Andei3000

Hi Shafto, hope this helps. I would be scared to death if I would get a haircut by one of these monsters cheers Andei

Lets start the week with some lume! C3 lumed 127:

WOW.... hard to find words for this stunning pieces! Congratulations for your awesome work, my hands would be to shaky to handle this stunners. greetings Andei

Today my reactor like 187:

Another day with the perfect 202/A from Theo! Can't take my eyes from the pvd coating :Jumpy: :Jumpy: @TJ.... Happy Birthday to you too ;)

What else than my newly acquired 202/A (the one in the middle )

This one won't leave the wrist for a while

After finishing almost all mods: my ultimate 194

The 194 is back alive :) **** metal putty - I'm not a plumber I'm a master watchsmith this was how it looked after removing the metal boarder of the minute indexes :( and this is how it looks after soldering, grinding, repainting, swearing and 4 hours of work Now I just need to reassemble the watch, get the He-Valve, do some magic on the cannon pin and clean the f....er. hopefully everything works out I'll keep you updated Andei

First of all I want to thank Tim for forwarding the watch to me and Robert for such great offers he has. At the first glance the watch is an absolute stunner, great lume, one of the best cyclopses I've seen on a rep and overall a solid feel to the watch. As planned I started immediately modding it. For now I see no need for reluming the dial and pearl and no need to raise the datewheel. Maybe there is going to be a Leo datewheel in the near future? First steps were: -disassembling the watch -removing the crystal -cg pin mod -then I started with removing the old glossy pain on the minute indexes on the bezel therefore I used some q-tips with acetone and afterwards I scratched the remaining paint with a screwdriver off -next step was to remove the metal boarder between crystal and formerly black painted area I used a grinding stone on the dremel, as there was some black paint left in the corner I had a real good indicator for being totally flat when the color was removed. -now I had to remove the boarder between the tiny minute indexes, I used a grinding wheel with the proper thickness, unfortunately my hand was not steady enough and I managed to get some rounded edges on the indexes I should have used a small file instead of the grinding wheel -then I repainted the indexes with a flat black paint with a q-tip again and cleaned the remaining paint with acetone. Remaining works to be done: -wait for the spare He valve to arrive -flatten and polish the cannon pin -eventually relume the dial -get a new bezel, as the rounded edges on the indexes are really annoying me :( here is a quick comparison shot from my modded rep on the left and a gen on the right: thanks for looking Andei

Congrats LeGambleur, is there any update so far, I would love to sport one of this awesome trophies. BTW, which of the submitted ones is the winning one? thanks Andei

Regarding #3 I do have a spare He-Valve from a Pam 243 on its way and I'm quite confident to make it fit to the 194 case we'll see when the goods arive.

Hi fellow members, this is going to be a thread about my upcoming Pam 194 and all the mods I'm planning to do. First off all I want to mention, that the whole submersible line of Pams never seemed to suit me, until one day I saw a gen Pam 285 in person. That was the moment where I thought: I have to get a submersible, but it must be a 47mm model as the dials on the 44mm seem to be to small for me. So, I started the search for a Pam 194 as there is no proper 285 dial in production afaik. -missed one for sale of a member who is just 150km away -ordered one from PT - everything was ok, but suddenly his factory decided to not produce the 194 anymore -tried PWC - he won't ship to Austria (which I totally understand, as I got my second watch seized by Customs ) -tried PWC again - now shipping to a really nice member of this board in UK who is forwarding the watch to me -yehaaww, thanks Tim and Robert Now to the initial point of this thread: These are the planned mods on the watch: 1.) install proper datewheel with correct font 2.) raise the date if needed 3.) change the He-Valve for the correct engraved one 4.) remove the not painted metal border surrounding the crystal (if this one really exists, from the pictures I've seen it seems as there is a small wall between the crystal and the painted indexes) 5.) remove and repaint the minute indexes on the bezel with flat black paint 6.) relume the dial, hands and "pearl" 7.) polish and make the cannon pin flush 8.) cg pin mod wrong He-valve: right He-valve: after this mods it should look like this: If anybody has a suggestion what I definitely should not miss as mod on this watch, feel free to add your input. p.s.: an AR treatment on the crystal might be not possible due to the sandwiched construction of it, we'll see when the watch arrives. thanks for looking and I'll keep you guys updated

