My Franken 3717-12 Laureus.. work in progress...

[burnz]

many thanks to Concepta for being able to source gen parts for my 3717-12 Laureus project..

still work-in-progress, but am pretty damn happy with it so far..

this is prob one of the smallest watches i have in the collection, but wears surprisingly well and it's gonna get a fair bit of wrist time

started off as a base a7750 3717-12 rep from the dealers, with the following mods:

- gen dial

- gen hands

- ETA day & date wheels

- taka double AR crystal

definitely not thinking of getting a gen movement, but will likely drop in a proper valjoux 7750 in there at some point and get the gen strap as well.

the rep crown seems a little too big compared to gen, so a gen crown would be nice too if i can find one.

as far as i know, there are only 2 such 3717-12 franken builds. Concepta built one a few months back complete with gen movement, which now belongs to someone from the Singapore posse

i had the pleasure of seeing that beauty in the flesh, which inspired me to do this.

anyway, enjoy the pics!!

[redwatch]

I really, really wanted that dial!! Looks amazing!

[cougaree]

me 3!!!

[Member X]

I love these laureus dials!

[Watchmeister]

Gorgeous watch. I love the blue as well.

[coolfire]

Now that's a real beauty which I had the honour of seeing & enjoying her in the flesh! Wear her in great health, bro!

[burnz]

Forgot to mention the generosity of coolfire who so kindly gave me a set of eta day & date wheels to go into this project. Damn I love this community!

[jchurch]

That is a beautiful looking watching. Love the blue dial those look so amazing. I really wished I had some extra money when Concepta was selling the other one a while back. Looked amazing and the work that went in to it made it that much nicer. This one also looks very nice also. Great watch you have there.

[coolfire]

Forgot to mention the generosity of coolfire who so kindly gave me a set of eta day & date wheels to go into this project. Damn I love this community!

Please don't mention it, brudder...

[AmStaFF]

i love that Dial, nice Watch wear it well

[dluddy]

One of my favorite Blue dial watches. Outstanding Build

[teiki75]

Bro,

Yours look fantastic too

I'm really in love with that blue dial

Great thanks to Concepta, for sourcing these gems! And to bring them to the Singapore posse

St Ex chrono project will be on track soon, just need to clear some stuff before!

Wear it well!

[boneventura]

Love it! What kind of strap?

[burnz]

just using the dark blue rep gator strap that came with the watch.

not too bad, but find it just a tad stiffer than gen IWC crocs.

[hackR]

very nice...one of my favorite IWCs...

questions:

1) the gen hands fit onto the a7750 movement?...any tweaking needed to be done to make them fit?...any concerns with moving them onto an eta 7750 now?...

2) how was the AR on the rep?...can you describe it?...i'm assuming you went for aftermarket AR to make the dial pop...just wondering how the rep's factory AR is?

well done and thanks for sharing...

R-

[burnz]

R, the gen hands fit a7750 without any mods. Except for the gen chrono needle which is a little too big to fit the a7750. So I've kept it aside and just continue using the rep chrono needle until I decide to go for an eta 7750 to transplant into the watch.

The rep factory AR is actually pretty good, but the aftermarket taka AR crystal is slightly better which does help to bring out the dial's details more. In all honesty, the rep factory AR was good enough. Of course, bear in mind the laureus dial is a glossy dial, so the effect of aftermarket AR will not be as pronounced as compared to using it on the standard 3717 black Matt dial

[hackR]

thanks, I!...

any chance of a side-by-side of the rep dial and gen dial?...

[Bike Mike]

Not a big IWC fan, but a huge blue dial nut...This is really beautiful!

[burnz]

thanks, I!...

any chance of a side-by-side of the rep dial and gen dial?...

swamped with work, but i'll post some over the weekend

[krpster]

Very nice piece. I love the raised detail of the numerals on the Laureus dial. Amazing!

[burnz]

quick comparison of the rep dial vs gen dial.

while i would say the rep dial appears well made from a quality standpoint, it's obvious that the rep dial's blue color is much darker than the gen.

also, on the rep dial, the centre of the subdials at 12 & 6 is raised, whie the gen's are recessed. the numerals on the rep dial look pretty well made, though the finish on the gen dial's numerals wins hands down.

in all honesty, not too bad for a rep, though if one is really serious about building a good 3717-12 Laureus, i'd say gen dial franken is the way to go.

side by side comparison:

rep dial macros:

gen dial macros:

one last shot of the franken:

[JohnDorian]

Crooked 0 on the rep like all spitfires

[burnz]

oh yeah.. good eyes, i never did notice that the "0" was crooked on the rep dial..

[coolfire]

Wow, same here... we all learn something new on here, everyday, mate.

[hackR]

thanks, I!...just playing catchup...great to see the side-by-side...

i still scratch my head over how good some replications are - but how a couple little things get missed...oh well...

R-