polexpete Posted November 11, 2009 Report Posted November 11, 2009 Hi all, i'm in the process of building a new Navitimer tricompax using a gen valjoux 7753 movement and a gen blue arabica dial along the same lines as my previous one. Having no luck picking up a 2nd hand Serie Speciale i brought one off of Silixprime, and within a few days i recieved this... As you can see the slide rule lines up correctly with dial and numbers on the tachy ring are closer to the edge like the gen... also.... the case has the correct indentations like the gen and deep bezel with correct deep flutes...(see Andrewws guide to Navitimers above) more pics... I took the watch apart but unfortunatly it won't fit a gen dial its around 1mm too small for the rep case so cannot really mod with gen movement. Its a beautiful piece but useless to me so if anyone has an older version Serie Speciale i will straight swap or its up for sale... Cheers P.
hackR Posted November 11, 2009 Report Posted November 11, 2009 hey Pete...cool find... say - does it have any AR?...is the caseback and/or case the same as the previous version?... thx...R
andreww Posted November 11, 2009 Report Posted November 11, 2009 I don't believe there is a case that will fit the gen tri-compax dial. It has to be shaved down slightly.
ubiquitous Posted November 11, 2009 Report Posted November 11, 2009 From Silixprime you say? Very interesting...
chrgod Posted November 11, 2009 Report Posted November 11, 2009 A nice Navi. Interesting to see that this old model is still being improved! Strange about the date font and sunken date wheel? Is this an A7750?-powered version? Does the caseback still have the "Messers1477 109" spelling error..?
deltatahoe Posted November 11, 2009 Report Posted November 11, 2009 Strange about the date font and sunken date wheel? Is this an A7750?-powered version? x2 i'm guessing this is not a a7750 version given the sunken datewheel... deltatahoe
andreww Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 Hmmm, insert looks great, but subdials look a little inboard. The subdials generally cut in to the slide rule markings on navis, so I'm not sure what's in this one. Bezel looks great though. Let's see some movement pics!
polexpete Posted November 12, 2009 Author Report Posted November 12, 2009 Hi guys, yes its A7750 powered and AR is pretty good. Unfortunatly the improvements didn't stretch to the caseback same as previous model. Andreww, yes normally with gen tricompax dials they have to be trimmed but the problem i have with this is that the gen dial is too small by about 1mm... Cheers P.
deltatahoe Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 hmmm...interesting is there some kind of spacer between the dial and movement? b/c on all of the other (older) serie speciale navitimers the datewheel is basically flush to the dial (ie. no sunken datewheel). deltatahoe
polexpete Posted November 12, 2009 Author Report Posted November 12, 2009 hmmm...interesting is there some kind of spacer between the dial and movement? b/c on all of the other (older) serie speciale navitimers the datewheel is basically flush to the dial (ie. no sunken datewheel). deltatahoe Not sure about this, i didn't remove the dial and don't want to mess with it too much as i intend to trade or sell it... Cheers P.
importr Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 Interesting. Its like 1 step forward, 2 steps back. Great macro pics Pete! The case and the scalloped bezel do indeed look like the gen Fighters Edition. Why didnt they brush it? The white slide rule bezel appears to be narrower than the rep tricompax version - hence the numbers moving further outboard, which is good also. This is proven by the gen dial being too small...? It would appear that to achieve the right look, the height of the taller bezel forced the dial to be made of 2 layers, hence the 2-part subdial. The gen has the "pie-pan" effect. Thereby creating the sunken datewheel look. The datewheel font looks very odd. Like nothing that we normally see on a7750s? The crystal should be a high bubble mineral glass, with double AR (like the gen). Profile similar to that of a PAM 253. Other dial flaws: the tachymetre markings, the 60 and 1000 etc are too small the Automatic (subdial @6) is too big Questions: Is it better than the old version? 50/50 I reckon Can the new bezel be switched over to the old version? I think what the factory should have done is to keep the white slide rule Dimensions as previous (but with correct printing), and keep the First version 1 piece dial. Install a much thicker crystal, which would take up the height of the new metal bezel, and also make the slide rule and dial appear to be shallower.
polexpete Posted November 12, 2009 Author Report Posted November 12, 2009 Questions: Is it better than the old version? 50/50 I reckon Can the new bezel be switched over to the old version? Good points Importr... Is it better than the old version? i think its an amazing out of the box rep for those who don't want to mod their watches because there is nothing much you can do with it anyway... No, i removed the bezel to try on an older case but its too large in diameter and of course crystals are not compatible either... Cheers P.
importr Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 Damn So you couldn't install an old rep dial and slide rule then. Hmmmm Back to the drawing board hey? I wonder, does this mean that the previous Fighters rep is out of production???
polexpete Posted November 12, 2009 Author Report Posted November 12, 2009 Damn So you couldn't install an old rep dial and slide rule then. Hmmmm Back to the drawing board hey? I wonder, does this mean that the previous Fighters rep is out of production??? Only interchangable parts are the caseback and the bracelet. I hope i can get an old model or i'm screwed.. P.
andreww Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 Again, one step forward and two steps back. The slide rule markings on the dial are definitely too far outboard. The subdials and date window should cut in to the slide rule hash marks. This one gives the appearance that the subdials are too far inboard. It just looked wrong at first glance. The case itself looks good, but if you are going to go through the trouble of manufacturing a new case and bezel, why wouldn't they brush the damned thing??? As for the sunken datewheel, it appears that they have lowered the height of the slide rule insert in an attempt to get the dial closer to the glass (a good thing), but in doing so, they added a spacer between the movement and dial to get the crown & pushers to align. I'd love to see some pics of the single digit dates, as I'm not sure if the date font is an improvement or not. Also, from what I can see, the crown seems to have less teeth than the older version, and it looks too rugged. Of course, the crystal is wrong. Does it have AR? And could we please get a shot of the caseback? Cheers, A
andreww Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 BTW, for comparisons sake, here is the old rep And this is the gen Notice how the subdials cut slightly in to the slide rule
deltatahoe Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 I hope i can get an old model or i'm screwed.. fwiw, i bought a black dial version of the series speciale fighters version from joshua a couple months ago and it was the old version deltatahoe
chrgod Posted November 12, 2009 Report Posted November 12, 2009 Great finish under the bonnet. Rose polished spacer ring, decorated rotor and regulator on the balance wheel. The finish on the bridges and steel screws makes it looks like an ETA.
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