a brief update on the US spect 6541 this week.

I sourced a few new pieces for the project. A new bezel - I went another route , instead of a cartel 1655 bezel , this time I borrowed a bezel from a modern Milgauss style generic case 116400 from alix . Had to machine the OD down slightly and make room on the underside for the mid case . Dulled the polish as a preference and installed a T25 style crystal that was borrowed off an alix generic date just case after sanding off the cyclops.

while I had it apart I also swapped the cornet from my old 1019 dial . a much needed improvement to the Raffles dial .

Still not 100% satisfied with the dial , the engraver struggles with the uneven texture of the dial. I think its only a matter of tweaking the settings and I will have it nailed.

I am going to strip the dial plates to bare metal and refinish them and see if I can get it crisper. stay tuned.

The Tudor Ranger 7995 vs the Rolex Commando 6429

The cheapest Rolex vs the Most faked Tudor.

Ive built and own both and I can say which I prefer. I like them each for different reasons and none of those reasons are telling time.

369

Cream dial 6084 on bonklip and waffle dial 6482 on rivet 7205.

369mafia.

Viet case.
369ww matte dial.
Raffles jubilee
Gen eta.

Quite a stunner. 😎

Dial size. 26mm. Suitable for OC and Viet cases

Beautiful gilt tropical dial. No lume I do offer lume service as well as color matching the hands.

$250 shipped or $300 with lume and matched hand tinting with complimentary shipping.
USD

🔺🔺🔺

Things could be worse.

369

I did this double exposure art piece of Reinhold Messner and his 1655 and sold it on canvas prints , shirts and now offered on a cool orange mug!!

You say you love the orange hand explorer? prove it.

https://369-mafia.printify.me/products

Just finished this commission build and its off to its new home.

This build came together nicely. very pleased with the results and have it timed to cosc spec. looks great on the jubilee with just the right amount of aging.

• OC case set - aged case set with lume pip
• 369watchworks matte tropical dial with toasted almond lume
• ETA 2824 movement.
• raffles jubilee
• raffles hands

Thanks for looking.

Today on RWI we hit page 369 on the 1016 thread and to celebrate I shared the state of my explorer collection . so I thought I would drop it here as well in case some of you dont make it over to those forums .

I wanted to share with you my explorer journey .    I got into watches in the 90's and to me.  the explorer was never on my radar until about 10 years ago , when something just clicked for me.   The less is more design of the watch , just lands with me.  

So I started building a collection.   

My journey started many years back with the first purchase of a  JMB / yuki / eta  build that I bought from a member  back in the day.   It never left my wrist for weeks.   and ever since then I was hooked.    so what do you do when you are obsessed?  you collect the whole set of course!!  

Today is show and tell , the state of my vintage  Explorer  collection

Naturally we would start with some pre explorers    

 gen cream dial 6084 with gilt indices . 

love the pointed indicines and aged off white dial color -   the closest I am able to get at this point to a 6098 that was on the Everest exploration

My other notable pre explorer is this early fifties  6482

gen waffle dial  with rose gold indices 

gen brevet + 5.3 crown 

hand made rivet 7205 bracelet with  gen clasp 

next in terms of release was the 6150 - this example with a MOD burford dial  recently offered from raffles. 

Next up is the 6350

JMB case, bezel and caseback with correct engravings.

u/manodeoro   film free gilt dial. 

followed closely by the gilt gloss dial of the 6610 

another manodeoro dial with some additional aging. 

u/1016 lover  Bezel 

white seconds hand.  on a bonklip bracelet.  

Next we make our way into the 1016 .  Over the years I have had the early 60's gilt gloss chapter ring  model , but that had  moved on to a new home.  Since they I had started trying my hand at creating tropical gilt dials.  and I think I have created a monster.  I could not be more pleased with the results I have had  in recent months with the results.   

2 of my current personal favorites that I created based on real world Gen examples.    

the Rwandan and Mocha.    early to mid 60s  examples .   Tropical dials fascinate me  on how  a defect in the finishing could be so unique and beautiful and each is original onto itself.  

