techd

I actually think the two bezels are different after looking at a bunch of samples, the 111N seems to have the slightly oversized extra bevel whereas I don't think the 005 has this.

They're not selling it for 1/3rd the retail...it's an auction so it's going to go higher.

The clasps have always been terrible on the 42mm reps unfortunately...if I was gonna go franken that's definitely something I'd replace. Personally debating whether to franken my PO or just go gen instead. Some of the ADs offer pretty good prices on them.

Are you sure that's a genuine dial? I don't know of any era Portuguese Chrono that had numerals like that.

Thank you!

Haha, yeah if you just want to own and wear watches it's probably better just to let a pro do it...the only reason I bought all that stuff wasn't because it'd be cheaper or anything (it definitely isn't cheaper) but just because I want to work on watches. So unless you want to mess around with watches I'd suggest just paying someone else since it's honestly not very cost effective.

Hey...I know The Zigmeister edited his post but does anybody know what the hand sizes are for the asian 7750 in the IWC Portuguese? I could REALLY use the hand sizes!!!

Well, I just pulled it off recently (had some trouble getting the bezel off originally...the trick is to use a nice and strong knife so it doesn't just bend and it'll be able to push the bezel, but it has to be sharp too...I ended up chipping my swiss army knife blade because it was too sharp to use! Ended up getting it off using my bottle opener's wine foil knife)...and while the graphite job wasn't too bad I had already bought an ultrasonic cleaner, plus molybedenum (better than graphite) and teflon powder (might skip this if I had to do it over...teflon is just too clumpy so if I put any in again I'd probably mix it like 4/5 moly and 1/5 teflon). Anyways, just remember to properly unlock the dial to remove it (there's 2 dial locks), and be REALLY, REALLY, REALLY careful with the dial and watch hands. Unfortunately I managed to scrape up the minute counter subdial (because I put the subdial hands too low) and also managed to snap the minute hand at the last minute (mostly because I accidentally hit it when I was putting another hand on...argh). Mind you, I had successfully put the watch back together but I had taken the bezel off to adjust the hands since they weren't right. So...anyways, it's doable but just be REALLY careful and realize that you're risking damage to the watch. Personally I don't mind too much since I'm probably going to replace both the dial and hands (since I'm a little disappointed with how the rep hour markers are basically just plugged into little sockets, and I kinda want a different color dial). Anyhow, if you don't want to invest in a ton of watch tools and still risk damaging the watch pretty badly I'd probably just pay someone else to do it. I bought a ton of watch tools, an ultrasonic cleaner, etc. just to do it and I still managed to screw the hands up afterwards. Technically I pulled off the graphite job without issue but going back to adjust the hands did me in (it would have been a very simple adjustment...except when I was taking the bezel off again I did it too hurriedly and the bezel went FLYING and the shock took the subdial hands off...and trying to get those back on lead to more and more problems). But if you want to do it yourself I'd suggest at least owning the following: GOOD set of hand pressers (the one I own SUCKS and are largely to blame for my f'ing up the hands) Presto or knockoff hand lifter (I used a cheap knockoff but it did the job ok) Some post it notes to protect the dial when using the hand lifter Rodico putty (mostly used to pick up those watch hands to put them back on) Graphite (duh) or Molybdenum powder Something to open the bezel with if you have a newer IWC portuguese Something thin and strong to pry open the little dial locks with...I used my watch tweezer and just hooked the top into the little dial lock hooks The hardest part of the entire operation is probably setting the hands correctly so that none of them hit each other...and obviously not damaging the dial or breaking any hands in the process.

So...somehow I managed to bend and then snap the minute hand on my IWC Portuguese Chrono and now I'm at a loss as to where to obtain a replacement hand. I've looked on parts sites but I have no idea how to tell if a hand will fit or not, this is the Asian 7750. I also managed to scratch up a subdial a little bit but that's not a big deal (plus I might replace the dial anyway), but having a minute hand is pretty important haha. Anybody know where to obtain a minute hand replacement and/or what size hand fits?

BTW the clone movements shown appear to be the new Seagull ETA clone movements. They're actually pretty good movements, but very unlikely that the dealers wouldn't know that they're not ETA since they're not at all marked as ETA or anything since they're legitimate movements that aren't trying to pretend to be ETA made. I'm just waiting until I can get a cheap 2824 clone to scavenge a couple parts from, lol.

