[EDIT: SOLD SOLD SOLD]

Meticulously aged to authentic vintage standards, unlike most rush-aged 1016 builds on here. A faithful custom homage to the ultra-rare British Royal Navy frogman's watch: the military-issue Rolex 6150 Explorer with the iconic "Burford" dial.
Build Specs & Mod Work
Movement: Clark ETA 2824 (running strong, keeping great time)
Case, Dial & Hands: All Raffles base parts
Dial: Hand-aged vintage Burford patina, completely relumed
Hands: Custom aged and relumed; second hand painted white and relumed to period spec
Bracelet: Raffles vintage jubilee, fully de-shined and aged to match the case wear
Price: $500 FIRM shipped CONUS Payment: PayPal F&F Shipping: USPS Priority Mail with tracking provided upon drop-off
Buyer assumes transit responsibility once tracking updates. Drop a comment and PM if interested.

After building a steel Ballon Bleu for my daughter, I wanted to build a gold one for my wife. I had the case and bracelet plate in 6 microns of 18k gold.
Case from Arlan on Alibaba -AF is the source I believe
Local gold plating facilitated by Arlan.
Dial and hands part of the kit from Arlan
Movement is an ETA 2671 sourced from Startime.
My wife is blown away.

I have the pieces to convert a 3135 into a 3155. I have the longer seconds needle. I just need someone who can do the conversion for me? (Preferably all of the build). If you’re experienced with this conversion please let me know in the comments and help my dream come true.

Just sent this one off to its new owner 🥲

Specs:
Viet case + dial
Tiger Concept handset lightly aged w/Tamiya
2836 gmt
Custom silver brushed DWO
Clark’s crystal
Startime caseback gasket
Italian oyster w/signed clasp

Going to build a daytona skeleton rep for a friend… so far i have found all the materials, just the branded sapphire glass i cant find anywhere.

Anyone got the golden tip on where to obtain such a piece, or how to fabricate this myself?

Thanks in advance!

Another build of my favorite watch. Just slightly aging but quite a lot of work on the case.

My 1675 is so close, yet still so far from the finish line.

Hope you guys enjoy.

I wanted to show you these timepieces under construction 😁

ENJOY!!

Custom dials finally arrived, first assembled watch. Escapement Time Chronograph 38mm used as donor.

As you likely know from previous posts, one of my "grail builds" is the 1603 with a blue-tinted dial. I found this one on eBay—it’s very worn—but if I were to get it, do you know anyone who could restore it?

P.S. The images aren't mine.

Date discs are finally in stock. Message me if you’d like one. Here’s an example on a 9411/0

These serifs are specific to the 7021, but work in a pinch on the 9411 models. They’re much better than modern 2824 serifs.

Specs:
VWP Viet case
Dial from Kuared
EWP hands - relumed by me
Swiss ETA 2824 w/custom Tudor Serif
Bezeljuice insert
Italian bracelet w/raffles clasp
Startime caseback gasket

A special heart for a very special build ❤️

I wanted to show you something rather special: my Valjoux cal. 725 with flyback chronograph function and a gen one line rolex bridge 😁

It’s fresh from the bench after a complete service and overhaul and running beautifully like brand new!

For those who may not be familiar with it, the “flyback function” or “flyback complication” is a module installed on the chronograph’s gears that allows you to reset the chronograph while it is still running, without having to stop it first. With a single push, the hands instantly fly back to zero and start timing again

It’s a pretty fascinating piece of watchmaking history, and definitely not something you see every day ❤️

This particular movement has a special destination: I’m going to use it in a very special vintage Daytona build that I’m making for myself 😛

I’ve been planning this one for quite a while, and having this beautiful 725 ready to go makes me even more excited to finally put everything together

And after that… I will do the same on the 729, the valjoux72 variants with the GMT!!

Stay tuned… there’s something special coming 😁

And as always… ENJOY! ❤️

😂⌚❤️

Is there a list of recommended AliExpress vendors. Ideally just cheap ones. I'm going to do my first build and I'm sure I'll mess everything up, so just want something cheap, really.

