sssurfer

Masking tape won't work. With masking tape you will not be able to precisely follow the markers' edges, and when you pull the tape out it removes some of the border of the lume you applied too, together with the lume on the tape -- unless you precisely cut a fracture line with a sharp blade before removing the tape, but this would make for an added risk to scratch the dial. In order to protect the markers I got the Micro Mask liquid instead. It is water-based and it is resistant to acetone-based paintings like superluminova. I did not alredy test it, though. The Zigmeister's advice is not to mask the dial and to only rely on hand precision, so I still wonder whether to give Micro Mask a try or not.

Oh, and I who was in hope for some swimsuit shots! Just kidding, naturally. Great pics and great watch(es)!

Happy bday and congrats on your present!

I was meaning it is aligned with the indices differently from the gen, it should be a little smaller and shifted outwards, as you can see in this gen pic: Oh I see now. Thanks for the explaination!

This post is simply terrific. If we still have a POM award, it deserves it on full right. Thanks for this great tutorial!

To anyone interested -- It seems as Tonyxkf on cqOut managed to source another last brown dial 203: http://www.cqout.com/item.asp?id=2657744 Better act quickly!

It is a blend of 111G and 111H. And, in spite of that and of a slightly misaligned subdial, yes, it is a bargain at that price. ...But what 'officne' mispelling?

Well, obviously you will end up with a single-piece crown+stem, you will not be able to separate them and use them individually anymore. So you should take accurate measurement about the needed stem lenght, before you actually glue it into the crown. A worst chance is that even filing the stem would not be enough to compensate for the misalignment. In this case you will end up with a ruined stem and a useless crown. On a second thought, if you choose to go this way, better using the hardest glue you can find (most likely a two-components epoxydic one) rather than loctite. Naturally you are right, I forgot about it, my apologies.

Argh! I seem to remember that The Zigmeister already pointed out that several (many?) palp's crowns were off-axis. That really sucks, I am afraid there is no simple solution. I can see only three possible solutions, and I really don't love any of them: 1) Replacing the stem tube of the palp's crown with that from your old crown. I have once been able to do it on a DSN crown, but I am unsure whether it can be done on a palp's crown. If you can post pics of the stem side of both your crowns perhaps I might be more specific. 2) Sacrificing the thread on your new stem and filing it down to compensate for the off-axis in the palp's crown, then loctite the stem in the crown. 3) Leaving the palp's crown out and looking for another decent crown somewhere. But -- now that Lello's ones are sold out, and Homer is not selling them as spares anymore, your only chances are DSN and those genuine crowns from ebay that kruzer00 recently made a group buy for. They (especially DSN's) might require replacing the case tube, though. Sorry for you, mate, have all my sympathy...

A great looking watch indeed! Congrats, wear it well!

Exactly. I was just wondering why so a blatant mistake. If it is intentional, it is even worse.

'Subtle variations' is not the same as 'the same'. I actually bought three 027, two 104, two brown dial 203, and two black dial 203. (Naturally I also got a 028, a 050, a 090, a 124, a 147, a 183, and I'm heading up to a 212 -- just to name the PAMs).

About one week ago I sent them details and pics of the ST-2530. Got a reply that they would try. Let's see what comes out... Edit: got another reply. Movement is available @

So far my [current and temporary] conclusion is that there are good and bad 7750 out there, but even the bad ones should work good enough on a non-chrono and single-subdial model like the 104. Possibly after getting serviced. This is what appened to me with my 050, 104's small brother.

I know only about mineral and plexi crystals. Cousinsuk. A few bucks. Don't know about sapphires. Perhaps Davidsen.

No expert in subs here, but... Is there any point / micro-pusher that you had to push in order to remove the stem? Maybe the micropusher got stuck somehow so it stays pushed even when you are not pushing it anymore? This would prevent the stem to click back. If this is not the case, most likely something went screwed up with the keyless work ---> watchsmith required.

A 212 @ $120 is both suspicious and very interesting at a same time. May I ask you to post a link to the collector? Else, may I suggest you to imageshack the pic?

Yes, brown dial 203 are sold out. Occasionally tonyxkf gets in possess of a last piece and I got the last 4, 2 for me and 2 for tourby. Tony is advised to let me know should he ever get any new pieces. I plan to sell an unmodded 203 at a fair price in a few months, as long as I'll not have to cannibalize it as a backup to the other (to be modded) one.

Paneristi may be, but surely no RWGers will talk to you!

I was not in knowledge that Joshua makes QC. Good to know, thanks! I have to say that, on my experiences, all the dealers on this board are awesome. So far I had transactons with Joshua, Narikaa, Andrew, Jay, TTK, King, and Paul (in order of decreasing number of transactions) and I can't say nothing but good about them all. Obviously, this small report is more reliable about the dealers from whom I got more pieces. Joshua helped even in cases where the problem was due to my fault, not his pieces. He even sent me a whole new (gold plated!) case for free. Andrew sent me a whole new watch when I just needed a new case. On four purchases from Narikaa I had no trouble, but a minor one on a lug screw. Fixed for free. Two purchases from Silix and TTK, one purchase from Paul: no problem. What can I say apart that I am glad that this forum let me get in touch with them all? V, you are simply too good to be true. Congrats to your Italian boyfriend from another Italian. Tell him to keep you close.

Yep. Horrible movie, btw. Barely redeemed by the always stunning Kirsten.

Scientific news specified that the gay thing applies to gens only, not reps. Even in spite of the floppy lever issue.

Wow, I can even see the light filtering between the CG and the case. Ok, it looks as the only fix may be a lever replacement (quite hard to source a spare lever for that model, though). Sorry for your trouble, better luck next time!

After looking at your new pics I feel that there is no fix for your watch, vb. You should definitely have it replaced. The crown should not touch the CG when pulled out. In your case, filing the CG down would result in unability to properly pull out the crown to set time. Most likely, only replacing the lever would fix it. It even looks as your crown was intentionally mounted the most off the watch as possible in an attempt to compensate for a defective CG (particularly, a defective lever). True, the crown in Angus' pic resembles yours, but even a fraction of a millimeter can make a difference on these occasions, and I am unsure on whether that lever is the same as yours. I also wonder if that watch has the same issue as yours. I would be curious to know what would be the result of removing your CG and putting it back upside down. Would you feel brave enough to try that? As I said, Josh does not make QC. He outstandingly stands behind his customers in case of troubles, but he does not make QC (or just on a minor fraction of his watches, at most).