Watchmeister

Best of luck with it. The last time I was offered one was 2-3 years ago and they were $3,000 plus back then. I have talked with a watch smith about creating all the Rolex bridges and putting them on the equivalent Cortebert but I have never seen it done and the price quote was something like $1,500-$2.000.

Can't wait to see the pics of the updated version.

Congratulations. It looks great. That is a fantastic development.

This is not CAD CNC so I don't think we will be seeing them coming from the Chinese or anyone else. The other projects will be beautiful as well but done on CAD assisted CNC machines and with 316L steel. I do hope to eventually get mine and be able to compare. On the hands on this watch they are being made along with a dial so I will post those pics when I receive them.

Sounds right. Don't know what I was thinking. I don't think they were out to kill their frogmen.

It's funny you bring up the radium. Yes, he does have radium properly contained in a lead box but the topic was how much I wanted on the dial. Apparently the gen had a fair amount.

Actually, watching the process and seeing how many hours and the skills through pictures sent as the cases were built makes me appreciate the piece more. I have many more pics but picked a couple of random ones from along the way. It is amazing to watch a piece start as a block of steel and then to see all the hand machining, lathing and final file work. Even the forming of the plexi is very cool. It is such a diferent world from the current world of CNC where someone draws an accurate CAD and a computer executes it.

The Project This project comes from a new member who may well offer his services here to others upon full vetting. More on that later. When the member contacted me and showed me some of his work I quickly confirmed his identity through a mutual acquaintance and decided to take the chance and commission a couple of pieces (read as paid for up front) for myself and another member. These pieces are not cheap owing to the fact they are handmade. Further, all materials, machining and assembly methods are the same used at the time the gens were built. The basic case is carved from a block of Stay Brite steel (not 316L). The solder is proper silver solder and appropriately aged. The buckle is actual bronze and the leather on the strap is aged beautifully. The crystal is a hand formed replica of the Bluepoint 40.2 crystal which is appropriate for this particular 3646 and very rare. What drew me in is the fact that these pieces are not CNC

Sssh!

T- Fabulous franken. I always love it when you trot out your early PAM's - franken or gen.

Sorry I can't help but I am curious. What is the design on the side of the strap?

B- Congrats on a beautiful watch. Did you buy as complete watch or build with a gen dial? In any case it is one of the few PAM's I would still kill for. Wear it well.

Yes, I would have been eager to participate in a raffle or two here especially one that was not selling well but just the thought of having to make excuses for winning if I did turned me off to that. By the way if you look at the poll you see a fair number of no's. I am hoping the majority of the "no's" is the admin team voting.

Yeah, looks like Davidsen's rep of the recently reissued 28.

Wow, congrats to the seller. I think I smell caviar at that party.

I am with Theo. That gives the HBB a whole new look.

Happy birthday guys (belatedly on my end).

Lani- Nice to see you trot out the PAM's. Obviuously, great stuff. I am writing this from the Mercosur with a 23 on the wrist and a 162 in the bag. We'll catch up when I am back stateside.

I prefer the 29 but I have to warn you of the following. If dings on the bezel drive you nuts do not buy a 29. The bezel (rep or gen) gets dinged up fairly easily and it is very difficult to repair given the brushing as well potentially taking a chunk out of an actual engraved number. Been there and done that with both rep and gen bezel and as a result my watch doesn't get much wrist time. On the 63 both dials have their own problems. Cartel dial has misaligned numbers and Davidsen has the weirdest sheen. And of course, the 63 rep usually comes with a B case back and wasn't made until the c series.

Oh how true it is. But seriously, I would take the opposite approach and decide what watch you would like to actually wear and then research or ask about that watch and the various options.

Great watches and all that. But I do find it truly offensive that his projects are completed and there are at least twenty people who paid him his money years ago and are still waiting for theirs (myself included). Well, hopefully this bodes well for his taking care of the folks who funded it in the first place. Hope springs eternal.

We can put it in perspective. No more than 300 or so of true non-alarm stem wound movements which were built in the mid-60's. The majority went to Panerai with a few to other "clocks". If you want to build a proper homage to a $100,000 watch you are willing to pony up $5,000 +. That is my bet. At least I hope so on behalf of the seller. It must have killed him to sell it.