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Rolex GMT 1675 Pepsi mod.

tripdog

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The longest standing and best known model of vintage GMT Master is the 1675 which was introduced in 1959 and produced up until 1980. Rolex produced several versions of the GMT Master, however for many people, the 'classic' GMT Master will always be the red and blue ‘Pepsi’.
From around 1967 until the end of the 1675 reference ( early 1980's), the GMT-Master featured a matte dial with white printing.




Up until the late 1960s, the extra hour hand featured a small triangle - the gilt dial 1675 had a small GMT hand - which was succeeded by a red hand with a larger triangle through-out the 1970's, however it is possible to find a matte dialed 1675 with the small GMT hand, as Rolex has been known to use their older parts until no more were left.



The aim of this project was to create a 1675 GMT 'Pepsi' from the late 60's - a matte dial with a dwarf GMT hand, and to try to get as close as possible to the beautifully thin cases of the genuine. One of the major problems with the rep cases available is the thickness - they are much thicker than a gen Rolex cases, the crown guards on older Cartel cases are also a little too stubby. Both of these problems can be worked around with success.



The watch started off as an older Cartel GMT model with a DG3804B movement. The case has been thinned to gen GMT spec' - gen cases are 4.8mm high (excluding crystal and case back of course) and so is this one.



The Crown tube was removed, the opening filled and re-drilled to allow the crown height to be raised by 0.75mm.
5.3mm crowns are too small for these cases - there's a gap between the guards and the crown, so a gen 6mm crown was used here for aesthetic reasons.







The dial is a genuine Rolex 1675 matte with tritium dots, in almost perfect condition, and dates from 1968/1969. The crystal is NOS Rolex, the bezel insert is genuine vintage Rolex from the early 70's, and has faded to a fantastic cobalt blue/raspberry red color.


The bracelet, clasp and end links, (held in place by gen Rolex spring bars) are in exceptional condition for their age, with very little stretch in the bracelet, are all genuine Rolex and date to the late 1960's.
The original movement was retained, as it's a reliable low beat true GMT movement, a thin profile case back has been installed along with hands from various sources, the bezel ring is from WSO..


The next project is a UAE GMT 1675 Blueberry, simply using a reshaped & reworked stock Cartel GMT as a base, a custom printed dial and a blue insert.


Thanks for looking.
 

NCRich

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Beautifully done. Way out of my league. I'm curious, where did you source the small 21j gmt hand?
 

Retina

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[MENTION=48066]tripdog[/MENTION] lovely work! the decision to switch to a bigger crown is a good move, it looks better as a whole!
 

tripdog

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Beautifully done. Way out of my league. I'm curious, where did you source the small 21j gmt hand?


Thanks !

Raffles Time amongst others has the dwarf GMT hand - but check his prices - I think it was cheaper in his Ebay store than on his website - or maybe it was the reverse.... :laugh:
 

tripdog

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@tripdog lovely work! the decision to switch to a bigger crown is a good move, it looks better as a whole!


Thanks !- I know you appreciate your vintage watches ! :laugh:
 

Retina

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Thanks !- I know you appreciate your vintage watches ! :laugh:
I'm just a small time collector :p

I appreciate people who take time to pay attention to small details. Filling up the crown hole and redrilling them is not an easy feat. Your mod is as good as it gets for a matte white dial Pepsi!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Bart Cordell

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Beautiful build mate !
I love your work to thinner the case. And this jubilee is just [emoji1305]
I'm working on my 1675 too. Hoped to complete it this week but I'm stopped by a dial problem. Can I pm you ?


[emoji632]
 

tripdog

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I appreciate people who take time to pay attention to small details. Filling up the crown hole and redrilling them is not an easy feat. Your mod is as good as it gets for a matte white dial Pepsi!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks again ! - I appreciate the compliment.
 

XAD

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The bracelet, clasp and end links, (held in place by gen Rolex spring bars) are in exceptional condition for their age, with very little stretch in the bracelet, are all genuine Rolex and date to the late 1960's.

