sssurfer

Happy bday and congrats on your present!

The subdial appears to be aligned with the indices above and below it, how is it misaligned?

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:

The mis-spelling is on the movement decoration. The bronze letters which are below the 9 position running vertically. Not really easy to see in the picture because of the glare from the flash... but rather than 'Officine Panerai', it actualy reads 'Officne Paneri'

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?

what would happen if i decide to "sacrifice" the thread on the crown and loctite the stem in the crown?

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.

as for the kruzer's crowns...they were for the auto pams...not for the manual...

Naturally you are right, I forgot about it, my apologies.

as you already know z3ko sent me a new stem...this weekend i had some free time and tried to install the new stem in the crown...it seems that the thread in the new crown (from palp) isn't ok...the stem doesn't stand straight...it has a deviation (happened before too with the old stem...when i tried to make it straight again i broke the old stem - should i try it again and be more gentle?!)...i think the problem is in the crown thread because the stem fits perfectly the old crown...

what should i do?...

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!

Great but incorrect caseback serial: H0117/1000. Must be: E0117/1950

Exactly.

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

Quite frankly, I always wonder why people end up buying the "same watch". Many of the PAMs I see appear to just be subtle variations of the same.

'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).

They even suggest that if you email them full details and pictures of a movement they will try to source it.

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!

Joshua has a little say in what the factory does and he will inspect his watches

I was not in knowledge that Joshua makes QC.

Good to know, thanks!

I am curious to know how certain dealers react, individually, because it's easy to be nice and pleasant in the good times. So far, Joshua was impeccable in dealing with my small problem, and Jay too, though I think he minded that I posted my problems on the board. But he too is sending me a replacement part.

The only one who hasn't had to rectify anything so far, for me, is Andrew...

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?

Everyone in this thread, from Flavor, to SSsurfer, to you, have offered time and knowledge which has made me feel 10x better about this.

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).

They do quality control, no? That's what they all tell me, and yet, twice with two vendors now, items that EASILY could've been seen as faulty to the naked eye got away from them.

Sorry to say that, as far as I know, very few 'collectors' actually do quality control. And high volume ones, like Paul, Josh and Andrew are not among them.

But with Josh and Andrew you may be sure that they won't leave you cold in case of troubles.

With Paul, best wishes. Pls let us know how this comes out.

Repost (and a little editing) from an old post of mine on RWI:

Lever loose in the open position, or in the locked position, those are two entirely different beasts that need entirely different fixes.

For the loose lever in the closed position (this is your main problem, vb!):

This is the worst flaw of the two as it may compromise waterproof. It is due to too much room between the crown and the lever, so that the lever is not pressed enough against the crown when closed. In its turn, this can be due to a lacking the gasket below the crown, or to a poorly manufactured CG.

If the gasket is missing, naturally you have to add it.

But even if the gasket is present, adding another gasket (so to increase the overall gasket thickness) may help.

If this does not work, you have to file down the CG feet (where the CG touches the case) a little, so to make the CG shorter, so to reduce the room between the lever and the crown. This can be a tricky task as you need to preserve the CG shape and not to mess the CG screw threads.

Added: I would not recommend adding a second gasket on your watch, vb: the crown already looks out enough.

For the loose lever in the open position:

This is an universal flaw of almost all PAM reps (I just saw a very recent 005 unaffected). It is not dangerous, but it makes for the easiest way to tell a rep from a gen.

It is due to the fact that the rep lacks a rubber gasket around the lever's pin, while the gen have it.

To fix it you have to remove the lever's pin and the lever, slightly enlarge the lever's hole where the pin goes into, put a small segment of a plastic tube (e.g. a piece of electrical wire insulant) into the lever's hole, and reassemble the whole thing. The insulant will replace the missing gasket.

An easier but less durable fix is made by removing the lever's pin and lever, filling the lever's hole with silicon glue, reassembling the whole thing, and leaving all untouched 24 hours in order to leave silicon to harden. In this case the silicon will replace the missing gasket.

I hope to have been clear enough, English is not my language so it is quite difficult to me to describe this sort of things. In case, feel free to ask again.

Remake the tan strap in black, make it shorter, replace the buckle, and you are in.