Some months back at the beginning of 2011, when the 111J had been released and it was realized that it made for a great Pre-V basis, I got the urge to start a 201/A project. I got on the phone with watchmeister who had also expressed some interest in such a project; as such we began brainstorming on the best approach to make a Pre-V Logo become reality.
I picked up some 111Js to start with. Procurred some FGD dials and after sandbagging on my ass for a few months (read: I was slacking), got the case up north to The Zigmeister to have the dial lumed, the threaded sides of the lugs drilled out and a new case tube fabricated and fitted for a gen crown. Along the way, w0lf had released some pics of a phenominal case reshape he had done on the 111J to give it just that much more of a Pre-V form and I knew immediately what the next step was to be. The case was promptly sent over to w0lf after it's return from the north, and hence some magic was to begin. Pics can never truly capture the complex curves that w0lf had sculpted on the shoulders and lugs... He's really done an outstanding job on the reshape and his efforts are more than apparent; this is not the same 111J case that started life some months back! I had also managed to procure a custom-made-1-of-10-in-existance Pre-V crown guard. The opening for the crown is nice and shallow; the crown guard itself is thick and chunky and the overall heft gives this watch a significant presence! w0lf had massaged the CG onto the case for a perfect fit.
Next to go on were a DW thick caseback, H-factory crystal, and some Pre-V lug bars. The dial and hands were fitted to an old Swiss 6497 I had sitting in the watch box... Things were finally taking shape…
I'm now 11 months into the project; some time has certainly passed since I first started. A lot of this is due in part to my own slow pace but I ran into some shipping problems which resulted in my case taking a slight detour to do some sight seeing in a few other states thanks to the USPS mistakenly sending the case around the country...
A few crude pics. Mrs. Ubi is running some errands and I asked her if she could drop it by the local shop to have it pressure tested. I'll snap some better images later today...
Case after being resculpted by w0lf...
Beautiful... I love the work he's done to the edges, shoulders and lugs...
Some quick pics after assembly... Just put everything together last night after coming home from our mini-vacation...
Thanks to my pals watchmeister, Zigmeister, and w0lf for helping me make this a reality.