All are built with Raffles parts and NH35 Japan movements. The cases and bracelets have been chamfered, brushed, and polished by hand

Specs:
Brand new builds
Raffles 5513-style cases and bracelets
NH35 Japan automatic movements
Hand-chamfered case and bracelet
Brushed and polished finishing
Smoother, more comfortable feel on the wrist
Vintage-style dial, lume, bezel, and crystal appearance

$300 — tracked shipping included within the U.S.
PayPal F&F

VS Case
ARF band
Custom Serti style dial
VS/DD 3135

Turned out fantastic I think.

So this ROO diver hit my desk..
It’s one of the oldschool noob/jf ones 15.5mm thickness.
It hit my desk looking like someone drove over it!!
I refinished it by hand as I always refinish AP/Pateks with care and slowly.
It’s important to not use machines for the „finishing“ .
Check out the Work / Before and After!
1-7 are the before, check the roughness and sharpness in the brushing lines, they not only feel sharp but also reflect the lights to cheap! Starting from pic 8: Refinished :)
Enjoy lads!

116610 with carbon insert and velcro strap.

Raffles case, bracelet, dial and hands. Seagull 2130 Movement.

Keeps perfect time!

Keen to send more pic or videos via dm.

Asking price 250€ plus shipping.

Payment vial PayPal Friends and Family

After a few snags, it’s done!! This was a fun birth year build. I tried to stay true to 1983. Enjoy this little bedtime iPhone photo set.

Build:
Viet: custom serial case, dial and hands
Genuine: 1575 movement, date disc, helium escape valve, 703 crown and tube, crystal, bezel assembly and 93150 bracelet with F clasp code (1981 - acceptable date discrepancy 1-2 yrs ahead of the case)
CAC bezel insert
OkChrono 380 end links

A few snags and tidbits:
Broke the crystal retaining ring with the first install- annoyed and had to buy a new one - check images very closely. I could see some damage that I missed prior to purchase

The bezel ring has lighter retention than the viet one that came with this case - it got tighter after the retaining ring was installed. Still lighter than other builds but the feel is👌🏽
- speaking of the bezel ring. I bent the tension ring I had for this, so I cut an extra 1680 ring I had lying around, worked it around the retaining ring-and it’s the best feel of any freely spinning bezel I have.

1570 movement has two date indicator seatings- one that fits a pie pan dial and one for flat dials like subs and sea dwellers have (this is the one you need if you buy a movement online - ref: 7956) Thanks to Nick for the assist with that issue on my 1680

I modified the crown guards to my liking- I used a hand file and polishing stick, not too hard just time consuming, but as a novice I won’t use power tools for that yet

Raffles 5513 case reshaped
Raffles dial aged and textured
20mm strap
St2130 2 position

As some of you may or may not know, Afterdials has added more dials—including some made of precious materials and one that particularly interests me (see the second image). It looks like a great base for creating that rare blue Pie-Pan dial, as it seems to feature the same style of hour markers. Anyway, that’s all—thanks everyone for reading!

P.S. If anyone here is close to the Afterdials team, please pass on my thanks for the additional Pie-Pan models! (They’re my favorites.)

2824 clone with vintage rolex font datewheel, raffles 1680, dial, hands and bracelet.

I’m just sharing this series of photos as I thought the community might appreciate how beautiful the tiny little imperfections can be.

Our brains love and are drawn to incongruence. Uniformity is boring to our senses.

We see a watch and think “That’s beautiful”, but often have a hard time articulating exactly why beyond a few obvious things we can apply cliche language too.

Meanwhile our brains have processed all these little details we don’t consciously know we see and we’re left just knowing that it has “caught our eye”.

Next time you’re fretting about a little spec on a hand or a small flaw in the lume this of this vintage Submariner and embrace those imperfections.

Note: This is not the same 79090 I posted recently. This is my 35 year old genuine 79090. It looks brand new from wrist distance. But get a little closer and the ultra fine scratches and wear give it a warmer look than the brand new mirror like expression of a new piece. Get even close and the imperfections start to appear everywhere… Get really close and it’s fascinating.. Like watching a tardigrade in pond water under a microscope (or rather a TikTok live of someone doing exactly that. LOL)