Watchmeister

Actually, NOS Ventu's are readily available at less than half the price of a non-working AP movement. And Arch is right - you absolutely need a great smith/machinist who can re-tool a case (if you don't have the MBW) and make a custom movement ring.

S- Looks great. Wear it well.

Looks great. Wear that one well. Loving that buffalo strap too. And yes I will miss it but it has gone to someone who I know will get great use of it.

Babola- T dials are hard to come by and you take them when you can get them. On the bezel it is not that the engravings are off as it is a gen bezel. BUt you have to decide where you want line up the bezel and dial markers. More importantly, you want to ensure that the GMT hand is positioned correctly vis a vis the bezel markers.

I can't tell you for sure as I bought it "as is" from another trusted member. I can tell you that the hands do fit the canon pinion like a glove which I have been told no other rep hands do. Interestingly, it has always been possible to find dials but the key hindrance has been the hands since you can't open the barrel of the hand enough to fit on the pinion and still have enough metal in place for the hand to stay secure. I suppose it is possible that MBW made custom hands for them though since they have ready access to those sort of things. So I will defer to the experts.

Great review. And I love the analogy of passing up Starbucks for a couple of years to pay for the gen. I would happily drink office coffee as well. So now the question is which is going to get more wrist time - the rep or the gen?

If I understand your comment, you are right that the issue is the hands. This particular watch is using gen hands. I believe the 7750 hour, minute and main chrono hands from are way too small (to fit on the canon pinion - not dimensions). And you would need to modify the case for the lower crown resulting from the base movement chrono module set-up and finally fabricate a movement ring to mount the movement into the case.

I have never studied the PAM 88 reps but I have to say I thought the latest ultimate 88 which I procured for a friend was a step up (albeit too expensive) from anything I had seen so far. I thought the dial looked fairly close in terms of dial shade, sheen and font/ boldness of print. The CG dimensions actually looked fine but the crown sits too flat against the case so a proper T crown would fix that. The date section will always be a problem as gen crystals are simply far superior in terms of optical clarity and overall magnification. I did not have a gen sitting in front of me at the time so I will defer to everyone who has done such thoughtful analysis but have handled or worn at least two different versions of the gen. And the dials on the two gens I spent time with were fairly different. By the way, much thanks to all the contributants here. This is an illuminating and enjoyable thread.

That is the Egiziano Panerai made for the Egyptian Navy. It is is 60mm and sports an Angelus movement. Here is a reference article: http://www.paneristi.com/archives/egiziano/index.html Given the movement and the size I wouldn't hold my breath for a decent rep. If you check out the article you will see a good example of the movement finish selected for the contemporary 203. At least one of the vintage folks has made a "Little Egizano" which would at least be wearable.

I used a Concord but there are 3 or 4 brands that use the same movement/module combination. CC- I used the MBW case, They made the necessary adaptations for the offset crown/pushers to the cases they used for the proect.

Don't know what to tell you. I have at least one more set of t hands and a couple of L sets I can compare as well. I was aware that the L hands were different from the t and came in two variations (63 vs 23/29) but had never heard of variation on t hands. The only other thing I can think of is that the dial was NOS and perhaps the service dials changed the layouts slightly. I know the hands came directly from an existing 23.

Here is the reference pic from Risti for a 23 T.

Got lucky a few months ago and came upon a NOS bezel. Now the 23T is complete. Much thanks to the folks who were so helpful on this project. You know who you are. Here it is with an appropriate A series rubberized carbon fiber strap. Final specs: Gen Dial, Hands, Crystal, Bezel and Crown; Jimmy Case (with custom case tube)and CG; and Honpo movement and case back. And the obligatory wrist shot:

In the early days of Offshore reps the only option for proper seconds at 12 functionality was the limited edition MBW with proper movement and gen dial and hands. At the time they were close to $4,000 and out of my league. Than a few months ago another member offered up his in parts. With case, bracelet, dial and hands in hand, I then ran out and bought a new NOS donor watch for the movement. Finally, off to another generous forum member's wonderful case man for a custom movement holder. The last step will be to Ziggy for a couple of his magical touches... And here is the result and at a much more affordable price. And the obligatory wrist shot:

Thanks guys. I never knew the DeWitt had all that going on in the sub-dial area. Do the rep's sub-dial permutation look just like the gen. I noticed the video title seemed mentioned rep. It would be pretty damn obvious and a more than gentle reminder if you saw a subdial flashing rep every 30 seconds.

Very nice watch. Wear that one well. Love the movement.

Dude- You need to get some sleep.

I am good for two of each. Great project.

Actually, I am wondering if the gen even has a sapphire crystal. Many FM's have mineral crystals as one of their shticks is that you can't achieve the proper curvature or clarity or something with sapphire. It does look really good though. At last they have a good large Muller available.

I bought a couple a while ago for Franken projects and they did have Swiss inside. Assuming these are no longer made you have a pretty good shot of getting an ETA. And the whole issue was trade-offs between two different versions of dials. One with correct cross but bad date window and the other visa versa. Way back when we were swapping crosses from one dial for another. The other issue was (and I can't remember which was which) but either the black dial or the white one had the wong finish on the hour markers (brushed vs. polished). There were some excellent loops on this so try the search function if you haven't already.

I haven't taken off the crown on mine but I assume it is threaded for the stem. If you are lucky it was never properly threaded on. Otherwise you are going to have to inspect the threads on the stem and crown and replace accordingly. Sorry to hear it though.

Thanks for sharing.

Robert- Beautiful watches. The Fiddy is such a classic. Wear that one well. - Kruz

I would suggest posting pics rather than asking people to go search for your watch. But given that there are only two correctly sized versions you can look at any number of reviews here and elsewhere. The most obvious tell of V1 and V2 is the bracelet and the lume. If it has the proper locking bracelet than it is the latest version.

Yup, for anyone who is into vintages this is the book. I didn't click on the link but it is always offered on Risti in the accessories corner.