The Vintage DateJust Thread

[Tony-Soprano]

I have just finished my project of re-fitting a 66 year old Datejust case with a modern ticking heart. The first thing I learned was that the old Datejust dials must be slightly larger (28.5mm) since the current one falls through the rehaut. Fortunately, the 3135 is large enough and can be brought to the correct height with a teflon gasket (27.5x0.85x0.4 mm) and secured with case clamps. However, you end up with a "gap dial", but for now I am very satisfied with the result. Mounted on a shaky 7836, it is definitely back on the wrist after decades in the drawer. Thank you, RWI!

Very different but I definitely like it! I am thinking the opposite, silver dial, gold hands, engine turned bezel!

 

[369mafia]

Tudor 9080/0
38mm

 

[Carrera]

The final piece left to order for my DJ build is the crystal. Are there any sapphire options, apart from the raffles one, with the cyclops in the 3135 position?

I have had a look at both Clarks and Sternkreuz, yet haven't been able to locate a sapphire variant. Thanks for the help!

 

[Carrera]

Should've added I'm using the Raffles 2824 case, cheers guys.

 

[Tony-Soprano]

The final piece left to order for my DJ build is the crystal. Are there any sapphire options, apart from the raffles one, with the cyclops in the 3135 position?

I have had a look at both Clarks and Sternkreuz, yet haven't been able to locate a sapphire variant. Thanks for the help!

For Clark you can go with this option

 

[Tony-Soprano]

I cut the gasket and put it from the back, i will have to definitively shave off the rehaut to allow the swiss made to come out. Someone mentioned sandpaper on a cone attachment for a drill, i’ll try that. Ignore the crystal placement, i just popped it in there to test out the case.

Did the cone attachment with sandpaper work? What grit did you use and did you sand the entire rehaut or just the bottom section? How did you go about polishing to after?

What hands did you end up using for the 3135 movement, mind linking me with them, thanks!

 

[Tony-Soprano]

I used sandpaper wrapped around a conically shaped polishing attachment for the drilling machine

What did this contraption look like lol, trying to picture it but finding it hard to believe the sandpaper stayed on when working the rehaut, what grit did you use and did you end up polishing the rehaut after and with what?

Did anyone need to use any mounting screws for a VS3135? I often see others mentioning mounting screws for the movement and wondering if everyone else is using this and if it's only for VR3135 or also for VS3135, thanks!

 

[Tony-Soprano]

Alright, my fellow enthusiasts! I present to you my first build, this took many years to build the courage to get the tools and jump in the deep end. Many of you on this thread motivated me to take the jump and here we are. I have to thank @pompompurin and especially @beanvatan for taking hours out of their days to answer my questions as I gathered my thoughts on this build.

From what I gathered in my research, my build is based on a mid/late 1980s 16030. This combination was mostly sold in the Asian market (how true this is, who knows). I will add pictures of the watches I found (only a few) that I used as inspiration for this build.





A few mistakes were made, including breaking 2 - Plexi Clark Crystals - a $16 loss. I previously read that the plexi and bezel were a tight fit but man... I'm not sure I’ll be able to accomplish the plexi crystal with this build. For now, it has a Raffles crystal maybe eventually, it will be upgraded to a Clark Sapphire although not age correct.


Current concerns:

• I am seeing some movement and space still even after installing the plastic movement spacer. Should I double up on spacers or will the movement clamps solve the movement issue?
• I can’t seem to get the movement clamps installed (one of the last things left to do aside from sizing the stem), they are the smaller 3135 clamps, can someone maybe give me tips or an explanation on how to better get them in place?

Build details below:

CASE	Raffles 2824	$50
BEZEL	GEN - 16220 Engine Turned Bezel	$55
CROWN & TUBE	Gen B-24-603 6mm Crown / Raffles Tube	$25
CRYSTAL	Raffles Sapphire Crystal	$0
DIAL	GEN - 16013	$95
HANDS	Clark Hands	$13
MOVEMENT	VS3135 / Movement Gaskets	$100 / $14
DATEWHEEL	Open 6/9 3135 Date wheel	$50
BRACELET	Raffles Jubilee	$45
TOTAL COST		$447

My next build.....