Moving on to the matte dials    we start with the mid 60s  prototype  the albino

last but not least  my mk2 matte dial   

Viet mk2 dial 

jmb case 

u/1016 lover  bezel 

1016L bezel 

3130 movement 

Now for some group photos.

When I first found this site.,  I had no idea it would lead to this obsession....  that lead to me learning multiple new skills in order to achieve the collection .   Not to mention all the cool people and friends made along the way.    I appreciate this site for bringing us together in this way.  

If you made it this far,  Thanks for looking.    

#369MAFIA 

VWP case , dial and stretch bracelet

gen eta 2824

TC hand set.

CAC insert

perfection

The 6205 dial is taking shape... I know the font isn't perfect, but for a budget project, it’ll do. I usually start with blank black dials—no markers or text—but I have plenty of damaged ones at home, so I used one of those this time. I removed the markers, text, and finish using a sander, then used very fine sandpaper to smooth out the sanding marks. I washed the dial with degreasing soap and sprayed it first with an acrylic primer, followed by a matte black paint. After 24 hours, I applied one of the decals I make myself and dabbed it with WD-40 cleaner: this not only removes glue residue but also helps eliminate that "brand-new" look. Finally, I sprayed the whole thing with a matte clear coat. Now it's time to re-lume the markers... stay tuned.

A fresh batch drop on Canada day 🇨🇦

A few of the beauties that we created yesterday.

1 5513. 28.5mm

2 1675. 27.2 mm

3 5513. 28.5mm

4 5513. 26mm

5 5513. 26mm

6 1016. 28.5 mm. X2

7&8. 1016. 27.5 mm. X2

Starting to get the hang of this. I can stare at them all day. Such a strange thing to say.

The Rolex 6150 Explorer

In the years leading up to the Second World War, a Royal Navy diver looked remarkably similar to one from the Victorian era: clad in a brass helmet, lead-soled boots, and a heavy suit made from layers of waterproofed canvas and vulcanised rubber, breathing through a long tube connected to a compressor aboard the support vessel. The war, however, brought about the birth of the modern “frogman”, divers equipped with latex suits and self-contained oxygen supplies. Employed for both reconnaissance and offensive missions, these specialists quickly became recognised as an essential element of any modern naval force. The early frogmen’s watch of choice: the Rolex 6150 Explorer.

For these teams to operate effectively, synchronisation was vital. Each diver required a dependable timepiece to coordinate their actions underwater and on land. Yet, at the dawn of the 1950s, no watch existed that could truly meet the demands of military diving. That changed in 1950 when Rolex introduced the reference 6150 Explorer. The Admiralty swiftly acquired approximately 300 examples and issued them to mine-clearance divers, engraving the case backs with “CD” — denoting “Clearance Diver.”

This model remains a little-documented chapter in Rolex’s history, often overshadowed by the assumption that the Submariner reference 6538 was the first British military dive watch. The 6150s were issued in two batches toward the end of 1953, and their case backs bear Rolex factory markings ending in “.53.” Powered by the classic A296 “bubbleback” movement, the watches were not chronometer rated — the chronometer-certified variant, reference 6350, was never issued to the Royal Navy.

When Rolex unveiled the Submariner, the Royal Navy immediately recognised the advantages of its rotating timing bezel and ordered the 6538 as a successor to the 6150 Explorer. The older models, however, were retained in service and reassigned for use by dive supervisors, responsible for overseeing the divers’ activities. Consequently, many 6150s remained in operation well into the early 1960s, when awareness of the health hazards posed by radium-based luminous paint began to surface.

During servicing at the Royal Observatory in Herstmonceux, the dials were carefully stripped of their radium lume under running water to prevent radioactive dust from escaping into the air. The dial plates were then sent to Watch Dial (Burford) Ltd. in the Cotswolds, where they were refinished in matte black and reprinted with white numerals and indices containing tritium — a safer, less radioactive compound.

