sssurfer

Here is a test pic on one of the new 7mm (actually, 6.75mm) sapphire cyclopses by chieftang, mounted on a PAM104. As this was just a test I did not take care for perfect alignment and I did not use glue, but just a water drop, to keep the cyclops in place. That enhanced the light reflections and made the area surrounding the date look a little grayish rather than black. Apologies for that, please just take in consideration the mag power. The 'original' rep cyclops was a 'recessed' cyclops -- i.e., it was settling in a socket (a hole) in the inner layer of a double-layer crystal ('sandwich crystal'). Instead, I mounted the new chieftang cyclops on a common crystal. This brought the new cyclops 1.4mm closer to the date window. Reducing the cyclops - date rehaut by such an amount would kill the magnification by any other less thoughtfully designed cyclops. Instead, the chieftang cyclops held quite a good magnification. Its mag was higher than that by the even recessed 'original' cyclops, and remarkably close with the gen. Added bonus: substantial lacking of any distortion.

Really amazing! Those watches almost look as they have no crystals at all! Congrats, Brian! Flav, that PAM is not supposed to have a double AR coating, is it?

Same experience here. Suede shark is not waterproof -- just water-resistant, at best. 'Normal' (non-suede) shark is better. Stingray is even better (but the leather on the back side is not).

I see no vantage with respect to a normal screw-type pin remover.

6 hours is damn too short. Sorry, but something's wrong on that 7750 unless you have a Parkinson's disease. (BTW, the movements I am pleased most about PR are the Asian 21J).

Nice addition to my PAM horrors gallery. Thanks.

Very funny.

Really thanks, The Zigmeister and Brian, for your reply. The Zigmeister's choice is important to my decision.

Very funny.

Now the seller is saying that he lost the watch and he will send me a refund. Good. I'll never tell this sort of things anyone anymore. I'll keep all my sources secret. Until I have the item in my pocket at least.

Yes, a great watch. You may want to have a look here.

Seriously speaking, you should consider screen printing, thermographical printing, or at least those ALPS Micro Dry thermal printers (out of production now). No pen or similar hand tools. BTW, archibald is undisputed master here on printings and printers. Less seriously, you may consider sticks and decals like someone is doing too. C'mon, Ben, let us be creative!

I am currently thinking about buying some SL from Tritec, but got stuck in a doubt about colors. I happen to have two old SL color tables that I found somewhere on the net (old RWG? Tritec themselves?): According with those tables, C3 would look a good choice: a nice white-slightly-greenish in daylight, and exactly the brilliant blueish green that I want in the dark -- and by far the brightest lume of all. But, on a more recent table, C3 in daylight looks more of a shitty white-yellowish color: May I know what our experts relumers here think about C3 -- and what advice would they give me? Thanks!

Can't wait to book for several 21J (which I am a great fan of)! Really thanks to the meisters!

Thanks for sharing those blueprints, rolli. I just wonder if the 2nd one was actually manufactured or it just stayed at a project or prototype stage...

You are welcome. It was my 1st answer that was too short to be clear. My fault. I may assure you that I am quite picky on my watches -- but sincerely the aesthetic wearing of the crown, that we talked about, is no real concern as it is substantially invisible. Much worse the mechanical wearing occurring when the lever is not properly centered and lined up with the crown, but that is a completely different matter.

outstanding!...

Nice try, Stephane! Now have a look here.

Thanks for making it clear, Flav, and congrats once again!

According to my small experience, some tenths opening & closing is enough. A little less on Lello's crowns (which appear to be the softest of all), a little more on PVD crowns. It also greatly varies depending on how strongly or weakly the lever pushes the crown. The wearing seems to affect just the crown, not the lever. Or on the lever it is negligible. And it is essentially an aesthetic effect, it does not compromise the functionality of the crown & lever ensemble. Maybe it is because this actually is a self-limiting process: the more the lever wears down the crown, the less the pressure on next movements. In reality, noone really cares about it as the wearing stays confined to the center of the crown. It is invisible unless one closely looks into the opening of the guard, between the guard and the crown, with the lever in the open position. I doubt this would sensibly modify the issue, as it is not only a matter of friction but especially of pressure. I would also get a little worried by something oiled so close with my shirtcuff. If you really are concerned with it, I think your best option is to finely trim the pressure between the lever and the crown. Naturally in this case your action points are: the lever shape, the crown gasket, the crown tube, and the guard feet. As far as I know, also on reps this is not perceived as a real problem -- see above. I only talked about Luminor. I wear a Radiomir only on occasions, so I can't speak about its crown shelf life. But I heard of problems only on a specific rep model some time ago (maybe the Black Seal?), whose thread was defective (or at least poor) from the manufacturer.

Yes, it does. Much better autos.

Thanks bro!

Swdivad, I really liked your previous avatar more.

I have no gen to compare (maybe some gen-owner member may step in and help?), but I am very doubtful too. First of all, these have no spring. Aren't genuine crowns supposed to have springs? Second, teeth sharpness is poor. Third, the black one seems all but real PVD (in facts also the seller actually declares it just as "black steel", not PVD). On this one, sharpness is completely lost. It looks like coated with some sort of black treatment/coating definitely not PVD (Caswell's black oxide / steel blackener, perhaps?). Fourth, the seller seems specialized in selling crowns for several brands, so he hardly is an amateur/watchsmith who happens to have two spare crowns to sell. And we all know that OP is not giving crowns to anyone but their authorized repairers.