HauteHippie

Hey bud... good to see you.

My thoughts are that Glock and Sig are not exotic, but commonplace. Other than that, contraband gets smuggled in to all countries all the time and I'd rather not live someplace where the felons have the guns and the law abiding citizens are defenseless against them.

I fog mine up with my breath and wipe them off with my shirt. Classy, eh?

Somewhere in between. I'd call it a low sheen finish, but not matte.

Classy!

Ya, this thing is HOT. Really sweet watch, and an awesome post to share the details of what must have been a very fun and rewarding project!

A college buddy of mine works for ICE. And based on our regular conversations, I'm pretty well convinced that ICE is not cracking down on anything.... Reps or otherwise. You wouldn't believe the red tape.

Man I need to step it up and get the gen dial in mine. Yours is hot.

Totally agree, R. The more counterfeit crap parts showing up, the MORE likely I'm going to be to get my servicing at the RSC to avoid the junk. I'll send you my suspicious crown upon return from The Zigmeister's bench. Take a good look and see what you think. It sure fooled me. I might even still have the packaging it came in.

Wow another really nice one to add to your collection! Congrats!

FYI, a guy I spoke with this morning who constantly deals in Rolex parts and watches told me that he has indeed seen MANY knockoff *packaged* (in Rolex-like packaging) triplock crowns out there...... Wow. Simply wow.

LOL Ubi you're too much.... conversation continued offline.

New crown incoming from a trustworthy source.

Could be non-gen. Sure looks the part though, and the packaging was believable.

The crown is in two pieces now. The threaded nipple (the part that plunges in) is still threaded on to the stem, inside the crown tube of the case. The rest of the crown is completely detached. And the little spring is loose. It did break in the midst of time setting, though. I was almost at the desired time, and suddenly it just started spinning freely, and then fell off. LOL.

"It looks like it's been stickin' in someone's ass." -Clint Eastwood, in 'Escape From Alcatraz'

Oh my!

Thanks buddy.... Pinions very tight, but I can still set time to a fraction of a minute - (when there is a crown attached ). It's livable. I figure we'll try to address it at the first servicing / tear down. The movement is NOS and didn't require service this time. But I suppose your angle is the stress it might be putting on the crown - and that's a good point. Well, we'll try another and see what happens I guess.

Ah, maybe the right thing to do is track down the 4030 stem and ditch the EP 3019 stems... I can probably figure out the part number. #4030-201 me thinks.

How many El Primero stems are there?

The source of this crown is actually the only source I question, as I really don't know the guy. The rest of the gen parts came from trustworthy sources. Zero concerns there. The bracelet came from a local AD. ;-) Now I guess it is possible the crown was a phony in repped packaging.... I guess. But I think that's unlikely. Highly. But, what does give me pause is that the threading of the crown to the stem was not compatible. In the end, we made a somewhat permanent joint there.

Actually, I've had the part for more than 90 days. This one has been in the pipe for some time. Anyhow, now half the crown is stuck on the stem inside the tube. This is going to be a pain. One of the pinions was also defective. Also, brand new, sealed packaging, etc. Pathetic.

Gen pinions were very hard to track down, and they were even a bigger pain to install (for RG). Some nice soul on RWG (SORRY I FORGET WHO!!) sent me a tech sheet for the 4030 which I used for the part numbers. The esteemed Ubi actually tracked a first set down, and then was unable to find another for himself. So, I of course stepped up the search and tracked down another set for Ubi. In the end, I believe they ended up coming from two different sources. In other news, last night, the gen crown broke while setting the time. So much for gen QC, guys. This crown was straight from Rolex in untampered / sealed packaging. Not some pseudo gen crown you find on EBay. The spring load mechanism just seems to have fallen apart. Oh the joys of expensive watch parts!!

PS. The SO's Date in pic 1 is fully gen.

Thanks all. It's a great piece. Below is the formula. Costwise we're talking about 37-40% of a used gen. Basically you could buy this watch, or you could buy a used gen 16610 sub from the late 1990s. No brainer for me. The Zigmeister's handiwork Ubi's help Gen lumi dial Gen lumi hands and sub dial hands Gen pushers Gen crown ---->>> ???? Gen case back Gen 78390A/803B bracelet Gen "Mk IV" bezel Gen crystal with laser etched crown @ 6 Phong midcase engraved with genuine A serial number - Went over this case with a fine tooth comb, and it's dead on compared to a gen A serial case or a service replacement case. The gen 803B SELs fit this thing like a glove. Notice no gaps. And the CGs and lug contours are perfect. The notches on the underside of the pushers are exact. Phong's engraving is also excellent. This is what I can actually call 1:1. Ebel 400 El Primero movement shown below, with gen pinions added (these actually gave The Zigmeister fits):