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Some of you may have seen my WTB for a Lightly Frankened 3717. Luckily for me Chieftang responded that he was willing to part with his. I was hoping for a rep 3717 with either a Gen Dial or relumed V3 with the thick Lume pads removed. Chieftang's was more than I had hoped for. His had Gen Caseset (Crystal, Pushers, Midcase & case back), ETA 7750, Rep Hands Re-Lumed by the Zig, a Di-Moddell strap, and the rep original bracelet. He also had Gen. IWC German Day and Datewheels available for the next service interval. I tried to make contact with Concepta to see if he could find me a Gen. Bracelet and a handset, but I haven't heard back, so I decided to do a little work myself. As others have noted the Rep bracelet doesn't fit the Gen Case. The rep bracelet endlinks are 21.1mm and the Gen case lugs are right around 21.02~ mm. So, I filed down the endinks to a perfect fit and mounted the bracelet. The major tell of a Rep. bracelet are the holes in the clasp that allow for the spring bar to attach the two parts of the bracelet together. As seen below (picture stolen from rafi717): . I remember reading a post here on RWG about a bracelet mod that would get rid of the whole by replacing the spring bar with a solid stainless steel bar, and then sanding and polishing it down to make it disappear into the clasp. Which is probably exactly how IWC does it (although they probably have a better polishing rig than I do). The results turned out really good, I could probably polish it a bit more, but I am really happy with it for the moment. The original bracelet modification post is here: CLICK HERE. Here is a break down the process with some pictures: What you need to do is get one of these: Igot mine from Otto Frei, part number is MM-M124. It gets you a full set of bars from .8mm to 1.8mm. I used a 1mm bar, but from what I understand, the hole in the bracelet may vary is size. Use the bar that is the tightest fit into the hole, you'll need to hammer it into place later, and the tension between the hole and the bar is what holds everything in place, so a tight fit is good. You then remove the bracelet from the clasp from the bracelet, remove the tiny flat head screw that secures the release mechanism from the clasp, and then pull out the button. There is a small spring inside the clasp, go ahead and pull that out too so it doesn't get lost later. Release the spring bar and separate the two pieces. Next step is to disassemble the spring bar. Simply pull out the the ends and it will remove the tips, pull out the spring as well. We will use the spring bar tube to take up the space between the 1 mm bar and the part we just pulled the spring bar out of. Next, put the spring bar tube back in the clasp, put the clasp back where it came from, and hammer the steel bar through the outside of the clasp, through the spring bar tube, and clear through the other side of the bracelet. (this image is for clarity - this is done with the clasp separate from the watch - bar would be driven in from the right to the left) Drive the bar so it is flush at one side. You'll still have several mm left at the opposite side, trim off the excess with a good pair of wire cutters. Next step is sanding. I used a file to bring down the extra long side (the side you hammered from) until it was flush with the clasp. I then sanded both sides of the clasp using 200 grit sand paper, followed by 500 grit and then 1,000 grit sand paper. The land two steps take a while as it takes off very little material. The 1,000 grit takes a really long time. Here is a picture after the 1,000 grit sanding: ...and the opposite side: These pics are under 10x magnification. The next step is what makes all the difference, mask off the brushed parts of the parts of the clasp and then polish the sides of the clasp using Red Rouge and a bench polisher. After a few minutes of polishing the bar ends begin to disappear. Keep polishing until you can't see them anymore. When you're finished it will look like this: ...and under 10x magnification, depending on the light, you can just barely see the bar: ...and reattached to the bracelet: This side needs a bit more polishing - which I will take care of soon... ...and here are a couple of crappy pictures from my iPhone. I promise to take some better ones in the next couple of days with my DSLR.

We were dressed and ready to go out for a Dinner & Theatre evening. We turned on a 'night light', turned the answering machine on, covered our pet budgie and put the cat in the backyard. We phoned the local Taxi company and requested a taxi. The taxi arrived and we opened the front door to leave the house. As we walked out the door, the cat we had put out in the yard scooted back into the house. We didn't want the cat shut in the house because she always tries to get at the budgie. My wife walked on out to the taxi, while I went back inside to get the cat. The cat ran upstairs, with me in hot pursuit. Waiting in the cab, my wife didn't want the driver to know that the house will be empty for the night. So, she explained to the taxi driver that I would be out soon. "He's just going upstairs to say Goodbye to my mother." A few minutes later, I got into the cab. "Sorry I took so long," I said, as we drove away. "That stupid bitch was hiding under the bed. I had to poke her arse with a coat hanger to get her to come out! She tried to take off, so I grabbed her by the neck. Then, I had to wrap her in a blanket to keep her from scratching me. But it worked! I hauled her fat arse downstairs and threw her out into the back yard! .............She'd better not shit in the vegetable garden again!" The silence in the Taxi was deafening.

