Bignasty

Actually the CG has been flipped. The modded side faces down now. I'll post more pics when I get better light and the caseback is installed. Cheers, Jon

Wow! No one likes my watch? No replies yet Well heres an update anyway. Tomorrow I'll oild up the strap. Now it just waits for a solid caseback. Cheers, Jon

Its not a rep its a HOMMAGE! LOL Some of those guys are in such denial! Cheers, Jon

Very informative post Bazz! I've had to do this once too. Love when people are willing to share great knowledge and pics with the rest of us! Glad you got your watch fixed too Kingkite! Cheers, Jon

Who has this now? Sorry for my ignorance. Jon

No you will need a press unless you are superman LOL You'll need big dies too! I have pics but they've but deleted from my online album. I'll post some when I get a chance. They are on my other machine. Jon

So I got an incredible deal on a 217 lefty that needed a bit of repair. The asian unitas copy movement needed some tweeking, which I did, so I've decided to proceed with a vintage project (I've had the craving for a vintage PAM for some time now!) And afterall I already own a fiddy, so I don't need two modern 47mm's! My fiddy still awaits supplies from Davidsen including a new dial (because I gunked the OEM one up ). So I robbed the old dial from my fiddy and proceeded with the mods. So far this is what I've gotten done with a bit of tinkering just this afternoon. Polished the case Ground off the Trademark engravings from crown guard Aged the dial (which I am extremely happy with the outcome ) Aged the hands Its getting close but I've just ordered a plain non-display caseback with no engravings from Davidsen that will take a couple of weeks to arrive. Until then once everything else is complete I'll probably sport it with the display back! I'll keep you posted. Thanks for looking and any comments/creative criticism are, as always, greatly appreciated. Cheers, Jon

Very Happy Birthday to You KEN!

Nice watches guys! This one for me I have a feeling it won't be coming off anytime soon! Just installed the ETA 7750 yesterday. Cheers, Jon

So I aquired an ETA 7750 from a member here. Well actually I had a 7750 swap go bad and damaged a 7750 so I bought it from the member. Well I took the needed spare parts from an old Asian 7750 and sent it out for repair (my local smith wouldn't even touch the movement, nor would his local guy which he sends complicated jobs to! ) Wow, the 7750 really scares these guys for some reason. Anyway two months later I got the phone call. It was done! So I went and picked it up yesterday. Adding to this complex story is my Ti Chrono Avenger which I sold to another member here back about 4 or so months ago. Well it was the old Asian 7750 movement too. Needless to say it decided to stop working somewhere between here and the other members residence so the only right thing to do was to take it back and offer up a refund. Well long story short it has been sitting dead for months now but today that all came to an end! When I got off work today I decided to jump right into it. Didn't take a whole bunch of pics but heres a quick little few! Cheers, Jon Caseback , rotor, crown and retention screws all removed. Movement out. Hands off (Dust on the dial at 12 too not a scratch I protect the dial with a bit of soft lense cloths) Asian on left ~ ETA on right (Funny there was a day complication under the dial the whole time) Hands on and functionality check complete now its time to dust it off and case it back up. In the case and awaiting the silicon grease and o-ring. A closer shot so you can see the engravings and finish work of the ETA. I also decided to put the Asian rotor back on for added effect. This part is completely interchangeable. Just a cool shot! All done! Date is a bit misaligned but you can't sweat the little things! Finally the wrist shot! Thanks in advance for looking and comments greatly appreciated!

Glad to hear you are having fun! Wish I could be in EU on vacation now but too much $$$ for me at the moment. Once I finish school I would like to go on a EU journey. Been to Italy twice to visit family. Vicenza to be exact. Got to visit Rome, Milan, Venice, Pisa and others while there. Also got to check out Austria one afternoon but not much outside of Italy other than that. Would certainly love to go back. Enjoy your fun The Zigmeister and we'll see you soon! Cheers, Jon

Thanks for the comments guys! How'd you go about ageing the dial? I'm thinking of the expresso bath for a vintage PAM project I'm about to start! Cheers, Jon

Don't think the Navitimer World sports the new 28,800 movement. Look at the pics, the movement is still roughly finished and has the fake regulating device. Jon

Great watch and great pics! Thanks for sharing. Jon

That sucks but it does happen so don't feel stupid! It happens when you are learning. You'll get it right just don't let it beat you. I actually use the Indian type hand removing tools. I use soft lense cloths to protect the dial from scratches. I actually use a ball point pen fill to re set the main hands. For the chrono hands I actually set them with tweezers. Also by the way, if your IWC chrono is the new 28,800 asian movement the second hand you broke probably wouldn't have fit the new movement anyway. I tried on a new Navitimer Serie Speciale for another member with the updated movement and it was a no go due to the hand sizes being slightly altered. Like someone else said I would hit up Ofrei for a new hand. Cheers, Jon

I've done several 127 217 swaps w/ Davidsen goods. The crystals are awesome and its not too difficult if you have the right dies for your press. I'll help out however I can. Just PM if you need assistance. Cheers, Jon

I'll stick w/ my EL 187! Jon

Congratulations! Jon

Very nice! Thanks for the pics especially the wrist shots. Jon

Again thanks for the kind words! Jon

Thanks for the comments guys! Jon

You could buy a rep SMP clasp of the bay and gut it. Used the gutted parts to replace the inners of the PO clasp. The SMP clasps don't seem to have the gap issue. I've thought about this as a remedy if my clasp ever breaks. Good luck. Jon

Got this 1680 from Paul a couple months ago. Nice starter peice. ETA 2836 movement. Silver date wheel. Decent dial in my opinion although I'm aware the "Submariner" text is too wide. Rep crystal was dissapointing. Of course the spring bars were too small. The CG's were horrible. But like I said a great buy and a good start. Here's what I've done so far and to be completely honest probably all that will get done! 1. New generic crystal. Better height than the original rep one. I know it has beveled edges but I like the look OK. This cost about $7 on the bay. The datemag isn't anything to brag about but it fit and the watch is still suitable for swimming. I also brushed up the sides so they are more opaque, I liked this look better. 2. Drilled the spring bar holes. Went to Home Depot and bought cobalt bits. Bought the smallest size I could find, drilled, and then realized they are a bit too big, but its water under the bridge now and I'm happy. The spring bars are not gen but are much better than the originals. I've got Snap-On cobalt bits ordered for future projects, the correct size this time too! 3. Case reshaping and refinishing. Rolled the edges of the case more to give it more of a broken in look. I filled off the edges of the bezel a bit too. They were too sharp and too precise. And of course I reshaped and filed down the CG's a bunch. As you can see in the original picture they were huge! They aren't perfect but they look much better so once again I'm happy. 4. Bezel pearl removed. The original bezel pearl was wrong so I popped the bezel out and removed the pearl. The result again is a more broken in appearance. All in all I'm happy with the results. I'm new to this modding so everything thus far has been experimental with this watch. I have no future plans for this bad boy except for wearing it regularly to work to beat it up some more. The more scratches and dings the more beleivable it will be! Cheers and enjoy the pics! Comments appreciated! Cheers, Jon OEM from Dealer shot:

Yes many many shots please. Wrist shot especially. I'm on the fence on this one! Cheers, Jon

Thanks for the eyecandy. Very nice collection. I agree on the PAM addiction too. I've eliminated all 4 of my 44mm Pams in the past couple of months. I'm more of a Luminor kind of guy myself owning a 127 and 187 currently. If a good 194 comes out I'll pick that up too. And I'm definately with you on the Chronomat rep. If one comes out I will buy! Cheers and wear them well! Jon