Watchmeister

I am an AP fan but it appears the dealers let this one die rather than trying to improve it. It looked to me like they skipped the Montoya in the upgrades to go to the Barrichello which seems to be more popular. And I agree the carbon fiber on the rep bezel looks terrible which is probably what killed sales.

If you really want to get it right you are stuck investing $4,000 + in an El Primero seconds at 9 franken or gen. The most fundamental issues are case and case back thickness (7750 requires a thicker case). I also don't know whether they solved the asymmetrical pusher issues on the 7750 version. My simple rule of thumb is that if a gen dial doesn't fit (due to either case dimensions or chrono sub-dials or date window not lining up) it will never fit the "no worries" category. I have a well-functioning Palp contemporary Daytona but it never gets wrist time for that reason. You can't cure case depth.

Stunning group of watches. I suspect you had a lot of fun putting those babies together. Photography is great too.

Congrats on a beautiful watch. Wear it well.

Yes on the white font - Early Davidsen and the Eddie Lee Fiddy's. No on the blue luminova as it is C3 which glows green.

Basic black:

Looking really good. You do have to put us out of our misery. Where do the Crown and CG come from. It really looks good. The last piece you need is a new datewheel. This one is so good you have to do it.

Great minds think a like. So now the only question is whose gets home first.

Great news.

P- Looks great. Wear that one well. The case is very well done and as for the movement.

i echo the sentiment. You are safe with whatever you are wearing. Packing them separately in your bag and you may get the wrong guy who concludes you are bringing in watches to sell them. In truth I travel the world with 3 watches (one on the wrist and two in a fancy watch carrier) and have never gotten anything but compliments on the watches. My personal limit for traveling is always three though and it is clear they are for my personal wear.

Very nice! Wear them well. Can't think of anyone more deserving.

I am with V. 26x26 only.

Great pics and great watches. what a wonderful collection. Congrats.

Couple more to add:

A rep dial is unlikely to fit on a gen movement given that the sub-dial spacing and date sizing and placement has to be identical. I have never bothered trying the rep dial though because the chrono holes have to match up identically with the movement and there is no way you can achieve the identical spacing with a 7750 based movement. Even with a gen dial and movement you would have to plug up the original crown hole and redrill a new one in the case itself to deal with the offset pushers. I know this from having done this project with gen dial and appropriate movement.

Not in the proper 46mm size.

IWC atually came out with the non-branded ceramic Doppel about the same time as the top gun. The first generation of top gun was the standard 42mm chrono. The gen Top Gun chrono has fallen dramatically in price as the Doppel is the more sought after watch. And yeah, that logo thing is cheesy. You can now pick up the gen 42mm Top Gun chrono for not much more than a gen 3717.

T- It looks great. Congratulations on your project.

I have a 3646 case in 316L from Watchmaster and StayBrite on this case and the weight is very very close. Staybrite was used by all Swiss watchmakers for decades (20's through the 60's)for their better watches. The 300 series steels did not come until the 60's and 70's and it improved the resistance to corrosion but it does have a somewhat different - especially when aged. In truth StayBrite was simply a brand name for Stainless Steel (Inox for those of you in the EU). As you can see from a couple of articles below StayBrite was used by everyone including Patek, Vacheron and Rolex. Rolex is the manufacturer of 3646 cases so I have always assumed it is Staybrite. It could be another brand but the metallurgy (metal composition) will be accurate to the time period. Here are a couple of interesting articles. http://www.sswnews.com/dyknow/ShowPage.aspx?pageId=806 http://www.hautehorlogerie.org/IMG/pdf/MetallurgicalEvolutionStaybrite.pdf So I can't say definitively that the 3646 used StayBrite but I do know that Rolex used it during the period and that all the 300 and 900 series steels came decades later.

Ubi- Absolutely stunning watch. Wear that one well. - Kruz

If you are asking about the gen 3646's they were not made with 316L as it did not exist. Stay-brite would date from the period as would a couple of others.

Watch looks great. Wear that one well. One of my favorites until I cannibalized mine to make a franken 23. I may just have to build another one though.

Great minds think alike:

Congrats on a very nice watch and great pics. I have the same one and it is my only HBB. The only downside is I can never read it. But it is incredibly cool and one of those watches where 99% of the population think it is just another black watch but that 1% just oohs and aahs!