BigCrown

Your watch rocks. You have excellent taste. I've never owned an aftermarket dial that good

You're nuts if your Patrizzi all original. It's double the value

LOL. Trust me, there will be some members who brave this and end up with bent scratched hands on their AP.

AP Diver Lens Replacement Tutorial Here is a simple, step by step procedure to remove and install the new Colorless AR Date Cyclops Lenses that will be finished later this month. 1. Remove the caseback: there are 8 round screws that hold the caseback in place. These crews actually go through the entire mid-case and attach to the hexagonal screw heads seen from the bezel. This is a great sign because the AP Diver actually uses 1:1 case construction. I found this very impressive. 2. Remove the base metal 'cap' that encapsulated the movement. There are four small screw heads that need to be removed. 3. Remove the winding stem. To release the 'clutch', aka keyless works system that holds the stem in place; there is a small, familiar button that you will need to press with a screw driver or tweezers. Shown with the blue arrow. 4. Remove the movement by removing three screw heads and the steel wings that hold the retainer ring into the case. 5. I find it best to place the movement onto a movement holder (but this is optional). Once secured, you can remove the retainer ring and re-install the winding stem. Be sure to press the keyless works button while you install the stem. 6. The trickiest part! while removing the hands, I generally suggest setting the time to a time that will be easy to re-install the hands later. I typically use noon or 3 o'clock. Pull the winding stem out to the time setting position. This will put the watch into 'hacking' mode. Please use good hand removers that will not scratch the steel hands. 7. The dial is secured by dial feet which penetrate the movement plates and lock into place by two rotating 'wings'. 8. Once the locking wings are rotated outwards (unlocked position), the dial will slide off the movement. (pull upwards so you do not bend the dial feet). 9. The dial is primarily two layers with the cyclops lens 'sandwiched' in the middle. The lower level is also secured by the dial feet. 10. The cyclops is held in place by just a simple sandwich fit (no adhesive). Once the dial plates are separated, the cyclops can easily be removed with tweezers. 11. Now that the ugly blue AR cyclops lens has been removed, you simply retrace these steps to install the new one. I will have an AP Diver with one of the colorless cyclopses installed very soon (next week). Then after our approval, the order will be shipped.

The tutorial is being posted now in this section. I will have the manufacturing sample next week and will be able to show the watch with it installed.

Donerix, interesting 5513. Where did you find that dial? Interesting... love it!

Here is a Noob Hulk that was sent to me as an experiment. The watch came from Sead and is supposed to be from the Noob Factory. This is the cheapest movement =version. Not a bad watch at all considering the low cost and the look is impressive. I used the rep gasket that came with the watch...

Hope you all enjoy the first perfect AP rep EVER!!!!!!

Okay fellas, I am having the crystals and gaskets delivered to me this week (finally). I am very pleased with this effort and support from our members. Without communities like this, projects like this would not be possible. Shipping: I will begin the shipping label production over the next few days. So you will be getting a 'item shipped' message from PayPal. Please know that it will not actually be in the mail until I post here that the crystals have been shipped. Please contact me with any questions. Thank you and take care, BC

Hello all, I am very pleased to show the final prototype. Thanks to all that have provided input and opinions. I believe the investment of money, labor and time has paid off. We were able to match the crystal design and AR to match the genuine samples perfectly. I will let the photos do the talking. (SORRY FOR THE DUST) PRECISE APPLICATION OF THE CYCLOPS DIRECTLY OVER AR-ed 'WINDOW' THE AR 'WINDOW' UNDER THE CYCLOPS Pre-order and Timing: The factory says I will have them completed in two weeks, but based on experience with them, I would expect them in three. I will keep the pre-order open until then. So 2 maybe 3 weeks left to get your pre-orders in. After the pre-order is over, the final price of one crystal will be $120 plus shipping (pre-order price is $80 plus shipping). Nice savings for those with faith and patience

Hereis what Sneed was talking about - and I sincerely apologize for not understanding what he meant. PLease keep in mind the Explorer II's and some other cheep-o's are made from photos of the original watch - not anything original. This is a $140 watch...not 1:1. I will start and continually add to the list of watches that take genuine crystals here: BigCrownStore (I'll make the link work as soon as RG is finished with the servers)

Okay - you win Your mention about why The Zigmeister doesn't post here is ironic. I believe you are doing this to my thread.