kbiz

now that's an old thread!!! back-in-the-day!!!

post it up if it turns out to really be an 025 case... ioffer always makes me nerveous...

I can't figure out how to find our trader ratings?? feedback is crutial to buying and selling... am I missing something?? I hope I didn't lose all my feedback!!!

Is the LH discontinued?? Are they going for 250 now?

I know DSN will sell panerai sapphire crystals... $100...

uhhgghh... I've had that "Horribly wrong" thing a few times before... not sure if a pin vise will be enough to shrink Gen pam hands down for an A7750... *sigh*

someone mentioned a pin vise... would that be a horrible choice?

Yeah look in the yellow pages under "Rep-friendly" in the "Watch repair" section... no problem... great suggestion...

Nice I love that watch... Great review!!!

Update: Cyclops is too dull... tried to mount it and it was totally blurry... so cleaned it up and ordered a multi-step diamond paste polishing compound kit... once I get it all polished up I'll mount it and post some pics.

After reading the sticky on SSurfer's cyclops and PMing him... I was discouraged about being able to lap down chief's sapphire cyclops... after all, it is sapphire!! Reason I want to is that they have a little edge to them that is visible as a bit of a white ring... Gens have the multi-piece sandwich crystal that minimizes the appearance of that cyclops edge... and if you haven't noticed, I'm very picky I have some of the "Ultimate" crystals but then they are not eligible for Chief AR because of their sandwich construction. So I've come up with a solution... Diamond honing blocks purchased from Harbor Freight on sale at the time for $5. There's 3 different grits... you must use honing oil and I used something rubber to be able to grip the little cyclops while I lapped it... start with the 180 diamond grit... for about 5-10 minutes... then move to the 260 grit for about 5 minutes... now to the 360 grit... you must be careful towards the end to not put much pressure on the cyclops because the edge is now sharp and prone to chipping... Here you can see the the squirt ball I used so that I wouldn't apply too much pressure while lapping Here you can see the sapphire grit mixed in with the oil... The finished product... it has a sharp edge and will yield and almost invisible edge

dsn crystals make me wanna gag... my 2cents...

cartel ultimate 088!!!

Here's the Ultimate 088: Perfect Clones

get the ultimate pam088 NOT from DSN... it's light years better...better crystal by 1000 fold... perfect date font unlike DSN... much better casebacks...

DSN doesn't make his own 063s anymore... so this is the same watch the cartel carries... you might wanna shop that price.

yeah I bought a bunch back in '05 or '06... I've done a couple custom crown tubes like the one on my 088 super franken... I didn't know you could use them on manual wind...

yeah... the spring loaded with 3 gaskets just feels soooo smooth when you close the lever...

just wondering what you all think the market value on a Gen, SS, automatic crown, SPRING LOADED is... I've seen Gen crowns sell for 100... 120... but I don't think they were spring loaded... I dunno... chime in with your opinions

Also I've gotten a lot of questions about some of the procedures... I've been asked about the spacer ring on the movement... all the movements have them... it dictates the height of the dial from the movement... The spacer rings usually are already on the movement... it's usually held down by 3 little screws... I used the one that came with the movement... it was too tall so I "Lapped" it down... Lapping is super easy if you haven't done it before, all you do is put a piece of say 220 grit sand paper on as flat and hard a surface as you can find... glass or granite are popular choices but a table will work too... you can tape the sand paper down if you like. Then you move the little spacer around on the flat sand paper over and over and over again in circular motions until you have removed enough metal to achieve the thickness needed... Lapping has been used for centuries to reduce thickness and maintain flatness... very effective! As for the glue... I used a slow cure epoxy for the date wheel mod. Look for the two part epoxy that takes the longest to dry. That gives you enough time to run the date wheel through all the days several revolutions to adjust for clearance and most importantly... for date window alignment!! You have to run the date wheel through several times with the dial on to make sure the alignment is perfect. Hope this inspires some people to take matters into their own hands

Thanks to everyone for your kind words... And thanks to RWG for sharing years of knowledge from all the great modders... I've gotten a few requests... So I'll throw this out there... if anyone has a cartel 089 dial I'll trade you some services... I've been having a hard time sourcing one. Mine has the missing tick at the 9...

@ssurfer So far it's fit in about 8 different rep CGs of mine... we'll see...

So my ongoing irritation with the Rep CGs continues... Love the LH and V CGs but what about all the contemporaries?? When was the last time I even saw a JF CG?? *sigh* So being that I like to fix things and the $$ and the availability of Gen CGs is not really congruent with this hobby... I've thought of a solution (maybe). It's not so much the CG itself but it's the lever!!! The rep levers that fit tight are more rare than Gen CGs (not that they cost more)... The levers are typically so floppy and with huge gaps... you can fix the flop since the gens have a plastic bushing in lever... but the gaps can't be fixed. So I figured I need a new lever... If I made one wide enough (as in wider than all of the rep CG slots) then I can sand the sides of the lever down to fit any and every CG on the market. Also, like the LH CGs, the roller end of the lever can be longer to accommodate different configurations... Anyone still have a nice CG that they cant use because of an old palp crown?? Here's a Gen CG and Lever... Lever on a bar of SS... Am I crazy?? Did I really just glue my Gen CG Lever to this bar?? Yup So now I've made a template of the lever... I'll be milling this once I figure out the best order of operations for machining... wish me luck

Milling the case seemed way easier than trying to figure out how to hold the CG in the Vice or jig or... well you get it.

Here for your viewing is my newest project completed… I love the GMTs as I have 4 pam GMTs Equipment List: Ultimate Case re-milled for perfect fitment with CG Ultimate Crystal (Newest Ultimate 088 only... U104 is not as good) Gen Dial Gen Hands Cartel latest date wheel (perfect full fat font) moded for sunken date wheel fix Little Hero CG reshaped, ground, polished and pin fixed Gen SS spring loaded crown (thick) Custom crown tube And now on to the pics Custom crown tube... this allowed me to set the crown exactly the distance I wanted it from the case... also shown is the OEM spring loaded crown... Milled the case so the LH CG sits perfectly... This is the Sunken Date window fix... the standard date wheel is drilled out to reduce weight... modified the ultimate date wheel, which is better than my lello dw, and sandwiched that on top. Here's the spacer that the dial sits on... it's there because of the bridge work for the GMT modification... but it was too tall and only made the sunken date issue worse... I lapped it down until there wasn't much gap at all... just enough for the DW to move around... Here's the finished product... Gen for comparison...