Really good overall......just understated.....subdued.....low-key......muted. Nice one to wear if you don't want attention!

Santa Barbara, CA bound with the NSD

Watch Friday Babes ♥

After 10 + years around this forum, I still have never put up a "wristie" So it needs to be a pretty special watch ( not photo) Fresh from the spa, with a minor repair to replace a collapsed jewel, and now fitted with a gleaming "Expandro" bracelet, courtesy of the wild man of the North, (my eternal gratitude Nanuq) we have the "Sharkhunter" Still needs a couple of tweaks, but I can assure you the scratches on the sides are in fact arm hairs and what appear to be machine marks on the bezel are not evident in real light.Must be some photo anomaly. But sweet she is, and a dream to wear, that bracelet is sooooo comfy. Thanks Nanuq, both for the bracelet, and steering me to this piece of history. Offshore

Why bother doing all that, if you're going to use the wrong case? The rehaut and engraving and lugs will still be off. You can build yourself a Super-hulk like mine (or use the black dial if you prefer) for cheaper than that, and use a gen crystal instead of an AR'ed cyclops installed on a rep crystal. There's nothing like a gen crystal with cyclops AR, trust me. I've tried everything else, nothing touches the gen (the BigCrown might come close).

Nice Threads...

Sorry, been away too long... Sometimes life just catches up and then kicks into high gear... But I'm good when this happens to draw a line, get away, and re-center myself... "Sand Cave in Cumberland Gap"

The old "palmslap maneuver" might untangle the hairspring if that is the problem...Grab it by the strap and briskly slap it into your palm a couple of times....Doesn't always help, but the "price is right".... ;)

This really touched me...

Thanks Andreww For me, the worst part of the Navi rep (apart from sunken date) is the rep dial. It was terrible on the Fighters and terrible on the tricompax. What the rep dial makers need to know is that the dial should have a fine base coating of silver. To which a starburst brushing is done. Then the fine top coat of blue/black/whatever is applied, which forms the outline for the slide rule markings. The exception to this is the silver dial, which would then have black numerals printed over. This gives the dial that metallic starburst effect which is clearly evident on Pete's pics above. The same metallic sheen is present on some newer reps: blue Navi World, Abyss, bronze Legende.... but was missing on the blue Steelfish and obviously missing on the Navitimer rep - which had a flat black base coating followed by a white/silver screen print for the slide rule markings. When compared to gen, it was like night and day. Splitting hairs? Maybe, but it's the sum of such details which determine how much of a super rep a watch will be.

Well, I'm no Breitling expert, but I have some experience with PAM Daylights, I have put together few of them - A7750 3-6-9, A7753 and ETA 7753. So, here are few factoids about A7753 issues: 1. A7753 and modifed 3-6-9 A7750 have different height, and consequently different crown position - so cases are unfortunately not compatible, not saying it is impossible to put A7753 in A7750 3-6-9 case, but there must be some case modding involved 2. strangely enough, A7753 CAN take A7750 date wheel, and with A7750 date wheel, dial can also be taken from A7750 3-6-9 movement - for anyone not believing this I have picture attached of A7753 with A7750 date wheel installed 3. A7753 does not have possibility of setting date by going forward-and-backward around midnight because movement "maker" decided to save probably around 0,05 US$ and used date indicator driving wheel from 7750 movement instead of producing 7753 specific one - so, with this new part produced A7753 would have this possibility (same as ETA 7753). I hope this clears some of questions posted here. regards

Sorry ,it is Breitling Super Avenger Stainless Steel V2 ]Dimension: 48mm x 59mm x 18.5.mm Movement: Asian 7750 Valjoux movement 28800bph Dial: Black Dial Working Chronograph function Bezel: Solid 316L Stainless Steel Bezel Case: Solid 316L Stainless Steel Case Strap: 316L Stainless Steel strap with deployment Buckle Glass: Scratch-proof Sapphire Crystal Water-proof/Water-resistant: Yes If anybody like ,pls sent email freely to silixprime@gmail.com .