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I discovered Panerai reps not too long ago and as I was clicking through thousands of images, I noted that the models that stuck out the me were the Pre-Vs. I didn't know what they were at the time, but my eye latched onto their dials. The bold, rough etched numbers and contrasting printing. the white hands and non-matching dials. I had to have one...but I as I searched and discovered that the out of the box options were few and the best reps were all hand made by masters. I spent hours looking at all the builds by Projectologist and w0lf with dials by FGD and Southy, just to name a few of the greats and I figured what they hell, I'll give it a shot. So here's my first build... The 5218-203A I'm a sucker for seconds at 9 so I had to start there, also my collection was sorely lacking a PVD watch and while the shape isn't perfect for Pre-V, the PVD is, so I chose the DSN newborn case. What amazing quality, I'm in total awe of the DSN PVD case. Here's the recipe: DSN Newborn PVD Case DSN Crystal DSN double gasket, spring loaded crown DSN Crown guard Jakob Caseback DSN Dial FGD Hands with white-ish non aged lume Grimlock flattened and polished H3 canon pinion set Swiss 6497 Dirk Tan Strap First, let me say that without a light box, it's virtually impossible to photograph a non-AR watch....I will try to get some better pics later. This is easily my favorite watch I have ever owned and it's only going to get better when I get a new dial (I have been begging an expert to make me one, FGDs are too scarce;), if you know of one let me know!) Overall I love the DSN PVD, but it already has a few nicks and I've barely worn it. I'm not sure how tough it is. The Spring Loaded Crown is awesome and honestly the shape of the CG is really close. I take the comments about the lever being off. But seriously the only obvious tell is the back edge near the pin that should be curved and rounded off instead of flush with the rest of the CG body. Other than that, it's an amazingly accurate Pre-V CG. The slope and the thickness of the CG body is perfect to my untrained eye. Nice work Davidsen!!! Before you ask about the white, "non-matching" hands... I understand there was no "non-matching" 203/a's but I have seen a ton of pictures where the dial has aged, but the hands haven't. The DSN Hands match the dial but I like the pictures I have seen where the white pops out against the vintage numbers and indices. I took my inspiration from photos like this one Here is the DSN CG versus the Gen CG, the lever is far different. DSN's is too squared off with few contours, but the CG body is darn close. Nay-sayers...I scoff at you. I say, "that'll do" DSN Lever Gen Lever DSN Profile Gen Profile Another major comment is the lugs, of course. Everyone here knows about the lugs on the Pre-V. DSN's don't maintain the fat and short profile of the Pre-V case. They seem to be missing about 0.5mm off the top edge. Second... the downward angle seems to be too severe. This case looks like it has too much cushion shape. Maybe closer to the 6502 case? See below, at least I think the DSN case could be shaped into a good 6502. Hopefully we'll get a newborn--newborn case that fixes the lugs for Pre-V uses. Maybe davidsen can take a mold of the 111J? DSN 6502 PVD Profile About the Dial, the DSN is a very respectible effort. Where else for $50 can you get a milled brass dial, hand lumed and shaped with reasonable accuracy? This no Southy or FGD dial, but it's damn nice for the price and obviously not as rare. The major difference is the over all thickness of each marker. I swear if everything gained about 0.25mm they would get spot on GEN! the font on the printing seems to be correct as well!!! this dial seems to be so close lacking in a few seemingly minor details that really take away from it's gen feel. This is a huge opportunity here for DSN to send his sales through the roof. I adjusted the contrast here so you can see the true thickness of the markers... My build is run by an undecorated Swiss ETA 6497. This is actually, the exact movement that Panerai used in some of the PAM318. So it's technically GEN!!! You can't forget about the Dirk strap. This is a Dirk tan which is the original color that came with the 203a. If you've always wondered why a strap would cost $150-200, Do yourself a favor and try one out. You will quickly learn where the money goes. This is the most comfortable strap I have ever had. Last but not least is the Jakob Caseback. The DSN is really nice for the money, but I thought I'd try out the Jakob for my first build. I wasn't sure at first, but it has really grown on me The more pics I see, the more I realize the engraving is very close to gen, although I think he combines different elements of different gen casebacks making or kind of a mish-mash of different gen properties. For example on this 203a I think the serial number should be the smaller stamped style like DSN. Overall, I would say bravo to DSN for the amazing PVD work and look toward the future for hopefully a newborn---newborn case that fixes the lugs and dial. I love this watch. I Just have a few more tweaks to go to be done. I'm searching high and low for a good FGD 203a dial and also harassing Steph_Dexter to make me one;) Then with the hands, I was so excited to get the build together that I forgot to file down the bottom of the minute hand so it sits flush with my polished CP....Oh well, when I swap dials I'll fix that one. Thanks for reading guys. I'm stoked that I was able to learn a new skill. Hopefully my builds will be able to stand up to a few of yours some day soon!!! Next up... the 201a!