Just send it back...the shipping was really cheap when I had to send a PO back to the dealer once, like $7 or something. That said I'd probably do the repair myself soon, since I just spent a ton of money on all those tools hahaha...except for the glue I'd need on the dial ironically. Just send it back...the shipping was really cheap when I had to send a PO back to the dealer once, like $7 or something. That said I'd probably do the repair myself soon, since I just spent a ton of money on all those tools hahaha...except for the glue I'd need on the dial ironically.

With the right equipment you should be able to enlarge the holes veerrrry carefully. You'll need a reamer tool with the precisely sized heads that'll let get you to 0.17mm and 0.25mm. Might try this myself someday...someday far far away lol.

While I certainly agree that it's stupid that people have been asking above what they paid, I disagree that used Asian versions shouldn't ever go over $100, especially if they've been modded. I mostly say this because right now I'm sinking a ton of money into a planned mod of an asian 7750, and if I'm selling it one day it's definitely going to be more than $100 because it's not cheap nor easy to do a full teardown, cleaning, oiling (with Moebius oils that cost an arm and a leg), refinishing badly finished parts, etc. And assuming my 7750 isn't completely ruined by my noobness, I'm going to spend more money on the best AR, and an enhancement that's never been done before here. And heck, I'd pay more than $100 for certain used Asian models, so long as they're in mint condition. I don't see why $250 asian rep (new) + $60AR + expensive replacement strap ($70 alone) + a LOT of money in watch repair equipment (go look up how much a jeweling press is) + tons of time and effort should be <$100. Not that I'd actually sell my watch anytime soon, but I'm saying that *IF* I decided to sell such a watch I'd sure as hell expect more than $100. Even ignoring the labor and equipment the parts would have run almost $400.

Can't wait to get mine...might have to replace the strap even though I got the color I wanted since Toadtorrent is right in that the rep straps really do look like $2 straps. Still...I don't wanna sink to much money into this watch...wanna save my money to work on my pet project watch.

Just placed an order for one from Joshua after reading this post and going on some insane search for the most accurate rep (yes, even on a cheap rep I tried). Man oh man are there a lot of really bad reps for this watch though...some had hilariously bizarre fonts, some had random extra stuff written on the dial (why??!), and the colors were also wrong on pretty much every rep-ranging from using the wrong colors for the background to just having the colors a bit off. Even found a rep that seemed like it might be accurate but it was overpriced and from a website I'd never heard of. In the end I got the white dial face and asked him to put a white leather strap on it for me (the website only seems to carry the correct white dial with a stainless steel bracelet), since that's what the watch apparently comes with. Of course a super cheap strap isn't going to come close to the real one, but I thought it looked nice with white-a little extra different if you will. The colors don't really look quite right on the rep I ordered either (the 6 is way too intense seeming from the pics), but I thought it just made the colors look even more crazy so it'll do Kind of wish I had never read this article though! Still, this might just be a good daily casual wear watch. I'd bet that about 99% of normal people would think the genuine was a $50 watch anyway, lol. BTW in my hunt I noticed that "zenreplica.com" had some with pretty decent looking dials-the 1's look correct, the colors even looked pretty close, and on the darker dialed versions the colors weren't the light version colors. They're definitely pictures of reps too, since the caseback is obviously wrong, but I've never heard of this place, and they wanted $179 (although I guess since shipping is free the difference is more like $50 instead of $80 compared to other places). Still...anybody bought anything from this place before? This one is pretty tempting: (obviously a rep since the back is wrong) I couldn't find any reviews of this store anywhere though. But their franck muller crazy hours seem to be the nicest. There's some weird photoshop work on the front pic though that kinda worries me...did they just use a pic of the gen?!? Their other rep colors all have rep pics though, so I'm not sure if it's just weird photoshopping or what...I can't help but be suspicious since most dials are very obviously off lol. Actually...I'm pretty sure those ARE pics of the genuine since the crown looks totally different in the front and back pics...wtf. But then again the minutes hand looks somewhat different than the gen, so it might be a rep? Argh, I'm so confused. pic of the black gen: