hooky

Hi Omega, nice watch, nice modifications. I did all the same mods like you did, having the same model, except for the rotor modification. My next mod will be to superlume the hands. And I will change the strap to the strap of the Ice Bang, giving this watch a more smooth & abstract look. Enjoy yours! (i will do mine, that's for sure!!! )

Happy with both my Hublot Ceramic and GMT Master 2 ceramic. No complaints, scratches etc.

it is possible to re-attach the seconds hand. Most likely it is not broken and you can just push it back onto its place using a small piece of post-it and a tooth pick. use the search button to find post on how to do that. Also you need to get the crown stem out of the movement. Again... search button. With the cheap asian auto it could be a little bit of a diffucult sometimes with the keyless works. I had one once and it took me a very very long time to get it in again. And when i got it out it messed up the keyless work, having to get the dial and hands off first to correct it. Hopefully yours will work better. changing the the mineral glass to a sapphire does not have to be very easy. It could be that this case is different than the case used for the 6497-2 movements, making the fit of another crystal difficult. And indeed, another strap makes it look A LOT better. Most leather panerai rep straps are just not good, including the buckle. They look fake.

How is the sweeping seconds @ 6 now? Is it more smooth than before the mods or is it still a bit 'jumpy' going around the 60 seconds subdial @ 6? Btw, an awesome watch you made of it!

Time never stops... just the watches do.... btw, agree with Freddy. Seems the movement should go see a watch smith.

Is it about this watch?: http://img03.picoodle.com/img/img03/3/10/1...rkm_b674bfd.jpg I cannot really see it clearly, but there are fingerprints all over. Is that on the crystal case back or is that inside on the movement? A good watch smith would not have left (fatty & acid) fingerprints on the movement, so if it is on the movement, I wonder if it really has been serviced.... Good luck! J.

I believe you're not sure if it has been serviced. 'd better ask the seller if it has been cleaned, oiled and tested and regulated, after all it is a precious movement. And if not serviced, you can still let it be serviced. Won't be as expensive as an A7750 I assume, less parts...

Great Watch, great strap. Just ordered another strap from Greg Stevens myself. And also a key fob with the CRAZY HORSE leather to check that leather for a future strap for a Panerai. But as I see this one: PERFECT COMBINATION. Wear it well, it is one of the most beautiful Breitlings i saw passing along here on the RWG...!!

Hi, great choice. I also have the above Hublot and as a matter of fact, this week I will order the smooth Hublot strap (Ice Bang strap), because it looks great. As YOU noticed also... Super! And also the Breitling Black Steal. That is the newest version I assume? --> What strap do you have on it?? BECAUSE IT LOOKS AWESOME!!

I am in for

What are LH parts? haha, 650usd - 1300usd My PAM177H 160usd for the watch 40usd for sapphire 80usd for AR coating by Jakub plus shipping 125usd good Titanium crown + install 140usd relume dial & hands 75usd cannon pin fix 95usd better movement with swan neck and better inscriptions 65usd complete service of movement 45usd crownguard fix to make it more tight to the case and fix the pin 175usd greg stevens strap total: 1000usd. Cheers!

This method has been done a lot to silence the rotor. Just use the search button on this board. make sure you don't put to much grease on and wipe excess grease of. And make sure no dust or small hairs stick to the rotor or drop in the movement. You could use a bergeon blower for that. no. 4657. Cheers, J.

And how about the AR coating, which makes this Cousteau Diver so distinctable. The specs say no AR coating. And the AR makes this model stand out!! Secondly, the weight of these models will be a lot lower. So no 'genuine' feeling. Third, the specs say 'synthetic sapphire'. Which is MINERAL. So even if the watch has AR, on mineral AR looks a lot different. Just my 2 cents.

Hey, what you can try to do is get the rotor of the movement and try to oil the ball bearings with some sticky fat. I used bergeon 2855-50 Kt22. This stuff is not specially made for it, but it helped me on some 'Tarzan' rotors of the 7 Days. some experts might say that oiling the rotor is not good. But it works. Don't put to much on it, since oil etc. can get into the movement (with high temperatures) and you don't want that to happen. good luck.

Nope, I am not amazed... According to my watch smith with every extra small wheel, around 10% of power is lost due to extra friction. Some nice detail...: My watch smith worked on a genuine Portuguese Chrono some weeks ago. He told me that the genuine has a somewhat similar modification. But then jeweled of course. But the most important thing, the genuine has A LOT MORE POWERFUL BALANCE (WHEEL/c.o.c.k. dunno) than the standard ETA, for the purpose of pulling those extra wheels. so for our Chinese friends at the rep factory, they should jewel the thing and use a more powerful balance. but my guess: Never going to happen...

I think it will be of the same quality of the new 'improved' Daytona seconds @ 6 that you reviewed. I have 2 of the new Portuguese. Both have problems already. I let my watch smith remove a gear and freeze the seconds.

I remember my watch smith mentioned something about guns when talking about blueing.

Today I was at my watch smith shop, discussing if it is possible to blue the chrono seconds hand of my pam253. (i have a spare hand). He told me that it does not always have to be done by a torch. also some other way, chemical or something. I will try this in the coming weeks. If it works, i will post about it. cheers.

Thanks F., great review!

Hey JJ, why don't you ask if Andrew can sell you a single sapphire glass? Or maybe get that sapphire together with the next order. Assuming it was mineral which you have now in the watch... Because then, even after some repair, sure thing it will have some scratches again my friend... Good luck and have fun @ RWG!

Hi my friend, you get what you pay for.... just 108usd will only get you mineral crystal. Not sapphire. when they write 'synthetic sapphire', you will get mineral. that is their way of working. And yes it is confusing. but you get what you pay for. and 108usd is cheap.... And your other question: all sapphire used in watches is man made and thus is synthetic. Otherwise with 'nature sapphire' the crystal will never really really clean to see through i guess. And will also be way too expensive. remember how much they need to cut off with a domed crystal for example.... cheers!

WOW!!! THIS ONE LOOKS AWESOME. Congrats on this very nice looking project. Perfect with the gorilla strap...

Guys.... When the replica sellers write: sapphire, the mean the synthetically made hard to scratch sapphire. The best to get in replica watches. BUT.... when they write synthetic sapphire. IT IS MINERAL CRYSTAL. good luck.

It is not only about if lots of light is reflected or not, it is also about the blue/purple oily surface of the AR coating. The original also has this. And about the lume: If you walk from outside to inside, for example a pub or something darker area, the original already has the lume effect, since normal daylight is enough charge the lume already. That is very noticible. The rep does not do that.

Matz, that is very very difficult. Getting spare parts is nearly impossible. Also a lot of work for Andrew to get. The factories don''t sell these parts, but will repair if they receive the watch. Best is to ship the watch back to him so that the factory can repair it. good luck.