) model offered directly from ARF.

 

[Reaps]

Is this actually custom? I’ve seen a few dealers offer this. Seems to be a stock (fantasy) model offered directly from ARF.

I think it actually is. You may be mistaking it with (OWF) which is completely unrelated, as they use ARF base and add custom shit onto it and rebrand as their own. Seperate to an ARF base + meteorite dial.

 

[aHero]

I think it actually is. You may be mistaking it with (OWF) which is completely unrelated, as they use ARF base and add custom shit onto it and rebrand as their own. Seperate to an ARF base + meteorite dial.

GMT-Master II Blue Ceramic 904L ARF 1:1 Best Edition Meteorite Dial on Jubilee Bracelet SH3285 CHS

puretimewatch88.io

 

[aHero]

I think it actually is. You may be mistaking it with (OWF) which is completely unrelated, as they use ARF base and add custom shit onto it and rebrand as their own. Seperate to an ARF base + meteorite dial.

GMT Master II Blaken Jub 40mm SS/SS Meteorite Dial ARF SH3285

GMT Master II Blaken Jub 40mm SS/SS Meteorite Dial ARF SH3285

www.theonewatches.ws

 

[Reaps]

GMT-Master II Blue Ceramic 904L ARF 1:1 Best Edition Meteorite Dial on Jubilee Bracelet SH3285 CHS

puretimewatch88.io

Oops I stand corrected.

But I still believe it's custom - OP states he got to pick meteorite dial. That doesn't happen with stock models

 

[GingerBubba]

The ARF blueberry is different (very nice though and available from all good TDs now). I grabbed one and I really like it. The ARF blueberry has a two tone ceramic bezel - the way Batman is black and blue, the ARF bezel is dark blue and a lighter blue. The dial is a very, very dark blue - so much so that it looks black in all but bright light, but in direct sunshine, is a lovely, deep blue colour. The ARF also comes on PCL oyster (though I'm sure they could put it on jubilee if needed. Top watch the ARF.