kbiz

from that pic it does look like a crack... the sapphire is extremely hard to scratch but it can happen. I've never seen a scratch that deep before and with the dark section which is deep refraction of light I agree with the conclusion that it's a crack most likely resulting from a defect on the crystal forming process when the crystal was made... this is mad made sapphire so it can happen...

I'd work on sourcing the movements first if you haven't gotten them since a modder won't be able to find them for you...

no the bezels are not easily cut down, trimmed or machined in any way... the way AP creates their carbon cases uses very little compression material (plastic) and is almost entirely carbon strand. This makes it strong and pretty abrasion resistant... but they are extremely careful trimming the excess after the forging process as once they are scratched or scraped, they can't be sanded back or refinished...

^^Thanks for the tip that worked perfectly!!

Just thought I'd share something I've been working on in my shop...

After the thickness of the rep case has been reduced the gasket channel must be created again... only a true endmill will give it the crisp perpendicular edges necessary to create a perfect water tight fitment with the gen gaskets...

Midcase thickness reduced:

Gasket channel milled:

Video of actual milling via rotary table:

firstly they need to delete it... secondly they need to learn how to pronounce Panerai!

I can't for the life of me figure out why someone would think that's cool...

Oh my! You may be obsessed already and it may be too late... that's a sexy watch!

you could try contacting the seller you bought it from but the H factory isn't known for allowing extra parts out to the public :\

with the 7750s you have to keep the oversized cases though... thick bezel, mid case, case back...

if it's from DSN it won't look even close to that!!! That's a gen obviously... good luck!

ask any gen owner... there was a time when they couldn't imagine spending even $500 on a watch let alone $10k... with knowledge and experience you realize how important or not important some of the details are.

For me I don't want a rep that's pretty good or 97% there... I'll just buy a normal watch I like for that money instead of a rep... APs are amazing to me because they have so much potential to be perfect! not 98% but 100%!!! There's not one Panerai case that you can buy right now that by changing some things mechanically about it you can have a 100% 1:1, not one. A franken AP can be 1:1 and for 1/5th the cost of gen? Many people have spent closer to $7k on a fiddy franken and its still not 1:1. There will always be folks that want to wear a rep and not mod it and that's fine... just not my cup of tea, especially when perfection is so close at hand.

A friend ask me to tackle a few AP mods... as I usually do Panerai and vintage I haven't paid a lot of attention to AP. But since checking them out I like the look... but they are a little different as far as getting them apart... so here's a little run down on the tool I made. I know you can use tweezers but you know how much longer that takes to untorque all those little lugs? No way, this little tool takes them out in under 30 seconds

price of a franken has always been determined by how much you can stomach and what % of the Gen price it is... also if you take a franken back apart you can often get all your money back... but many people never part with their super frankens so if that's the case it really doesn't matter.

hahaha... best I can do...

Vaclume is the only lume...

they're cheaper on ebay but those dies won't fit Panerai... need to buy an extra oversized set from the same maker to make sure they fit...

missing roller ball on lever... maybe franken? pics are low quality and too much distortion... would need a proper macro shot to see...

Just whipped up a few crown tubes for a couple buddys... precision construction of course in SS and Ti... who wants those lame hex tubes anyway

looks to me like you have the pusher it's just stuck down inside the other piece... If that's the case I'd say you need a good watchsmith not a replacement part...

Lovely work as always W!!! great choice and build...

I'd recommend sending it to a modder at this point...

well RWG may be back up now but it sounds like RG is doing some very much needed fixes from the original crash over a year ago... I still haven't received email notifications and haven't been able to change my avatar even... theres a lot of serious problems with RG so I'm not surprised at all that they're still down trying to sort it out...

wanted to add, since I've now compared a bunch of all 3 varieties, that the 005 case is significantly different than the 177 mainly in the strap lugs... the strap lugs are very pointy and don't hold a candle to the 111J... if it's a SS case you're after don't even think about the 005... go with the 111J!

You can make a tube puller with a drill press... Here's mine I use on my upright mill. I turned a piece of steel that's smaller than the hole but bigger than the tube hole... if you don't have a lathe you can use a nail chucked in a dremel or power drill and a file to turn down the head...

looks like another "I'm going to make the most awesome pam evar!" thread, gets everyone excited, and nothing ever comes out of it.

as mentioned in other threads, prototyping won't start for several months as I'm working on two grail builds... If cost effective, it will be an extremely limited run and will be posted in the sales section as per forum rules... course sounds like you won't have to worry about that

Haven't you heard 117, 35, 100 are back in style now. Mark of a true aficionado

No way they're all going to be the same unique serial number: 0581.