sssurfer

Great news indeed! Just, I am unsure on what you mean with "debating between the 57 or 27B" (apologies, it's because of my poor English). The 57 is like a 028B, but in Ti case and with a brown dial instead of black.

OMG I just came onto the screen. How can my wife now believe I was not surfing porno sites??

Beautiful watch! Congrats! And great shots! About the few replies, maybe it's beacuse it still is holiday time...

Rep makers often use parts originally made for a given model also on different similar models. I bet that the caseback of the 288 rep was originally designed for another Radiomir model. Btw, all auto 288 reps come from the same factory.

I suppose it has something to do with the crown and stem being made of different metals than are differently attacked from a slight acid like the acetic acid of vinegar. As you are interested, I can add a few details that may help you in keeping the crown unattacked. Find a very small cylindrical bottle with a small opening (those that are used as free perfume samples are perfect), fasten it onto a block of plasticine to keep it steady, and fill it with vinegar. Put the crown on it so that only the crown tube gets dipped into the vinegar, leaving the rest of the crown sitting on the bottle's opening, above the vinegar surface. After a few hours you will notice that a small bubble of air (well, actually CO2, I suppose) will appear at the tube's end. Take the crown out to get rid of the bubble and dip it back again as before. If you leave the bubble in place it will prevent the vinegar from staying in contact with the broken stem and dissolve it. Repeat this step every few hours, as often as you can see a bubble. Hope this helps, good luck once again.

An extreme measure (suggested by The Zigmeister): dip your crown in vinaigre for a few days. If you are lucky, it will dissolve the stem piece and not also the crown. If you are unlucky, you will end up by throwing the crown away as you would do if you do not give this a try. I used it on a golden-plated crown and it worked -- but maybe that the gold protected the crown. Good luck!

I once had a gen 057 watch in my hands and I found it awesome. Too bad it is not repped.

I see more and more members that are encountering the "recessed crown" problem, t... your crowns are being used not only by V CG owners, but almost universally... my personal feeling is that if you make your next crowns thicker you will make more members happy than V CG owners unhappy. And you will accordingly enlarge your customers' pool. But, especially, fitting a V CG on a thicker crown would stay much more easier than fitting a general/cartel/DSN CG on a too thin crown, as it would only require filing down the V lever a little. Agree. If we go down from being professional to looking professional, then the metal disk applied on the recessed surface is quite a professional-looking solution as it results invisible, undistinguishable from the very crown. In the end, a not-too-diffcult and customizable solution to make these t-crowns usable on every PAM. But sure, a thicker crown would be a definitive and professional solution. Yes, a simple and good solution that made his CG independent from the crown... but still left it dependent from the case. LH crown guards cannot be used on any case. On the other hand, we are talking here about making the scope of the t crowns as large as possible (aren't we?)

Great! Personally, I would just add a few more hairline scratches on the case... now it looks as there is a prevalence of notches. Maybe it's just the pic. Awesome anyway!

Well, we are talking about reps... hard to call for professional solutions. But it might fit only a given type of case. As long as different rep-makers will be making different crown guards, and also different PAM models will require different crown guards, a "perfect" CG will be perfect to one given type of case only. Conversely, T's effort looks aimed to many different models of PAM: handwind, auto, SS, Ti, PVD...

Agree, it's the perfect strap for your white-dial PAM 113.

In hardware shops they sell several glues specific to secure screws with damaged threads in damaged lodgings. Here in Italy they are called "frena filetti" (thread fastener) or "blocca viti" (screw blocker). They come in different strengths, depending on if you plan to unscrew the screw again in a future or not. Should your crown unscrew again, have a try with the strongest of these glues you can find (usually called "extra strong" or so). I used it on a couple of crown/stem assembling and had no problem afterwards. It even worked on blocking a stem uncompletely screwed into the crown. Just, are you sure the only problem is that? It hardly explains the resistence you found on pulling out the crown. Is that resistence gone now?

Just to let anyone know that some guy(s) fixed this "recess" problem by glueing a thin disk of metal on the recessed surface of the crown. It seems a good solution as it does not involve adding a 2nd gasket or filing down the CG feet.

Great write up, I've read it with emotions like a novel book. Thanks for sharing your experience Drulee, I think you decided to the best.

Ten years? Camillo Bonati, better start watching your back!

That is a completely satisfying answer on its own. Still, thanks FxrAndy and Drulee for your following replies and beware. I found that knowing the size(s) of the movement a case was made for, and of the movement I am going to put into it, helps a lot. That is why I compiled a summary of some movements' sizes. I am posting it here again in case it may be helpful to anyone. Movements.zip

WOW! Incredible work! Congrats! But... why not just using a Ti case originally made for a 6497 like this one?

Don't know where to find a close back 288 rep, but you are right about it.

Consider that a double AR mineral crystal is exactly as scratchproof as a double AR sapphire crystal, Mick. Great. Thanks!

Still no imageshack pic working for me here, only photobucket pics. Boys, this is ridicolous!

Risible pics. No papers. No detail about year and serial numbers. I would raise him from "possible scammer" to "probable scammer".

China. Reliable to a given extent only. On two purchases, he sent me a correct watch on the 1st and a wrong watch on the 2nd. Also, be advised that black dial and close caseback are completely incorrect to a 203. And at $139 I highly doubt you get a sapphire crystal.

+1 Even the brown dial reps w/ normal 6497 are sold out now. Infandum, regina, iubes renovare dolorem...

Gorgeous watch, delta! And awesome strap. May I ask where it comes from?

Thanks Mike, but I think that the Luminor Moondust will be the watch that I'll be bringing along with me in the grave. In any case, stay assured I'll not forget about you if I will change my mind. On the other hand, if you decide to sell the blue dial please give me a whistle. I have a feeling that it would make for a gorgeous homage in a Ti case.