Leaderboard

If you have a handwind PAM with a 6497 and the running seconds removed, please read the following. BACKGROUND The 6497 comes from the factory with an extended 2nd wheel post on which the seconds hand is attached. This is a close up picture of that post, it fits through the dial hole, and the hand is secured to it. If your PAM doesn't have a seconds hand, this post has to be removed so that it doesn't interfere with the dial. Removal is not a problem, if it's done correctly... PROBLEM The removal of the post is not being done correctly, and as a result, your watch is in effect a ticking time bomb...read on to see why... The posts are either being removed at the factory, or they are being removed by modders - modders who don't know what they are doing. Here are examples of factory fresh movements with the post removed. Example 1 On this one they disassembled the movement and removed the 2nd wheel (the way it should be done), but instead of cutting off the post and leaving it long enough to have a proper pivot, they ground down the whole pivot right to the pinion gear, leaving an unfinished and rough pivot, not only is it unfinished, it's sitting in the jewel, not above it. Here you can see that the cut off section is below the jewel face, it should be above the jewel face This is a picture of how a pivot should look, nice rounded top, and it sticks above the face of the jewel. Here I have disassembled the movement and removed the 2nd wheel. And here is a close up of the 2nd wheel and the cut off post, there is no pivot to rotate in the jewel This is how a good pivot should look,this is the pivot on the other end of the 2nd wheel. Example 2 The person at the factory who assembled this watch, was a bit lazier than the first fellow, and he didn't have as much time available as the first one, so instead of removing and grinding off the pivot, he simply bent the post over until it snapped off...with disasterous results for the owner... The result is a very jagged, sharp edge,as the watch runs, this jagged edge will effectively act as a cutter and grind down the jewel, eventually the 2nd wheel will disengage from the rest of the gears... What will happen if left as-is and not fixed... If you own a handwind PAM, you know how many turns are needed of the crown to fully wind it up. You also know how much force is needed to wind that big 48 hour power reserve mainspring. All the mainspring power is held back by the escapment and of course the train gears. The mainspring can only unwind slowly over 48 hours. If something happens to cause the train gears to disengage, the mainspring will unwind in a milisecond. WHEN the 2nd wheels in the above examples finally grind down the jewel enough to cause the gear train to disengage, the mainspring will unwind fully and take with it the minute hand and hour hand and everything else...kiss your watch good bye... Here is an example of this happening, this particular watch had a 3rd wheel failure, but the 2nd wheel failing will do the same damage as you see here. Not only are the dial and hands destroyed, the force has also stripped and damaged all the gears in the movement. RESULT Dial is ruined Hands are ruined Movement is destroyed SOLUTION 1 Don't buy any handwind PAM that doesn't have running seconds, unless you are going to fix it 2 If you do buy one, have it serviced/repaired as soon as you get it 3 If you use the services of a modder to remove your seconds post (FGD dial install for example), make sure it's done correctly - ask for pictures of the workmanship, ask if they own a DREMEL PROBLEMS 1 There are NO SPARE parts available for ASIAN 6497's, so if you have a A6497 and need a new 2nd wheel, you have to buy a complete movement to get a replacement gear 2 For the ETA movements, replacement parts are available, so repair is not a problem As you can see from the pictures, it's simple for you to check this out yourself - as long as your comfortable removing the dial and hands... Modder workmanship Have to at least mention what I have seen...no names...so far I have identified two distinct types of modders... Modder 1 - these fellows don't disassemble the movement, they simply cut the post off with cutters, leaving a jagged eged, but it's above the jewel face so that's good, the jewel won't be ground down. On the downside, the jagged edge is wider that the jewel hole and it won't allow the 2nd wheel to pass through the jewel and be removed, so you can't service the watch. Modder 2 - these fellows are the POWER tool users...the post is ground off with a grinder, probably a Dremel tool...on the good side these modders are too lazy to actually disassemble the movement, so like Modder 1 they leave a post that is above the jewel face. On the BAD side, they don't realize that grinding creates metal fillings, of course metal fillings and mechanical gears don't get along. Clean UP, what's that?? these types don't clean anything, not even their fingerprints, so they leave all the metal fillings everywhere, fillings get into the oil in the jewels, and all over the various parts and pieces, with disasterous results. So there you have it, something to consider and think about... Thanks for reading, hopefully this will save someone from disaster.

Those are all great watches. I'm glad to have helped.

My PreA Logo (6500 case) anomaly

I should have taken a 'before' shot, but I didn't... This is about as good as I can provide... Before After with the inner guards trimmed and cleaned up... Most of the effort went into opening up the lower portion of the guards and what I call squaring of the inner corners (this is to make the inside corners at the base of the guards as sharp and with as defined of a 'corner' as possible). The difference is hard to detect, but the easiest way to see the difference is to compare the distances of the CG edges to the crown tube since that's really the only constant between the two pics. You may notice that the 6:00 side was much more enclosed (i.e. closer to the tube) than the 12:00 side, and the inner CGs much too angled. I straightened them out slightly, still keeping a slight angle but enough to open everything up as you should be able to see a good portion of the base of the crown...

In which case mate the strap is ideal Now go get my cases I am waiting to leave !!

VR44, I've got to give you a huge thumbs up for this. You've done your homework before putting this post together. And what a breath of fresh air to see the old Rose Tudor thread resurrected! That was a nice read. Keep up the pursuit, you're going to end up with a very nice build.

