andreww

7753? Its definitely not. Lemania movement? good thought, but no. The reason they used the modified A7750 for this one is that the subdial position and function matches the gen. Neither of the above movements has a running seconds at 3:00, and the lemania doesn't even ave a 6:00 subdial. Both would have been epic fails.

mmmmmmmmm cake!

Thats a very subjective question. If we are talking "True Navis", then I think the Navitimer World wins out over the Tricompax. Not by much however. Both have recessed datewheels and incorrect date fonts, but the World has a more accurate caseback. If you want to stretch the limits a bit, look at the Montbrilliant datora, Legende, or the Chronomatic. These are all newer reps and more accurate, but technically not Navitimers.

Interesting piece. I'm also curious as to whether its modified to run as a 24 hr clock, but I'd highly doubt that. Caseback looks to be a better shape than the standard Navis too. I believe the gens are a manual wind lemania movement, so I guess they decided to go with the date window (poorly placed) rather than an accurate manual wind movement with display back. The subdials are way to far apart and the datewindow is too far outboard, but thats what you get when you substitute movements. Bottom line, if it runs at 24hrs, its a nice rep. If not, forget it. The gen...

Love that strap/dial combination! Looks great, congrats.

Waiting to see some clearer pics of this one, but my first impression is a little bit of disappointment. The new date font is just terrible, and it does not match the fonts on the sliderule at all. The extra large date window and rotated single digit fonts were a hallmark of the Navi and will be seriously missed. On the bright side the dial looks nice, applied wings are nice, and the display back is tremendous. The negative is that we will be getting a Navi rep with yet another sunken datewheel and very inaccurate back side.

The sliderule on the 1st gen is also on the creamy side when compared to the gen. When you see the gen in good light, the insert almost looks like it could be made of aluminum. The other thing you notice is that the white text on the dial is actually silver on the gen. Minor things, but very noticeable when viewed side by side. It was a great back then, but if you look closely, there are a lot of little things that aren't quite right. The factories have come a long way in the six years since its release, I'd love to see what they could do with it!

Hey I hear ya. I've always said that the 1st generation tricompax is a very good rep. Of course the datefont and recessed window has always been the biggest stumbling block. Fixing those issues and adding decent AR to the glass would be a huge improvement. If they could fix the caseback, that would be gravy!

Given all the information and misconceptions that we have uncovered here, I've been able to better inform Josh on the subject. He, like myself, believed the gen Navi date set could be activated by running back and forth over 12:00. As that information is not entirely correct, it seems that there may not be any issues with re-replicating this piece. He is going to discuss it with the maker. At least thats a step in the right direction! Thanks everyone.

Something that I found online...

Not sure about that. From what i understand, and remember seeing, is that on the gen Navi you run it to 12:00 a.m. and the date changes. You then back it up over 12:00, then forward again and the date changes once more. You don't have to run around the dial 24 time to change the date once. I'll do some checking to verify this.

No the cases are different. The movements are the same, but the tricompax has extra transfer gears on top of the datewheel. The amount that the datewheel is recessed is equal to the amount that the crown tube has been moved toward the back of the case. Just imagine the transfer gears as a spacer of sorts, it pushes the entire movement back about one millimeter. So the case is modified to accept the movements new position. Because the 7753 has the same dimensions as a 7750, it will only fit in the 6,9,12 case. The other issue is that the date window on a 7753 is slightly more outboard than a 7750, so the rep dial simply won't work with the 7753 movement, you need a gen dial. Lastly, there is no way to advance the date beyond durning the hour hand 24 complete rotation for each single day. I once had a Navi with a broken date set, and believe me, you don't want to do that. Personally, build a perfect Navi, and put the date button at 10:00. Not perfect, but the best we'll get.

Francisco's method of moving the datwheel above the transfer gears is very creative and puts me in awe of what guys can accomplish here. However, I don't think that method is very practical because it involves gluing a spacer and new datewheel on top of the existing datewheel. If the movement needed to be serviced, I would doubt that it could be done without destroying the entire setup. I've really given up on the idea of a perfect 2004 Navi, but I still don't get why one of the factories haven't produced a decen Old Navitimer?

Well, I respect the skills of the various modders on the forum, but what he is telling you is impossible. The 7750 and 7753 have virtually the same dimensions. The 7750 that is in the 3-6-9 tricompax Navi has an extra bridge to raise the transfer gears over top of the datewheel. This is what causes the recessed date. The case on the models has the hole for the stem moved towards the back of the case to accommodate this modification. When you put a 7753, or a 7750 for that matter, in the 3-6-9 case the stem will not align properly withh the crown tube. I don't care who your modder is, unless he can turn water in to wine, he wont fit a 7753 in to your case.

Yeah, I spoke to Josh about this movement. It is supposed to be a direct copy of the 7753, not a bastardized 7750. Like the gen 7753 it has a 10:00 pusher to advance the date. Breitling modifies its 7753s to add a date function via the crown, so according to Josh, an 7753 Navi isn't going to happen. As for creating a franken, same rules apply as with the gen 7753. You'll need a 6-9-12 case, a7753 movement, gen dial. You still won't have a source for a datewheel though.

Unfortunately a 7753 will not fit in that watch. To do a gen dial/7753 swap you will require a case from a 6-9-12 navitimer.

PVD is more prone to scratching and it is also much darker than the DLC'd gen.

At the very least this will give access to cheaper movements to create a franken with. Old school fighters case, gen tricompax dial, A7753, and you've pretty much got all the parts you need, except the ever illusive date wheel Would a rep be so bad with a pusher button at 10:00?

Not going to happen guys. Had a message from Josh this morning regarding a 7753 Navi, and he pointed out something that I had completely forgotten about. The 7753 (and the A7753) change date via a pusher at the 10:00 position. The Navitimer however uses a slightly modified 7753 that sets the date by running the time back and forth over 12:00 AM. The only option the have would be to make a rep with an extra pusher hole at 10:00, or have no date set mechanism whatsoever.

As the others have said, very nice accurate watch. However, its a pretty hefty chunk of steel, and its not the most comfortable watch on the planet to wear. Don't get me wrong, I wear mine all day with no problems, but sometimes it actually feels nice to take it off. Don't know if this would be the watch I'd choose for an everyday watch.

Agreed, the Steelfish is very close in diameter and depth, and is only about 2 grams heavier than the Skyracer. The titanium breits feel like they are made of plastic when you first pick them up, soooo light.

With the current versions of the Chrono Avenger & Seawolf (ti version) the quality of the ti should be the least of your worries.

This appears to be an out of the box two tone Old Navitimer rep. These ones are no longer available as far as I know. The only update to this one that I can see is that it appears to have a correct datewheel installed. The strap may or may not be real, without seeing the entire back side its hard to tell. The case, dial, hands and caseback are all rep parts though.

R, that strap combo looks awesome! Can't wait to see how it looks after its spa visit.

Not surprising at all. The SFSO was a very popular watch, but its run its course. 99% of the people that wanted one bought one, and I would guess that sales for it are now quite average if not slow. I assume they have run out of parts and inventory, so is it worth the cost to produce another lot? Probably not. There are several Breitling models that have not been repped that would likely sell far better.