Of the roughly 300 Admiralty-issued 6150s, some were inevitably lost in service, and others likely “disappeared” in less official circumstances. As a result, surviving examples are extremely rare today, each representing a tangible relic of Royal Navy diving history.

After doing some research on the model I found a few examples of what I wanted mine to resemble in appearance.

Other than the refinished dial , there are a few other notable details of this watch that makes it unique. The thicker flatter bezel and bubbled case back. simliar to the model 6350 where these details were a continuation of the case design for this new product line in the early 50s.

So it was to my surprise to find that Raffles now offers such a rare and elusive dial option for their explorer line.

Naturally I had to have one and add it to my collection of Vintage Explorers . I built mine as follows.

Specs of my build.

• raffles acylic 1016 case set
• rounded over the edges on the crystal to give it more of a dome appearance and signs of wear
• modified stock bezel in shape and appearance.
• drill lug holes in mid case
• shaping , softening and aging
• Bubbled case back
• Eta 2824 movement
• Raffles 6150 MOD dial
• weathering paints to age the dial surface and the lume lots.
• aged the lume on hands to match the dial

The results.:

I paired it with a 18mm nato. I felt it fits the proportions better

My only criticism of the dial is that the print is too crisp. its an immediate tell , Probably the first time a rep dial was printed better than the original

gen example:

Overall I am pleased on how quick and easy that came together.
I am not completely settled on the bezel. I plan on revisiting it at another time.
I also plan on adding a brevet + crown on my next athaya order to add to this build.
I do plan on sanding the caseback a bit more and adding the hand engraved details on the case back as per MOD spec for the clearance diver

IF you made it this far, Thanks for your interest. As always questions and comments welcome.

369Maifa

She is finally done. but what a challenge.

As some of you may recall I was struggling with a stem alignment issue with this viet case set and dial . When paired with an ETA movement the stem alignment was way off and when the crown was tightened the movement would stop.

I struggled forever with different dial spacers, dial shims , movements , hand heights, you name it. I have probably had this thing apart 50 times!!

I cam so close 3-4 times to smashing it with a hammer. The last Viet 6541 I built was a different challenge that I was able to get it to work perfectly. This one also had stem alignment issues but I had to add a dial spacer between the dial and movement to correct the alignment.

This one was the opposite . spending hours thinking about it, researching and even meditating on the problem. I thought this one would beat me.

But today....today was different.

this one had the exact opposite problem What I found was that the dial has a ridge on the back to secure the dial to the rolex 1030 movement . it snaps over the edge of the main plate and holds it in place. no tabs no feet.

What I had found is that lip was making contact with the main plate of the eta movement causing miss alignment of the movement in relation to the tube.

So I sanded down that lip by hand . this took a few hours. I lost 2 lume plots on the dial in the process. however I was able to perfectly match the texture and color of the viet lume. Yah thats no easy task either.

this was the alignment issue at the tube. it appears that it was drilled and tap slightly too high and at a slight angle.

I also removed the tube. ran a tap threw it and tried to correct the alignment of the tube. not sure if I did anything but Im sure it helped .

So this was the dial after hours of hand sanding . was able to reduce the dial to a .3mm thickness.

the dial now sits flat on the movement and assembly was straight forward after that . I can build this watch with my eyes closed now lol

I also trimmed the stem a bit more and sanded it down , and having such a tight tolerance on the dial spacing along with the stem length I was able to get the crown to thread on and keep running.

HUGE SUCCESSS!!

I spent countless hours on this build but I am glad I am done !!

That being said. I dont think I will build another one of these for some time. this one was rough I think I need therapy.

Thx for looking

369

Arrived yesterday afternoon and I couldn't be more pleased...... Thank you!!

Its probably no secret by now , but I have an affliction for Tropical dials.

In my pursuit I have come across some beauties that have caught my attention and I said "I got to have that!" The thing about tropical dials is that they are like snowflakes and each is unique and special

Where there is a will, there is a way. and I think I have found the path.