There's never been a better time for PreV and PreA projects, thanks to the collaboration between Rolli (Rolf) and FGD. I put aside some bench time this weekend to update two of my favorite builds: the Sly Tech 205/a and the 281a Black Seal The previous generation FGD dial (circa 2009?). I tried to capture the sheen. The earliest FGD dials were shiny, hence the need for a coat of flat varnish. I never varnished this, since it looked ok when cased. Close-up of the new Rolli/FGD dial. Note the even flat sheen: A hand press. Life is so much easier since I got one of these. No more popsicle sticks. The new dial cased next to the previous generation dial: The 218a was cased in an OP 6500 with fat CG and double-screw lug bars. I used a Kuvarsit V2 case (circa 2012 ) with DSN's previous generation (super fat) PreV CG and crown. Note the lug screws on the left side of the case... An early morning, house is all quiet, bench wristie: And finally the daytime wrist shots which capture the true color of the indices: Black Seal 218a Sly Tech 205/a Thanks again to Rolf and FGD for the amazing dials. Thanks for looking!

A cool member over at HF (Elias) is making these sewn-in buckles which are great for PreV projects. I just wanted to share some quick pics of these awesome buckles next to some gen buckles. Please note , the angle in which I took the iPhone pics may make some buckles look larger. Rest assured in real life they are sized similarly. 1) Gen buckles on top. Left is a Dirk 2nd Gen (not technically Dirks). Right is Dirk 1st Gen. Bottom are Elias'. 2) A closer look at Dirk 2nd Gen (not technically Dirks): Elias on Left and Dirk 2nd Gen on right. 3) A closer look at Dirk 1st Gen: Elias on Left and Dirk 1st Gen on right. Now I just need to learn how to stitch and swap out some of my buckles. Thanks for looking!

Hiya, After some much needed downtime, the thought of building another logo seemed like would be a nice start for 2013. I also had a couple of new ideas that I couldn't wait to try on my next iteration of this build. It's still in progress and the log pics won't be very good because I work at night and photography is definitely not a priority for me. But hopefully they will give you an idea of things to try or ask your favorite modder to implement on your next PreV build. I won't bore you with the details of the case shaping that you have seen many times before; if not you can pull them up here. One of the things I wanted to try was making a correct PreV-look handstack. Only the top of the genuine PreV hand is painted while the edge and a the inside of the hand tube are exposed brass. This is also essential for the "grimy pinion" as the oxidized minute hand tube reflects off the mirror polished cannon at the edge where the cannon pinion is slightly convex and sits a hair beneath the hand hub. This watch is also going to sport a genuine bezel, you can see how much thicker the OEM gasket is by comparison. Caseback had also been a gripe of mine since none of the aftermarket makers bothered with proper facet and lip finish. For this build I will be using a DW caseback, its engraving needs to be color-filled by enamel, but it's a small price to pay for having a nice and thick profile. Polishing of the lip and facets. Since there have been no backplates for FGD dials for the last two years, rather than destroying a sandwich dial (which are almost never the right diameter BTW and still need to get turned) I made my own from sheet brass. I'm now working on the crown guard, full fit and finish so stay tuned!