I've only bought from Andy (yourtrustytime) so far, but I'm more than happy with his service. He has the Milgauss you're looking for with either an low beat 21J asian movement here: http://www.yourtrustytime.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_237&products_id=4760 Or a "swiss" ETA 25J 28.8kbph here: http://www.yourtrustytime.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_237&products_id=4761 He also has a bunch of DSSDs here: http://www.yourtrustytime.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_8 As previous posters have said - go with the trusted dealers here. I know I'm a newbie too, but I did my homework before buying. The dealers recommended here are trusted for a reason. Good luck with your purchase!

40mm cases are 22mm - Common sizes 22/20 and 22/22 44mm cases are 24mm - Common sizes 24/22 and 24/24 47mm cases are 26mm - Common sizes 26/26 Rads are generally 27mm - Common sizes 27/20 for Rad deployants and 27/22 for Luminor Deployants/buckles and 27/24 for historic buckles OEM size lengths are 115/75 Stnd, 115/95 XL, 115/68 XS, 98/68 Ladies Luminor Deployants fit 22mm Thumbnail buckles fit 22mm Historic Tang 22mm & 26mm (PAV) Historic Buckles fit 24mm (MX) These are only available already sewn in) Rad deployants 20mm

I suppose people who are not from the USA will be unfamiliar with the saying but when you "sell someone the Brooklyn Bridge" you have taken advantage of their naiveté ... So for a watch with the Brooklyn Bridge on the case back ..... this is very fucking hilarious.

DIY New dial feet to fit a dial made for other movement 3 Oct 2011 When i wrote the How to mod a mqj guidei promised i would find a better way to mount a dial made for Seiko/ETA then gluing it directly to the movement and now i am finally done. So here it is this is the poor mans version, i am sure there are more and better tools for making the same thing but i like to keep this guide budget for those that want to try out modding using cheap Chinese materials "Tools" needed... The dial feet i use are Bergeon#10040i payed less then 10$ for a 100 so buy one bag and it will last. 1 eraser or any soft material that you can press down the dial feet into. One shaft, the same diameter as the middle hole of your dial (i used a springbar). And some jewellers epoxy, or any epoxy i guess, but i ordered some of this from Ofrei while getting some parts so this is what i will use. Press down the "shaft" in the middle to serve as a guide for the dial Scratch of some lead from a pencil onto the old dial feet press down the dial along the guide pin and while keeping it horizontal press down the old dial feet into the eraser. Mark out the 12 and 6 on the eraser. The lead from the dial feet should leave a mark and the this is where you insert the new dial feet Like so... Mix the epoxy., trying not to succumb to the horrific smell of the hardener (is there anything so stinky ?) Add a small amount of glue to the top of the dial feet And slide down the dial along the guide shaft lining up the 12 & 6 markers carefully (remove old dial feet first ofc and make sure you have a flat and clean surface for the glue to stick to) I should have stuck some more dial feet into the eraser to support the dial now i had to balance it on a paper clip, but this is only a demo dial so no biggie. let the glue dry and now you have a dial that fits without permanently gluing it to the movement ! Complement: Repair foot length a little long. Bergeon #10040 need grinding. Because It's stop the winding rotor spin . yukiwatch p.s: This method may not 100% fit for all dial have date window (movement with date). Author: Pompe http://www.yukiwatch.com/articles/article/7390084/160035.htm

One read of the 150 picture teardown review and I had to have one! http://www.rwg.cc/topic/138469-the-ultimate-pam111m-teardown-review-150-images/ You will be buying a Noob 111M after that

Here's mine. Orange is the new Black don't you know ... This and my Nautilus are on a whole new level of replication imho

Hey guys, Here is a quick wrist shot... My wrists aren't too big, but the 45.5mm looks like the right size and not too big at all. Overall I am very satisfied with the quality of this watch, and I never want to take it off! If you have any other questions, just let me know. Glad I joined the UPO rep family!

as for the crown : i find $60 a little expensive i just bought a used one from ebay for $20 shipped - you don't need a tube for modern 7mm crowns. all you need is patience and a sniper program the CGs : they are shorter than MBW - yes - but not sooo short, they are very curved on top which let them look even smaller. on the wrist however - the look ok imho. i would not shave them from the inside and i did not much on the outside - wanted to keep as much material as possible ... the CGs on the MBW are much more work - i had to shave them a lot on the inside and on the outside. compared to the MBW you have the same gen like construction, gen modern 7mm crowns fit on the tube, the bracelet has hollow middle links, bezel insert and dial is nicer. BUT CGs looks better after mods on the MBW ..... which will cost you $$$ to get it nice. cheers, Frank

t-19 clone is needed - the rep glass it imho too domed watchmaker knives to get the bezel off (easy ) the just press the new glass by hand - retaining ring over the plexi - now a press is needed (scary ) press the retaining ring over the glass then bezel, washer, insert (don't forget to bleach it with Klorix or something) press on by hand standard sub crown fits on the tube - if you want to install something smaller (Daytona crown) you need a new tube also. CGs should be shaved on the outside with wet n dry sandpaper and polished with Dremel tool ... all relatively easy you could also drill out the lug-holes a little bit but that's about it cheers, Frank