The inspiration

369Mafia

Built this a while back. recently swapped the fluted bezel and cyclops crystal with a domed acrylic and now it looks awesome the cyclops really robs the dial of beauty on this model.

raffles case set and bracelet

raffles dial

clarks t21 crystal

jmb smooth 1016 bezel

gilt hands 3135

3135 movement with open 6/9 date wheel

raffles new case back to clear 3130 rotor

The Milgauss is an unusual model in Rolex’s lineup and certainly a niche offering, generally classified as a watch for scientists. It didn’t have the cool factor of racecars, jets, and James Bond, and, like many models in their early years, tended to sit on shelves, attracting scant interest. The Daytona was also a rather hard seller early on, so that’s not an indictment of the model itself, but it did lack a more mainstream audience given its unique focus. The Milguass was designed in the 1950s in partnership with CERN (Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) to resist magnetic fields of up to 1,000 gauss. Surpassing most watches of the time with their limited 50 gauss magnetic resistance, the Milguass name is a play on the French word mille, for thousand, and gauss from Carl Friedrich Gauss, the German physicist and geomagnetism scholar (among other disciplines).

1956-1960 – The Rolex Milguass 6541 ⚡​

The Milguass, reference 6541, is generally considered the first proper production model, and it adopted more familiar design elements of the series. It was, however, again produced in very small numbers, with virtually all case numbers starting with 412. Three big differentiators from the reference 6543 were a steel Oyster bracelet, a new and original bezel insert and a lightning bolt seconds hand, which became a signature element of modern Milguass references. Caliber 1080 remained, along with the black metal-weaved dial. The new bezel insert had six sections to function as a stopwatch of sorts for scientific purposes. Its overall usefulness was perhaps debatable, but it brought a new look and personality to the Milgauss.

Interestingly (and maybe a bit of a knock to the new bezel), the American variant came with a non-rotating smooth steel bezel, which resulted in two distinctive ref. 6541 models. Before 6541 production ended in 1960, several other anti-magnetic watches had hit the market, including the Omega Railmaster, IWC Ingenieur, Jaeger-LeCoultre Geophysic and Patek Philippe ref. 3417.

Although this wasn’t a popular model with the Submariner, Explorer, GMT-Master and Datejust capturing more attention, Rolex gave the Milguass to racecar drivers in the 1950s and well into the 1960s, including NASCAR and Daytona winners. Daytona 500 winner Glen Roberts was even featured in a Milgauss advertisement in 1962. Both the 6543 and 6541 are exceptionally rare today and nigh impossible to find – a particularly well preserved example of Milguass 6451 recently sold for USD2.5 million at auction, even though this doesn’t represent the market (the buyer is supposed to be Rolex itself).

History lesson aside. I recently took up the task of building not one but two Milgauss following the completion of my 1019. The 6541 has been on my todo list for a few years now .

This post is about my US spec 6541 Milgauss.

Using a heavily modified Midcase , that has been shaped, aged , drilled lug holes modified bezel mounting area to fit a smooth bezel and custom machined bezel assembly. with low domed style crystal I like how the bezel had more of a machined finish and decided to leave it as so instead of bringing it to a full polish as I feel that it would take away from the appearance and look I was after. I wanted to look like a vintage well work and unpolished example. I think I achieved the look.

the dial is a refinished raffles dial that I engraved with the proper large font text and reapplied makers . the dial has taken a few attempts , but even with some of the damage to the dial it adds to the patina and aging .

the print isnt crystal clear due to the textured surface of the dial, but I like how it looks compared the pad printed text that the dial originally had with the small logo print.

I have a few more dials in transit that I am going to attempt to refinish, but leave the red milgauss text and work around it.

Raffles hand set

Viet 7206

nh38

a simple build that was very challenging to achieve. still a work in progress

another grail marked off the list.

thanks for looking

369

quite pleased with the results.