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Off-catalogue Rolex franken builds - confessions of a Daytonaholic

KruisingKhaos95

Chairman of Daytonas Anonymous (got any?)
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Hi all!

Over the past 8-12 months I have noticed myself slowly moving away from my relentless (and borderline unhealthy) obsession with continuously buying and selling in the m2m section, after trying a lot of different reps out. Nowadays, my primary interest is sourcing parts and building frankens, more specifically, rare or "off-catalogue" Daytona's. I came to the realisation some time ago that I am in fact a Daytona addict, and despite trying a lot of lovely watches out in the 2 and a bit years I have been a member, I always come back to Daytona's. In fact, I am now at a stage where I actively search for rare Daytona's online, looking at pics and trying to learn more about the references, before seeking the parts to start building.

This imo seems to be the somewhat natural progression of the average rep collector from what I have seen on the forum. The initial stage of rep ownership is reading and investigating every factory, finding out who is the best for specific models, checking with TDs, and consulting with fellow members before carefully selecting specific watches to order. This then progresses to the "seafood diet" stage, that being, you see a rep that you haven't tried, buy it, then sell it a few weeks later to fund more reps (rinse and repeat) until the point where simply buying and selling isn't enough to scratch that itch. Which can now only be scratched by drawn-out builds, searching for parts and seeing a long-term project finally come together.

I have quite a few rare and of-catalogue Daytona frankens being built at the moment and I am intrigued to see what rare/off catalogue builds my fellow members have in their collection, or would like to have built in the not-to-distant future? :)

For reference, here are just a few of the watches I have "in progress" or on my wish list for future projects (diamond set watch haters, look away now 👀):

Hra055.png

HravH4.png

HraNgX.png

Hra71I.png

HrabtF.png

Hrafoi.png

HraFPb.png
 
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KruisingKhaos95

Chairman of Daytonas Anonymous (got any?)
Staff member
Moderator Sales
Certified
20/9/21
4,389
7,061
113
Spion Kop - The Scouse Republic
Admitting you have a problem is the first step of diversifying into vintage or other models. Enjoy your small problem as it’ll only get bigger and more expensive with time 😂
I can already foresee it spiraling out of control :ROFLMAO: the plus side of franken builds is that it reduces the number of regular inbound packages and gets the missus off my back ;)
 

Reaps

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I feel like you start out hating diamonds feeling it's too gaudy, but once you've tried everything and you have a little bit of a collection, the diamonds start to grow on you, and then you start paying attention to the cut of the stones and the way it's set and it starts getting expensive
 

KruisingKhaos95

Chairman of Daytonas Anonymous (got any?)
Staff member
Moderator Sales
Certified
20/9/21
4,389
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Spion Kop - The Scouse Republic
I feel like you start out hating diamonds feeling it's too gaudy, but once you've tried everything and you have a little bit of a collection, the diamonds start to grow on you, and then you start paying attention to the cut of the stones and the way it's set and it starts getting expensive
100% this! When I first started I was borderline repulsed by some of the diamond-set watches out there, but now I just can't get enough of them!

I appreciate the different cuts and coloured sapphire options available but I also enjoy the "exclusivity" of them. That being that you don't see too many of these builds knocking about. Don't get me wrong, I love the more common Daytonas as well and have owned/do own most of the typical SS and PM models out there, but there is something inherently enjoyable about owning something a little more unique, it also opens the door to conversations with members similarly down the rabbit hole and as many of my forum friends know, I could talk about Daytonas for hours :ROFLMAO:
 

KruisingKhaos95

Chairman of Daytonas Anonymous (got any?)
Staff member
Moderator Sales
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20/9/21
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Spion Kop - The Scouse Republic
Here's one you should add to your list

I did consider this, as I have the grossular rubellite on a strap already! It'd be a nice matching pair but I also love the blue sapphire bezel pave dial 116589 above, and thought they may be too similar :unsure:

I have the sodalite dial in hand already so I'll probably play around with both build options and see which I prefer! Here is the dial for reference:

HrmAWb.jpeg

HrmhJi.jpeg

HrmeF5.jpeg
 

Hec

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The ROLEX Franken are one of the best discoveries of my 2023...
The whole process of sourcing parts, buying... seeing the before and after, the Daytona's are great watches.
 
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