My first PreV was a modified DSN with a T48 and VCG from ST4 (thanks mate ). Flash forward a few years and iterations later, and I still have the T48 and VCG (well, the housing at least). However, the other components have benefited from advances in our hobby. Here's the updated version.... PreV photo trolls may see the 9 m i a i l e influence, but given my poor photo skills, perhaps not... Shaped profile and fat (enough) lugs... The shaped shoulders... And some close-ups of the FGD and CG... The build sheet, no surprises here: - FGD v3 with semi-gloss Tamiya coat. - FGD v2 hands - Jakob caseback - T48 - VCG housing. 100 grit one-way sanding. Edges polished (thanks for the tip Projectologist). Pin lever flattened and polished (not very well... ) - Torobravo CG lever - ST36 oiled by me with H2 CP semi-flattened and polished. I'm a recent convert to Seagull movements. This baby has a 59hour power reserve! - DW case shaped by me with double-screw PreV bars Oh yes, the good stuff... I'm happy enough with this version to pull this out from the strap drawer. Thanks for looking!

OK, so it occurred to me that the more I write on the subject, the more confusing it becomes for someone just entering this game. Therefore, the purpose of this short writeup is to provide a single point of reference that we can hopefully keep building on as more reps with good cases come out. I also realize that I can sometimes be cryptic and part of the time there's only a dozen people who care anyway. So feel free to add or subtract as you see fit. The general low-down: 1) There is no perfect replica or genuine case to fit all Luminor models, if you want your build to be more accurate, you have to pick period correct cases. 2) H-Factory cases do not make good candidates for classic PreV builds (5218-201/A, 202/A, 203/A, 205/A & 207/A). 3) Geometry-wise, the most complex Luminor case out there is the PreV/PreA OP6500 case, there are no reps currently available that can be modified to look like OP6500. So, case construction & bezel height flaws aside, talking strictly OTB-no modifications and currently available via FS/FT or from dealers: Older H-Factory cases from PAM219L, 005K v1 & v1.5, PAM177L are suitable for older watches with OP6502, OP6510, OP6518-23 cases. Newer H-Factory cases from 005M, 177M, 111M, 112M, 000N, etc. are suitable out of the box for more modern watches with OP6567-72, OP6724-29 cases. Bear in mind, that a better case for modern builds (meaning those with OP6567-72, OP6724-29 cases) is the Noob factory 111M/N, 112M/N, 005M/N case. The PreV case low-down: If you're going to reshape a case for PreV 5218-201/A, -202/A, -203/A, -205/A or -207/A build, the Noob factory 111J, 111M, 112M, 005M and DavidWong's PreV case are the only readily available models you should consider. DW's case needs more work than Noob factory models and can be a challenge to purchase. Those are the only case options that provide enough metal on their lugs and midcase to sculpt the needed geometry characteristic of Montres Valgine (OEM for Panerai) PreV cases. Regardless of the variation in lug shape as some of it could be from loose tolerances, I've not yet seen one H-Factory case that had enough metal on the midcase to sculpt proper curves for PreV. To add, the most recent N-Factory "N" series cases beginning with v2 and now the ever-popular v3 cannot be used for PreV because they now have thinner, more streamlined lugs. The elusive OP6500 case low-down: The one case that's just nowhere to be found in the repworld today is the type of case that was made for Panerai by an Italian concern "CORO", better known as the OP6500 case. It was the case used in PreV models 5218-209, -210, 218/A and many PreA watches that came out under Vendome like the PAM01, 02, 04, 09, etc. There was a really old rep case out there that came on the first generation PAM111F rep., circa 2004-2005 which predates even Eddie Lee era, that has the right geometry of the lug and enough metal on the midcase for a proper OP6500 reshape. As you can no longer buy this watch (production ended in 2006), it's a moot point but for the sake of posterity - an OP6500 donor case did exist a long time ago. And there you have it. If you're not sure about OP case numbers, take a look at a resource like Club Panerai or Panerai Carpediem or post in this thread with questions.