cougar1

Very nice job on the datewheel Andy, it certainly makes a huge difference to the whole face. My dw is crap aswell. Finished product looks great, nice wristshot! Also it's been a few years since I had one in my hands but I held a gen 3717 beside my unmodded mark xvi rep yesterday....obvious differences that I can see in dial colour and AR are; gen dial much darker, almost black whereas mark xvi has a dark greyish dial, (I actually kindof like it the grey, it gives a more deep matte effect) The gen ar is blue tinted but not excessive, the ar effect is very strong, the rep out of the box ar is quite good, still not sure what colour tone it is a mix of blueish yellow methinks? but seems to have a slightly less transparent effect to gen. This is all assuming the 3717 gen dial is similar to the mark xvi dial in gen. Just some observations.

Contact a few dealers, some might have it in reserve stock. You can also get all the parts on cousinsuk as you've just found Also not too sure of any uk modders who are doing franken po's for people, theres a guy called smidsy over on repgeek and rwi who has done some for forumites. Most eu stuff is done by modders in Germany, domi or uwe. Their contact details will be in the modders section of all the fourms.

Bushing is similar to what i was mentioning above about a holder for the gen tube which is fitted in tightly to the case, is much more secure!

Lol We all love our whisky as much as our watches on this forum Welcome OP!

If your in the states, ask the zig to do a proper job on it, then the tube will stay in unless you use a sledge hammer and an axe to get it out Honestly though the glueing method does work, the only times I've heard of them pulling out again is if the modder was impatient and couldn't wait the drying time to go fiddling with it or if it was installed incorrectly and crooked in the first place, once it is level and flush against the case it will be fine

Yep that's the way it goes, the gen case tube screws into the gen, the rep case tube is slightly wider than the gen case tube so there is a slight gap internally, it's very slight gap, only way to bridge that gap is to fill it. It's not the most graceful but it works. The JB weld and chemical metal type stuff works better than most. If you are very skilled at metalwork you could make and then tap a tube unit where the gen tub screws in and then it is fit into the case more tightly, but that is a bit of a [censored] to do! Edit: Just seeing your reply now lc

Yeah the price is ridiculous just to fix the issue, I could understand if it might be half that with markup/time etc but he is way too expensive. You'd be better served buying one of these st2130 (a2824) clones an learn how to fit it yourself ($72), it's not too difficult, or even buy one and ask him how much he'll charge for a swap...it'd be interesting to hear his quote! http://www.ebay.com/...=item231b8a0f3a btw the seller is in Oz, so not too long to wait for these parts and ask him for a cheaper shipping price ! A few people have used these in the current PO's...they are a straight swap. Also as said earlier, some of the TD's are very good at helping out in these situations, you should let him know, even ask for a movement from him if you don't want to ship it back!

Yep looks a nice rep, the qc pics look pretty damn good chrgod, we can get over the non-decorated movement at that price Let us see a few proper pics when you have it in your hands!

Nice selection thepimp, (love the name btw ) the 237 is a lovely rep, fantastic quality, it's on my huge wishlist I was never much into B&R for some reason I can't get on with the designs. The transocean is a stunning watch, I thought the reps were a bit off aswell, I wish Breitling themselves would've made the non chrono at least a little smaller as its very dressy, 40mmish would've been perfect (but that seems to be a breitling thing rather than a rep thing ) ...the chrono is lovely tho...the gen that is! Anyway let us know how you get on with the L&S, I'm curious about these and hard to find lots of info on them. btw did you get a response from josh abt lug size etc?

Locktight is a bit too quick drying and runny for this type of job, you need the more longer bonding slower/thicker/stickier types, as lovecraft say JB Marine Weld and other marine type epoxies or other aerospace epoxies are the choice, Alraldite Epoxy is another good one. It will definitely be water tight if done correctly. The epoxy should be thick enough to fill any small gaps between tube and case. You only need a tiny bit. It's not a difficult job, but a little finicky and requires patience. There is a number of threads all over the forums showing the process. Here:

Looks very nice, great pics!

Nice one, doing the insert swap is perfect anyway, wasn't there an smp case from a few years ago that the whole bezel assembly fit on without modification?

There was a version of the rep smp from a few years ago that accepted the gen bezel straight on, but I'm not too sure if mary's current one will, never did the mods on these, maybe andy or others who've tried it could clarify. At the very least the gen bezel insert will go on easily enough, which basically does the same job.

Yes it will fit into that one just fine, need to glue it in place though, plenty of threads detailing the job around here. The rep crown/tube is not the best and prone to stripping threads, but surely no need to do the mod until it strips or is at least close to stripping?, some rep ones last just fine!

Nice franken andy! Yep the blue one from mary seems to be the way to go, if you are modding the dial then you can just pick up a black insert for the bezel on ebay aswell. Gen bezels are lovely but too dear, easier to pick up 2nd hand bezel or different smp bezel and do mods with the pearl. This guy is good for cheap donor bezels....sometimes1 http://forums.watchnet.com/index.php?t=tree&goto=540150&rid=0

Nice review Gran, these aren't bad reps at all, size is a bit big for me but it certainly looks good on you. More effort put into these than the smaller newer AT's but in fairness the movement issue on those isn't straightforward. Wear it well!

Nice one on the modded TC, it is a really great watch and the gen bezel/dial/crystal mod is the icing on the cake! Lol, that is it exactly though, most of the so called experts out there (and on gen forums and the like) still think that every rep is a canal st job and they have these idiotic sure fire methods of spotting them ..they haven't a clue...if they'd just admit they haven't a clue and that they are out of their depth it would be refreshing, but they can't! Silly buggers!

Too true, if I'd known 5 years ago that they were going to increase as much as they have up to now I would've bought more used sought after models, Next to gold and silver the used 16610 is probably one of the better investments over the past 5 years. Of course that would've been more about the investment than the actual want of the watch. Anyway it must have been some amazing gen you purchased to gain that much value in such a short period of time, nicely done!

Great pics, beautiful watches, the black bezel on black dial mod is pretty slick looking, nice job!

The pilots strap on the raily is lovely, it would need to be thick like that (and black for the AT) yep pam straps and toshi straps would be the way to go.

Yeah I totally agree, I really was only joking about the gen at half price stuff. I saw your previous post, gens simply aren't worth it with the rep standards that are available these days, especially even more so in the case of subs and pams and other very close reps to gen. Even though there is a whole section of rep forums that will still dissect every small detail of the best modded subs such as bks and tcs, these differences are so small, nobody in the real world would even notice, even in many cases when the differences are pointed out to them. For those reasons it's only a very rare occasion that I would want a 'closer look' at a gen these days and it would seriously have to be a particular watch where the rep is lacking, (like the speedy pro). On a side note also on behalf of those people who used to save hard to buy a gen they really liked, or even just to see what is all the fuss about a particular iconic watch; I really hope the recent insane price hikes in the past few years of the swiss watch industry come back to bite the industry in the arrse, they've gone too far now, a sub 16610 could be had used a few years ago for around £2Kish, now you'd be hard pressed to get one on the 2nd hand market in good nick, recent model, for below £4K, all thanks to ridiculous price hikes of the greedy industry! Reps ftw!

Lovely pics of the big Raily Gran! Love the pilot strap in the first pic...what is it?

God TJ, brewing up a bit of a hatred towards gens there If you were to be offered your favourite watch of all time at half retail, knowing you could wear it without bother for a year or two and sell it on easily getting all your money back would you not even be slightly tempted?

Cool watch, I can see why the bp crown would fit the look better than the xvi crown, still lovely though!

What's the lug size on these?