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NaviChief

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Posts posted by NaviChief

  2. Calling all the olde timers(get it) :-).........check in

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    August 2006 join date for me. I remember buying by first submariner from m2m on TRC (RIP) however. In my early years, RWG was the best source of knowledge IMO. However once RWI and RG came along I was drawn to there for posting for some reason. Perhaps it was the active m2m sections. Perhaps it was the age demographics, as I was in my 20's at that time. 

     

    I took a couple year break from reps, but it has been the VSF Omega's that drew me back in. That led to a new buying spree. 

     

    [img]https://i.ibb.co/C9X0p8k/gray.jpg[/img]

    [img]https://i.ibb.co/Ks6fKfP/brown-00904.jpg[/img]

    [img]https://i.ibb.co/fQvJpLm/POgmt-00829.jpg[/img]

    [img]https://i.ibb.co/8NFNVv6/DSC00390.jpg[/img]

    [img]https://i.ibb.co/F7zXK5Q/blue-3.jpg[/img]

    [img]https://i.ibb.co/DG6JDJf/green-00938.jpg[/img]

     

    With more on the way. 

     

    As you can probably tell, I've also worked on my photography skills as another hobby. 

     

    As my career began, I've also been lucky to put together a nice gen collection, and have been active on gen forums, but I will always prefer the folks on the rep forums. 

     

    My greatest watch accomplishment has been buying a destroyed 2531.80 Bond Seamaster and using all of the skills I learned on rep repairs over the years (and parts sources) to resurrect it from the dead. It is now my favorite watch. Not only does it just feel perfect when I put it on, I have the personal satisfaction of rebuilding it by hand. 

     

    [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/46790277325_2f29de1c11_o.jpg[/img]

     

    [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/47927328327_6b9db7641b_h.jpg[/img]

     

    This year I was able to trade for one of my dream brands/watches. A Glashutte Original. As often can happen though, I find it more of a box beauty queen that I get more fun out of photographing than wearing. I plan to have her for sale soon. 

     

    [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50047940248_43bcd452d1_h.jpg[/img]

     

    [img]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49830394118_08c9fe59bc_h.jpg[/img]

     

    My deep thanks to all of you for your sharing of knowledge over the years. I would not be in the same place with my collection or this hobby without RWG and its members. 

     

     

    • Like 4

  4. Franken Bond SMP, 40th Ann.

    in The Omega Area

    Posted · Edited by NaviChief

    14 hours ago, jcagara08 said:

     

    LOVELY, loss of words, that I beauty! aha! I saw that 40th anniversary edit gen dial from the bay a couple of months back for a steal price, I think you won that? 

    wear it in good health man!, how is the caseback by the way? does it have serial numbers on the lugs? 

     

    another amazing build wear it in good health, cheers mate!

     

     

    16 hours ago, kernow said:

    What caseback do you have on your 40th? 

     

    Thank you both for the compliments.

     

    The watch in the top 3 pics is the closed rep case, which had a normal seamaster wave caseback and did have a serial number. dutchguy2 originally put it together, and one other owner and myself improved upon it a bit. It is the case that dutchguy mentions a few posts down in this thread. Here is what the back of the case looked like:

     

    VFMR6a.jpg

     

    As you can see, I sold it last year. Compared to my gen, it was very close.  A bit thicker case due to the 2824 vs 2892, and the crown guard shape was a bit pointier. 

     

    The bottom two pics are a 100% genuine Seamaster. Other than the dial, the rest of it is standard 2831.80. The story of its restoration is over on RWI: https://forum.replica-watch.info/forum/omega-replicas/7738314-destroyed-genuine-omega-seamaster-bond-restoration-story-and-pic-heavy

     

    The connection to this thread, is that the gen 40th dial and bracelet I used for that watch are the ones from dutchguy2 that he mentioned in post #1. I did not win that eBay auction, but now I'm curious what it went for. I did try to sell this dial on eBay a couple times years ago. 

     

  5. Franken Bond SMP, 40th Ann.

    in The Omega Area

    Posted · Edited by NaviChief

    I think I can help a bit. I'm fairly certain that I bought this watch from the person that dutchguy2 sold it to, in its eventual closed factory case version.

     

    Here is what it looked like when I had it: 

     

    The 40th anniversary dial had been swapped to a old tritium gen dial, and I installed a gen insert with pearl. 

     

    16302123085_46f5a8b02c_h.jpg

     

    46866335181_255d1689cd_h.jpg

     

    16114575528_a00ee29ac7_h.jpg

     

    The 40th anniversary dial and gen bracelet, ended up getting re-united with a genuine 2831.80 that I restored from the dead, and is one of my favorite watches I wear to this day. 

     

    50129813163_162d39d039_h.jpg

     

    49935444022_1a8d009186_h.jpg

     

     

     

    How is that for 18 years of closure!

     

     

    On 6/28/2020 at 2:49 PM, jcagara08 said:

    OP I am necroposting I know but can you please re share the images of your watch? thanks!

     

    see above :)

    • Like 2

  10. How to tutorial: re-brush/re-finish a bracelet (SMP as an example)

    in Watch Repair & Upgrade

    Posted

    Every bracelet could use a little restoration after awhile. If you get your watches from sales forums and m2m like I mostly do, you'll want to freshen up things when they come in, and make them look their best before you sell them again. A bracelet that is all scratched up can mean a great discount when buying, and likewise a little bit of work on your part before a sale can net you a better return on your sale. 
     
