One of our fellow sub experts just sold a modded sub-c with what appeared to be a brilliant bezel and pearl mod. I was wondering if there is a replacement source for a ceramic bezel with a more accurate pearl yet? RSH, I'm looking in your general direction....
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Modding Sub-C bezel/pearl?
- Thread starter greg325i
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I believe that was RSH, digging and going through several to pick the best ones, from bezel, pearl, hands, dial, bracelet to make the very very best sub-c there is and sell it. In my heart he knows he could have asked more for it since the WM9 and the BK stuff are in the over $700 range. Not RSH, he is reasonable and down to earth, and IMHO becoming the next WMBK9. If he wanted too....he could take the Rolex side of the house by storm.....but that is just my 2 cents. I expect him to chime in.....
I talked to RSH, after he had already sold that sub, and quickly made be see why it was the best (even better than BK) shh...don't tell any one I said that, but it really made me feel like a jackass and made me think I should have jumped on it. I will make sure that I do not miss the next one!
I talked to RSH, after he had already sold that sub, and quickly made be see why it was the best (even better than BK) shh...don't tell any one I said that, but it really made me feel like a jackass and made me think I should have jumped on it. I will make sure that I do not miss the next one!
In all fairness the BK with the pearl centered mod is $410. You don't get a relume on hands, but since this one was a one-off from RSH I think the best option is to get one from BK and tell him you want the pearl centered mod - which for just a smidge over the cost of the watch without it, is totally worth it.
I made my statement, because even on the BK the hands are wrong! I had that pointed out to me. With the correct hands, correct lume, correct pearl mod....this one off was the best.
BK does not centre the pearl on his ceramic subs.
He has said that in a thread of mine a little while back.
His pearl mod is to give the existing pearl a better look but not cente it
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BK no longer performs his pearl mod so, correct if I'm wrong, the last posted price for the Noobfactory Ceramic Black Sub is $370 shipped.
RSH sold his C sub for $495. You do get custom hands and lume (markers?) plus hand picked pearl and bracelet with RSH. BK aligns rehaut, full crystal press and some WR measures. Both offer the date wheel overlay. Movements are the same too. Each offers an excellent product for the price. If RSH is reluming the markers as well the extra $125 covers that handily. If not, your paying that much more for hand picked add-on's and the extra work.
Honestly, I like both. I might have jumped on RSH's C sub if phillycheez hadn't got there first. There ain't a real price difference considering what goes into the watches and the bottom line, the inescapable fact... They're both still reps.
I've seen this quoted several times but is listed nowhere by BK himself, as this IS NOT POSSIBLE. The rehaut engraving is on the case, so it's not like he's cutting and welding. From the actual offering post:
- line up the 12 o'clock marker to the engraved coronent on the rehaut engraving. Again the factory often leave them misaligned.
... all this means is that he aligns the triangle of the bezel insert so that it points directly at the 12 o'clock point on the rehaut. He absolutely does not, and can not, rotate the ROLEXROLEX lettering.
Jeez...
Last night I was looking at BK's versus rsh very closely and rsh not only had the correct hands but he relumed everything too. That in itself was worth the extra money to me. I sold my sub lv because it had the wrong hands (and they were gen Tudor hands!).... very annoying as that's something you look straight at every time I looked at the watch.
Anyways, bks is cheaper with less mods and rsh is more spendy due to more mods. Makes sense, one is not better than the other and you get what you pay for.
Last night I was looking at BK's versus rsh very closely and rsh not only had the correct hands but he relumed everything too. That in itself was worth the extra money to me. I sold my sub lv because it had the wrong hands (and they were gen Tudor hands!).... very annoying as that's something you look straight at every time I looked at the watch.
Anyways, bks is cheaper with less mods and rsh is more spendy due to more mods. Makes sense, one is not better than the other and you get what you pay for.
Ispy is correct, you can't realign the engravings but you can realign it so the crown is at 12.
The spacing is fixed between the letters... nothing you can do about it.
The spacing is fixed between the letters... nothing you can do about it.
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You are correct sir. The above is not what I said but I meant too...
You might have said "He absolutely does not, and can not, rotate the ROLEXROLEX lettering... BITCH!!!" Backhand applied...
My point in posting was simply to say since RSH did this as a one off your best bet now is BK. I doubt RSH can keep this up given the time it must've taken him to piece the one together from several other subs.
He now offers the centering mod. I've seen it done on macsac's shark on RG and he's doing it for my Shark should it need it.
He now offers the centering mod. I've seen it done on macsac's shark on RG and he's doing it for my Shark should it need it.
Fair play if that's what he's doing than cool
Buy I assume it's gonna cost a bit more than normal
Buy I assume it's gonna cost a bit more than normal
Yeah, not too much actually, which was pretty cool - way better than me trying it myself and being up s***ts creek when I screw up, lol.
