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Well this one just arrived yesterday, in different packages and then it was a long night at the bench modding and putting it all togther, my way. Like a 78 rail dial (the MBW serial number matches for that year just about) A bit like this one here but newer and better As you all know i like my watches to look new ish or old but well looked after, and in particualar usable all the time. I had been collecting parts for this one for a few months and as soon as I had all the major parts I had to get to work on it, in particular I wanted the He valve to look real, Now i had toyed with the idea of making a gen style one on the lathe but then I thought it is a rep it will never be asked to work as I will never be in a helium rich over pressure enviroment so what could I do just to make it look different (and to be honest i dont think i have) I drilled out the old He Valve area in the MBW case and then turned a 1.65mm plug of SS, polished and domed the top and glued it in to the case so that it was more recessed then the MBW, well my wife cant tell the difference from before and after the two hours work, ( have you ever tryed to drill on top of a dome dead in the center) What do you think? Any difference? A gen for comparison Any way the rest of the build and parts used Modded MBW old school case with:- Lugs drilled, gen spring bars Modded CGs Modded He Valve area Gen Tube and Crown (need a new crown as the threads are on the way out on this one) Clarks T39 crystal (and this is pretty damn close to the gen T39 service crystal) ETA 2846 21600 movement, just serviced, MBW silver DWO, with Hacking lever added (quick set date still fitted) Ingod Rail Dial relumed by me (not my best work i have to admit) TC hands (and wow are these close to gen and with great lume, fit and ETA perfectly) Currently on 503b endlinks with a 6248 clasp and 7021 links, but it looks fine from the out side, all polished to remove the sharpe edges, cleaned rebrushed and re cleaned for that silky feel like prom queens thigh! Now i just need to improve that pearl, pick up a 93150 josh bracelet and get a new crown and let it age on my wrist So some more pics I know it is not the right case back but oh well The photo all the purist will hate but this is a comparison with my gen 1680 with lumi dial And finaly the wrist shot I would like to than the following people who help with this build in selling, or donating parts TC, DenimHead, Highoeyazmuhudee, My wife and all of RWG for the knowledge i have learnt over the past 8 years to enable me to complete this work. Andy

Right this is a blue peter moment (Please ecuse the crappy iphone pics) Thanks to Rolojack i can show you all how to make a vintage silver flat 3 open 6&9 DWO I took a screen shot of his image in the DWO thread converted it to black and white in word and resized it. This needs nothing more than A decent inkjet printer Some self adhesive clear lables your old metal DWOs a bit of scotch bright a sharp craft knife (please get help from grown ups when cutting) Nail varnish remover or isopopenol alcohol A sunday morning with out the shakes Right First get all your old DWOs that are made of metal and a couple of date wheels for 2836/46 and chuck them in alcohol or nail varnish remover and remove all the old printing (this will save microns of clearance space) Once it is all clean take your scotch brite and brush the overlay blank you should end up with some thing like this Now we cut out one of our preprinted clear adhesive over lays and stick it as central as you can to the blank The get an adult to cut away the excess and you will be let with what we want a brushed silver flat 3, open 6&9 overlay now you may have dont it already but remove all the printing and ink from the date wheel And fit it to your movement Next we need some thing to attach the DWO to the DW, i like using clear nail varnish as it sets slowly and can be revoved easily, Dial dots are also good but think about clearance if you go this route Tiny dabs are all you need, Now add the DWO over the top lining the center of one number with the stem Fit you dial and check the positioning of all numbers over (wind the watch forwards and get the date to change as you got through 12am rather t6han jjust click forward in the date set position) there will be slight variation Adjust if nesesary and try again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again untill you are happy two slightly better pictures As we can see here the 20s need to move over to the right a touch, not sure if roloJack could do that??? as the rest are good The printing is better than the pictures actualy show and as good as my MBW DWO in my great white but not as perfect as my gen (The one above was a lower print quality than the one under the rail dial) I think we are moving in the right direction I think if i vectorised the image it would be better, can some one here do that? Many thanks to Rolojack for creating the image in the first place (let me know if you want a few of these) Do not all PM me asking me to make you one as i only have 3 blanks. Platinum members for a small donation to the postage can have the stickers for free, but it would be better if it was vectorised and prfesionaly printed. Thank you for reading and now your thoughts please as to the positioning, font size, and boldness

Thoughts about panerai and their history... About a year ago I took down my frogman statue because although I think he's cool (a highly skilled well equipted diver) the history of the frogmen is distasteful. Now at this point I am sure alot of responses will be.. “Modern Panerai has nothing to do with Fascism or the anti-Semetism of 60yrs ago!!”.. however i think this is not always true for several reasons.. One is that modern Panerai has built up a following today by stongly associating the brand with vintage products and the strong history of being a tool watch for military use, hence it has had to set and achieve higher standards than for the public so you should like it more. And second that once a collector is drawn to Panerai the modern watches lose there appeal and they are overtime drawn to more and more vintage items so much so that panerai WIS sometimes build and assemble their own ‘vintage homage’ and are as such are drawn closer to the association of the history. How do you feel and/or how do you balance the strong negativity associated with panerai and your modern day collecting and feelings about the brand? Any one that posts in this thread must set a high standard of thoughtfulness and respect and I trust that the mods will censor any posts deemed inflamatory or divisive. Remember this Forum is about watches and our common uniting hobby.

Older version VCO- still a great rep. I saw a picture yesterday gen. vs. rep, they are scary good reps. Plus about $10K cheaper.

Debut.

In such a fast paced digital and changing world it's great to respect the precision and timeless beauty of the mechanical wristwatch. We all share that joy. Great story!

Golden AP

Watch head looks OK, definitely and aftermarket bracelet. This watch comes with a 93150 Oyster bracelet and 580 end links. I doubt that either of those are present on this watch, hence no detailed photos of the bracelet and clasp. Problem here, to make it right, it's going to cost another 500-1000 USD for a genuine bracelet and end links. If you're interested, I would ask the seller for more detailed photos of the bracelet and some of the clasp. Here is a genuuine 9411/0 for comparison.

Friday here in Kiwi land.And Ill continue the Tudor theme

Happy thanksgiving to all my American friends.