After many years in the Rolex rep game, I’ve come to accept that liking a more vintage look is often a curse, but that cursed cloud can have a silver lining.
The rep factories and their arms race to get the modern models which the rep consuming public want that little bit better year on year is painful. They keep us coming back, and giving them money, while they go about keeping pace with the gen maker’s innovations. Gen and rep Subs went from aluminium to ceramic bezels, before that we had the addition of the absolutely awful, pointless rehaut engraving… movements have come on from nameless quartz to copies of Swiss ebauche movements with adjusted date wheels and dial apertures, to now successfully aping the entire movement.
The rep game is not a public service, the rep factories are in it for the money, rather than artistry, so they focus on the newer stuff. That means if you want an older watch, your choices will be limited, or you can find a way forward yourself.
Do you know what isn’t changing? Specs on watches made in the past.
I’ve spent a couple of weeks exceedingly unwell with Covid. Any sliver of concentration has been achieved in very limited bursts and all I’ve been able to do between hospital and my bed is browse on my phone and shop. So I’ve used that time to read, and read, and read some more, buy some parts, bother sellers in a few countries (isn’t the modern, internet driven, consumer commerce era amazing?) and get ready to put together my first Franken - and I’ve settled on a Rolex Datejust 16030.
Join me on this journey of amateur watchmaking as I set about documenting the parts and tools bought and the process of going from “I can vaguely gesture to the bonnet of a car if you ask where the spark plug is” level of technical savvy and manual dexterity to hopefully making a watch I’ll wear until I die.
I find Google SEO is unreliable in telling me where even a good restaurant is - the info served to me is that of the highest bidder on AdWords - so I’ve blundered my way forward for parts so far, and I’m still learning about the tools. I’ll write up chunks of what I learn here as I go.
I don’t have everything I need as far as tools and parts on hand just yet, but here is some of what I’ve chosen parts wise - you’ll see gen Rolex, Sternkreuz, Raffles, VSF, and Cousins in the UK well represented so far.
To be continued when I have the wherewithal…
The rep factories and their arms race to get the modern models which the rep consuming public want that little bit better year on year is painful. They keep us coming back, and giving them money, while they go about keeping pace with the gen maker’s innovations. Gen and rep Subs went from aluminium to ceramic bezels, before that we had the addition of the absolutely awful, pointless rehaut engraving… movements have come on from nameless quartz to copies of Swiss ebauche movements with adjusted date wheels and dial apertures, to now successfully aping the entire movement.
The rep game is not a public service, the rep factories are in it for the money, rather than artistry, so they focus on the newer stuff. That means if you want an older watch, your choices will be limited, or you can find a way forward yourself.
Do you know what isn’t changing? Specs on watches made in the past.
I’ve spent a couple of weeks exceedingly unwell with Covid. Any sliver of concentration has been achieved in very limited bursts and all I’ve been able to do between hospital and my bed is browse on my phone and shop. So I’ve used that time to read, and read, and read some more, buy some parts, bother sellers in a few countries (isn’t the modern, internet driven, consumer commerce era amazing?) and get ready to put together my first Franken - and I’ve settled on a Rolex Datejust 16030.
Join me on this journey of amateur watchmaking as I set about documenting the parts and tools bought and the process of going from “I can vaguely gesture to the bonnet of a car if you ask where the spark plug is” level of technical savvy and manual dexterity to hopefully making a watch I’ll wear until I die.
I find Google SEO is unreliable in telling me where even a good restaurant is - the info served to me is that of the highest bidder on AdWords - so I’ve blundered my way forward for parts so far, and I’m still learning about the tools. I’ll write up chunks of what I learn here as I go.
I don’t have everything I need as far as tools and parts on hand just yet, but here is some of what I’ve chosen parts wise - you’ll see gen Rolex, Sternkreuz, Raffles, VSF, and Cousins in the UK well represented so far.
To be continued when I have the wherewithal…
