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Here's a very nice 5513 with an interesting history behind it - as interesting as any genuine Rolex 5513 story, so you could say it's a gen' spec' story.
The watch was bought in the summer of 2017 - a genuine Rolex matte 5512 dial in a Cartel case. When he received it the owner discovered it had lots of problems, the case had been reshaped but looked terrible, the movement was floating around inside the case, lume on the hands didn't match the dial, bezel assembly was glued down etc.
The buyer sent it to me, I sorted out the case, put in a low beat Swiss ETA, changed the hands, aged an insert, put in a new crystal etc etc.
I shipped it out to the owner, it arrived in his country, left Customs and then disappeared. The tracking number stopped working. Investigations were launched in both countries, multiple emails sent, endless visits to Post Offices were made. Nobody was able to say what had happened to the parcel - quite fucking remarkable really.
Then 12 months later, like in a Ridley Scott script, the tracking number woke up, and the parcel started moving again.
The parcel was safely delivered to an address I moved out of 10 months previously - and 900 km from where I was now living.
I managed to contact the people living at the address, and yes indeed they had received a parcel. Not trusting anybody to ship it, I went to collect it myself.
The box was pretty beaten up, it was also covered in labels - no doubt labels that had been stuck on it as it made it's way through different departments, offices, services etc. It looked like Paddington Bears suitcase.
The watch was inside, ticking away, no damage done.
It's just come back in for a little treatment - redo the chamfers, polish the case, crystal and bracelet.
It wouldn't really be feasible to do a build like this now. s recently as 3 or 4 years ago Rolex matte 5513 dials in good condition could be had for $600 - $800. They are now around $2000, if you can find one.
The watch was bought in the summer of 2017 - a genuine Rolex matte 5512 dial in a Cartel case. When he received it the owner discovered it had lots of problems, the case had been reshaped but looked terrible, the movement was floating around inside the case, lume on the hands didn't match the dial, bezel assembly was glued down etc.
The buyer sent it to me, I sorted out the case, put in a low beat Swiss ETA, changed the hands, aged an insert, put in a new crystal etc etc.
I shipped it out to the owner, it arrived in his country, left Customs and then disappeared. The tracking number stopped working. Investigations were launched in both countries, multiple emails sent, endless visits to Post Offices were made. Nobody was able to say what had happened to the parcel - quite fucking remarkable really.
Then 12 months later, like in a Ridley Scott script, the tracking number woke up, and the parcel started moving again.
The parcel was safely delivered to an address I moved out of 10 months previously - and 900 km from where I was now living.
I managed to contact the people living at the address, and yes indeed they had received a parcel. Not trusting anybody to ship it, I went to collect it myself.
The box was pretty beaten up, it was also covered in labels - no doubt labels that had been stuck on it as it made it's way through different departments, offices, services etc. It looked like Paddington Bears suitcase.
The watch was inside, ticking away, no damage done.
It's just come back in for a little treatment - redo the chamfers, polish the case, crystal and bracelet.
It wouldn't really be feasible to do a build like this now. s recently as 3 or 4 years ago Rolex matte 5513 dials in good condition could be had for $600 - $800. They are now around $2000, if you can find one.
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