I agree with Tickleshoes. A Yuki 3135 kills over a ETA for the Rolex clones. A well cleaned and oiled Yuki with proper parts changed will last you a lifetime as will a Rolex 3135. I have a Rolex/Yuki combo 3185 running now for almost 2 years and I put her on the Timegraph and it was running 0-3 SPD with an amp of 280 0 beat error. This is a two year old yuki. I understand it has a lot of rolex parts but that is the second plus. A lot of Rolex watch makers wont work on eta clones. I believe that if we flood the market with super clones they will. It is identical as a Rolex 3135 but the balance. They know how to work on them already. Im not saying walking into Rolex USA with a clone and say fix this. There are plenty Rolex watch makers that are independent. So if my winding gear is shot. He can order a Rolex winding gear and it will work.
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unreformed66 I don't see how you can buy a brand new Rolex 3135 for a lot less money for the time being. A 3135 new cost over $2000 used I have seen them around $1650 then you need to service them and your back up to $2000.
If I get a yuki even for the $385 he wants now. And drop about $600 in all parts that I would like changed from the calendar stuff to the winding stuff and hours min pinions, and the $160 labor to clean and service which I don't really include because I do it myself. I am spending half of that. It's just over $1000. IF you keep it simple its $385 +around $300 plus service.
Your talking about having a watch movement that works like a rolex and acts like a rolex. Please tell me another movement that you can put in a 16710 case that works and runs like a 3185. Has the correct hand stack and jumping hour. Yea you can transform a Asian 2836 with a gear to run a GMT hand but hand that to any one who knows rolex and they will laugh at you. Sit next to someone on a cruise like me and by the first night we will have a conversation that will make you scared to wear it the rest of the cruise because I will find out its a fake. Or you can just say flat out like I would. Oh its a fake. Ask anyone that I know. Right now I am lucky. Every one of my fakes are all real but the case except the GMT witch is a real case an a fake 3185. I have a real 3185 sitting in my work shop but haven't changed it because the Yuki 3185 runs to good. My wife hates it. Everyone I meet, I start talking about TC and Yuki and Phong. Why because that is what I have. If someone asked me what kind of watch I have on. Its a Rolex that I made. Then they ask you make watches. Then I tell them that I retired at the age of 42 and picked up watch making as a hobby and I go into the story of starting with ETA then moving on to Yuki and then going to real movements and then how hard it is to find a real case and how you can build a rolex for about 1/2 the cost of what they sell for. I have made my friends god I can't even count, how many watches. They chose. Most of them stop at the TC water proof ones. But to each their own.
Each of us are different in this hobby. That is what makes it great. You can make a $200 dollar fake 16610 or a $2500. It is all up to the person. I have seen some amazing watches for amazing prices. Look at the Black bay's that are out right now. My god. Why would you go out and spend $3500 to $4000 on a black bay. You can make the exact watch at home for $400. Well not anymore because they have in house movements now. But till last year. ETA makes most of the movements for the big name companies. So what they dress it up to look they way they want it is still an eta 2800 series or a 7750 series. Buy a Swatch and you get the same movement. I have a movement that everyone wants. I have a swatch slow beat with two key settings. 1)winding 2)adjust hands. It is almost identical to the 1520 movement. It was in a $45 swatch. I could in theory get a phong case and a real dial and eta hands and build a hell of a Rolex 1520. With an amazing ETA low beat movement which cost a heck of a lot more than a $45 dollar swatch. I hope you get the point. I blabber a lot.
You get what you want out of this hobby. I will NEVER be happy with a ETA based Rolex. That is just me. I am a Yuki man. From Yuki I will build up a 3135. I have about $2000 in parts in my workshop of brand new 3135 parts waiting for a yuki. I am just learning to master the yuki first. I am getting there. I can clean it and put it back together and time it in. I just want to get so good at it that I know what the problem is by listening to it or hearing what the problem is.
I have 3 yukis in pieces that I work with every day. I have real 3135 and a real 3185 sitting there. I have a TC case, a ST case and a Phong case sitting in by workshop. I have real bands and I have real buckles. I can build a fully real 16610. If I had a dial and hands I can build a full 16710. They joy is now learning how to make them work. Funny thing is in the same work shop I have around 10-15 eta's torn apart into pieces. I have 21J's incase My father inlaw breaks his watches. He like the cheap ones. He wears them at work and treats them hard.
We are all different and that is what makes this hobby so fun. You have no idea how excited I am now that Noob is making Factory spec cases. The first thing I did with the V6S was tear it apart and put a real crystal and real bezel insert and a real dial and hands and date wheel and a real 3135. Also change the tube and crown. That is an amazing watch. It is fully water proof. That extra 3135 sitting there is waiting for the hulk. Just can't source the parts. They are crazy to find.
The bottom line is have fun. Yuki is an amazing product. It will teach you how a real 3135 works. You can fix a yuki 3135 you can fix a rolex 3135. Learn. Its all we have left.
Oh and I have 2 Mastermatics. Brought one from Mike for almost nothing and then found one on ebay from a guy who didn't know how it worked and said it was broken. Both work great.
