Finepics

Day 3: aaaarrrrgggghhh

What's the problem - I might be able to help.

They do not fit existing rep cases - the screw holes are too small and need enlarging, they are also not in perfect alignment but once done they don't look too bad. I got one on my 5218/201 and it's better than it was..

I absolutley do not see the point of doing this. I will wait until my 187 is in my hands but as far as I am aware the recessed dwtewheel is not nearly as bad as it is on the 7750 188/196's - so maybe they have re-worked the transfer gears which were the cause of this problem. I also never understood why the date window on the 7750 daylights was also offset when it should be equidistant between the 4-5 with the distance from the center being the only difference. So the only advantage gained from fitting a 7753 is that the quickset date will work. Now the problem with doing a dial like this is that it needs dial markers making as this is not a plain printed dial. I would not try removing the raised markers from the 7750 dial and transferring them to a new dial - way too risky and would leave the 7750 dial useless!! I really don't think it's worth the expense of this and would much rather leave well alone and fit the swiss 7750 if the need arises.

Neil, yes they can do a range of colours. I'm not sure how gold the gold is but it is certainly much more permanent than actual gold plate and will last for years. I will need to check if the price is the same. I have got to speak the the company on Monday anyway so will ask then and let you know. Not sure if I mentioned this but it is the addition of Aluminium (or Aluminum for you US readers) to Titanium Nitirde (Ti) that makes the Ti go purple, and the darker the purple the more grey it looks. So the PVD Panerai use is actually the darkest shade of purple that TiALN can go.

Well well - so the old bird has finally expired!! I would have been sad a while ago but not any more - this place is home now!!

Another way is to remove the rim around the edge of the casetube. This will also bring the crown closer into the case and gives more clearance for the pull out positions. I think gen Pam's do not have that lip on the tube.

About every 10 mins even though I know nothing much will change until maybe tonight/tomorrow !!! Sad or mad!!

I just had one of those for a re-lume - they are nice indeed. I only just noticed that the movt has been improved over the G series. The G's balance wheel bridge plate had an angled lower edge whereas the new H series has a smooth curve like the gen and the Geneve striping is very nicely done. Enjoy.

Oh I forgot - my PVD is exactly like the ones in the photos. I had actually sent those pics to the company before they did mine so they knew what it should be like. Mine has the same slight sheen to it as it is bead blasted first. I think davidsens cases look a little too matte - they have been sandblasted rather than bead blasted.

@Veni - I will ask them and do some research as it may be a specialist gold platers is needed for this. I know the technology with Gold plate and it is easier to do than PVD. Cracking shot of that 203A - one just sold for £16500 in a UK auction a few weeks ago.

Can you re-phrase that as I'm not quite sure what you mean. They can do the gold colored Ti coat - yes.

Day 2.5!! Bit of a stopover in Thailand.

Just to add my experience to this generally as I have a very large music collection and was an early pioneer of the first gen iPod. I had the very first Windows iPod 20g when it first came out several years ago. It died within a week (the little sad face iPod icon was very alarming!!). It took hours to find out from Apple website what that fault was (they don't tell you in the manual what the symbols are) but apple did replace it very quickly. The Music Match software that it shipped with was absolutely dire and no-one could get it to work. Luckily a German chap developed some freeware called Ephod which was absoluely brilliant, easy to use, perfect job everytime (iPod does handle all sorts of mp3 formats - not just DRM) and there was a ton of other software available as well. So after 3 years of ownership and one replacement battery (this was something apple were heavily criticised for as the batteries lasted about 1 year and they charged £199 to replace them - almost the same cost as a new iPod - so one high profile court case later and they dropped the price to £70 but £15 on ebay got me a higher powered battery) all was well until it dropped on its headphone socket and died with a broken circuit board. Time for a replacement - step up Sony!! Now I have a Sony HD-5 20g player and it really rocks. Not as cool as iPod, not as nice menu/scroll wheel as iPod but crucially it has a 40 hour battery life which is removable through an external door and more importantl will handle a great many file types including WMA (which are generally considered better than mp3), it does not lock you into Atrac (Sony's achiles heel) and best feature af all is the ability to switch the headphone socket to a proper line out in the menu - brilliant in my car, and it has a universal type charger socket so no need for expensive Apple accessories (my TomTom charger fits it). Crappy software (sonic stage) but the Vaio music transfer app works beautifully for just a quick drag and drop and is free from the Vaio website. My advice is get the Sony 5g player - you cannot go wrong as it has the same features as the bigger one, is cheaper than a nano, will not scratch like a nano and has better audio output quality!!! The nano is very cool looking I admit - but that's about it and sadly Ephod does not work with either the nano or the mini as there is some sort of copyright thing now. Finally do not use the standard headphones - choose the in ear type (I have Sure E3c's) such as Sony EX71's or similar. They give a silent output so no creating a noise nuisance in public and the difference in the music range has to be heard to be believed.

Don't go and spoil the suprise!! (No - check the day 2 smilie for a clue!!!)

haha - cheers buddy, and you know what it is so maybe I should start a little of this in readiness

Day 2:

Yep, this is for any of the GMT, Power reserve etc but only with the 2892/3 movts - Not the 2836 versions.

Well ladies (and Gentlemen - if there are any!) as you probably know I have been working on various things not least of which is the datewheel for the venerable 2893 series reps. You might also be aware of the various problems with doing the 7753 wheels - well not any more! I can source the datewheels in advance and, as you know, I have found a printer that has a Swiss made high end pad printing machine. This is exactly the sort of machine that ETA etc use so the results are almost guaranteed!! The printers will pretty much be doing all the artwork (I have kickstarted it but they will fine tune it) and will make a metal jig to hold the wheel in the correct position for printing. This was the fundamental problem with the first 7753 wheel printer; he used a traditonal screen which distorts during printing but a pad printer does not suffer this problem. The company is a specialist dial and instrument printer and are already familiar with the various ETA movts, so the 2893 is a "walk in the park" as their director said to me. Having given this a glorious intro (I hope to Christ they're good!!!!) I really need to have some idea of numbers to know how many to order up. Cost wise they will work out at $50 + post (about $10) - slightly more than the 7753 as I am buying the wheels up front. I am hoping that this will take around 3-4 weeks to have ready for shipping out but a lot depends on Cousins having enough stock of them initially (I suspect they might have to be ordered from ETA so could take some time). Please do not PM me at this stage - just a note here is enough until I post an update.

Day 1 : :cc_chinese:

Hey dudes the sample is on the way to me as we speak - so I hope it will be here next week along with something for me that surrounds a 5mm thick crystal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The casebacks are swappable. I have a Diavidsen caseback here which fits my PAM 28, 111 cases (same maker) no problem. Real problem is with Davidsens cases. The dials are desingned to fit exactly into a recess in the case. This perfectly centralises them so the clamps only hold the movt in place not position. Davidsens dials are 1mm bigger in dia so this means that to fit his dial in existing cases means removing that mm (not a massive problem but not good). But to fit exisiting dials to his case is a problem as the dial is too small for the recess which means that the position is held by stem and clamps and these will move in time!!

Yes this is available anywhere. The case need stripping and all O rings and crystal rings need removing. I will double check any before they are sent off for plating. All you need to do is make the PP payment in UK sterling - then you absorb the exchange rate. Here are some crappy pics (ignore the dial!!).