Help with a franken ladies datejust

[drohalloran]

Hey there, it's a long shot, but has anyone done a franken on a ladies 26mm datejust? I have a gen case, dial, bezel, crystal, and crown and now I'm trying to find a movement that would have the same datewheel location as a 2135.

If anyone out there has ever done a project like this, let me know!

Thanks!

 

[junbug5150]

Hey there, it's a long shot, but has anyone done a franken on a ladies 26mm datejust? I have a gen case, dial, bezel, crystal, and crown and now I'm trying to find a movement that would have the same datewheel location as a 2135.

If anyone out there has ever done a project like this, let me know!

Thanks!

Normally ladies frankejusts come with an ETA2671. I'm building one myself.

 

[KBH]

As Junbug said, they come with ETA 2671 movements. You may be able to use a gen Rolex date wheel as an overlay. They work fine on full sized DJ's with 3826-2 movements.

I have one in this franken:

 

[drohalloran]

Thanks guys!! I really appreciate that!! I was looking at the ETA 2551, I used a 2550 in a previous ladies build and it worked really nicely, but that was a non-date model so it's a new twist with this stupid date window.

I definitely had not thought about overlaying a gen datewheel onto the old one. Does that create an issue with the height of the hands?

 

[KBH]

I've not sure since I've never seen one in person. But if it's the same thickness as a 3035 type date wheel, it's not much thicker than a typical DWO. I sand down the back of it and sand down the ETA date wheel a little to help the clearance. I'm also not sure about whether or not the 2671 needs taller hand pin sets than what is factory standard. That might take a little bit of research. Your going into pretty much uncharted territory with this build.

 

[drohalloran]

I've not sure since I've never seen one in person. But if it's the same thickness as a 3035 type date wheel, it's not much thicker than a typical DWO. I sand down the back of it and sand down the ETA date wheel a little to help the clearance. I'm also not sure about whether or not the 2671 needs taller hand pin sets than what is factory standard. That might take a little bit of research. Your going into pretty much uncharted territory with this build.

Yeah I had a feeling this wasn't going to be the easiest project. The only plus is that finding the smaller, ladies sized movements is pretty easy and they seem to be relatively cheap so I may just buy a few and see what I can find. I know brands like Jules Jergensen made ladies faux-datejust watches in the 70's and 80's and I just wonder how close they were to the real thing.

I definitely appreciate the feedback though!

 

[GlobetrotterBoy]

How did this project turn out?

 

[2671]

Search the bay for keywords, Datejust ETA 2671 hands ladies. There are a few sellers from China selling so. Same for 2671 datewheel overlays in proper Rolex fonts. Plus a turned copper/metal spacer ring to mount the movement in gen 69xxx cases, you have a franken.