AstroAvia

I never cease to be amazed by how talented and curious people are! Amazing thread! Very interesting indeed. Is it possible at all? I don't think it would be difficult to garner interested buyers. Maybe more than 20 people would pay for a CF case.

Hey Dutchy, is this a joke?

Neither, it is a metallic alloy.

This post has been ressurected right when the Hublot boards are all excited about new models/new factories being released. Even though most of the posters here apparently don't like the Big Bangs, it's undeniable that this new generation of full ceramic, sand-blasted cases sets a very high standard of replication capabilities, not seen in other watch brands. Funny, I couldn't disagree more with you. My Palladium and Ice Bang Kings are the watches I would buy the gen if I had the money AND if they weren't ridiculously overpriced.

I stand corrected: http://www.asian7750.com/cn/product_show.asp?big_pid=&ps_id=188&P_id=1934&ti=

I probably have pictures, I'll check. No particular difficulty is to be expected, unless you have never dealt with removing hands before. Oh, wait, there is the effing keyless works difficulty, so to speak. This is a hit and miss, however; you may experience it or not, regardless of how careful you are when removing/inserting the stem back into position.

AFAIK, you won't find the Ice Bang King at any of the well known dealers, unfortunately. Just like you, I absolutely love the Ice Bang King, so here is what I did: 1) I ordered this one from PWC (aka Robert), 2) stripped off the white lume from the hands, 3) stripped off the red paint from the seconds hand, 4) applied a mix of clear nail polish and graphite powder to the hands. Note, however, the case is not ceramic as the gen is. And the version from PWC in particular has an innacurate crown (irrelevant IMO).

VERY nice strap, and what a pretty watch!

Exactly, but I personally think that a black wheels set would look great on the black dial Carrera, as well as black day and date wheels would look nicer than the white ones on the Ebel 1911 discovery. I know that neither of these mods is as per the corresponding gen, but lately I've not been caring much about closeness to gen. They're not gens, afterall!

Very cool! I am tempted to install black day and date wheels on mine...

TBH, I don't see a huge difference in the white color of the DD wheels. What I do see is that the date numerals are less strong, as if less black, than the day letters. Not very disturbing, anyway. That said, I think the ETA wheels swap is obligatory for this watch. I have the black dial Carrera day-date, and the first thing I did when I got the watch was the ETA wheels transplant. (And now that I have mentioned it, I always wanted to install black day and date wheels, instead of the white ones (as per the gen). I think the watch would be much nicer with an all-black face. The same applies to the EBEL 1911 Discovery, by the way!)

As usual, a misplaced date window that serves only to detract from the otherwise very cool looks. I simply don't like the Graham with date windows...

Anyone?

And I would get two!

Ouch! Is this really the only way to remove the movement off the Grand Carrera? I was about to have mine removed inorder to figure a fix to the date and subdials sunken wheels, but I am put off now!

Guys, no need to use washers. All you have to do is file the hollow cylindrical tube that goes inside the lever/trigger. It is a little longer than it should, that's why the lever has a little play. wisrep2010: congrats on both the watch(es) and the review(s)/picture(s). And I agree that the Tech Seal is an amazing watch. Allow me to link you to my Tech Seal on a different strap: http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=98090&highlight=Tech+Seal

My two buckles are in use, one in the Calibre 1 and the other with my Carrera Racing! Yes, I am using the Calibre 1 rubber strap on my Carrera Racing, which originally came with the bracelet. And since we're speaking of buckles, let me remind you that the applied logo on the buckles has to be glued at the risk of being lost without prior notice. It has been reported by many that their logos went MIA... mine almost went as well, but I was fortunate enough to find the logo on the ground where it fell. As for the logo on the movement, I can not tell right now because I don't have the watches with me. What I do recall is that some other fellows have argued that the bridges are not decorated, they have a thin foil applied with the decoration instead.

And yes, both the v1 and the version from Robert have said logo. I have both versions, and will buy this new one to build a closer-to-gen franken. I love this Calibre 1! Oh, and the replica leather strap is PAPER thin; a customized leather strap is a nice compliment to this gorgeous watch.

Very good review, informative and refreshing. Allow me to point you to a similar thread at RepGeek, in which some other details of this so-called v2 in comparison with the v1 are discussed: http://www.repgeek.com/showthread.php?t=94494&highlight=calibre+1 There you'll see that we called this present version as v3, because Time4Direct (PWC, Robert, etc) offered a v2 before the present one showed up everywhere. You'll also realise that a super-rep of this calibre v1 requires some parts of v1, v2 and this v3 (well, I call it v3) to be combined. @mastrmindalliance: would you mind taking the time to take a photograph with the seconds hand pointing exactly to 22s? To be more specific, it would be very nice of you to take the same photo as your first one (gen and rep side-by-side), but with the replica's seconds hand at the same position as the gen's. This new picture would allow us to gauge the dimensional accuracy of the seconds hand on the replica. I also noticed that the 45, 50, 55, and 60 seconds red markers seem to be "doubled". Maybe an artifact of photography? Thank you.

Oops, I just read the other parts of this tuto. Voil

Great tuto, Francisco! And now I know one thing that "box full of things" is good for. I know an old watchsmith who's trying to sell me one of these boxes (exactly like yours), which he calls "puncioneira" (in portuguese) - puncher (the closest I can come up with in english). Would you mind telling me what exactly is this boxset of tool? And as a comment to your tutorial, as I lack the correct set of tools, I have succesfully used hypodermic syringes of approppriate caliper cut to the required length as a repair of hand tubes. These syringes, coupled with acupuncture needles, are quite handy for the practioner watchsmith that lacks the resources of original parts and who needs a quick solution/workaround. Just yesterday I broke one of the springs of a yoke spring, which was quickly repaired/replaced by a piece of 0.30mm acupuncture needle.

It's a quartz replica.

The watch is pretty indeed, but I prefer the automatic version (as per the genuine). The AR in your piece is really good. AS for the flaws, the automatic has a couple of them, but the quartz has lots more.

Beauty?!?!?

Old thread bump. There is a dealer (asian7750)offering the white Riviera on bracelet for $228 now, but I think it is the flat subdials version, whereas I like the concentric circles better.