Beautiful job. I owned a gen 1675 from 1979 (bought it new from the AD where I worked) till around the early 90's when I traded it for a used S&G "Root Beer", which I then later swapped for a used 14k 1503. I'd have a hard time seeing any difference between my gen and what you did there.

I am curious about the bracelet. When I was first selling Rolex in the States watches came with full-oval (solid appearing, not rolled) Jacoby-Bender jubilees. JB was a US manufacturer of watch bracelets (stamped USA even though some were made in Mexico). Back in the day, Rolex was exporting the watch head, complete, along with Swiss made buckles for the North American market. Those Rolex buckles were attached to JB bracelets (and the bracelet to the head) before the watches hit the stores. This way, the product was considered CKD (Completely Knocked Down) when imported which meant there were major savings in freight on the basis of the space occupied by (volume of) the item. Also, there were tariff savings because of the domestic content added at point of sale. We did this to stay competitive with our pricing lest we lose business to European retailers when our customers traveled there on holiday.

Later in my tenure there, Rolex began shipping complete watches with 100% Swiss parts - and all we saw from that point forward was the D-link jubilee. I don't know but imagine something changed with shipping expense and or tariffs to enable that in the early 80's.

So what I see in your photos is what Rolex was selling in the European markets at the time? This is an all-Swiss Rolex vintage jubilee?
 

tripdog

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Thanks for explaining the story behind the Rolex US/Swiss/Mexican bracelets and clasps. I was aware that there was a difference between US, European and Mexican jubilees ( I have the links of a Mexican Rolex jubilee in my parts box - the links are a different shape to the links you see on this one - I have a US period correct clasp for it but no blades ) but didn't understand why they had done it that way - different bracelets for different geographic zones.

As is often the case with vintage parts, they didn't come together. The bracelet and its end links came from Singapore, the clasp and blades came from the US. I can't tell you with 100% certainty that the bracelet & end links are European, but I think that is what they probably are.
 

QueTip

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Thanks again ! - I appreciate the compliment.

I have to say, you have a real real beauty there brother. Wear her well! I'm loving it, look out that you don't loose it somehow.... :thumbsup:
 

tripdog

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I have to say, you have a real real beauty there brother. Wear her well! I'm loving it, look out that you don't loose it somehow.... :thumbsup:

Thanks very much Que ! ( can I call you Que... ? :giggle: )

The watch is not for me unfortunately - it will soon be on it's way to it's new owner...
 

QueTip

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Thanks very much Que ! ( can I call you Que... ? :giggle: )

The watch is not for me unfortunately - it will soon be on it's way to it's new owner...

Damn, boy.. I'm disappointed..
 

C Master

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I have to say, you have a real real beauty there brother. Wear her well! I'm loving it, look out that you don't loose it somehow.... :thumbsup:


@tripdog don't invite Q to your house, those 15 min toilet trips where he just cannot find the bathroom LMAO.

It is a labour of love for sure and a pleasure to read the thread.

Q you can come over to my house anytime you have no interest in Omegas lol.
 

QueTip

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@tripdog don't invite Q to your house, those 15 min toilet trips where he just cannot find the bathroom LMAO.

It is a labour of love for sure and a pleasure to read the thread.

Q you can come over to my house anytime you have no interest in Omegas lol.


HAHAHAHA gutted. :cry2:
 

tripdog

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Damn, boy.. I'm disappointed..

Don't be - plenty more where that came from... :laugh:

@tripdog don't invite Q to your house, those 15 min toilet trips where he just cannot find the bathroom LMAO.

It is a labour of love for sure and a pleasure to read the thread.

Q you can come over to my house anytime you have no interest in Omegas lol.

Thanks for the warning - he was getting quite insistent in his PM's... :wink:

HAHAHAHA gutted. :cry2:

Your evil plan was foiled... :smug:
 

tripdog

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Beautiful build mate !
I love your work to thinner the case. And this jubilee is just [emoji1305]
I'm working on my 1675 too. Hoped to complete it this week but I'm stopped by a dial problem. Can I pm you ?


[emoji632]


Thanks for the compliment ! sure you can PM me if you want ! :laugh:
 
D

d4m.test

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Lovely, lovely build and beautiful pics to go with it. Amazingly done, thanks for sharing:)