16030 Buckley with the gold Rolex Crown and an engine-turned-bezel



Build details below:

CASE	Raffles 2824	$50
BEZEL	GEN - 16220 Engine Turned Bezel	$55
CROWN & TUBE	Gen B-24-603 6mm Crown / Raffles Tube	$25
CRYSTAL	Raffles Sapphire Crystal	$0
DIAL	GEN - 16030 Buckley Dial	$265
HANDS	Buckley Black Hands	$23
MOVEMENT	VS3135 / Movement Gaskets	$100 / $14
DATEWHEEL	Open 6/9 3135 Date wheel	$50
BRACELET	Raffles Jubilee	$45
TOTAL COST		$627

 

[Kerbus]

Bravo sir! I admire your efforts and I’m thinking about trying my hand at something similar eventually. It’s all about skill, what I’m looking forward to attaining Thank God for Raffles,huh?

 

[pompompurin]

 

[Tony-Soprano]

Bravo sir! I admire your efforts and I’m thinking about trying my hand at something similar eventually. It’s all about skill, what I’m looking forward to attaining Thank God for Raffles,huh?

Glad raffles exist but sure do wish the Korean cases make a come back!

 

[matzemedia]

Very nice watch. The case lookes different to the Raffle. The Horn lookes thinner. Is this a mod version of Raffle or any other case?

 

[pompompurin]

Very nice watch. The case lookes different to the Raffle. The Horn lookes thinner. Is this a mod version of Raffle or any other case?

Thank you!
I reshaped this case.
I also increased the rehaut diameter so that the rehaut doesn't touch/damage/squish the lume dots.

 

[PositiveAttitude]

Really a beauty with a nice leather strap

 

[matzemedia]

It's been a few months since I asked about a light green dial here in the forum and Raffle was mentioned as a source. In the meantime, I have put all the parts together and assembled this Datejust.

Maybe one more sentence: my dream would still be a 160X dial in light blue and not this 16030. If you have a source, I would be happy to hear from you.

First of all, here are the parts for the project:
Case set: Raffle: Datejust 36mm
Bezel: Ebay - Gen
Movement: VS 3135
Hands: Raffle
Crystal: Star cross Cylop 135
Datedisk: custom - Toner Transfer
Dial: Raffle
Crown: Raffle

I didn't take many pictures during the assembly. So, with one exception, I will only present the result.

I'm a total fan of the Raffle case, as you can swap everything for original or aftermarket. So I also decided to fit the Gen Bezel and a plexi crystal. The rest is from Raffle.

Compared to the original Datejust case, it is a little too high and the holm is too wide. I reduced the height by 0.4mm with the lathe and filed the whole width of the case slimmer. Unfortunately a bit too much - you may recognise it from the pictures.

toner transfer datedisc
The 16030 is one of the last models with open 6/9 datedisc. Unfortunately the sources for the 3135 movement are limited. Some of you are using the datedisc from WSO. I think it's a good choice. Unfortunately, the price (incl. shipping to Europe) is too high. That's why I tried something and reprinted the VS 3135 datedisc in the toner transfer. Here are a few pictures.
















I don't think this was my last attempt at this. The font is a bit bold - but it's going in the right direction.


Some impressions during the build





So here some pictures of the final result.





I put my other franken datejust build (with gen case) next to the result.



Do you like the dial? I am sure that opinions differ here.

 

[unes42]

guys anyone got a good datejust for sale ?

 

[Tony-Soprano]

It's been a few months since I asked about a light green dial here in the forum and Raffle was mentioned as a source. In the meantime, I have put all the parts together and assembled this Datejust.

Maybe one more sentence: my dream would still be a 160X dial in light blue and not this 16030. If you have a source, I would be happy to hear from you.

First of all, here are the parts for the project:
Case set: Raffle: Datejust 36mm
Bezel: Ebay - Gen
Movement: VS 3135
Hands: Raffle
Crystal: Star cross Cylop 135
Datedisk: custom - Toner Transfer
Dial: Raffle
Crown: Raffle

I didn't take many pictures during the assembly. So, with one exception, I will only present the result.