Great idea there By-Tor, it's really hard to decide which is the best wristy. Here are a few, which I consider the better ones:

today I'm sporting the lovely 195:

same old story - 187

thanks Teejay, will send you the pm tomorrow morning. again thanks in advance Andei

Hi RWG-fellas, unfortunately I just got my second watch seized by Austrian Customs . I said to myself, calm down, stick to EU based dealers as always and everything will be ok. So, ordered a Pam 194 and a correct engraved He-Valve from PT. Bummer number two -> the factory where PT gets his watches won't produce the 194 anymore. Now I'm here without two new Pams, the only thing I'll going to have is a correct he-valve "How awesome" Now here is my request (thanks Oberblender for this great idea in the right moment): Maybe there is one Eu-member with not so strict custom laws as Austria, Germany, Italy, who will be so kind to forward me the watch? I'll order the watch from PWC (time4direct), as it seems he has the newest modell, best price and stock of this wonderfull watch, maybe we can share the shipping costs? Of course your service will be rewarded with 50$ and the additional shipping costs in EU Please help some fellow Austrian, to mod the hell out of the hopefully incoming 194. thanks a lot in advance Andei @admins, mods: feel free to delete or move this post, if this request is inappropriate this is the watch we are talking about:

Wow freddy, what a treasure those 8-track records are, I would give my left arm for that collection nice watch too greetings Andei

