chefcook

Hi Pete, the O rings are a very good trick, too, but only if the lever is just slightly too loose. But for example on a LH crown guard I found the hole in the lever so much to big that the O rings did not work. The cable trick worked, though.

Some more close up pics of the assembled CG, first on my 005 with Torobravo CG (mod done about 4 weeks ago) then on the Ultimate cg I used in the tutorial.

Yep, nothing is visible. The crown guard is a lot bigger than the hole in the lever. The CG looks exactly the same after the mod.

Hello guys, the floppy cg lever is IMO one of the weak spot of most Panerai reps. Actually no one will notice it, no one will know it, but it will bother you. It does not feel as precious as the genuine lever does and at least to me the floppy lever was a big disappointment. The genuine lever has a rubber bushing that makes the lever feel nice, tight and smooth. The bad news: None of the current reps has the rubber bushing. The only rep crown guard I've ever seen that copied that feature correctly is the discontinued V crown guard. The good news: It can be retrofitted to propbably all crown guards and I'll show you how to. All you need is your crown guard, a small table drill press and a rubber-insulated cable. The wires diametre without the insulation should be a little smaller than your cg pin and the insulation should add about 1mm to the wire. I chose a cable 1mm X 0.8mm, so the complete outer diametre is 1.8mm. This is a disassembled Ultimate crown guard from a cartel 088. It is a quite good crown guard, but again: The lever... Make sure you've bought the correct cable Secure the lever on your drill press. Do not drill to the same diametre as the cable has!!! Stay about two tenths smaller - you'll need that for a good fit. I enlarged the hole in the lever to 1.6mm Burr the enlarged hole. It will make assembly easier. Cut a small piece from the insulation Probably you won't be able to push the rubber into the lever. If so enlarge it slightly with a broach until you can push the rubber into the lever. It must sit tight and firm. Assemble the CG again. It may be more difficult to push the pin into the CG than before - you have to get through the rubber the first time... Maybe some rubber is pushed out of the lever when inserting the pin. If that happens take the lever out of the cg again and cut the rubber coming out of the lever. After that the pin should go back in place propperly. The result is a CG that feels precious and tight - just like the genuine

Lead is a whole lot lighter than tantalium - 11.3 g / cm^3 Making a movement ring from tungsten could be something. A tungsten movement ring would weigh about 22g wheres the same ring from steel is about 9.3g. I think it is possible to add about 15g with this trick if one makes a as big as possible movement ring. EDIT: I just put a 44mm case with crownguard and crown on a scale. To replicate the weight of a tantalium case additional 46g are needed. For a 18k gold pam additional 60g are needed. Much more than possible with a steel case...

Yep, something in ti would be cool. 116 or 118 would be my choice. I'd stay away from the Tantalium Pams. Even if you go with a steel case the weight is a dead give away, much more so with a ti case. Tantalium is 16.6 grams per cubiccentimetre, steel is 7.9 and titanium 4.5. A tantalium 172 should weigh about twice as much as a normal steel pam.

Only difference between Submariner and Yachtmaster is the red paint on the seconds hand. Ask one of our modders - Vaccum, The Zigmeister - to paint the second hand for you. Should be a cheap mod...

what a pitty. The price would be very good for a dial in NOS condition like the seller states...

IMO even if making it spring loaded would double the price it will be worth it!

For those that are interested: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310191291991&ssPageName=ADME:B:FSEL:DE:1123

I'll take at least five

I miss the perlage on the main plate and the sun burst on the barrel on LHs movement. That would make it really good!

IMO touching the markers up would be visible, especially under a ARed crystal.

Hi Frank, no, DSNs lume is actually quite good, but a little too green. After mixing up the hands (hour and second from cartel, GMT and minute from DSN) I thought it would be best to have it all in the same lume colour and lume intensity. Cheers, Max

I chose the DSN dial over the ultimate dial because the flaws of the DSN dial are marginal compared to its pros over the cartel dial. The dark subdial on the cartel 088 is a give away from 10ft distance. Other than its wrong colour the print quality of all three ultimate dials I have seen so far was more than bad. Chipped paint around the sub dial and crooked lume markers on the 24h ring is something I don't expect from a watch in this price range. Colour and fonts are a very good to perfect match on DSNs dial. The only visible flaw IMO is the beveled date window on DSNs dial, but that is not very obvious.

I changed the pictures in the initial post. Daylight is an enormous plus when you have just a mobile phone as cam Here are some pictures of the date wheel. All dates are perfectly centered Leo's date wheel is utterly impressive work and worth every penny.

You're right Leo. Better pics will follow...

I started working on movements on some 6497s. On those movements everything is quite big, it does not have many parts, they are cheap and pretty easy to work on. After being able to fully service a Unitas I took the next step with ome 2836s from the typical Rolex reps. And now this was the first 7750...But as said before, the non-chrono 7750 is pretty easy to work on compared to the normal chrono 7750. Drulee: About a month ago. Communication was nice, though a bit slow, but shipping and the CG itself were impressive. Projectologist: A pre A 009. I allready have a T48 crown, a FGD dial and a set of hands here. A DSN case (SS, not PVD) is on its way. I'll ask the Zigmeister to coat it with his OEM like PVD. Should turn out great

Yep, self assembled and even the movement is self serviced First 7750 I ever worked on - but without the chrono function it is pretty easy compared to a normal 7750.

Hello everybody, I just finished my GMT, a 088 and I am very happy with the result: 088 with her manual wind sister 005: Hijacks wonderful lume work (picture just resized! Exposure to lamp ca 5 seconds): Some facts: -Ultimate crystal -Ultimate case back -standard cartel case -Leo Datewheel -Little Hero crown guard (I polished it in long nights...) -DSN dial for it's gen like colour -hands are a combination of standard cartel and DSN -Relumed by Hijack -BOB croc strap Last thing to change is the band. Maybe I'll find a gen croc strap for deployant in the correct colour when my funds have grown again... Many thanks to Hijack - his service and lume work are more than good The watch glows like a torch in the dark Little Hero is also a pleasure to deal with. I never experienced so damn fast shipping before and his crown guard is worth every penny. EDIT: Pictures updated.

And I did it before, too. On an Omega, but same game, same rules.

the good thing about the military sh*t is that even the worst rep look as gen as this thing does.

old wives tale...

Just saw this in perfect clones: SS Hydro PVD Hydro Both are powered by an asian ETA 2836, but the gen is quartz The gen is filled with hydraulic oil which is the perfect "AR" and makes the watch good for a 5000m depth rating (the oil is uncompressable). Claim of 1:1 case dimensions is not true: The gen is only 13.3mm thick.

Just thought some of you may be interested: Cousins UK - www.cousinsuk.com now offers A7750 3-6-9 and 6-9-12 movements. Item no: 3-6-9 with seconds @ 9: CH3LZF1M 77.50 GBP 6-9-12 : CH3LZF2M 79.95 GBP