I'm a total fan of the Raffle case, as you can swap everything for original or aftermarket. So I also decided to fit the Gen Bezel and a plexi crystal. The rest is from Raffle.

Compared to the original Datejust case, it is a little too high and the holm is too wide. I reduced the height by 0.4mm with the lathe and filed the whole width of the case slimmer. Unfortunately a bit too much - you may recognise it from the pictures.

toner transfer datedisc
The 16030 is one of the last models with open 6/9 datedisc. Unfortunately the sources for the 3135 movement are limited. Some of you are using the datedisc from WSO. I think it's a good choice. Unfortunately, the price (incl. shipping to Europe) is too high. That's why I tried something and reprinted the VS 3135 datedisc in the toner transfer. Here are a few pictures.
















I don't think this was my last attempt at this. The font is a bit bold - but it's going in the right direction.


Some impressions during the build





So here some pictures of the final result.





I put my other franken datejust build (with gen case) next to the result.



Do you like the dial? I am sure that opinions differ here.

Hey, you may want to check this date wheel out, not perfect but does the job and requires no cutting on your end. How did you press that ETB and plexi?! I cracked 2 attempting to press it, ended up using the raffles sapphire and it pressed smooth like butter.

 

[beanvatan]

The drawer's gem!-BVT

Well, there is already a thread for the most iconic Rolex Datejust series, so there's no point in creating another one. However, I would love to share my findings today while cleaning up my extra drawers. I've been around on the forum for a while, and as you can tell, I've built some Datejusts. Now that my age is catching up with me, my eyes are not as sharp, and my hand likes to dance to "a shaky-shaky song," so I have to put my watch-building hobby aside. I miss it dearly every day. I find myself looking at parts and listings on eBay and reading about builds on RWI. I decided to speak to my wife about it. My wife and I have an agreement that I can only buy two watches a year, whether it's a build, parts, or a complete watch. Yeah, I know—I tried to fight back and complain about how much she spends on kitchenware and why we need the same skillet in different colors. But my back is too old for the couch, so I agree with whatever now. LOL. As a wise man once said, "Sometimes ignorance is bliss."

So upon cleaning up my drawers, I found some spare parts, that I made a build-out of, and below is a list:

Case	36mm Datejust (2824)- Raffle with no lug holes- has JMB engravings between lugs with correct model numbers and custom serials. The case has not been reshape.
Bezel	Raffle's fluted bezel stainless steel
Crystal	Genuine Rolex Crystal 25-295c with a small crack on the side. And a Gen-spec crystal gasket.
Crown	High-quality Rep crown
Bracelet	Genuine Jubilee bracelet- with Raffle's clasp for Datejust
Handset	Genuine hour/ minute hand (damaged) - rep second hand
Dial	Genuine 16234 (damaged)
Movement	VR3135 with some VS3135 parts ( I didn't have a full movement, so I put them together using parts from here and there. LOL )
Date wheel	VS3135

*** Please excuse the unhealthy environment ( i.e working on A4 papers instead of a proper bench)

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Since the case is a Raffle's Case, I put into it a thin crystal gasket that I got from Raffle and secured the movement with two custom movement tabs. And it sits tight inside the case.

After all, the watch is not perfect, but it will do it for now. I will find some time to work on it later. Even though it appears to be finished, but I am not happy with the bezel, because the bezel height is not correct for the build, so I will have to sand it down later.

** Guys, this is my 3rd watch for this year, please don't tell my wife!!! LOL

 

[xray7]

I’m about to build a 16030 with a combination of Raffles, Athaya, and Sternkruez goodness surmounted with a gen dial and a gen bezel (movement and hand specs pending finalisation in the next few days), but I do want to get a Swiss movement in a future build without chopping dial feet. I’m going to go VS3135 this time.

So ever since I saw a picture in a sales thread explaining how WM9 used to use a 2678 movement in a movement holder to give the possibility of using a gen dial with mount clipping feet, and allowing us to get a Swiss movement running an unmutilated dial, the concept has been gently percolating and cross pollinating with the other vintage Datejust concepts I’ve had in my head.



I feel like 3D printing may be an option here. If we can spec this into a Raffles case, would anyone else be interested?

 

[Tony-Soprano]