Watchmeister

I would suggest using some combination of a gen crown and a Palp as the model. Both are readily available from members and I suspect T has them anyhow. The reason why I suggest a Palp is that other than shrinking the overall width from 2.1 to 2.0 or 1.9 everything about it works with most rep cases and crown guards.

When I damaged my case I re-milled a jimmy and it seems to work fine. Isn't that an easier way to go rather than trying to clean up the original case. Especially if you are sending it out for a custom case tube and gen crown?

Congrats on an excellent project.

60 tine on the crown. You are smart to take a pass on the CG. By the way remaking the Jimmy CG may or may not work with the 27 or 28 anyhow. Jimmy cg was built for one position handwind - not two stop automatic. Automatic cgs's are 1-2mm deeper for this reason. The 2892/3 with a gen or otherwise spring loaded crown leaves very little room for error. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't - even with a custom case tube.

Thanks for the tip. Headed over with the kids for the 10 am show tomorrow. I will hang around for the credits.

S- You are right. Mine looked like that. Looks good for 195 but IMHO not for 28. Finepic's finish was better before his guy disappeared, -K

t- You bring up a good point but using the gen has its own issues. Gen crowns have a much deeper recess and so there is a real risk that the standard rep crown guard won't work with it. Now if you also want to replicate a gen crownguard... Also Palp's stem seemed to fit all rep case tubes. As you know the key flaw with using a gen is having to redo your case tube.

Sssurfer- I did the original Palp finish on beadblasted case and it came out looking like every other DLC. And the funny things is that was an OEM supplier to PAM who had stopped using the Ti finishes and only did DLC. Mine looked almost rubbery - until I was dumb enough to drop it on the street. Rolli- Needless to say your watches look great. I can never tell from photographs but to my eye you have matched colors and finishes to models very well. Am I right or is it because they are photographed in different lighting, etc.. To my eye the finish on the Pre-V looks exactly like ti.. irrespective of what it is and right for the 28 project. -Kruz

I am sure it would sell well. Best of luck on the project. I do hope you will drop the size to 2.0 from 2.1. The 2.1 IMHO was too big and even though 1.9 is true to gen our rep cg's do have a slightly larger inner space.

I may be mistaken but it is not that TiN gives you a gold color it is that TiN is the coating which best take additional additives to form virtually any color. Wouldn't gold plating on top of TiN be TiNAu? In any case the ti spectrum is greyer and more manipulable than DLC.

Unfortunately it is not surprising. He is an excellent resource for specific parts. But there is a fundamental flaw with his whole approach. PAM's are one of the few run of the mill reps that actually have close enough specs to be able to take gen parts. Why would you make one that is not compatible with genuine parts? By definition the watch must be inferior. Just based on that rather obvious fact I have always been amazed that people swear by his watches. 99% of long time gen owners stay away from him for exactly that reason. There is a small group of folks who have been working with him for years to try and get one right. And it still hasn't happened. At some point it may make sense to commision someone to make a proper Pre-V case. With the correct specs it would not be very difficult.

For all the reasons above even if I were visiting I would still be inclined to buy from a dealer here than the stall there. I assume that when an individual walks in to buy something they will be taken advantage of either in terms of quality or price. The dealer has an ongoing relationship and there is a price to be paid in terms of lost business if he is taken advantage of. We are a one-time buyer.

Reps haven't hurt this company. The two principals (including the CEO who spends time around here) just sold out to LVMH for $175 million plus. Guess he will have a fairly large rep budget.

Looks great. Is that Lello's datewheel?

Very nice watch. Wear it well. That case is built like a tank.

Sounds like a fun day. The bizarre thing about PAM's is that very few dealers have inventory. They have what doesn't sell - 40mm luminors, Radiomirs and Ferrari's. Now here is the odd thing. If you are ever in NYC take a walk through the jewelry district and you will find 4-5 dealers. They will have anywhere from 20-100 pieces each. And they are models you will want. What they don't have are the standard handwinds. They all sell for about 15% or so below list. And since they do take trade-ins they will even have rare older models. And the larger guys have learned. They also sell on TZ, Risti and Watchnet. So if you know what you want there is no reason to wait for your dealer unless you are looking for the very latest stuff. I am a big fan of buying watches second hand. And on the comment about price increases - that is true if you are buying new. In the U.S. most brands (AP ROO, IWC BP's and some PAM's excepted) have been coming down pretty substantially in price. Amazing what a sinking economy will do to increase your buying power.

Unfortunately it is not so simple. In general if you are looking for replacement rep parts you should approach your normal dealer.For specific parts not available from the dealers or one or two specific parts which don't justify the expense of shipping from China you can certainly put out a WTB here.

I have to agree with Rolli on this one. This requires someone with a lot of experience and the appropriate equipment if you are trying to match up PVD's. I would not spend a lot of money on DIY pvd.

This one is clearly headed in the right direction. But I still have the most basic question. Is the color on the 89 dial accurate to the gen. Has anyone held the two together?

Man, I better rush out and pick-up mine. Shouldn't the Florida legislators be more focused on how to throw another presidential election?

Jay- Very useful information. There has clearly been a good amount of confusion on these older models. Now we just have to figure out which cases come closest to meeting Pre-V and Pre-A specs.

Sub-dial and crown and pusher placement will be dependent on what they use as a movement. The gen uses a base movement with a chrono module directly on top of it. As a result the sub-dial layout is different (tighter would be the easiest way to describe it). As a result there is that extra mark at around 12 on many gen versions and generally more space from the outer edges of the dial. On the pushers the fact that the chrono is on top of the base movement results in the chrono pushers sitting higher on the case versus the crown. I have never seen the rep so I don't know if they tried to fake it thru cosmetics. So if they use another doctored 7750 neither of those issues will be solved. I would still buy it though.

You pay a little more but he always delivers on a timely basis and I have never gotten a defective watch.

Took a quick look. It is a good primer for a number of brands and models. A couple of humorous mistakes on their part. They show the 005 logo and one of the key tells is the caseback. They then compare a base logo caseback to a 5218-201A. http://fabricegueroux.com/english/rolex-fake-panerai-02.htm On a serious note it is an excellent place to start. Thanks for the tip.

Dani- You should pick up a cyclops from sssurfer. He has he perfect one that works correctly with the movement cyclops. -Kruz