thanks gran, I changed the font, as the original one is really hard to read In the collecting career of any Panerai enthusiast the highlight most definitely is acquiring one of the original Vintage Panerais that lay the basis of the Legend of Panerai as a War Machine. Tested and proven in the steely fires of battle these machines now adorn the wrists of modern Warriors taking on the challenges of everyday life. The critical component of a Vintage Panerai is the movement and over the production period of 1936 till 1955 various Rolex work horses were used. The movement is also essential as it forms nearly 50% of the value of the timepiece (and in the case of the Vintage Angelus powered Richemont issued PAM 203, 85% of the value of the watch). However in authenticating a Vintage Panerai and ensuring the right movement is in the right case can be a daunting task as there were many variations as far as movement markings are concerned and this can confuse a potential Vintage Panerai Collector. I can tell you now this issue is contentious due to ego and the huge sums of money involved and there are varying degrees of opinions especially from some collectors who believe they know what is the real story that adds to the confusion. However I will try my best to bring facts forward about the movements used in Vintage Panerais and try to show both sides of the argument. The argument being: There should be consistency in the movements that were used in Vintage Panerais especially post 1946 Vs. No consistency because that’s the way they did things in those days and during the war period 1936 to 1946 they had no choice due to poor logistics and unavailability of parts The danger of having inconsistent movements is that we leave the door open for counterfeiters and peddlers of fake watches who bring them to the market and claim that they are authentic and very rare because they are different from the majority watches with consistent movements. I would like to bring your attention to Mr. Francesco Ferretti's, a world renowned expert and dealer in Vintage Panerai, opinion on the matter of the variations in the movements found in Vintage Panerais, (It has been machine translated into English from Italian hence not perfect): "Vintage watches Panerai watches were intended for military during the period from 30 years up to 1956-1960. You must know that in time of war transport and communications letters were not compare to today. Write a letter could take 10-20 days for delivery (If you arrived!) And transport were very difficult. Going from La Spezia to Florence today in an hour is normal but in 40 years if everything went well we wanted 2 days and the base of Taranto passed minimum one week hoping not to meet roads or bridges destroyed. All equipment of the navy had to be perfectly efficient and it was not easy. A La Spezia was a repair shop where a bit of everything and in many cases to make operational equipment they had to dismount to take other parts needed to repair. For watches as for all other things was ARRANGE FOR THE ART! I have had many Vintage Panerai and I can assure you that I have seen all the colors, hands are made of brass sheet, bridges glued to the budget, rubies replaced with pieces of brass crowns redone with a tube threaded and welded etc ... ......... I believe that most of Vintage Panerai has undergone transplants more or less important. It is not uncommon with mechanical watches 3646 with 17 Rubis incabloc and 6152 / 1 with 15 Rubis without incabloc. Once I tried always to put the clocks with the right mechanics, but I realized that some collectors, having seen the clock with the mechanics wrong, were not very happy thinking about false or at least the assembled. I now I still do only a review of mechanical and not the restoration most cases because many want the clock to see who lived and not all polished again. I believe that an entirely original clock and coeval is preferable to one with 15 mechanics and 17 non Rubis with or without incalboc, but these I believe them because they always original from the Italian Navy. Those who have the mechanics are less thick, with very few pieces used for exposure because more refined and in many cases with the display back that are original, all that I have seen are mostly false." Now according to Mr. Ferretti due to the Second World War, the poor logistics made it hard for correct parts to be available so it is was imperative that the Italian Navy made do with whatever was available at the time to get the job done. In my humble opinion that is a valid explanation for watches made from 1936 to 1946. Any Vintage Panerais made from 1946 to 1956 should consistently have the same movement in accordance to its case. Another counter argument is that if various different parts were used to make do during the war time of 1936 to 1946 why do we see movements with such varying degrees of markings and designs on some pieces whereas the majority consistently has the same movements with the same movement markings? And isn't it more expensive to make inconsistent parts vs. consistent parts? These are unanswered questions that I think no one has the answers to. Another interesting point mentioned by Mr. Ferretti is: " Those who have the mechanics are less thick, with very few pieces used for exposure because more refined and in many cases with the display back that are original, all that I have seen are mostly false." Basically thin Cortebert ebauche based Rolex movements are mostly false in his expert opinion since these thin movements were used at that time in Rolex pocketwatches. Now going forward the most likely first Vintage Panerai is either a 3646 Radiomir or a 6152-1 Luminor Panerai with the Bridge Crown Protector and that will be my focus. I will briefly look at the Angelus Calibre 240 movement found in 6152-1 watches with a seconds hand at 9 o'clock. I hope this guide can be useful for first time Vintage Panerai collectors. 3646 Panerai Radiomir Panerai used Rolex sourced 16 Ligne 618 Cortebert ebauche based movements for their watches. One French Ligne is equal to 2.25583mm so in this case that should technically equal 36mm however most sources state the movements are 30mm in diameter and in others that they are 34mm in diameter. An ebauche is an incomplete movement that is purchased, assembled and modified by watch companies to their own individual specifications. So the Cortebert ebauches were significantly modified by Rolex. Most Rolex Cortebert ebauche based movements at the time were originally destined for Rolex Pocketwatches and hence there are similarities between them and the Vintage Panerai Rolex 618 Cortebert ebauche movements keeping in mind the primary difference was the thickness of the movement. The Rolex 618 Cortebert ebauche based movements were found to be reliable in extreme conditions and became the movement of choice for Panerai Military dive watches. We will start by first looking at the most common movement found in the 3646 before we proceed to look at exceptions and odd movements. Common/Consistent Movements The 17 jewel Rolex movement is the most common found in 3646s and the similarities are clearly evident in the pictures below 15 Jewel 618 Movements Several prominent sources mention that Panerai used a Rolex 15 jewel 618 movement vs. the more common but better 17 jewel movements. Konrad Knirim a noted German military watch expert states in one of this articles: "…..Diese Uhr hat folgende Merkmale: Rolex Geh

Finished the relume of the dial and pearl. (hands are waiting for a sunny day with more spare time) Damned, that pearl looks like an arc reactor now

Still doing some weightlifting

Changed for the evening to a just finished 187 on red12 baseball strap (thanks simon) This on has the "Franzisco DW mod" (Paper does it as well as top datewheel). minor things to do: -align the hour and minute hand -relume the hands with proper coloured lume -find a pearl, as this one got lost during assembling -CG pin mod -seal the He-valve and datepusher and then I think I'm done!!

After putting a brand new FGD-Dial in, my 201/a aka grail watch is nearing its completion. (thanks Simon) Off to new modding adventures

Davidsen 195 for me today