    I've worked on several bracelets in the past couple weeks so I figured a how to thread might interest some folks. 
     
    First off, these two threads are what originally I read to know what I'm doing. Frankly, they are all the tutorial you will need. 
     
     
     
    I've found that the polishing step isn't always necessary, because if you do enough brushing, small surfaces scratches will get erased anyway. For deeper scratches, I do use a dremel and polishing compound to take the scratches down as far as I can. 
     
    The best advice for rebrushing is to figure out a way to keep each pass straight and parallel. If I don't use some sort of guide, I found that at the ends of my pass, I would always hook in one direction. The results would look terrible. 
     
    My favorite way is to set up a right angled surface and wall. In the picture, I am just using two different sized cardboard moving boxes. I taped the bracelet down so it won't move and is parallel to the vertical wall. The parts I don't want to brush are also taped over. I then use a sanding block (made for sanding paint off of walls usually). I make sure that one side of the sanding block is always along the vertical wall, that way the right angle is always maintained and each pass I make is perfectly straight. If I need a different grit of sandpaper, I just tape a piece onto a sponge or something else that is easy to hold but has a straight edge to line up against the wall. I've read many times that scotch-brite pads are the way to go. I tried it, and frankly I didn't find it did things fast enough for me. I couldn't see any difference after about 10 minutes of passes. Perhaps I had the wrong kind. 
     
    9671994755_a756d1910b_c.jpg
     
    Be sure to wash the bracelet afterwards to remove all of the little particles.
     
    Here is the before and after of my gen SMP bracelet.
     
    9660443732_a53f688ae7_c.jpg
     
    9657219841_f730e8f655_c.jpg
     
    On my modded closed factor SMP:
     
    9661316494_d459568f89_c.jpg
     
    9657496273_30daf8f438_c.jpg
     
     
    Good luck! If you screw up along the way, just keep going and usually your mistake will be erased. At least they have for me!
    • Like 1

  16. The history of my fully modded Breiting Navitimer Serie Speciale

    in The Breitling Area

    Posted · Edited by NaviChief

    Very nice! Thanks for sharing!

    After two years of wearing, did the bezel get loose? I'm asking this because I just recently acquired one.

    Your watch looks great, how did you or the original guy fix the sunken dw issue? As for me, will install a gen dial fix this problem? Thanks!

    Thanks everyone for the comments. The bezel has not gotten loose in the slightest. There never was a sunken datewheel issue with the serie speciale that I am aware of. The movements are basically identical. Maybe more pictures of your problem would help us figure it out?

  17. The history of my fully modded Breiting Navitimer Serie Speciale

    in The Breitling Area

    Posted

    Very nice! Thanks for sharing!

    After two years of wearing, did the bezel get loose? I'm asking this because I just recently acquired one.

    Your watch looks great, how did you or the original guy fix the sunken dw issue? As for me, will install a gen dial fix this problem? Thanks!

    Thanks everyone for the comments. The bezel has not gotten loose in the slightest. There never was a sunken datewheel issue with the serie speciale that I am aware of. The movements are basically identical. Maybe more pictures of your problem would help us figure it out?

  18. The history of my fully modded Breiting Navitimer Serie Speciale

    in The Breitling Area

    Posted

    This watch started life as the original run of the black faced slow beat A7750 Serie Speciale. It was featured on RWI in a tutorial by Bignasty as he installed a Swiss ETA 7750 in it. Here is the link way back from 2006! Too bad the pics are gone.

    http://www.replica-watch.info/vb/showthread.php/special-movt-for-my-serie-2526.html?t=2526&highlight=navitimer

    The watch was traded to geopatr69 who later sold it to me for the biggest watch purchase of my life to that point. It arrived just a day or two before Christmas 2006.

    pa300013gz7.jpg

    4191539_ac8bb5c0f1_o.jpg

    I wore it as is for a couple years before deciding to change it up. I bought the beautiful blue dial from sixbennets and switched over a rep Breitling engraved rotor from a Navi TT I briefly owned. Also the crystal was sent off to Chieftang for double AR and the best $50 I've could spend on it.

    2489423579_2dd8aed429_z.jpg

    Chieftang AR on the left, regular Navi AR on the right (my original older crystal had no AR at all)

    2489423573_6ab8173f55_z.jpg

    3436667022_49c0ae42f4_o.jpg

    3397131176_5f087658c8_o.jpg

    3261673714_329a8c8e48_o.jpg

    Thanks to pokerpot for the last piece of this puzzle (for now, never say never). With the addition of the Breitling font datewheel, I consider this project done. I could brush the case, but honestly I love the polished look too much. I've also considered a gen dial and rep "plain" caseback, but $125 for the dial is too much. This is and likely shall remain, my favorite watch.

    5003206380_bd53b54541_b.jpg

    5002599251_f01ce9362a_b.jpg

    5002599033_564282c259_b.jpg

    5003205484_8edab894dd_b.jpg

  19. I want a Navitimer with slide rule markings that line up

    in The Breitling Area

    Posted

    I've thought about brushing it, and I know its been done to good results (there was a thread on here I believe with someone who did it years ago). I've brushed bracelets and it was shockingly easy, but I imagine the pushers and crown would be pretty delicate work. For now I'm content with the polished look....I'd have a gen dial if they weren't $125+.

    Frankly now I just wander the forums looking for an V3 Breitling datewheel for sale. I missed one last week and felt none-to-good about it.

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