ubiquitous

Hmmmm. I'm not so sure about this dial being a Honpo dial... Plus, I couldn't find a 114 in Honpo's catalog either...

Here's one for freddy... The caseback... And a few other quick and dirties just taken... Comparison in case height with one of my 16520 frankens... And stacked... The caseband profile is roughly the same, though there is a far more pronounced lip on the 116520 rep case to facilitate the mod 7750. As such, the rep case sits taller when placed on it's caseback side by side with my El Primero case. Don't mind the crystal... Again, another temporary item used for test muling...

Thanks, K. I do agree- Whatever the origin, it seems to be very well done, which will translate to a nice finished watch. Thankfully, I'm not into it for much, and the entire project should be well within a reasonable cost once complete!

Well... The preferred method, of course, is to just fit the right parts. However, those parts can be tricky to track down. I myself reduced the tubes down on mine. Perhaps not the best solution to the problem, but one that I'll accept as a good alternative. Just have to be careful (though I know you did this with your 116520 hands). Not too terribly difficult...

Yessir, Freddy! You guessed it... I'll be going the rep dial route. The gen is nice... And we all know that nothing beats gen... But the rep dial (as on your beauty, which, BTW is making me salivate a bit) is pretty dang close. Who knows... I may just hang onto this one Something to keep the El Primeros company... BTW... It is YOU who are thee gentleman... Cheers! R

Yeah... I agree! It's a puzzling one, innit? Thanks, W! It's you, Arch and Don that got me interested in such a project! Man... Ever since laying eyes on your guys' great 03 frankens, I've been wanting one of these! B- Glows pretty dang bright. Comparing to my SuperL genuine Rolex dials, it's just as bright, and just as intense. I'll need to ask my wife what color it glows, since I can't tell...

Hmmmmm... Methinks I'm going to have to hit the books (and web) and study up on this one. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of pics out there of gen 10D+ and 114's to compare....

Hmmmm... Interesting. Very interesting! Thanks for your insight, DL! Thanks, M. I thought the L SWISS MADE L was a bit odd, too. However, looking at the 'PANERAI' and 'LUMINOR', those look pretty decent to me. I think that is ultimately what has me confused The movement, BTW is just a plain jane Swiss 6497. Dial, BTW was sold to me with the understanding that the origin was unknown. The seller had obtained it as part of the inventory he purchased (he bought out an old watchmaker's tools and misc parts- He had some other Richemont brand items as well as part of that purchase IIRC).

Heh... I've had a couple of opportunities to buy a gen 4130; one occurance with dial and slim hands. Price was a bit steep however (and rightly so- I mean, how often do these things come available?), plus there's the issue of finding a proper genuine case (a 16520 case would probably be just different enough to not work without modification). By the time I'd finished building, I could just buy a complete B&P'd gen for a slight bit of a stretch more (around a $1.5k difference if memory serves me correct). Building is absolutely fun, but factoring in the cost of diminishing return keeps me in check Ooops! Sorry... I have AP ROO on the mind. Sec@6:00... Heh heh...

Well... For this one, I'll probably go the cost effective route and simply do a 7750/sec@12:00 movement. My Uncle has been wanting one of these, so I may gift it to him? Not sure yet...

I agree- Seeing this little chip is usually the indicator that the dial has been refinished (either at 12:00 or 3:00). But.... Who knows... Panerai is uncharted territory for me...

BTW... Thank you, sir. Unfortunately, not much to say about this one... Procurred this one from a good friend; I think I am the 3rd or 4th owner of it. It was sold to me as case only...

The hands are always tricky to fit... Rolex changes the hour, minute and 4th wheels out, as well as all the subsidiary pinions. So... The Rolex hands aren't a direct fit to the standard El Primero bits...

Yeah... The white dial historics (PAM03, 10, 113, 114, etc) all have inked numerals with lumed dots on the outer chapter.

Don't worry... The bezel is for the test mule. I have a better one sitting right here on the table...

What say you guys on this dial? I have no idea of it's origins, or whether it's gen, original, refinished, aftermarket, rep, whatever All I know is that it looks nice and clean I am, however, interested to hear what you guys think! Cheers, R

Wow!! Looks great! I love it

These things are always a little ugly when the metal work starts. Also, this one seems to have been worked on prior, so I do my best to work with what I have. After a little more work... Shaping up a bit... Crown is simply positioned in the case- No tube (just to give a general idea). More to come? Maybe...

Well, another hump day cometh upon us already. Where does the time go? Figured a little mid week check up couldn't hurt; let's see what you guys are planning to end the week with... For my Weds selection- My 14270 frankenstein: For Thurs- My 16520 frankenstein: And another 16520 frankenstein for Fri: Hope your guys' week is going well! All the best!

Holy smokes! Is there even a crystal installed?? Looks great! And the dial mods... Incredible. I wish I would have picked one of these up when I had the chance. Another watch that I'll be kicking myself over

I'm afraid I don't have the parts you need, but I can relate to your situation. I myself have fallen victim (more than once) to the curiosity of my own 18 month daughter, who seems to be more than eager in helping me rearrange my parts bins. Thankfully, everything I have is contained in individual baggies, so clean up is easy. But I can certainly relate to your experience And no matter how high up, or out of reach I think I have my parts boxes positioned, my darling little girl always goes the extra mile to prove me less the wiser... *sigh*

I rec'd correspondence from him the other day. He's still around...

Maciek, The dial in your pics, as porsche mentioned, is 100% correct and genuine. Nice dial; the pics really don't do the black dial any justice. The finish isn't actually gloss black like the 16610, etc; rather, it's a bit of a dark, metalic flake grey/brown. Has to be seen in person to fully appreciate But it's a beauty, and one of my all time favorites (I prefer the black over the white 16520 for character; the white, however is so crisp and clean... That said, I had to build one of each ). Sounds like porsche356a might have a solution for you as far as casing goes. Otherwise, I'm not certain what your other options are; I don't think the aftermarket cases are offered any longer via the old sources...

Congrats, Dave!! I will be PM'ing you tomorrow morning to arrange shipping details. All the best! R

I think I have a total of $600 into this one, so it's really not that much of a stretch from a rep. Granted, I did have things like the crown, bracelet, end links, etc already in hand, but for the most part, dial, case and movement were really not that much of an expense.