Hey fellas, just saw this thread. Thanks all for the kind words.....few things need to be stated. I am not in any way as good, handy, knowledgeable as BK. I may add, I dont have anywhere near the creativity of guys like pbdad....Enough said. To put tings in perspective, a year ago, I actually sent a watch to a fellow member for him to change my hand position so that date flipped at midnight instead of 6 oclock. I am just a die hard nerd with a super steady hand and a sense of making things work together. That best ceramic sub was a one of a kind. No ONE can actually make money doing that sort of thing. Some of the modders sell dozens of pieces and simply cant devote such an amount of time to making a grail piece each and every time. Nor am I able to devote alot of time to this sort of thing, especially with a baby due in 4 weeks 
I may buy some timeshops specials and slap on the correct hand and datewheel overlay and sell them much cheaper than that one grail sub....but we shall wait, since I am not a dealer and I may just do a couple for some cool members here.
Now, BK did a tutorial on the pearl mod a while back. That is all I did. Centering a pearl in my opinion is super hard.....the 2 times I tried to remve the pearl, it cracked the whole insert. The grail subc simply received an insert that came off a 21j subc - it happened to be almost 100% centered....lucky. I literally have had 6 or so of those subs in my hand and only 1 was that well centered.....why, easy, the ceramic is super hard to drill thru and when the drill is pressing down, it decenters easily....or so I assume.
I hope that clears things up my friends....you guys are the best
I may buy some timeshops specials and slap on the correct hand and datewheel overlay and sell them much cheaper than that one grail sub....but we shall wait, since I am not a dealer and I may just do a couple for some cool members here. Now, BK did a tutorial on the pearl mod a while back. That is all I did. Centering a pearl in my opinion is super hard.....the 2 times I tried to remve the pearl, it cracked the whole insert. The grail subc simply received an insert that came off a 21j subc - it happened to be almost 100% centered....lucky. I literally have had 6 or so of those subs in my hand and only 1 was that well centered.....why, easy, the ceramic is super hard to drill thru and when the drill is pressing down, it decenters easily....or so I assume.
I hope that clears things up my friends....you guys are the best
First, you guys are way off topic. RSH is very, very knowledgeable about his subs, but my question was if there was an out-of-the-box bezel insert with proper pearl. RSH answered the question: no, you just have to get lucky, and then do the pearl mod yourself. Ok. Perfect. That's all I wanted to know. BTW, the RSH/BK sub had a perfect pearl, so cheers on that work. Someone got a great sub!!! RSH, you are pretty much my sub guru...I love reading your sub threads. Thanks for the wealth of knowledge!
For whomever seems to think that a noob sub-c is $370+, whatever you are smoking must be good. A noob sub-c with a verified Swiss ETA can be had for less than $250 shipped. Ask me how I know...
For whomever seems to think that a noob sub-c is $370+, whatever you are smoking must be good. A noob sub-c with a verified Swiss ETA can be had for less than $250 shipped. Ask me how I know...
RSH, since you dont work for NASA I can't call you a steely eyed missle man...but I can call you a steely eyed horologist!
Props to you!
Props to you!
they are talking about BK's noob sub-c...
but anyways, I am asking you, "how do you know", where do you find a noob sub-c with a VERIFIED Swiss ETA?? When I mean "verified" swiss ETA i mean a movement that is brand new and dropped in.
But to your "less than $250 shipped" comment.... timesshop's prices currently are:
asian 21j automatic - 74USD in stock
asian copy 2836 - 130USD in stock
swiss eta 2836 - 185USD in stock
asian copy swiss rolex 3135 movement - 228USD in stock
Ah! That makes sense. I don't recall that post I was referring to specifiying it referred to a BK noob.
Yeah, I bought my 2 sub-c's almost a year ago, and prices were a bit higher then. Even then, they were less than $225 from trusted dealers.
Anything that BK or RSH touches is worth the bump in price. Absolutely.
I think you might have this bass-ackwards. BK aligns the 12 o'clock marker on the DIAL to the rehaut coronet. Anyone can align the bezel insert in about five minutes and that's allowing for a couple of misses. Certainly not something that brings a lot of value to the table.
I can confirm he does NOT do the pearl mod, just bought from him last week and asked.
Well it does add a good value for someone who would want it straight. If you are not one of us who invested in hundreds of dollars of tools, you still have to go pay some local watch shop $40-$50 to address that, and or align the crystal (cyclops and coronet at 6 o'clock) or send it to one of the modders, and then you have shipping cost. I think BK's QC is a great value...my first Sub C was from him, and it was keeping within 2 seconds a day. Always nice to get that right out of the box. Sure you can buy a cheaper noob, then get a date wheel from BK for $20, and then a gen ETA $150 give or take, and then build it yourself or pay somone to assemble it but either way, in most cases, your cost exceeds what BK charges. His is bargain any day of the week. My DSSD from him as well ran within about 2-3 seconds per day.
Of course these days I have all the tools and I like to tinker, but for someone who just wants to buy a watch and wear it with out having to do anything to it, he is a great choice.