Drulee

Looks to be just the angle and the way the light is reflected. His 111/177 dials are black.

As you're good with metals How hard do you think it would be to modify that old-style case so that the rectangular pushers would fit properly? Of course the cutouts in the CG would also have to be squared out, or else another 250 CG would have to be sourced (I think I've only ever seen one up for sale).

They use the Radiomir dials, not sure which model though, as I'm not a Rad fan If you find out, don't forget to post the answer here.

Yes I noticed The reason I asked, was because I'd purchased an auto 308, as it came with the "old style" case with working quick-release lug system, and the roller lever in the CG. So my original plan was to try and create a later series 250 with 7753, but then two things happened... First I realized that, as the 308 had round pusher for the chrono, the case would have to be modified to accept the square ones of the 250 ... great. Next, I came across a nice 7753 250 for sale, which also had the lower sub-dial lumed like the gen, so I bought it, and gave up on assembling one myself.

Did you by a new "old style" case for your 250 project? I believe they started using it from the "I" or "J" series onward. The quick release lug system was added around the same time, but not for all models, I think they put it mainly on autos.

Not a problem, even gens suffer from this. There are spring bars available for PAMs on eBay. When inserted they look just like a lug screw (screw head on one side, flat end on other). Just do a search for "Panerai springbars" Argh, vlydog beat me to the punch, exact same posting time though

The largest die size in that set is 50/52.5, so I'd say it would cover even a Big Egi Myself, I only do work on the 44mm PAMs.

There you go Offshore, that is the exact same die set I had to order, and the same die sizes. The bottom one being flat, top one hollow with just its rim pressing along the out edge of the crystal to seat it properly. I've only had one problem, and that was with a DSN auto crystal (sandwich type with cylcops), which I somehow managed to separate during the pressing. On the brighter side, because of this accident, I've found out that DSN now uses one piece sapphire crystals.

There is a large set of dies available on eBay, also Esslinger I believe. I have the set, as the one that came with my "cheapo" hand press was way too small. I don't have them handy to give you their sizes, but if you haven't found them out by later this aft., I'll post them.

DSN only has "G" and some "E" series display backs, no "F" series. Nope, he only occasionally sells parts to members who have been buying from him for a while, I haven't

Thanks for the CapeCod warning. Luckily none of the hands are scracthed just prints and smudges (probably caused by rubbing with dirty Rodico )

Thank you all for your great tips. Just have to find out what "pith wood" is And for those that mentioned using clean Rodico DOOOH! Didn't eve occur to me that I was just transferring all the oil and smeg from one surface to my shiny new silver hands As I have a bunch of extra silver GMT (oversized triangle) hands, I've got some to test out the different cleaning methods on now. Thanks again.

Well if that member has a source please PM me with contact info

Now that is what a PVD finish should always look like, beeuuutifull Well done.

Alright it is finally getting to me. I can't stand the smudges on my 088 hand set anymore. As they are silver, the smudges and/or finger prints really look bad at certain angles. I had tried to clean them up once, when the watch first arrived, with Rodico (this was before I found out that it would just add more residue). I also tried wiping them down with a tiny cut-out piece of lint-free cloth, without any luck. So, anyone have some suggestions?

Very nice watch, it's just like the one I got today from JoeWatch, except with the GMT function. Very nice and solid rep.

Case back shot?

The Mini Fiddy uses a 44mm 1950 style case, so I'm not sure, as the lugs are a different shape. You may have to modify the tabs a bit. Hopefully another member has already tried though..

Not sure why people keep saying not to worry about the correctness of the back, unless you've got a gen movement. The reason most people want the correct back, is for themselves, just to get their rep as close as they can to a gen. The chances of you running into someone who knows what a gen movement is even supposed to look like, let alone the back, are extremely slim (next to none) - unless you run in certain circles in lower Cali.

Rolex rep buyers are fortunate in this respect, as there is an abundance of aftermarket parts manufactured for gens, which are available for sale to anyone. Panerai specific parts are much harder to find, and even then, are not always compatible with the rep parts.

Only one way to find out

Chronos are the hardest reps to waterproof, as the pushes are almost never sealed properly. So I'm not a bit surprised that this happened. Even if the back, crystal, and crown had been properly lubed and sealed. As for the debris, I get the feeling a lot of it started as algae and other microscopic organisms, which grew along with fungus and other "goop". Glad you made use of the crystal at least

I believe there are some bad reviews about it, do some searching on here and other forums - I may be wrong though. But instead of spending $145 on that, why not pick up the cartel $268 104, which has a low AR sapphire, then sell off the other parts. The sapphire will probably end up costing around $60. And then you can sell me your DSN one

First off, full disclosure: I would like to buy your DSN, if you do decide to just use the cartel one Next, some info about the DSN sandwich dial. It is a royal pain in the [censored], nobody (well at least most experts, including Chief) will touch them. Applying AR onto them is very hard, and changing the cyclops, even harder. If you do some searching you will find a few threads about the headaches. Let me know if you want to sell the DSN though, as mine fell apart. So I'm considering all my options, as well

You can try Hont (RWI/RWG1.1). There are also a couple of dealers that sell the 111F with the right back, I'll see if I can locate which ones then update this post with their url.