HauteHippie

Good catch, and easy fix with metallic black paint!

An excellent tour of greatness! Some high quality shots in there. Thanks for sharing and enjoy the watch. PS. What is that toy your holding next to the APROO in your hand??? Oh, nm, it's a Rolex.

Wow. TRC was where it all started. It was the first and only forum in town, and came along at a time when Replica Center scam artists abounded. Not only did TRC put the kibosh on them, but it was the catalyst for what we see today: numerous thriving forums, endless information exchange, and best of all an amazing diversity and quality replica watches (certainly compared to when TRC was founded).

Neat. Well luckily I paid for the manufacture of custom fixtures for AR coating lenses in the 5-7mm range as part of the PAM cyclops project. So, they'll be reusable to coat lanikai's Rollie loupe.

I'm obviously behind the times here, but which part of the gen exactly is AR coated?

Use Crystal Clear by Duro. Apply it to the mag, set it into place just right, remove excess with acetone (being careful to get none on the AR), then expose to UV. The glue hardens upon exposure to UV. $5 for the Duro and $35 for the UV lamp. Sunlight might work too. I'm not 100% sure.

My opinions: RG radiomir is the nicest with that strap. It needs AR. SS radiomir would be nicer with a black gator strap. It needs AR. My personal choice would be the SS Radiomir because I don't wear gold. I do, however, think the RG Radiomir is dressier and perhaps classier or more refined looking.

Great looking piece. I love the white dial with silver subhands.... Enjoy and report back to us on the sec@12 longevity!

LOL, UB7... Is that a French Bulldog? I have an old English turning 10 this year.

Sounds like it was a great time, and I'm sure the next one won't conflict with my schedule.... In fact maybe I'll be the one to set it up just to make sure! Where'd you guys meet, BTW? PS - Awesome BP!!

I was a big fan, and had tickets to see him next month. RIP.

If the gasket is a bit too fat could you thin it down a bit with some fine grit sandpaper or something? Just a thought.

Welcome back. Hope to see you stopping in more often!

So, I'm curious what the entire story on that one is... Did Josh advertise it as a genuine ETA, then you received an Asian movement, and Josh would not remedy this? Also, try shooting Sead a PM over at RG.

Yea that 3717 was the worst AR stripping experience I've ever had!! But we finally did get it off. Haven't seen one like that since.

I don't think I'd put AR on it. But I did see a pic on RG where someone did and thought it looked great.... So, hey, there's an argument to be made either way.

Is this the original cyclops?

063 is not a sandwich.... Sounds like you've got some really tough cement on there!!

Thanks for the descriptive notice, Zig.

I seem to remember from back in the day conventional wisdom surrounding the 2892 Conquistador was that the dial was very good and the hands (in blue) were very bad. Well, having just completed the project, I'd say the opposite is true. The rep silver dial is a very poor replication of the gen. It is far more shiney, the starburst is far more prominent, the FRANCK MULLER GENEVE CONQUISTADOR and SWISS MADE printing is much too dull, and the hour markers are not shaped right. The blue hands were a little brighter blue than the gen, but not too bad. The hands mod is much more of a minor upgrade than the gen dial swap.... and if I'm being 100% honest I actually prefer the look of the rep silver dial to the gen silver dial. But what are you going to do?

I like the *idea* of the white one .... but the black looks nicer IMO.

Wish I could make it guys. I'll be at the next one, though.

FYI, my hands were painted by The Zigmeister. The paint was provided by our resident FM guru and is a nearly perfect match to OEM FM hands.... a noticeable improvement over the rep blue (which, I agree, isn't as bad as some might think). Now, as far as the good crown goes, if you have any sources to share I'm all ears. I actually don't know if mine is good or bad as is, either.

I've seen that tool, too. I used what I had on hand: two pairs of needle nose pliers.

This probably won't help *too* many people since this isn't a watch that has been talked about for a couple years now, but I finally finished a franken FM Conquistador project: Old school 2892 FM Conq, genuine silver dial (thanks to you know who), custom painted hands (The Zigmeister), Dial and hands relume (The Zigmeister - the gen dial had not had luminous applied yet), and a Hadley Roma Genesis II Louisiana gator strap in black. Well, this strap is quite nice. It's well padded and just the right thickness for the FM, i.e. there will be no gap between the case and the end of the strap. However, if you think those spring bars are just going to pop right into place, well, think again!! The spring bar holes are VERY close to the edge of the case, so there is minimal clearance for the strap. And after about 20 minutes of cursing at the thing and thinking it was just too thick to fit - it dawned on me..... Bend the spring bars! Done, and done! Total time 30 seconds and the watch is now on my wrist. Pics to follow.